ride4acure

Had a ripper ride today, all the elements happening, freezing cold, but oh so excited to be hitting Bendigo City region. Today is the last day of country riding for this horse trekker until I do the ride into the Big Smoke on Sunday.

It seems yesterday and today on the Calder Highway the Department of Education has been transporting every available portable classroom down the highway, plus a few other odd shaped loads. Meg and Billy after a jumpy day on Monday with the classrooms were cool as cucumbers today, nothing fazed them….legends.

When I rode through the little town of Bridgewater on Lodden had to ride past a little café and a couple were sitting out enjoying a cuppa and I asked if they’d mind ducking in and grabbing me some raisin toast and a flat white! I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed a cuppa as much and the toast delicious of course had to give Meg and Billy a slice to share!

Am off to the Peter MacCallum Radiology Unit this morning at the Bendigo Hospital for a site tour and to meet staff, then into Melbourne to pick up young Joe who flew in last night only to find out his luggage took the long way to Melbourne via Hobart! 

Am starting to get excited now the end is in sight and as family and friends getting ready to gather….

Am staying with a great young family Tony and Ronele out of Bendigo, turns out Tony also knew Hannah and used to shoe her horses for her, very small world….

Wedderburn to Inglewood –down the Calder Highway and a few backroads! 28^th June 2010

Jack Frost had a field day this morning. Ice everywhere and oh so crispy cold. -6 degrees at Wedderburn check out the photo of the horses paddock! I had to break the ice on the horses trough so they could have a drink after their feed this morning. I was talking to Esther on the phone whilst I was bashing the ice with a rock! Unbeleivable.Meg and Billy both had ice on their ‘feathers’ (that’s the long hair that grows from their fetlocks (ankles for the uninitiated!)  

From about 10am it was beautiful for about an hour then a very cold wind came up and was freezing all day.  I rode down the Calder Highway, very narrow shoulder, rough rocky ground, heaps of scrubby mallee trees and bush made it tough going.  this photo was under high voltage powerlines parrallel to hghway for a k or 2. Thick growth both sides of the road made for some pretty close shaves with trucks and traffic today. Must have been a sheep sale somewhere as there were a lot of stock trucks and a few semi loads of pigs! Horses hate the smell the pig  trucks leave after they go by, so much so they snort and shake their heads at it!

I was camped 3kms from Wedderburn and am now about 5kms through on the Bendigo side of Inglewood, which made a ride of 38kms for me. I rode for nearly 9 hours in al today. I had a very civilised lunch stop today pulling into a truck stop half way to Inglewood,  where I had a table and chair and hooked into my roast lamb sangers and a cuppa. What I really wanted to do was lay down and have a sleep, I’ve been up since 4am today watching the soccer Mexico and Portugal, what a game. Had the absolute privilege of being in a wonderful bed, with a flat screen TV! I just had to make the most of being able to watch my first game of soccer from the world cup. I’ve listened to all of Australia’s games so far, it’s worth being tired all day! So I won’t winge about it now. Am up early for an interview with Kim Honan our ABC Mid North Coast NSW Rural Reporter, will be my last interview for the trek! How quickly the time has gone now it’s nearly over. On Wednesday have a function at the PeterMac radiology unti at Bendigo Hospital, then am picking up Joe for the last few days before the city leg of the ride on Sunday.

Am riding to Marong tomorrow 30kms from here, just out of Bendigo, unfortunately straight down the Calder again. I pray tonight for less traffic, wider road, good shoulders for the horses and good weather! Ahhhh…..

  I am in Wedderburn tonight (60kms from Bendigo). I had a great ride from Charlton down the Calder Highway, sun was shining all day, coolish but no cold wind, and blessed be no rain!  I had such a good time staying with the McLeans in Charlton (which is where Hannah used to live).

There’s plenty of traffic, the road not that wide, with only about four metres each side of the road but I was okay. About two kms from night camp I spotted an emu in a paddock on the right hand side of the road running with a horse! I turned Megs head to the left and sidepassed along the road so neither Meg or Billy could see it! Last thing I needed was the horses reacting with another emu on the busy Calder Highway!  The horses went really well and when I let them go tonight at the place I’m staying they were bucking around the paddock, not bad after 34kms! I pulled up for a cuppa today in a random spot (mainly coz it was thick with wild oats and I just had to let Meg and Billy have a good pick!) As I was sitting there I noticed a sign for the road to the side and it was to the Charlton Feedlot where Hannah used to workAwesome….I have felt such a strong presence of Hannah with me and never more so than here in the Charlton district. This is the place she wanted to live, work and study and I can see why. The community here in Charlton are incredible, they have opened their hearts to ride4acure and supporting the Hannah Rose Melanoma Research Fund with very generous donations from both the trotting club and Charlton Rotary. Well done Charlton.

