Week 9 mileage
Day 57-59: Brisbane
Day 60: Brisbane to Byron Bay: 166kms
Day 61: Byron Bay to Port Macquarie: 398kms
Day 62: Port Macquarie to Sydney: 384kms
Day 63: Sydney
Week 9 mileage: 948kms
Total trip mileage: 16,198kms
Welcome all to the Week 9 blog. Having made my way down the east coast to Sydney, the main distances have been covered and I only have a few thousand kilometres left on my ride!
I spent the first few days of the week in Brisbane. Having spent three-odd years working there, it was nice to be in town without having to go to work!
On the Tuesday, it was time for me to make my fourth personal donation of my ride.
I visited the Lady Cilento Children's Hospital in Brisbane and presented a cheque for $10,000 (back to the novelty cheques but trust me I did hand over a real one).
I am making slightly larger donations in Brisbane and Adelaide to reflect the weight of support I am receiving in both QLD and SA.
I was privileged to be given a tour of the Oncology Ward by the head honcho, Dr Wayne Nicholls, Director of Oncology, and also had a tour of the Inpatient Unit with the very passionate Helen Proctor, Nurse Unit Manager.
The team there are justifiably proud of the hospital they work in and it was great to be around their energy – I was very thankful.
Massive thanks to Laurie Johnston from the Children's Hospital Foundation (pictured here with me) for organising it all and for also acting as tour guide for much of the hospital.
Me and Laurie Johnston from the Children's Hospital Foundation.
A lovely team of people, and a wonderful hospital.
As with the other hospitals I have visited, there are many initiatives in place to help the children cope with their time in the hospital.
One initiative I found particularly touching is the ‘Wishing Tree’, where children can write down wishes and hang them on this beautiful tree. I had the time to read some of the wishes the children had made. They ranged from the heart wrenching wish of a young boy wishing that his eyes would work, to the humorous from a young girl wishing for more Pokémon! When the tree is full of wishes, they are collected and burned in a Japanese smoke ceremony, to release the wishes into the universe.
Other initiatives include in house entertainers, and a pet area where children can have their pets visit!
The money I have donated will be used to support many hospital initiatives and support the great work being done there.
The next day I dropped by my old law firm, Herbert Smith Freehills, to share my ride with some of my old colleagues.
What a privilege it was – I had a great time catching up with many of the great people I worked with while living in Brisbane. I also managed to get my motorbike 30 stories up above the Brisbane River – how good!
Herbert Smith Freehills has been incredibly supportive throughout my ride.
The firm has generously donated $5,000 to the Children's Cancer Foundation, and have committed to matching employee donations up to another $5,000 – potentially resulting in a $15,000 total contribution by the firm and its employees to the Children's Cancer Foundation!
I have been truly overwhelmed by the support and am very thankful that I spent time working at a firm where community initiatives are strongly supported. It has been very humbling.
Pictured here with me are Vic Brockhall (rocking the mic), who was instrumental in coordinating the support and my presentation day, and HSF Partner Kirsty Faichen, one of my favourite partners at the firm and an active supporter of many of the community initiatives the firm is involved in.
PS: the room did eventually have some people sitting in those chairs… as entertaining as it may have been to present to an empty room! In addition, here is further evidence of my great track record with photos, surely shouldn't be that hard to keep your eyes open?
From Brisbane, it was then down to the Gold Coast where I met up with my younger brother Alex! It was fantastic to see him, and, combined with him being on holidays overseas before I left on my ride, this was the longest we had gone without seeing each other in our entire lives! We are very close, so I was thrilled to have him come along for part of my ride.
Alex would be joining me from the Gold Coast to Sydney, so we immediately set off and made it to Byron for the first night. I was a frequent visitor to Byron during my time studying on the Gold Coast, so we went out to a few local pubs and enjoyed the scenery, making sure we got my bike up to the lighthouse so it has now visited the easternmost point of Australia!
Not sure what I'm doing here - easternmost point of Australia, Byron Bay lighouse
The next morning, it was off to Port Macquarie. Riding in a bit of rain, I could almost see Alex smiling to himself as he followed in the car…
Reaching Port Macquarie, we took a look around town, at the beautiful beach, and caught a movie before having a relaxing night after the previous large night in Byron Bay!
The next day it was off to Sydney. We faced a bit of a decision this particular morning. Port Macquarie had 50-100mm of rain forecast, and many of the towns we would pass through toward Sydney had 25-50mm rain forecasts.
Alex had to get to Sydney to return the hire car and fly back to the Gold Coast, and I didn’t particularly want to wait around.
So, we decided to push on, and what a day it was!
I got drenched for large parts of the ride. It was an absolute life saver having Alex along with me.
It was funny, when Steven, my father’s childhood friend, had written the letter to our family upon Dad’s passing, the letter that formed the catalyst for my ride, one of the stories he told when recalling childhood memories of growing up with my father was of a time he (Steven) was riding home from Adelaide on a motorbike through heavy rain, and a car pulled up behind him, put its lights on high beam, and guided Steven through the storm.
When the storm eased, the car pulled past Steven and Steven saw it was my Dad driving the car!
Well, on my way down to Sydney, Alex pulled right in behind me, and had his lights on. I felt much safer knowing that he was watching my every move should I need to brake suddenly or come off the bike, I certainly felt less likely that he would run me over and didn’t have the stress of having impatient cars getting right up behind when I needed to ride a bit slower through heavy rain.
When we arrived in Sydney we both exclaimed how we were thinking about that part of Steven’s letter throughout the journey down!
I farewelled Alex, and had one of the best sleeps of my ride, feeling very tired from the ride down!
Me and my younger brother Alex, my support driver from the Gold Coast to Sydney!
I will spend a few days in Sydney, catching up with Friends and visiting the Sydney Children’s Hospital tomorrow to present my next personal donation!
Donation update and call to action
As I write this, $30,469 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 $60,938 in the battle against childhood cancer! Thank you so much to you all, especially for cracking the $30,000 barrier!
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