Another night of sleeping in the sprinklers, close to 11p the sprinklers started in the grassed area behind the PCYC Gladstone where we were set up in the camper I crapped myself as I didn't know what all the commotion was when some kids were screaming when they walked past and were getting wet. I didn't sleep too well and felt like crap with a headache and some pleurisy pain. In the middle of the night I also vomited from too much coughing and was not really looking forward to the day of riding with the night being so ordinary.

When I woke I felt a little better and was determined to get on my bike and do the ride for the day even though my body was really telling me that I shouldn't. I probably should be starting some inhalation antibiotics as I haven't been having my hypertonic saline (inhalation salt solution) as it makes me cough too much and I am wanting to get more sleep rather than cough all night. Out of all the days that we have had so far today has been my down day and whoa it was very ordinary for me well being wise - but I guess nothing a warm shower and determination and masking doesn't fix. Megs did ask me if I wanted to miss a day cos of how I was feeling, but my response was no way so pushed through it as I do with many things.

Both Mick and Catriona Newell were going to ride out of Gladstone with me, but Catriona had a race at Rocky that she was doing in the afternoon and didn't think she would be able to do both and be on time for her race so gave it a miss. Mick who is still recovering from his stack at some races in Toowoomba about 2 weeks ago did come out for a ride and all started well. Again another strong rider, Mick is very strong and I was glad that we were not racing as there would be no chance of me keeping up, mind you I did surprise him by pushing in front on the down hill runs... All was going well and then about 20kms into the ride I had some trouble with my front derailer and the chain wouldn't stay on. Mick made a few phone calls to Matt at M1 Cycles and ended up getting Catriona to come in and get me and my bike and take it to the bike shop to get fixed up.

I got back to Mick and Father Rob and explained that all was now fixed and jumped back on the bike and as soon as I put my shoe into the pedal the chain came off again, we were all puzzled for a bit and Mick made more phone calls to Matt. We ended up working out the problem and this time Megs had already caught up to us stopped on the side of the road and she took the bike back into the shop and got it fixed whilst I continued on my way on my back up bike (yep Tony McKechnie's bike got off the roof racks and got to touch the road, so lucky we had a spare bike). Mick and Catriona decided to head home at this stage as they would have been pushing time too much now with the delay of my bike, poor Mick was so itching to get in and have a good ride to test out his recovery and he didn't even really get to warm up.

Riding Tony's bike made me realise how good my carbon alloy trek road bike is I really felt that I was having to work the whole time with Tony's bike and this made the stopping and starting a little harder. Megs got the derailer/bike fixed and meet up with me for a change over and after swapping bikes I got into Miriam Vale about 1pm. I wasn't able to get all my stats for the ride as my trip meter doesn't fit Tony's bike so I wasn't able to get accurate details.

The trip is about 69k's and it took me a little over 3 hours, not including all the stopping time.

I got to have a good sleep when I got into the Miriam Vale show grounds and was very glad that my bike could be fixed up to get back on again. We are off to Gin Gin tomorrow which will be a hard slog, about 99km's with many hills so again I will have Mick and Catriona with me, lifesavers they are at this time to help me out on what will probably be the hardest leg on the whole trip. Hopefully tonight is a better sleep, as I am feeling better tonight than what I did last night - as Megs keeps nagging me, I think I need to get some more fluids in me but I just feel if I drink anymore I will pop or vomit - there is only so much fluid one can consume.

I do know one thing - we won't be surprised by any sprinklers tonight as Miriam Vale show grounds are very dry I don't think this town has seen any rain for a long time, the green frog in the loo made up for the sprinklers

Mick and I ready to go to Miriam Vale.


Leaving the PCYC






Back from Catriona taking me to M1Cycles after my chain kept falling off ............


Just about ready to take off again and one foot on the pedal and chain is off again - ARGH, looks like cog on back the front. Mick and Catriona end up having to say good bye here as more time was wasted than planned and Catriona had races on that she needed to be in Rocky for by the arvo. So will now see them tomorrow instead - Good luck Catriona.


Well with the chain off my bike Tony's bike has come down off the car and now having to go for a spin until my bike is fixed.


