J & J TRAVELS

Greetings from the gold capital of the world!!

My apologies for no blog last night......we were all absolutely buggered and needed an early'ish night!!!

Yesterday started off fantastic for Kerry & Naomi and the blitzed the first 2 stages and made up some great time and a few positions. THe 2nd stage yesterday was reported by all drivers and their navi's as the hardest stage anyone has ever done!! It was a massive 250kms long for that 2nd stage and it was very technical and full on. Even the guys who had raced in this event for the entire lives had never done anything like that one!! So, for Kerry and Naomi to make up time and do an awesome job is an absolute credit to them as a team!! ANd the car didn't miss a beat yesterday again!! Unfortunately they did get a puncture yesterday!! But this was the first tyre that had to change out on the track so that is a very good effort......especially after last year when they had gone through 13 tyres in the first few stages!!!!! THe good old BF's are definitely the way to go!!!

Unfortunately the silly ching-chongs got in Kerry and Naomi's way in the 3rd stage and, of course, when they called them on the radio they didn't move over!!! So, the little NIssan got a little lost in the dust of the Chinese which caused some problems and Kerry and Naomi los some time trying to find the right track. It's very frustrating for the team when you have to contend wih people who don't (or perhaps won't) speak english and respond to a norma racing request!!! But.....thems the breaks......and that's racing......and Kerry and Naomi are safe and hit camp pretty late last night......rolling in with one little headlight to see with!! When Jono went to inspect what had happened with the other headlight.....there was no fault or problem with it.......there wasn't one!!! The whole headlight had fallen out and is somewhere out in the scrub with the million other parts that have fallen off the Nissan and all the other cars and bikes throughout the week!!! I bet we could make a few interesting beasts with all the parts we'd find out there!!

Everyone is up and at it this morning and taking it easy....Kerry has been back for a poppy-nap and has just gotten up and Naomi is stirring everyone up and ready and rearing to go! It's a late start today so we all had a nice sleep in and relaxing around our camp. THe poor Nissan is looking a bit worse for wear!! She's been battered and bruised all week and is still going strong though! She's definitely a trooper and Kerry & Naomi have definitely shared many highs and lows with her throughout the week! She may not be the prettiest thing around, but geez she goes good!!

Naomi has been the incident report queen this week and hs given the "jury" plenty to do!! Kerry and Naomi even 'fessed up yesterday when they accidentally ran down a fence after they got lost in a bit of dust! Very honest team we have! They also put in another incident report yesterday to see if they could get some compassionate time for having to stop to reuscitate an echidna!!!! Unfortunately the echidna didn't make it.......but it sure gave the jury and the organisers something to laugh at!!! They didn't get their compassionate time, but everyone was impressed bout them reporting the fence that was knocked down!

We've just had some team photos done next to the car! We got some "interesting" photos yesterday whilst out on the stages and i am hoping that Jono will upload them once i have finished this so you can all have a squiz at some of the mischief we got up to!!!

My battery in the computer is about to die so i will sign off and hope to update later today again.

Kerry and Naomi are about to head out for their last and final stage of the comp and are currently sitting in 13th i think so they have donean awesome job!

Take care all! Talk again soon!

Cheers from Kalgoorlie

Jodi and the best team in the comp!!!

I'm doing today's blog nice and early for everyone so you don't have to wait until tomorrow to catch up on the goss!!

Naomi and Kerry have just arrived back at camp after another big day out in the scrub! Today was a 3-stage day that had big, long competitive stages with tiny little transport stages. Kerry and Naomi are very pleased with how today went and the car is going like a dream!! There was just 1 little mishap in the first stage where they were hooning along and came over a sand hill and that was it!! The car stopped dead. After doing a bit of detective work they found the problem. It wasn't the spark plugs, it wasn't the fuses but they replaced them anyway and the 3rd check was the starter motor....bingo! 2 of the leads that go into the starter motor had wriggled themselves off!! That was fixed as quick as possible, bu would've been a whole lot quicker if Naomi didn't attempt to break the drought with the biggest wee ever!!! (so she tells us!!!) Back in the car without any other problems for that stage.....but unfortunately a few lost minutes and places.

