The Great COFE for Cystic Fibrosis

Still getting recognition

2010-10-10T14:28:00.000+11:00

Amazing how I made the top 120 list of most inspirational people on the coast! Wow.
Wait till they hear about www.coughing4cf.com and see me ride my dutch bike from Sydney to Melbourne.

Next Adventure!!

2010-06-10T23:52:00.000+10:00

STOP PRESS Read all about it! The next adventure: www.coughing4cf.com

Kinaba who??

2010-02-18T17:08:00.003+11:00

As many of you know I am a Hash House Harriers. This year the bi-annual Interhash is held in Borneo (see their website) and I am intending to go! Not only that, I am intending to be fit, to be very fit, and not to have lung infection; I am going to climb Mount Kinabalu

Gunung Kinabalu (The Malay name) is a prominent mountain in Southeast Asia. It is located in Kinabalu National Park (a World Heritage Site) in the east Malaysian state of Sabah, on the island of Borneo. Its summit (known as Low’s Peak) is at 4,095 metres (13,435 ft) above sea level.

The main peak of the mountain (Low's Peak) can be climbed easily by a person in good physical condition, and requires nomountaineering equipment. That sounds like me doesn't it! All I need to do is make sure I can handle the altitude.

Altitude... For anyone who lives near the sea to even spend a short time above 4000 meters. There is a 20% chance of getting altitude sickness in areas between 2000 – 2500 m, and a 40% chance in areas of 3000-3500 m. With below 50% lung capacity this may affect me worse...

Sensitivity to altitude sickness varies from individual to individual, and is not dependent on the degree of physical fitness, nor on the previous number of visits to high altitude areas. Patients with heart and lung diseases run more risk at high altitude. The symptoms can persist for up to 72 hours after arrival and may continue for 2-5 days when remaining at high altitude. At first the symptoms of acute altitude sickness are mild: the patient complains of headache, fatigue and shortness of breath (dyspnoea) upon exertion, lack of appetite, nausea, insomnia, dizziness, general malaise, and sometimes swelling of hands, feet and face (first of the eyelids). The severity of symptoms depends on the altitude, the rapidity at which this altitude was attained, the effort expended in getting there and whether the visit is prolonged there overnight. The complaints can get worse(vomiting, dry cough and increasing shortness of breath), and can sometimes eventually develop into life-threatening conditions due to high altitude lung oedema (fluid in the vesicles of the lung, with a worsening dry cough, fever and shortness of breath even when resting) and/or high altitude cerebral oedema (swelling of the brain, with headache that no longer responds to analgesics, unsteady gait, increasing vomiting and gradual loss of consciousness).

Dr Reid is leaving Tasmania

2010-02-01T22:06:00.000+11:00

Receiving my OAM!

2009-11-08T16:17:00.001+11:00

Here are all the Tasmanian recipients of the 2009 Queens Birthday honours list.

Here am I with the GOVERNOR OF TASMANIA: HIS EXCELLENCY THE HONOURABLE PETER UNDERWOOD AC
http://www.govhouse.tas.gov.au/

These are now available on Amazon.com:

Coughing the Distance with Cystic Fibrosis DVD ~ Lucas Li
Permalink: http://amzn.com/B002FB63C6

Coughing the Distance: Paris to Istanbul with Cystic Fibrosis by Jonas Jacob
Walter van Praag
Permalink: http://amzn.com/0980592011

Walter and the Mucous Monsters: A tale of adventure and Cystic Fibrosis by
Katherine Hitch
Permalink: http://amzn.com/1442185015

Coughing on CNN!

2008-09-27T11:23:00.002+10:00

This week CNN is showcasing i-Reporters, like myself, who are doing their part to make the world a better place and highlighting some of the best i-reports received from around the globe. Watch us Coughing the Distance at the following times on CNN International:

SATURDAY 7:30A EASTERN (11:30A GMT)
SUNDAY 2P EASTERN (6P GMT)
MONDAY 9A EASTERN (1P GMT)
MONDAY 1:30P EASTERN (5:30P GMT)

CNN also streams the show at the following website: http://cnn.com/ireportforcnn

Canberra Times

2008-09-12T21:34:00.000+10:00

Here is the Canberra Times Coverage of late August!

Robert Knight - Southsolo.com

2008-09-05T17:10:00.001+10:00

Did you know Robert Knight is going solo to the South Pole for Cystic Fibrosis? Well, he is! And I ran into him a few months ago and last tuesday we headed off into The Walls of Jerusalem National Park in the remote Northwest of Tasmania and found some snow. A superfit young man and a 40-something old CF 'sufferer'; what a team. Robert patiently waited for me to cough up all the hills, which tested his patience on the first night when we did not get to set up tents in the snow till 7pm - well after dark! We had a great time and I feel much better again. Photos are <here>.

Visit Robert's website: www.southsolo.com and see if you can spare a few $$$ towards his expedition!

Time flies...

2008-09-05T16:47:00.000+10:00

Progress update. Lucas is still working on a final copy of the documentary, one that he is happy to submit to the Bicycle Film Festival. In the mean time we have shown the Canberra edition of the documentary to a Devonport crowd at the Entertainment Center and that was a great hit. The little hall we got given at no charge was almost full with 60 people attending. Considering it was mid-week, mid-day and less then a week's notice we did very well!

I say Jump!

2008-08-25T16:46:00.000+10:00

You think I am silly?

We're all silly!

Walter, Lucas, Tiina and Dave jumping for joy at the first Canberra screening of Coughing the Distance!

Screening in Devonport

2008-08-25T13:54:00.001+10:00

Monday 1 September from 2pm till 4pm. in the Centenary Court of the Devonport Entertainment and Convention Centre.
Entry by donation, and donations will go to the CF Association of Tasmania.

In case you like to read it

2008-08-24T19:00:00.000+10:00

Click on the below image to get a large version of the Sunday Examiner article.

The Sunday Examiner - 24 Aug 08

2008-08-24T18:13:00.000+10:00

Wow, journalist Ben Wild got all the facts right too. I wished I could have written the book as well as he's written this story. I flew into Devonport today and could not believe what I saw in the paper when I landed in Tassie!

The Advocate 19 August 08

2008-08-24T17:54:00.001+10:00

My fav. local journo Sarah Webb wrote this great article in the Advocate for Tuesday August 19.

Canberra Screenings

2008-08-22T22:31:00.002+10:00

Canberra screenings went well. We had our new and improved version 1.1 of the documentary, and it is looking good! The Finkel Theatre at the John Curtin School was awesome, but it was a shame we only had 30 odd people show. Parking at ANU is atrocious, and it was a day-time session. I was hoping people from the school would actually show.

The Southern Cross screening was excellent with about 60 people attending. Many of our friends and families showed up, and Lucas bought 6 bottles of wine which he made me present to some of the major contributors of our project. I should have thought of that, only K and I are pretty broke right now! I still feel like giving away all the books to all the great people, but we just cannot afford to do that unfortunately. Nothing extra was charged for David, Lucas and myself to sign the books. Gratis!

Barbarra Mills from the ACT CF Association was officially handed a collection of donations from the two screenings for their association. I hope it was a good amount.

Now I need to arrange a NW Tasmania screening ASAP! Our biggest support came from there!

John Curtin School of Medical Research

2008-08-22T22:29:00.000+10:00

Today was open day at the school and following the screening of Coughing the Distance I was asked if I liked to have a table in the foyer during their open-day!

I was honoured. Met a bunch of interesting researchers and other medical people who will hopefully be able to use some of our books/DVD! I also met my first ever genetic councellor, Jennifer Hogan.

ACT CF Association

2008-08-21T10:02:00.000+10:00

Wow, I found this at my mother's home, the July 2008 newsletter of the ACT CF Association. I was in it with a beautiful photo of me consuming a German Ale and a story I had written for them in the past.

The newsletter also had an order form in it to pre-order the books/DVD!

Thank you Berenice!

Pre-sales Update

2008-08-18T21:27:00.000+10:00

Dear all of you who were wonderful enough to pre-purchase the books and DVD. This is an update especially for you! I wanted to rush off the pre-sales as soon as possible of course, but we had a slight hiccup with the documentary. We were slightly delayed and the documentary we showed at the launch was perhaps not a perfect version. We are right now touching it up and taking some typos out of it that we discovered and that we find embarrassing! So as soon as we have a good copy, which should be in the next week or so, I will mail them out.

Those who ordered the books alone will go out in a matter of days!!

Thank you all for your enormous support!

Walter and the COFE team!

The Grand Launch

2008-08-18T08:40:00.000+10:00

Lucas and my mum arrived last week and we rushed out the DVD production for the launch. Too late to review it, but we'll see how the audience reacts!

We had a great weekend in Hobart doing the launch at the CF Nurses conference. The doco was well received and we sold a heap of books!
There were several newspaper articles and some radio and TV coverage too. Off to canberra today to polish the doco with Lucas and to show it to the Canberra community!

Unfortunately my laptop died and has not been resurrected yet, causing delays in reporting...
Here is one article:

This is an old one I just found.

Press Circus

2008-08-13T11:00:00.001+10:00

Tomorrow is the launch in Hobart! Followed by a radio interview on ABC 936 Drive at 1745 with Louise Saunders . There should also be coverage in the Mercury as well as a spread in the Sunday paper. Gosh, we are in the spotlight! Lucas and my mother are here and we are all tickled pink with the attention. Let's hope people like our work.

Walter and the Mucous Monster

2008-08-10T22:20:00.001+10:00

Katherine's children's book has arrived! Walter and the Mucous Monster looks fantastic. We are very happy with the result. The shipping took a little long as it came from the USA. We are still awaiting the postcards that we had ordered to go with them. The postcards are coming from VistaPrint, and we had hoped they would've been here by now.

We have been soo pleasantly surprised with past orders coming in well within the expected time-frames that we are now scared when they don't arrive just as quick the next time! Walter and the Mucous Monsters for instance arrived within the expected time frame, but we were sure they had been lost in transit! Maybe we are just a little nervous. August 14 is looming around the corner!

First book arrives

2008-08-05T12:28:00.002+10:00

Wow, here it is. We got two boxes of books in the mail! Enthusiastically I drove to Katherine's work to officially open them. We only found my book, and not the Mucous Monsters. The Mucous Monsters were submitted for printing 11 days earlier, so we have no idea why they are not here yet. Just waiting for them and the documentary on DVD and I can go mail them out to those who preordered! The DVD is likely to not be available till 14 August, and there is no sense sending pre-orders out in seperate packages.

The cover colour looks a little purple and artificial, but hey, I am happy! I was proud to drop off my copy to the Tasmanian Library who had written to me months ago to advise me of my obligation to make a legal deposit: Legal deposit is a statutory provision which obliges publishers to deposit copies of their publications in major libraries in the country or state of publication.

Coming to a theatre near you!

2008-07-25T13:42:00.000+10:00

Lucas has almost finished the documentary, and has it down to under 90 minutes! He hopes to have copies of the DVD available at the launch in Hobart at the www.anzcfnurses2008.com conference on 14 August.

There is no public show for Hobart yet, but we are looking for a venue to play the documentary on Friday evening, 15 August, if someone can come up with a place!

Also, STOP PRESS READ ALL ABOUT IT, we have a Canberra launch organised for the week after:

Wednesday 20 August at 3pm at the ANU John Curtin School of Medical
Research.
Gold Coin Donation for entry into the Finkel Lecture Theatre,
Building #131 Garran Rd, Acton
(http://transport.anu.edu.au/index.php)

Thursday
21 August at 6:30pm: The Canberra Southern Cross Club in Woden will show the
movie to up to 400 people.
Gold Coin Donation for entry in their Top of the Cross theatre. Remember they have Happy Hour
downstairs from 530pm.

I flew to Canberra last week to help finalise the documentary with Lucas. These are the planes we fly in and out of Devonport with - this picture taken at Melbourne Tullamarine Airport.

All those who ordered a pre-purchase will get them soon now! As soon as we get the books/DVD they will be mailed out!

Walter----

Counting down to Launch!

2008-07-25T13:28:00.000+10:00

Yesterday late at night I finished my final draft of the book! This will have to do for the 2008 CF Nurses conference Edition!
I am very happy with it. Kathryn Whitfield has helped me greatly improve the text by making some key recommendations wrt to tense used in the book, and helped rewrite the first half of the book in which she culled all the extraneous unimportant bits to make it all more readable. So I need to bring this draft to the printers for printing and hope the book arrives in time for the conference on 14 August!

Also, at the printers right now is Katherine's children's book; Walter and the Mucous Monsters. We still owe the illustrator a final payment and we hope to sent that to him with a copy of the book! We got postcards made for the Mucous Monster as well as a general promotion tool. The postcard is the book cover itself.

Watch iReport on CNN

2008-07-13T07:14:00.003+10:00

Here is the link! If you watch the 30 second commercial it follows straight on, please have patience.

iReport for CNN: July 5 part 2

Walter----

CNN

2008-07-09T08:09:00.002+10:00

From: Frank Van Praag [mailto:fvanpraa@xxxx.com]
Sent: Wednesday, 9 July 2008 4:14 AM
To: walter@xxxx.com; jackie@xxxxx.com; connie@xxxx.com

Subject: Happy Birthday to Bruddah

Surreal... Here I am in my hotel room, 12.30 in the morning flicking through the 30+ channels on my TV before I retire for the night. Then I'm struck by a little text caption on the bottom left of the screen: "Walter van Praag"... Confusing, I thought. I'm sure I checked in as Frank van Praag - then I listen and look. It's CNN! Showing about 5 mins of footage of the great COFE with music and commentary. Mentioned the site, the music, and at the end the reporter wishes you a happy birthday! iReporter. Surreal! Now I'm going to sleep. Well done, bruddah.