Me and Tony Mckechnie's bike - ready for take off!!


Back out on the road doing some hard k's on Tony's bike.


Megs caught up and did a change over of bikes once mine was fixed - thank god, felt like I wasn't getting too far with Tony's bike. I have been spoilt on my bike.


Back on the road on my bike - Miriam Vale again, here I come.


Wave good bye to kids and Megs.


Arriving into Miriam Vale.


Just about there.


I have arrived and been welcomed by Bella and her icy pole. She was very excited to show me here rainbow icy pole and ask if I wanted a lick.


Me now in Miriam Vale.

For a rest day we had to kick it off early as we were booked in with Zinc radio at Gladstone with the breakfast host DREX at 7am, kids woke with our alarms so we decided to take them in for a look and they were up anyway. Radio interview went well and after we finished we went to the local McDonald's for some breaky and to give the kids some good play time having a run around in the McDonald's maze play area. They had a ball and ate plenty.

After Faye from the Gladstone weekly news contacted us with times for a photo shoot we went down to the Sunvalley Rd shopping complex where Mother and Father Rob were set up in between the Stephens super IGA store and Craig's Bakery selling merchandise and raffle tickets. The stall was in a good steady location and the community were generous with their donations and support.

Vicki Brown from the Tannum Sands LJ HOOKER real estate office came down to us also and presented me with a cheque and we got to talk for a bit in between photos and Faye doing her paper deals, Faye appears to be very good at her job and she impressed us with her support of going out of her way to help us in any way with fund raising suggestions, ideas and promotion. A very big Thank you to Vicki for LJ HOOKER's continued support  and generosity with your donation.

Time went quite quickly today and I had planned to have a snooze when I got back to the PCYC. Sgt Mick Newell had collected my bike from M1 Cycles who did a service on my bike whilst in town and put on a new heavy duty chain (again Thank you Sgt Newell and the PCYC for helping out there) so more chatting and thanks were to be had and by the time I decided to go for a snooze I had some visitors from the community, Kristy and Kayla with their bubs and we got to talk about Kristy's brother who also has CF and provide a little insight further on CF and how it can affect each CF person differently. The girls were very interested and had a heap of questions, so hopefully I was able to answer their questions and help them more with a better understanding of CF.

I got a bit of a snooze in the later part of the afternoon, Mum and Dad had already done their stint at the stall and were back before I got a chance to put my head down. Today was a fast rest day and I am looking forward to having a shorter ride tomorrow to Miriam Vale and also have two support riders again with me, so will be good to have some company for talking. Mick and Catriona have spoilt us and been very good to us at the Gladstone PCYC.

Well off to bed for this little duck. Another early morning again and possibly fog on the horizon - Miriam Vale here we come!!


In at the Zinc Radio station with Drex and my family.


Father Rob & Mother Rob setting up the stall


Vicki Brown giving her donation cheque - photo taken by Gladstone weekly.


Photo taken by the Gladstone weekly newspaper


Mum, Dad & I at the stall

Somehow we are getting up early but still seem to be late getting to the Police stations in the mornings to kick off. Today I rode my bike again to the Police station to kick off the ride, the Rockhampton PCYC is litterally only a bridge and 2 streets away so it was good to warm the legs and muscles after my big massage last night to get the body rolling again.

I had Rebecca and Graham from Gladstone Police ride with me today, they got dropped off by the Gladstone PCYC bus and were keen and ready for a nice big ride back home to Gladstone. (Thanks Joe for dropping them in & for Mick to help organise some other riders).

This was the first time I had meet Rebecca and Graham and as we got into things Rebecca somehow clipped my wheel and come a guttsa on her bike taking skin off her elbow. I felt bad for Rebecca but a bit of band aid spray and she seemed to be good as gold and right to get back on the bike and on the road again.

I had Phoenix Radio again phone in with me, they are doing coverage with me each week day which is fantastic. So when Phoenix phoned today we stopped and got a break before kicking off again to Gladstone.
 