I haven't heard much about the next 2 stages except for how much fun they had and how well everything was going!! The great news is that Kerry and Naomi got 2nd fastest time for both the 2nd and 3rd stages of the day!!! Fantastic!!! They are definitely starting to mesh together really well as a team and getting better and better every day!! The car is doing a great job and Nev & Jono are out checking it over and changing a few things as i type. The lovely new tyres have taken a bit of a battering and have a few chinks out of them and also growing a few trees out of them!! Rear brake pads are being changed tonight.....new radiator grommet (or radiator mount for those who have no idea what they are talking about!! I only know the grommets that get put in your ears!!! I don't suppose they would do the trick!!).....and that is about it i think! Got to get the car ready for a big day tomorrow....over 600kms all up for Kerry and Naomi. Deb and Nev will be hopping in the truck again and heading straight to Kalgoorlie, whereas Jono and i will go to the fuel stops in the middle of nowhere again in the lovely dusty, hot places that get us to stop at! No doubt we will have another tonne of dirt and dust to clean out of the camper tomorrow when we get to Kal' as Jono and i will be towing it around with us! We are a few coffee cups less now after yesterday's little expedition around the tracks so hopefully tomorrow isn't quite as taxing on te poor camper!!

Deb and i kept busy back at camp today, doing our washing, some cleaning and then heading out fo a look around Laverton! It didn't take us too long to check out the sights and delights that's for sure! We had a coffee and some lunch at the tourist information centre and then checked out what the Art Gallery had. A quick stop at the shops and we headed back to get our washing off the line and get organised for tea. Tonight we are having Shepherd's Pie and veges and then following that up with some strawberry cheesecake!! Yummo!!

Deb got to shower with the boys today which was an interesting adventure for her!! The girls showers were being cleaned so she braved the boys ones! I think the boys who who in there would've loved having a hot chickie babe sharing their showers with them!!! Deb wasn't so keen on it all, but you gotta do what you gotta do in a girl's world!!

Well there isn't that much more to report today as all has been pretty quiet here since yesterday! We have all been sleeping well and getting up pretty early....except for Jono and i this morning who slept in until 7am!!! We were woken by some very rude people hurling thongs and a packet of chips at us!!! Deb and Naomi got up nice and early to go and be "extras" in the Sunrise crowd!!! Hopefully someone saw them!!!! They were waving furiously behind Fifi while she reported on the weather! Fifi broke her arm yesterday whilst mucking around on a motorbike!! What a duffer!!! SHe is definitely blonde!! (Sorry to the blondes out there!!)

Up until yesterday, you loyal blogees would have noticed that this week's top speed has been 167km/hr.......we all thought that was all the little beast would do......but she has obviously warmed up too and top speed today was a massive 174kms!!!!!!!! Woo hoo!!!! I'm not sure whether we just didn't feed Naomi and Kerry enough yesterday and they were a bit lighter so the car went faster or whether it's just keeping up with Kerry and Naomi and improving every day!!! Whatever the reason it is awesome!!!!

Anyways.....it's time for me to blog-off and see what's happening outside with the car. I might hop on later and update you if anything exciting happens! Who knows what we might get up to.....it's a crazy bunch so anything is possible!!!

Seeya later alligator!

Jodi and the Laverton Larrikins!!

Greetings from the middle of absolutely nowhere again!!! Today was another big day in Safari land and we are all looking foward to a good night's sleep!! First for the funny stuff and "camp stories" and then i'll chat about the racing events!

Firstly...Nev was doing some free advertising just a while ago...the fly on his jeans was down!!! hahaha!!! He was wandering around camp and we were trying to work out why all these young chickies were following him!!!!....then we (actually Naomi) realised that Nev's fly was down and all those girls were checking him out!!!! He soon sorted himself out and the crowd dispersed.....disappointed!!! That's a special story for you, Jan!!! Don't worry.....he has been very well behaved....up until tonight that is!!! hahaha!!!

Kerry and Naomi are the new "Dolittle Family" after coming across a few furry friends today whilst out racing...horses, cows, a few wedgies (aka Wedge-Tail Eagles) and also a few scary looking men who haven't shaved or showered for a few days!!!! Apparently there were even kangaroos & emus running around....which scared the poor Americans in their big beasty Hummer!! Big brave boys!!!

Kerry and Naomi got called into the "principals office" tonight for being "naughty"!!! It seems a bit of a coincidence that Kerry didn't have an ounce of trouble last year and this year Naomi (aka Princess!!!) comes along and there's dramas everywhere....including having to front up at "court"!!!! Even people like Kees Weel who come and say "gday" at our camp are starting to get a bad name after hanging around the riff raff....(aka Naomi)!!!!! haha!! She loves when we pick on her!! She definitely gives it as good as she gets it which is great!!!

Naomi is making me report on Kerry's first dummy spit of the week!! Apparently there were also toys thrown out of the cot as they drove along in absolute silence for about 15kms or so! It was all good in the end....Naomi got tough and told him to get over the little (or big) grump and stop being a sooky la-la!!! It worked and all was sweet again!! Perhaps a dummy spit isn't such a bad thing as they blitzed the next 2 stages!!!

