An unforgettable trip to brisbane
Some of you may remember me talking about two very brave children called Claire and Tommy earlier on in the year. Claire was 9 years old and suffered from brain cancer. Claire’s mum and dad, Lynette and Robert have been following my journey for sometime and Lynette would read Claire my blogs. Sadly Claire passed away in earlier this year. Although I had never met Claire or her family I was devastated when she died. Lynette and I would email regularly and I really felt I knew Claire. It was because of this little girl that made me realise that I no longer want to achieve Thing #4 on my list which was to have an entire day where I didn’t think about cancer. Claire’s passing made me realise that I didn’t want to forget about having cancer, I just didn’t want to be afraid of it anymore. I wanted to be grateful for having survived it.
Tommy was a gorgeous 6 year old boy who suffered from T-Cell Lymphoblastic Lymphoma. I was asked to support Tommy’s big sister Caitlin who was shaving her head to raise money for the Australian Leukemia foundation. On the 12th March Caitlin shaved her head in Brisbane and I had mine shaved in a little town in Chile. Caitlin raised around $25,000. She is an amazing young lady. Tommy sadly passed away and yet another family has been left devastated from this awful disease.
On Tuesday I had the immense honour of having dinner with the families of both Claire and Tommy. Lynette and Robert kindly let me stay with them and Lynette organised a lovely dinner out with Tommy’s mum Cheryl, step dad Tim and my head shaving partner Caitlin.
It was a very lovely and humbling evening. Both sets of parents still coming to terms with the loss of their children and trying to cope in the best way they can. I know I have experienced cancer but I cannot even begin to imagine how painful it is to lose a child at such a young age. My lost words were limited to ‘I am so sorry’ upon meeting them. I don’t think there are any words that can even remotely help take away any of the pain. It was lovely to be able to give Cheryl and Caitlin a big hug. They are both just as wonderful as I had imagined.
These wonderful people are going through so much but they welcomed me with smiles and open arms. I felt very honoured to be in their company. As ever it seems cancer prays on the families of good people. I don’t know why it does that.
Caitlin’s hair is now growing back nicely and she looked absolutely amazing when I saw her.
On Wednesday Lynette showed me around beautiful Brisbane and we took the ferry boat up the river and walked to the Southbank where a artificial beach and pool have been built. It looked absolutely amazing with everyone lazing on the beach in the middle of the city.
I also got to see a couple of friends who I first met in Nicaragua last year. Mim invited me to her parents house and to meet her sister Tess and friend Ali. It was lovely to see her and Moe again. Another reminder of just how many wonderful people I’ve met on my trip.
On Thursday Robert, Lynette and Liam treated me to a trip to visit the third largest sand island in the world. Moreton Island is just off the coast of Brisbane and is absolutely beautiful. Robert couldn’t come with us unfortunately but Lynette, Liam and Liam’s friend Ryan got the ferry over and went sand boarding (sand everywhere!), snorkelling around ship wrecks and we fed the dolphins at the end if the day which was incredible.
It was a lovely day but this was also the first time Liam and Lynette had been there without Claire. Despite their brave faces I know how hard this was for them. I hope our time together managed to distract them for even just a moment.
I absolutely loved spending time with them. Liam is a great lad and he’s taught me all about Anime and the fact you can win up to $11million playing computer games! Wow! I’ve been in the wrong job!:) Lynette and Robert are such beautiful people. So generous and caring and they have treated me like family.
Lynette has set up a wonderful fundraising initiative called Cupcakes for Claire where she makes and encourages others to sell cupcakes and raise awareness about childhood and brain cancers. Funding is less than minimal for brain cancer so it needs all the help it can get to find better treatment. All proceeds go to the cure brain cancer foundation. For more details please see here:-
https://www.facebook.com/CupcakesForClaire
I would just like both families to know that there is not a day that goes by where I don’t think about both Claire and Tommy. I’ll always be there for you all in the future.
A huge thank you to Robert, Lynette and Liam for making me feel so welcome and allowing me to be part of their lives. My love and thoughts are with you all.
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Thing #17 – Learn to surf
My second lesson and the first three photos in this album pretty much sum up my day on the board. Can you guess which one I am in the first photo?:)
I scooted down from Noosa Nanna’s (blog about Nanna and Noosa coming soon) house yesterday and arrived in the Gold Coast where I’m staying with my lovely friends Tom and Janice who have spoiled me rotten since I arrived.
