The shit it takes.....!

What you always wanted to know but were afraid to ask about preparing for a car rally...

As with many things in life, it helps to start with a list.

1. First thing is to find someone crazy enough to do it with you.

Me (Cheryl) and my crazy friend Jo

Thankfully I knew someone just crazy enough!

(CHECK)

2. Then, you need a team name.

It’s Jo so it had to be tutus, and there were two of us so 2Tutus was easy!

(CHECK)

3. Next came the hard part...what were we going to wear?

There was LOTS of research!

a.      I started on the internet looking for tutus until Jo reminded me we didn’t need to find them online, she had a cupboard full of them! So many tutus to choose from and what colour would be best. We also realised that whatever tutu we took would probably not make it back after being on the road and in the dust for 7 days. So, we had a tutu and a colour each. 

Choosing tutus from Jo's tutu stash

b.     Next was the shoes (of course). We did think RMs were the way to go initially but then my sister (Kim McKnight, who is very fashion-wise) reminded me of Merry Boots. She had got a pair for Xmas and loved them (and they come in colours!!!!). No brainer, I had to do it. I ordered them and they are so comfy. But how do you keep your feet and socks clean when there is so much dust and mud? If only there was a solution. Turns out there was, and Polly Leahy from Polly’s on Gullagimbi found it, making us our very own custom sparkly sock guards! 

Our sock guards are made by the amazing Polly Leahy

c.      Well, we could show up in a tutu, boots, sock guards and our bras but there was a fair chance, NO ONE wanted to see that!  So next was to find a shirt. Luckily we know a great designer (aka Jo) who designed our wonderful logos based on our choices so far. From there we found some country shirts in colours that went with our tutus. A bit of embroidering by the local team at Busy Bee Signs in Chinchilla and presto - we now have an outfit!

Our beautiful embroidered shirts and coordinated boots

We were so tired we had to take a break. There was a lot of work in that! BUT we have outfits!

(CHECK)

4. Fundraising

We raised the minimum $5000 so quickly we were blown away! We’ve got some amazing sponsors (and we’ll share their stories with you) plus a cupcake fundraiser, a taco lunch, and RSL raffles along with people who have donated online.

(CHECK)

5. Transferrable Skills

Apparently being mechanical like being able to change a tyre and other similar things would be handy on a Rally. Luckily that’s not us. We’ve told a lot of people about our upcoming adventure and have had lots of advice. The best one was from my work colleague Bill who sent me an article on ‘Tyre Life Support - You won’t get stuck in the bush if you check out these top tips on CPR for a flatlined tyre’. How lucky was that? We now have a step-by-step guide to flat tyres; we’ll definitely be packing that piece of gold! Jo’s extremely helpful and talented husband Larry will give us some 101 tips before we go plus Rally does have a support crew for those of us who need an extra helping hand. Also, just to be prepared I have bought purple leggings to go under my tutu in case of an emergency on the roadside where a tutu may need to come off, in case it gets in the way or catches fire (safety first). (CHECK)

6. The car (yes we realize this is important and possibly should have been before the outfit)...

This is a work in progress and once we’ve found something awesome, we will share our news with you. We’d like something with good clearance, air-conditioning, be able to charge our phones, have windows and a roof (we saw some on the last Rally without these and it did not look like a lot of fun to have layers of dust on your face all day). All for under $1500! No problems!

(UH OH! FAIL, FAIL, FAIL!!!)

5 out of 6 isn't bad, right?

So that really is a lot to get started!  Surely at this point, 5 out of 6 is pretty good…and we’ve only been going about 4 months!

We’ll keep you updated as we finalise our plans.