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12/09/08
A Death-defying Ferry Trip Marks the Journey's End
We’re still counting the cash so I can’t give you a final tally, but I can tell you it fell a bit short of my original goal. I reckon it wasn’t just about the money anyway. What I’m most chuffed about is the amount of awareness we raised of the work of Bravehearts and the issue of child sexual assault, particularly around Sydney. We made some amazing friends and allies along the way who will no doubt continue to contribute to the work of Bravehearts and we got great media support overall.
So while I didn’t make a million, I reckon I can still call this year’s Mowerthon a great success. Not only that, but me and the team, which included my son on the last two weeks, got to have some unreal experiences and see some great places in this big brown land of ours.
We confirmed what we already knew about our fellow Aussies; they are a soft hearted bunch. We also found out that there’s heaps of people willing to support Bravehearts, we just need to let people know we exist.
It was great to see Sydney. Me and the team left the Honda on shore and took a ferry ride from Manly to Circular Quay and back just for fun. I tell you, I thought I’d seen my last days. The weather was foul and it was the roughest seas they’d had in a while and that ferry was rockin’ and rollin’ all over the bay. Someone said they usually shut the ferries down in that sort of weather.
We had a great day fundraising in Manly once the bad weather had cleared and the following day, me ‘n’ the Honda and the team went for a stroll across the Sydney Harbour Bridge to our Bravehearts New South Wales headquarters.
Unfortunately, we missed out on getting our mugs on Channel Nine’s Today Show on White Balloon Day because of the tennis, but you can’t win ‘em all. Frankly, I was glad to get back in the car and head for home. I was missing the Gold Coast and the warm weather.
I had a day’s rest when I got back home and then it was back to work mowing lawns. It’s all very well making millions for Bravehearts, but I’ve got to earn a crust for myself too you know!
My sincere thanks to the Manly Lodge Boutique Hotel and the North Shore Hotel for our accommodation in Sydney and a massive Bravehearts thank you to everyone who helped to make the trip such a success. Couldn’t have done it without you.
See you next year!
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05/09/08
Lost Pillows and Shopping Centre Evictions But We're On the Home Straight.
So basically, I’ve been coping with the loss of my favourite pillow by throwing myself into my work which, as you know, is trying to raise as much cash as possible for the wonderful organisation that is Bravehearts all the way from the Gold Coast to Sydney.
Since you last heard from me, I’ve been to Forster and stayed at the Forster Motor Inn and Buladelah, where our accommodation was donated by the Plough Inn Motel, Newcastle, which was awesome and where we stayed at the Tudor Inn Motel. In Newscastle, we were serenaded by the amazing Choir of No More Knocks and then it was on to Toukley where the aforementioned unfortunate occurrence, occurred. If it wasn’t for Bronwyn Carroll and the lovely folk at the Beechcomber Hotel who located my lost pillow and promised to keep it safe for me to collect on the return journey, I would have been left with most unfortunate memories of that pretty little seaside town.
We stopped off at the Ashwood Motor Inn at Gosford and we stayed in Hornsby last night where we met the lovely Mercia Bradshaw of the Hornsby Inn. Mercia was as keen as mustard to help us out in any way she could. She took some white balloons and a copy of the Ditto DVD for the local school. She even let me take a bucket around the bar collecting. It was really inspiring to see someone so full of pep over Bravehearts and it gave me ‘n the team a welcome boost. After so long on the road, we’re getting pretty knackered, I have to say.
All along the way, we continue to be touched by the generosity of townsfolk. Bob Wilson has continued on with us and is going on ahead and generally stirring things up before we arrive in our various destinations. The last couple of days have been a bit slow when it comes to donations but maybe that’s a side effect of being so close to the big smoke where people are more stressed out from the traffic and the pollution. That’s my theory anyway.
Yesterday, whilst in Hornsby just pushin’ the mower around outside a local shopping establishment and mindin’ my own beeswax, I was accosted by two security guards and escorted from the premises. Apparently, I was breaking some sort of council decree that no charity shall step inside the hallowed grounds of this particular shopping precinct lest they happen to distract shoppers from spending their money in the shops or worse, actually taking money that would otherwise have been spent in the shops. Oh well, the protection of our children from child sexual assault is obviously not on the priority list for some. It’s off to Manly tomorrow. Keep you posted on the rest.
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30/08/08
I Turn Poet, Ditto Gets Mobbed and the Legendary Bob Wilson Performs Miracles.
