ride4acure

Well I am humbled to be here tonight at Moira Kelly’s Farm out of Kilmore.  Moira is the gaurdian of the two little girls Trishna and Krishna who have been surgically seperated in Melbourne at the Children’s Hospital. This farm is home for kids from all around the world who have needed life saving surgery that wasn’t available in their own homelands. Sam, Esther, Joe and I shared dinner with half a dozen of the young people that call this home, plus Sally and Ariana who both work here. This farm is made possible by Rotary and out the front of the farm there are both the Australian flag and the Rotary flag flying proudly. Today a team of 8 camels that set out from Alice springs over a year ago on a fundraising mission to raise money for Children’s First Foundation (Moira Kelly’s charity) arrived in Melbourne and over 100 people walked through the city with the camel crew to the Royal Childrens Hospital.

My day was very challenging and exciting. while i was in the shower this morning at about 7am a lady called Helen, in the next cubicle started chatting to me, we ended up having a yarnabout what I was doing and she very kindly made a $20 donation to ride4acure. I have met so many generous people on the ride. Reinforcing my belief that most people are generous and good.   I left Seymour at 10am in the hope that the ‘downpour’ would ease, which it did briefly, but resumed with full force by 11ish. Torrential rain, gusty head winds, freezing cold temperatures. I had just over 50kms to travel today, and the last 20 of it took me nearly 2 hours it was so wet and windy. I was thoroughly drenched, my shoes gushing water each time i turned the pedals! I was soaked to the skin and freezing cold.  This is so amazing after the weeks of extremely hot weather. Just yesterday was 40 degrees! Today Melbourne had a months rainfall in 24 hours!

Esther rejoined me today driving from Wagga this morning after the Harden Races yesterday which was a great day for ride4acure with a fundraiser happening throughout the day promoted by two jockeys Mark Webber and Ben Duggan (many thanks to both these very generous men for their help in organising the raffles, signed sild of Nash Rawille framed), this raffle is going to run for a few more weeks and will now go onto Gundagai Rodeo next weekend with Esther who will be riding there on Lena (Hannah’s barrel racing mare).

Esther met up with me just as I rode into Broadford, that’s where I left the Hume Highway to head toward Kilmore. We stopped at a gourmet pie shop called Molly Mae’s and I had a curry pie, lemon tart and a coffee! I was freezing,dripping wet and ravenous!  the ladies were terrific and let me sit inside to eat, they also made a donation to ride4acure. Esther had bought a couple of newspapers from both Wagga and Port Macquarie with great write ups about ride4aure andMark and Ben’s fundraising at  the Harden Cup. Will let you know how much money was raised when we have a count up and do the banking tomorrow!

Sam has gone back to work at Taradale where he is training horses. He was reluctant to go as he’s had a fantastic week with us, and I will dearly miss him. We get on really well and are kindred spirits in many ways. Joe will miss Sam’s monopoly playing skills, they’ve had a few marathon games that have gone on for more than 4 hours!

My week is pretty full with -Monday I’m here in Kilmore, then Tuesday riding to Gisborne (which is where Hannah is buried),then Wednesday doing  “Mela-What?” presentation at Staughton college (high school) at Melton, then Thursday riding in very early to be at Peter Mac by 11am. Will ride into the city and down St Andrew’s place to arrive at Peter Mac by 11 (all going well!)

The heat, the heat but glory, glory it’s now raining gently….maybe this’ll break this heatwaves back!  At about 3pm ish we had a massive gusty wind session for half an hour (woke me up from my arvo sleep!) it has been so hot, and that statement is coming from a Northerner!

trying to take photo's of self, this was up a steep pull, with mega trucks attempt 10 at actually getting a vehicle in the shot!

We’re camped on the banks of the Goulburn River and Joe is keen for a fish tomorrow at the Goulburn River Top Tourist Caravan park, who the owners have very generously donated two nights site fee to ride4acure. The Top Tourist Van Parks have been awesome, no hesitation at any of them to donating site fees. I’m humbled.

