TOM HAYES
By TOM HAYES
THE Willy Buccaneers have returned from their 10-day journey from Melbourne to the Gold Coast. Upon their return, Traralgon’s Graeme Cavanagh shared his experiences from the Vic Variety Bash. The Vic Variety Bash is described on their website as “Australia’s longest-running and most iconic motoring event”. “Each year, the Variety Bash sees hundreds fundraise and hit the road for kids in need.” Entrants decide on a theme if they wish. Mr Cavanagh’s team decided to fittingly dress up as pirates to support ‘The Willy Buccaneers’ name. From Melbourne, the Bash would convoy to Phillip Island, Benalla, Shepparton, Yass, Dubbo, Nelson Bay and Coffs Harbour, before reaching the Gold Coast, pausing in towns and schools every day in between stops. “All the way up to, probably almost Dubbo or Bathurst, it was all Victorian weather, you know, drizzle, cloudy. But the country up there was just so beautiful,” Mr Cavanagh said. “We’d probably do 250 (kilometres) in the morning and 250 in the afternoon. “Every morning, the crew would go off and run the route, so they’d leave at 3am, and they’d go and drive until lunchtime, and then radio back and give the all clear. There was a couple of occasions it was so wet that they cut out some of the bush stuff!” The congregation of people in small towns amazed Mr Cavanagh, watching people gather for lunch and coming from their farms. “In central New South Wales you go through all of the farmland. When you stop on top of a hill in the middle of nowhere, and the people from around the place could come in and set up the barbecues and coffees, so there will be all these Bash cars all over the place, locals would come out of the farms … and see all these crazy people,” Mr Cavanagh said. All of their hard work paid off as at their final stop on the Gold Coast, the Willy Buccaneers and the rest of the Variety Bash were treated to a fancy dinner and a private function. “When we got to the Gold Coast, our last driving day, dinner was at a floating restaurant. And the final night was at Movie World, so we charged in there and had a private function there,” Mr Cavanagh added. The primary goal of the Bash was to fundraise for kids in need, and that they did, visiting multiple schools each day, all with their own stories. “There was probably about two to three school stops every day, and we went to schools with anywhere from nine students … to a school that had 600 students in there,” Mr Cavanagh explained. “This school that had nine students in it (Ardmona Primary School) that was very much a representative of what the whole Bash was about. The more underprivileged type of kids that are out there and schools that are not looked after by the state school system. “When we actually went into these schools, we started talking to the principals and meeting with the kids and teachers … and just having a yarn about what goes on out there in different communities.” While in schools, the Bash could offer monetary help to give the school a needed boost, which could be used for a range of things like scholarships to equipment. Mr Cavanagh showed plenty of praise for the Variety Bash, how well run and thought-out it was, which catered for everyone involved. “The theme was about car racing, pretty much, so the boys went to the Lang Lang Proving Ground, we stayed a night in Benalla, spent a morning at Winton Raceway,” he said. “We got up to Bathurst, did a couple of laps around Bathurst. Sent the Merc through the dipper! “The accommodation was great, the organisation was fantastic. Because the organisation for a particular run starts a few years before it actually happens, but they know the destination. They’ll spend years planning the route, running the route, and as the date gets closer they’ll run it more often just to make sure. “Every night there was something to do, whether it was just a feed at the local RSL, or the local pub, breakfast was usually put on by some of the schools or the Lion’s Club.” Mr Cavanagh was especially impressed with the way they were given directions. As they trekked through tracks and skipped main roads, using maps wasn’t an option. Each car was instead given something similar to rally notes, which told them the distance to travel before changing direction. As previously mentioned, fundraising was one of, if not the most important part of the Bash. And it’s fair to say that a lot of money was raised. “We, as a group (Vic Variety Bash), raised $1.4 million,” Mr Cavanagh said. “We (The Willy Buccaneers) got about $103,000, we actually got the award for the most money raised, we had some really good sponsors.” The Willy Buccaneers had raised $107,007 at the time of writing, with every other one of the 66 entrants raising anywhere between $500 to just over $60,000. “There’s other Bash events that have other generous sponsors out there. So you get a pool of money and open submissions (to schools), the Bash committee go through the requests and decides who gets what, and off it all goes,” Mr Cavanagh added. As much as the Variety Bash gave, their favour was returned in one way or another when travelling from town to town. “Places that did us up for the evening meals, like a seafood place in Nelson’s Bay or Coffs Harbour, the guy who ran the restaurant let us use the premises for nothing and we just paid for the food,” Mr Cavanagh said. “Another one of the bowling clubs did that as well, so the people out there were fantastic to us. “Sometimes you’d go to a fuel station and say, ‘I’m with the Bash’, and they’d give us a discount!” People of varied ages came along for the ride, and for what is usually something for people of experienced ages, there was plenty of younger entrants that came along for the ride. “There’s all sorts of people, from younger people – there’s guys out there with P plates on their old cars, and there was some really old people,” Mr Cavanagh observed. “You always find someone to go over and hear a story about what they do and things like that.” It was Mr Cavanagh’s first time on the Bash, and I think it’s fair to say that he enjoyed himself thoroughly, as he took away many memorable experiences from the 10-day journey. “It was a really awesome experience,” he said. “The people that were on it, all dedicated for the fun of it, and especially what the end goal of things was. “Some of the countryside we went to, we’re driving up in the clouds, its misty, its beautiful – just green countryside. “Some of the more remote places, the schools we went to out there, there’s a few generations of people that live out on the farms.” Mr Cavanagh touched on the realisation he had, comparing people from a built-up region like the Latrobe Valley or Melbourne to those in small farming towns, realising that he actually noticed a real difference in not just the way that they lived their lives, but the marginal differences in education and size of problems that they face. As they travelled further north, Mr Cavanagh noticed a taller amount of Aboriginal people in the communities, admitting that he adored the presentation that they made for the Bash. At certain schools, the Bash would be welcomed with a range of things from a Welcome to Country, cultural dancing and music to storytelling. “They were mind-blowing,” Mr Cavanagh described. Mr Cavanagh admitted he would be keen on giving the Variety Bash another run, but might need to recharge the batteries due to his full-on schedule. “Oh yeah, I want to do it again … I don’t know about next year!” he said.