While I was really excited about seeing my son again, it was equally sad to be standing there watching Judy and the bus she was sitting in, driving off into the blue yonder after so long in each other’s company. But it felt good to know that we’d given her a good send-off at the Panthers club the night before. While the Honda sat in the foyer and fundraised by itself for the evening, I was in the dining area reciting a wee poem I’d written for Judy. It went like this:
Judy, Judy I will miss you when the apple blossoms bloom,
Judy, Judy with a smile here and a smile there and a smile everywhere.
Judy, Judy, I shall surely miss you when the apple blossoms bloom.
Judy, who is normally a tough little cookie, started mumbling something about the air conditioning making her eyes water. A little bird later told me that Judy was chuffed because no one had ever written her a poem before and sang it with such sincerity. Cheerio Judy and thanks from the bottom of my heart for all your hard work. I’m sending you an imaginary ThankShoe right now.
Before I move on, I need to say a few words about the rest of our stay in Kempsey (the town of my birth), which was where we were before we went to Port Macquarie. I want to thank Jurgen at the Moon River Motor Inn in Kempsey for cooking the team a great brekky and for donating three nights accommodation as well.
It was great to be back in the old home town again and my thanks go to the people of Kempsey for their generosity and hospitality.
In Port Macquarie, we met up again with the amazing Bob Wilson who, I have to say, has made an exceptional contribution to this part of the journey. Before we got into town, Bob had already been working his butt off distributing brochures to businesses and generally shouting from the rooftops about our impending arrival. Not only that, but over the next few days, he shouted us dinner I don’t know how many times, got permission from the Westport Bowls Club and the Panthers football club for us to set up in their lobbies and fundraise, roped his mates into helping us fundraise, organised a weekend mower raffle at Bunnings and then stood in a howling gale with his mates selling tickets, got permission from the local markets for us to set up a stall and for me ‘n’ the Honda to walk around fundraising and best of all, he got Judy and me out of the freezing cold into Settlement City shopping centre where he had obtained permission for us to fundraise some more. No more freezing me shorts off for this little black duck!
A heartfelt thanks must also go to Bev and Tony from the Quality Inn who gave us accommodation and three morning’s worth of beautiful cooked brekkies. I tell you, if you’re partial to a cooked breakfast, check in at the Quality Inn at Part Macquarie some time soon. The new team would also like to thank their host in Port Macquarie, the Kew Motel where they stayed for two nights and the Legends Café where they scored a delicious cooked brekky. Judy did a great job training the new team in how best to look after me (and how I like my coffee)…just kidding. Ditto also made an appearance at the Westport School, and got mobbed by happy kids. The school gave us a terrific welcome and the local Rotary and Child Protection Network put on a sausage sizzle which impressed Ditto, who loves his meat. The kids loved the Honda and Ditto and we all had a great time. This was yet another thing organised by the legendary Bob Wilson. God bless him. After saying cheerio to Judy and Port Macquarie, we headed to Taree and checked in to the Midlands Motel. We got to meet the Mayor and chatted to a reporter from the Manning River News. I don’t know whether it was my aftershave or something in the water at Taree, but I seemed to be getting a lot of hugs from the local sheila’s while I was out fundraising. Needless to say, I enjoyed Taree very much. Next it was off to Forster where we checked into the Forster Motor Inn. The new owners, David and Shirley McGrady, were amazing. They not only honoured the agreement that was made to donate accommodation before they bought the place, they also gave us a complimentary breakfast. Keep you posted on the rest.
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23/08/08
Bikers, Pineapple Doughnuts and Goodbye to my Team.
