I woke this morning at 5:36 to the sound of birds tweeting and the bloke in the tent behind my cabin snoring…LOL

It was a hard morning for me. I’d packed up and was ready to go and wham, the flood gates of emotions took hold. The memory of my best friend on the 1 year to the day that she lost her fight with the Black Dog bit hard. So I was delayed a little….so what.

Off to get fuel and opposite the servo is this beautiful church. I’m not religious but spared a moment, to park out the front of it and said a small prayer. I love you Darani and I know you are travelling with me today.

Tamworth Church

Down to the Bicentennial Park for the Lions breakky meet point and wait and wait. Now being as shy as I am, I’ve managed to meet some new friends and we will travel together today…awesome. We get away ahead of the bunch so we can have morning tea in Coonabarabran.

Phil, Kim, me, Shauna & Peter

Shauna & Peter headed back home today so I am riding with Phil & Kim.

In Coona, Kim spotted this lovely park so that’s where we had morning tea. Chatting away about life and the Black Dog Ride and again I am overwhelmed when I explain why this ride in particluar today is so important to me. I’d never met Kim until yesterday but she came round and gave me the biggest hug and let me grieve – thank you.

view from the park in Coonabarabran

On the road again, just can’t wait to…….sorry a bit side tracked. Ah yeah that’s right we’re heading to Gilgandra for lunch by the wonderful Lions Club. The weather gods have turned on a beautiful day, suns out, NO wind (phew) and the breeze is fresh….noice.

What a cruisey day and the scenery is georgeous. Canola fields & wattle trees are the flavour of the day. Wide open spaces, livestock, road trains (must’ve been more than 20 in 150 kays), cotton fields and locals waving at us as we pass through various towns.

Right on 4:00 we roll into Nyngan and are welcomed “to the great outback”

Phil & Kim are camping so they head to get the best pick of sites and I head for my cabin. Now I had a bit of trouble parking the bike on argh gravel….so went and asked for some help. Instead was asked by Simon Bouda to park my bike in place on the grass ready for the news broadcast we was doing. So keep watching CH9 you might see Angel.

Showered and time to socialise now. Quick cuppa with more new friends Noel, Audrey, Colleen & …..oh damn I’ve forgotten her hubbies name, then off to the BBQ for dinner.

Now during the day the “fun police” have been out fining people for various things. And yep, you guessed it, I’ve been fined. Bet ya can’t guess what for though….thinking, thinking….oh ok I’ll tell you…….I was fined $2 for being too organised LOL. I just don’t know what they’re going on about, can you imagine that.

Dinner done, more pics taken of & with new friends and something Dad asked me to get……an autogragh from Angry Anderson. Speeches from the ride co-ordinator and the Mayor of Nyngan along with a generous donation from the town and I’m ready to settle in for the night.

Nyngan digs

So here I am in bed, with the memory of a loved one for who I am dedicating this ride to.

Todays map

Karl I wish you were here.

You couldn’t have asked for a better morning, the sun out, the skies clear and all is good. A deep breathe and I roll out the drive for our meet point in Castle Hill.

The street is blocked off and so many bikes already there when I arrive. I saw sense and parked close to where I thought we would head out (turned out to be a good choice). Many more soon pull in and I think we totalled 120ish bikes.

Dave, Anny (lady I’ll be riding home with) then Karl arrive and the hype in Castle Hill is in full swing, people everywhere, the Lions Club doing a cracker job with breakfast and 2GB provided the entertainment. My extended family arrive and it’s then that the boiling pot of emotions starts to hit and it’s real, the reason I am doing this ride. Tears are flowing and I can’t describe how I felt…..I just cried.

My extended family

The signals given to get ready. I say my “see you laters” to everyone and extra long hugs for Karl (who I am going to miss terribly). The countdown is on as we wait for the checkered flag and Channel 9 so we can head off. Final waves and thumbs up and we’re off.

Once the pack breaks up and we hit the Putty Rd and the wind picks up. It’s so windy that branches have broken and are scattered on the road as we ride through. We stop for morning tea at The Grey Gums and people are already complaining how cold it is…..not me, I’ve got all the right gear on..phew!

Grey Gums Cafe

Next stop Muswellbrook, where the Lions Club have once again provided a lunch for us. The wind just hasn’t given us a break and think this is just gonna be how the whole day will be. Anyways, fuel then food, a bit of a chat to some people I’ve today and we are off again bound for Tamworth.

