Posted 9:07:54 AM by Don
Last night Angelo (owner of Bill's seafood restaraunt in Ceduna) put on a feast for kings providing a fitting departure for Pete.

Returning at 10:30pm, stomachs laden, to our position 13km West of Ceduna, I ran 250m in 'ug' boots, boxers and a sailing jacket to a place where our van could safely nestle for the night.

With a blackened sky at 5:30am we forced the pace to make radio interviews that are always early due to the time difference. 2GB postponed until next Monday (8:40) but the interview with 6KG went well and the recording for with the T.V. station was adequate. After the end of our initial chat about the run, I was waiting for the producer to say, "O.K. You ready?" Instead, he said, "That'll do. Thanks for your time... Yes that was recorded!" Some people have a very casual manner with interviews.

Yesterday afternoon we lined up a stint on local radio for this morning and it was fantastic. The broadcaster, Chris, had not previously conducted an interview but handled everything magnificently and we had time for Sophie and Andrew to have a chat. These two are now parked outside the local supermarket fundraising and in thirty minutes we have a meeting with a group of children from the Ceduna primary school - these things give us all a warm fuzzy feeling...

We are stationed just East of Ceduna 1928.7km into the run, thus we have just passed another milestone. Less than 2000km to Sydney. However, it would be dangerous to lapse into the tempting mentality that we are 'home and hosed'. I must still let the body guide and the mind command or else injuries will ripen. Furthermore, I believe that great potential to raise awareness and funding for The FHF and YOTO lies ahead with our entry of the Eastern states.

With Amanda's arrival around Feb. 13th we will have a contact number as follows: 0421 770 754.

Posted 6:27:24 PM by Don
7.2.02: (From Andrew)
"It?s action stations today, as we have a number of chores to do in Ceduna in a minimal amount of time - restock the van, do a huge load of washing (first machine wash since Coolgardie), banking, and farwell Pete. At the same time we hope to have our slumping ?on-road? donations pick up from the first semi-major population centre since Norseman - over one thousand kilometres back."

From Pete (on his departure):
"I?m sorry to leave the crew at Ceduna, and I wish everybody well and hope that the money raising for The Fred Hollows Foundation continues.

As a driver of the KEA camper, I found the vehicle extremely reliable with no problems developing with the maintenance of the oil and tyre pressure etc. It was an easy and comfortable vehicle to drive.
Looking forward to seeing my family, Bev and Pat. I wish Don and the crew all the best for the rest of the run."

We will reach half-way tomorrow afternoon following radio interviews with 2GB - 8:45am (EST) and 6KG 6:15 (WST). A TV interview is scheduled for the national news on channel Nine 11:30.

Total km's to date: 1913.7

From 6.2.02:
"A day of preparation for tasks in Ceduna was spent busily on stocktakes and formulating a shopping list, and tidying and re-organising the van.

The scenes have started to take on a much more agricultural look, and the eucalypt and scrub surrounds have changed to grazing land and fields of wheat and barley.

Don continues to run strongly and consistently, and even picked up the pace in the afternoon."

Passed one of my favourite signs from last years crossing. This just before Penong: 'Are you carrying fruit? Eat it now! Don't bring fruit fly into SA.'

This afternoon we had a sad and somewhat tender moment 3.2km from Penong, stopping at the memorial to Bryan Smith, a runner and friend to all in last year's Race of Fire. Bryan was an inspiration at my first multi-day race in Colac two years back and I wish to say, it was a measure of the man's character that his achievements as Australia's greatest native-born ultrarunner were foreshadowed by his gentlemanly, affable nature.

From 5.2.02:
"After spending some of our mid-day break in the old Koorangie school, now a small craft and pre-loved shop, with a local information section and internet computer, we were at last relieved of the desire to check our email and update the news on the website. The shop attendant ?Nick the Greek? kept us entertained with his story of how this week it took him five days to get one of his bulls back into its own paddock and away from the female cows. Amongst other tales of other local shenanigans he sat canoodling with his pet wombat ?Molly?."

From Me (Don):
It is perceivably difficult for urban Australians to understand their role in the Year of The Outback. I conclude that careful usage is our greatest means of support. Why not take the family camping? Or visit those friends on the farm? How about that trip around Oz that has been in the pipeline for so long. I promise you Australia will be just as good for it thirty years down the track (that's its legacy) but will you?

One disappointing aspect of the run has been the litter on the sides of the roads. We owe it to our country to maintain its beauty. So if you do take up the challenge in 2002 Year of The Outback, keep it clean... so nutters like me can have a more relaxing canter along the highway.

I think it important at this point to mention what occurs with the money we raise. This trip has been funded by myself and the generosity of some close friends, thus 100% of the money we raise goes to The Fred Hollows Foundation. The Foundation is run very efficiently and a good proportion of money leaves Sydney to support work overseas and in our indigenous communities. The great thing about the $10000 that we have raised to date is that it will incur 'interest'. Just like a bank deposit, the sustainability that The FHF has created (through the establishment of lens factories and training of local doctors) will see this sum 'develop' for many years to come as resources are funded that provide self-sufficiency. Keep up the great work. I appreciate all your words of encouragement and have greater empathy for those working a 5am to 9pm job.

Posted 12:17:22 PM by Don
These updates from the crew since entering South Australia. Those not in quotation marks are my thoughts.

General words from Andrew:
?The past few days have seen us accompany the sheer cliffs of the Head of Bight, through scrubby bushland, by way of the treeless Nullarbor Plain, and lately creeping up and down and snaking our way through the picturesque low rolling, eucalyptus forested, Yalata Aboriginal Land. The cold nights were expected but the miserably drizzly and windy days were not for what I bargained. Admittedly, of a morning, I lie in bed until Don has done 10km, with the few hours break during the middle of the day also spent in laze or something equally as strenuous.