10 Minute Teaser on line!

2008-06-28T13:01:00.000+10:00

Coughing the Distance - Teaser from Jason Sewell on Vimeo.

CNN telephone interview

2008-06-20T22:40:00.000+10:00

Got a call from CNN International! They wanted to do a radio interview with me! Apparently I am getting on CNN on 4 or 5 July, and again on a repeat on 8 July - my 43rd birthday!
The reason they got me was because 3 months ago I put the 3 minute teaser on CNN:'s i-report <here> .

Time to celebrate, and I have the perfect place.... See picture of The upstairs pub at the Blackthorne Inn.

65 Roses Day in Devonport

2008-05-23T16:19:00.001+10:00

Was a nice sunny 15 degrees C. day in Devonport! Katherine my ambulance officer wife helped man the table of CF goodies at the Rooke Street Mall.

Katherine had worked all night last night and is getting ready to work all night again tonight... That is dedication for you. What a wife!

Tom from Devonport Patient Transport lending a hand in his lunchtime...

Sarah Webb from The Advocate was there to cover the story!

We sold most of our merchandise and we are only left with CF bumper stickers and over $250 in funds to Realise the Dream!

CF TAS in Hobart

2008-05-21T15:28:00.000+10:00

Sunday we had the 7km and 11km City to Casino Funrun in Hobart. K and I did the 11kms of course. Also running was Dukey (aka Wayne) from 5H Hobart Hash. T-shirts were made up for the event and was sponsored by Blundstone!

On Tuesday we had the official CF TAS Cheque Presentation where Aaron (president) presented me with a $3000 cheque to contribute towards our project, and specifically the children's book. Their logo will proudly feature on the back of the cover of The Mucous Monster. The Southern Cross TV reported on the event.

Cystic Fibrosis FAQ

2008-04-24T22:14:00.002+10:00

Most of you know about Coughing the Distance the upcoming documentary, but what do you know about Cystic Fibrosis (CF)? I have CF and I rode from Paris to Istanbul for CF Research and Awareness. So what exactly is Cystic Fibrosis? Read on!

Q: What is Cystic Fibrosis?
A: Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is the most common life threatening, recessive genetic condition affecting Australian children.

Q: How does it affect people?
A: CF affects primarily the lungs and digestive system, however with improved medication and treatment life expectancy has been extended considerably.

Q: Who gets CF?
A: CF is an inherited condition. For a child to be born with CF both parents must be genetic carriers for CF. They do not have to have CF themselves.

Q: How common is CF?
A: Approximately one in every 2500 babies will be born with CF. One born every four days.

Q: How many young people have CF?
A: Approximately 3000 and there are 1 million carriers in Australia.

Q: How is CF diagnosed?
A: In Australia, all babies are screened at birth for CF. A blood spot test is applied and if this test proves to be positive a sweat test will be done to measure the amount of salt in the sweat and it is with this test that a final diagnosis is made.

Q: What is their life expectancy?
A: The average age expectancy is around the mid 30s, but not so long ago that was teenage years or younger. The great improvement has been brought about by research.

Q: What are the symptoms of CF?
A: People with CF may have the following symptoms:

• Persistent cough, particularly with physical effort.
• Some difficulty in
breathing or wheezing with effort.
• Tiredness, lethargy or an impaired
exercise ability.
• Frequent visits to the toilet.
• Salt loss in hot
weather which may produce weakness.
• Poor appetite.

Q: Is there a cure for CF?
A: Cystic Fibrosis is not curable at this time. However, with today’s improved treatment most people with Cystic Fibrosis are able to lead reasonably normal and productive lives. A great amount of time, energy and money is being directed towards finding new and improved ways of treating CF and finally finding a cure.

Q: Is CF contagious?
A: CF is not contagious. Coughing is a frequent symptom of CF. Some people are afraid they may catch it, but CF is an inherited condition which is present at birth. You cannot “catch” CF and you cannot give it to anyone else.

Q: How is it treated?
A: Intense daily chest physiotherapy to move mucus in the lungs. 40 enzyme replacement tablets each day to aid digestion.

Q: Why have things improved?
A: Mainly due to research and better knowledge and management of the condition.

Q: Does the CF National Organisation receive Government funding?
A: No – The States receive funding to support the CF Community but no money for research.

Q: Is there a cure?
A: No – but it can be found.

Q: Why “65 Roses” Day?
A: “65 Roses” is a small child’s effort to pronounce his sister’s condition. As he couldn’t pronounce Cystic Fibrosis, he called the condition “65 Roses”.

Susie on WIN

2008-04-20T21:07:00.000+10:00

The inside story

2008-04-17T17:34:00.001+10:00

Was very special to be inside the studio at WIN TV and seeing Susie life! One of the highlights was tasting the **braised** Moroccan mini roast that Victoria Hansen prepared in the studio!

Ross Symonds my favourite newsreader from my past was there as well. Of course I did not recognise him :( My memory is like a seive!

Wake Up My Little Susie

2008-04-17T11:06:00.000+10:00

Yes, it will happen tomorrow! Tune in between 10am and 11am for Susie!

Canberra trip

2008-04-16T15:15:00.000+10:00

Lucas is filming me here. I am talking to the wooden cat! We have hours and hours of narrating and interviewing to do. We interviewed David one day, I met one of our sponsors today, we visited the hospital for a full lung function test - took hours and hours! I visited government departments to get tax concessions for our funding - to no avail. Life in the fast lane! Not getting around to my friends :( or families. Work to be done!

I should be on TV on WIN next Friday between 10am and 11am! I will try and tape it somehow and put it on the blog!

Walter----

Susie

2008-04-03T22:59:00.003+11:00

WIN TV, will speak to me next week! I will see Susie at the Wollongogn studio next wednesday when they record for the week ahead. Yeah, watch out Susie, here I come. Keep an eye on this website for more info in the next week: www.wintv.com.au/susie/

All the other TV shows that we have approached have not responded. Sunrise is coming to Hobart in the very near future, but despite the dozens of approaches we made we have not heard from them. Their loss!

Thank you CF Tasmania!

2008-04-03T22:54:00.002+11:00

CF Tasmania has just advised me that a $3000 grant has been approved and a cheque was mailed to me promptly! This is great news as I am incurring lots of costs lately. I am due to appear on WIN TV which requires travel at my own cost to Wollongong, I need to go to Canberra to film and discuss the documentary with Lucas. We have thousands of dollars to pay for professional services incurred with our project...

We hope to soon find an Australian TV network for the documentary and with a bit of luck obtain a pre-sale fee. It will get us out of deep water!

Thank you CF Tasmania! It could not have come at a better time!

CF Lifestyle

2008-03-20T12:21:00.011+11:00

If you have Cystic Fibrosis like I do then you are bound to take a lot of medicine. Here is a list of medicine and other things that I take daily:

Pulmozyne - every evening before bed with a nebuliser pump
Cephalexin - antibiotic that reduces lung infections - I am usually on antibiotics of sorts
Augmentin Duoforte - another antibiotic that I alternate with others
Creon Forte - pancreatic enzyme I take with meals
Cotazym-S Forte - pancreatic enzyme I take with small snacks
Ventolin Inhaler - twice a day a couple of puffs
Seretide - a long term broncho dilator (steroidal)
Fluimicil - a mucolytic I have to get from overseas which I take prior to doing exercise (no subsidies for this at all!)
Kefir - a yogurt kind bacteria I culture myself and drink which effectively stops my stomach from aching.
Hypertonic Saline - every morning with a nebuliser pump to do my lung clearance techniques with
Lantus injections - every night to keep my sugar levels low
ABDeck Vitamins - specialised prescribed vitamin supplement or CF
Injecting pen - for the insulin
Pen Needles - every night a new needle of course
Colloidal Silver - an alternative medicine that helps me - prior to 1938, colloidal silver was widely used by physicians as a mainstream antibiotic.
Vitamin Supplements - a draw full of various supplements to help with metabolism, breathing, immune function, bone health (people with CF typically have osteoporosis as well). - none are subsidised
Ensure hospital strength - a protein meal supplement I mix in with my kefir (not subsidised either)
FOOD - I have to eat lots of healthy food. People with CF have double the appetite and double the need for good nutrition. This is not a cheap diet.
SPORT - Anything to do with sport is expensive. I must do sport regularly and fot this I need gear. Without the right gear you get injuries and do not enjoy it (making it harder to convince myself to go out and do it!).

Living my life does revolve around staying healthy and taking the right medicine at the right time. None of this is easy as you understand, but certainly very doable. Everything comes naturally, I know what I need when I need it. Something you get with experience!

Here is a list of sports items I own and regularly use to get me to go out and exercise my lungs. I can do one or two days at most per week without decent exercise or else my lungs congest. Most of my equipment is of minimum amateur standard, nothing is extravagant. I use a basic heart rate monitor when I run to encourage me to stay above 120 beats per minute, I run on good running shoes, I have a great bicycle so I can ride and change gears smoothly and easily, stop when I need to and be safe on the road with. I have a bike computer to encourage me to ride at a minimum of 20 km/hr (if I am fit and well). I have a kayak and paddles, a car with a roof rack... I have all the toys. All comes at a cost, and all are slowly accumulated. I have a mobile phone in case of emergency. I own a good back back, hiking tent, sleeping bag and related gear. I have a great collection of sports wear to hike, run and cycle in.

When Katherine comes home from work she will ask me what I did for work today, meaning which sport I did for an hour or more. My job is to stay healthy, which means I must eat lots and exercise lots! This is an expensive lifestyle that many would consider a luxury. I must say I do enjoy it and feel privileged to HAVE TO DO IT. But this costs money... Participating in fun-runs or other events costs money, running in the Hash House Harriers costs money... everything costs money. Volunteering for things in the community, Lions Club, Lillico Penguins, Bushcare,... it all requires transport to and from and often other related costs - like needing a second car to begin with (and which we have!).

Andrew Denton?

2008-03-12T15:25:00.001+11:00

Several people have volunteered me as a guest for Andrew Denton! If you like to make a comment (which will improve my chances of getting on air with Denton!) go here: http://www2b.abc.net.au/guestbookcentral/list.asp?guestbookID=29 and look for me. Leave a comment. Turns out I have been suggested by others too, just do a 'search suggestions' and look for name WALTER.

SUPPORT IS NEEDED

2008-03-12T08:59:00.006+11:00

We did not manage to get the LJ Hooker support we hoped for as LJ Hooker has a strict contract with CF Australia dictating where all their donations go to. That is OK, it still goes to Cystic Fibrosis! We are continuing with our fund raising.

But WE NOW NEED YOU! We need you to pre-purchase the books and the DVD to help us fund the printing and production! Go to www.coughingthedistance.com now and help us out!!

Remember that profits of the movie will go to CF research and profits of the books to go to CF Associations! And the more we can print the more we can send to CF clinics to give inspiration where it is needed!

Walter----

Draft on Internet

2008-02-23T11:02:00.008+11:00

We are making progress! Negotiations with LJ Hooker Realestate are progressing, the proposal for funding has progressed from State to National Level!

I am approaching a Tasmanian research organisation to see if they like to have the rights to the documentary so that they can professionally distribute it and get the profits from it. This will be a complicated move which I think will benefit the CF population in the world as a large university affiliated research organisation in whose interest it is to spark interest and attention to CF is more able to distribute the documentary on a world wide level. They will be better able to distribute the documentary and make more profits from it than I would be able to do on my own, especially as they have teams of professionals and more money to back the project. As for the profits, the intention has always been to donate all profits to CF Research, and what better way then to pass the rights to a Research Institute! It would also give the documentary more authority if it came from a respectable research institute. Of course this is still a long shot, but you never know how things pan out!

And the book is now in third draft. We are closer to having it finished now. The book has been edited and divided into chapters by Dace Shugg, editor of the CF Worldwide Newsletter. Currently we are getting three acomplished 'readers' to test-read it.

In the mean time I have secretly 'published' this draft copy on Lulu: http://www.lulu.com/content/2084690 from where it is downloadable for US$5 and you could even order the book in printed form - mailing is very reasonable, under $10. It is not a final edition, it has not got an ISBN number assigned, but technically it is available to people who click the above link. Ofcourse the book in draft form is not publically available or searchable, and can only be located with the above private link until we have it completely finished!

Don't forget to watch the three minute documentary preview at http://www.coughingthedistance.com/!

Second draft finished

2008-01-31T21:34:00.000+11:00

Getting somewhere with the book! Slow process.
Random quotes from book here: www.coughingthedistance.com
Lucas the film director coming over this week! Shooting in Tasmania this week. The Adult CF clinic and local habitat of Cindy and Troy, and wife Katherine too!

Walter---

The Mucous Monster

2008-01-24T15:47:00.000+11:00

Here is the first art received from the talented artist who is doing the Walter and the Mucous Monster book!

Documentary Australia

2008-01-11T22:01:00.000+11:00

Yes, we are approved by Documentary Australia!
See here: www.documentaryaustralia.com.au

Lucas is making progress

2008-01-06T22:20:00.000+11:00

Visiting Lucas in Canberra was a highlight of my Canberra trip. We saw the draft copy of the 'Teaser'! Soon you will see it here!
Here he is working on some footage. There is a huge amount of time involved in sifting through 50+ hours of footage and assembling a movie!

Progress...