We had Catriona Newell join us all at Mt Larcom to ride into Gladstone with us too so that was another stop to refuel the energy and drink levels as we went along. All three, Rebecca, Graham and Catriona are strong riders and they helped me out so much with coming along for the ride, giving me company and breaking the IPOD reliance.

Whilst riding we actually had a tail wind today so that was good for a change, this made the riding a little easier and I was able to sit on 26k's as my average and majority of the ride's speed.

When we arrived into town I soon realised that we pretty much bet Mum and the others to the station, we were riding up the hill when I saw our car overtake us and Nev & Chris on the side of the road. Mum was quickly trying to video and capture us riding in as she got out of the car and ran across the road at the same time.

After a short time at the station cooling down and taking a few pics, Mick Newell took me over to the local bike shop M1 Cycles where he arranged for my bike to get a service and check over. We then went back to the PCYC to shower, fuel up on food and rest up after the big ride. I was spoilt with a prawn sandwich from Aunty Chris - that we down perfectly.

The Gladstone observer newspaper phoned and took brief details for an article, we then later in the afternoon had Faye and Liz from the Gladstone weekly newspaper came to meet us at the PCYC where we were staying and after some time of chatting and getting some ideas of how to further benefit the fundraising Faye and Liz decided to do the photo shoot tomorrow.

Well today the k's travelled were 109.98k's and it took us 4hrs & 4 minutes to ride it. The average speed travelled was 27.02k's and
max speed was 56.88k's. Hot day overall but a good one - thanks again Rebecca, Graham, Catriona and Mick for helping out with todays ride - greatly appreciated.

Another thread - really.


PCYC bus - Graham and Rebecca getting off to get ready.


Rebecca, Graham and I just about ready to go.


On the road


In at Gladstone  - just arrived.


After ride pic. Me, Graham and Rebecca.

Our rest day began nice and early as we had to be ready for Rockhampton radio by 8am, we were introduced and on air at 990 4RO AM Prime radio with Breakfast host Michael J Bailey. Michael was great to chat with and had plenty of questions both off and on air. It was a good chat and promotion of the ride.

After our on air time Megs and I checked out the papers and TV whilst in town. We had a brief interview with the Morning bulletin and later in the day the photographer came to the PCYC to take some pics to go with the article.

When we had finished in town we headed back to the PCYC where we were all camping and had some food and chilled for a bit.  I got to have a bit of a snooze in the down time and we even had some friends drop in on the camp. Tony McKechnie from Springfield and Mike McKechnie (Tony's Dad) from Bundaberg were up in Rocky doing a 'COMPLETE GYM SERVICES' job at the new Stocklands shopping centre and popped in to see us before they started their big drive home back to Bundy. It was a nice surprise to see them and have some visitors for a bit - thanks guys for dropping in.

Whilst we were just chilling out at the camp Father Rob got a hair cut from Megs, she isn't real flash with the clippers and he is a gamer and more trusting person than I when it comes to letting Megs cut hair, but in the end it turned out ok and Father Rob did need a hair cut (and eyebrow, but this didn't get done). The kids were very keen to want to help with the hair cut and then when they couldn't help they wanted the same haircut as Granddad, but neither Megs or I were keen for them both to have blade 3 hair cuts. So a bit of pretending with the clippers and kids were happy thinking that they too had haircuts. Bella and Griffin got to take some pics of Granddad getting his haircut - some not so flattering. Mother Rob also got her haircut - but by hairdressers so they were both refreshed and good to go again.

Griffin got to go to the skate park behind the PCYC today in the down time with Megs and also got to test out the children's road training area which is great for the kids to learn all the signs and road rules - one of the PCYC initiatives in conjunction with Main Roads. Griffin is very keen to do all the tricks on his scooter and enjoys watching the bigger kids on theirs doing all the aerial tricks.

I was keen for the afternoon to come as we booked in an massage at Len Bauer's massage and rejuvenation centre at 3pm, this massage centre came highly recommended by Sgt Greg Jones of the Rocky PCYC so I was ready and good to go for a rub down.

After riding 300 k's in 3 days and this being the biggest I have ever done I really was needing a good massage I can't say much more about this Massage apart from it was the best yet on the ride. I got a relaxation massage for half hour and then sat in this special massage water bed for half hour.  I wish my bed at home was one of those water massage bed's I would never get out of bed!!