Now for the serious stuff....mind you, there is heaps more funny and crazy stuff we get up to it's just that i can't remember it all by the time i go to write this!!! My brain is dead by the end of the day.....it's such a hard job sitting in the passenger seat of the cruiser listening to music and checking the inside of my eyelids now and then!!! But then i do have to get out at the fuel stops and pass drinks and food to Kerry and Naomi!!! It's a tough world being a "support chick"!!!!!

The day kicked off reasonably early again.....well, the helicopter was a good alarm clock anyway!!! Kerry and Naomi started out of 9th this morning after a few cars pulled out. Deb and Nev hopped in the truck and made their way to Laverton.....a huge 130kms away!!! And Jono and i loaded up the cruiser with enough fuel to make a bonfire out of the whole of Australia (!!!!) and headed off to the first fuel stop! ANother fabulous place in the middle of nowhere! The "place" was called Melrose.....i wasn't quite expecting the Hollywood-style Melrose or anything flash but i did think there may be a nice cafe or something i could get a nice coffee or cool drink at or at least a nice tree to park under!!! But alas......nothing of the sort.....just some cattle yards and a whole lot of dust!!! Very inviting and oh so comfortable!! We waited everso patiently for Kerry and Naomi to turn up and fuelled them up with petrol, food and water when they arrived. The stage didn't go quite as planned but they finished safe and sound with the car intact so that is the main thing!! We sent them on their way again and crossed our fingers that the rest of the day would be much better!!!

True to our prayers, Kerry drove like old Jack (Brabham, that is!!) and Naomi gave her lungs another great workout and together they had an awesome second stage and made some great ground!! They even managed to pass the Chinese team who have been extremely frustrating all week and not understanding what "move over" means!! I could say more, but i am going to be very diplomatic and nice!!! So, Kerry and Naomi pulled in at the fuel stop at Bandya in good spirits and very pleased with what they managed to do! It definitely shows that you need to keep your cool, (but the occasional dummy spit is very therapeutic!!!) and be there at the end ofthe day!! As Naomi said today....there are no winners in losers!!

I don't know too many details about the last stage of the day, except that it was a nice quick blast of 30kms and they did really well!! The car held up well again and is definitely doing the team proud!! She needed afew little things sorted out tonight, such as new brake pads in the front, a new tie rod end and i think the tyres were also changed or something! There was an issue with the headsets and Kerry and Naomi lost communication with each other for a while during the stages. Jono got out his tool kit and had a fiddle with bits and pieces and found the culprit....a broken wire! So that has also been sorted and Kerry will be able to listen to Naomi talk all day tomorrow again!!!!!!! Lucky him, hey???!!!!!! hahaha!!! Perhaps he "accidentally" broke the wire himself so he didn't have to listen to Naomi talk all day!!!! That's a possible theory think!!!! hahaha!!! I haven't yet shared this theory with Naomi yet, so she will kill me when she hears about it!!!!

Well.....i think that is about it for today! Nev has just gone to bed.....exhausted from his day relaxing in Laverton with Deb and of course his advertising gig!!!!!! Deb has also called it a night and has put the ear plugs in to block out the noise of broken cars getting some TLC!! She cooked another awesome meal yet again.....roast chook and veg and then peaches and rice cream for dessert!! I didn't help much with dinner tonight as we were out all day but i did help get the dishes done!! Unfortunately we had about 4 inches of dust through the camper tonight, after dragging it through the rough and dusty terrain!! Lucky Deb and Kerry opted for the offroad camper!!! Otherwise we may have come back with just a trailer frame!!!! Jono is - i hope!!!! - getting ready for a shower......he is so dirty and dusty after today that he could just about join one of the tribes up this way!! Kerry and Naomi are getting ready for tomorrow's stages which are looking to be great ones for them and should suit the car really well!!! The car has been tucked into bed for the night andhas the good old packing blanket over her, getting a good rest before tomorrow's events!! At this stage, Deb and i will kick back at camp tomorrow and send Jono and Nev out to the fuel stops. We might go and check out the town of Laverton and see what mischief we can get into!!!

Thanks again to everyone for reading and leaving comments!! We are all very proud of Kerry and Naomi so far and it has been an awesome trip!!! It's definitely not over yet and anything could happen....a few of the top-runners had some issues today such as getting lost and car problems so who know what the next few days will bring!!!

Take care everyone! We will check in again tomorrow and see what's happening and let you all know what we have been up to!

Chow for now.....

Jodi and friends (!!!!!)

Howdy from way out west!! Jonathan has finally gotten around to downloading photos for me so they are now up on the blog and ready to go!! So, check them out!!

