Week 10 mileage
Days 64-65: Sydney
Day 66: Sydney to Canberra: 286kms
Day 67: Canberra to Eden: 315kms
Day 68: Eden to Melbourne: 655kms
Days 69-70: Melbourne
Week 10 mileage: 1,256kms
Total trip mileage: 17,454kms
Welcome to the Week 10 Blog!
I am writing this on Day 70 of my trip! On the one hand, time has flown by. On the other, my body is starting to feel the kilometres (I know, I know, my motorbike does all the work but still, let me complain).
Beginning Week 10 in Sydney, I dropped by the Sydney Children’s Hospital to make the fifth personal donation of my journey.
I was pleased to hand over a cheque for $5,000 and get another snap with a novelty cheque – at least my eyes are open in this photo:
Thanks to Jess (pictured here with me) from the Kid’s Cancer Centre for showing me round and giving me a tour of the children’s cancer ward, and to Sophie from the Sydney Children's Hospital Foundation for coordinating.
We toured the ward, and while as usual it was a bustling place, I got to witness two pretty cool things.
One was to watch one of the musical therapists in action, banging away on the drums to the delight of the young fella in his hospital bed, and the other was to meet one of the residential pharmacists who, with a big smile on her face, informed us that she has just delivered a basket of meds for a young girl to take HOME.
It was a special day for this young girl – she had been in and out of the Intensive Care Unit for quite some time and was finally going home after 120 days in hospital!
Witnessing moments like this and seeing the pride and joy in the staff who are genuinely stoked to get these kids on the mend is a fantastic motivator for me on my ride.
The Sydney Children’s Hospital is another hospital staffed by some amazing people. The cancer ward is a pioneering ward, with a high percentage of the children participating in leading clinical trials. The money I donated will go right to the front line of cancer care and will impact not only children treated today, but will help develop cures for the future.
I am thrilled that my money can be put to immediate use.
I then spent a few days enjoying Sydney. I was staying down in Coogee, which is certainly a beautiful part of the world:
Coogee sunrise - beautiful.
While the hustle and bustle of traffic is a slight nightmare, it was wonderful to be able to catch up with a few old friends.
After fitting in some frantic catch ups with friends (which were all brilliant), I packed up and was on my way to the Nation’s Capital.
In my past job, I had often worked on transactions involving Government Departments based in Canberra. Though that was often frustrating (the wheels of Government can turn slowly etc. etc.), it was great to arrive and visit this city – I had never been.
A few of my friends had also relocated at different times to Canberra, and I was looking forward to catching up with them. I had a lovely Italian dinner, an early morning breakfast, and a very healthy lunch – certainly packed in the catch ups as much as I could!
I managed to also cruise around on the bike and check out some of landmarks and famous buildings, dodging the rain as often as possible.
It was a bit of a lightning visit, but I also managed to stop off at the Camp Quality ACT office to make the sixth donation of my ride.
It was great to drop by and donate $2,500 to this brilliant organisation.
Camp Quality receives NO government funding – the organisation relies solely on donations and fundraising efforts to facilitate the amazing programs they run for children battling cancer.
Through amazing camping experiences, Camp Quality helps connect kids and families going through what can be an isolating and certainly scary time with others in the same boat – a truly wonderful and valuable initiative.
Camp Quality has also expanded in recent years and now allows siblings of children with cancer to come along on the camps, keeping families together and ensuring that the siblings of children with cancer do not feel ‘left out’ – a real and psychologically damaging reality of the siblings of children battling cancer.
Another little fact for you: Camp Quality staff are among the lowest paid staff of any charity; the majority are pure volunteers. The staff are truly passionate and believe in what they are doing and it was a pleasure to learn about their work.
I may or may not have been recruited to apply to the ‘Bro Up’ initiative run by Camp Quality once I return home – over 50% of the Camp Quality campers are boys, while less than 30% of the volunteers are men!
Thanks to Sonia, the Camp Quality Regional Manager (pictured here with me), for grabbing a coffee with me and filling me in on the work done by the organisation.
Post caffeine hit and lunch with a friend, I set myself up to re-join Highway 1 and make my way to Melbourne – I am truly starting to feel as if I am homeward bound!
Making it to Eden, the cold was getting to me and I was spent, but happy to have rejoined Highway 1.
The day then came to reach Melbourne, one of my favourite Australian cities (after Adelaide of course!).
I am currently sitting at a café writing this blog post (so Melbourne am-i-rite?). It is a beautiful sunny day here.
I visit the Royal Children’s Hospital tomorrow to make the seventh donation of my ride, and finally meet Maria, the brilliant operator from the Children’s Cancer Foundation who has been such a massive help with my ride and my contact point on the Foundation side of things.
For me, it is then off to Tassie for the rest of the week before a return to Melbourne, and the beginning of my ride back home!
Donation update and call to action
As I write this, $32,274 has been donated to the Children’s Cancer Foundation! With my matching donations directed toward hospitals around Australia, this means that, as a team, we have pledged $64,548 in the battle against childhood cancer! Thank you so much to you all!
As always, you can donate by clicking here.
Please do chuck in a few dollars if you can spare them, every single donation is greatly appreciated by the Foundation and myself, and my journey is not too far away from finishing.
All the best for the week ahead.
James