We had a very scrumptious meal for dinner - more Blue Salmon and again was divine - If I moved to Clareview I think I know what I will be eating every night. After dinner we relaxed a little with some games of Jenga , we were able to be loud this time without upsetting any other campers to it was good fun, Aunty Chris (my crazy loud but very funny Aunty) won 3 out of the 4 games, well really lost but she was claiming that she won.

Overall the day was pretty lax with not really much on -  we didn't have any luck with shops to set up a stall, but all is good as we got to actually chill for a bit and have a semi real rest day. Off to Gladstone tomorrow and have a few other Police riders to come on board with me so will be good to again have company and some wind breakers.

Some pics from the day........... Just about to go on the radio.


In Studio with Michael J Bailey.


Danger - Megs with clippers and the hair cut for Father Rob has just begun.


Close shave!!





A Bella pic of Mum and Aunty Chris watching on.


Me with the newspaper photographer.


Griffin having a go on the road training centre out front of PCYC while Bella was snoozing.






New lease of life after snoozing, Bella getting Griffin to chase her in the skate bowl.




Trying some tricks in the bowl.

I am behind on the blog so it will get updated over the next few days now that we have soooo much better net access.

The last leg - DAY 34 is happening 29th August from Prince Charles Hospital at 7a and I will be arriving in Ipswich at Queens park around the 1pm mark.

Please come and join me in celebrating my fundraising event of riding 34 days from Cairns through to Ipswich.

Sausage sizzle will be available - I am nearly home, this is exciting!!!!

Last night we had a good feed at the pub and whilst there we got to socialise and chat with some of the guys and gals from the Childrens Variety Bash. These guys were from Goodna and surrounds so it is a small world when you think about it.

There was many laughs and plenty of beers by the Variety crowd, and I think by the end of the night and a few beers later Uncle Nev bought himself a variety bash car without even knowing it. The variety bash team kicked off early on the road to continue their journey to Townsville and I think there will be plenty more beers and laughs for them all along the way. The variety in cars and air horns was great and they are a great bunch of people doing a great thing for all the kids.

Again a bit of fog lingering around today, so instead of leaving at 7a as planned we left closer to 8a if not a little after. S/C Neil Lloyd Jones from Marlborough Police rode with me today, again another strong rider. Neil is part of the Rocky cycling group and gets coaching for his riding and I can really understand how people can get right into the cycling - I am loving being on the bike and testing myself (and on the other hand wish I had a few more rest days in between the days and rides that we have coming up).

I am enjoying having company with me when riding. It makes it an easier ride and good to have some one to chat with and break the wind and set a rhythm. Neil was very easy to talk with and only being the new officer at the station I was very lucky to have him to ride with me and he was able to have days off so that he could ride - he was happy with this also as it had been a few weeks since he had been a bike himself due to moving stations.

Neil got a few work phone calls whilst we were travelling along, I think today was the busiest day that Marlborough has had since he has been there and he wasn't there to do the job and they had to get police in from other divisions to sort it all out.

Father Rob even got caught up in some of the excitement when he went back in the afternoon to get his caravan. He popped into the service station to get a sandwich before coming back and a man at the service station frisked him and started to ask a heap of questions and was causing a scene at the service station. Father Rob soon worked out that this guy had some sort of mental issues and knew that Neil wasn't in town so had to arrange with Neil's wife to get other police in town to get some help for this man. Father Rob kept talking with this man until police arrived and their discussions sound very interesting and strange also.

We thought Father Rob had got lost at the pub when he was collecting his van but no he was stuck helping out this mentally ill man and the Police.

The ride from Marlborough to Rocky was another long one with more head winds, it was a hard one, but again it seemed easier with Neil coming on board and riding with me.

The trip today was 106.9 k's in total and this took Neil and I about 5hrs and 6min.  The average speed  was 20.92k and the maximum speed was 45.61k's.

So far I have ridden 1091 k's in total so have ridden over half way now.


The Variety Bash team and I behind the Marlborough pub

Not a clear pic - but another of the variety bash group and I.