I’ve found a couple of bikes that I like sitting with and we cruise our way through the back towns of Quirindi & Werris Crk…I even overtook the Channel 9 crew at one point and sat with Simon Bouda. He was a little to slow for me and off I go.

Just outside of Tamworth we regroup again, Simon does his thing, the Lions Club are there with “hot” tea & coffee and it’s damn freezing. I tell ya it was warmer riding in the wind than standing around in it. Anyways CH9 need footage for the news of us in mass heading into Tamworth. So on mass we give them…..have now idea if I made the telly, hopefully someone can tell me.

Finally check in at my digs for the night and then it’s off to the Bowlo for dinner by….guess who….well that was easy – The Lions Club.  Pretty awesome meal but I’m tired as are most and it’s an early wind blown night.

My digs

And so you know where, I’ve been here’s todays map

Thank you everyone for your “wonderful phrase”, “best wishes” and “good lucks”, they are all much appreciated.

Sleep now……tomorrow is a big one (emotionally)

xx

The emotions are a pot just burbling away at the moment, just waiting to escape. I know they will catch up with me & boil over it’s just a matter of when.

I’m already to go & have received today & tonight so many well wishes that I am truly greatfull for.

Thank you again to everyone that has donated to this cause& to everyone for you support…I couldn’t do this without you all.

So goodnight for now.
Catch up again tomorrow from on the road.

…….and I’m off for 14 days on an adventure I’ll never forget.

 
But the ride isn’t about me, it’s about raising awareness and FUNDS for the Black Dog Institute. The funds go towards educational programmes, community initiatives, health seminars and outreach programs for rural communities and they are very much needed.
To everyone that has donated to this cause thus far THANK YOU your efforts will make a big difference in someone’s life.

 
The individual funds raising rankings are below:

1. Simon Bouda – $11,840.00 AUD

2. Ian Thomsen – $8,300.00 AUD

3. Peter Simmonds – $6,878.65 AUD

4. Steve Mckenzie – $4,868.80 AUD

5. Kim Rodger – $4,700.00 AUD

 
So come on everyone, stop thinking about it. My target is $5000, I’m nearly there. The donation you make, not matter how small WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE in someone’s life. It could be someone you know, a relative, loved one, friend……

 
Pull out your wallet click on this link http://www.everydayhero.com.au/kim_rodger and donate to the Black Dog Institute. They need your help!!
THANK YOU!!

……and I head out of Sydney with a hoard of others bound for Alice Springs for the Black Dog Institute, raising awareness for Depression and mental illness and hopefully much needed funds.

THANK YOU to all that have donated so far. With your generous support I have now increased my limit to $5000 and am now sitting at $4420……..so come on, if you’ve been thinking you should contribute but haven’t yet click here http://www.everydayhero.com.au/kim_rodger . A small donation of $2, less than the cost of a cuppa coffee is the start to making a difference in someone’s life.

So, I’ve been busy updating my ride plan (to & from Alice), booked all my accommodation and I even have a ride buddy to travel home with (yes, I can see your smiles and understood your concerns of me travelling home on my own).

Packing in advance, Karl says pift but me I’ve gotta do it…..everything has it’s place. What I’ve learnt this weekend is that I had my packing well a little squewiff. Have re-jigged the distribution now and fingers crossed all is good. Karl has also stiffened the pre-load to help with the extra weight, just need to test it out now.

To find out about the Black Dog Institute you can read more here http://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au/index.cfm

Thanks for reading.

WOW, hasn’t the time flown!!

This time in 5 weeks the NSW contingent of the Black Dog Ride will be pulling into Tamworth for the end of day 1 in our journey to The Red Centre.

I can only continue to thank everyone who has donated to date. With your help my fund raising tally is sitting at $4030 (which has me sitting at the 3rd highest individual fund raiser), excellent work everyone and even better for the The Black Dog Institute.

If you’ve thinking, I should’ve done this already and haven’t you can click here http://www.everydayhero.com.au/kim_rodger

To help spread the word and get behind the Black Dog Institute and all the people like me making this journey there is a flyer available. If you’d like a copy of this to put up, go to the “contact me” tab at the top of the page and drop me a line.

Flyer

Thanks 🙂