Our Finance and IT Manager Nicole will be heading off on a trip of a lifetime with her partner Silv today! Nicole has been working at Accru Melbourne for nearly 30 years and despite being lost without her around the office – we were super proud saying farewell to her and Silv with a couple of beers at our fundraising barbecue last Friday. Before she left we were lucky enough to interview her about their mystery adventure and here’s what she had to say…
- In your perspective, tell us a little bit about the Mystery Box Rally? It’s time for a great adventure! Initially when applying it was all about getting a car, doing it up, going to places you’d never dream of travelling to, in the middle of whoop whoop. Definitely taking us out of our comfort zone especially with the uncertainty of what’s to come and meeting a range of new and exciting people. Once the car was sorted, it became more about the charity and fundraising which really has become an exciting and rewarding journey! Fundraising has become addictive!
- What made you want to do the rally? Where did you hear about it? It’s taken several years to try and get into the rally. When meeting someone who had done it and hearing all the great stories – we had to try and get on board! It sounded awesome! So, we went onto their website and registered our interest in the “S***box Rally”! Unfortunately, we didn’t get into that one but we remained on the mailing list. We received an email that prompted us to sign up for the ‘Mystery Box’ Rally. We registered a 25yo Volvo with the name ‘Volvolution’. “If you ask Silv, he came up with the name but we all know who really did (points to herself)…” Then after a two month waiting period we got a confirmation email that we’d been accepted! This trip will be an experience of a lifetime!! In fact, we’re already talking about the next trip.
- What was it that made you choose a Volvo as your 25+ year old car? We knew it had to be 25+ and we just thought what better car than a Volvo? The name actually came before the car. Just to clarify ‘Volvolution’ was definitely created by me!I think that’s how we got in, because of our super cool name! Now it was confirmed, WE HAD TO FIND A VOLVO! We got in contact with the President of the Volvo Club Victoria and $500 later we had our Volvo! We may have spent around $5k fixing it up but you live and you learn! This one in particular stood out because of its features – there were things growing on it so it grew on us!The original owner was a 90+ year old man who only had one leg which meant the car was a customised automatic with two accelerator pedals (one on either side of the break). This means you can flip up the pedal and play funny tricks on people. Actually, Silv was showing everyone on Melbourne Cup Day how it works and he flipped them both up and I tried starting the car and couldn’t because I didn’t realise he’d flipped them up! We can’t wait to ask people on the trip to move it and trick them.When we picked it up there were scraps all down the side giving the car some real character from the previous owner but I think it would be really cool to go and show the original owner of the car now as it’s all done up! He would love the fact the car is now on club plates which means we can only drive it 90 days in the year but it would be worth it just to see his reaction to the ‘Volvolution’.
- What are you most excited about for your 5 day trip? I’m super excited about the whole experience! Not knowing what it’s going to be like is exciting! Watching the previous videos, in the middle of nowhere and trying to put yourself in their shoes is a little worrying but just doing it with a whole bunch of people will be so cool! I cannot wait to start this journey! Even the trip from Melbourne up to Dubbo, staying in Albury will be a great chance to get to know the teams and see all the amazing scenery along the way! It will be nice to just see a whole new side to this beautiful country of ours! Silv and I love our road trips – even down to the break stops! We can’t wait for what is to come and are super excited to be a part of this Rally.
- Do you have any fears you may face while you’re on the road? Just the stuff back home really; sleeping in a tent and not in my comfy bed, not turning the kettle on for a coffee and most importantly leaving my two beautiful boys, Choppa and Linkin! Not that there is anything for them to worry about, thanks to the doggy hotel at The Pet’s Hotel Port Melbourne where they will be playing, relaxing and pampered probably more than us! The other fear might be the car breaking down on us but Silv is pretty confident with the Volvo so that definitely is reassuring.
- To wrap things up, what charity is involved? How do we donate and follow the race? To be honest, I didn’t originally know what charity was involved but when I found out it was Cancer Council, I was extremely happy! For the family members and friends who have passed of cancer, they will be in our thoughts and this will be a tribute towards them!To follow the race, you can stay updated on our Facebook page at Accru Melbourne. It’s going to be really entertaining with dress ups during the rally; some people dress up the whole time, some are clowns but the most exciting will be day two as doctor/nurses and day four to dress up as whatever you want! There is Tequila Tuesday in which we were thinking of getting a Tequila air horn to go with the disco lights under the car! It’s pretty cool actually, they flash to the beat of the music! It was humorous watching Silv reliving his youth putting them on the car.
The MYSTERY BOX RALLY 2017 departs from Dubbo, NSW on the 25 November 2017. Overall this rally has donated over $12.6m to the Cancer Council and this year already there has been nearly $650k raised. To support Nicole, Silv and the ‘Volvolution’ please donate to http://bit.ly/2iJd650 and to keep updated you can check it out on Facebook.