2008-01-06T10:58:00.001+11:00

Currently in Canberra reading and correcting the first draft of the book.
Katherine is doing her kiddies book and Glenno the illustrator in Sydney is starting to sketch illustrations!

A proposal for funding is in the mill where I request real-estate franchise LJ Hooker to pre-purchase the Documentary and the books for their franchises. I hope it bears fruit, we sure need some funding to keep the good people going - the illustrator doing the children's art and Lucas in Canberra to name but a few.

We almost have a 2+ minute teaser, I have the draft for it already. We were endorsed by Documentary Australia as well thanks to a beautiful presentation made by Lucas. When that is finalised I will post a link here.
We purchased another 2 Terrabyte drive for Lucas and are still receiving funding from different areas to keep things rolling! We are on track. Awesome.

In Focus Again

2007-12-20T15:43:00.000+11:00

The Royal Hobart Hospital got me in their Infocus Newsletter again! Nice!

Pre-sales of Coughing the Distance Packs!

2007-12-19T13:00:00.000+11:00

Yes, we are progressing!
The documentary is still scheduled for completion in April. We have quotes for DVD pressing and book printing (yes, also on track with that!), and now need funding to actually print/press the packs.

An official launch has been decided on for August at the Australia New Zealand Cystic Fibrosis Nurses Conference which is held in Hobart this year! Terry Stewart, CEO of CF Australia is giving the keynote speech for the conference, and will hopefully give it a plug! If in April we find a NAtional TV station to air the documentary we can most likely arrange for the TV broadcast to coincide with it in August.

To get the books and DVDs ready for sale we need funding! Help! Why not pre-purchase the pack consisting of the children's book, the adult book and the DVD. Individual sales also possible. It will be shipped to you FREE OF CHARGE in August!

Check out the new website we designed for it: www.coughingthedistance.com and invest in Cystic Fibrosis today for a brighter future tomorrow!

Donations still accepted!

2007-12-07T10:09:00.000+11:00

I am pleased to advise that this last month of 2007 another $1200 has been donated to help us produce 'Coughing the Distance' - the inspirational documentary covering our ride from Paris to Istanbul!

In particular I like to thank the Southern Cross Club from Canberra for their kind donation!

The book is making progress as well, albeit slowly. Printing the book and producing the DVD is planned for April when we hope to have it all together! The book and DVD package is destined for CF clinics and hospitals around the world to provide a small ray of sunshine to people with CF. The educational and inspirational Coughing the Distance combo (book and DVD) will make a difference to those affected by CF who have only read and heard about the clinical prospect of living with CF.

Packaged with the combo will be information on organ donations, as all people with CF are likely to end up on the lung transplant register.

If you are able to help, or know of people who can, we still need to arrange funding for this venture. We hope to find a corporate sponsor or philanthropist who is willing to invest in the cause!

Youtube

2007-11-21T23:44:00.000+11:00

I found this video. A typical family that would love to see a documentary on a 42 year old with CF!

Curing Cystic Fibrosis through The Great COFE

2007-11-17T12:38:00.000+11:00

Here is the grand plan as it stands. Remember the big picture is really to cure Cystic Fibrosis, and this can only be done through continuing research. Research requires money. Money can only be generated by bringing it to peoples attention. To cure people from CF you need to keep the people with CF alive till there is a cure, and that requires education and inspiration. These factors are all addressed in my great plan:

The grand plan for the documentary Coughing the Distance is now taking shape!
Lucas is sweating on the editing and cutting it all together into an inspiring and entertaining documentary. I am busy writing the book to go along with it ('my pamphlet'), and when we have a product ready - April 1 is our aim - we get into gear:

I want to print 1000 documentary DVDs and 1000 books and sent them to 1000 CF clinics/associations around the world. I imagine the RRP of the book would be somwewhere around the $24.95 mark and say $25 for the DVD. Mailing would be approximately $10, so I figured if I included a VOLUNTARY invoice for $59.95 (Don't you just love the 95c bit!). The proceeds would go to printing more packs and mailing them off to the next 1000 addresses, till we have covered the CF world. You got to think big!

Given that the DVD might cost $5 to produce and the book $20, postage $10, that would mean the first mailing would cost us $35000. If half the recipients pay the invoice we could afford the next 1000 copies... You sow the seeds...

This self-sufficiency thing really is amazing. We sow the seed, right. Nature grows the seed, and then, we eat the seed. And then, after that, we sow the seed, nature grows the seed, and then, we eat the seed. And then, after that again, we sow the seed, nature grows the seed....
The Young Ones - BBC 1984

In the mean time we would have sold the documentary to a TV network in Australia and paid back the creditors and monies owing (I know, business is business) and the documentary Coughing the Distance can then be passed on to an international agent who can sell the rights to networks abroad, CNN Health, BBC,... All profits generated from these sales can then go to Cystic Fibrosis Research, and in 2011, when I come back coughing from Coughing in the Sails, I can be cured!

QED.

Elementary my dear Watson!

So much better now!

2007-11-17T12:17:00.000+11:00

Feeling so much better now! Amazing how the antibiotics do their job.
Went for a nice ride (see below track) yesterday dropping Katherine at the Latrobe station. What luxury to live in such nice fresh clean area where I can ride and cough!

Katherine thinks I need to make the bicycle ride from Paris to Istanbul into a children's book as well, showing drawings of me under the Eiffel Tower, coughing, and on dusty roads coughing, in big cities and surrounded by horse drawn carts coughing and then arriving in Istanbul with a little cough. I really like the idea! Good for young children with CF to see big people have big adventures and cough with CF, and that is OK!

Medicine woes

2007-11-13T14:50:00.000+11:00

My lungs have been a little worse then normal lately, might be related to all the bugs going around at this time of the year. I am on inhaled antibiotics, but decided this morning I really should go back on 20 days of Augmentin Duo Forte, an antibiotic that brings my lung infection under control. Doc reckons I should probably be on and off this antibiotic regularly on a preventative basis.

So anyways, off I go to my local GP to get my 20 days worth of pills. They were able to squeeze me in immediately as it was only for a regular prescription issue. The standard prescription for this drug is 5 days. The GP gives me the first two prescriptions and tells me to come back before it runs out (next week) and he'll give me the next prescription if I still need it... I go to the pharmacy with my repeat prescription and ask if they can issue both. Sometimes they do, but this time when i came to pick it up they had only issued one. Come back in 4 days for the other repeat. This means I need to go in 4 times to get my regular 20 days, and two visits to the GP.

What does this mean to society? Here I am with pretty much anti-biotic resistant bacteria in my lungs which are having a flare up requiring treatment. To get the standard treatment I need two visits to the GP and sit in a room full of sick and susceptible people and visit the pharmacy on four occasions where more sick people congregate. And do you think I feel particularly well when I have trouble breathing and wake up coughing every hour of the night? No. Does the pharmacy care? ‘Oh, regulation blah blah blah,…’. They do not care, they hear it all the time, and they must be tired of hearing about it as they certainly were not very friendly when I brought the subject up at Terry White’s at Fourways Devonport. This pharmacy recently changed hands. I think I will change pharmacy after today's really rude reception!

Publicity continues

2007-11-13T14:44:00.000+11:00

Today in The Advocate!

Also today I spoke to an elderly crowd at their monthly morning coffee at a respite centre in Devonport, Orana.

Lucas and Alex

2007-11-08T21:51:00.001+11:00

Today I met with Lucas in Canberra to see how the documentary was progressing. We are running out of disk space and need to invest in some serious storage solutions. If anyone has any good contacts, and would like a credit on our documentary, helping the worldwide CF community please contact me!Here is Lucas and his girlfriend Alex:

Here is a COFE plaque I got from Lucas and Heather, they got it made for me in Istanbul! It will find a nice spot in my home!

Message in a bottle

2007-10-26T17:29:00.000+11:00

On one good day in Bulgaria Lucas decided to go shoot some nice scenery on a nearby beach. There he found a bottle full of messages! He duly took the bottle and proudly presented it to us. The bottle was full of little bits of paper with crayon writing on it. We could recognise some german words, but the messages were all neatly rolled up.

My theory was that it was a German or Austrian school project where they had tossed the bottle into the Danube. The bottle had travelled 3500 kilometers to the Black Sea and there it had washed up. David said he'd swallow a Bulgarian Penny if that was the case. His modest theory was that it was a local school that had ambitiously thrown the bottle into the sea at the same, or perhaps a nearby beach. The waves had washed it back within a day or so.

A date was set for the ceremonial opening of the bottle; our last night together. That night came. We got the valet of the fancy hotel to fetch the car and we searched for the bottle. We found it. But we also found that condensation inside the bottle had ruined the messages! The micro climate of the support vehicle had apparently caused some dew inside the bottle.

Not to be disspirited by such minor detail we got implements and extracted the bits of rolled up paper. My suggestion of smashing the bottle was not entertained as we had a plan B. Plan B for the bottle was that if indeed it had come from a Bulgarian school, a school within a stone throw of the beach where Lucas found it, we would take the bottle to Australia and place it on Bondi beach. There we would have alerted the paparazi and the rest of the media circus and made a big hooh-hah about a bottle from Bulgaria washing up on Australian shores.

All we found inside was nicely blotched bits of paper. Nothing identifiable at all. Beware all you potential shipwrecks out there!! Use waterproof ink!

Some more photos from the trip

2007-10-26T17:03:00.000+11:00

Back at Hash

2007-10-22T22:35:00.000+11:00

Returning to normality includes running with the Devonport Hash House Harriers.

CF Adult Clinic in Hobart

2007-10-21T21:24:00.000+11:00

No sooner was I back home and I had to pack my bags again for a quick trip to Hobart to see the CF clinic. I was itching to go and see them, so there was no problem! I even took the bike with me to show them what a Batavus bike looks like! Here are (from L to R): Rowan, Nathan, me, Denise, Jenny and James and MadDoc David.

Sunday Tasmanian

2007-10-21T14:07:00.000+11:00

There you go, it's a Batavus bike in Tasmania!
Here it is online <click>.

And I had an article in the Australian Cyclist Magazine! Check it out <click>.

Photos

2007-10-20T21:27:00.000+11:00

Going through some of the pictures... Going to be a bit of a job! This is what we saw in rural Turkey as we approached one of many towns.

Arrival in Istanbul!

Media attention from CNN-Turk!

Back in Devonport

2007-10-17T22:01:00.000+11:00

Nice new Patagonia gear was waiting for me at home!

Wow, home again. This marks the end of the adventure and the beginning of much work! There has been a lot of requests for a book. I am seriously considering this, it would be fun to do, and I have always aspired to be a writer!

But just getting back to the last few days. David and I left the hotel at the checkout time of 11am. We could have stored our luggage there a little longer, but we were keen to get on our way; our plane was not due to leave till 7pm... Having polished off the beers we had in our hotel fridge we had a good start to the day. At the airport we had no trouble getting our luggage checked in by British Airways, despite the heavy weights with the bicycles!

According to the check in lady there were new luggage rules which might not allow the bikes, but they let them on. I checked this on the Internet just now and found this to be incorrect (for those intending to fly with BA and bikes in the future): All customers will be allowed to check in their respective free checked baggage allowance (1 bag of up to 23kg) PLUS one additional item of sports equipment from the list below: ... Bicycles A single seat touring non motorised bicycle.

Next we sat in the BA Club Lounge for many hours watching the clock. Lucky for us we had lounge privileges! The flight from Amsterdam to London was uneventful except for the small delay due to a runway being closed because two planes had touched wing-tips - a close shave I say! Heathrow security was tight as per usual, shoes off etc. All went smooth, we got our boarding passes at the transit desk. We were seated one seat apart with me at a window seat - not desirable if you need to cough and get up for toilet breaks as often as I do. Flight was comfortable none the less - thanks to the nice lady who sat in the isle seat next to me who had to cough and pee as much as I did!! We synchronised movements...

A few movies (Movies on Demand!) and a bunch of meals later we arrived in Melbourne at 5am. I bought the wrong duty-frees - which I noticed way too late when I noticed the receipt were for double the amount I intended to spend! The purchases were still Scotch Whiskey, but just the way more expensive ones... Ooohps, Ah well...

David and I parted ways and at avbout 11am I landed in Devonport with my shiny Batavus bike with 4500kms on the clock in the box!

Batavus bikes going to Tasmania!

Katherine was there to greet me with a few good friends and at home I found a beautiful scrap book with an impressive collection of trip clippings and a great set of brand new Patagonia clothing (which never made it on the trip due to the lost luggage)! A quick walk up Kelcey Tier (see photo on top) to stretch the legs, a quick nap, nachos for dinner and off to bed now!

11th Hour

2007-10-14T01:25:00.000+11:00

Calculating the number of required pancreatic enzymes is always tricky. How fatty will the food be in all these countries, will I get muesli and sandwiches of fried bacon and pancakes, ox-tongue, tribe or sheep brains for breakfast? I calculated 800 pills would see me through 80 days. It became clear that this was not enough, and I could've known that 10 a day is not enough in any case. So in Vienna I managed to buy some more enzymes. But alas, come towards the end of the trip I realised I was still going to be short.

David and I drove home with me slowly running out. We were lucky we missed out on a bistro dinner in our Austrian overnight stop (small town, 930pm...) and were given a small snack by the B&B host which only required a couple of pills.

When late the next night we arrived in Holland with the support vehicle I was down to 1 pill. In the morning I went to the local pharmacy where they had enzymes in stock and I replenished my supply for the trip home. They only had Pancrease, which is what I used to get until it was no longer available in Australia. The only problem I have with them is that they do not fit well in the Cotazym dispensers. No big deal!

