The Write Way Around: Traveling Tales

I recently sent out a message saying that I would be heading back to Australia, and it has sparked a lot of interest and messages of people demanding I spill the beans immediately.

It all came to fruition a couple of weeks ago back in the North Island when I met this guy from Australia and continued to travel on together with him for a few weeks…

Wait – no, just kidding! This time around there is no mysterious Australian luring me Down Under. I have already written that chapter once before, and I do not intend on writing another similar one any time soon.

Instead, a writing opportunity is bringing me back.

Part of the freelance work I do is for a Sydney-based website called Escape Lounge, as the current editor of the site was formerly the editor of another magazine I used to write for.

I came across an e-mail the other day from my editor asking what the deal was with my coming back to Australia as an awesome trip had come up for someone to cover and review:

I have an amazing opportunity for you to be part of the Shitbox Rally, a
road trip from Perth to Darwin through the Kimberly. I need a
writer who is adventurous and immediately thought of you! It’s end of May
so I have no idea where you’ll be.

So, my plans have shifted slightly.

At the end of May, I will be flying out to Perth and covering what is called the Shitbox Rally, a seven-day road trip in a shitbox of a car that costs no more than $1,000 with all its rego (re: registration in Australian).

The rally starts on the 31st of May, and I will be traveling with a team called LoveOverMoney, who will be hosting me on this epic road trip and whom I have already Skyped with, e-mail with and had some great laughs with.

My team and I along with the other teams in the rally, will travel 3,500 kilometres (2,175 miles) north up to Darwin along some of Australia’s most deserted and challenging roads.

I will be traveling through an area called Pilbara, which is a famous former cattle route, along the Gibb River Road and on through the Kimberely until we finally reach Darwin on the 6th of June.

But what is most important about the Shitbox Rally is not the journey but the reason it is all happening.

The Shitbox Rally raises money for the Cancer Council, a cause that is close to my heart in some ways given my work with Penn State’s THON while I was in university, the largest student-run charity in the world that raises money for paediatric cancer.

The Shitbox Rally is both officially endorsed and supported by the Cancer Council, and it aims not only to raise money for cancer but also to raise awareness about this hideous disease.

Throughout the past four years, the Shitbox Rally has managed to raise over $2.9 million dollars for the Cancel Council. 

The goal for 2014 is to raise an additional $1.4 million dollars.

I am incredibly stoked to be a part of something that will be rewarding in so many ways.

We (re: I) are also looking for ways to make the most of my time out in Western Australia and looking into other opportunities to experience and review, so hopefully there will be some other amazing experiences that come out of my last visit to Australia. Figured I might as well get it done now since the likelihood of me returning in the near future after this is slim to none as I will be headed down to South America and on to new lands.

Either way, I expect this next Australian experience will be a great test to see how a Brooklyn girl fares out in the outback.