<DIV>There’s Pat and Judy sitting in the car outside Subway, bellies full from a cracker of a free feed (tell you about that later) when they spot about 100 bikers pulling into the roadhouse up the road. The girls immediately see walking, talking, leather clad, tattooed, heavily pierced, grizzly-looking… <EM>dollar signs </EM>and head straight toward them. Not only that, but they decide to rope me ‘n’ Robert into things by calling us up and saying words to the effect of “get down here quick, there’s about 1000 bikers at the roadhouse. We’re gonna hit them up for some cash.” As it turns out, those bikers were a bit of a stingy lot and we didn’t get much by way of donations, but boy did we have an amazing time talking to those lads. A few of them knew a bit about two-strokes, funnily enough. When they all set off, the ground shook from the rumble of their Harley Davidsons. The Honda needed a few bolts tightened afterward. We went back to our comfortable accommodation (the Rock Pool Motor Inn) for a cuppa and a debrief and then got ourselves ready to give Pat and Robert a decent send-off, it being their last night on the trip ‘n’ all. Robert shouted everyone a drink and I sang <EM>Irene Goodnight </EM>to Pat because Pat’s real name is Irene. I’m pretty sure the other patrons at the Kempsey Hotel enjoyed the performance. I’ll be sad to see Pat and Robert go. They’ve been such a tremendous asset to this Mowerthon. But all good things must come to an end. The good thing is, I’ve got Judy staying on for a few more days and then I get a whole new team who I’m looking forward to getting to know. </DIV>
<DIV>Before I go, I’d like to thank Coffs Harbour International Hotel and John and Julie from the Banana Town Motel who made us the most amazing pineapple doughnuts on Monday and a beautiful brekky on Tuesday. Thanks also must go to Judy Rooney who presented us with Richies IGA key tags and cards to hand out so that 1% of all groceries purchased by a cardholder will go to Bravehearts. Thanks to the Best Western Destiny Motor Inn at Nambucca Heads for their excellent accommodation and to the people of Nambucca Heads who were so warm and generous on Wednesday. Thanks to the Guardian News for showing an interest and Janine at the local Red Cross who offered to volunteer for Bravehearts. Thanks also to Shari, Louise and Rhiannon at the Kempsey Subway store who gave us the works and treated us like kings and Queens, Renata and Kelly of the Bridge Café in Macksville for the lovely beef and gravy sandwich and in particular an amazing man named Rick who we met in the café. Rick had lost everything after being caught in a house fire and severely burnt several years ago. He was living in his car and yet, he still donated his last $5 to Bravehearts. With all the bad things going on in the world, it does the heart good to know that angels are still among us. Finally, I’d like to thank Bravehearts supporter, Bob Wilson, for coming on board this week and helping us out with our fundraising in Kempsey and soon, Port Macquarie. He has pulled some strings and got things happening and he’s a champion in my eyes. Keep you posted on the rest.</DIV>
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18/08/08
Bad backs, the flu and hypothermia for the team - but lots of warm fuzzies to keep us going.
On Friday, we made it to Grafton where me 'n' the Honda were immediately swept up in a media scrum with the local radio station, Life FM, who were waiting for an interview. After that, we did some fundraising around town&nbsp;and the girls&nbsp;went on the hunt for a good deal on sausages for our Bunnings sausage sizzle the next morning. They got chatting to a lovely gentleman called Arthur Liceheart (Bigheart more like it!), president of the Grafton Services Club. By a stroke of luck, Arthur also happened to be&nbsp;in charge of the Service Club butchers generously offered to donate 10kg of sausages for the Sizzle and he also offered to shout us all dinner at the Club that night. We presented Arthur with a Thankshoe for his amazing generosity and had a lovely night at the Club. Arthur even bent the rules and allowed us to do some fundraising. Thanks Mr Bigheart. The next morning, after lovely stay at the Hilldrop Motor Inn, we chipped the icicles off the cars and headed into Bunnings for the sausage sizzle. We arrived bright and early expecting to be greeted by a hungry crowd baying for breakfast, but instead we found ourselves alone and quickly freezing over. The rest of the team got to work setting up the huge Bunnings BBQ on wheels while I stood and supervised (actually, I was frozen to the spot and couldn't move for love nor money). Gradually the sun came out and I thawed enough to help out. By midday, we'd sold 8kg of sausages and made $160. Next we were off to the council chambers for a Mayoral morning tea. Me 'n' the Honda and the rest of the team met the Mayor of Grafton himself, Ian Tiley, together with Steve Cansdell the local MP who presented us with a cheque for $100. We also received $100 from the Grafton Lions. We must have impressed the movers and shakers of Grafton, because Yannick Martin, the first female Rotary club president pledged a personal donation along with several other important local folks. Then the media scrum erupted again and I was off doing interviews with Skye and Kyle from Prime News, and Josh from the Clarence Valley Review. I also chatted to Elize from 2GF AM radio and FM 104.7. I was all talked out after that, but there was still some serious fundraising work to do. So it was back into town while Judy and Pat went to do some banking and the laundry. And if you think this fundraising thing is all hand shakes and smiles, think again. It can actually be really dangerous, as demonstrated by Robert, who phoned up saying he'd done his back in on the way up the stairs to the Commonwealth Bank where he planned to try and raise some cash. The story goes, that a woman started talking to him while he was negotiating the stairs and he lost concentration and slipped. Poor old Robert spent the rest of the arvo rolling around in agony on some towels apparently. Talk about suffering for the cause! Overall, we found Grafton to be a thoroughly generous town. We raised $171 at the RSL, $160 at the Sausage sizzle the next morning and $1400 overall. Next it was off to Coffs Harbour. We had to decline a kind offer of free accommodation from Dean at the Golden Dog Hotel at Glenreagh due to our tight schedule, but our thanks go to him nevertheless. Keep you posted on the rest.
