Tough Day in Tassie

Craig and Ryan having fun at breakfast

Ryan on a Harley

First media call of the day at Constitution dock

Hobart Owners Group (HOG) helping A2B4C

Mt Wellington

Media call at the end of the paddle

..after this he just kept going

Doing it hard up one of the many hills

Hi everyone.

This is Jenn Johnson, I am writing the blog today as Craig is exhausted and a change of perspective is good because Craig doesn’t always let on how tough he is doing it. This leg of Craig’s journey has been very different from the rest as Craig’s Schedule has been chock-a-block and without time for his body to recover each day. He is a true champion though and his commitment to make sure the message gets received is being achieved by sheer determination and guts. I have heard the previous crews tell of Craig’s incredible efforts and what he accomplishes each day but it is truly not until you have spent a day with him that you can possibly comprehend what his body goes through and what a truly heroic feat he is accomplishing day after day. Words honestly cannot describe…

What Craig also failed to tell you yesterday is that there was not a dry eye in the house as GE employees left after hearing Craig speak, and that included the manliest of men. If we could just reach more people with this message, I know they will be equally moved and Craig will reach that $1million target that will make a real difference to those 600 families a year that are affected by childhood cancer. Today we watched Craig climb hill after hill on his bike on the way to Launceston and stopped numerous times to spill his guts on the asphalt. At one of the stops we read out some of the really heartfelt messages that people have sent with their donations so that Craig could feel the inspiration back from those that are inspired by him.

Backing up a bit, I’ll tell you what we have been up to. We flew to Hobart late last night and received good news that Craig had some good print coverage from Melbourne that made it on to several of the online papers and even made it into the Singapore Straits paper. After a great sleep compliments of the Old Wool Store Hotel, Craig’s first sleep out of the Winnie in 78 days, we headed down to Salamanca markets for a fantastic Breakfast with the Hobart branch of our sponsor Active Tree Services. Unfortunately, they have been affected by childhood cancer and Craig had the opportunity to tell young Ryan stories of how he used to play tricks on the nurses. Thanks Mic for all your help organising the day. The Hobart Motorbike club came down and worked the markets for donations for us. Craig paddled from Constitution dock with Graham Van Gaelan from Epic Kayak Tasmania, who lent Craig his Epic ski for the morning. It was beautiful conditions as they paddled under the Tasman Bridge to Cornelian Bay under police escort where they were received by the media. From there the motorbike’s escorted Craig out of town on his way to Launceston. Lastly, a big thanks to Scott at Appleby cycles for helping us out at such short notice and Redline coaches for getting Craig’s bicycle back to Hobart.

I’d like to take this opportunity to say how honoured I am to be a part of Craig’s crew and thank the other crew members for the wonderful journey. It was lovely to be part of the leg 4A family and I think we have all worked so well together.

Best wishes
Jenn

It’s good to be back on the water!

How good was it to take the mighty Epic ski off the roof this morning and wipe off the Western Australia red dust. The only problem was that when we took it off at a boat ramp on Hindmarsh, it was only 3 degrees. The new crew took no time to get used to all the equipment, and in no time we were in the water and paddling towards the mouth of the Murray River. At the mouth of the Murray River we saw about a dozen seals frolicking around in the morning sun. I saw one other lonely seal further east of the mouth as I paddled through some shallow water.

Today was all about paddling, with the new Cannondale bike being left in the campervan supplied by Sydney RV Centre. I paddled in a south easterly direction along the Coorong National Park waterway that stretches for about 80 kilometres and runs parallel to the coast. There was no getting lost as all I had to do was keep the massive sand dunes to my right. The sand dunes are part of the National Park and lie between the surf and the Coorong inlet.

I have spent about 7 hours on the water today and covered approximately 50 kilometres, with morning head winds and then a stronger breeze on the side. The paddling conditions were slightly uncomfortable, but still a pleasant change from the bike. I had my trusty friend Brian Friend and my sister-in-law Jenn as support crew – they thoroughly enjoyed their time on the Coorong. The body is feeling a little sore and I have again got a number of blisters on the hands, which is expected. We have just set up camp for the night at Lake Albert Caravan Park and I look forward to a good night’s sleep after a seafood dinner.

Craig

Jenn the Boatie

The Newest Member of the Crew