I should remind you all that Roche Pharmaceutical did supply me with two excellent travel nebulisers for the trip which will be donated to ACF and CFTAS in Tasmania on my return home. The nebuliser, Pari Boy Mobile, was quickly charged, would easily go for two long sessions, and above all was small and convenient and was suitable for Pulmozyne.

That was enough product placement for today...

Heather's Scrub

2007-10-14T00:21:00.000+11:00

This has got to go down as one of the most hilarious travel experiences I have ever had...first, I’ll explain the idea of a Turkish bath: you get scrubbed by someone armed with a lofah sponge until you are gleaming. Sounds easy enough, if not a wee bit intimate and right horrific, yes, but I had to try it

First, I walked to the Hamam (Bath) from my hostel and in my hurry to get off the busy street full of locals staring at me; I enter the MEN's baths. There was a crescendo of murmuring and a flurry of towels and I was immediately rushed out and across the street to the Women Only Bath. Oooops! Teehee...

I was not too excited when I entered the bath as it seemed kind of seedy in there, but I had asked at my hostel for a good bath that was not touristy, so I had committed. Plus, I was more curious than I was scared.

I changed into the cracked, well-used flip flops and a rather tatty-looking towel and was shown into the bath area.

Creepy! Shafts of dim light came through open holes in the tower above my head and the room was steamy and claustrophobic-feeling with its wetness.

I was told to WASH! By an angry looking old lady and she motioned for me to sit on the marble. I was a little creeped out sitting el nude-o on the wet marble where everyone else's parts had been, but again with the curiosity....

The old lady left and I splashed water over myself from an urn beside me that looked like a toilet mounted on the wall. There was a 'fresh' water supply coming in from a tap that lent a sort of calm-watery sound to the air with its constant drip.

Somewhat doused in water, now, I sort of just sat there, all modestly trying to cover myself with my hands while I watched what the woman across from me was doing. She seemed to be overly enjoying herself and hardly noticed me until I got up to leave and she said, finished? With a look of shock. I had NO idea what I was supposed to be doing! Was I supposed to have brought my soap? She had some... did I ask to borrow hers? Was anyone going to come a scrub me, or what?

Being impatient, I walked back out into the foyer and there again was much murmuring and the angry old lady came over and pushed me back into the bath saying WASH! I suddenly wondered if I’d stumbled into a Turkish women's prison...

So I just sat there, splashing bowl after bowl of water over myself until finally the fat, angry old lady was back. But she was naked. Except for a black pair of bikini underwear - Yuk! I had visions of a more nurturing, motherly sort! Maybe she was just coming to bath herself - nope!

She slapped her hand on the giant slab of marble in the middle of the room and barked something. I went over and she pushed me down onto the marble. The next thing I know, I’m being vigorously rubbed down with a lofah sponge by the naked, fat, nasty old lady! She kept slapping me on the ass to signify that I had to turn over! And there were breast and stuff, in my face, dangling over my eyelids!

She reefed me up into a sitting position and scrubbed my arms and my hands kept brushing her saggy parts! I did look down at my arm through all this and was astonished to see these gloppy balls of dead skin all over me - Yuk! But somehow, fascinating...

WASH! She says.

Then she's back and slaps the marble again. I come over and lay down and she goes at me with soap and another sponge. There is so much lather that I keep slipping around like a soapy fish and she keeps trying to grasp my leg or my arm, but I’m all over the big marble table and barely clinging to it. I am laughing uncontrollably under my breath and this is aggravating her, which makes it funnier.

WASH!

After, there is a shampoo session complete with my face between her breasts as she massages my scalp; I emerge from her flesh with soap in my eyes and frantically trying to breathe.

There is another wash and then I’m ushered to the sauna where she doesn't let me out until I have all but melted and am starting to feel faint.

Then, blessedly, it's over with a cold WASH!

And that, ladies and gents, was my Turkish Bath Experience NEVER to be had again unless I can afford the fancy hotel ones where the woman may be better looking and a bit more 'firm'...

I’m sorry for any family members that read this far. Family gatherings may be awkward now...

Well, time to go shopping for cashmeres and carpets!

What next?

2007-10-11T20:53:00.001+11:00

Good question. Well, the big job of Post Production is starting now. We have taken a huge amount of video footage which will become the 'Coughing the Distance' documentary. This will take a large amount of money to produce but will also be sold to TV networks hopefully. All profits from such sales will go to CF Research, but first we need to get the product made! Any help, financially or otherwise will be greatly appreciated.

The DVD we will have of the documentary will hopefully be distributed free of charge to all CF clinics around the world to provide inspiration and a more positive view of living with Cystic Fibrosis for all CF patients, their relatives and friends.

Keep an eye on this blog for more info in the next week...

Oh, and you wonder what I have in mind for my next project? We thought of Coughing in the Sails, and sail a boat around the world in 2010. That will be a real challenge.

Special Thanks

2007-10-11T20:40:00.001+11:00

Special thanks must go to the Mad Bomber company for sponsoring us, Martin Quelle for providing the VW Caddy support vehicle and Batavus for providing the excellent bikes! To ride a bicycle like we did on some of the worst roads imaginable for 4500 kilometers requires tough equipment. The Batavus AM400 did the job admirably! No breakdowns of significance. Considering we had 5 bikes doing the trip and we only had one seat break off, and one bike which lost a couple of gears of the cluster on the second last day we cannot complain!

And let me tell you about our flat tires!! How many would you imagine to get on a 2 months plus trip on rough terrain? Well, between the 5 bikes and say 20 000 kilometers they traveled combined we had a grand total of ONE flat tire. The secret? Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires. We can highly recommend them as we had good grip at all times on dirt roads and mud, and low resistance due to their slick road profiles, and tough as nails! They were recomended and fitted by Cor Melissant Fietswereld in Dirksland, the Netherlands.

Special thanks must also go to Patagonia for dressing us! And thank you to all of you out there that read this blog, donated money and thought of us. Without all of you this trip would not have been the same!

Returning the Car

2007-10-11T17:07:00.000+11:00

Just when you think you read it all, there is more!

We celebrated the bike ride over a two night stay in a lovely Istanbul hotel, visited the famous Blue Mosque and the Grand Bazaar, and then it was time to go our own ways.

Cindy flew to London to go have a break with her daughter in Ireland, Troy flew to Brisbane to have a naughty catch-up weekend with his girl (apparently). Lucas will soon be flying home to Canberra from Istanbul and Heather is going back to Canada via Scotland to visit her very pregnant girlfriend before leaving Europe.

David and myself got into the support vehicle and headed for Holland. It is a long trip! We left at 11am on Monday morning and with panic in our eyes, two GPS units on the job, and me with a map as well, we negotiated the Turkish traffic to get out of Istanbul.

We made it out of Istanbul without a hitch and soon after got to the Turkish Bulgarian border. We knew that Troy had driven the car into Turkey and had a stamp in his passport to say so. With our incredible foresight we got a photocopy of that page in his passport and the front page as well, and a statement of Troy to say he has left the car with us to return to Holland.

The customs found this an irregularity and we were sent from one to another building, none were easily found and noone was easily understood. IT was a frustrating process which we finally got through after two hours of juggling, custom officers pointing at the photocopy of Troys passport and telling us he was Mafia and we had to pay a US$100 fine.

Next we were faced with many toll roads along many sections of highway. Not all roads looked like highways of course, but we got through the Balkan countries with one stop in Bulgaria and the next in Austria. We literally went THROUGH the Alps using amazing tunnels. The scenery was great and I was glad not to be cycling over these mountains.

Once in Austria the car's navigation system kicked in and we belted down the freeways at 130km/hr in the ultra slow lane. Most people appear to do 160 and many over 200 km/hr. Amazing! We got into the Frankfurt rush hour, learned to use the smart dynamic navigation system which keeps into account current traffic conditions (it diverts you automatically and turns up the radio when the traffic updates come on). When we got stuck in gridlock in Frankfurt we pressed the BLOKADE button and blocked out the next 10km which we assumed were not moving. Immediately the navigation system diverted us off the next exit and around the problem section of the freeway. The unit also told us we would be in Holland by 11pm.

And so we got to a friend's house late at night where we enjoyed a scotch before retiring to bed. Today we will clean the car up a bit before returning it to Martin. We are exhausted! Not sure what we will do in Holland but I think it will include lots of sleep and laundry! Will keep you posted when we find a place in Amsterdam to do just that, I expect it will be Saturday.

We're Finished!!!!!!

2007-10-07T18:31:00.000+11:00

Day 73
Istanbul, Turkey
4,394km

YAHOOOOOOOO!!!!

My God, where do we even start...?! How to possibly capture what it feels like to be finished The Great COFE for Cystic Fibrosis?

Well, for starters, you can bet there were wet eyes, wide grins and a few, "I can't believe it"'s.

And what would the final day be like without a giant helping of Wally Luck?

Whether you believe in coincidence or fate, our final day on the COFE challenge was most certainly accompanied by something other than the ordinary. It started with the insane traffic of Istanbul. We had spent the previous night on the outskirts of the giant city hoping for a relatively straightforward ride in to the finish line, which was to be the front gates of the Dutch Consulate General smack in the middle of the city.

Two friends of Walter's, Kathryn Whitfield, a journalist from London, and Laura Bins, in charge of Press and Cultural Affairs for the Consulate (whom Walter just happened to meet on a train in Amsterdam at the beginning of the trip), had exchanged countless emails and phone calls in order to plan a reception for the COFE team at the Consulate. We had no idea what to expect and boy, were we surprised!

But back to the traffic...!

The rider's were Walter, Cindy, David and Heather. Troy and Lucas were in the support vehicle laden with cameras and no small amount of adrenaline to cope with Turkish drivers.

At about 9:30 am, we rode out into the streets, squeezing our way through narrow gaps between sidewalks and buses, metal and flesh. We soon saw that biking through the streets of Istanbul, although completely damaging to even healthy lungs, was THE way to travel. The support vehicle made it approximately 6km before it was wedged deep into the worst kind of metal-hell jam. This was when Lucas got nervous. Our lunch meeting at the Consulate was slated for noon and it was clear nothing bigger than a human body was going anywhere fast.

So, just as any devoted, young film-maker would do, Lucas sprung from the car and started running. Armed with no more than a basic point in direction from Troy, he was off but when the car passed him about a half hour later, he was missed in the roar of engines around him. Thinking fast, Lucas flagged down a taxi and said, "Follow that car!"

Meanwhile, the COFE team was happily summing up the trip during an interview outside our hotel with CNN Turk.

At 11:55, there was no sign of either the support vehicle or Lucas. As you can imagine, it would be very sad not to all travel across the finish line together, so we started getting antsy.

Just then, we spotted the car! A red-faced but calm Troy jumped out, ran to the bathroom and emerged in his biking gear. We were just about to ride the 200 meters over to the Consulate with our press entourage when we heard, “Guys! I made it!”, and spotted Lucas emerge from a taxi.

Together at last, we rode through the gates of the Consulate to sound of hands clapping and corks popping. I think that was when we all started crying.

Our lunch was fantastic and made no less memorable when a complete brass band showed up. The Chaupiques: http://www.chaupiques.nl We were blown away that the Consulate had gone to the trouble, but as it turns out, the band wasn't planned. They happened to be walking by with their instruments and when they looked in and saw a party going on, they asked if they could play for us. The uncanny part of it was...they were on a one week busking tour from Holland and did not even realise they were walking into the Dutch Consulate! Those Dutch must give off a special scent...

There we sat in the garden with our smelly, sweaty biking clothes around dignitaries of the Consulate, but no one seemed to mind. During dessert, we were again surprised by a letter from the Ambassador of Australia expressing his admiration for Walter and his mission to inspire people with CF.

As much as we would have loved to have lazed on the Consulate grounds all day, we had a deeper urge to get showered and relax before our celebratory dinner. Some of us headed off to the Grand Bazaar, where you could buy anything from mosaic tiles to Turkish Delight to rugs to leather bags…..

At 8:30 we all met for dinner. Again, with the Wally Luck - we just happened to be staying in a hotel acclaimed to have the best restaurant in the city. Knowing full well we deserved the best on this special night, we tried making a reservation that afternoon. The hotel reception said, "No way. It is the best restaurant in the entire city on a Saturday night of Ramadan! You cannot just make a reservation now." We tried a little name-dropping using the Dutch Consulate for a start, but they still didn't buy it. They suggested we go up and speak to the host of the restaurant. We were again told there was no way to get a reservation, "For 1 or 2 people, maybe, but 8?" (We were to be joined with Kathryn, the journalist and her friend, Vicente.)

Just then, the phone rang and it was a table with a reservation for 8 calling to cancel……….Yes, I know, it is absolutely freakish!

And that is how we came to spend four hours on the roof of our hotel with the best view of the city, spending hideous amounts of money for small, but delicious morsels of gourmet food.

Around dessert time, we were joined by a nice couple fresh off a cruise (it’s amazing they let our bike-gang into such a place of refined tastes, really!). Poor Jim was subjected to Troy in the urinal, who, by this point, was well and beyond happy and full of affection for his fellow man. There may have been some hugging in the urinal, but it mustn’t have made Jim too uncomfortable as he brought his wife, Heather, over to say hello. They joined us with a celebratory bottle of Moet champagne and here we learned of yet another coincidence – not only does Jim’s wife have the same name as my own, they were from Calgary, Alberta, which just happens to be my home town.

A more perfect day could not have been thought up and we would like to extend our dearest thanks to everyone involved in the reception and to those of you who journeyed along with us for the last 73 days. We are all very proud of Walter and the kind of person he is. Surely each one of us has ingested some of this man's happiness for life and may we all be able to draw from it throughout our lives.

