Mileage
Day 78: Melbourne to Apollo Bay
Day 79: Apollo Bay to Mount Gambier
Day 80: Mount Gambier to Adelaide
Days 81-84: Adelaide!
Day 85: Adelaide to…. Home!
Week 12-14 mileage (shooting all over the place): 1,043kms
Total trip mileage: 19,131kms
Welcome to the (almost last!) blog update – I have missed a few weeks so this update may be longer than usual, sorry about that!
The final legs of my ride, while as always an incredible experience, have been frantic, as has been my return home and battling a bit of an illness.
Leaving Melbourne to embark on my homeward journey, I truly felt that I was on the way home for the first time on my ride.
I made my way down through Geelong before reaching Torquay and beginning the Great Ocean Road ride. What a ride it was! The coastline is beautiful, and a treat on the motorbike. So many twists and turns and, with some rain through the previous day, plenty of slow cars and caravans for me to zip past.
I arrived in Apollo Bay and decided to stay put for the night. The cold was certainly getting to me. My riding gear, while right for the job, is definitely on the lighter side of things (layer wise) due to my light packing. I have employed some novel strategies to keep warm during these past few legs of my ride, including buying a newspaper and stuffing it down the front of my jacket to cut down the wind chill!
Reaching Mount Gambier, I was lucky enough to have a roof put over my head and stayed with a close friend of mine from boarding school. I also got to meet his beautiful new baby daughter. We went out on a ‘man date’, eating at a local Italian restaurant and even visiting Copenhagen’s after dinner (despite the cold) – how good.
Waking to another cold morning, I was off to Adelaide. I could hardly believe it; my ride was almost over!
Reaching my mother’s place in Henley Beach, I parked my bike, walked inside and collapsed on the couch. Only 240kms to go to my country hometown but, seeing Mum again and being surrounded by familiar sights, I certainly felt like I was home.
Henley sunset, had missed this!
I spent a few days in Adelaide, catching some friends for breakfast and spending time with family.
Monday rolled around and it was time for my final hospital visit.
I was happy to present a cheque for $10,000 to the Women's and Children's Hospital.
Pictured here with me are some of the lovely team at the Hospital:
Unfortunately I was (and still am to some degree!) battling a bit of an illness so couldn't visit the wards - luckily I am relocating to Adelaide so will pop round for a tour in the next few weeks when I am healthy.
This hospital visit marked the completion of my personal donations, and I have now officially donated $50,000 across hospitals around our beautiful country.
I was then fortunate enough to get onto Channel 9 news live in studio to chat about my ride and share my story.
This was an interesting experience given my predisposition to avoid and feel uncomfortable in photographs/on radio, let alone TV, but all’s well that ends well and I have constantly reminded myself that if appearing through these mediums can raise awareness for the cause and highlight the plight of children battling cancer, I will grit my teeth and sing and dance or whatever else is required to help raise awareness – it is the least I can do.
Reporter: Just try not to look at the camera. Me:....
The next morning I was on the road to my hometown. It was a strange feeling. The frantic pace of the east coast had not been overly conducive to reflection, so I had not really taken stock of the fact that my ride was nearing an end. I was finally hitting familiar road on the homeward leg - it felt surreal, and I was full of energy.
I met my father’s childhood friend Steven (the man who inspired the idea for my ride) at Truro.
As we sat down for a coffee, I was struck by a sudden recollection. I had passed through Truro (a small South Australian town) on the very first day of my ride and, being unaccustomed to the heavy load on the back of my bike and all my gear, had very nearly tipped the bike over in the car park as I tried to manoeuvre it around the cars! What a difference a few months and 19,000kms on the bike makes...
Steven and I finished our coffees before hopping on our motorbikes and setting course for Renmark.
I loved riding with Steven. It was amazing to have another bike on the road with me. Rolling through the familiar country side on the way toward the final destination, I was getting more and more excited.
Arriving into Waikerie, low and behold my 89-year-old grandfather was there waiting for us with my Mum. Being on my restricted licence, I am not allowed to have a pillion passenger, so we had organised for my grandpa (Clack) to jump onto the back of Steven’s motorbike and complete the last leg of the ride, amazing.
Road Hogs. Me with my grandpa Clack, and my father's childhood friend Steven.
This was one of the highlights of my trip, cruising the final kilometres of my ride with my grandpa and my father’s childhood friend along for the ride, it was exhilarating - Clack had not been on a motorbike for over 50 years!
Riding into Renmark my heart was beating out of my chest, I had made it! Dropping my grandpa Clack at his home and farewelling Steven on his ride back to Mildura, I jumped on the bike one last time to ride out to my country home.
Riding around the familiar bends, now much more comfortable on the bike than when I had left, I rolled down my driveway and stopped the bike in the exact same spot I had ridden off from, some 85 days and 19,131kms ago.
Turning around to greet my Mum who had followed me home, I couldn’t resist a little celebratory fist pump, it was good to be home.
Bit happy to reach home!
The week that followed saw me appear on a few radio stations (appearing on one with my grandpa was a highlight!), and generally catch up with sleep and some people from my hometown.
It was now I felt the ride start to catch up with me, I was exhausted! Particularly after a bit of a big homecoming night, I had not had many large nights on the road and seeing some old friends and family for a big celebration was probably the last thing my health (or head) needed. Regardless, it was lovely to see them and was a wake-up call that I am no longer 21 and cannot bounce back so quickly after a long time on the road and a big night – time to grow up I guess.
Pushing through, I was thankful to hold an auction day out at the Wilkadene Woolshed Brewery, as my fundraising efforts are nearing to a close. This day was a roaring success, with $5,622 raised! I cannot thank the Brewery, the businesses who donated items for the silent auction, or the people who made the effort to attend enough – it was a wonderful day, regardless of the fact that I was running around for the majority of it like a mad man.
Out at the Wilkadene Woolshed Brewery for auction day... no leathers and much more relaxed!
As I write this blog update there is just under two weeks remaining to donate to the Children's Cancer Foundation.
I have a few events to attend and present at, which I look forward to doing once I am back to full health. Sharing my story and creating awareness is a huge part of my ride and I have been very grateful to have had the opportunity to do so at many points throughout my ride.
It truly has been an incredible journey. It has not quite sunk in yet, but I do look forward to reflecting on my ride in its entirety once early July rolls around and I fade back into social media wilderness and do not touch Facebook, Instagram, or manage a website for a long time!
Look out for the last few blog posts over the next two weeks, and thanks for coming along for the ride.
Donation update and call to action
As I write this, $44,578 has been donated to the Children’s Cancer Foundation! With my matching donations complete (I have jumped the gun a bit!) toward hospitals around Australia, this means that, as a team, we have pledged $94,578 in the battle against childhood cancer! Thank you so much to you all, we are so close to the $50,000 goal from public donations, and the $100,000 total goal!
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. Tax time is rolling around, and donations close at end of June, so please get involved.
All the best for the week ahead.
James