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OUTBACK MOTORBIKE ADVENTURES:
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| ARTHRITIS FOUNDATION |
History |
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Overview |
| ARTHRITIS INFORMATION |
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What is Arthritis? |
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Who is Affected? |
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Cost of Arthritis |
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Arthritis Facts |
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Arthritis Types |
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Arthritis Research |
| AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT |
We are very proud to announce that the Dept. of Health and Ageing have donated $10,000 to our total enabling us to reach our target of $100,000. |
| JUVENILE ARTHRITIS ONLINE SUPPORT GROUP |
If you have a child with Juvenile Arthritis you may wish to join our chat group. CLICK HERE |
| TRIKE AROUND AUSTRALIA |
Launched 23rd June 2004 by PM John Howard from New Parliament House Canberra. Completed 10th March 2006 Parramatta NSW. |
| SPECIAL THANKS |
To all of our sponsors and to everyone who helped us along the way. |
| LARGEST DONATION FROM A SHIRE COUNCIL |
Hawkesbury City Council NSW $750. Emerald Shire Council QLD $500. Melbourne City Council VIC $500. |
| HIGHEST FUNDRAISING TOWNS |
Mildura/Red Cliffs VIC $1,591.15. Melbourne VIC $1,261.35. Innisfail QLD $1,165.65. |
| TOTALS |
Final Collection Total: $107,159.85 |
Days on the Road: 566 |
Total KM travelled: 67,219 |
Number of towns visited: 408 |
NSW Total: $42,763.40 |
QLD Total: $32,560.70 |
NT Total: $1,345.15 |
WA Total: $5,479.95 |
SA Total: $4,612.80 |
VIC Total: $10,283.00 |
ACT Total: $10,089.90 |
All funds raised will go to our nominated charity:
| VIEW THE 'TRIKE AROUND AUSTRALIA' GUESTBOOK | ||||||
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Hi everyone, just thought that as it is now a year since we finished the event some of you might be interested in how we are going. It has been an interesting year with heaps happening. Garry is now a rider trainer with Morgan and Wacker so thinks he is in heaven. Has lost heaps of weight as he runs around after trainees on motorbikes most of the day. Doreen is now working as a Business Analyst at the Taxation Department and between the two incomes we are finally starting to get back on our feet.
We are still renting our son Pauls house but are trying to find a house of our own. Whether we will be able to get finance after not working for 3 years is yet to be seen but we will give it a try. Christmas was an interesting time for us. We sold the Motorhome on Christmas eve accepting a motorbike as a part trade in and then a cash difference. Turned out in the end that between the cash and what we received for the bike when we resold it we only got $8000 but we were just glad to get rid of it in the end. It was just sitting around and would have become a rust bucket if no one ever used it. We sold Martha some time ago and hope she is happy in NSW being cared for by a single mother and her children. Arthur is a different more tragic story. On New Years Eve Doreen was out shopping with Sarah while Garry went for a ride to the Patriots club house which is on the other side of town to us. He was on his way home and was planning to call in to visit an old friend who was recovering from prostrate cancer. As usual people were waving and tooting at him so he was just waving back as we normally do. Eventually he heard someone behind him continuously tooting so pulled over to see what they wanted. He stopped as normal and put Arthur in gear and then turned off the ignition. The lady that pulled him over then came over to him and told him that the back of Arthur was on fire and she had been trying to get his attention for 2 kilometres!! As he was speaking to her Arthur suddenly ignited into flames and as you will see from the photos there was very little left by the time the fire brigade arrived. We did have fire extinguishers on board, however they were in the boot which was engulfed by flames so Garry couldnt get to them. When Garry rang Doreen to tell her what happened he was in tears and when he eventually arrived home just went to bed without saying much at all. Doreen was concerned that he was in shock but left him to overcome his distress feeling it was the best thing to do in the circumstances. As you are all aware, Arthur was much more than just a trike to us, he was our lives for 2 years and held many memories for us. We are sure that there will be many of you who will feel as sad as we did at his demise.
The other exitement over Christmas was our eldest daughter April who announced to us on Christmas Day that she was in labour. Doreen told her she wasnt allowed to have another baby on Christmas Day (Zoe was born Christmas day two years ago). As it turned out, the labour stopped and our youngest grandaughter Amelia (Millie) was born on 5th January. This brings our total grandchildren to eight so we have told them all they have to stop now before we go broke!! All in all our lives are very different now and we have at last started to adjust to city life again although we miss the country heaps. Normal life has almost as many stresses in it as the stress we experienced on the trip but at least we dont have the added burdon of financial stress any longer. We really hope that many of you have donated to Arthritis this year after hearing our story and the real facts about Arthritis and if you havent done so yet, consider doing it now. Arthritis Awareness week starts on 1st April 2007 so its never too late to contribute to this very worthy cause. Keep watching, you just never know when we might decide to give you another update!
VIEW THE 'TRIKE AROUND AUSTRALIA' EVENT SPONSORS
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Would you like to buy or build a Trike?Custom Trikes Australia is an official supplier of Outback Motorbike Adventures on the Trike Around Australia event. Custom Trikes Australia are designers and builders of Custom Trikes, VW Trike Kits and Subaru Trike Frames . . . FIND OUT MORE |