Janice’s amazing son Daen took me out on the waves today during his lunch hour and tried his very best to get me standing upright. I did it….once!:)
It was such fun and I absolutely loved it. There’s something quite magical about being out on the waves. I’ve wanted to do this since I was a little boy and it is even better than I imagined it would be. This is definitely something I’m going to peruse in the future and this is definitely one for your lists. World Surfing Championships 2030 here I come!:)
Thank you so much to Daen for giving up his lunch hour and for being such fun.
A few more lessons and I’ll be as good as Daen!
Next stop Brisbane!
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Noosa and Noosa Nanna
A couple of weeks ago I was reunited with my wonderful friend Katherine and we went up to a place called Noosa which is just north of Brisbane on the Sunshine Coast. Katherine had a weeks annual leave so she flew over to Sydney and we borrowed her Dad’s car and drove north briefly stopping at Byron Bay, Newcastle and a place called Coffs Harbour where we camped for the night and then headed to Noosa the following day.
Noosa is absolutely beautiful. It is a little town right next to a range of gorgeous beaches and a stunning national park.
We swam, read, walked, body surfed and tried our hand at Paddle boarding where I completely embarrassed Katherine by getting told off over the loud speaker system for paddling in the swimmers area. It wasn’t my fault though…theres no steering wheel on those things!:) I also saw a Koala in the national park which made my whole day. I’ve been searching for those little guys for weeks now.
We stayed at Katherine’s Nanna’s house. Her name is Joan but I found it far more comfortable to call her Nanna. I’m not sure what she thought of this!
Nanna is 82 and has also been following my adventure on Facebook on her ipad! Yep, she super cool and all teched up!
She is is such a wonderful woman and made me feel right at home by immediately telling me how bad my moustache was!:)
I thought I’d write a blog about her because sometimes people never get told just how much the little things they do mean to other people.
I do tend to get homesick a lot. I’m not the seasoned traveller you might think I am. I miss my family a lot so when I find a place which feels like home it is the most wonderful feeling in the world. I think that’s why I have loved Australia so much as it has felt like home.
One night we went to the river for take away fish and chips. We sat down at a bench and Nanna pulls out a table cloth, homemade coleslaw, ice cold beers and cutlery. A completely different experience to when my dad used to take me down to the Fish Quay in North Shields where we’d get take away fish and chips and sit in the car eating it with our hands.
In the evenings we’d sit down and have a lovely homemade dinner which Nanna effortlessly put together. We’d then watch a bit of TV and have a cheeky mini Magnum ice cream which was a total treat.
At the end of the evening Nanna would give us both a kiss and a hug goodnight. I think it was this that made me completely fall in love with Nanna. I come from a very tactile family and being at Nanna’s really felt like being at home and I absolutely loved it.
When I first arrived she asked me what my favourite food was. I told her that I loved a good Stew. My mum makes an amazing stew and it always reminds me of home and cold wintry days. On our last night Nanna made a stew for me. I was so touched by this. Even though she said it was no bother for her it meant an awful lot to me.
So this blog is for you Nanna and how wonderful you are. I’ll see you again one day soon so get those mini magnums ready!:)
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Thing #32 – Sing Flower of Scotland on stage at Sydney Opera House
Here we go everyone… the video of my singing performance at the Sydney Opera House. I’ve had some pretty surreal moments on this wonderful journey but this one has completely blown my mind. A dream come true and yet again more proof that anything is possible in this beautiful and sometimes unfair world of ours.
A huge thank you to the Today Show, Sydney Opera House and Holly Mckinlay for helping make this happen. You guys rock! Thank you to Karl and Lisa for their wonderful questions and for being so lovely.
Hope you enjoy and I hope this helps make your dreams that little bit more real.
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Watch the video
An amazing day in Oz
I was asked by the amazing people at Cancer Council to give a short speech at their relay for life event on Saturday. I expected to pop in there for a couple of hours, say a few words and chat to some people afterwards but 12 hours later I found myself still there and having the most amazing time.
This event wasn’t what I thought it was going to be. I thought it would be primarily focused on the 24 hour relay around a track but it was so much more than that. This was a wonderful community event where people from all walks of life came to celebrate life, encourage hope and remember those that have been lost.
I gave a chat in the survivors and carers tent in the morning and another chat later on in the day. I told of my experiences with cancer and PTSD and that I had learned that there is hope for us all.
