With the aim of visiting as many fire-affected towns in regional Victoria as possible, a contingent of Variety Bash crewmembers, 190 people and 67 cars in all, descended on Mallacoota last Saturday, bringing with them a much-needed boost to the fire-affected community as part of the Variety Mini Bash Empty Esky Tour.

The Variety Mini Bash Empty Esky Tour concept is simple stop, spend, fill your Eskies and show the locals some love. Based on the iconic Variety Bash, which sees up to 100 cars travel across the country to provide injections into local economies through tourism and provide grants to children in need, the Variety Mini Bash Empty Esky Tour was the perfect opportunity for Variety the Children’s Charity to do what it does best bring joy with lasting impact.

The crew stopped in Bruthen along the way with laptops for the local school and paid visits to other towns on their way to Mallacoota where they stayed the night bringing a great deal of fun to the town.

On Sunday morning Mallacoota P-12 College was also the recipient of the generosity of the Variety motoring entrants and supporters. With only two operational laptops for its 90 students, the college was presented with an additional 10 laptops for use both in class and at home.

The group expected to inject more than $70,000 into regional communities from the overnight adventure.

They booked out a lot of accommodation in Mallacoota for the night, had dinner at the Mallacoota Hotel on Saturday and held a breakfast and presentation of the college’s new laptops at Lions Park on Sunday. Books, sporting equipment and games were also presented.

IMAGE: The Where’s Wally team of Rob Grigg, Margo Fraser and Wayne Cornish, is in its fifth year with the Variety Bash with Wayne’s 1971 Fairlane. S81-582