Had a brilliant bike ride again averaged 18kms per hour on the huge undulating hills in places between Euroa and Seymour, after the last three days of riding on the flat it was great to have a few hills! Never thought I’d be saying that eh!  I  left Euroa at 6am pre sunrise and it was hot then! Kim Honan from Mid North Coast ABC rang in for a live interview just before 7am! It was fantastic to hear a voice from home. Kim was the first journo to interview me on radio about ride4acureack in Kempsey at our Celebrate the Macleay Field Day.  I’m feeling seasoned now though  having had about a dozen interviews on radio. The Wagga Wagga newspaper has ran a great story on ride4acure and Harden Cup, also the Wangaratta Chronicle has ran an article to today.

on track for Seymour

I got here had lunch time (had many ‘phone stops’ today, with about ten calls while I was riding, each of which I had to stop riding to take)  and had a sleep for over nearly three hours in the sweltering heat!  I didn’t realise I was so tired, it has been hot here of a night and daylight til 9pm so I haven’t been going to sleep til 10.30 then getting up at 4.30-5am each day.  Whilst I was having my sojourn this arvo, Young Sam took a couple of very unglamourous shots of me sleeping sprawled out with a wet facewasher on my head!   Joe let the cat out of the bag when I woke up, I quickly deleted evidence of my inglory much to the humour of the boys!

Joe is cooking dinner tonight we have nachos on the menu!

I am a happy little cyclist. I hopped on my “Scottie” at East Benalla and hit the road at 6am with weather predictions of 40 degrees plus and hot westerly winds. I was in Euroa having cycled 65kms from the East side of  Benalla by 11.30am (I did stop for a morning tea break at Violet Town at 8.30am and enjoyed a toasted egg and bacon sanger and a flat white! Yum:-))) then down the Hume to Euroa.

the road today, violet town for morning tea yummo!

horse capital of Victoria!

The road was perfect for cycling and I really enjoyed the ride. Heaps of truckies tooting me today. Was on the radio again with Riverina ABC, they’ve been giving me loads of coverage. A lot of interest is building about the Harden Cup this Saturday and fundraising for ride4acure.

HARDEN CUP ride4acure FUNDRAISER THIS SATURDAY 21ST NOV.  Mark Webber and Ben Duggan will both be riding at Harden Cup this Saturday and also fundraising for ride4acure.  Mark Webber is currently leading the NSW amatuer/approved riders premiership & Ben Duggan coming second.   They have put together a fund raiser for the ride4acure-Hannah Rose Melanoma Research Fund.  They have got a pair of raceday silks worn by Nash Rawiller one of Sydney’s leading Jockey’s & stable rider for the Gai Waterhouse team. Nash wore these silks when he won his 21st group 1 aboard “More Joyous”. Mark & Ben have travelled the NSW picnic curcuit as far as Garah in the north to Lochart in the south,out to Come By Chance in the West.  Both Mark and Ben live on the Mid North Coast and are great mates on & off the track. The picnic’s consist of about 30 meetings per year & with more support they are growing bigger all the time. Its great to be able to put on a day like at Harden for such a great charity. Over the last 9 weeks alone Mark and Ben have chalked up over 10,000 kms and have ridden 20 winners between them.  Its such great atmosphere at these race meetings as its a once a year annual event for the towns & the people love flocking to them.  Mark & Ben are also putting together a few pictures to be viewed on their facebook accounts for anyone that misses out on the fun, & towards the end of the season next year will be making a small documentary on their experience over the last year. It would be great if a lot other clubs would put forward a picnic meeting once a year . Mark and Ben have said that  fundraising that they are doing for ride4acure has really lifted their spirits & they both think they will make it an annual  event, especially around the summer months as people should be very aware of the risks the sun has on us & how dangerous Melanoma can be.

Esther will be at the Harden Cup selling ride4acure merchandise and raffling a Parramatta Eels signed jumper, which is being hand delivered by a couple of the top players! A huge thank you to Mark Morrison for his support here (Morrow is Hannah’s old St Paul’s Senior Girls Rugby coach). My sister Veronica will be going with Esther to lend a hand. I’ll be pedalling down here in Victoria! Apparently we’re in for a cool change on the weekend and a little moisture!

Three of my sisters are coming to visit on Sunday arvo when I’m at Kilmore! Will be good to see them. Sam leaves and Esther takes over the ute  wheel for the last week. I’m amazed how I’m now looking down the barrell of the last week of this ride so soon….30 days has gone in a blink, but when I look at the map and see how far I’ve ridden I think quietly to myself,  “Good Job Mauz!”

I have ridden from Wangaratta leisurely to Benalla down the old Sydney Road and it was fantastic. Rode past a heap of cherry farms with trees bowing down with almost ripe fruit. Was surprised to find that Wangaratta has a “Big Cherry”….

Awesome country full of ripening cherries-this is the Big Cherry out of Wangaratta

 Really could feel the spirit of the legends in the hills….all day riding through Kelly Country and loving it.