There were so many different activities going on throughout the day; A thai chi class, swing dance lessons, a chiropractors tent, a petting zoo, a bouncy castle (so much fun) and lots of bands and singers who performed all through the day. There were also two local politicians answering questions on how the government is tackling cancer and a wonderful speech by a leading oncology expert.
I also took part in a beauty pageant where I finished in an amazing third place….out of a total three people ! I couldn’t argue, the other two looked far better in dresses than I did. There were also three young lads there who all had there head shaved and raised over $1000 in the process. Amazing!
The highlight of the day though was the candlelight ceremony of hope where everyone comes together to remember loved ones and support those still fighting cancer. Electric candles are lit and put in bags with a message of hope written on the outside.
It was beautiful to see everyone carrying their candle bags of hope around the track in the Sydney moonlight. I was asked to sit on the stage and to light one of three candles which represent hope, survivors and carers and remembrance.
There were readings, a choir, a singer and a speech by the most incredible woman. Alison has been battling ovarian cancer for 7 years now. She was given a terminal diagnosis but thanks to new treatment she is still here, still fighting and one again loving life. She told me that cancer is the best thing ever to happen to her. She said how it changed her whole life and has helped her appreciate life even more. I was extremely overwhelmed to be in such inspiring company.
Many people camped out for the night and continued the fun and the walking until 10 o’clock the next day.
A huge thank you to the cancer council for letting me part of their wonderful world. These guys are dedicated to the defeat of cancer and raise money for research, prevention and support. They have been instrumental in improving the lives of many Australians via their campaigns. I loved them even more when I found out their motif is the ‘daffodil’ which represents hope. Hope is my most favourite thing in the world. Hope can achieve so much….love, happiness, optimism and a belief that anything is possible. I hope when you read this it finds you all well and filled with hope.
“Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things and good things never die”
The Shawshank Redemption
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Cancer council Facebook page-
https://www.facebook.com/cancercouncilaustralia
Opera houses, exercise and television
I touched down in the beautiful city of Sydney yesterday and was instantly whisked away to the harbour where the most spectacular sunset was waiting for me. The sky over the Opera house and the Sydney harbour Bridge looked like candy floss. What a start to my time here.
I plan is to stay here for a few weeks whilst I work on some projects with some amazing cancer charities. An amazing girl called Vix has given me her beautiful apartment for two weeks whilst she goes back to the UK.
I had never met Vix before yesterday. She is a friend of my brother Barry and our friend Billy. Vix has been following my journey for the past few months and I am so grateful for her generosity. She has such an amazing outlook on life and talks even more than I do so we are getting on like a house on fire.
Lots of great things planned here. I have been asked to go on a morning television show called the Today show which is very exciting. They casually dropped into conversation today that they want to help me achieve Thing #32 on my list which is to sing Flower of Scotland on stage at the Sydney Opera house…and they want to film me doing it on… LIVE TV!!! Ahhhhhhhhh!
I’ve been practicing today and I sound horrendous so hopefully Scotland won’t disown me after they see it.
I’m so excited to meet up with the charities here and hopefully help them out as best as I can. I am also looking forward to doing some exercise. As much as I loved Broome I found it was too hot to go out in the day. As a result I was like a sloth and wouldn’t move much. My time at home was also spent either sitting in car or sitting at my computer. Im feeling very unfit and feel like much of the progress I made with my fitness and strength in the past 15 months has diminished. As ever, I’ve been worrying about it so its time to get a wiggle on and get those lungs and muscles working again.
It’s so amazing to be here and I’m so pleased I can stay a bit longer than I first intended.
Sydney Opera House, get ready for some ‘Greig’ factor!:)
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Thing #15 – Watch the sunrise and sunset over Uluru (Ayers Rock)
This has to be one of my most favourite things so far. Incredible group of people, amazing scenery and two of my most favourite things…a sunset and a sunrise.
I’ve wanted to visit Uluru for most of my life. I can’t remember when I first heard of Uluru but it’s been high up on my list for a long time.
I’ve seen lots of things now and occasionally some don’t live up to the hype. Uluru and this tour was more than I dreamed it would be. Uluru is bigger than I thought it would be and even more beautiful. We took a walk around its base where Our guide told us about its formation and the culture and traditions of the site for the aboriginal people. It was a cloudy sunset so that amazing colour change that take place on Uluru didn’t happen but watching the sun set over Kata Tjuta (the Olgas) was incredible. The huge dome mounds looked like they were on fire!
