Classic cars cruise coast for flying doctor

FOR more than 35 years the Outback Car Trek has provided vital support for the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) and this year, it is hitting the Great Ocean Road.

Travelling from the Murray River down to Launceston, the trek features plenty of colour as classic two-wheel-drive vehicles make the long journey.

Broken Hill-based RFDS flight nurse Kathryn Hines will be part of the trek’s support crew for the first time this year.

She said the chance to visit new communities was exciting, as was the opportunity to spend time near the ocean again.

 

Since the first event in 1990, the Outback Car Trek has raised more than $37 million for the RFDS, funding Hines said is crucial to ensuring people in regional and remote communities can access healthcare.

“We’ll be there to support and make sure that everybody on the trek has a really good time,” she said.

“It’s a really good cause. I couldn’t do my job without this kind of event. “I think everyone of us that works for RFDS is here to provide care to community and that wouldn’t be there otherwise.”

Hines said the treks also give RFDS staff an opportunity to learn more about the organisation and the breadth of services it now provides.

 

From mental health specialists to play therapists, she said it was remarkable to see how far the RFDS had evolved from its beginnings transporting patients by plane more than 90 years ago.

This year’s Outback Car Trek begins on Saturday 30 May in Albury and will finish on Sunday 7 June in Launceston.

The Trek will roll into Apollo Bay on 2 June, providing an estimated $75,000 boost to the local economy through fuel, food and accommodation.