I?ve been wondering just how hard it is for Don since he started, but having completed a 60km day with him yesterday, I am in even greater awe of the feat he is tackling. I don?t know if I would be able to do another day like that next week let alone today. Just how he can keep doing that distance day after day after day amazes me.

Unable to deal with the wear, I have had to resort to sticking thin pieces of blown-out tyre rubber to the soles of my sorry shoes. My latest tally of kilometres run is 192.5. Hi, hugs and kisses to all the fam, Georgie and Macca.?

From Sophie:
5.2.02:
?Nundroo road house?. Ahhhhh, civilisation ?windmills, corregated iron rooves and verandahs hugging sandstone homesteads, surrounded by fields of golden wheat? the true blue Australia that I love.?

Last night the sky housed an awesome array of bright star including the clearest Milky Way, ever. Not a centimetre without a star, that for all we know may now be nonexistent.

Today we ran through fields of wheat and spindly grass that stirred by a gusty wind sounds like sand through the hourglass.

The halfway mark will fall after Ceduna in just over three days. We have covered 1780km to date and from information sent through my Mother we have reached $10000 in funds raised for The Fred Hollows Foundation. This is a phenomenal figure and delights me to no end.

From 4.2.02:
?Andrew joined Don for the day and had a taste of a day in the life of the freak? caps off to the fella for getting out there and having a small (in overall distance terms), yet decent serving of what the true experience can be like. As the day wore on you could hear them coming over the rise with their harmonious choir songs? and altered lyrics.?

Our first clear, sunny morning of late, heralded a return to the ?slippery-dip? motion of rolling hills reminiscent of the Norseman to Balladonia section. Trees spring up a couple of metres from the bitumen in places that amazingly harbour no soil.

With every ounce of fat being reduced from my body, the bones of my feet and ankles are protruding and provided a number of problems today. Icing is back en vogue. We have passed the point of greatest (or least) longitude on the map. And when through Ceduna, the curvature of the Earth states that it will all be downhill!

Congratulations to Andrew on his spectacular efforts. He had this to say at the half-way point of his 60? ?Sweet as!? Later that evening, ?Two words. Tired? Sore.?

From 3.2.02:
?A right royal bugger of a day with thrashing winds and moments of ease before the next blanket of rain rolled in? Don was charging in true champion style, past merciless road trains throwing up showers of grotty water and sheltered passersby? some stopping to ask ?are you guys alright??? ?yeah no worries mate? I?m running from Perth to Sydney for charity? ? ?Oh. Okay? they?d respond? some not thinking twice about the information they been given? like it?s any old thing? and proceed to step on the accelerator.?

The disco shoes (my orange/pink running flats) were pulled out for the wetter sections as they squelch less.
With dark skies, it is not too long before the cloud?s tone has an emotional effect. I search for a drop of blue in the ceiling.

From 31.1.02 - 2.2.02:
?Travelling alongside the Great Australian Bight was truly awesome? the limestone cliffs are majestic, if not nerve-wracking as you pose for photos just metres from the edge whilst the wind blows like a hurricane.?

There could have been no greater place to celebrate the passing of 1500km.

The afternoon before our entry of the Nullabor Plain (astonishingly only 20km in length), I had the strangest sensation to date. As if on a conveyer belt, I would run and the scenery and ground would roll underneath me. Ten minutes later the feeling was gone and the pain returned.

From 30.1.02:
?This was a red spot special of a day? as the ridge that had been shouldering our journey for many days became one with the coast whilst dunes like white fairy floss lay mirage-like to the south? I couldn?t find the binoculars fast enough? there it was?the soothing sight of the ocean, turquoise waters?the edge of our earth? The next thing you know, I found myself pulling star jumps and yelping like Charlie Bucket who?s just discovered the golden ticket. It was an overwhelming point in this long and dry journey.

Making our way up into the Eucla pass ? the Nullarbor flat, brown and bushy, stretching out, dominating the scene behind us, divided by the winding grey road that has been the passage for so many a traveller? Approaching Border Village: the civilised stage between Western Australia and Southern Australia, Jim Morrison sang sweetly in my mind? ?Break on through to the other side, break on through, ohhhhhh yeeeaaaaaahhhhhh? It was a victorious moment for all and I felt a brass band would have been most appropriate and then my mind reverted to that spectacular red funnel on board our party bus?quality!?

The cliffs provided a new lease of life as the salty air and organ cliffs relived past glories. The only blisters I have experienced have been those on the thumb from sliding on shoes!

Pete has continued to keep us amused. He apparently threatens broken legs unless people donate to the cause, resulting in the $63 forthcoming from the group of older ladies returning to Perth from the Tamworth music festival.

Another classic quote? Us: ?How did those sleeping tablets work last night?? Pete: ?I don?t know? I slept.?

From Sophie to me over breakfast at 6:00am. ?You look like a Swedish turnip picker or a Dutch tulip farmer.? The scarf is a great look, and perhaps my greatest item of clothing as a cold neck is not good.

?I?d like to give some shout outs: Big up to the Fitzgerald clan- Bridgie?Port Fairy is not far away, Ma? joining the circus for a couple of days is a grand idea, can?t wait to have you on board, Susan- start plotting parting party procedures, Ads- if you?re reading this, get back to work!!!! Only muckin? around? cheers folks, Peace in the Middle East.?

Pete must return home to his family at Ceduna and Amanda Wright is set to crew from Port Augusta. We all thank Pete for his generous offer to come at late notice and his rosy character that has added such colour to our trip

Special thanks to Mr Michael Jools for his efforts involving the production of the unnoficial crew shirts.