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05/24/2010
WE DID IT!!! We're finally here!
What an epic day! We hit Perth today, our finish line. We started off the day at Meadow Springs Golf Course in Mandurah. It was a chilly morning but we didn't mind the cold considering we would be finishing our cycling journey in a few hours. Teague, an Opportunity International ambassador cycled in from Perth to meet us and cycle back with us for our final leg of the trip. The day was easily in my top 3 cycling days of the last 78. We had a slight tail wind and it was almost all flat the entire way.
We arrived in Perth to a cheering crowd of people at Uni WA. They had set up a bbq for us and a great finishing line event. It was overwhelming seeing people there cheering us on and thanking us for what we had just done. The feeling was almost surreal. It hadn't kicked in yet that this was actually our last cycle together.
We had just enough time between the bbq and nighttime cocktail party to head to our camper van park to shower and change into some clean clothes (supply was limited). We headed down to the Canton Lounge for our night time cocktail finish line party/fundraiser. I was surprised with the turnout and the number of people who were so eager to donate and congratulate us on our achievement. We had the chance to speak to so many different people about our journey and it actually fascinates me as to how many people truly appreciated what we had down. We had a chance to meet and speak with Rob Dunn, CEO of Opportunity International, such an inspiration.
It still doesn't seem real to me that we are finished. The last 80 days have gone by faster than the blink of an eye and I keep thinking to myself that I am going to wake up at any moment and realize it was all just a wonderful dream. Each one of us, Geoff, Vivian, Stu, and myself are walking away with this experience with so many memories, new friends, and lessons learned.
Personally, this experience was nothing short of amazing and I couldn't have done it without the amazing support from all my family and friends from back home. Every single person who has donated, written letters of encouragement, and gone out of their way to let me know that they care, has had a huge impact on my over the last few months and I couldn't have done it without anyone of you. So a GREAT BIG thank you goes out to each and every single one of you for your kind words and money ;) See you all soon.
Also a huge thank you goes out to every single person who helped us along the way here in Australia. From the amazing group of people working at Opportunity, to the lady who baked us fresh muffins in her trailer in Eucla. For each of you we are truly thankful and I can not even begin to describe how much you truly mean to us. It has been a blessing getting to know every person and being to share our message with each and every one of you.
Isabella
05/23/2010
woke up singing "Tomorrow! Tomorrow! I love you, Tomorrow, you're only a day away!" Can't believe that we'll be crossing the finish line tomorrow! Insane.
Having that in our minds made the day a breeze. Crushed the ride along beautiful canals lined with huge mansions - Mandurah is somewhere I'll be buying a house if I ever get those unjustifiable executive salaries.
One of Isabella's dreams for the last few months has been to hold, nay cuddle, one of Australia's kualas. Today was a day of fulfilling dreams as we hit a wildlife conservator to jump into the action. After a big cuddlefest of kualas, we threw some pythons around our necks then fed some camels and roos. Wild step into the outback that we never saw.
Gloria Jean's was excited about our arrival and we spent a couple hours huddling in from the rain enjoying our coffees.
Of all that though, our highlight was a huge Thai dinner. Huge. Oh, did I say it was Huge? Elca, one of our biggest supporters, treated us to ANOTHER dinner, and one we will never forget based on the amount of food we were able to get for such a good price. We all left supremely satisfied and will be sleeping like babies tonight.
Last night in the camper together. Luckily we had the gracious support of Timbertop Caravan park so we were able to power up the van and get a hot shower before our final day! So thankful for their generosity.
Day 78 of beard will be celebrated tomorrow.
Geoff
05/22/2010
Scene: an internal dialogue taking place in Stu's head: hmmm looks like rain. Should probably put on my raincoat. Ahhhhh it's packed in my bag already...I'm sure it will be fine (ominous music begins playing as the bikers set off into steadily darkening skies)
Why yes it did rain. Quite hard at times in fact as we rode down another highway strewn with obstacles galore and a steady stream of traffic. The pace was slow as we battled the rain and a surprising amount of gravel.
Flat tire number one is on my bike. Flat tire two is on Isabella's. Flat tire number three is also on Isabella's. But by this point we have already done the days kilometres, were at a great spot to spend the night, and were wondering where Viv was because she has passed us earlier in the day....
We were fed up with flats and with the agreed kilometerd done, Geoff went ahead racing Lance (not Landis!) styles to find Viv who could not be any more than 5k ahead we figured. Isabella and I spend the coldest hour of the trip doing jumping jacks in the rain as we wonder where the heck everyone is. Turns out Viv is frantically driving around 30km's ahead unable to find us because we have been so long she assumed we had to have passed her. Geoff is slightly behind her and finally just decides to turn around after an extra 20k. Everyone manages to find each other almost simultaneously after the longest "50"km biked this trip in a speedy 5.5hr (okay well geoff did another 40K on top of that)
Wow that was a really long explanation. Let's summarize lessons learned.
1) if the sky is black, it is already slightly raining, and the forecast is 100% rain...WEAR YOUR RAIN JACKET!!!
2) always have a waterproof bag for your cellphone. Then when situations like this happen, you will have it with you!
3) when it is a cold and rainy day, pack a snack...you will be hungry!
Just one of those days!
BUT it makes your tea and dinner taste that much better when you get it :)
I'm not sure when we are ending these blogs, but I believe that this could very well be my last one. Crazy how time flies!! I want to thank everyone who put up with my writing and attempts at humour, and I hope it has helped you stay connected with the team. ill leave all the other thank you's to future blogs...most likely the final one! Thanks again for reading and supporting us along the way. 2 DAYS UNTIL PERTH!!!!
Stu
Sent via BlackBerry® from Telstra
05/21/2010
It's not that often that people feel stress in Australia (a statistically proven fact). I guess us Canadians have a lot to learn...
Without a doubt, it was the most stressful cycling day of the trip. The short ride, about 60km, took about 6 years off my life. After our days riding in the quiet forests of West Australia, the cycle from Busselton to Bunbury was a shocker. There were cars! And trucks! And lots of them! It was like a real life video game I dare say!
**Dodge right to avoid loose gravel**
**Dodge left to avoid rope thing**
**EXTRA points for surviving!!!!**
Congratulations on surviving and making it to Bunbury!!!!....I wish someone had said that to me but instead ;( , we had a quiet afternoon at Wander Inn Backpackers (the first time I've had a private room!!)...(I have my own room!!!!!).
I'm going snore so loud tonight....
Vivian
05/18/2010
Yes it’s official…we’ve finally broken the $30,000
mark! We are so thankful for everyone
who has been supporting us, and we are excited to have finally pushed through
those “20,000’s” that seemed to last forever!
The scenery around us continues to impress, and it makes the
hills that continue to be a part of our days much easier to cope with. I love being back in trees, and we have even
started hearing different birds. Ever
since we began this ride it seems that the most common bird call was one best
described as the ‘sick crying baby’, and that has been slowly replaced as we’ve
moved West of Esperence. I’ve been on
phone calls where people have interrupted, horrified at the noise in the
background, happy at the reassurance that it is just an annoying bird and not
something being tortured!
Some may remember reading the blog I posted awhile ago about
the frenzy a single grocery store will put me in. Well today there were two, and I found out
that I can carry quite a lot of groceries on my handlebars indeed.
Not much else to report except we are looking forward to
finally reaching the WEST COAST of Australia in 2 days from now. It will be exciting to see the ocean, and
then move North in the final push to Perth.
Stu
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