ride4acure

Melanoma Institute Australia Nth. Sydney.

I had a whole 48 hours at home after stepping out of the truck late last Wednesday night after completing the 2011 Coast2Coast 4600km horse trek and the massive drive back  across this wonderful country of ours with the horses in the truck.  48 precious hours then I flew out to Sydney for a training event with NSW Cancer Council and then Monday afternoon and yesterday meetings with staff at the Melanoma Institute of Australia  (used to be the Sydney Melanoma Unit-from which  Hannah’s first two ’rounds of treatment’ happened under the care of Assoc. Prof. Andrew Spillane. )  This new facility is magnificent and is a reality because of the generosity of Mr Greg Poche who sadly also lost a family member to melanoma and generously funded $40 million  to see the new facility become a reality.  This is the largest purpose built melanoma treatment and research facility in the world and it’s right here in NSW Australia! Check out www.melanoma.org.au for further information.  Additionally, Jay Allen (campaigning to ban solarium industry in NSW and ultimately Australia wide),  himself a melanoma survivor works as a community coordinator at MIA and has a truckload of enthusiasm and drive to spread the word about melanoma and prevention strategies.  This may look like a bricks and mortar building, but inside is the genius of Hope housed in the clinicians rooms, the research labs, the blood and tissue banks, the hearts and souls of the admin staff working there, I have never felt so strongly such a deep sense of organisational collaboration, on every level…hope seeps out of the very walls and my friends I am excited about the future of melanoma research and education…..

Day One Crescent Head NSW 2.5.11 Pacific Ocean

116 days on the road whilst Esther completed 4600kms Coast2Coast on her amazing horses ‘putting melanoma on the map’ across this magnificent country of ours…Crescent Head NSW to Perth WA…..97 days of get up, saddle up, keep riding…..40 schools and community events presenting ‘Mela-What?’ raising awareness of melanoma as a young persons disease in Australia (the most common cancer that young people under 25 get), 32 tanks of diesel to get there and back….raising over $25 000 with more coming in and  dozens and dozens of amazingly fantastic humans who made the trek so incredible and of course our TOTALLY AWESOME sponsors of whom we couldn’t have done this trek and I’m so indebted too……we thank you, from the bottom of our hearts we thank you…..

A very THANKFUL ride4acure 2011 horsetrek crew

ride4acure team riding out of Fraser Range Station WA to Eyre highway

The days are melding into each other as we make our way through four states to get home.  We’re taking it easy with the horses not travelling more thank 5 – 600 kms per day.  I unload the horses every 2-3 hours to have a ‘comfort stop’, stretch there legs, give them a drink etc. have a quick cup of tea ourselves. This picture is of Esther riding ‘Titan’ bareback leading ‘Meg’ and ‘Surprise’ with Bobby tagging along- a couple of kms along the road into Fraser Range Station in WA 100kms east of Norseman on the Eyre Highway toward the end of the Nullarbor.  This station is incredible and attracts many tourists wanting to experience station life they have fantastic facilities for the travellers.

see the strangest sites in WA! tree power!!

This gem of a sight is on the road into Fraser Range…Joe nicknamed it ‘tree power’! We’ve been retracing Esther amazing ride and catching up with people along the way.  There is no doubt in my mind it is the people we meet that make an event like the Coast2Coast Horse Trek such a success.  Sharing stories because it’s the stories that people remember.

I absolutely loved travelling through WA, the Nullarbor is a treasure trove of amazing sights and experiences.  I will definately be back to re-experience that wonderful vast landscape again, I feel a real affinity with the wide open space of that country.  It’s like a million Hay Plains in a row! I will be back….

A massive thank you goes out to all the roadhouses across the Nullarbor whom without their support we couldn’t have done this trek.  Each of the roadhouses provided us with de-salinated water for our horses, donated our accommodation and more!  A big hearted thank you to all.  On the way over I had written especially about Andy Morris the pilot from the Nullarbor Roadhouse who’d taken Esther and Joe up flying,to see the whales.

Nullarbor Roadhouse crew Andy & Ben celebrating Ez's 21st with us.

We caught up with Sal and Stewart (managers) and Ben (bar staff) and Andy (pilot) on the way back and toasted Esther’s successful ride and her 21st! this photo we’re hooking in to a delicious cake Ben bought out with sparklers blazing singing Happy Birthday!  We played some seriously dodgy games of pool and had a few celebratory drinks and a great night.