I met a young fella yesterday who has walked all the way from Perth almost to Melbourne, Leigh Mathews. he’s walking simply for the experience of doing it, amazing. He’s pushing a cart with over 150kgs of gear in it. Was great to have a yarn with him one trekker to another.

Charlton holds a special place in my heart as it was the last place Hannah called home. Hannah lived here during 2008 when she undertook most of her treatment in the later half of the year firstly in Sydney  in Aug, Sept and October 2008 then  in Melbourne at Peter Mac during November and December. It was also the place where she had her great job with Elders feedlot here at Charlton working with her cousin and some really good friends that she’d made here.

Yesterday when I arrived in Charlton I rode my horses to the Trotting track for an afternoon of racing. It was fantastic. The Charlton Harness Racing committee had dedicated three races in the afternoon to ride4acure. They ran a raffle with two prizes which was incredibly successful and  raised $619.I had the privelege of riding in the start ‘rocket’ that races ahead of the horses to start them off. I have some great pictures that were taken by a professional photographer that I will put up on the website when I receive them, for now my very simple photo will have to do!

In the evening I attended the Charlton Rotary Club dinner and gave a presentation of ride4acure. The Charlton Rotary Club mad a massive donation of $1500 that left me speechless and for those who know me that’s a rarity! I feel such gratitude to this town that made Hannah at home.  Charlton Rotary actually changed their meeting night to accommodate my visit to town which is fantastic.  The dinner last  night was open partners attending and friends and family. My sister Kate and her two daughters Sarah and Liz travelled from Melbourne to be here for both the trot meeting and the Rotary Dinner, also Bec and Cecil Luxford my neice and nephew who live here in Charlton came too which was a delight.

A very big thank you to the McLean Families from Charlton for taking such good care of me and my horses during my stay here.  It will be with a little heaviness in my heart that I ride out of here tomorrow morning heading for Wedderburn but coupled with that is the ‘charge’ I’m starting to feel that I’ve just about finished this job! Roll on the 4^th July!

I woke at 4am listening to the rain falling thinking about the day ahead , not wishing the rain away as I knew how much it’s needed, simply acknowledging that it adds a degree of discomfort to both the horses and my day feeling ‘soggy and cold’ whilst riding, mud sticking to everything, sliding around each time I’m on the ground…..but crops and pastures need it so who’s complaining?

I stayed with the Walsh Family at Boort, Di and her daughter Heide had ridden out to meet me on Thursday and Di  had organised some fundraising for ride4acure and in total Boort raised just over $300 in donations which is awesome.  The horses were at Coopers on the edge of Boort about 6kms out of town and I went with Di to her place for the night for a dinner and we had a hoot of a night, great meal, lots of laughs and much story telling. 

Friday morning Di’s daughters Heidi and Mia (who are also Charlton Pony Club members) rode with me into Boort through the main street (we were met by Mia’s friend Ellie on her pony on the edge of town) and on past the primary school where in the rain we waved to the kids in class, then onto the Boort Secondary College where the students and some teachers, braved the wet with umbrella’s to come down and meet the horses and say G’day.  After we finished at the school Amanda who had also ridden with me for the last leg to Coopers on Thursday night had prepared a lovely morning tea in a shed at the show grounds which was delicious and warm! A  great big thank you to the Boort community for making me so welcome and for the generous donations to the Hannah Rose Melanoma Research Fund.

A well rested crew rode out of Aunty Jean’s place at Murrabit this morning at 8am. It was so good to spend some time with ‘family’. Aunty Jean is 96 and a half years old and a Legend of a person.  It was actually both a busy and restful time there. I visited three schools, did a couple of newspaper interviews, an ABC Radio interview, wrote dozens of emails, made a gazillion phone calls and planned, planned, planned. Planning is a constant with a project like this.