Ann Jones' pub where it all happened for Ned at the end.

The Legendary Ned Kelly's Last Stand at Glenrowan

 Was a hot day again, and they reckon tomorrow will tip 40 degrees here so am on the road at 5.30am for Euroa which is a little over 50kms from here.

When I arrived here at 1.30 I simply hopped off my bike and walked straight into the caravan swimming pool fully clothed (other than removing my shoes & socks and phone!) just dived in to the surprise of a couple of young touristy men sitting on the side of the pool!

Had my niece Carley Anderson(on the Matthews side) and her friend Amy come for dinner tonight (and very generously dropped off my computer cord that got accidently left behind in Wangaratta!) oops:-))

I want to thank all the people who are emailing and commenting on the blog, it is fantastic to have so many well wishers messages, they help keep me strong and focused, the road smoother and the hills less steep! Well am off to bed, early start tomorrow!

Melbourne in my sites and on my radar now!

Have been in Wangaratta for a couple of days, riding in on Sunday arvo in the extreme heat from North Albury. Yesterday I visited two high schools here Galen College and also Wangaratta High School, speaking to about 400 young people. Last night I was guest speaker at the Wangaratta Rotary Club and the ride4acure message has been very well received everywhere. This week it is National Skin Cancer Awareness Week, so it is very apt to be speaking to as many people as possible.

At the schools I’m sharing a presentation I’ve created that I call “Mela-What?” which is about Hannah’s journey with melanoma, current statistics, impact of UV radiation and skin cell damage and sunsafe practices. This is a potent message that helps young people make the  connection between sunsafe practices and skin cancer prevention. I can literally see kids joining the dots and making sense of things when they see that this disease effects kids just like them.

Am off to Benalla early tomorrow 50 0dd kms before the heat sets in. The temps hav ebeen consistantly above 35 and close to 40 degrees ever since I left Liverpool a few weeks ago.

Only 9 days to go til I arrive in Melbourne at Peter Mac on Thursday November 26th- there will be a reception at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne at 11am. I’m hoping that plenty of friends and family will be there to Celebrate and welcome me at the end of this ride!

Joe has had a couple of days at Narrandera with his Auntie Veronica, fishing & swimming in the beautiful Murrumbidgee, he also went to school with Veronica’s step son Luke at Narrandera Public School for the day yesterday and he had heaps of fun. He’s on his way here to Wangaratta tonight with his cousin Lizzie (Sam’s sister).

We’re off to Benalla in the morning, then Euroa and then Seymour. Am really enjoying the riding here in Victoria, such beautiful fertile country. Awe striking beauty.

beautiful Victorian countryside....

Hey Gan...on the road again and lovin' it!

Had a brilliant camp at Albury North-Laverton at the Top Tourist Caravan Park again donated generously to ride4acure.  Sam had gone ahead and set up camp and I’d thought I knew where I was going but ended up going the wrong direction off the highway and put in an extra 8 kilometres finding the caravan park! It was so good to get off my bike and into the swimming pool! Hot, hot, hot!  Then had a big sleep for a couple of hours in the shade and then played cards with Sam. Ah the good life eh.

early morning shadow!

Got up at 4.45am and hit the road at 5.30am today to try and get to Wangaratta before it was too hot (which was abou 10am!) rode 75kms but only averaged 17kms per hour. Was a fair few long slow climbs, hot, flies etc, etc. Almost four hours of riding time plus stops.It was awesome crossing the Murray River at sunrise, and also riding my bike into Victoria! Woo Hoo!

riding interstate today!

The country is stunning, with again so much activity happening with harvesting and haymaking.

We’re staying at my Sandi Anderson (Hannah & Esther’s auntie’s home in Wang with her hubby Mick and Carley). And we’re sleeping in the house for the two nights with air conditioning!

Today the road was frequently long and straight with a slight climb as I head nearer to the Great Divide again. I am loving the riding and travelling across this incredible country we live in. And this is country I know. The road between Kempsey and Melbourne is one I know even better now. Had a lovely man Ken, who is an ex truckie stop today at morning tea camp at the Chiltern truck stop and make a donation of $10. Many, many people have done this and it’s awesome. Everyone has a story to tell of their own and doing a ride like this becomes an opportunity to be a ‘conduit’ for those stories.

Am off to two schools tomorrow Galen College in the morning,then Wangaratta High School after lunch. Also chasing up some media coverage and finalising arrangements for other commitments over the rest of the trip.

