How it all started...

It was 6pm the 23rd of December 2024 when my phone rang. I pick up the phone to a shakey Rein on the other end on the line. Rein was on night shift at the mines at the time so I was surpirsed to get a phone call from him mid-shift. "I've won a car" he said. Me, the ever supportive girlfriend, gently asked "are you sure you haven't been scammed?"

But it wasnt a scam. Rein had entered a raffle sponsored by his favourite Youtuber's, Back2Bascis, run by Ausso after having a dream about winning the grand prize. At the time I remember thinking that the $75 worth of raffle tickets Rein had brought were a royal waste of money, though thank god I never said it at the time, because I don't think I would have ever heard the end of it.

On a Youtube Live stream, Rein's name had been drawn for the top prize and Harley from Ausso gave him a ring. I had to go back and watch the Youtube video myself, as I still was in disbelief. But sure enough, I watched as Rein's name got drawn and Rein got the phone call live on Youtube. Rein reacted exactly how one would expect, by pulling out his most occa Aussie accent and asking "are you serrriiiousss?" and upon confirmation that yes, Harley was serious, "geeettt f*cckkkkk!"

Rein had just won a fully decked out 2021 Troopy Landcruiser set for touring and a Quintrex 420 (for those like me that don't speak boat, aka a tinny).

We all have dreams and goals in this life. And for me and Rein, doing the fabled Big Lap was one of them. But with jobs, bills and a mortgage, spending the $50k to turn Rein's ute into a touring machine, as well as saving money for the lap, just wasn't feasible. It was a pipe dream. But all of a sudden, Rein's big win had changed the trajectoy of our lives. No longer was this a pipe dream but a very real, very feasible possibility. We decided a Troopy was not an ideal city car, so we better use it for what it was made for, and thus, it was decided, it was time we did the Big Lap.

I thought nobody won these things.