Wow, What a Busy Few Days !

Wow, what a busy few days we have had.  Tuesday saw us up at 4.00 a.m. to jump in the Ark and make our way to Bulahdelah to pick up Wacko's bike, luggage and all the meat for the Farewell Dinner BBQ.  We arrived at the Gold Coast Holiday Park in Helensvale about 10 minutes before Fairy King and Fairy Queen arrived.   We went out for Mexican and then had an early night.  Poor King as Influenza B and has been so sick so an early night was had.

The next morning we were up bright and early and it was time for the 4 of us to unload the Ark, start putting pedals back on bikes, sort out luggage, jerseys, knicks, etc.  By about 3.00 p.m. we had everything sorted out and there was about an hour before the wonderful Support Crew, who had left that morning to travel up, would arrive.  We can not say enough about the incredible staff of The Gold Coast Holiday Park and in particular Cherie, Richard and the owner Norton.  Nothing was too much trouble and they went out of their way to make our stay extremely easy and enjoyable.

Support Crew arrived and we all headed over to the Helensvale Bowling Club for a few drinks and some dinner.  It was great for everyone to get to know each other a bit better - they are a great bunch.

Meanwhile back in Newcastle this morning, the riders were boarding their plane to come and meet us.  They got off their plane, onto a train and then into maxi taxis and arrived at Dreamworld to meet up with Support Crew at 9.30 a.m. for our Team Challenge.  We all divided into 8 teams and spent 2 hours roaming around Dreamworld answering questions, going on rides and generally having a great time.  We all arrived at the Billabong Restaurant for a buffet lunch and to find out that Team WearX were the winning team and so earned the right to lead the Ride out tomorrow morning.

When we arrived back at our accommodation, we spent the afternoon getting all the cars ready with their signage, flags, lights etc. ready for an early morning.

At 5.00 p.m. we all met in the pool area for a BBQ.  Wacko had organised all the meat and the steaks and sausages went down very well.

Queen announced the winners of the Special Jerseys:-
Richie - winner of the Joker Jersey - for already losing socks, keys and several other things and for getting booked on the way up.
Cathy - winner of King of the Mountains Jersey - for the person who raised the most money
Fatty - winner of Most Supportive Jersey - for being an amazing Captain and getting our major Sponsor on board - we love you Virgin Australia !
Norm - winner of the Support Crew Joker Jersey - for falling off the back of the Ark and making the Doctors have to start work already
Peta - winner of the Support Crew Most Supportive Jersey - for assisting John and Dishpig when they had their accident on the Qualifier and following up with them afterwards.

The Finemaster went out hard and started collecting fines straight away including fining Blake and Clint for having the heaviest bags and for both of their bags being double the size of their wives!

After dinner we were so lucky to have the amazing Jessye Campbell and her mum Trish talk to everyone about their Camp Quality journey.  Jessye is an incredible young lady who lost both her eyes at the age of 5 to cancer.  Nothing stands in Jessye's way and she is the epitome of living life to the fullest.  There wasn't a dry eye in the house and everyone was in awe of Jessye when she announced that she was going to ride the 1,000 K's 4 Kids - SA next year on a tandem bike. Have a look at this clip to see this inspirational young lady.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=zm6LktS1i_o

We are all now getting ready to go to bed.  We need to be at Dreamworld at 7.30 a.m. for breakfast before we leave at about 9.00 a.m. to start the Ride.  Everyone is excited about getting on the road and seeing all their hard work pay off.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's update.

Donna.