Meg is as fresh as anything after a few days off. She was jumping out of her skin at stuff. What didn’t help was the first channel crossing a flock of ducks flew up quacking, so each one thereafter she was waiting for the ducks. Also the horses were introduced to ‘rolly polly’s” which for the uninitiated are large round, rolling, prickle bushes that in the wind roll in front of skitty horses! The first ten kilometers saw me ‘dancing’ all over the road with the horses and the rolly polly’s and also of course there were about six channel crossings the horses jacked up with! I rode into Kerang (27kms from Murrabit) at 1.30pm and went to St Joseph’s Primary School where all the kids were waiting patiently on the oval for me to arrive, and they’d bought in a heap of apples and carrots to feed the horses which  amazingly my horses ate all of the food!

I went to the Kerang Recreation Reserve and unsaddled Meg and had my lunch and gave the horses a break for half an hour. Saddled up again and had another 16 kms to ride to get to the Fenton’s where I’m staying tonight. Have had a delicious dinner, hot shower, great conversations and am now tucked up in a comfy bed with the electric blanket on! Does it get better than that?  Tomorrow I have about 30kms and at lunch time have three riders coming out from Boort to ride back in with me.

24^th June Thursday – Towards BOORT in the rain…

I left Fentons (Mary and Colin) where I had a lovely night of conversation, good food, warm bed! Horses had a terrific paddock and were well rested and much more relaxed than yesterday. Had a late start this morning, didn’t get away til 9.30ish am which was good to take some time. Also I woke up at 4am to listen to the Aussies play soccer! What a great game…..well worth losing a few hours sleep for.

Just as I was saddling up this morning it started to rain, enough to turn the topsoil into sticky mud for the horses! The soil around this Boort area is a mix for grey and red which are both sticky. When I cleaned the horses hooves out this morning yesterdays mud was set like cement full of road gravel. I needed muscles in my ear lobes to budge it out of their hooves!

This afternoon for the last couple of hours of riding had some company! I had three riders join me mid afternoon and it was lovely.I have three riders with me in the morning to ride into town (am about an hours ride from the main street), am riding up the main street then up to the Boort secondary College to meet up with the Year 7 students and some of the other groups.

Only 9 more sleeps and this trek is complete. Still feels a little unreal for me that I have been on the road for 72 days now and ridden so far…..a lot can happen in 9 days though and I will as always stay focused on the job at hand and simply do what needs to be done each day to ensure I get to where I need to get to.

Murrabit is a great little community along the Murray River above Cohuna. This is country that Hannah and Esther’s Dad, Lindsay Matthews was born in and raised and he has plenty of family still farming in this district. I am staying on the Danson’s farm where Lindsay’s Aunt Jean who is 96 still lives. Her two sons John and Jimmie farm here with their families.  It is awesome to be here. I travelled by ute to two schools today at both Murrabit and Kerang.  When  I was visiting the Murrabit school this morning and happened to eye an old yearbook from 1971 and was delighted to see a photo of Lindsay in there from his year 4 grade photo.  Murrabit school has approx 23 students at present.

I then went over to Kerang to St Joseph’s Primary and presented “Mela-What?” to over 100 students. Students at both schools were so enthusiastic about the ride and melanoma as a young persons disease. It amazes me the very astute questions that arise. Kids asking about intensity of UV radiation in water?  At Berrigan the other day at the Public School a teacher told me that one of her students had in a lesson about oxymorons where the students were giving examples said that a ‘healthy tan’ was an oxymoron because there is no such thing as that because having a tan is damaging to our skin! Out of the mouths of babes eh.

Tomorrow I am driving to Boort to present at the Boort Secondary College to a small group of high school students as most of the school is away on excursions and work experience. I am riding out of Murrabit on Wednesday morning riding 40kms for the day to Dingwall which is 15kms the SW side of Kerang on the Boort Road. I am hoping to ride my horses to the St Joseph’s school in Kerang at 1pm to show the kids my crew! All going well. Have asked the students to bring some carrots and apples in for the horses. After the school I will ride a further 15kms out of town to Dingwall where I’ll be staying the night with a family there, then heading off first thing Thursday morning for Boort.