Onward the next day to Ceduna where we stayed overnight at the racecourse and had to clean our truck out again for quarintine from WA back to SA.  Then next day to Wirrulla where we caught up with Gary and Kathy McFarlane and famiily whom we stayed with on the way across.  Our horses enjoyed a great paddock for the night with a good pick.  The next day had to deliver ‘Surprise’ back to Bill and Barb Willoughby at ‘Boolorro Centre’, he has been such a little ripper horse for the trek and we felt a tonne of gratitude for the part he played in making the ride a success.  It had been raining heavily for days and we had about 20kms of dirt road to get to Boolorroo Centre, our truck is now covered in red mud, and I’m hoping to give it a pressure wash somewhere soon! We then made our way to Gawler SA where we’d left ‘Lofty’, sadly ‘Lofty is still seriously lame and has a fetlock injury that hasn’t healed and on a good vets advice is unlikely to after nearly three months rest.

We’re now in Balranald where we had a fundraiser on Friday night at the ‘Shamrock Hotel’ where Jennifer the publican turns out the ‘best ever’ countermeals.  Joe rates her schnitzels as 11 out of 10 on his schnitzel meter!  We had a couple of dozen people turn up for a meet and greet.  Local horsewoman Megan Purtill organised a raffle of a load of split redgum firewood donated by David Chaston from Balranald, for the night that raised $220 so a big thank you to the Balranald crew for their support.

Balranald 19.8.11 Shamrock Hotel fundraiser raffle winner Emma Scott with 'Hugo' and Joe!

The raffle was won by Emma Scott (above) who was there with her Mum Wynn and her Grandma. Our little mascot ‘Hotondo Hugo’ was in on the celebrations, he’s never far from the action!

Esther was very crook yesterday and is still low today with temp, headaches and vomiting, and Joe is down now also.  So we’re extending our stay here at Balranald Pony Club grounds hoping they’ll be right to travel tomorrow (Monday) and we’ll head to West Wyalong.  Because the kids were crook we sadly didn’t get to Ivanhoe for Rowan McKenzies 21st and to catch up.  Another time.  Esther could barely lift her head up with a temperature over 38 degrees.  We’ve had a superb couple of days here weather wise, the horses are soaking up the sunlight and enjoying not being on the truck!  We’ve got a couple more meetings on the way home and hoping to be back in Kempsey by Thursday.

Carrot & Coffee bike riding Perth to Sydney met at Balladonia Roadhouse on Nullarbor WA

At Balladonia Roadhouse on the Western end of the Nullarbor we met up with a real character, a man called Carrot riding his bike with his dog ‘Coffee’.  Carrot is raising funds for both the Cancer Council of NSW and also MS  Society.  He’s ridden from Perth and is heading to Sydney.  We’ll be definately heading to Sydney to welcome him in when he makes it.  Due to the incredible distances across the Nullarbor 1200 kms between shops at Ceduna and Norseman it’s impossible to carry enough food on the bike, so we left ‘food drops’ for Carrot and CoffeeDog at Cocklebiddy, Nullarbor and Eucla Roadhouses, which included in it 3 feeds of dry dog food for CoffeeDog (a white kelpie), dried food, a couple of tins of soup, noodles, rice, tim tams and a stubby of beer for Carrot and some fresh fruit!  We were stoked to get a phone call today from Carrot at Madura roadhouse to say he’s enjoying the tucker and so’s Coffee Dog! We wish them both all the best and safe travelling!

GPR Truck Service & Repairs, Welshpool WA. Ian (Service Manager) & Peter (Owner)

In preparation to begin the almost 5 000 km journey home tomorrow the awesome crew at GPR Truck Service & Repairs in Welshpool WA,  generously donated a full service to our ride4acure truck.  Perth has been a rich experience for us all.  The fantastic support here at the Riding for the Disabled facility in Claremont providing us with a ripper paddock for our three horses.  RDA is facilitated by M’Liss Henry who is an incredibly hard worker spending every hour of daylight working with riders and looking after the horses and facilities.  They house dozens of horses here and there is a big crew of hardworking volunteers keeping things going.  Met and talked with many of the students (we had our truck pulled up right along side the arena and had many a yarn over the fence! A massive thank you to the M’Liss for her generosity.

We’re only really beginning to feel the reality that the trek is completed, well the riding side anyway!  We’ve got several fundraisers and a couple of parties we’re going to on the way home including a 500km ‘detour’ to go to a friends 21st at Ivanhoe in Western NSW on August 20th which fits in just nicely with our itinerary for travelling back home.  Of course we have to deliver the little champ  ‘Surprise’ back to his owners Bill and Barb Willoughby at Booloroo Centre ( near Port August SA) then  head to Gawler to pick up ‘Lofty’ which we’re looking forward too.  I’ll have an ache in heart leaving ‘the little fella’ behind….he’s been a ripper trek horse, stepping up into Lofty’s place when we had to leave him behind in Gawler.  The bonds between ourselves and the horses is strong, knowing that without their willingness we wouldn’t have had a trek.  We did.  And what a ripper success it’s been.

