Day 8

This afternoon the riders went to Quirindi Primary School. The kids were amazing and each class had made their own drawing of Giggle and taped their Gold Coin donations to it. They really loved our Puppeteers and asking the riders questions.

Then it was back on the bikes for the next 34 kms before hitting the Murrurundi Ranges. It was a long climb and a steep decent, but the riders smashed it with some of them doing 55 kms per hour coming down!

After 126 kms and 6 hours in the saddle, everyone finally arrived into Murrurundi at The White Hart Hotel. Bikes were put away, showers and massages had and then it was time to relax. Wayno, Les and Jason's families arrived to spend a couple of nights along the road with us. Bozo was given his very own "room with a view" and Damian and Mark were very happy to have a room without is snoring !!!

The White Hart served up a great meal and then we all had the pleasure of listening to the McGrath Family who came along to have dinner with us for the night and talk about their Camp Quality journey.

The rider's really enjoyed hearing a personal journey of our Camp Quality Family and were inspired by their story. Thank You lovely McGrath Family for coming along and spending the night with us.

Tonight Leigh was given the Most Supportive Jersey, Justin was given the King of the Mountains Jersey and Craig was given the Joker Jersey.

Green Team is still winning the Challenge Event and Mark got the "L" Plate award for working so hard to beat the King up the Hill that he almost had a heart attack.

As I type this, the riders and crew are all out in the Pub listening to and dancing to the Band. They are all having a great night and are really looking forward to the last couple of days on the road before they finally finish.

Day 8

A great start to the morning. Everyone was up bright and early for breakfast and ready to face the day. The Support Crew had breakfast prepared, Brad had bags packed and off set the riders.

Our first School this morning was the little school of Curlewis with only 36 students. Unfortunately the riders were unable to come to this school as they needed to get an early start but the wonderful Puppeteers and myself and Brad carried on. What a welcoming little school Curlewis were.

We then jumped in our cars and headed in to Werris Creek Public School to meet up with the riders. Werris Creek school were kind enough to let us feed all the riders in their school grounds and Thelma and Louise had a great lunch ready and waiting for them.

We then went into the Hall to watch our Puppeteers perform their magic once again and present prizes to the winners of the Giggle Colour In Competition.

The riders are back on the road now and heading to Quirindi - stay tuned for for more updates. We are getting closer to home !!!!

A Thank You from Glen Innes

Check out the great messages we are spreading along the way. Below is a message from one of the Schools we attended:

Hi Donna,

I would just like to thank you for your time and efforts in organising the Camp Quality Ride that visited Glen Innes Public School on Monday. I have been a Camp Quality Companion for 7 years now and I believe it is one of the most important charities in Australia. I think you have done a wonderful job and you will bring laughter and happiness to so many children and their families.

I know the students at school really enjoyed the visit. I teach Kindergarten and I discussed the puppets with them on Tuesday morning. They took so many important messages away and they are only 5 and 6 years old. The opportunity to meet with the riders and ask questions while examining their bikes was wonderful as well. The riders were all so caring and giving and were freely chatting to the students, it really made their day (and mine).

I know the ride from Monday night on will not have been easy and my thoughts are with you all, especially Mr Dunn and his family. I thank you all for the amazing job you are doing in raising money and spreading such a worthwhile message while raising awareness of a wonderful organisation.

Please contact me again next year if you intend on coming through Glen Innes - we are more than willing to support you.

Kind Regards,

Nikki Lee
Glen Innes Public School
Classroom Teacher
0402 527 342
nikki.penn1@det.nsw.edu.au

Meet more Support Crew

Here are a couple more of our wonderful Support Crew Members.

Brian and Norm are in the rear onroad car keeping all our riders safe and sound from the trucks and traffic passing by.

Nick is our Bike Mechanic. Not only is he keeping all the riders bikes in good working order but he is fixing punctures along the way and also riding the whole way.

Thanks so much for all your help guys.

Day 7

Day 7 was Tamworth to Gunnedah. The ride was Inland and mostly flat. We were greeted to huge applause at Westdale Primary School. They were having a football colours day and they were all dressed up in their favourite football team's colours.

