They mustered before daylight, 704 trucks, drivers and supporters on a cool Wollongong morning.

The dawn air was filled with the aroma of coffee brewing, bacon sizzling and chrome polish as volunteers made breakfast and proud truckies got their rigs ready. They polished the chrome, shined tyres, attached streamers and flags to their rigs. They caught up with mates that had travelled from Melbourne, Brisbane and even Darwin. Their wives and partners chatted and helped shine the gleaming paintwork, as the children ran around and climbed all over the rigs.

Meanwhile, the streets of Illawarra swarmed with a sea of orange as the residents spilled out of their houses armed with their chairs, tents, BBQs, picnics and even the odd couch, they set up camp along the pavements, some moored their dinghies near the bridge, while others perched on their window sills and waited.

They waited to hear the sound of rolling thunder as the pack of motorbikes provided the opening act for the behemoth trucks that would clog the roads and shatter the quiet, with their loud horns, streamers, flags. Today was the running of the 7th Camp Quality Convoy.

Seven years ago, Erica Hodge and Marty Haynes from i98fm radio station decided to start a Camp Quality Convoy in Illawarra to raise money for the children and their families that were battling cancer within the area.
The first year they aimed to raise $20,000, they had 130 motorbikes and 120 trucks entered, but the event more than doubled their expectations and they raised an incredible $52,000.

Read Sam's adventure during her time at the convoy in the March issue of Truckin' Life Magazine.