I find it hard to beleive that I’m 25 days into this ride! I have visited so many schools en route, spoken to thousands of kids in dozens of towns. My aim is to ‘spread the word’ that melanoma is everyone’s  business, especially young people, and I feel satisfied that I’m achieving this.

I was again on the ABC radio live this morning, pulled up on the side of the Hume Highway at 6.30 in the morning near Woomargarma (old stomping ground when I was droving in the late 70’s as a spritely 18 year old!)  That’s younger than Esther now but feels like a ‘blip’ ago in time.

My ride today was great, fantastic country to be riding through, farmers harvesting crops everywhere, which feels ‘metaphorically significant’, that ride4acure may also harvest resources to support advancements in melanoma research through fundraising ! 

Am heading to Wangaratta tomorrow (80KMS) and will cross the NSW/VIC border before 6.30am – I’m camped at Laverton on the North Side of Albury, again with a generous donation to ride4acure of a caravan site at the Albury Top Tourist Caravan Park. Big thanks.   Am heading off at first light, I have 12 kms to the border, then down the Hume.

Had lots of ‘toot’s off motorists after the radio interview.  I reckon after this ride I’m seriously gonna think about a ‘road’ bike as I’d like a little more speed! I am ‘hooked’ on riding bikes, I love the freedom and the fact that it’s travel under my own steam. Will definatley be doing more bike rides down the track.

Will be staying with my sister in law Sandy Anderson (Hannah & Esther’s Dad Lindsay’s sister)  in Wangaratta and her hubby Mick (both bike riders and triatheletes) and am really looking forward to that. Sam my nephew has settled into the ‘driver’ role here and is currently kicked back watcing a will Ferrell DVD. It’s been so hot here, we enjoyed a swim this arvo, slept for a couple of hours and been playing cards. Caught up on a little bike maintenance, and did a load of washing. Joe has gone for the weekend at Veronica’s on the Murrumbidgee at ‘Brewarinna Station’ Narranderra and will come back over on Monday with his cousin Lizzie. 

I had an industrial accident on the road this morning, what I’ve now considered one of the most uncomfortable experiences to date on the road since I left Kempsey. After about half an hour of riding this morning I was desperate for ‘a comfort stop’! So I spied a beautiful big redgum and ducked behind it in long grass, problem was my lycra bike pants got absolutely covered inside and out in both wild oat seeds and barley grass seeds- a gazillion of them. then I had to get out of the long grass and pick them out, which by now there was a couple of trucks parked watching…I thought very entertaining for them. I wasn’t very successful in removing the seeds and had to ride a further 5kms  ooching and ahhing til I found a truck stop where I could strip off and remove the seeds. Still not very successfully, however Sam came along after about an hour and I could change my pants! Still itching from it all….the trials of a bike rider eh! Definately found out first hand lycra and grass seeds are a very uncomfortable combo!

Cycling through the riverina is a delight. Most of this country I have ridden on horses droving cattle so it is awesome to be going slowly over it again. Am in Holbrook tonight, arriving about 1pm after a very early start from Wagga riding 82kms… as the temperature was creeping up to 40 today it is very hot. I thought I absolutely wanted to get here before the ‘extreme’ part of the day. (However that’s relative, it was stinking hot from about 9.30 am but I just keep peddling and putting aside the discomfort , for e.g. being hot enought to melt, flies by the million,

'fashion of the road'

 stinking rotten roadkill that smells for 250 m either side of it’s ‘resting place’ everywhere, rough roads that shake the  life out of my spine! head winds thumping into me, good thing aobut the head wind is it keep the flies out of my face! but slows me down heaps, and of course constantly feeling thirsty-I have a drink but could just drink again straight away. Am drinking Gatorade and water but am thirsty, thirsty, thirsty! . Any way all the above are ‘grist for the mill’ for this budding long distance cyclist….I have now ridden over 1100kms..one turn of the pedal at a time….and I love it…..I”m constantly assessing what I’d do different next time in relation to both the riding, fundraising and awareness raising. I love visiting the schools and in particular primary schools where the kids are so ungaurded and enthusiastic.   yesterdayJoe and  I went to both Wagga Wagga High school to whole of Year 9, the group were terrific, a bit shy of asking questions but very attentive. Terry Willis the Year 10 coofdinator did a great job of  organising things for me.  This  followed by Curves Gym in Wagga  where I met Jodie, Analise and Kim who are thinking up creative ways to do some fundraising and also selling some ride4acure merchandise.  After this I then drove out to Narrandera public school.  Joe does a great job operating the power point, and passing out ‘freebies’ to kids who ask interesting questions.

