Most of the all-the-way Walkers have been surviving on fleecy web generously donated by Trent the Farrier, a podiatrist from Penrith, gel toe separators, moleskin, blister packs, sports tape, and Betadine for split skin in our feet. But you don't hear any of the Walkers complaining! Believe it or not, they said that (most) of this walk was way too much fun to complain about anything.
The Walkers were launched on their way on this leg by the Mayor of Penrith, Kevin Crameri. He came out to Nepean Shores and said a few fitting words, wishing us well and praising our efforts in what he acknowledged was a great cause. Mary McDermott, 80 years young, was initially going to walk this leg with us but, due to a car accident, was unable to do so. She did, however, come out to see us off and wish us well, which really buoyed the Walkers’ spirits.
The first 15 km of our trip took us conveniently past lots of McDonald’s stores where we could get some protection from the hot sun and of course use relatively comfortable restrooms. Outside, the hard hot pavement really burned up our feet, and it was a relief to see the Bunnings Store at Minchinbury where F5m'er Wendy Stevens and the Cambridge Park Lions Club, led by Alan Bidelaux, had arranged a sausage sizzle for us, with meat provided by Katrina & Mike's local butcher, Allan Waldon and his Eastern Rd Butchery, a long way away in Turramurra. The perpetually smiling Lions Club volunteers provided drinks and sausage sangas for us, as well as selling them to willing Bunnings’ customers, and donating the proceeds to MS Research Australia. Many thanks go to Wendy and Alan for their efforts in this area, and to Allan for his delicious sausages.
After lunch we really earned our stripes. Liz and Katrina, who had walked all these routes in scoping out the Walk, had warned us these couple of days, pounding the pavements, would be the most mentally challenging of the whole walk so we put our heads down and ploughed onwards. Even Barry “The Rocket” Rochester out the front got a blister today, and had to get it treated by our ever-happy-to-help nurse Bron later that night.
Our walk finished (finally) at the Blacktown Workers Sports Club. We collapsed in their beautifully cool interior, and enjoyed the free drink vouchers so kindly donated by the Club. This club is huge with landscaped gardens and children’s play areas. The photographer from the Blacktown Star had us all in giggles photographing our blistered feet, and trying to get us to pose on one leg without falling over (especially Mike, whose MS legs were playing up on him).
The Trivia Night organised by Wendy Stevens was awesome. There was a band, raffle prizes galore, a competitive auction and dinner provided for us all. Mike, determined to win a prize, bought a whole book of raffle tickets. So every time a “yellow” ticket was drawn out, Mike farmed out the ticket to a different table member so as not to appear too greedy. We did win quite a lot of loot in the raffle, with some great prizes. Our intellectual talents came to the fore with our whole team contributing, from our youngest team member, Ally, to our oldest member (unnamed). It also helps to have a former Qantas hostie on your team when it comes to naming photographs of world cities (thanks Amara).
The night ended with our team allowing another team to win, because we didn't want to be seen to be showing off. So we settled for second, adding humility to the list of talents of our formidable team: physically elite, intellectually gifted, fundraising gurus, and humble above all else.Finally, here is a link to the article written about the Walk in the Blacktown Sun, with a great picture of the all-the-way gang taken at the Blacktown Workers Sports Club.
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