![The Happy Walk]()
The Happy Walk
Just to get you all excited about the 2nd leg of The Happy Walk I'm letting you know the draft itinerary for the first week. Generally it is always a draft until I have actually completed the day because I have no idea exactly how far or how slow I will walk on any given day.
Friday February 22nd
9am
St Kilda Pier
Day 1
St Kilda to Chelsea
Day 2 Chelsea to Mornington
Day 3 Mornington to Rosebud
Day 4 Rosebud to Barwon Head
Day 5 Barwon Head to Geelong
Day 6/7 Talks and rest
From Geelong i will be averaging a walking speed of 4km/hr or 25km/day and reaching
Adelaide via
Ballarat,
Bendigo, Shepparton, Swan
Hill,
Mildura, Mt Gambier,
Kingston,
Murray Bridge, Victor Harbour and
Kangaroo Island.
A bit of background for those of you haven't heard of this before, The Happy Walk is a 7 year, 32,000km solo walk around Australia raising awareness about depression and suicide prevention and funds for Lifeline. It is also being walked without a support vehicle.
Last September a group of ExplorOz members came down to
St Kilda to help me get started as we walked to the Tassie ferry. Over the following 12 weeks I walked 1,200kms around Tassie and spoke with many people including newspapers, radio and TV, sharing mental health tips and contacts for help.
This 2nd leg was originally scheduled to start on new years day but for a number of reasons, including the building of the trekking cart, it was postponed.
A new addition to the walk are talks. If anyone wants me to do a talk about the walk and/or my personal story and/or depression awareness for their organisation as I pass through your area I can, just let me know where and I'll let you know when.
I have the first night of accommodation organised in a last splash of luxury, the Cosmopolitan at
St Kilda, but from there I am relying on the trust and generosity of people I meet on the way to help me out with safe shelter or holiday parks, backpackers, hostels and free roadside camping. If you are on my path and can spare a patch of grass for my tent please let me know because I would be very grateful of your company and a bit of security.
A huge thank you to everyone who supported me through the first leg and the generous sponsorship from ExplorOz and the donation of an $100 voucher to the
ExplorOz shop from a fellow member. I am looking forward to putting my new safety beacons to use as I take advantage of the cool early mornings before first light and the fantastic sports nutrition products are a vital ingredient of my chaff bag, especially the electrolytes.
I look forward to meeting you on the road. Please don't hesitate to safely pullover for a chat beside the road if you see me out walking
Cheers
Terra
PS Dear Mods, am I allowed to copy paste this to a
forum thread so more people read it :)