Way to go, Wally!!!!!!!!!!

Please keep checking in with us! We are putting together a Final Slide Show and are hoping to squeeze in a few entries from the other's as well, if they get the chance before leaving tomorrow!

Heather

Troy's Blurb

2007-10-07T17:21:00.000+11:00

Well it is all over, I can't believe we all got here in one piece. I have had the time of my life on this journey and to do it with a group of people I never knew before the trip (except for Walter and Cindy) has made it more exciting in some ways. I must say a special thanks to Walter and his lovely wife Katherine for asking me to join Walter on this trip. To see what it is like on this side of the world is amazing. I have had good and bad days in and out of the car the only real trouble was coming into Istanbul. I have never seen traffic like that (after all I do live in a small town with only about three roads). Anyway I also would like to say to the other guys and girls that have help on the trip a very special thank you.

Troy

Lucas's reflections

2007-10-07T16:46:00.000+11:00

It is finally starting to sink in that we are now reaching the end of this incredible journey. From the vibrancy of Paris to the splendor of Vienna and to the calming beaches of the Black sea - and now we find ourselves here, on the outskirts of Istanbul, within a day's ride of our finish line. This has been my first trip to Europe and what a trip it has been, there are far too much for me to tell in this short entry - but suffice to say that it has certainly been a milestone in my budding career.

Looking back on what we have overcome and accomplished (and I mean that literally because I've filmed and reviewed the clips repeatedly already) it is utterly amazing that we have made it this far, and this well. Whether it be the physically demanding stretches of endless rolling hills or the nerve-raking chaos of city traffic, somehow we managed to get through it all in one piece.

It is a true testament to David's spot-on navigation, Troy's technical ingenuity and Walter's sheer utter determination (as well as the almost indefinable 'wally factor') that we are here now. And of course the trip would not nearly have been as enjoyable without the accompaniment of Heather who has done a fantastic job of keeping the blog updated, as well as Cindy, whose incredible energy and enthusiasm brought a bit of fresh air to our team.

To be honest I had hoped for this crazy group of people to get into far more trouble than we did, good for the doco you know - but at this point I am simply relieved and very proud of what we have accomplished. And I must say we certainly had a good dose of mishaps and hardships - mountains, rain, mud, head wind, blazing sun, heavy traffic, as well as Hungarian con artists, Romanian Weddings that never end, feral dogs or even that wonderfully nasty slivovitch - just to name a few things, in all the 60+ hours of footage that we have amassed I am absolutely confident that we will have something worthy of Walter's vision.

My real work is now about to begin, I can look forward to many months of intensive editing sessions in front of the computer to shape this documentary into something that will entertain and inspire. Though it will take time, it is not a hard task - for Walter's story is that of a person who refuses to consider himself a victim, and there is definitely something in that for all of us.

cheers,

Lucas

Mountaıns! - by Walter

2007-10-03T04:33:00.000+10:00

Man oh man, I thought goıng from Bulgarıa Black Sea ınland to Turkey was not goıng to be thıs hard! It was a range of I belıeve three dıstınct mountaın ranges endıng up at a border crossıng around the 700+ meters. Because the support crew was unable to locate a hotel before the border we had to battle on ınto Turkey, crossıng customs at 430pm. We got ınto camp around 6pm exhausted. We had cycled about 78kılometers and went over several passes wıth one beıng 700+. My knees were a lıttle wobbly the next day.

The fırst rıdıng day ın Turkey was more ups and downs. I expected more flat terraın for some reason. The wınd was strong as well. Was kınd of sad to leave Bulgarıa behınd. The last day had lıttle traffıc, great forests, hardly any dogs or people for that matter. We had a nıce farewell lunch ın the border town and met our last frıendly englısh speakıng Bulgarıan - an ınternatıonally competınıg marathon runner who was a teacher ın thıs town.

But here we are, Turkey. It ıs hard to belıeve the end ıs ın sıght.

Happy Birthday, Cindy!!

2007-10-03T03:20:00.000+10:00

We think this is the last of the birthdays on the COFE trip! Next up is Katherıne's, Walter's fabulous wife, on the 7th.

photo 1 - green drinks aren't necessarily full of salad...
photo 2 - look closely and you can see a cake wıth candles.

Only 3 more Days...?

2007-10-03T03:01:00.000+10:00

Day 70
4, 213 km
Pinarhisar, Turkey

Can it be true? Only three more days until what will surely be a teary rıde into Istanbul? How is this possible? It was just a couple days ago that we were halfway, wasn’t it?

I don’t think it has really hit any of us yet as we have just entered our last country – Turkey - and it always feels exciting to enter new territory and spot the differences. This time, it is bordering on extreme. Having spent the last week feeling like we’d stumbled into all-inclusive vacation resorts along the Black Sea, we are once again confronted with adventure as we search small, crowded towns for obscure hotels and find the only restaurant in town with hopes the food is decent.

The border crossing into Turkey was more complicated than any of our crossings to-date, though the people offer easy smiles and are very welcoming. Today, a nice man waved us into a café for coffee and then paid for it.

Turkey is the first country we were required to purchase Visas for entry. While the Australian’s got away with paying 15 Euros each, I had to pay 45E for my Canadian status.

The riders this day were Walter, Lucas, David and Cindy and they had a longer day than the 54km fırst expected. Troy and I had little luck finding a hotel in the original destination on the Bulgarian side, and so made an executive decision to see what the next town had to offer. This meant going through the border and subsequently stalled the riders by at least an hour.

When Troy and I pulled into the next town, it was much smaller. I went into a shop to ask the man if there was a hotel nearby and he said no, but the Turks are not one's to watch idley while a visitor suffers. The next thing I knew, there were 5 or 6 people around me and 3 around the car, all offering us any help they could. Of course, it was all in Turkish, but one man did speak English and soon we were escorted to a man's fish farm 1 km down the road where we were urged to camp for the night.

Camping is fun and all, but this night, not so much. It would save us the cost of a hotel, but it was hard to watch the faces of our tired rider’s when they showed up and surveyed the scene: three tents perched on uneven ground, not a drop of water for showers or toilet needs in sight and the worst part, it was Cindy’s birthday and we hadn’t secured a beer stash yet!

Troy and I left the team to ‘get comfortable’ and drove back into town where we were immediately escorted to a restaurant where the nice woman made us kabobs-to-go and had a young man do a beer run. Luckily, the town we had stayed at the previous night had a good store and we were able to get Cindy a yummy cake that survived the day in the car.

We drove back to the team who didn’t look much happier than when we’d left and tried to brighten their mood with food and beverages. This worked and soon, Cindy was singing, 'It's my party...', with a bottle of Jim Beem in her hand and most of the cake was gone. What was left went to our surprise guests for the evening. Two other cyclist’s from Poland were riding from Istanbul and, on their way past, turned around and asked if they could stay with us that night. We were happy to have them, but I think they were happier to run into us after we gave them cold beer and cake.

Birthday or not, the night ended early and we were all asleep before 10:00, that is until a stray dog woke some of us up with its midnight prowl through the garbage bag we left out…ooops.

Heather

photo 1 - sometimes we see local cyclists, but it's rare.

2 - pollution - we had to ride right through this and on a hill, so breathing heavy lung-fulls of air...

3 - camping

4 - streetlife in Turkey

5&6 - views of Black Sea

7 - coffee with Turks

9 - washin' bikes! First time in over 4000km.

Last days on the Black Sea - by Walter

2007-09-30T06:00:00.000+10:00

Well, how time flies. We are on our second last night on the Black Sea. Despite our first impressions of Bulgaria, when we crossed the Danube for the very last time and glimpsed into the Bulgarian side... , Bulgaria has been a total highlight of the trip.

This to me looked like a war-torn area.

We expected Bulgaria to be worse than Romania, and we found Romania a little uncomfortable at times. Were we in for a surprise. As soon as we crossed the border last week even the truck drivers seemed to slow down, the fields were ploughed and relatively clean road sides... the first hotels we found were reasonably priced for a change, the food was really nice... and the towns we came upon were great!

Yes, although this is Cindy alongside a Bulgarian highway, Bulgaria is still cleaner than what we have been getting used to....

Interestingly the Black Sea coast shuts down after the peak tourist season. We are pretty much in the last week of it, and many hotels, bars and restaurant just shut down for the rest of the year it seems. Especially the Romanian part. The crowds are down, which is good, but all camping sites are shut it seems, most hotels and restaurants are closed as well. Even the fancy hotel we booked via the Internet for Constanta (our first Black Sea destination where we had KFC), a Savoy Hotel, was pretty much shut down. No one in the bar to serve you, the restaurant was pretty much out of food and the bar out of beer (despite being a 4 star hotel only one kind of local beer was available in one size bottle and at a ridiculous price).

The hotel was meant to be a bit of a treat to mark the Black Sea arrival and it was our hardest day on the bike. Turns out the hotel was nothing like in the picture, was not freshly renovated (in fact in need of renovation!), and was not in Constanta at all (despite the map on the Internet showed it to be in Constanta). We had to ride an additional 10 kms that day to get to it!

Anyway, that was Romania. We then rode into Bulgaria a few days later. As we are no longer on the official Euro Velo 6 bike route for which we had the bike books we have to basically follow the main road. Maps are hard to find and inaccurate. The Nokia N95 we have with mapping on it is pretty much useless - it takes 20 minutes to know where it is to begin with - and the Garmin GPS's we have only have basic maps for these remote regions. We are driving on very busy dangerous roads. Dead cats and dogs strewn bloated and disfigured on the side, others try to attack you (we have seen waiters in restaurants with air-pistols in holsters shooting at unperturbed cats, maybe we should arm ourselves on the bikes). Trucks and buses fly past, and traffic is pretty horrible. Especially when we come to the bigger towns (cities really) it is a bit of a death defying ride in and out. David does an excellent job navigating through and around where possible and we do it, but don't ask how!

In between the towns and cities we now have small mountain ranges to traverse. We were hoping for nice quiet roads along the Black Sea, but we do not often get to even see it as we ride. The road goes up and down now and my legs sometimes run out of 'mojo' as David calls it. I then need to stop and re-fuel with Heather's concoctions of nuts and dried fruit. We are pleased not to have scheduled long distances here, and the day's ride is often only 3-5 hours long.

Just recently my little pinky gets tingly after the ride. Very odd. Must be some pinched nerve issue. In the beginning my nether region would suffer from the occasional numbness whilst riding, but that went away. Then a month ago I had a week where occasionally my feet and hands were a little numb during the ride. Now I have none of that during the ride but my little pink goes numb after riding! Oh, and in case you wondered, the butt-aches are completely gone. After a month of riding most of our discomforts in those areas had sorted themselves out - none of us suffered too severely from them fortunately.

Around about lunch time the support vehicle SMSes us the GPS coordinates of the hotel they found for us (we always hope to find a camping but have pretty much given up on that despite the numerous signs), and we plug in the details into the Garmin and ride in. On arrival it is often past lunch time, and we are starved and exhausted - well, speaking for myself actually (David does not really get tired... ever). We all dole around doing our things, wanting to do everything at once.

Walter looking for some spare Kleenex tissues...

Last night we arrived in Nesebar around 2pm, and we all wanted to do a million things. The hotel was fantastic (each next Bulgarian Hotel just gets better and cheaper the further we get into Bulgaria), we want to eat in the restaurant, drink a beer, swim in the pool, shower, go into the World Heritage Ancient City of Nessebar, walk on the beach, we want to do it together... But you try organising 6 people all with slightly different priorities, and none lucid enough to discuss 'the plan'. Makes Lucas's life hard, trying to film us! We all end up doing something and often end up together - mostly. Occasionally the one room key ends up in one pocket with another room-mate spending hours looking for it. Sometimes five of us end up somewhere and a sixth feels left out. But we are all happy to have some down time too!

Troy and I got to Nesebar at the same time as Lucas but we never found him there... We stupidly left 10 minutes after him, instead of at the same time. Lucas did try, but Troy nor I had any real idea of what we really wanted to do for the next few minutes - and sitting by the pool with a beer seemed the thing to do.

We mostly all do what we want to do in the 'time-out- period. I for instance have taken a liking to massages here in Bulgaria due to the favourable price factor. A young man gave me one after dinner in the hotel (as arranged by the reception) and that was probably my fourth in 3 days or so! I think this was my last one as well as I have had enough now. The firm therapeutic massage administered over a 90 minute period by an older woman really sorted out some knots in my back (knots I did not know I had which are now still sore!), the wine and chocolate wraps administered by some dandy lady were titillating and relaxing, but the dude tonight was pretty good all round I must say - after I got used to a man touching me like that (I am not normally a massage kind of person).

Troy at the old gate into the Ancient World Heritage listed City of Nesebar..

Lucas sampling the Rose we took on a boat ride. I think we are corrupting this young man... or should this be written in the passed tense?

Tonight I am in a bed in a hotel room, my laptop on the bed in yet another fantastic seriously well priced hotel in a lovely Bulgarian Black Sea town (Cosopol*?) where I found a random Wireless Network on my laptop that said call this phone number 80123456. I dialed it and had wireless Internet arranged with some IT enthusiast in the vicinity in a matter of minutes. Today I clocked over 4000 kilometers and tomorrow is our last Black Sea ride before heading inland towards the Turkey border. We will miss Bulgaria.

On October 1 we have Cindy's birthday (how many birthdays can 6 people have on one trip???) and I will start back on antibiotics in preparation for Istanbul, prolonged inactivity and pollution, driving 3000km back to Amsterdam, flying home...).

