A fine weather weekend

Lots of laughter, music, great food and fine wine. MuSic in the Vineyard was a testimony to the power of team work.

“The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team.” Ok. So it’s a baseball quote but I think highly appropriate for what we achieved this weekend. Our hubbies gravitated to the BBQ and did a wonderful job cooking sausages, chicken koftas, and vegetable patties. Our walkers chopped, thermomixed, heated and served. See the menu behind for the wonderful choice offered.

To Julie and Peter Mortimer, thank you for opening your vineyard for our fundraiser and being such wonderful hosts.

From Left, Jackie Christopherson, Pauline Rogers, Denise Temisgian, Helen Garnett, Debbie Bird, Liz Melchior, Katrina Hemingway, Peter Mortimer, Julie Mortimer, Bron Dowling, Sally Hawthorne, Tansey Keys and Merran Cooper

To Into the Blue, Lynda Manwaring and November Shorn thank you for offering your wonderful musical talent to us for this occasion.

To Bron Dowling and Jackie Christopherson, organisers extraordinaire, thanks for showing us city slickers what country hospitality is all about. Raising $7,000 is a wonderful contribution to our fundraising target.

Now for those unfamiliar with weather conditions in Australia the week preceding this event was marked by heavy downpours for several days. I’d say it was definitely more torrential than the English rain we are likely to encounter but the fact it persisted did concern us. Was Wainwright’s Coast2Coast adventure, a route notoriously renowned for its unpredictable weather, going to give us a taste of things to come downunder? No way!

Look at this picturesque scene.  Based on the overwhelming success of this fundraising event I’m even prepared to say an Indian summer may well await us.

Now for much of its history Australia depended on wool as its main export, and so the notion arose that Australia was “riding on the sheep’s back”. A cure for MS may well ride on the success of Wainwright’s Coast2Coast MS Walk. And so the ram goes.

Goodnight Orange. Thank you for a great weekend. Watch this space for more exciting fundraising events in support of our walk.  To support the team please follow this link

Last minute is ok

MuSic in the Vineyard is fast approaching -this Saturday 29th March from 11am at Mortimers Vineyard in Orange. All are welcome. Tickets still available. Please see previous blog “Thankyou Jackie and Bron” for details.

But where are the “Kiss Goodbye to MS” aprons for hubbies and assistants to wear when cooking delectable lamb burgers on the barbie? Well, MS Research Australia is still waiting for them to arrive. No sweat.  Get a few seamstresses who happen to like walking  like Pauline Rogers, Sally Hawthorne and assistance from Denise Temisgian’s sister, Sue Cassa, and Voila! Thank you girls. Always about the  ‘fun’draising.

So last minute decisions to join us or sponsor us are warmly welcomed. You’ll never know if you don’t give it a go.

Well apparently you can

Get a budding professional photographer to assist you and look at how well behave they can become. One week later, still with brilliant weather we introduce another dog, Maverick with Denise at the front.

And more importantly we have another walker from Australia joining us. Welcome Pauline Rogers, far right, who is going to walk the Lake District with us. Like Pauline you can be a part-of-the-way walker too. Your participation and support for our cause is as much appreciated as those walking all-the-way. With 5 months to go there is still plenty of time for training and serious consideration of joining us for part of Wainwright’s Coast2Coast MS Walk – a “fun”draising adventure not to be missed.  What are you waiting for?

 

Thank you Jackie and Bron

From Left Bron Dowling and Jackie Christopherson

Thank you for joining us on this exciting adventure to raise vital funds for research into a cure for this debilitating disease. Thank you for your commitment to escalating the continued research that is needed to find the cause of MS, develop better therapies for those currently living with the disease and hopefully find the cure that will prevent future generations from ever contracting it.

Without commitment from such dynamic women as yourselves hope and a cure would not be possible.

View their story on Prime Time TV

Your commitment to walking towards a world free of MS has not gone unnoticed.

The remaining girls and gentlemen participating in this event can not wait to share this wonderful fundraising experience with you.

Thank you for believing a cure can be found and assisting us raise awareness about the debilitating impact of MS on the lives of people currently living with it.

