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our top online donors
- Anonymous $250
From all the partygoers and watersliders at the Hottest 100 party
- Christoe Consulting $100
Go Good people! There will be much good come from your unselfish efforts - sorry we can't be there to cheer you over the finish line. Good luck and we hope your footsies are OK to dance on Saturday night. love Ian, Mandy & Soph. xx
- Heather Hoare $100
where does the money go?
09 April
WE DID IT!!
Team 359 successfully finished the Oxfam Trailwalker!! They managed to complete the 100km in a very impressive 31 hours (as if just completing it wasn’t impressive enough!), arriving at Wesburn Park in the Saturday afternoon sunshine. We learnt some valuable lessons as first-timers, such as NOT waiting in the toilet queue with 200 other people only kilometers from the start line- despite our efforts to overtake as many people as possible, after waiting at the toilet forEVER, we found ourselves almost last in the entire field! We learnt that Ruth’s chatter is a brilliant asset when sanity is slipping from our grasp. Rob demonstrated the perfect team member; capable of zipping up the most grueling hills, yet so loving and caring that no one could ever feel that they were letting the group down. And Anastasia!! Ana’s effervescence put a smile on my face when we wanted to curl up in a dark corner and never come out! She had the energy to run ahead and take photos of us and the surrounding forest, before impersonating a letterbox (why not?). Even at the finish line, Ana radiated enough enthusiasm to make everyone grin. Due to foot complications, I (Hilary) had to retire at the 50km mark- my beautiful team very kindly waited around for several hours while I made the difficult decision, and hobbling off with cramped muscles they waved goodbye and set off into the midnight darkness. I would like to say a HUGE thank you to Andrew Glass and Jason Haasz for being our dedicated support crew for the entire 31 hours. They set out and packed up our picnic area 7 times- both in the scorching sun and icy Dandenong range mist. We are very lucky to have had them- fantastic hot crossed buns, soup and blister-popping expertise!- we truly couldn’t have survived the Oxfam Trailwalker without them!! Several, if not all of us, are keen to do the walk again in the future- this, I think is the best proof that the 2009 Oxfam Trailwalker was a success- we had a great time
26 March
Here we go...! #$^&
Well it’s the night before the big event and everyone is getting very excited and nervous! We’ve been packing and preparing all day, the phone is constantly ringing and text messages are flying! This afternoon we finally ironed on the transfers for our teams' matching tops- aren’t they pretty? :) On our homepage, there will be a link to the site TeamTracker, where you can follow our every move along the trail. All you need to know is that it’s all uphill until we get to Olinda, and then downhill to the end- with the exception of a fricken MOUNTAIN just before the finish line! We all feel like climbing the steep, slippery, HORRID Mt Little Joe after walking 90km… uuurgh. So the pretzels, scroggin and kilometers of foot tape are packed, and iPods charged. Rob and Ana are both going to bed at 8pm to get a good night’s rest. I'd just like to thank everyone who came to our Trivia Night or who have donated online- some of the messages you have left have brought a tear to the eyes! It has taken a lot of preparation to get us to this stage, but I think we’re practically ready. Now just to get our heads around the concept that WE ARE WALKING 100KM TOMORROW. I guess we just start walking! You can check out how Lynda, Liz, Fiona and Dianne's team is going too- Team 004 - Gippy Girls Go Again
11 March
Briefing night at Fed Square
Last night we went to a Trailwalker briefing at Federation Square- the concept of doing the Trailwalker became more of a reality. Maybe a bit TOO much of a reality: While it was VERY exciting, it was also just a teeny bit terrifying to accept the challenge- what have we agreed to do?? Aaargh! Walking 100km, that's a crazy thing to do! But our whole team is doing a big walk this Sunday, and we are all fit and (fairly) uninjured. Meanwhile, things are also progressing in the other aspect of our journey, the FUNDRAISING. This Friday, all 3 teams are hosting the Oxfam Trailwalker Trivia Night- doors open at 7pm at the Warragul United Soccer clubrooms. Book a table, or let us know if you are coming along to join a mixed table at hathazelnut@gmail.com or 0408 266 497. We are currently hurriedly organising the night, and getting pretty excited! It should be a great night, so I hope to see everyone there!
06 March
Team walk in the city… (4th March)
Ruth, Rob and Hilary went for a walk in Melbourne, from the CBD, through the Botanic Gardens, towards Toorak, through Richmond and back to Ruth and Rob’s houses Brunswick/Carlton. All up, it was about 17km. We entertained ourselves by searching for the ‘Happy’ stickers and graffiti that seem to cover the entire city. They certainly made us happy- mission accomplished by the Happy Gang? With there being no rain in Australia for about 2 months, I had made the assumption that it would not rain- of course, it rained lots, and the wind battered us to add insult to injury. I scored a very impressive blister or four… ah, the joys of training with wet shoes…
06 March
Change of team members! (24th February)
With around 12 possible walkers training between the two teams, our team’s final line-up has remained fairly ambiguous, until now. VERY excitingly, Ana Christoe and Rob Harrington have agreed to join Ruth and I to complete the team! YAY for the family team! - But with Ruth, Rob and I sharing many family and friend contacts, getting a variety of sponsors just got a whole lot harder… Darn. Oh, and due to the lack of an appropriate photo, here is a picture from our house on Black Saturday. Huzzah.
06 March
The walks are getting longer… (12th February)
Starting early in the morning, Lynda Hoare, Liz Clay, Dianne Glass, Ruth and Hilary walked 35km in the Springsure Hill forests (with Jaffa and Max, of course). All up, we took about 6.5 hours (swim in the river included). While we had no major physical problems, apart from blisters and general soreness, the hardest part of the walk was the psychological barrier, of knowing how much further we still had to go- 35km is quite a long way, really… But consequently, the sense of achievement when we finished was wonderful.
06 March
Hottest 100 party (26th January)
On Australia Day, we (Hilary and Sophie) hosted an Australia Day- Triple J Hottest 100- Joint Birthday party to raise money for our teams. The day was scorching, the pool was cool, the kids were coated in mud and grass. We made an AMAZING water slide that stretched all the way down our steepest paddock, with a comfy hay-lined landing pad, later becoming a slippery mud-hole. The girls had a great time simply sliding down, but many of the boys had to take ‘game’ one step further- they smothered themselves in detergent, took dangerous run-ups and dived onto the slide… LUCKILY, no one died. And EVEN BETTER, we raised around $600!
06 March
Wilson’s Prom camp and walking adventures! (24th December)
Sophie, Claire, Ruth, Dianne, Lynda and I stayed at Tidal River over Christmas, and with endless beautiful forests and mountain tracks to cover, we walked A LOT. We climbed Mt Bishop, Mt Oberon, walked 13km to Tongue Point, and to the end of Norman Bay waist-deep in not-so-cosy water. What a great kick-start to our training…