Today is Veronica’s last day driving, tonight at 8pm Sam (my nephew,Veronica’s son a ged 22) is taking over the ute wheel for the week. Sam is driving up from Taradale in Western Victoria.  Then unbeleivably next Sunday Esther will be back and I’ll be riding my final week. It so feels like just the other day I started out from Kempsey and here I am 13 days off completing the ride!

Veronica going for a spin!

Esther is riding this weekend at Yass Rodeo, barrel racing on  Lena (Hannah’s mare). They’re going really well as a team and great things are afoot! Esther also has her good eventing mare Diva with her at Wagga and is getting involved in the jumping scene locally now. She’s only a stone’s throw from the 3* course at the university.

Am gonna have a ‘chillax’ for a couple of hours. Already just had a dip in the pool here at the Top Tourist Caravan Park at Holbrook where Trevor and Sharon have generously donated a nights site fee to ride4acure, also gave us a well received cold bottle of lemon, lime and bitters on arrival! Ahh how tasty that was.

I’m continually heartened by the great people I’m meeting on the road. Very Blessed.

I left Gundagai Tourist Park at 6.30 am but had only barely rode out the front gate when my phone rang and it was Canberra ABC and we did an interview there and then for 15 minutes,then chatted for a further 15 minutes! The ABC have been brilliant giving me plenty of coverage along the way. 

finger board on backroad to Wagga

 I took the backroad to Wagga through Nangus, following the beautiful Murrumbidgee along for the first 20  minutes.  It was very pleasant to be off the main road. Rode through some beautiful farming country, wineries, oat crops, plenty of cattle and sheep.   The roads like long peices of  ‘licorice strap’, but unlike licorice came with plenty of steep hills which  broke up the day. The bike  highlight of the day was getting my record top speed of 69.4 kilometres per hour! yes  69.4. That is very fast for this little bike rider! Gotta say I did have a moment as I’m whirling down the monster of a hill what the gravel rash would look like if I came a gutsa! Caused me to increase my focus on the road, lighten the hold on the handlbars and enjoy the run down.

Top Speed!

Had lunch break on the river at Wantabadgery, and had a dip in the Bidgee, just walked in in all my bike gear. The water was freezing, literally, quite a current and obviously water temperature was relative to snow melt! Coldest I’ve ever felt it. Was alsmost dry though by the time I walked 100 metres back to the van it was so hot.  I reckon, it was 39 the day before and as still as a statue. This gave the flies permission to increase their activity around my face for the day!

 I’m not gonna go near how many gazzillion flies there were, but preface to say I am now the owner of a ‘fly veil’, Veronica bought it for me, apparently now I fall into the category of looking like a Maltese fruit picker! I say why pick on the Maltese?

Am staying with Esther where she’s now working 20 minutes out  of Wagga for Vicki Schiller. was so good to be together last night. Vicki cooked us a lovely dinner, but I was in bed by 10pm. I had gone into Wagga at 7pm for a massage. ‘Scott’ from Wagga Sports Injury Massage clinic kindly donated a great massage! I feel the better for it this morning. I’ve covered a lot of kilometres, hills and heat this week and my body has been doing a great job, but I tell you what when I swung onto my bike yesterday morning I was ‘a little tight’! I do heaps of stretching, but I couldn’t quite ‘stretch’ all those Yass and Gundagai hills out of my legs! I’ve got to say I feel quite a sense of achievement to think I’ve ridden this far now under my own steam.

Every day of riding has it’s challenges, but none that come anywhere near the challenge of the journey with Hannah and melanoma. I always think of this when I feel things are getting a bit hard. Nothing compares to what Hannah went through, and what too many others are facing right now. This is such a small thing compared to that. Yesterday at Wantabadgery another farmer pulled up to leave a donation and shared a story not only of his wife’s journey with breast cancer, but also of a young woman who died recently from melanoma. Then not a few hours later when we arrived in Wagga and I was talking to a guy at the local caravan business and he told me of a mate of his who has just been told he has a few weeks to live due to a very aggressive spread of melanoma in his body.

