US Ambassador to Australia Caroline Kennedy has tackled some of Outback Australia’s most rugged roads in an old, beat-up Ford Falcon over the past week, raising money for cancer research.

The daughter of former US President John F. Kennedy celebrated the end of the Shitbox Rally on Saturday, as a convoy of 260 vehicles worth no more than $1500 crossed the finish line at Langley Park after a 5000km journey across Australia.

Participants in the rally made the 8-day trek, through remote South Australia, Uluru in the North Territory and across the Nullarbor into WA, raising more than $2.8 million for the Cancer Council.

Ambassador Kennedy and the US Embassy team – Team Moonshot – were the highest-raising team in the Rally’s history, raising more than $340,000.

Ambassador Kennedy said that the goal to end cancer was one that brought people from all nations and all walks of life together.

She said she was inspired by a community of people willing to drive across Australia to help end cancer.

“The fight against cancer touches everyone,” she said.

“I really learned so much and it’s been a really inspiring journey. I’m grateful to Shitbox Rally for giving me the opportunity to get involved and learn more about what’s going on here in Australia, as well as to participate in this iconic road trip.”

Ambassador Kennedy said the Embassy’s participation in the Shitbox Rally was a component of the US - Australia Cancer Moonshot Initiative – a partnership aimed at cutting cancer deaths in half in the next 25 years, and a tribute to President Kennedy’s 1962 iconic speech challenging Americans to land a man on the moon.

Ambassador Kennedy said her time sleeping under the stars in Outback Australia was something she would always remember.

“It was really great. I felt like I was able to meet a whole new group of people and see this amazing country from a really different perspective,” she said.