Australian Keith Callinan will add an international flavour when he contests the 2009 Catlins Coast Rally on Saturday 1 August.

Callinan, of Dolphin Heads, MacKay in Queensland is making his second appearance in the Catlins Rally having crossed the Tasman to compete on the South Otago roads for the first time in 2005.

On that occasion he drove a most unlikely rally car - a Holden Monaro. Callinan has a strong recall of how his Catlins debut ended four year's ago. "We ended up in a swamp! We've got lots of great stories from that visit. We were pulled out of the swamp by an ambulance," he laughs.

Callinan and his co-driver and wife, Mary-Anne, return this year in a Ford Escort BDA. "We'll give it our best shot," say's Callinan.

The Callinan's have competed in several New Zealand rallies over the year's, including this year's Otago Rally and two Silver Fern Rallies in addition to their previous Catlins outing. Ask why an Australian crosses the Tasman to compete at locations such as the Catlins and Keith Callinan is adamant. "The package in New Zealand is unbelievable. We don't get the gravel roads in Australia that you have here. Not only that but the rallies are well organised and everyone is smiling. There is so much red tape in Australia - it's in your face. Over here it is probably there but the competitor doesn't see it."

Callinan predicts that more and more Australians will come to compete in New Zealand in the future for those very reasons. However Catlins may be the last New Zealand appearance of the Escort for the forseeable future. "Ford Escorts are everywhere in rallies over here while at home they are quite rare. We are going to send the Escort back to Australia and bring the Monaro over to New Zealand.

The Catlins Coast Rally is a bi-annual event organised by the Eastern Southland Car Club. This year's event starts from Owaka Motors in Owaka at 9am and features eight Special Stages with many changes to past year's.

An exciting new Super Special Stage at the Riverside Reserve in the heart of Balclutha is the final stage of the rally, providing excellent spectator viewing. The first car is expected to cross the finish line in Glasgow Street, Balclutha just after 3.40pm.

This year's event is Round 3 of the Mainland Rally Championship and the third and final round of the Laird Motorsport Southern Rally Series.

The event is supported by the Rosebank Lodge in Balclutha, MWH, SouthRoads and Allied Petroleum Owaka Motors while support from Century Batteries will allow the rally to be televised in the near future.