Nissan Oceania managing director Andrew Humberstone has handed over the keys of a brand-new Nissan Patrol to winner Beth and driving partner (and son) Travers, courtesy of Nissan Australia.
They were among almost 1000 entrants and five pairs of finalists who took part in this incredible competition to win a luxurious Ti-L version of Nissan’s flagship, V8-powered off-road SUV, run in partnership with Nissan Australia.
If you cast your mind back a few weeks, entrants were required to pick a spot on a map where they thought the brand-new Nissan Patrol Ti-L was hidden using three clues supplied, and then submit a video explaining their previous off-road driving experience and why they wanted to come and join us to hunt for Nissan’s legendary SUV.
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After a rigorous selection process, judges narrowed the finalists down to five couples (and by couples we mean pairs of entrants), who joined Nissan and CarExpert in the Bendleby Ranges where the Nissan Patrol was hidden.
But when the time came for them to take part in the final stage of the competition, the heavens opened and the weather threw a spanner in the works.
Over a single day the Flinders Ranges went from being as dry as a chip and under drought conditions, to experiencing the most widespread day of rain South Australia has seen in several years.
So the Nissan team pivoted and took what mother nature had given to them, and the competition was then broken into three parts, with the winner being the couple that accrued the highest number of points from the trio of challenges.
The first involved each couple jumping into a Nissan Patrol and tackling a challenging off-road loop in the soggy conditions.
Each couple was given a camera and tasked with snapping a photo of a Nissan Patrol that was hidden in the bush under a camouflage net.
Some of the enterprising couples were clever about this challenge and took as many photos as they could. But ultimately they could only submit one for judging from all of the photos they took as part of the event.
Judges then checked the photos to ensure the correct location was discovered, awarding points to those that accurately spotted the car.
From there entrants moved on to a quiz, which included a set of questions they had to answer relating to the Patrol, and the Bendleby and Flinders Ranges. Again, points were awarded for each correct answer.
The final task entrants had to undertake was using metal detectors in an old shearing shed to find a hidden key. It was a big shed and they were given only five minutes to track the key down using only the metal detector.
Entrants were then awarded points depending on how quickly they found the key.
After spending the best part of the day completing the tasks, the competitors finally congregated for the final results. Our winning couple, a mother and son combo, were absolutely ecstatic about what Travers described as their “life-changing” win.
Beth explained that Travers currently has an infant and that he and his wife are expecting another soon. They had an agreement prior to the competition that Travers could claim the prize if he filled the Patrol’s seats with grandkids.
After being handed the keys to the brand-new Patrol Ti-L, Travers said his first trip would be to visit Beth’s farm with his growing clan.