Bring it on. Now only 5 months to go and we can’t wait.

To donate to the cause please follow this link or select Jackie or Bron from the team page to donate to their individual fundraising page.

If you would like to meet Jackie and Bron there are still tickets available for Saturday 29th March “MuSic in the Vineyards” hosted by the girls as part of their fundraising drive for the walk. Come to beautiful Orange, enjoy some great gourmet lamb burgers accompanied by fine wine and good beer from Mortimers Vineyard and the best bush dancing and jazz quartets this side of the Central Ranges.

Welcome Eli, Ruby and Hamish but can you work with them?

Our beautiful dogs would have a ball walking the fells with us this September but with accommodation now almost exhausted for their two-legged friends I’m afraid we will have to leave them behind. Perhaps some of our volunteer mountain guides can bring their dogs along to make us feel less homesick.

But exactly what is Ruby’s coat saying. It’s red for MS Research Australia so that’s a start and Denise is all for Freedom from something.

I think I can see a Kiss and Eli is trying to work it out too.

Ah, yes. “Kiss Goodbye to MS” and Eli what exactly are you doing? Well I think he’s on the trail for finding a cure. I hope you are too. Please support us by clicking this link as we continue our training in preparation for our big walk in September.  Thank you for your support.

 

 

 

 

To Compeed or not to Compeed

That is the question. Well, with this cloud looming there was no doubt we needed them. Thanks to Johnson and Johnson Pacific Australia the key walkers now have a stack of these magic blister plasters to use and our first official training walk was as good a time as any to try them out.  Thank you to our sponsors for their generous support.

The other gear worth testing were our backpacks and waterproof gear. A wee bit sticky on the inside due to the high humidity but the waterproofs did work and the backpacks, despite my complaining, worked well too. I love the attached waterproof backpack covers though inner liners and garbage bags work just as well.  And the Osprey Manta Hydration Packs have a neat little magnet on the sternum chest strap which secures the drink nozzle so it doesn’t flap around.  Merran’s Helly Hansen rain jacket was the most divine red in keeping with the Kiss Goodbye to MS theme to wear red, share with others and dare others to join you. At least we all made an attempt to Kiss Goodbye to MS and as the photos show there are hints of red on most of us.

Most of us had a go at wearing our new hiking boots  – some no more than 15 hours old and I have to say they are a bit of overkill for walking on roads which we did for  the majority of this majestic coastal walk from Mona Vale to Palm Beach and return. Look at this wonderful piece of headland known as Bangalley Head just south of Whale Beach.

So when we finally arrived at Palm Beach some had to admit the boots had got the better of them or they needed to get back to their young kids. As you can see from the photo above we all go at our own pace and we all participate in the training as best we can. To Deb and Liz who were unable to make this day we missed your company. What a wonderful bunch of girls they all are with such diverse skills and interesting backgrounds. We didn’t stop chatting about all our impending charity events to assist us raise $150,000 for research into a cure for MS.  And I suspect we won’t. It certainly helps pass the time and divert our attention from the arthritic pain that managed to cut in at the half way point.  5 of us managed to stoically make the return and cover a total of 31.22kms according to Denise’s GPS distance/elevation/everything-you-need- to-know Gizmo App.

For those wondering, this is about a 29km smile from Merran and Helen.

Well done, girls! It thrills me no end that you have embraced the cause to find a cure for MS and accompany me, my husband Mike, and Debbie, who all know too well about the challenges of living with MS. Fortunately I am only an observer of this debilitating disease but we are determined to bring purpose and meaning to the lives of people living with MS and raise vital funds for research into finding the cause of, and ultimately a cure for, MS. Research is slow but advances are being made and therapies are improving all the time. I have no doubt we are heading in the right direction.

From (L to R) Merran, Katrina, Tansey, Helen, Jackie, Bron, Sally and Denise thank you for your support. 12 days with sore feet and arthritic limbs may be painful for us but it is not a patch on what people with MS suffer every day.  We are determined to make a difference and hope you will give generously to our individual fundraising pages or team page. Please click here to donate now.