Neil and I getting ready.


Still checking over things, Neil and Uncle Nev watching on.


On the road at Marlborough to Rockhampton





Griffin again helping - this time to pack up, trying to pull the pegs out. This was the day that Grandma and Griffin pulled the pegs out before all the gear out of the camper. Fun way of Megs and Grandma getting all the stuff out of the camper.


I am having a stop along the ride (about half way through the ride to Rocky), on the phone with Phoenix radio.


No moment is private - this rest stop had no loo's. Go away Megs.


Getting ready to get back on the road, Aunty Chris waited for a bit before getting back on the road as everytime they drove past me I was off the bike and having a rest, so she wasn't real sure if I was actually riding or not!!


Neil back on the road.


And me getting back on the road.


As we rode along.


Uncle Nev waiting with the kids while I rode into town


Neil and I arriving into Rockhampton.


Mum just finishing some video footage and now time to relax and get some food and more drinks in - glucolyte by the gallons!!


Kids giving me stickers and telling me about their drive into Rockhampton.


A few stretches after 106.9 k's.

We had a nice stop over at Clareview, magic views with aqua waters and after meeting with locals from Caboolture we kicked off a little after 7a this morning and another morning that started with head winds. Today was cold and I started with the parker on and even after riding for a bit there was no rush for the parker to come off this morning.

Today was a big day in the saddle again with a total of 5 hrs riding, 107.5 ks travelled, average speed 21.43k, top speed was 57.95kms got a bit of a boogy on for a bit so took advantage of no winds for a little. I think Father Rob must have fallen asleep at one stage whilst being the safety escort  as he had to do 65k's at one stage to catch up to me.

I had Mexican belly today with the road kill, the smell was disgusting and my belly didn't know if I was to keep my food down or not, there was plenty of road kill too......... so I just needed the sombre to keep up with my belly..... I guess I did get a little Mexican siesta too in the afternoon - might have to claim today as the Mexican theme day!!

I had the jack hammer effect happening again with the ripple strips today and it was a bugger as I couldn't get off the damn things and had to wait  for the wind to kick me off them so I was seeing triple of the bike whilst on them and it made it harder to ride a bumpy track.

As I was coming close to Marlborough I saw this Black cab drive past and then past again, and I didn't really realise who it was until I heard the yelling from the driver. Barry and Julie Collins were on their way up North for their holidays and decided to pop in to say G'day. Barry had been texting me to see where I was at for the last few days and I thought nothing of it, just thought he was keen and interested on how I was going and where I was rather than trying  to work out where he could catch up and meet with me. It was a great surprise, so two days of surprise visitors - will be great if these surprise visitors continues.

Getting ready for the big day of riding ahead.


Saying Goodbye to the Caboolture campers


Good byes with Griffin


Good Byes with Aunty Chris, and I am sure she is telling Megs to put that Bloody camera away


Bella's Goodbyes - I think she has found the camera!!


Last chats before getting on the road


The kids decorated my helmet with some of the stickers they got from Victoria Searle's birthday party.


On my way out of Clareview


Change over of support vehicles along the way.


Arriving in Marlborough


107.5k's later I have arrived in Marlborough


Everyone waiting for me, including my surprise vistors Barry and Julie Collins


Julie welcoming me into Marlborough


Our friends stopping in for a surprise visit on their way to Cook Town.
Julie Collins, Me and Barry Collins.


Julie, Megs, Me, Barry, Bella and Griffin.
 

Catching up at our camp area - the rest area behind the Marlborough pub (Good Meals there too I must add).


Me obviously telling one of my stories


Griffin helping Megs put the camping bunk beds together - kids beds.

I ended up leaving around the 730a mark from the Mackay Police station as I had some trouble with my front hub and lost some time,
my understanding of bikes is slowly coming around. Things were travelling good and the wind decided to pay a visit and bloody stay from about 830a onwards.

We ended up doing the support crew change over at about the 60k mark and this change over seems to be working well, as usually Father Rob leads me out in the mornings whilst Dad takes his van to the next town and parks it, Dad then comes back to Father Rob and I on the roads and change over giving me a break too and then Father Rob goes off and gets his van from the last town and takes it to the next town so that at night we are still all together and get to know what is the go for the next day.

