Week 11 mileage
Days 71-73: Melbourne
Day 74: Davenport to Hobart: 282kms
Day 75: Hobart to Davenport: 380kms (scenic route!)
Days 76-77: Melbourne
Week 11 mileage: 632kms
Total trip mileage: 18,116kms
Welcome to the Week 11 Blog.
Well, I started and finished week 11 in Melbourne!
Early in the week, I visited the Royal Children’s Hospital to make the seventh personal donation of my ride, presenting the hospital with a cheque for $5,000.
The Children's Cancer Foundation will work with the hospital to direct my donation to critical needs areas.
Pictured here with me are Merridy and Maria. Thanks to you both for the hospital tour and filling me in on both the amazing staff, and the amazing work being done at the hospital.
Maria has been my contact point and charity guru at the Children's Cancer Foundation.
Merridy's role, funded by the Foundation, is to support the children and families enduring a hospital stay – a truly vital role in a children's hospital. Her passion is evident, and she is well loved by staff, the kids, and families alike.
The hospital itself is massive, complete with an aquarium and meerkat enclosure for the kids - incredible!
After spending my last day in Melbourne (for the week anyway), I loaded my bike onto the Spirit of Tasmania and set sail for our often forgotten friends down south (coming from Adelaide I can empathise with Tasmanians often feeling left out of things…).
Arriving into Devonport bright and early at 6am, I made sure I was covered head to toe in thermals, balaclavas, and insulating layers before leaving the ship.
Just before Dawn in Devonport, freezing!
Still, as soon as I got going on the bike in brisk 3 degree weather, I was freezing!
Regardless of that fact, Tasmania is beautiful. Riding down toward Hobart, the landscapes were breathtaking. The grass was about as vibrant green as I have ever seen, and combined with the morning fog rolling through the hills and the orange glow of sunrise, it was an absolute treat to experience.
Arriving in Hobart, I could unfortunately hardly stop shivering and shaking for a good 15 minutes after I had got off the bike.
A few coffees later and some concerned looks from the staff where I was staying, my body temperature seemed to have regulated itself and it was off to the Royal Hobart to make my next personal donation.
I arrived at the Royal Hobart Hospital to make my eighth personal donation early in the arvo – I presented a cheque for $5,000 to the paediatric ward.
Thanks to Kelly, pictured here with me, for showing me round, and to Robyn for coordinating my visit.
The paediatric ward is a 24-odd bed ward, treating children from 0-18 years old who are battling a wide range of illnesses, including cancer.
The Royal Hobart does not have all the resources of some of the larger mainland hospitals, so staff need to be proactive and deal with a wide range of scenarios – I have so much respect for staff at hospitals like this.
The ward implements many of the great initiatives I have seen all over Australia. From a play therapist for the kids, to an educator keeping the kids up with school work (where possible), to a number of distractions for the kids around the ward (picture star stickers on the roof, and fairy tale themed paintings for the kids to decipher (like the one in the background of this photo)), it was another education for me on the different types of strategies used to help children feel as comfortable and distracted (from whatever ails them) as possible while visiting hospital.
Leaving the hospital, I spent the rest of the afternoon riding around Hobart – I had never been and it is a lovely city. It has a very countryside feel to it and the architecture and rolling landscapes are truly something special.
The next day was spent making my way (much slower and in warmer weather thankfully) back toward Devonport. I stopped off at a few wineries and cafes on the more scenic route I took, and left Tassie far more appreciative of the state than before I had arrived.
I had only visited Tasmania once before, when I was much younger, and unfortunately, all I can really remember is my parents blaring ABBA’s greatest hits into the back as what I still believe was a form of cruel and unusual punishment in response to me and my two brothers belting each other black and blue constantly in the back and generally ruining the planned serenity of the trip that my parents had clearly set out to achieve.
I was happy to have my memories updated and left with much fonder ones.
My older brother Nick then met me in Melbourne for the remainder of the weekend.
It was fantastic to spend time with him. Our weekend consisted of visiting as many bars as possible and trying to see as much of Melbourne as we could, making sure we didn’t go to any bars either of us had been to before. We saw a lot of the city and what it has to offer, and was a nice reminder of how much I enjoy Melbourne. I had not visited very often since Dad was ill and then passed, as I had spent most of my free time visiting SA from Brisbane.
I am looking forward to more frequent Melbourne trips to catch up with friends in the future.
I now enter my second to last week of my ride (!) and will be making my way to Adelaide this week.
I look forward to sharing my last few kilometres of my ride with you soon.
Donation update and call to action
As I write this, $33,699 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 $67,398 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