Final night costume

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Found this photo of our final night costumes on Pommygran8's camera. Aren't they great? Pommygran8 has excelled herself yet again. The theme for the night was fishermen so we stretched it a bit and had the table decorated as the octopus's garden complete with yellow submarine. Long live the Beatles.

Welcome to sunny Australia

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On Day 9 of the Bash, we travelled from the lush green of Victoria, over the Snowy Mountains. Here is a small snippet of the weather we went through. It's a good job we turned the heater on for sure.

Over a period of 14 years, the Bash has enabled me to see a large amount of Australia and what a country of contrasts it is.

K9 in Westfield

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For those who have not met him before, here is a video of K9, the robot dog from Dr Who, after whom the car is named.
Before the Bash, we were collecting lollies from Sticky in Bondi Junction Westfield who had donated several kilos to giveaway en route. I built K9 11 years ago and spent a lot of time rebuilding him this year. Unfortunately we did not have the opportunity to show his many talents. He also takes up a lot of room. Its amazing how children love him though.

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Had an early tutorial session with Sydhappyguy today and managed to set up my You Tube channel. Videos will be on their way real soon.

I found a great quote today from Dr Seuss:-

“Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.”

Quite relevant to all us DAGgers don't you think?

I will have to sort the Bash Car out soon. The gearbox is playing up, crunches into 3rd. (It was an expensive gearbox, cost $20.) I am hoping we won't have to remove the engine yet again. Still, it is all experience and I have the time now to do it.

I am taking the car to a couple of events, St Marys Street Parade on the 6th of September and Rouse Hill Family Fair on September 14. K9 the dog may make an appearance. Watch this space.

The Blame Game

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Yesterday I said how I'd gone to the place who had reconditioned the cylinder head of the engine. And in discussions had ascertained the most likely cause of the problems we had.  No-one to blame, sh*t happens. Yet, if I had listened to the advice of many people on the Bash, I'd be suing the pants off them for botching the job. Why is it that there has to be a scapegoat, a need for someone to take the blame for someone else's misfortune? 

This is a photo of one of our coffee stops. As you can see it is pretty messy, (now that's an oxymoron!).  We will have to streamline it for next year. The green object on the tailgate of the ute is our instant hot water supply which works a treat. The water comes out hot enough for a cup of tea. Save a lot of time heating a pan on the camping stoves. Trouble is, after packing all the coffee gear, there is not much room for anything else.

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Yesterday I took the car to the place that originally machined the cylinder head and block. I was trying to find out why the head failed on the second day of the Bash.  After a lot of discussion, not adversarial, I think I have the answer. The head was pressure tested thoroughly before I collected it.  I do know we blew the head gasket. The likely explanation is that the head gasket blew first, then the head overheated, and caused the problem with the inlet valves. 

No blame game played.  And it certainly wasn't because the engine is pink!

Bash Costumes

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I am slowly going through the photographs I took on the Bash and of course, I don't feature in many. I am putting up four of the costumes we wore. There will be more photos as soon as they become available. This is just a sample of Pommygran8's skill in costume making. If anyone out there has any of K9 and crew, we would be grateful.

Radio grab

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I received this link today. The local ABC radio did some interviews in Mount Gambier. My interview obviously did not make it to air. However, the car did. There is a lot of discussion regarding the pink engine as the cause of the problems we had.

ABC South East SA - The NSW Variety Club Bash takes the scenic route

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We are still getting to terms with winning the Spirit of the Bash Award for 2008. Already we are thinking about next year and wondering where the destination will be. There are rumours that there will be a national Bash with all the different state Bashes meeting in Alice or Uluru. 

This year's Bash was very different in that it rained for 9 of the 10 days. Virtually no dust.

Hopefully we can sort the car out without having to remove the engine this year. Always optimistic.

It is getting difficult to upstage ourselves for next year. We have video of our performance of the Can Can for Bash Idol. This will be available on www.888dag.com on the 8th of September. 