Average speed for the overall ride today was 17 k per hour. total k's ridden today was 127.

Today was the first time I was able to achieve the speed limit..... 20km corner proceed with caution and I am such a rebel I got to fly around it at 20k !!

This leg has been the biggest ride that I have done yet and also the longest that I have sat in the saddle as the HTM Brisbane to Gold coast was 100k's and that was 5 hrs or so, today was about 6 hrs and 8 minutes in the saddle. Winds died off later in the after noon, my knee hurt about 100k's out (into the ride) and I had to strap it and that supported it a bit and helped me get through it. Whilst riding I am listening to the ipod but I had to give it up in the later part of the ride as my ears where getting sore from the ear pieces pressing. (worse than the pain of Megs nagging in my ears - love you dear!!)

The ride was again hard , purely head winds, little tired today and I thought that I had the mind set to deal with doing the ride today, but I found that I kept having to keep focused as every time I went past the signs with the travel k's on them that I felt as though I was not actually getting anywhere.

I thought down hills were to gain speed but somehow today I was going down hill and found that I was going slower and I was trying to rest from peddling, I was at 26k's per hour and found that going down hill I was doing 24 cos of the hill. This was confusing and odd at first loosing speed down hill, but soon just took it easy and let the down hill be a relax and slow instead of trying to fight the wind.

Today was another hard day mentally, just trying to think about other things than how many k's left I had to do. When I came into Claireview I got a very nice surprise with my Aunty Chris and Uncle Nev waiting for me to welcome me in. I didn't know they were coming but supposidly mum and dad did and kept it as a surprise so they will be with us for the next few days to take on some of the Journey - Thanks Nev and Chris and welcome along on our bike riding journey.

We had fresh Blue salmon fish bbq'd for dinner and this was caught fresh today by one of the local's and was devine. I don't think I have tasted a fish so sweet and nice of recent and look forward to having more over the next few days.

Road surface today was also very ordinary, this made it again a little harder. About the last 5 k's of the road the road was like a big patch of ripple strips and pot holes, it either had not been maintained well or shabby job. I felt like I was trying to control a jack hammer instead of ride a bike for that part, all I could think of was my Uncle Grahme when we were giving him a head massage with a massage spider/octopus thing and him doing a jack hammer action and a dook, dook noise to go with.

All being said and done I do know that I have been in the saddle for 6 hours today, my butt is feeling a little sore, first time in the trip. We have another big day on the bike tomorrow with close to 100k's to Marlborough so early night, well after my machines anyway and hopefully I sleep well tonight - we don't have a talking unicorn in the camper tonight so that should make things a little quieter. (Bella borrowed one of the Searle girls talking unicorn stuffed toys last night and I crapped my pants when it first spoke in the night as didn't realise that it talked).

Whilst I was working hard on the tredley, Megs, Mother Rob and kids stayed behind for Victoria's 5th Birthday and got to share in her little party. Kids loved it and were very impressed by the icecream cake.

Today was 127.82kms, average speed was 20.72k's max being 50.23. I rode it in 6hours and 8minutes.

Currently I have ridden 876kms and been 41hrs ridding in the saddle - feels like over half way when we say it like that!!

Trying to work out what is wrong with hub?


Now sorted and about to get on my way.


These could be my back up bikes if all else fails - couldn't decide on colours, what the heck ride both!!


Now on the road and heading out of Mackay to Clareview.

The party - boys at the table feeding themselves in case they miss out on the good stuff.


Bella not too far behind the boys when it comes to food - just like her mother in that department.


The Birthday girl in yellow and cheeky sister next to her waiting for some games.


Victoria the Birthday girl.


Griffin very happy to be riding a bike.


Mick and Griffin playing footy

Enjoying the swing.


Polly pockets surprising Victoria, a little girl can never have enough of the polly pocket toys.


The gorgeous birthday icecream cake made by Cindy 'Mum' Searle.




Uncle Nev and Aunty Chris waiting for me to ride on in.