Whilst we’re in Gawler Joe has business to attend to.  He’s been collecting scrap metal and recyclable bottles/cans for the last two months and he’s going to cash them all in! He’ll have quite a bit of pocket money out of his little venture. We have about ten Mitavite bags under a tarp on the roof of the truck with Joe’s collection in it.  Joe’s lucky to still have it, as Esther’s threatened a few times to chuck the lot when she’s had to unload chaff we store on the roof under a few tarps and has to move all Joe’s bags to get to it!  Nothing like a little sibling ‘argy bargy’!

We’re also having a gathering in Balranald on the night of 19th being organised by Megan Purtill whom we met on the way through. Looking forward to reconnecting with the many new friends made along the track.

ride4acure camp at Claremont in Perth

As daylight cracked Saturday morning I fed ‘Titan’, ‘Meg’ and ‘Surprise’ their breakfast feed, then made Esther and I our usual pot of tea and vegemite toast, leaving Esther to relax in her swag as we talked through the day ahead of us.  Of course firstly I sang her Happy Birthday to celebrate her special day turning 21, however Esther’s mind was firmly on completing this mammoth task of riding her horses across Australia to ‘put melanoma on the map’ by reaching the iconic flagpole at Cottlesloe and dipping the hooves of her East Coast horses in the Indian Ocean linking the hoofbeats of 97 days from Coast2Coast across the country. We had media arriving from 9.30am so we had a lot of preparation to attend to. But first things first we had to have Esther open her 21st presents.  What do you give a young woman who has just ridden across the country for her 21st?  Well I decided that jumping out of an airplane was the solution! Esther gasped when she opened the handmade gift voucher I’d written out…..it was a delight to watch her shock and then excitement. (see photo’s at bottom of blog.)

We’re camped at Claremont in Perth at the riding for the disabled facility with a fantastic one acre paddock for our horses.

Two of my sisters and one of Esther’s cousins had flown from  Armidale in New England and also Melbourne to witness Esther’s arrival at Cottlesloe Beach after 97 days on the road riding 3 horses across four states of Australia.

Joe, Esther & Grant McArthur

We found out late on Friday that Assoc. Prof. Grant McArthur who heads the Hannah Rose Melanoma Research Fund is in Perth for a meeting and was able to briefly catch up with us prior to his flight back to Melbourne. This was fantastic for us, Grant has been such a fantastic support with each of the ride4acure treks and very interested in both the awareness and educational work we do with melanoma and young people and also the fundraising to support his work to find a cure for melanoma.

Meeting up with Grant was really significant for us as it is to support his work and his research crew at PeterMac to find a cure that was the catalyst for ride4acure two years ago stemming from Hannah’s hope to support his work.

Grant McArthur with ride4acure crew-Grant takes a liking to Joe's Hat!

To know how much the efforts of ride4acure mean to the research staff inspires us constantly to do more.

Our little mascot ‘Hotondo Hugo’ was the star with Channel 9 reporters when he wanted to have his say about the Coast2Coast trek.  Hotondo Homes make a donation each time Hugo makes an appearance with ride4acure on facebook and our website.

Hotondo Hugo & Esther's interview on Channel 9

Channell 9 TV interviewed Esther at the beginning of the Perth CBD leg of the trek before setting off on the 14km ride through the city to Cottlesloe. Ozwest Pilot vehicles generously donated their resources to  support our ride to Cottlesloe making a seamless ride for Esther with no traffic hassles.  Mark Button (a truckie we met on the Nullarbor) from Berty Button transport company http://bertybutton.com.au/ set up this support for us with the pilot vehicles.

‘Titan’ behaved amazingly well having to go under overpasses on the motorway, under footbridges, over bridges to get to Cottlesloe.

Cottlesloe arrival Esther 'Titan' 'Meg' & 'Surprise'

About two kilometres from the beach I unloaded both ‘Meg’ and ‘Surprise’ and Esther lead them both with her to the finale.  As I drove through these last kilometres with Joe beside me in the truck and Esther riding her horses my heart was huge with pride, respect and love for my kids and our horses.  Working together we’ve achieved something incredible that’s very much grown out of our deep love for Hannah and her loss.  Something so positive has emerged and is  connected to ten’s of thousands of people both in Australia and overseas the ride4acure story is sending out threads around the world.

Again I want to give a huge shout out to all our sponsors who have worked with us to make this ride a success.  David and Roslyn Wallis from Manuka Chaff http://www.manukachaff.com.au/ flew from Quirindi (near Tamworth) in NSW to be here to witness Esther’s and the ride4acure Coast2Coast Trek finale.