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14/08/08
Media mayhem, Thai generosity and streets called Claude, and we`re not even half way!
No sooner had we finished breakfast at the Pacific Motor Inn at Evans Head, than ABC radio was chasing me for a few words with morning program host Bruce McKenzie. I did my bit and then we took a few snaps with our wonderful host at the Pacific Motor Inn, Robin Hagen after presenting her with a Thankshoe for her generous support. Then it was off to town to meet and greet the locals and collect some more donations. The people of Evans Head were so warm and generous and me 'n' the team had a great time meeting them all. The same goes for the people down the road at Woodburn. By the time we got to Yamba (home of the Big Prawn), the girls were ready to faint from hunger. They dragged me 'n' Robert into a little Thai restaurant called Annola Thai. Neither of us blokes were fans of Thai food, but by the time we left, we were certainly fans of this little piece of Asia. When he saw me walk in, the owner jumped up from his own lunch to get me and Robert a coffee and a big pot of tea free of charge. We ended up leaving a Thankshoe for them because they were really passionate about our cause and they donated generously even though their own business was struggling. The girls had a fantastic lunch and we all left with a big morale boost. On our way out of Yamba, we got an unexpected parting surprise when we found a sign reading "Claude Street". It's nice to think a reminder of me will remain forever in that pretty little seaside town.
Then it was off down the road to Motel Maclean where we met up with our hosts for the night, Bill and Marie Goodwin who gave us free accommodation and a complimentary continental breakfast the next morning. After handing out yet another Thankshoe to the generous Goodwins, it was off to town for some more fundraising and yet another radio interview, this time with Neil from 2LM Radio and Roger from 88.9 FM. After the interview, Roger made a further announcement about all the great work Bravehearts does and quoted Anna Bligh talking about how important it was to support White Balloon Day.
By 10.30am, we were setting up our table at Boulevard Park with local Rotary Club reps Marion and Paul O'Halloran. Other members of the Rotary joined us later in the day. Me 'n' the Honda and Judy and Ditto the Bravehearts Mascot did another media interview, this time with the Daily Examiner and the Clarence Valley News. More photo's were taken and then we tucked into some lunch courtesy of the Rotary, prompting us to hand out another Thankshoe. The rest of the day was spent meeting the locals and raising more money. Then it was off to our digs for the night at the Hilldrop Motor Inn in Grafton. Phew!
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12/08/08
Cranes, punk rockers and free meals. I`m having a ball.
After months of preparations, I'm finally on the road to Sydney. It's just me and my trusty Honda mower, oh and Judy and Pat and Robert. So there's quite a few of us really, but I'm the one doing the hard yards. Don't tell the others I said that. To be fair, it has been an incredible team effort to get here and I'd like to thank my support team as well as Cathy, Yvette, Carly and Kristyn at Bravehearts for all their blood, sweat and tears in the lead-up. They gave me a heartwarming send-off at their Arundel office and even the Mayor of the Gold Coast, Ron Clarke, was there to say cheerio! The best moment was when my lovely daughter took me by the hand and said "I'm so proud of you dad".
Our first stop was Brunswick Heads and Murwillumbah and on Sunday, it was off to beautiful Byron Bay. We've been getting a lot of media attention so far. In Byron, Bay FM 99.9 community radio used the local Chase Construction crew at the Chase building site to hoist my Honda 100 feet up in the air for all the town to see, then they lowered it down the building floor-by-floor collecting donations from everyone on the construction site. Those guys were really generous and we got some great radio coverage. On day two, the girls used their feminine charms to get some amazing coverage on NBN's nightly news bulletin of me and the Honda and Ditto at the local Beach Hotel.
At Byron on Monday, we ran into punk rock band member Avid the Alien who pledged to help us in any way she could. She's writing an article for punk rock magazine In-Joy. Bravehearts teams up with punk rock...I never thought I'd see the day.
We've had some tremendous spontaneous support from local business along the way. The Beach Hotel at Byron have been amazing, Subway at Byron gave us all a free lunch, the Murwillumbah Motor Inn donated free accommodation and breakfast and the Evans Head RSL gave us 50% off our meal.
Now it's off to Maclean. See you there.
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