15 & 16^th June 2010 Crossing the Border- ride4acure meets the Murray River at Barooga and Cobram

At 7.30am yesterday morning Tuesday 15^th June 2010 I rode my three horses across the Mighty Murray River at Barooga NSW into Cobram VIC and on to the north side of Koonoomoo to stay with Mick and Val Howes on their farm. Mick and Val a good friends of Neville and Jan Johnston from Kempsey. Mick also knew my father Kevin Luxford back in the 70’s when campdrafting was ‘finding it’s legs in East Gippsland. Mick is a member of the Cobram Campdraft Club and they very generously donated $150 to ride4acure.  I arrived at Koonoomoo at lunch  yesterday  and had a quick bite and had to straight away after I got the horses settled in go by car back to Berrigan to be at the Public School for a 2pm presentation of “Mela-What?”  I was greeted by a very enthusiastic school group of approximately 80 students who had raised $100 for ride4acure.

On Monday as I rode into Barooga from Berrigan (just over 30kms) I was met by Gavin Cullen who was hosting me  for the night with a couple of his young nieces who opted to walk the last couple of kilometers with me to the paddock for the night. It turns out one of the girls,  Leah is a student at Berrigan Public and I was delighted when on arrival at the school Leah was able to introduce me to all the students and share about her experience of meeting me and the horses.

I have had a very dear friend of mine Sue McTaggart (was Dawson) with me for the last few days, Sue is having a ‘holiday’ with me! It has been fantastic to have her with me. Sue has come to both a school and also tonight the Strathmerton Lions Club Dinner where I was guest speaker. I spoke to approximately 15 Lions Club members about ride4acure and was very warmly welcomed and the presentation well received. The Strathmerton Lions generously donated $250 to ride4acure.

Today I had to take Wrangler to the Goulburn Valley Equine Hospital at Shepparton (my friend Sue has her float and 4wd with her!),  to get his back checked by specialist equine vets,  as it was still a little sore and after an xray and ultrasound he was found to have chipped a small piece of bone off his wither area and they had to operate to remove the fragment. He will be at the hospital til Saturday when my friend Sue will pick him up and take him to my niece’s property at Yarragon, East of Melbourne (about 6 hours away and just up the road from where Sue lives), to recover until after I finish the trek. Wrangler will make a full recovery.   I was very sad to leave him there and had a good cry as I drove away listening to him whinnying out for Billy (who also had a vet check while I was there-all good). The last couple of months the three horses and I have forged a very strong bond. Even though I knew in my mind it was critical he get this sorted out (without treatment he would never come right),  I felt rotten that he was alone and wouldn’t be able to finish the trek with me, Meg and Billy….but he did make it across the border which is massive in itself to have come all the way from Kempsey to Cobram Vic. So good effort Wrangler I’m proud of you and us  three (Billy, Meg and I) will miss you as we travel the next couple of weeks to finish the trek as a group of three not four.

Early start in the morning riding from Koonoomoo (4kmsNorth of it) to Katunga (approx 30kms), where hopefully will have the horses shod in the late afternoon. Meg is about to wear through her front shoes, and Billy is only a day behind! Diana and Michael from Clarkes Horse Shoes in Wingham NSW are doing a fantastic job keeping the horse shoes and nails up to my horses. Diana and Michael courier what I need to the farrier  who will work with the horses as I need them done to save carrying all that extra weight.  Friday will see me arrive in Nathalia which is where 48 years ago I was born. Mum and Dad had a farm (a soldier settlers farm), in Nathalia in the 50’s and 60’s after Dad returned from WW2. It will be special to ride through this country.

17^th June 2010- Koonoomoo to Katunga- Caught in a big storm today.

I left Koonoomoo at 9am after spending a wonderful visit with Mick and Val Howes. Mick is a member of the Cobram Campdraft Committee and they very generously donated $150 to ride4acure. Mick also knew my father from the early days of campdrafting in East Gippsland.  It was so good to stay with people who know friends of mine from Kempsey…it was like a ‘little taste of home’ after a couple of long months on the road.   As well I’ve had a really good friend of mine from my own childhood visiting me since Sunday at Berrigan, Sue McTaggart (Dawson). Sue and I have been friends since primary school days and Bairnsdale Pony Club. It is awesome to have her with me and a heap of fun to joke with endlessly taking the Mickey out of each other! Also it has been so good to have an extra pair of hands on deck with things and someone to talk with.

