AMount Gambier resident has recently driven over 3000km across some of the nation’s toughest roads to raise more than $11,000 for an important cause.


Judy McEwan joined her friend Tanya Kerslake as well as around 500 other participants in the Spring 2023 Shitbox Rally, travelling from Port Douglas to Adelaide in a week aboard a car worth less than $1500.


Mrs McEwan dedicated the race, which raised a total of $11,808 for the Cancer Council, to her husband George who passed away nine years ago from Multiple Myeloma, a cancer of the bone marrow.


“We were happy if we only got the $5000, so anything above and beyond that was a bonus,” she said.


Mrs McEwan said the journey aboard team ‘Gold Scissors’ was full of more triumphs than tribulations.


“We had fantastic weather all the way down, so there was no days of rain obviously but the weather was just fantastic,” she said.


“You just camp at each site, some of the camp sites the ground was really dry, some were very stony so you had to try and pick the best area that you could to put your tents and swags down.


“We did not have any breakdowns which was really good, our car worked very well.


“I probably thought the road would be a bit rougher than what it was.


“All of the small communities and towns did a brilliant job with supplying us with our evening meal, our breakfast and our lunch.


“All the outback communities are wonderful and I think they are the ones that make it worth it.


“Coming into the city was probably the hardest because we only had an hour window … to get all of the cars through, so it was really pushing it.”


To add to the fundraising fun there were two dress up days over the course of the week, with toga and Dolly Parton themes and even a wedding.


“We did have a wedding at Birdsville, a couple got married so that was interesting. You can have all sorts of things on these rallies,” Mrs McEwan said.


Mrs McEwan said she encourages others to take on the fundraising challenge.


“It was not as bad as I had thought. Because it was the unknown I had no idea what to actually expect,” she said.


“I’m happy that I actually did do it. It is an experience that I will remember forever.


“It is well worth doing, if anyone ever wants to do it they should just give it a go.”