Isn’t mother nature a mother… actually never mind, we can’t print that. We’ll try again.
Damn you mother nature and your fickle ways. That’s a lot more printable but still seems underwhelming for the role mother nature played in this year’s Brisbane Convoy for Kids. The truth is on Saturday November 1 and the preceding week, mother nature threw down a cornucopia of conditions that managed to draw out just as many mixed emotions from the thousands of truck drivers, happy volunteers, reluctant volunteers, general public and avid enthusiasts alike.
In the preparation days leading up to this year’s event, mother nature waved the naughty stick with massive thunderstorms, torrential rain, baseball sized hailstones and even some gail force winds. Then on the day of the convoy, she threatened to crack the whip again first thing in the morning – she didn’t, but she did tangle a few moisture makers as folks were preparing to leave Larapinta for the 60-odd kilometre drive across town to the sacred home of the Brisbane Convoy for Kids – Redcliffe Showgrounds. In the end though, she was all hat and no cattle, leaving the 700-plus trucks to traverse the motorways in splendid sunshine and allowing the hundreds and hundreds of roadside supporters near-perfect viewing conditions.
Then just as everyone was getting ready to kick it up a gear with some local entertainment and a bit of fast talk charity auction action, mother nature threw all her toys out of the bag and pelted Redcliffe with rain, hail, lightning and thunder, drenching the hundreds of trucks and trucking fans that had decided to call mother nature’s bluff. It turned the packed Saturday afternoon event into a moderately attended makeshift water-world. No one begrudged those that had slipped out ahead of time, getting their vehicles home safe and dry, or the crowds who whisked the kids off before they floated their way home. Sure, the timing couldn’t have been worse. The hugely successful charity auction had just gotten underway, and the award winners had yet to be tallied.
But all of these interruptions, inconveniences and straight up annoyances added to the day. They will soon become part of the folklore that makes this event so special.
Everyone knew mother nature was going to play a part, everyone knew they risked getting their pride and joy slick with road spray before they made the north side of town. Did it deter anyone? No. The numbers were just as high as ever and from the scores of truckies I spoke to at both ends of the convoy, they were all just happy to be out supporting such a worthy cause.
That cause, in case you were not aware, is Hummingbird House. The Brisbane Convoy for Kids has been a longtime advocate of this amazing charity. Hummingbird House is Queensland’s only children’s hospice. They offer specialised palliative care for children with life-limiting conditions as well as offering support and assistance to their families. According to their website, there are over 5,700 Queensland families loving and caring for a child with a life-limiting condition and, for nearly a decade now, Hummingbird House has been helping to support those families. As I sadly mentioned earlier, they are the only facility in Queensland, and one of only three in the entire country, doing what they do. Hummingbird House relies on support from the local government and community charity events like the Brisbane Convoy for Kids to be able to keep supporting Queensland families.
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While the waterworks may have delayed many of the fundraising events of this year’s Convoy for Kids, it has by no means dampened the proceeding. In fact, before a wheel had even been turned or an umbrella opened, the Convoy for Kids team had raised a whopping $208,279.17, all of which came about through the lead truck auction that has become a highly competitive feature of the recent Convoy for Kids.
This year the winning bid, a massive $100,025, went to the team from Polytec. The Aussie company supplies cabinet doors, benchtop, laminates and all those sorts of products. It runs a fleet of delivery trucks around Brisbane and really stepped up to the plate this year with a massive donation. I am curious about the $25 though – $100,000 would still have gotten that lead truck banner, was the $25 just a buffer? Second place went to local legend Chris McSweeney who raised $35,313 from Northern Rivers Cold Freight and that allowed his cool Western Star into second spot.
The lead truck live auction has become quite the online event now in the days leading up to the show. The Brisbane Convoy for Kids committee do a fantastic job of building the intrigue and pushing the fundraising ferocity, all for a great cause of course.
I will wrap this up and allow you all a bit of time to go and digest the photos from the day, hopefully before we go to print the committee will have worked out a way to finish off the judging, auction off the remaining charity donations and tally up all the information from the day.
Before you go, I would recommend however checking out their Facebook page, Brisbane Convoy for Kids. You will see the unwavering commitment of not just the committee but also the supporters that persevered through mother nature’s tantrum. You will enjoy the impromptu water sports invented in the name of entertainment and you will appreciate the good old Aussie tenacity that saw the bar moved, the concerts resume and, once the rain departed, the fun times commence.
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