The Hot Chippies arrived on schedule on Tuesday 14th October in Townsville to a large crowd. A speedy Police escort weaved through Townsville and ended on the beach front restaurant the Watermark. We were greeted by Sharon's dad Richard Carlson, Terry Stewart, CEO of Cystic Fibrosis Australia and a mayoral representative from Townsville, along with a crowd of friends and associates.
A long but successful journey came to an end. The eight riders, who traveled around 2800kms on Postie bikes, averaging only 65kmphr, were relieved to step off their bikes.
Along the ride we met CF families which made it all worth the pain and effort. Our first and most memorable stop was in Peak Hill with the Parker Family. Annette and Gary's daughter Ellie is only 12 months old and has CF. The town rallied together to raise a few hundred dollars and made a great welcome sign for our arrival, with only a days notice. We stopped longer than we planned because of the kindness and generosity of the people.
Also along the way we ran into Rob Muir, he is 32 years old and has CF, it was great to talk to an adult that suffers from CF and give us another perspective to the illness.
We met another 2 families in Moree, Annabelle 9 and Jacob 15, who loved having their photos taken on the Postie bikes with all the boys. In Townsville we met Justin Kelly, only 9 months old, and the Newton kids Daniel 10 & Tahyla 7.
It's not until you meet the kids with CF and realize that it is not a disease that outwardly shows you the signs of the illness. As one of the riders said "You see a beautiful and happy child but when you look into their eyes you can tell that they are in pain inside."
Everyone enjoyed the ride and stopping at all the different towns where we met the locals and heard their yarns. We couldn't have done it without the support crew, the volunteers and people that have fed us and gave us a bed as well as all the community support along the way.
A great big thank you to Jeep, who supplied a Commander for us to use as a support vehicle, which was a breeze to drive even with a trailer and to Telstra Country Wide Next G , who donated the use of a mobile to use for contacting media and the satellite phone which we did have to use only once. We need to make special mention of the sponsors of our helmets, jackets and Postie bikes who without the kindness of these companies and the support of all the local businesses, who helped us get on the road, we would not have been so successful in our efforts to raise funds and awareness for CF.
We left Alexandra with approximately $59,000 raised and banked $7800 along the way from the tins, raffles and auctions held for us in the local pubs. We reached and exceeded out target twice from the beginning of this adventure and we are not done yet. Donations still keep coming in and we have reached a staggering $73,000. Now we await the return of the Postie bikes so we can hold our final dinner and auction where we will be thanking, most importantly, all the sponsors and people that have helped along the way. Without the enormous help from Alexandra Signs, P & D Motorcycles and Alexandra Panels we honestly would not have made it to Townsville (or looked as good on the way) and the support of Heardy's Hire Trailers to carry all the cargo.
A big thank you to our community, it gives us hope to know there are so many good people out there willing to help or donate in some way. We also hope that we have created more awareness of CF and what the families go through. CF families go through their lives with determination and no complaints and we all have to think about how easy our lives are and what it means to do the small things for others.
We are all proud of the success, funds and awareness we have created and look forward to the next event to be held in the near future.
Our final dinner is scheduled for Friday 30th January at the Alexandra Secondary College Hall, 7.00pm. Plenty of Auction Items are available and you get to have a look at what we got up to on the trip. We would love to see you all there. For tickets please contact Hedger Constructions on 03 5772 2750.