Well.....it's been yet another big day out here in the middle of nowhere and we have done a million miles since we left Mount Magnet this morning. Kerry and Naomi did about 1000kms today and are, not surprisingly, a tad weary tonight!! Jono and i jumped in the cruiser with the camper on the back and headed out to the first fuel stop this morning, while Nev and Deb took the truck to the first service stop. The first fuel stop where Jono and i went was literally in the middle of nowhere and we just pulled off to the side of the road and waited....and waited....and waited....and waited!!! It was about 30 degrees out there and boring as bat poo but it was definitely well worth the wait when we saw the trusty old nissan come up over the rise and through for the first fuel-up! The poor old girl (the Nissan.....not Naomi!!! hahah!!! she will kill me for that one!!) is looking a bit worse for wear (come to think of it though....so was Naomi!! hehehe!!) after a few hours and a heap of kilometres bashing around the scrub and dirt!! My excitement was very short-lived though, and after waiting for hours for Kerry and Naomi to turn up, they were gone within about 5 minutes and left us in a cloud dust with some empty water bottles and empty jerry cans!!!! That was my first experience at a fuel stop!! Our next leg was to head to Agnew.....a strange little place with not much there at all except a heap of mad safari members and of course a pub!!!! Poor Nev and Deb had been waiting for over 3 hours for us and then we all had another hour or so to wait before Kerry and Naomi arrived for their re-fuel and first service stop for the day.

We all waited excitedly as we saw the Nissan fly out of the dust and on to the bitumen and Deb went racing over to get some video footage of Kerry and Naomi as they pulled in......but they slowed down a bit and kept driving straight past us all and put us all in a spin!!! We had no idea what was going on until Kerry jumped on the radio and told us that he needed to cool the car down and he'd then be back! Phew!!! We were thinking there was something major wrong....especially when he had no bonnet on the car!!! How much more air flow can one car need!!!????!!!

All made sense when we got the whole story......the bonnet had flown off the car when they were doing 150kms/hr and in the process hit the fan which broke and now has not 1 blade left on it and also knocked off an oil cap (or perhaps it was a lead.....i am not sure on the particulars of that bit) so there were a couple of repairs to be done!! The team worked hard to get the car sorted & fuelled-up and to also get Kerry and Naomi re-hydrated and fuelled-up also with some food (apparently petrol is not on their menu!!!) In record time, a new fan was put on the car, bits and pieces tightened and checked over and Kerry and Naomi were back on their feet.....or their wheels, i should say.....and headed off to the final stage of the day!! By this time it was 4:30pm and they were already exhausted!! Deb and Nev jumped in the truck and Jono and i headed off in the cruiser and we set sail for Leonora.....also in the middle of absolutely nowhere!!! This is where we are camped for tonight. We started to get a little worried about Kerry and Naomi as it was starting to get late and they hadn't arrived back at camp!! There were quite a few a cars still out racing in the dark and we were getting a little nervous!! Finally they arrived back at camp after having to do an extra 120kms to get back to base camp after a silly official told them to turn left instead of right!!! Whoops!!!! An incident report has gone in so we will see what the outcome is and hope that some time is taken off for the official's mistake.....but it's unlikely!!!! We can only hope though!!!

Kerry has just come back from being over at HQ and informed us that they are sitting in 11th position which is fantastic!!! Jono and Nev are working hard on the car as it has a bit of a bend in the steering arm and needs some new brake pads and some new tyres. We have told Kerry to drive more carefully but i don't think he is listening!!!

We had yet another awesome dinner prepared by "Turley's Tucker Truck" with Nachos for entree....Pasta bake and Salad for main......Banana cake, custard and ice cream for dessert!!! Sensational!!! As you can see, we are doing it really tough and are going to come home a few kilos lighter!!! hahahaha!!!! NOT!!!! We are eating like royals and off course behaving like they would too!!! Except for Nev......who has just had to put his week's wages into the swear jar!!! He must be getting tired!! he has done an exceptional job driving the truck and working on the car with Jono and being the gopher!!!

Kerry and Naomi's reported top speed today was 167kms....which i think is the same as yesterday.....so i am thinking that the car can't go any faster!!

I have just had an update on the bent steering arm......apparently there was an echidna who was hiding in a bush that they ran into......Kerry says the echidna now has a bent nose!!