When I was about 15kms from Koonoomoo toward Katunga a massive storm was brewing, high strong winds, black/green clouds, rain and oh so freezing cold. The wind came in horizontally, followed by rain that literally was blowing my oilskin coat level with my horses neck! Meg and Billy had a little ‘hissy fit’ then simply turned their butts to the rain and waited it out. The wind was howling and right before us about three big poplar trees fell clean over the fence onto the road and a further two hundred metres ahead a massive redgum fell clean across the road (Kokada Road) and blocked it completely to traffic. I was able when the storm died down (about 15 minutes later) step my horses over the branches and get along into the open away from the trees. I tell you what I wasted no time trotting away from the trees for safety.   It was the second worst storm I’ve ever been caught in. When I was about 16 I got caught with my Dad Kevin Luxford, droving a big mob of cattle at Gunnedah on a big wide stock route in a massive electrical storm with hail and driving rain.  The trees and branches were falling like matches all around us, except we had to keep the mob of cattle together no matter what! No time to think about our own personal safety it was always the Mob that came first with Dad!

After the storm I rode on to Katunga arriving about 2pm and did an interview with the local Nathalia, Numerkah newspaper in the main street of Katunga. I then had a nice young farrier from Echuca come across to hot shoe my horses….just Billy and Meg as Wrang is still in the hospital at Shepparton til Saturday.this is us as a team of three now not four. I miss having Wrangler, so do Billy and Meg. spending every moment together like this certainly builds a very close bond, it’s a wrench not having him with us to finish the last couple of weeks off, but it’s all grist for the mill.  Sometimes things don’t go how we want and the lesson is to learn to be flexible and go with the unfolding, not to fight it. Hannah loved the saying, “Blessed are the flexible, for they shall never be bent out of shape!” Learning to let go and be flexible is a mighty challenge and one I’m trying to grow into each day as I keep putting one foot in front of the other in this unfolding horse trek journey.

Friday 18^th June: Katunga to Nathalia Birthplace and first home for me.

I was hosted last night by a wonderful fella at Katunga along with my friend Sue. We had a good dinner at the local “Clydesdale Hotel” Katunga and then an early night staying in Jim Morris’s granny flat. Jim also supplied a ripper paddock for my horses very generously. It is through the generosity of so many good people that this ride is actually possible. The ride from Katunga to Nathalia seemed long! And to put a little excitement in my day as I was meandering along a quiet laneway Sue had pulled up and made a nice cuppa tea, just about ready to get back on the road when both horses ‘grew about another four hands high!’, when I looked ahead there was a paddock on the left with about three emus and an ostrich! Just lovely….Billy was whistling out his nose and his head was about ten foot off the ground. Meg was only slightly less elevated. Took me about twenty minutes to get them past the feathered menagerie, while Sue was ahead a little taking photos and laughing her head off! Billy even after we were a few hundred yards past the birds kept looking back over his shoulder whistling at them! He was literally trembling with fear at them. This is their third encounter with emus. I think it was the ostrich that did him in as it did it’s dance routine where it’s head and neck disappeared and flapping its big feathered wings every which way! Poor Billy…

I was very excited to actually reach Nathalia. The local paper had ran an article on ride4acure which meant people were aware I was coming and some met me on the street to make donations. I rode right down the main street. Stopped and took a photo out the front of the old hospital where I was born 48 years ago. After I finished in town with the horses I took a drive with Sue out to our old farm where Mum and Dad had a dairy and piggery all those years ago. It was so poignant to actually see the farm and ‘join a few dots’ about family history for me.

Saturday June 19th– Sue’s gone home today and has picked Wrangler up from the Shepparton Equine Hospital and took him to her place to look after him for me. He has a very large ‘site’ on his offside shoulder area that Sue will treat with Manuka Honey while it heals.   I am so thankful for Sue’s help this week and simply being here with me, and not to mention having someone taking some photo’s, I am very limited with my ‘self taking’ of photo’s. It’s been simply terrific! We’ve had a great time meeting up with people along the way that affirm the goodness and big heartedness of living in this great land and first hand experience the open hearted generosity of people. Doing this horse trek is the most incredible way to see the country and meet people.   I constantly think about how things have changed, what it would’ve looked like two hundred years ago and even fifty years ago with the changes in agriculture. I see so much sustainable farming happening now and caring for country- in the most part the land is in good hands!

