Day 1

None of us slept too well last night with lots going on in our heads. We were up at 5.30 am, had breakfast and camel Paddy and crew arrived at 6.45 am to collect us - wow we are loaded to the hilt !!!!

We are now in the vehicles heading to Dalhousie Springs where we will stay for the night.  We have a 6 hour drive with the majority of it on dirt tracks so will be a long day.

Everyone is anxious but excited to get started and do all our sponsors and donors proud.  This is probably the last post I will be able to do until we finish, due to no service,  then I will upload them all. 

It seems the comments section on the blog isn’t working so if you have any encouraging comments please send to my mobile 0407 291755 and I can read them out to everyone when we get service. Remember to sign your name.

Thanks again to each and every person who has helped us to raise the funds for Jenny’s place, we are so grateful and we plan to make you all proud now by conquering this huge challenge.

Luv Donna xxx

Rest Day In Alice ..

Wow, well we all slept extremely well last night.  We all crashed early and slept well until about 7 am this morning and it was only 1 degrees.  We rigged up and all met at 8 am to head to a small Cafe for breakfast.  Kim was still crashed out so we left her to sleep.  The breakfast was really yummy and Troy opted for a Big Breakfast as his last substantial one before we finish the Trek. 

After breakfast we headed into the Main Street as the local markets were on.   I few little trinkets were purchased including some $5 Fly Flickers which could come in very handy over the coming weeks. Mumma C also purchased some pretty amazing home made aboriginal patterned jumpsuit.   Can’t wait to see her rock it on Big Red !

We did a last minute chemist run for medical supplies and then headed back to our accommodation.   We spent the next few hours sitting in the bbq area enjoying the sun. 

We left our motel at 5 pm and made our way to the Gap Hotel for our briefing with Camel Paddy. We met the support crew - ken, Kim and Alex and they seem like a great bunch.   Paddy gave us a briefing and lots of questions were asked.  We then had dinner and a last few drinks.  

We are getting picked up at 6.45 am tomorrow morning and have a 7 hour trip mostly on dirt to get to Dalhousie Springs where we will camp for the night.  Once we get there we will have no service until we finish 22 days later when I will upload all the blogs.  Remember to tune into Newcastle Live to listen to the three crosses to us via the satellite phone to hear how we are doing.  Keep an eye on the Jennys Place website for the live update posts,

We are now in the cab heading back to our motel to pack up and get some sleep.  We are all anxious about what is to come but we have in the forefront of our minds the women and children we are doing it for.    We got this..,

Donna xx

Alice Springs here we Come!

After a busy week for everyone finalising everything, we were picked up this morning to head to the Airport. Our flight was on time and we left at 9.30 am and 3 1/2 hours later arrived in Alice.   Everyone’s bags also arrived which was a great relief !

The flight attendants asked us about Jennys Place and couldn’t believe what we were going to be doing.  They were intrigued and about the Trek.  When we were getting off the plane they gave us 10 bottles of red wine (small) to take with us and a big bag of snacks- it was really sweet of them. 

We caught a cab into town to our Motel.  Our rooms were not ready so we made our way to Uncles Tavern for a yummy lunch and a few drinks to celebrate our arrival.

Eventually we left the Tavern and as we walked out we ran into Elvira, one of our Jennys Place board members.  She was holidaying in Alice and recognised our Jennys Place T-shirts we were all wearing.  Such a small world.

We made our way back to our Motel after a slight detour to get Kim a hat as she left hers on the kitchen table and a pair of thongs for Troy.

We spent the rest of the arvo just laying around, chatting, reading snd sleeping.

At 6 pm we walked back into town and had a really beautiful dinner at an Italian Restaurant- it was so good.

By 7.30 pm we were all back in our rooms and in bed watching a bit of TV - the early morning really has us all very weary now.  Looks like it will be an early night for everyone.

Tomorrow we have the day to ourselves until we have to go to the Gap View Hotel in the afternoon to meet up with Camel Paddy for our briefing,

Everyone is glad to be here but also a little anxious about what is to come.   I know everyone will be fine though - they have all trained hard and are a really well bonded team. 

Until tomorrow 

Donna xx

Just a Few Days Before we Leave !

Well after almost a year since the crazy idea was put to me to walk the Simpson Desert to raise funds for Jenny's Place, here we are now just a few days out from taking on this 22 day crossing.

There are 9 inspiring people who have been training for a long time to get fit enough to take on this Challenge.   They have also worked so hard to get sponsorships and donations and as we speak we are currently at around $93,000.00 raised which is just fantastic.   We are really hoping to crack our target of $100,000.00 to help women and children escaping domestic violence so, if you can help us get there, it would be so appreciated.

The days will be reasonably warm - somewhere in the late 20s and the nights cold - we have all been told to bring a minus 12 sleeping bag !

The Trek is going to be tough physically and mentally - getting up every morning for 21 days and trekking for the day over lots of sand dunes (1,100 by the time we finish) with 440 kms walked.

The Trekkers are excited and anxious about what lies ahead but I know they will all work as a team to get everyone out the other end.   They are an amazing and inspiring group of individuals who have given up a lot of time to do this to raise funds for Jenny's Place and we couldn't be more grateful for their efforts.

I will be doing a blog every day from this Saturday when we leave to catch the plane however, once we start hiking through the Desert, there won't be any service so I will post all the blogs as soon as we get service and you can catch up.

Please feel free to leave the Trekkers a message of encouragement - it really lifts spirits and remember to sign your name so we know who it has come from as otherwise it will come through as anonymous.

Looking forward to sharing this mammoth journey in aid of Jenny's Place with all our supporters.

Until the next post,

Donna x