Naomi was just telling me that they brutally ran over the only surviving goanna in the whole of the Western Australian outback today!!!! Oh my god!!!! Apparently he was so big that they ran over his head with one front wheel and his tail with the other front wheel!!! That's pretty big!!! Apparently Kerry didn't think anything could survive out in this environment and they thought it was a log!!!! Poor little goanna!!!! Okay.....slight exaggeration by me.....it wasn't quite so dramatic......they did seriously think it was a log and it's probably not the ONLY living thing out here!!! And....i've just had a further update.....apparently Kerry was sooooo fatigued after driving a massive 170kms (!!!!!) that he thought it was a log running along the track!!!!!! oh dear!!! I'm not so sure that it is safe sending poor Naomi out with Kerry tomorrow!!!

Anyways.....we are all having a whole lot of fun and can't believe that it is 11:30pm on Tuesday!!! What a week it has been already!!!! There is still plenty of stories to be told and plenty of laughter and fun to be had, no doubt!!

It's time to sign off as i am very weary after a terrible night's sleep last night and such a big day today!!! I think Jono and i did about 600kms or something.....i might be wrong but it sure felt like it!!!

ANother early start tomorrow......Jono and i will be heading off to Melrose and Bandya for the fuel stops and Deb and Nev will be heading the opposite way to get camp set up.....the pressure is on them to pick the best spot!!!! We are right next to the helicopter tonight so let's hope they don't head out to early in the morning!!!!

Hope all is well for those reading!!! Thanks for the comments!!! Sorry to those who want rude comments or pictures but we are going to keep this "kiddie friendly" so that the Turley clan back home can check up on what sort of strife their dad is getting himself into!!!

Nighty-night and we all look forward to "catching up" tomorrow sometime!!

Keep the comments coming!!

Cheers from the middle of nowhere......

Jodi et al

I am a very very cranky "blogger" right now........!!!!!.......i had been on here writing this fabulous story about today's events and somethat how when i clicked on "publish" my whole story disappeared!!!! Aaaarrrggghhhh!!!! It is getting late and my eyes are getting sore so i will just do a brief entry and then update again tomorrow....including stuff from today!!! Sorry!!!!

Well....today was a HUGE day!!!! There was a few little problems and the toughest one was the part where Kerry and Naomi smashed into the back of another competition car doing about 90kms/hr!!! Naomi and Kerry are fine....a little sore and disappointed but other than that they are okay! It all happened when another car stopped in front of a water crossing in the middle of the track and Kerry and Naomi came hooning up behind them and hit them straight in the rear of the car.....causing quite a bit of damage to the poor old Nissan and even shunted the other car forward at least 4 metres!!! Unfortunately the other car drove off without even checking that Naomi and Kerry were okay which is very disappointing!!! Kerry and Naomi had to pull off the track and check out the damage and then turned into having to replace the radiator in the car and doing some "bush style panel beating"!! Eventually they got on their way and were able to make it through the day without any other dramas which was fantastic!! Kerry and Naomi both did a fantastic job getting the car back on track and worked as a great team to keep each other going and get some great results!! After having the "crash" problems in the first leg, the second leg for the day saw them come 4th place which was a remarkable effort!!!

Not only did Kerry and Naomi have their own problems to deal with, but they also helped 2 other competitors out of problems in the first leg after fixing the car following the crash. Unfortunately not 1 competitor stopped to see if Naomi and Kerry were okay after their crash which is ver disappointing but, as we said, what goes around comes around!!! No doubt, it will be a very interesting week to come!!!

Kerry and Naomi reported earlier to us that they hit a top speed of 167kms/hr today which is an absolute crazy thing to do!!!! But they love it!!! And we love being here amongst it all!!!!

Jono and Nev are working hard at the moment on the car.....getting her all fixed up and in good shape (sort of anyway!!!) ready for another big day tomorrow!!!

We are all starting to get weary and ready for bed!! Deb and i mastered another amazing meal tonight and fed the team up on steak, snags, garlic bread and salads!!!! Now it's time for a cuppa and perhaps a choccy or a bikkie or something nice before we head off to our warm comfy beds. It may be a while before the Nissan is ready however so who knows how the rest of the night will go!!

THe main thing is that Kerry and Naomi are okay and are able to continue!! They are doing an awesome job....however we do know that the Driver and Navi are only as good as their support crew!!!!! hahaaha!!!! (They will love that comment!!!!)

Thanks to all those who are reading and sending comments back......great to hear from you all!! Tomorrow is a bit of a different day with the service stops changing etc so i may have some time to blog during the day!!

I will try and post some photos, etc up tomorrow and have a few more exciting facts and figures when things aren't so busy!!! I am very annoyed that my novel got eaten up by the computer monster as it took me an hour to type it al out and get the right facts and info!!! Not happy Jan!!!!

Cheers from the Terrific Turley Team!!!!

Jodi and the gang!!!