With each day that passes, the fact that I'm actually walking to Cairns is becoming more and more my reality. I don’t think I’ve ever (this vividly, anyway) realised; just how freeing and empowering it is to take an "idea" - something unquantifiable, unmeasurable, undefinable; that has no weight or mass, no inherent value, no parameters or limits; and is all at once as expansive and as infinite as the universe and yet can't ever be truly seen, even at the subatomic level - a simple thought... and make it real and tangible!

But that's what this tour is and that's what I'm experiencing more every day.

Exercise and walking, gave me positive endorphins to battle my depression.
The literal, blood, sweat and tears of making an idea, a reality - that's making me a different person and a better person, I hope.

So much has happened in the last 3 weeks and I'm only 1/5 the way through this journey.
I've met thousands of new people and I’ve got to catch up with a couple of old friends. I’ve pushed myself to the point of collapse and I've had the chance to relax in some breath-taking locations. I’ve slept in houses of people I've never met before, in a van with my cousin and even under the stars by myself. Walked on beaches, sidewalks, roads, grass, dirt, rock - in sneakers, sandals and barefoot.

On Friday March 25th, I was attempting to walk from Glass House Mtns to Mooloolabah. 39kms in nearly 30 degree weather. On a public holiday. I packed as light as I could, to make optimum time. My support crew were in Brisbane, but were supposed to meet me along the way before midday. I hit the road just as the sun had risen and made it about 15km to Ewen Maddock Damn without any trouble. I spoke to some really nice mountain bikers, that told me I could cut through the bike trail and save myself time and would be safer than walking along Steve Irwin Way. But what was supposed to be a short-cut along a well cut path, turned into a 45 minute mistake that eventually meant trekking through a few hundred metres of thick bushland. All the time getting cut by lantana and broken trees, but I was way too concerned with potential snakes or spiders, too actually care about some measly, scrapes and bruises.
Most of my journey up until that point was chilled out and fun, i’d had some scary moments getting passed by big trucks here and there, but the all my treks through the Gold Coast and Brisbane were through well planned out areas, with plenty of space for walkers. Now all of the sudden, things were starting to get very dangerous, very quick.
I gave a call to my support crew to let them know what was happening and that I had taken longer than expected, was low on supplies and needed them as soon as possible.
By 12 O’clock I’d already been walking for 6 hours and had run out of water. I sat down and did a 20 minute AMA with people on my page, all the while expecting my support crew to call at any minute. I set off along Kawana Way by 12.30 and made it over 6kms the during hottest part of the day. My vision started to blur and I had no water. I called my support crew to see where they were and due to some phone and transport issues; they would be stuck in Brisbane for another 2-3 hours and hadn’t been able to contact me, to let me know.
I called my Dad and explained what was going on, he immediately recognised that I wasn’t sounding right and out of concern, offered to come and get me.
By that point heat exhaustion was setting in, and because i’d walked through so much wet grass; I’d gone through the extra pairs of socks I had brought and my feet were developing blisters. I took my shoes off and walked bare-foot for another hour and half before finally collapsing. I wasn’t thinking straight and I had no energy. i think I was just kind of pushing myself on will alone. What made it worse, at some point, I’d began walking in the wrong direction and didn’t realise it. My parents were only 20 minutes away, but I was so thirsty, and could no longer walk, so I ordered an Uber and had them take me to the nearest 7/11. It took another 10 minutes for the driver to reach me, so i lay on the ground were I had collapsed and then crawled to a spot with some shade. The 10 minute rest gave me enough energy to get to the car when it pulled up, but it was all I could do, just to do that. I got to 7/11 and drank a couple Slurpee’s and sat on the ground outside, while waiting for my Mum and Dad to meet me there. I was finally safe, but I was physically sick, sore and exhausted.

S/o to Chelsea and Steve in Coolum who were kind of enough to put me up in their spare room for the night. Chelsea had also organised me some beautiful Asic sneakers and they made me some chicken curries that was so tasty. I had a hot shower and was sick some more, but got an early nights rest.

For the last 6 months, whatever’s been going on in my life I’ve had a motto - “walk it off”.
I did it with my emotions and my depression, I did it with my weight as I lost 21 kilos since this time last year and I’ve done it with my injuries and set backs. Last Friday I pushed the theory to it’s limits and found out I’m not invincible, but the same motto has applied even in my recovery. I’m not trying to do stupid amounts of Kilometres, in stupidly hot weather and I’m learning my own boundaries as I go. I’ve also made some improvements to my communications with my support crew to insure dangerous situations like that are mitigated moving forward. But if I’m seriously going to make it to Cairns and make this IDEA a full-blown REALITY, then every set back has to treated with the same ultimate determination. WALK IT OFF.

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