Stories like this are heartbreaking, however they serve to energise me to continue to get creative around ways to fundraise, because I absolutely know the only way out of the morass of melanoma tragedy is through research. We need new ways to treat and live with this disease, and the guys who are doing the foot work looking for answers need help through research dollars. Rideacure is a small peice of that support.And every person who donates becomes a part of the future, knowing that they’re helping find answers to stem the tragic loss of life that so frequently goes hand in hand with having melanoma as Hannah’s story demonstrates and so many others I now know about. A year ago I bearly knew a person with melanoma, I say it’s like buying a yellow car, once you have one they’re everywhere! Same.

Am off to Wagga High School this morning to talk   withYear 9 students at 9.15, then off the Curves Gym at 11, then driving out to Narranderra Public School to visit Years 4, 5 & 6. Joe has a mate in year 5 there so that’ll be good.

Am on the road in the morning to head to Holbrook via Mangoplah.

Today there were three things in plentiful supply. Trucks, flies and hills.  I would love a dollar for each truck I saw today! I’d have reached the ride4acure target of $150 000 easily today I reckon. Tuesday is obviously truck day on the Hume, the later in the day there were even more trucks. The flies nearly pulled me backwards to Kempsey. I had several thousand freeloaders on my back and haunting my head all day. I used ‘Rid’, but a few times forgot to apply and suffered the consequences! Millions of the blighters crawling in every facial oriface! I ended up with my hi vis orange  ‘sunsmart attacha flap’ from my helmet over my face….looked like the bike burkah woman! Veronica nearly wet herself when I pedalled into the last arvo pull up 30kms from Gundagai…she called me a few politically incorrect names I can’t really put here LOL!

The hills today were gigantic, endless and slow. I averaged 16.7 km ph, and ended up riding for 6 1/4 hours (not including breaks) and travelled 103kms in very hot, slow conditions.  But as I do, simply kept turning the pedals, slowly but with focus. I’d pull up at the top of some of the sets of hills and look back down at the miles of meandering road and was blown away that I’d ridden up such a steep, long stretches all day.  There were a couple of freakishly weird things happened today. I was riding DOWNHILL but couldn’t get my bike over 11kms per hour! I thought I’d be flying down at 35kms plus, but I couldn’t get it going, and when I’d stop pedalling the bike would stop! I thought if Amanda was here she’d say it was magnetic forces in the earth. This happened twice today to me…and I’m starting to agree with her. The reverse also happened a couple of times where I was pedalling up a hill and got ‘pulled’ up to the top with very little effort.

I pulled up at Bookham for a cuppa and met some lovely people. Lissa and her little Jack Russell dog Goodie, and her cook made me lovely coffee and toast. they asked me about my ride and ended up making a $10 donation and also no charge on my morning tea. I left with loads of well wishes for my journey.

We pulled up at 12.30 for lunch on the Gundy side of Jugiong (another massive climb past that town!) and low and behold a truck pulls up behind the van and it’s Mick Batchelor from Grong Grong had been delivering a load of cattle further along the Hume and had heard me on the Riverina ABC radio this morning. I did a live interview on the roadside about 9.30! Literally hopped off my bike and straight on air!.   Trucks wizzing by, flies choking me etc! But apparently it all came over okay. I’d given my location on the radio and Mick was on the look out for us, joined us for a cuppa tea and a yarn which was just brilliant. After Mick left at 1pm I thought I’d have a 10 minute ‘power nap’, well that worked but I woke up at 3.09pm! It was still stinking hot so I waited til 5pm which was really still too hot but I was worried I’d run out of daylight to get to Gundy( I was still 35kms from night camp) and depending on hills could take me 2.5 hours riding. Just before I set off a farmer called Ian pulled up and gave a $20 donation and we had a chat about what we were doing and sun safe hats! Rolled into Gundagai to the Tourist Caravan Park where Margie had donated a nights site fee to ride4acure which is so generous and what a fantastic caravan park! right onthe Murrumbidgee River (not that I got to see mucha as it was right on dark when I arrived.) Esther is living only 60 kms away and had come across to pick up Joe and take him to her place for the night. I’m off at day break and will be staying with Esther at Vicki Schillers for two nights while I attend functions in Waggand  Wagga at the High School and also Curves Gymn and then out to  Narranderra Public School for Years 4, 5 & 6. Tomorrow night I have a massage booked in town and an interview with the local paper. All good. Have put out a challenge on fac ebook to get 1500 people to join up the ride4acure group, 1500 represents the lives lost each year in Australia to melanoma, and also the kilometres I’m riding to Melbourne! So spread the word guys and get your mates to join up!

And now I’m off to bed for a well earned sleep!