Report by Caroline Davy

We had talked about that date for a couple of years – and now it had arrived. In other reports we have traced the progress of planning, organizing sponsors, the incredible amount of work done by a number of people in order to make the whole trip happen – and now it was happening!

McDonald’s South Hurstville carpark was unusually busy that morning – you can imagine the bustling as a month’s luggage, medical and mobility equipment is added to the already packed vehicles; families fuss a little and farewell their people; well-wishers look on; and a couple of early morning walkers really curious about the activity.

We were farewelled by several people – Dr. John Yeo, authority on spinal injuries and rehabilitation had a special interest in those going on the trip; Ross Green, Mayor of Kogarah was there to wish us well and to host Andy McNeil the Major of Alice Springs who later met us in his home city with a civic reception. Sally Daphne and Bette organized a message from the Governor of New South Wales, Peter Sinclair.

All the last-minute things were done and we set off for our first stop at Yass, where the local Toyota dealer, the Holmes family and some of their friends were waiting for us with morning tea and a lovely warm country welcome to counteract the rather bleak Yass temperatures.

On again to Wagga, where another country welcome from the Church Hall (and more tea and home-made cakes and scones). Many thanks to all of those people who disrupted their Saturday for us – it was a big help to have our stops made easy for us that day, because we wanted to travel a good distance for the first two days to put us ahead of the school holiday crowd and get into less familiar country as soon as we could.

Our overnight stop had been organized for Hay, we knew we were to meet some of the people from the town and be given a reception from the Mayor, but we were totally unprepared and quite overwhelmed at the magnificent hospitality we received.

Just as we were forming our line outside town, we were hailed over the radio and escorted (by a Land cruiser, of course) to the showground where everybody was waiting for us.

It was cold, sleeting and would have been a miserable first night had we had to camp. As we walked and wheeled our way in, all of us tired and stiff from the cars, we were greeted by Mayor Mick Beckwith and people from the town with a welcome none of us will ever forget: all the needs of tired and hungry travelers were met, that was important – but the atmosphere at the door of the hall just made us feel that the rain and cold didn’t matter any more – we were with them in Hay now. There was no insincere effusiveness – we were strangers – but we were made welcome in every sense of the word by people who did care about us and demonstrated that they wanted to support us and in a very real way became a part of our project. The physical needs they met expressed human values that stayed with us for the rest of the trip.

The people of Hay had cleaned up a building in the showground, the SES brought in huge heaters, and put down many layers of tarps for us to sleep on, and hung tarps across the building to stop draughts. On arrival, there were cups of tea, coffee, milo (or … “would anybody like a cold beer?”). A wonderful BBQ and dessert were produced in no time with bowls of salad and sweets that people had made for us and brought from home.

But that was not all – there is a lot of talent in Hay, singing and playing – not the least being Gary Shearston the local Anglican minister who sang some traditional songs as well as his own compositions – and blessed our endeavour. To cap it all off, these magnificent people arrived early the next morning and cooked breakfast for us.

We told the story of Hay many times during our trip, and I’m sure none of us will ever forget the welcome, the people and the town.