That night we had dinner cooked on the camp fire and one of the things I loved most about this experience was sleeping in a SWAG under the stars. A SWAG is a canvas sleeping bag with a soft thin mattress already fitted. It was the most amazing feeling to fall asleep with the warm wind of the outback surrounding me and then waking up to Orion high in the sky above me. A memory that I will stay with me forever.
Walking around Kata Tjuta was also a highlight. I had never heard of this place but we all loved around it. We all chose not to climb Uluru out of respect to the local Anangu people as this is a sacred site but the walk around kata Tjuta is well worth doing.
Formation
Uluru and Kata Tjuta were formed by way of deposition of limestone, sand and mud when the centre of Australia was a huge river over 500 million years ago.
The history of the place is just astonishing. The aboriginal people have lived here for thousands of years and Uluru is one of their most sacred sites. Uluru is actually grey in colour. The red outer colour is the iron minerals in the rock rusting due to oxidisation.
The Group
The group of people I was with were some of the loveliest people I have met so far. A guy called Sam was our guide was amazing. Funny, informative and he spoke with such passion when he told us about the aboriginal history you couldn’t help being mesmerised by it. This is a good thing when you have an attention span of a nat!
Sam’s mum is also a cancer survivor and he told me of her struggle emotionally post treatment. We had a lot in common.
I also met two other cancer survivors on this trip. Patricia from Madrid and Martin from Sweden (photo 4). Patricia had survived breast cancer and Martin from testicular cancer and again recently from a secondary cancer. Martin had just finished chemo a month ago and now he was doing one of the dream things on his bucket list, travelling around Australia for 6 weeks. What a legend! I could barley move after my treatment so this guy is an absolute machine! Their outlook on the future is absolutely amazing and they seem to have handled the psychological effects of cancer a lot better than I have. I learnt an awful lot talking to them both.
Martin does charity work for an organisation in Sweden called ‘Ung cancer’ (young cancer) and he gave me one of the bracelets that the charity sells which has the charities moto written on it which is ‘F*#K CANCER’. I think we’ve all said that a few times! 🙂
The other people on the tour were some of the loveliest people I’ve met on my trip. A French girl called Anais who had the most beautiful accent ever, a Swiss woman called Esther who is so full of life it was addictive and who kept finding the things that I lost. There were also Brits, Germans, an Aussie and of course some Dutch people who seem to travel absolutely everywhere. It was like a mini EU meeting.
A wonderful experience and one of my favourite things so far. I still can’t believe I’ve seen Uluru.
A huge thank you to Wayoutback, Sam and the group for this wonderful experience. This tour company took us away from the other tour groups and crowds to more isolated places for both sunset and sunrise which helped make this an even more special experience.
http://www.wayoutback.com.au/
Definitely one to add to your list!
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Thing #72 – Ride ‘The Ghan’ in Australia
Trains, sunsets and amazing people
My earliest memory of being on a train was when my mum and I visited my Uncle Crawford. I must have been about 6 or 7 years old. I don’t remember much before I was ill but I distinctly remember the train pulling away and my Uncle Crawford crying as he waved us off.
The only thing I know about trains is that I love being on them. I love everything about it. The sound as it chugs along, the motion as it stutters over the rails and being able to lose myself in the scenery as it flys by.
I first heard about the Ghan when I decided to go on this trip. I always wanted to do one of the world’s epic train journeys. Most people have heard of the trans-siberian express but not many people outside of OZ would have heard of the Ghan. I was one of them. I discovered it whilst reading a ‘bucket list’ about epic journeys…a term I tend not to use.
History
In the 1800s the new explorers attempted to explore the vastness of Australia and would often embark on expeditions using horses and donkeys. These animals could not handle the heat and didn’t last very long. A solution to the problem was to import a load of camels from other countries. Many believed that all the cameleers were from Afghanistan and were there fore known as ‘Ghans’. They were actually from many different countries such as Egypt, Turkey and Persia. The camels were solid and could not only cope with the heat but could also carry up to 1/2 ton in weight.
These guys were imperative to the construction in the building of the rail line and so it was named ‘The Ghan’.
The train is huge. Nearly 800m in length. Over 250 passengers and it runs all the way from the north to the south of Australia and vise versa.
The Journey
My journey journey took a little over 24 hours from the north of Australia in Darwin, right though to its heart in Alice Springs with a 3 hour stop over in Katherine where I did a boat cruise through Nitmiluk gorge on the Katherine River which was absolutely stunning. We then got off the boat for a tour of some original aboriginal cave art with some being 8000 years old! Wow! It makes you realise how short a time we are actually on this earth for when you see things like that.