Walter-----

* The town spellings in English vary a lot. They are all in Cyrillic script here, which is what the Bulgarians use, just like they do in Serbia. This makes it nigh impossible for me to use the Nokia N95 for navigation as it will not work with co-ordinates.

Deserted beaches in Bulgaria - end of season!

Photos...

2007-09-29T01:03:00.000+10:00

Hello!

Here are some photos meant to accompany the last entry (sorry, I need some education on how to make them come up in proper order).

We are by the sea again in Nesebar. Have had lots of huge, long up and down hills with hot temperatures - we love it! Today's 40kms ended with a huge, long downhill where the girls beat the boys and one recorded km/hr was 62!

We are surprised, a little, by signs of prostitution everywhere. Young women stand in the bushes on the side of the highway, some clad in barely more than g-strings, waiting for pick-up. Billboards for malls have a naked woman with a shopping bag barely covering the goods...

photo 1 - turm right, Cindy! Women are from Venus!
photo 2 - sunset boat ride
photo 4 - first Istanbul sign - we must be close!!
photo 5 and 6 - view from seaside hotle in our favorite place so far - Balchik.
photo 7 - our boat for the evening and our hotel in behind.

Happy Birthday Heather - by Walter

2007-09-26T18:24:00.001+10:00

That is right, we barely recovered (6 weeks ago) from the extreme hill climb to celebrate David's birthday and now Heather claims to celebrate her 25th birthday again! We had found a birthday party pack in Constanta which with a little hand-grease was palmed off to the hotel staff where we were staying. The birthday breakfast saw us seated at a specially decorated table with balloons and hats, the works! It was a rest day so we had a 9am breaky start, by which time most of us were starving except for Cindy who was still blow-drying her hair in the girls' room with sea views.

Birthday dinner was celebrated a night early as when I checked into the hotel (whilst Heather and Cindy were doing their extreme best to locate a camping) I mentioned our birthday girl. A little bribe here and there seemed to have worked well as Heather got the entertainer of the night to sing her a happy birthday tune and the staff present her with a luscious looking cake complete with a rocket motor candle - which was un-extinguishable while it burned its load. Appropriate amounts of alcohol were consumed again.

There were no presents as we had not passed any bike shops lately. Had we passed one Troy, David and I had all planned on getting a bike-stand each for her. Not sure how three stands would work.

Anyway, the birthday girl was treated to a massage as well. As Heather wrote earlier, it was such a nice day we are doing our best to repeat it again today! ere I sit on a lovely deck with pleasant music, free wireless Internet and very affordable prices everywhere. We understand why Bulgaria is such a well kept secret.

Um, we can't seem to move...

2007-09-26T17:18:00.000+10:00

Day 61
3842 km
Balchik, Bulgaria

Nothing like a little sun and sea for rejuvenation! We are waterfront in a cute little resort-like town called Balchik, just north of Varna, Bulgaria. We passed through the border on Sept. 24, again with no troubles – even when Cindy and I were singing, Hit the Road, Jack while they checked our passports (we’d found a great radio station!). After the successful crossing, Cindy and I headed on in the van with big ambitions to find a campsite for the night.

For the past month or so, it has been quite difficult to camp, what with lack of open spaces, security and, well, official campgrounds, but our road map looked promising, showing us many tent logos along the sea. In a 100km stretch, the map showed at least four potentials – we were pretty confident that we’d find somewhere to laze for the evening.

Nope.

We drove the whole distance seeing no camping and ended up in the big city of Varna, where we had a tricky time finding an info centre, (by the way, KFC came through for us again when it offered a much needed toilet, refreshing juice and an info package!). Once we did find the info centre, the poor woman didn’t know much about camping…

We got back into the van and started back tracking to where the map showed tent sites. In all but one place, there was nothing but dirt and abandoned gas stations. The one place we did find was perfect. It had a security gate to get inside, actual tent sites, looked like showers and everything and - !

The men had already gone ahead and booked into a hotel.

After the initial shock wore off that we had spent five hours looking for dirt and the guys had given up and found a hotel 30kms up the road, we were excited to learn that the guys had generously left the last sea-facing room to us girls – nice!

Except reception thought the two cyclists who’d come in just before Cindy and I, were us and gave them the room…

Luckily, the horseshoe up Wally’s butt was working yet again, and he managed to get Cindy and I a room facing the sea – yes, we are spoiled – must be that Walter Charm!

Later, it was massages for Wally, Cindy, Lucas and I at a near-by hotel. The prices were surprisingly affordable. I had the wine detoxification massage, though was disappointed to learn that she didn’t pour wine all over me. But not as disappointed as Wally, when he also found that the chocolate body massage didn’t include real chocolate – in both cases, it was just yummy smelling cream. We licked Wally’s arms, just to be sure, though.

Last night, we had a gorgeous sunset float out on the sea in a boat for an hour. We’ve decided we like this place so much, we are staying another night!

FYI: our hotel here is only 50 lav (about $50) per night for two: so for a resort town, that is a killer deal, being right on the water. We have paid up to $100 night in really crapy hotels, or had to deal with 'the only hotel in town' prices. They sometimes see us coming a mile away. With our sponsored van and flash team jackets, we must look like we can afford more because in more than a few occasions, we have been quoted a price and when we've gone to pay the next day, the price has suddenly gone up and no one conveniently speaks english anymore.

So it is nice to find little gems like Balchik, Bulgaria!

Heather

2007-09-23T03:40:00.000+10:00

Photo 1 - a brisk dunk!
2 - lunch
3 - it gets a little boring on those long days, Go Fish!
4 - 5 lunch for champions!!

A great day of rest! Wally and Troy were successful in finding the KFC and champagne, and the beach was calling. We later got inspired (forced?) to jump in the sea BRRRR! couldn't someone have thought of this when it was over 20 degrees this afternoon?

We see the sea!

2007-09-22T20:20:00.000+10:00

Day 57
Constanta, the Black Sea
(Check out our new slide show below this entry. If you click on the image, you can see the photos better.)

Wow! We have made it from the English Channel to the Black Sea, which awaits us in its glimmering beauty, but first - an update!

I know I keep saying this, but yesterday really was our longest, toughest day yet. Just a hair off 150km, this time with wind, hills, rabid dogs and even a nasty little kid who ran after us and tried to grab stuff off our bikes! We were only an hour or two into the day - very slow going as most of us were up all night involuntarily listening to the music from yet another wedding. We were riding through a small village along a cobble stone road, when I heard a kaffufle and then David yelling. I turned to look and saw a young boy, about 12 or so, running alongside him grabbing at the bag on his back pannier rack. He was a quick little brat and ran fast to keep up with us. He laughed and fell behind a bit, but then re-powered and sprinted after us again.
It all happened so fast that no one knew how to react at first. You'd think we could have run him off, but we were on a hill and no one wanted to get off their bike, leaving it at another theif's mercy. Then a dog came up and started barking at the kid, who told him to get us and so now we had a dog and a kid chasing us. I was trying to find rocks to throw at the dog (or the kid!) but again, we were just peddaling as fast as we could.
It is sad that some little punk got us all in a tizzy, but we are rather paranoid about our stuff and what we have heard about gypsies and theives, so the best option was to keep moving. Nothing was stolen in the end.

I guess after 3500 km plus, we can expect a few mishaps. Our only regret was not having caught it on film!

But Lucas did get a bit of doc material when I had a nervous breakdown on a few dogs at the end of the day. Since we entered into Croatia, I seem to have 'something' that dogs sense and like to chase. On more than a few occasions, I have been seen in the distance, franticaly peddaling my ass off while hounds chase me down and leave everyone else alone. So far, I have managed to outrun them, but my nerves are wearing down. Cindy tells me the best tactic is to stand firm ground and snarl back at them. I was reluctant to use this beta as I thought standing my ground would give a canine the perfect opportunity to latch onto a limb and drag me off.

Yesterday, however, I was at the end of my rope. Our last 20km was in aggitating traffic. We were getting honked at, mowed down by fumes and gusts from giant trucks and riding along a shoulder about 2ft wide. Personaly, I'd had enough. We had just started off after stopping to figure out diretions to our hotel: a truck flew past, a car honked and two dogs came out of nowhere, snapping and snarrling and chasing. I screamed a really bad swearword at the top of my lungs and they stopped in their tracks - I even heard a whimper, but I think that was from David in front of me....

Anyway, it was like heaven to see our hotel, all lit up from the evening's sunset and right on the beach! Today, we are all well-rested and are feeling the need to celebrate. Walter and Troy scoped out a Kentucky Fried Chicken on the way in, and are off to get the makings for our romantic beachside dinner: KFC and champagne, baby - nothing but the best for the COFE Team!
Heather

Slideshow for Vienna and onwards...

2007-09-22T20:11:00.001+10:00

Enjoy!

Sept.20

2007-09-20T20:47:00.000+10:00

Here are some photos meant to go with the last blog :)

We are enjoying a rest day in preparation of another long one tomorrow (140km) to Constanta when we will reach the Black Sea! Yay!

Thanks for all your comments - we love hearing from you and it keeps our spirits up!

Heather

Seriously Lucky or good planning?

2007-09-18T23:24:00.000+10:00

Just coming back to the petrol/diesel episode... David is convinced it is good planning, but I cannot think that we we were extremely lucky in the following points:

The support team had found us a hotel before lunch so we already had that sorted out. Normally this is arranged after lunch. Imagine if we still had to look for a hotel after the whole affair...
Troy had taken over driving after lunch as his knees were getting very sore. If Cindy and Lucas had the diesel/petrol incident happen to them we would have surely attributed blame to them! But with the support crew mechanic doing this it added credibility to the fact the pump was incorrectly marked,
Troy filled up the tank straight after lunch and stopped to take a silly picture of some old trucks behind a fence. This meant he was in a safe position, he did not run the bad fuel into the engine - just could not start again.
Being straight after lunch we cycled into them within minutes of stranding!
Another fuel station right behind the car was very fortunate, imagine pushing the vehicle a kilometer or more!
The owner who helped us took David in his car to get some other hoses and whispered to him that his fuel wasn't the best and we shouldn't fill up our tank with it! We took 1/3 of a tank after siphoning the petrol out and went to another petrol station to fill her up completely.
We had the brutal wind on our tail and averaged 30+ to the hotel - which was 35km away, arriving just before dusk. Imagine riding bikes here after dusk! Death defying! The trip average for that day was 22.7km/hr! Not bad for 144 kilometers!!!
Nothing bad happened to add to our woes for the day!

Walter----

PS. Today I saw a large grass fire in the distance blowing a large smoke field towards where we were heading. I pulled out the video camera and recorded it. I then proceeded to film showing the hills we were getting into and got onto the bike. Within 10 seconds a small flock of sheep crossed in front of me with an old sheep herder. I felt lucky to film him. I then noticed the dogs helping him. As I filmed the dogs saw me and started chasing me up the hill! I was filming with one hand, pedaling up a hill, trying to change gear with my free hand and surviving the 1km chase. Hopefully this footage works out for Lucas, it was good for me trying to film two growling beasts with bared teeth chasing me. I am convinced they were in it for the chase as they probably could've managed a bite or two! Now let's knock on wood for 5 minutes!

Day 52 It's loud in here...

2007-09-18T23:02:00.000+10:00

...but we wanted to bring you an update, regardless. Right now, Wally, Cindy and I are in an internet cafe in a town that we have all forgotten the name of...again.What we are finding in most internet cafes in Romania is a plethora of kids playing computer games, all blaring their own music as each tries to out-blare the other. The decibel levels and mix of rap and what sounds like latin/east indian (I don't know!) pop and computer beeps and squeels are enough to make me want to pull out my own hair and then start on the person beside me.
One boy stands reading over my shoulder - can he understand? Who knows...anyway, I'll try to concentrate enough to write now.
We have had a very enjoyable couple of days, with 70km/day averages and gorgeous weather. As we head closer to the Black Sea, we get into hotter temps and today was a moist-upper lip day of 29 degrees.
We arrive at our hotels around 1pm and then usually go for lunch and beverages. The other night, we had a ripping game of cards and that nasty Slivovitz came out again, but there were no catastrophes to speak of this time - seems people learned from the last episode!
Unfortunately, because there were 6 of us in the small room that night,we had the windows wide open and noticed too late that the room was slowly starting to swarm with mosquiotes. As it was Cindy and my's room, we suffered the consequences - too hot to sleep under any covers, we tried various unsuccessful techniques, like laying fully clothed on top of bedsheets, or laying completely naked under thin sheets.
After about 2 hours, we both got up in maniacal frenzy, ran to Troy and David's room to get the key to the van, ran down to the van to get the mozzie spray and then I proceeded to spray everything in the room with the toxic shite.
That only satiated us until the coughing started from all the fumes.
Did I mention there was a wedding going on downstairs that was playing really loud techno music until 6am? Yep. Apparently, Romania has the largest concentration of married people (in the world/Europe?). We have definitely noticed this in the form of decorated cars and most restaurants where we might have to wrestle our server away from blowing up balloons to order.
At last check we were 5 days ahead of schedule and so to combat this, we are planning a few days on the beaches of the Black Sea, lapping it up and for some of us, contemplating our next move for when the trip is done.

2007-09-15T19:56:00.000+10:00

Romania

2007-09-15T18:56:00.001+10:00

Day 49

284km in 2 days!

It has surely been our most action-packed 48 hours yet! Three days ago, as we assesed our route for the day, we knew we were in for a long ride when our guide book basically said, Good luck finding accomodation in the next 140km. We started our ride an hour early and were hoping for the best when we leaned into some of the strongest cross winds we've encountered thus far.