Winners are grinners

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We are still on a high. My face is still split in half with a wide grin. On Saturday night we had the awards night at the end of the Bash. As previous winners 2 years ago, we did not expect any glory this year. However, to our amazement and delight, we were awarded the "Spirit of the Bash" cup for the outright winners of the whole event. Thank you UKTV for sponsoring our car, K9.

The Bash is not a race or a rally. There are no prizes for coming in first. The outright winner is voted on by all the cars and officials and is a peer award. We are so proud and hope that we gave the Bashers some great memories of the 2008 Bash. After all, the hard work is done in raising the money for the children. This year the Bash has grossed over $2,000,000. Well done all!

Cooma

http://www.888dag.com/ The trip from Wangaratta to Cooma was eventful to say the least. As we were putting on a fun stop towards the end of the run we had to be on the road before everyone else in order to set up. As this was our third fun stop we were used to a 5am start. We had an early bedtime following the successful defence of the Bash Idol competition, 11:55pm. On the Bash any bedtime before midnight is early. Arrived in Cooma after driving through Mt Selwyn with deep snow on all sides of the road. Fantastic scenery. Speedo broke on the way so we had to follow someone or we would have got lost. Gluvein was lapped up by the Bashers and I wore my wench costume complete with blonde wig and jugs! Last night we got a standing ovation for our rendition of the "Can Can" (The K9 K9) and we won Bash Idol-second year in a row! Last leg tomorrow to Batemans Bay and the final night celebrations!

Wangaratta

www.888DAG.com Made it through the rain and mud-every day of this Bash has rained-good news is that there won't be all that normal red dust to get out of the car when we finish-just mud! Got to the Puckapunyall army training venue in our Beefeater Costumes (with thermals underneath to keep the cold at bay). Travelling in the forest track at 60mph but only going 5cm a minute as the wheels were spinning in the mud! Fun! The Cadillac lady takes our photos every day as she loves our costumes. Tonight is the Bash Idol "Can Can" or as we call it the "K9 K9". Photos will follow. Tomorrow off to Cooma and there may be some yodelling, lederhosen and a wench-early start again as we are serving Glu Vein to the masses...

Great Ocean Road

www.888DAG.com No problems with car-running really well! Only problem now is that we are getting 4 hours sleep on average -we got up at 5am to be out early to organise another coffee stop-thanks again Vittoria-steaming coffee always goes down well in the cold! Rain is still pouring down as we travelled along Great Ocean Road. Pearly Kings costumes impressed all-though I lost a few pearl buttons during the day....Tomorrow we are in our Beefeaters Costumes for Armed Services day and the Da Vinci Club Italian night plus a special K9 production for Bash Idol-sworn to secrecy for what we are doing! Will tell all tomorrow!!! Last year we did ABBA's "Waterloo" as Portaloo.....watch this space...

car is fixed!

www.888DAG.com Yah! its all happy again! Found out the job done in Sydney wasn't done right and the inlet valves were leaking. We had rebuilt the engine ourselves and had to rely on someone to do a good job on the stuff we were not able to do. It is so disappointing when things go wrong that are out of your control. The amazing engineering shop in Warrnambool took two and a half hours to rebuild the engine -normally a week's job in Sydney! Astounding work! Off to pub to celebrate. Now all set for tomorrow Pearly Kings costumes (no Queens with us this time) and on to Bendigo.

Warrnambool-day 5

www.888DAG.com Made it to the next stop a little later than everyone else but at least we made it! Blue Day -and our blue painted faces and blue wigs and highland outfits was a great hit! The car now has a tow strap wrapped around the front spot light as a necessary gadget to get us moving-hooking onto the car ahead or we go nowhere.... Luckily the ducks are all fine and still in a row. Hoping that the gasket arrives from Sydney tomorrow couriered by one of the boys in the "Bon Jovi" tribute band due to play at the concert tomorrow. Luckily tomorrow is a lay day so we will have time to tinker to our hearts content!