It has been so cold and windy for the three days  and 120kms of riding between Boree Creek and Berrigan that the horses and I have just accomplished. I rode into Berrigan late yesterday arvo at about 4.30 which was awesome as we left Oaklands at 8am.  I’d stayed Friday night  at the Oaklands Hotel and had a great nights rest. Lisa and Kev are the publicans at Oaklands and provided me with accommodation and a meal.  A very lively Friday night was going on at the pub with pizza’s being churned out of the kitchen at incredible pace by Lisa and her crew (eat your heart out Eagle Boys!) to feed the crew in the bar. The locals were very generous in their donating to ride4acure and very interested in the ride. A big thank you to Shane and Kate for providing a great paddock for the night and ferrying my gear from Oaklands to Berrigan for me. And most especially dropping off a hot curry pie for my lunch yesterday, in the cold and wind it was delicious!  I’d just pulled up about 15kms from Berrigan for a late lunch and put the nosebags on the horses when Shane and Kate pulled up.Had an interesting time with a solo, pshyco emu about 10kms out of Berrigan and for a brief moment wasn’t sure I was going to make it as the horses went ballistic when they saw this crazy emu running flat out toward them! all three horses went racing backwards away from the bird. I finally got them over the highway on the other side of the road and hard against the other fence and managed to get them past it JUST!! Of course all the way into town they were jumping out of their skins as every bush had become a horse eating emu! They didn’t really settle down until we got to town, but they walked that fast we covered the last ten kms in record time! So there was a bonus out of the experience.

I met some wonderful people a few weeks ago when I was riding through Mirool and they’d teed up a paddock and accommodation for me here in Berrigan which is very comfortable. I’m still tucked up in bed now with a warm wood fire going catching up on email. The horses are fetlock deep in good feed in a great paddock. I have a good friend coming to spend a few days with me whom I have known since my teens.

The exciting thing is I am about to cross the Murray River. Am only a days ride now from Cobram. This feels like a real milestone. I am also very close to Nathalia, in Victoria which is where I was born. My family had a farm there back in the 50’s and early 60’s. Also Berrigan where I am today is where my Uncle Ray Luxford lived for a good part of his life with his wife Betty and their family. The first person I met as I rode into town came out to give a donation and it  turned out he’d worked with Uncle Ray! Good Welcome!

Today am kicking back and resting up, catching up on emails etc, planning events for the last three weeks-watch this space!

I left Boree Creek just before 8.30am and it was freezing cold then and didn’t warm up at all today and it was so windy. I swear it was like 6 degrees! I was rugged up and still cold. No doubt about it on a horse all day there is no getting out of the weather.

Yesterday I visited Lockhart Primary and High schools and gave two “Mela-What?” presentations. The students in both groups were fantastic and very engaging. I feel so privileged having the opportunity to meet so many awesome young people and share ‘Mela-What?” I really appreciate the feedback that comes through from students and teachers, certainly inspires me to keep putting one foot in front of the other with skin cancer and melanoma awareness.

Unfortunately when I got home from the schools I had to nail a hind shoe back on Meg, she had lost it in the red mud! It took me half an hour to put the one shoe on! I’m certainly not going to take up a career as a farrier any time soon! Diana and Michael from Clarkes Horseshoes in Wingham have been supporting me with horse shoes and ‘road nails’ for my crew and have very generously found farriers for me along the way. We’re busy trying to tee someone up for the next few days to reshoe the whole crew. Have had a good run out of this set (over three weeks! Compared to 12-14 days when I was riding on bitumen) I have been able to get off the road more and ride on soil as I’ve come through the central West and into the Riverina.

Today I rode over my first ‘clay pans’ in 18 years! Bringing back a lot of memories for me riding through this country.

I am staying in a Bed and Breakfast cottage in Urana that was kindly donated to ride4acure for the night. Pat from Urana and Boree Creek ‘ Ag and Vet’ organised this for me and also tomorrow night’s accommodation at Oaklands Hotel. Then on Saturday I’m riding on to Berrigan where I have a place oranised for me through one of the people connected to the ‘Tuppal Station’ shearing exhibition.

I had a radio interview this afternoon with Fiona Wiley on the Afternoon Show on NSW ABC radio. I had been riding along and simply pulled up for ten minutes while I did the interview. I had just finished the interview and was riding along the roadside and a whopping great hare jumped right in front of Meg, Wrangler and Billy and they all had a ‘kafuffle’ over it, lucky it didn’t happen while I was on the radio! Things just might have got ugly!