After a good 20km, done at about 12km/hr, we left the shoreline winds behind only to jump onto rocky, deep gravel for another 10km. Here was where we had a casualty with Lucas' bike seat - it just broke off. This was the kind of riding that vibrates your feet off your pedals, so it was no surprise that something would rattle off.

We put in an SOS to our support driver and continued on with David having swaped seats and now riding on the spinning gravel standing up. Soon after as we were riding through a small village and starting up a long, steep hill, a nice old woman stoped us as we rode by and handed out bunches of grapes, a very welcome treat!

As we were concerned about accomodation that night, our support vehicle left us after we grabbed another seat from them to check out the situation in the next town - 85km away. We were now 60 odd kms into the day with no food or water resupply - a slight oversight on our part.

Several villages later, we came across something that looked like a cafe. We were able to communicate that we needed food and water and they provided us with bread, salami and pickles and a giant bottle of pop and water. It seemed that upon closer inspection, it was really just a small mom-and-pop store, but we were welcomed to eat what they had in their fridge!

Resupplied and caffinated, we flew threw the next 70 km with hardly any effort as we now had the blustery winds behind us, acting as a push. At times we were clocking 40km/hr on the flats. We made it into Calafat that night shortly after 6pm after staring at 8, and over 6 hours of ride time!

But that wasn't the end of our long days. The next day, the guide book showed no signs of accomodation for 145km as well. Lacking the adrenaline rush of the day before, we started out again an hour ealier than usual. Luckily, we had no wind that day and gorgeous blue skies again. The first 100km was noneventful and we did them all before lunch at 1pm. After a hearty feed of meat, cheese and bread, we set off to tick off the remaining 44kms to Corabia. About 10km down the road, we saw an unusual site - our support vehicle was pulled over with the hood up. Troy let us in on the catastrophy - gas in a diesel engine...Turns out WE were now the support team.

When he and Lucas had pulled into a gas station specifying diesel, the attendant pointed them to the pump that said diesel. With no reason to think otherwise, the tank was filled - all 80 litres and about 65 euro later. Two kms later, the car just stopped.

As luck would have it, we were within about 100 meters of another gas station. There was some discussion whether or not to push the car all the way back to the original station, but why? Try to get back our 65 euro or get the job done now and get out of here? We chose the later and after a lengthy discussion with the attendant involving a lot of hand gesturing and drawing on a note pad, we were finaly able to get him to understand that we needed to siphon the gas out and replace it with diesel. Easy, right?

Somehow we managed to be there for over three hours as several back and forth trips were made to find the right size and length of hose to stick in the tank. Then when the right hose was found, it still didn't work - anti-siphoning device? The only thing to do then was to methodicaly turn the key on and off to prime the fuel after the hose was removed. This leaked the fuel out at an agonizing pace while we all stood around and watched and tried to take filmage for the documenatry. The gas attendant seemed to be quite upset at seeing the camera and asked for us to stop. We became concerned about the rather large crowd beginning to surround us (for more details here, you'll need to check out our uncensored blog for which, if you don't already have the address, you can email us).

But as you can see, we are all alive to update you on our progress. Aside from donating a few litres of oil and prolonging our longest day yet (144km), we had success. All the fuel was hosed out and the new diesel replaced. The crowd was very willing to help and incredibly friendly - we were even invited for beers, but even that didn't tempt us as much as visions of or hotel and food did.

Our last 35 km was an impromptu race just to test our merit and we made it in a little over an hour and just in time for a gorgeous sunset from the views of our hotel, situated on the Danou River.

Needless to say, we are resting today! The sights we are seeing lately are very entertaining as we ride through village after village. It seems like we've stepped back decades into years where the horse drawn cart was predominant and people still spent all their times in the fields. We see the oldest, whithered faces and women bent 90 degrees at the waist still walking down the street. Children yell and stand on the streets with their hands out so we can high-five them as we ride by. Everywhere, we get waves and Bravos! We are really feeling that what we are doing is more and more of a novelty the farther east we go - it is true travel now!

Mega miles - Wally Words

2007-09-14T19:01:00.000+10:00

Wow, dudes! We had two 140+ km days. The last one was on a pretty straight forward road and we pumped the miles steadilly. Up any hills I just run out of puff as the women, the camerman and whoever else is cycling powers ahead of me and patiently wait on top for me. Fortunately the hills do not appear to be too long, but the one 22% incline road sign had me worried. I occasionally stop and cough (and loose some of my breakfast...) and catch my breath, then get back onto the bike in a tree climbing gear.

Last big stretch we averaged well over 22km/hr average, and I was totally stuffedwhen we arrived with my eyes stinging with the very salty sweat running off my eye brows! Living with CF makes my sweat very salty, and getting that stuff into your eyes is like diving into the Dead Sea for those who have ever done that. The Dead Sea is 8x saltier than regular sea water; you can float in it and read a newspaper.

Just to recap some of the things we do. Troy drives the car almost always lately and with the aid of a navigator tries to find lunchspots and accommodation for us. Troy's job is probably the hardest of them all. But wait, there is harder; David does the navigation with the book and the GPS. He plans the day, briefs and discusses with Troy as to where to go, where to meet us etc, and takes blame for every wrong turn and unnecesary hill! David takes the job very seriously, unlike me who would just stumble on turn by turn as they happen. When Troy gets to a hotel he SMSes the GPS coordinates to David so we can find him with (relative) ease.

Heather's job is primarilly to keep track of what happens (too much to all write about really!) and after her day's cycling venture out into the new (scary) cities looking for internet cafes andput up with youths listening to bad music which they turn up when they see her coming. Heather often uses the laptop to prepare the blogs to minimise time in the cafes, and carries photos (which she takes as well) and content on a USB stick. Heather does regular shops too as she ventures into the towns, aided by Cindy or Lucas. First afternoon in Romania she went out with Cindy and us 'men' got worried about them when Cindy did not answer her SMS, and subsequent panic ones. Turned out she had left the phone in the hotel.

Lucas is constantly on the go trying to fil each and every moment. From open coal mines to castles, but always looking for our interactions with locals -which are generally not planned. He has to recharge heaps of batteries and empty the SD cards (on which we record the 1080i video footage from our stealthy cameras!) when we get to the hotel room. He often tries to ride with us and charges ahead to shoot us coming up hills, or hangs back to shoot scenery and then race to catch up again. Not bad for someone who had trouble even mounting his bike at the start of the ride! Lucky he is young and has the endless reserves of power. When he is not cycling he is navigating with the driver.

Cindy helps rotate with the driver and navigator and gives massages to us at the end of the day. The massages do not end up in 'happy endings' and our wives/partners can be reassured. In fact there is absolutely nothing romantic about riding these distances and the resulting pains and aches focus your attention to food, shower and sleep (where does the beer come into it?). Cindy helps out all round, with everything from navigation to cleaning eskies and shopping, sharing Heather's bedroom, and keeping us all entertained.

Me? I feel I do very little except ride. The team says all I need to do is survive to Istanbul. I try do my bit where I can, help David translate the trip book we got from Hans and Marjan - without it we would have had enormous difficulties!

CF: No-one along the way knows about CF and we cannot explain what we are doing... We are seen as some corporate flash touristy thing with MONEY. No concessions or discounts, and not really raising much awareness really. The movie 'Coughing the Distance' is going to do that (read: donate and help us fund the post production!)! I saw a man in Romania along the road just sitting there, as all old people seem to do, but he had oxygen tubing on! I stopped and explained what we were doing. We both coughed and we understood each other. Heather filmed it, I took a photo of him (will post later!). He said he had been on O2 for 12 years (?!) and offered us drinks but we had no time to spare. I tried to give him money which he totally refused (his family stood by watching with horror as he denied the $$) so I hid it under his tubing in the window.

Today we found a nice hotel on the Danube and an internet cafe! The gypsies we see along the roads here have no need for internet or TV, although I have seen them with mobile phones! Nough for now, over and out!

Walter----

2007-09-13T00:40:00.001+10:00

The following was written for the Blog by Cindy....read on, if your stomach can handle it!

******************************************************************

I know Walter through Hash House Harrier – a local running group we both attend. On our first meeting, I could see that Walter had something I didn’t have: a bright smile, acceptance of everyone and always a joke. I wanted to find out why he loved life so much.

After our first run together, I noticed Walter coughing a lot. I suggested, ‘I would be home in bed with a cough like that.’ Walter said, ‘I’m living with Cystic Fibrosis’ and told me a little to satisfy my curiosity.

He asked me to come on the COFE trip as I was travelling Europe at the same time.

One day, I followed Walter out of Budapest after a rest day. The effects the polluted city had on his lungs was very obvious to me as I watched Walter struggling in front of me. Physically, he juggled balancing his bike in traffic between consistent coughing, blowing his nose, vomiting and just getting enough air in his lungs. This was a bad day for him.

I estimate the coughing/vomiting bouts were about every twenty turns of the pedal - even more if the terrain was uphill. Gradually, the coughing lessened, but what I hadn’t seen before was his breakfast coming up - masses of it over several coughing bouts.

As always, he soldiers on and continues riding. I ask if he’s alright and he says, ‘This is normal.’ It’s definitely not for me. If I had to cope with all this, I would be crying and home in bed.

Being on this trip has awakened my senses to Walter’s plight and made me aware of his daily routine: using the nebuliser at night and in the morning to cleanse his lungs and make them user friendly for the day. It reminds me of my worst experience with influenza, when you keep coughing until you vomit, and your whole body aches, just from coughing. I feel totally worn out from listening to Walter and have to leave the room because of the extremeness of the lung clearing he has to do to survive.

I now know how lucky I am to be supporting him in his efforts towards creating a positive awareness about CF. The next time you hear someone clearing their lungs, just think it may be a Cystic Fibrosis victim trying to live with CF.

Three countries to go!

2007-09-13T00:09:00.000+10:00

Photo 1 - Most border crossings are all but deserted.

Photo 2 - First flat in almost 3000km - good tires!

Photo 3 - Mmmmm, eat that smog!

Day 47, Sept. 12
Just short of 3000km

The last few days has been a welcome relief of gorgeous scenery and fresh air. We have had 4 or 5 days straight now of heavy traffic and nasty exhaust fumes – we're all coughing the distance now!

We are back with our beloved Danou (or Danube as we know it) and the views as we ride up mountains, are of cliff faces straight down into the river and lush, almost tropical foliage (sorry forgot to bring those photos to the internet cafe...) . We are in more hilly areas now!

We are still having mostly wet, windy days, but the temperatures are definitely warmer.

Today we crossed into Romania and are now in a border city called Severin. So far on our trip, we have experienced no trouble whatsoever at the borders. Today we were even given VIP status and ushered past several waiting cars – must have been the sponsor stickers!

It looked like it was going to be a long wait as the line-up was long and slow-moving. Although we could easily get through with our bikes, we usually like to travel through these crossings with the car and all together. Of course, on the one day when we are able to jump the line, Wally goes missing. One minute he was there, all excited about his energy drink, the next he's not and has left us with his bike. We are literally right at the window of the customs agent, stalling and feeling bad about all the cars behind us, when he casually pops out of nowhere. He had decided to go to Romania to use the toilet....classic Wally, no?

We have been advised, both by our instincts and the Let's Go Europe book, that camping is not a good idea, so we have been hotel-ing it every night for about 2 weeks. Although camping would be nice and is cheaper, there isn't much in the way of nice patches of grass in most places as industry or huge piles of litter occupy all spaces. We have also noticed in these East Block countries that it is sometimes next to impossible to find a restaurant. We have been known to wander around trying not to look like tourists with cameras and wallets, desperately inquiring, “Restaurant???” to anyone who looks in-the-know. When we do find a hotel that has a half-decent restaurant, we are pretty excited.

The food is not quite as spectacular as France and Germany, but it is still okay. We do suffer a bit with breakfast when we are usually offered up white bread and tea (not even coffee seems to be popular and jam and butter are extra), and usually find ourselves gorging on sweet energy bars and bananas when we can find a store.

We had a very affectionate woman bless us at a small, cozy hotel we stayed at a few nights ago. We could hardly understand her, although she did speak a few words of German, which Walter could understand. In the end, we figured out she was telling us to put the little laminated angle she had in her hand in our car so as to avoid car crashes, then she kissed us a lot and stroked our cheeks and hair. It was a little like being nurtured again by our mothers. She was so sweet she even started crying when we left, waving while we rode away following her husband as he escorted us out of town. She gave us gifts, one which deserves a mention – a giant gord, which she told us was over 200 yrs old. We are meant to give it to one of our sponsors. We think. The odds that it doesn't get completely demolished in our over-stuffed vehicle is somewhat slim, but we'll certainly try to keep it in tact so we can send it to you, Brent!

Happy New Year - from Walter

2007-09-12T07:19:00.000+10:00

(Illustration by Mirel Goldenberg)

Happy New Year to the Jewish Connection! It is Rosh Hashanah today on the Jewish Calendar and they are celebrating their 5768th year on the 13th of September 2007 our date.

You may well ask why I mention this here, it is because I am from Jewish stock and Cystic Fibrosis occurs more often in Caucasian and Jewish individuals than in other ethnic groups. Read more <here>

Act the Part...

2007-09-09T01:32:00.000+10:00

Photo 1 - a few vices for the journey - the sport bars actually have rum in them!
Photo 2 - what Walter should really blame his tummy troubles on....