Arriving into Clareview






Dad, Mum and Aunty Chris eating blue salmon at Clareview


Mother Rob with the kids




Uncle Nev and Father Rob dinning out at Clareview


Aunty Chris - she just loves having her photo taken!!!

I got to relax a little today, a slight sleep in to 7am.  We kicked off the day just trying to work out what we needed to do for the day. Both sets of parents again had arranged to go into the shops to sell raffle tickets and CF merchandise, the Cane Lands Central management was good to us and put the stall out the front of Big W and so Mackay community got to be exposed to the ride and the stall for the majority of the day.

In the morning the kids, Megs and I went to see Pierce play soccer and I took some pictures whilst Pierce was playing his game. We all missed the one goal that he got but it was a tough game with only about 4 boys available to play for the day.  After the game the kids got snow cones and this was their first and they loved them.  We then went and collected my bike from Bicycle Connection at 20 Victoria Street, Mackay where it was getting a service - they ended up doing the service for free being that I was doing the ride for charity. A big thank you to store for doing the service and donating their services and time, greatly appreciated.

We then went to the Cane land central shops to get some lunch and see the parents whilst doing the stall. It was interesting seeing the local community getting involved and being genuinely interested. A few people that did stop knew of someone who had CF so I was able to talk with people and there was a few questions pointed my way so it was good.

We then headed back to the Searle's house and started to get things ready for tomorrow. The kids all had fun playing on the swings, chasing each other and Mick chasing them so I got to take some good pics of the Searle kids and update their pics as it has been close to 16mths since I last did a family shoot for them.

We had a great big feed of spaghetti bol and it was delicious. With a full belly and no afternoon snooze I have opted for an early night tonight, off to Clare view tomorrow. A big day ahead and again hoping that the head wind doesn't decide to come out and if they do I hope that I have got a heap of k's already done by the time that it kicks in.

Bella getting stuck into her snowcone.


Griffin also enjoying his snowcone.


Mum and Dad at the Cane land central shops selling raffle tickets and Merchandise.

Whilst staying at Calen Caravan park, Griffin came a guttser on the dipper hill. He was scooting on the driveway hill and did it successfully for a few times and then got gamr and took the bigger option and went a sliding on the ashphalt driveway, skinning nearly every part of his body. Bella was very impressed by his injuries and as he was screaming in pain she was telling him to stand still so she could photograph it all. Griffin's screaming woke me and I actually thought that he had broken something, after some time he settled down and he did sleep well that night.

I kicked off from the caravan park today instead of the Police station which was only about 1 km away and today was a kick ass day, we left a little earlier. I think today was actually the only day that we have been on time let alone early, I rode well but I got  head winds about 10k's into the ride so this made the ride hard. Riding with the head winds is like adding another 100k's to the ride for that leg. The ride doesn't go quick but the music seems to come around quickly with songs that I don't find good or easy to ride with, I need to upload more music for variety, especially being that I have a few k's still to do.

There was no roo's and hardly any road kill today on the roads today so my stomach stayed good - no mexican wave inside there today.

When I arrived at Mackay station Mick Searle and 3 of his children were there waiting for me. Mick had also arranged Win TV (Channel 9) and they did a great interview that was viewed to air that night. Whilst putting the bikes away and kids in the car a complete stranger came and gave us a generous donation on the streets - it surprises me that complete strangers approach me to support and give me their money when they see me in the street. Channel 7 was going to come down also but couldn't make it. The Newspaper also wasn't able to make it but the TV snipett from WIN was great.

Mick had to work that night but we had a great BBQ dinner and the kids had a great time playing with the Searle clan, all four of them.

Rode 56.1kms, 2 hours and 33minutes to ride it. Avg speed 21.97 & top speed was 45.56.

Getting ready to leave the Calen caravan park and ride begins for the day.


Goodbyes with Mum before getting on the road.


Leaving the caravan park - Glad Megs doesn't do much of the taking photos for our photography business


On the road and underway


Some of Griffin's injuries from the scooter fall




I have arrived in Mackay and Win TV were ready and waiting


The 4 of us for Win TV


Doing a mock ride for Win TV


Mick Searle and Father Rob chatting