There were many things I loved about this trip. The last time I travelled on a journey with all the bells and whistles was the Galapagos cruise I did last November. It was amazing. My own cabin, a three course lunch, three course dinner and a hearty breakfast. I felt like Prince William….but with more hair. Believe me this was an absolute novelty for me on this trip and I loved every second of it.
But as ever the best thing about my Ghan experience was the sunset, the sunrise and the people I met. I watched the sunset over the outback listening to Ben Howard (as per usual) lost in a world of happy and grateful thoughts. As ever I couldn’t believe I was doing this.
I met some incredible people on this journey. A German girl called Martina who was travelling around Australia on her own. I hope she doesn’t mind me telling you this but Martina has multiple sclerosis. She tells me she has good days and bad days but she’s determined to keep living her life to the full and not let it affect her. What an amazing woman.
At breakfast myself and Martina were sat with an Australian couple on their 26th wedding anniversary. We got chatting and Katherine and Peter told us about their son Michael who was involved in a mountain bike accident last year. Michael is now paralysed from the abdomen down and the life he once knew was turned upside down . Michael has been through some very low times since the accident and has felt very lost but has now found a new life through music which is now becoming his career.
Meeting Martina, Katherine and Peter made me appreciate my Ghan experience even more than I did already. The world is filled with remarkable people on their own amazing journey and I feel honoured to keep meeting these people.
So the Ghan is apparently something to put on your ‘bucket list’ but I think it’s something that should be put on both your ‘survivors’ list and your NOW list!
A huge thank you to Great Southern Railways, Martina, Katherine and Peter for an amazing experience.
http://www.greatsouthernrail.com.au/
Next stop…..Uluru!!!
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A walk under the ocean
World War II wreckage and the biggest tides in the southern hemisphere
One of the things I was amazed about when I first arrived in Broome and the surrounding Kimberley coast is the difference in the tides. It’s absolutely amazing. You can wake up in the morning and the beach would be covered in rocks with the ocean such a long way away you’re not sure whether to put your flip flops on or some hiking boots. A few hours later and the water is so high you wonder if you’ve suddenly been transported to a completely different beach.
Last weekend was a full moon which means the tides become pretty huge. I’ve just been trying to research why this is and it’s pretty complicated to the point where I became a bit crossed eyed. Essentially the tides are bigger when the sun, earth and moon are aligned. This happens during the new and full moons. The moon and suns gravity pulls the earth in one direction and the rotation of the earth pulls it in another direction causing the water on the earth to bulge on opposite sides of the earth therefore causing the water to move around which we call ‘tides’. (Please free to correct me if this is total rubbish).
Many people believe that we become a little bit mad during the full moon and this is where the term ‘lunacy’ comes from taken from the word Lunar! You can’t say you don’t learn anything on this page hey?:)
In 1942 Broome came under attack by the Japanese during World War II and 16 seaplanes were sunk off the coast of Town Beach. Many people died in that 20 minute attack most being Dutch refugees on their way to the southern states.
The wreckage is more than 1km from the shore and the full moon is one of the only times you can view it when tide is way out.
A group of us got up at 5am and walked off into the sunrise to see the wreckage. It was just incredible walking out there. The first photo shows what Town Beach usually looks like and in then second photo you can see the beach all the way in the background. Last weekend we had to walk for about 40 minutes before we met the ocean again.
The whole experience from the wreckage to the sunrise to the amazing tidal change was amazing. We even saw a turtle…but luckily no crocs!:)
One more day in Broome and then I’m on my way to the centre of Australia on my favourite mode of transport….rail! The Ghan railway experience here I come.
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The beautiful camels of Broome
They say no visit to Broome would be complete without a sunset camel ride on Cable Beach. My lovely friend Katherine took me for my very first camel ride as the sunset over the Indian Ocean.
My friend Laura used to work with the camels in Broome years ago and she told me all about them before I left for a Oz.
I had no idea that Australia had the largest herd of camels in the world. The camels were brought over from India, Arabia and Afghanistan in the 19th century and with no natural predators have flourished into their thousands. There are now around 750,000 camels roaming wild in the outback. Who’d have thunk it!?
A very magical and surreal sight to see.
I can’t get over how beautiful the sunsets are here. I’m going to find it very hard to leave this place next week.