Sept. 6, Day 41

156 hours of peddling since Paris
2711 km

Novi Sad, Serbia

We’ve only been in Serbia for six hours or so, but we already understand a big part of Serbian culture. It is called Slivovitz and it tastes something like tequila mixed with turpentine and makes you think you’re saying something really smart, but really you’re saying something dumb, like, “Why is this Slivovitz going down my throat again…?”

Our first encounter was when we went out for a late lunch. We’d had a cold ride that ended in a rather long, unnecessary hill climb when there was some confusion over GPS coordinates. Our day became a good deal longer than it was supposed to be and we were all irritable with hunger. Managing to find our hotel, change, shower and find a restaurant, we settled into the booth and opened the menu.

Great, friggin' characters and symbols.

Luckily, the owner spoke a little English and when we said things like salad and chicken and pig, she nodded yes and went to the kitchen. Soon we had a big basket of three different kinds of homemade breads to satiate us while we waited. Our meals arrived, which in some cases were terrific mounds of meats of all kinds: pig, pork, sausage and indecipherable flesh.

The owner came back several times and enjoyed us more at each passing. She soon brought us a business card and we gave her ours and told her our story. She clapped her hands and asked us if we wanted a drink.

Lucky for us, David once had a Serbian girlfriend. That was about 38 years ago, but apparently, she left enough of an impression for him to remember Slivovitz, which in Serbian translates to How to melt your esophagus.

After two rounds, we made a reasonable call to leave. Little did we know that an innocent card game of Slaves and Masters would unleash the Slivovitz again. Back at our hotel, trying to sober up, as it was only 5:30 PM, we decided to play cards downstairs in the foyer. The hotel owner motioned for us to use the dining room, which was empty and dark. She turned on the lights and cleared the cutlery away only too happily, then clapped her hands and said in halting English, “Yes, okay! So, in Serbia? Slivovitz!!” to which we groaned yet somehow found ourselves accepting, of course.

The last I saw of the COFE team, they were ordering a round of beer after someone claimed it would be ‘refreshing’.

Stayed tuned for “Hangover in Serbia…”

Day 43 - Hangover in Serbia...

Well, the Slivovitz Hangover stalked its victims early and, in some cases, it didn’t wait until morning to hunt them down. There was some reconsidering going on in the bathroom that evening and the next morning. The sufferers were not even comforted by coffee. We’d stumbled across the first hotel in our travels that didn’t have coffee as a breakfast option.

This caused considerable irritation in the addicts, especially Walter, who, after riding that morning's kms without the placebo effect, took it out on his bike light when it fell off spontaneously. He stopped, picked it up and threw it as hard as he could onto the road. It didn’t smash into tiny little particles, which was not satisfying at all, so he tried that again and yelled this time. It still just flipped around on the tarmac so Walter abandoned it, but when it was recovered, it still worked, thereby frustrating Walter even more.

Five minutes later, my light also broke and fell off on a particularly bumpy cobble stone road. We like the lights because it helps people see us on these dark and stormy days we seem to be encountering. Hopefully we will find a bike shop in Belgrade, where we are today, and recover some necessary items.

Ride Report from Walter

2007-09-06T06:59:00.000+10:00

Just a quick ride update. We are now pretty fit it seems. David and I ride every day, Heather rides most days and Cindy and Lucas help Troy drive. Troy drives pretty much every day at the moment.

As you read in the blog we had some wet weather lately, but also had some sunny days. To me they have all been enjoyable and we now cover 100kms in a day with relative ease! No particular aches or pains or feeling sick. Today was the first day with hills (road signs advising of 6 and 8% inclines) where we covered 80+ kms at an average speed of 21.5 km/hr. Breaking the 20 has long been on my wish-list!

As for health, David thinks I look a little gray when reaching the top of a hill when I push it hard, but other then that I am fine. In Budapest I got my first belly aches of the trip. At home I make kefir which has kept my belly aches away for years now. Considering I have not had kefir for 6 weeks I was not too surprised. I think it was the rich Hungarian Goulash Soup I had that started it off. It kept me feeling bloated and tender the two nights we were there.

A small miracle occurred at the Gellert Hotel, where we had a few hours of bathing in natural spring fed pools and subjected ourselves to extreme cold and heat (steam). When we left the pools and waited for Cindy I found they sold kefir in the little shop there. So with the beers I ordered kefir! It turned out that all shops in Hungary sell kefir alongside with their yoghurts. We stocked up and my belly aches disappeared overnight (may also have been the more cautious eating).

The only medication I am on now is vitamins, salt water and pulmozyne in the nebuliser and Fluimicil (mucolytic). Not bad! And feeling very fit and healthy, and missing my wife awfully much :(

Changes....

2007-09-06T04:20:00.000+10:00

Click on photo for large display

Day 40
2523km
Ilok, Croatia

It is our second day in Croatia and also our last. Tomorrow we will have a short ride into Serbia. We are starting to notice some not-so-subtle differences, like the weather: it is cold, windy and rainy. Yesterday was trying pretty hard to dampen our spirits as it rained pretty hard from the beginning to the end of our ride. Today was dry, but a dark sky threatened us all day. No rain fell, which was a welcome relief, and the morbid weather was the perfect setting for what consumed our attention for most of the day – bullet riddled buildings leftover from more than a decade ago when Croatia was at war.
All around us, we could see structures half destroyed and left unrepaired mixed in with restored buildings where people had found money to build new lives. It was kind of surreal to think that here we were, free to bike through streets where bullets flew not too long ago.
Another noticeable difference is our pathways which have altered from straight forward and paved to random bike-route posts on busy roads and wash-board dirt tracks that leave the teeth rattling in our heads. Well, we have had it pretty easy – bring on the rough stuff!

Last Day in Budapest....

2007-09-06T04:07:00.000+10:00

Last day in Budapest….

Our last day in Budapest was action packed. It started with an evacuation of the top three floors of our hotel after a water pipe burst and set the alarms off. We filed down six flights of stairs and met outside the lobby wondering what happened. When we were allowed to go back in, we discovered water leaking all over the place. Good luck with that!
Then one of our team members got ripped off at the money exchange for about $50, but that wasn’t the worst of it – after dinner one night, the same team member decided to go out for a walk while the other’s returned to the hotel. Within about 5 mins, he was approached by two young women asking for directions. Ever the gentleman, he offered his help. The two women then said, “Why not come for a drink?” and so he did. After a couple cognacs and special coffees in a trendy bar, the two women suddenly declared, “Oh! We only have 1000 forints (about $4).”
He looked at the bill and was rather alarmed as the amount was over 40,000 forints ($160) for 2 coffees and two drinks! While the women uttered threats like, “It’s customary for the man to pay in our country”, he thought about what to do. He knew it was a scam, but didn’t know how to get away. He tried, “I haven’t got enough money – I’ll need to go to my hotel and get more.” To which the reply was, “We’ll come with you,” from the bar staff.
He walked the short distance to the hotel and was relieved when they said they’d wait outside. He ran into the lobby and told the receptionist he was being scammed. She told him not to worry and to continue on to his room - this happened all the time and she’d handle it. In the end, he didn’t have to pay a cent. The moral of the story is – this scam works in your favour…

Happy Fathers Day in Australia

2007-09-02T16:08:00.000+10:00

It is Fathers day here in Australia...

I would just like to thank the fathers of the members of the team for raising such committed and passionate people which have been able to undertake this adventure, you are and should be very proud. I would also like to thank the fathers who raised those of us that are able to support this effort from home (thanks for giving us good sense).

Happy fathers day DADS from Katherine

2007-09-02T01:27:00.000+10:00

you asked for it...! sorry, it's not walter (like i had to even say that!)

Photos

2007-09-02T00:48:00.000+10:00

Halfway to Istanbul!

2007-09-02T00:31:00.000+10:00

Day 36,
Budapest, Hungary

If all goes according to our route schedule, we are halfway! And our bikes are starting to show it. We spent a good hour cleaning and repairing our donated Batavus bikes in the parkade of our hotel this morning. All break pads needed to be changed and the cables tightened, but other than easy maintainence, our modes of transport are in fine working order.

The quality of our biking paths have significantly decreased ever since entering Hungary. We are finding ourselves on busier roads and bumpy dirt tracks. Luckily, we have good tires that allow quick movement on pavement, but also have good tread so that we can take on dirt and mud without carneige!

I’m sure you all want to know how we’re all getting along! Well, as you can imagine, it’s hard for people to bite their tongues or conceal character flaws 24 hrs a day. Add to that being over-tired from a night or two of cacophony-snoring and even deciding where to have dinner can bring on an argument or two. However, we still like to spend our rest days together doing the sightseeing thing and we even had a big slumber party the other night when all six of us crammed into a room to save a few forints.

At the moment, David, Walter, Troy and Cindy are swimming in the thermal baths in a hotel nearby. My sights were set on a mud pack bath, but that part of the spa wasn't open, so I decided to save it for another time and walk around. The city of Budapest is divded by the Donau River. One side was called Buda, one side Pest until they joined in....sometime. It really is a beautuiful city with a lot of great architecture.

A quick update...

2007-08-30T02:51:00.000+10:00

We are in Tata, Hungary and we are hungary all the time because we keep saying 'hungary'! The food here, from what we have experienced, is amazing. I know, we're always talking about the food, but seriously, it's so good.

We still have a hard time ordering or buying regular water...usually we get mineral water which has bubbles and as you can imagine, the bubbles tend to become somewhat explosive in water bottles and plastic bladders after a few kms of bumpy travel. If you're not paying attention, the water sprays into your mouth from the pressure build-up, causing a few choking fits here and there.

In two days, we plan to cycle into Budapest, which we anticipate to be our halfway point - more champagne will be had! Incidentally, we are just over our 2ooo km mark.

Riding out of Vienna the other day, we initiated Cindy with an impromptu nudist colony! It didn't exactly 'warn' us about this. One minute we're riding (at 9am!) down a nice flat paved path along the Danou, the next, David's telling us his scrambled eggs were threatening to come up and Cindy was quite happily taking not-so-inconspicuous photos of really leathery, wrinkled flab. I mean, let's face it - it's not like the good-looking, FIRM people are in abundance at a nude beach...

Which brings me to my next subject - the Speedo. Europe is full of the teeniest swaths of fabric just barely covering the male genitalia. If you're really lucky, a male might opt completely out of the Swimming Speedo and just parade around the campsite in his tight, see-through whities, as we were excited to see a few weeks ago. As it happens, some hotel pools ONLY accept the Speedo, as we found in our Paris hotel...Walter was actually kicked out of the pool for wearing baggy shorts. He had to go downstairs to the sport store attached to the hotel and purchase a skimpy banana hammock before they would allow him back in...? We don't let him wear it anywhere else, even though he tries to ride in it every now and again.

The Opera!

2007-08-26T23:59:00.001+10:00

We had a great evening last night at the Vienna Opera! It was just long enough - 2 hours - and we even got free cds. We thought the balcony seats were great as we were up high and could lean on the velvet thing and throw things at people below!
The music was all Mozart and there were about 15 pieces. There was a male and a female who sang for some of the pieces, who, naturally, had amazing voices.
A friend of Walter's mom, Hilda, made a long four hour journey to come see us from the Saltzburg area. She treated us to a great Italian dinner before the opera and left early this morning to take the train back.
We were all happy we'd made the effort to go!

This afternoon, Cindy joined the COFE team and we are ready to get back on our bikes after 2 full days off!

Day 29, 1786km

2007-08-25T18:40:00.000+10:00

Sometimes the trail gets pretty busy!

Hello from Vienna, Austria - home of the Opera!

As can happen when one is immersed in an environment for sometime, we are all becoming quite refined and cultured here in Europe. Nevermind that we sweat all day biking and the van smells like 'boy'; put us in the glitz and glam of the city and we clean up good and go get opera tickets. Yep, that's where we're headed tonight to see the Wiener Mozart Konzerte at the Vienna Opera House!

Before we go, we will brush up on our opera education by researching The Muppet Show, so we can mime the operatic-education and commentary of Statler and Waldorf, the two old balcony men - we don't want to appear uncouth! Stay tuned for how the night turns out - chances are one of us will pick an inopportune time to perform a bodily function...

It was David's birthday on the 23rd and we celebrated by proving our fitness levels. There was a castle. On a hill (see photos). And we had to get to it, but no one wanted to puss out and walk, so we biked it. 375 meters in 4km is steep (20% in places), by the way. David was first to the top, (we let him get ahead because it was his birthday).
It was rather impressive, actually - out of five of us, odds were on the cop, who does regular training, making it. Yet even the bike-virgin, the girl and, oh yeah, that guy with CF, made it up there. And Walter hardly even coughed - he mentioned people watching the documentary might look at him riding up well, the 20% incline bit he walked) with nary a cough and think, "Well, he doesn't have CF as bad as I do...". Walter's coughing is mostly done in the first 60 kilometers of the day, complete with the expulsion of bits of 'lung', coffee and other random bits of breakfast!

The top speed on the downhill award goes to Troy with 82km/hr, the others all topping the 60km/hr.

We will be in Vienna until Monday morning. Our rest-weekend was designed to meet up with our second support driver, Cindy, who will arrive on Sunday afternoon to help Troy with the driving. Cindy will be a great addition as we head into some more difficult countries where we don't know the languages. It's quite a job trying to navigate a vehicle into a new place every night, especially if you're used to driving on the left side of the road. Language barriers don't make it any easier when you're trying to find 5 people hotel rooms for a budget price. An extra co-pilot is always appreciated!

When we leave Austria on Monday, we should hit a country we hadn't expected and wasn't in the route details - Slovakia. Surprise!