David & Roslyn Wallis from Manuka Chaff Quirindi NSW at Finale make presentation to ride4acure crew at Cottlesloe.

It was awesome to have  David and Roslyn with us…we were very conscious also of our other major sponsors from Mitavite http://www.mitavite.com.au/mitavite06/default.asp and Clarke Horseshoes from Wingham http://www.clarkehorseshoes.com.au/.  these three companies have all gone beyond our expectations offering support that significantly contributed to our success and we are so thankful for their support. We couldn’t not have done this without their help. Additionally we’d like to thank HorseTalk TV http://www.horsetalktv.com.au/ for their support in documenting the Coast2Coast Trek, they will be posting webisodes of the trek and later in the year there will be an episode of HorseTalk covering the ride. Film crew seen here joining in with singing Happy Birthday to Eshter.

HorseTalkTV film crew at Cottlesloe Hotel

Amazingly the day went smoothly, on arrival at the beach we closed the trek with a ‘Safe Arrival Blessing’ which was facilitated generously by David Tehl,  a friend of Fr Chris Chaplin MSC (who lead us through a Blessing of the Horse Trek with a reading of the Travellers Prayer at Crescent Head/Pacific Ocean on 2.5.11 on Day 1). At the conclusion of the Safe Arrival Blessing Joe gathered water and sand from the Indian Ocean and we mixed it with the water and sand gathered on Day 1 at Crescent Head NSW, we’d carried with us for 97 days across Australia- I mixed both waters and sands representing this Coast2Coast Horse Trek journey to ‘put melanoma on the map’ and spread the word across our country  from East to West that melanoma is everybody’s business and particularly young people.

Skydiving Cowgirl!

Esther skydiving 21st Birthday Pressie.

Our Hero! Esther back on the ground after skydiving.

Day 1 Beginning in Pacific Ocean Crescent Head on Hannah's 23rd Birthday...

Leaving the Pacific Ocean behind to begin this epic journey feels both like a blink of the eye and a long time…with so many steps between.  Here Esther is now with only one more riding day in Perth to the finale of the 2011 Coast2Coast Horse Trek at Cottlesloe on Saturday 6th August. 97 days of feeding, caring for, saddling up, unsaddling and comforting the horses. 97 days of compromising and working with both Esther and Joe so that we were able to achieve this together. 97 days of things going to plan and 97 days of things not going to plan-and dealing with it calmly. And here we are a days ride to the finale.  My mind turns to Esther and my witnessing of her efforts over the months.   My heart is bursting with pride and respect for this young woman.  Day after grinding day she’s got up and pulled her boots on and mounted up again to fulfill her dream to ride Coast2Coast to ‘put melanoma on the map’.  This has happened. Many thousands of young people now understand a little more about melanaoma and what they can do to prevent it. What they don’t know is the absolute courage, grit and determination that has motivated Esther daily to do this.  To borrow from Ghandi, ‘to be the change you want to see in he world’.  Esther is living this.

Coupled with the finale of this ride is the milestone for Esther of turning 21. That this epic ride bookends her childhood and adolescence is profound.  Never in a million years would Esther have thought back when she was 18 that she’d be 21 without Hannah in her life. Hannah and Esther were like two sides of the same coin. They shared deeply so many things in their lives, a deep passion for horses and livestock….thousands of hours spent talking about horses and supporting each other to achieve their dreams in rodeo, campdrafting and eventing….never thinking that would change.  Hannah  back in September 2008, having a couple of days between treatments- leaving hospital in Sydney  in the middle of another cycle of surgery and radiation to travel all the way to Nana Glen to watch Esther compete in the Zone 9 One Day Event Championship on her good mare ‘Diva’ and the delight when Esther took the A Grade trophy home for a 2nd year in a row. These were the things we thought we’d have for life….never dreaming of Esther turning 21 and being older than Hannah… for life….how does one be older than your older sister?

Our focus turns now to these last few days.  We have family flying in tonight to be here to witness their niece and cousin complete this epic horse trek from Coast2Coast.  Generous people we’ve met along the way coming also to Perth to see Esther ride in and of course one of our major sponsors, David Wallis from Manuka Chaff in Quirindi NSW who has flown to Perth to be here too.

An event like this is only possible because many generous people have worked together to bring it to life. And of course our amazing horses, daily they’ve said ‘yes’ to doing the miles,  us human family working together to  bring this dream alive, all the good people who have generously given to provide the resources to make this ride possible from the very beginning and also along the way, the media who have helped spread the word, the good people following via this website, facebook and twitter…we thank you. Today finally after a week of stormy, windy weather  is a beautiful sunny day and we have much work to do…….