By the time we left here a massive head wind had really picked. The head wind was with them for the next 77 kms and it was a tough day, but once again the riders supported each other to get everyone to the finish and did really well. Jason had another two flat tyres - I believe that is four now for him.

Normally the riders travel about 24 to 26 kms per hour, but the winds held them back and they were cut back to about 15 kms per hour. It is really hard going with head winds because they are peddling so hard to make up any ground.

Unfortunately it meant they were late getting into Gunnedah and were unable to get to Gunnedah Primary School. Our wonderful Puppeteers and several of us Support Team went along to do the Show, tell them about the riders and answer their questions. Another couple of funny questions from the kids at yesterday's Schools:

"Do the riders ever fight with each other?"

"How old is the Fairy King and can he fly?"

By 3.00 p.m. the riders had all finally arrived at Gunnedah Showground where they were treated to awesome steak sandwiches, cold drinks and homemade monte carlo biscuits by the wonderful Gunnedah Lions Club.

After this we all made our way back around to The Courthouse Hotel where Rob and his crew made us all very welcome.

Brad started his washing duties, MJ and Eden started massaging, Queen and Ash attended to people who needed dressings, panadol, etc, Thelma & Louise set off to get their supplies for tomorrow and the rest of my fantastic Support Crew carried on with all the behind the scenes jobs that just keep the event ticking along - they are an absolutely amazing Team.

The riders had showers, a rest and some down time before we needed to meet for dinner.

At 6.15 p.m. we all met at the front of the hotel to walk 10 minutes up the road to The Bitter Suite Cafe for dinner with the Gunnedah Mayor.

Unfortunately the Mayor got called to Sydney and had left an apology - not to worry, we still had a lovely night.

We then made our way back to The Courthouse Hotel were lots of socialising was done before heading to bed.

Day 6 - Karaoke

Wow, where do I start with our Karaoke Fun Therapy from last night. All the gang really got into it and let their hair down - it was just what the Doctor ordered.

The challenge for the night was that at least 2 of your Team members must get up and sing a song. Well, this didn't prove too difficult as all the Teams were fighting each other for the microphone - the poor Tamworth locals didn't get a look in !!

The Blue Team gave an interesting rendition of "I'm too sexy". The Orange Team dedicated their song of "Burning Ring of Fire" to all the riders and The Green Team belted out "Buffalo Soldier". All the other Teams sang lots of their favourites as well and the Nurses belted out "Doctor Doctor".

Ant, Chriso and our wonderful Puppeteers proved to be the dark horses of the group with Ant's rendition of "Angels" so amazing that we have had to appoint Bozo as his agent to field all the calls and autographs!! Let's hope Bozo can keep track of them all as he is having enough trouble keeping track of his own helmet and glasses.

Check out a few of our photos from last night's fun therapy.

Day 6

Awesome Day had by all today. The sun was out and the riders hit the road early ready to face another hard day of riding.

First stop was the Moonbi School, but first the Moonbi Ranges had to be conquered.

Poor Carol hit something on the road and got thrown off her bike and into the guard rail. She said she was fine, but Nurse Ashley took her off to outpatients at Tamworth Hospital just to be sure and get her checked. Thank goodness after 6 hours of waiting in outpatients, our lovely Carol only has bruised ribs and a cut ear!

At the bottom of the Ranges is the Moonbi Primary School. This was only a really small School and they had held a silly hair day and raised $97.00 for us. For a really small School, they definitely gave us the biggest cheer as we were coming in.

Following Moonbi, the group split and half went to Kootingal School with the Puppets and half went to Tintinhull while Brad spoke to the kids. Tintinhull School went to a lot of trouble with all the kids dressing up like clowns - it was so awesome and they really got into the fin of Camp Quality.

From there it was off to Tamworth Primary where we were greeted by the cheers of over 745 kids and guess what - they raised us $1,500.00 from their Fun Day!!

We then headed down the road to Anzac Park where the Lovely Lioness Ladies made us fantastic salad rolls and beautiful home cooked slices - yummo !!

Everyone has now arrived at The Courthouse Hotel in Tamworth and are showering, relaxing and socializing. Fun Therapy tonite is Karaoke so stay tuned for that !!!!!