Got to Mount Gambia-day 4

www.888DAG.com Car managed to get to Mount Gambia today-slight problem is that every time we stop and turn off the engine we need either a push or a tow to get started again (no compression in the engine) -but luckily there are plenty of Bash hands to help! Our costumes today were Dr Who (though it was too wet for K9 to wag his tail and strut his stuff) and was I happy to have my long Dr Who scarf!! It kept me warm and cosy in the very cold and rainy conditions. The party stop went really well too as I rigged up a Shoot 'Em Up Game when each time the gun went off the Basher got a small electric shock-it was really funny watching everyone's different reactions to the jolt! And the coffee we made was so much in demand -thanks to Vittoria for all the supplies-we actually ran out of water but not customers! Tomorrow is Blue Day and hopefully our plucky car will make it to Warrnambool 529km away-fingers crossed.....

Made it to Murray Bridge

***888DAG***Got through the dirt route to Murray Bridge despite being too slow to join the others at the lunch stop-but managed to catch them all up for dinner. Car made it with some TLC and some Bashers are advising that we should put Ajax into the engine to help the problem (not sure if they mean it or they are trying to kill the car completely!).

day three of the Bash

***888DAG***Car is not feeling too well-went to see an actual mechanic who fixed a few things but the general consensus is that the problem is the cylinder head gasket-just managed to order one from MG Spare Parts in Normanhurst Sydney and they will Express Post it on Monday - so all being well it should arrive at the Tuesday stop. Meanwhile we will put some magic stuff into the engine to try and keep it running while waiting for the blood transfusion.... Fingers crossed we can trundle along until the head gasket arrives! Maybe the car needs retiring.....Chinese night went well and Olympic Day also was a hit. Life is never dull on the Bash!

day one of the Bash

***888DAG***Managed to be the first car to slip off the muddy road into a ditch at Lachlan River-had to be towed out of the ditch and somehow the film crew just happened to be around to capture it all in all its glory! Now we are being paid off by all -"first car ..first day..first one to end up in a ditch... first tow"-it looked quite spectacular but it only ended up denting one hub cap (thankfully). Just getting dressed now for the first night dinner-theme is Chinese so I am putting on my Chinese Emperor clothes with my lackey in attendance. Snow and rain on the way and pretty chilly. First time it has rained so much on the first day of a Bash. More update tomorrow.

***888DAG***

Only one sleep to go, phew! Looking forward to seeing all the old faces and meeting new ones.

This is a picture of a liberty swing that was donated by Variety.

This is my eleventh Bash and being a Pom, I must have seen more of Australia, (albeit through clouds of red dust from the car in front) than most Australians. I have driven from Sydney to Broome, Busselton, Batchelor, Billygoat Hill(Alice Springs), Bathers Beach(Fremantle), HMAS Bathust(Darwin), Ballina, Barossa Valley, Barrier Reef, and Bundaberg. And This Year...ta-da, Blacktown to Batemans Bay. Which on a good day is 3 and a half hours drive from Sydney. However in Bash tradition it is a circuitous route via the Great Ocean Road.

There is even a rumour we might need snow chains. Luckily I knitted myself a Dr Who scarf which should help keep the cold out.

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Only 2 "sleeps" to go. I put inverted commas because for some reason I never slept a wink last night.

Took the gear to the Baggage Truck today. Its amazing what you can get in a 1 cubic metre box.

We are looking forward to the Bash this year and making good coffee. It's amazing how many times I have been asked if we are bringing the espresso machine again. It was a lot of work but lots of fun too. This year we are back to the cafetieras which make excellent coffee.

***888DAG***

only 3 sleeps to go. And it's cold in Sydney. And I am developing a cold. Vit C galore, keeping warm, and a few hot toddies should save the day, and a box of tissues if all else fails.

Going out to the baggage truck tomorrow. I hope it all fits in the 1 metre cube storage.

Here's the top of the ute lid, showing the ducks that have made their home on the spoiler.

4 sleeps to go, and I do believe we are ready. Only petrol to get. Going to the Bash office yesterday was great, getting to see a few people that we don't see all year. My, the time goes by so fast. It does not seem that long since we got back from Darwin last year.

Only 6 days to go. Now the daunting task of packing everything. There is a lot to pack.  We  are going to need a Tardis to fit the coffee making gear, the umbrella, clothes, spares and giveaways in the tray. My packing skills are going to be stretched to the limit this year.