Ian and his new bird. Little Ian Junior

We all got together again on Friday night for the reunification party and a great time was had by all. Everybody brought a Vietnamese dish, including pho, rice paper rolls, curries and lots more, all washed down with a big jug of mojitos!! There was of course anti-bacterial handwash and some dettol available for the hygiene conscious, and to complete the atmosphere Mike even arrived on a rickshaw.  We saw everyone’s photos and the video, but the highlight of the evening had to be the arrival of Little Ian the 2nd complete with Vietnamese birdcage! Apparently he is settling well into his new home and we are hoping that next time we see him he will be able to ‘hello, what your name?’

The true crazies amongst us have just sigend up for the whole of Around the Bay in Day so it seems that the madness continues…….

Well we are all home safe and sound. It was an amazing trip – all we had hoped it would be and more. Cycling was a great way to see Vietnam which is a spectacular country. The people were warm and friendly and we are all exceptionally proud of our achievements. I think it’s fair to say that we all felt challenged to the maximum of our abilities and have come back loving ourselves sick – helped by the fact that we have all lost a few kilos and have leg muscles where previously I for 1 only had cellulite!
It was an emotional end to the trip – we were all very excited to see our families but sad that our adventure was over. It was great to see everyone at the airport and true team elwood style we all had to go straight out for coffee to fill all our partners, kids and friends in on our adventures. Settling back in to work can only be described as depressing but we are so keen to get back on our bikes that it’s Mordialloc this morning and Mount Macedon on Friday (while we still can).
So well done to everyone, thanks to all our friends and families for your support and encouraging comments along the way and here’s to new friends and future adventures!
Jo x

Arrived to a bustling crazy city of saigon and a bit of a shock after our country backroads on the bike. The traffic entertained us some hired motorbikes to experience the motorbike melody as it is called and see the sites, 2 days was enough and we headed off to the Meekong Delta for a relax and last look around before the long trip home.

We had a fantastic boat trip to the floating markets ( Fiona and then Gordan sick this time) and then finished with 3 hours of massage and manicures and some had facials as a treat and help for our tired little muscles.

Our group all stayed together for these last days , even Deb and Gordan stayed on which was fantastic and we are already planning our next ride and re- union in Melbourne.

Sad to leAVE BUT LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING ALL THE FAMILIES ON OUR RETURN, SEE YOU SOON

We cant believe it after 6 months of hard training and even harder fundraising and today completing the 550 km from North to South Vietnam.A hot final day saw us with tears of Joy on our arrival into Pleiku an emotional moment and thanks to Adam our leader for allowing us and encouraging to push orselves to our boundaries and thankyou to all for supporting us in this amazing and memorable journey.

We are continuing to celebrate with Ian and all for his birthday and fly in to Saigon tomorrow for our final night.

We sadlly have said goodbye to ou bikes and are evan contemplating hiring some in Saigon…Im sure that madness will stop on or arrival.

We admire the people of Vietnam and the physical work and lives they have and proud to have pushed ourselves to our limits and helped some of these lovely people.

Next entry Saigon…

Arrived after a long hard mountain stage of the Tour De Vietnam as it felt yesterday, climbing 30km uphill to the top of the first mountain through thick Jungle and every stage a hill of 10% gradient ( we learnt to hate these signs) Our legs screaming we continued along the road in the humidity and much to our excitement the lunch stop got closer. The last 10 km was the hardest cycling or physical and mental challenge we had ever encountered and with the support of our team and camera crew we were cheered in 6 hours after we began. A feast for lunch and muscles ceasing up we rode on( with 10km ddescent) andther 5okm and arrived full of emotion and adrenalin. To finish off our day we cycled in a huge monsoonal downpour and  had trouble seeing with the rain hitting our faces and avoiding the potholes, but the rain had a great cooling effect on all our muscles.Kon Tum is a lovely place and we again had a great day with teamwork from all and support from all we have made new friends who are now very much a part of our team . Our last day of pedaling is not the easy day we thought 20km this morning and the heat and humidity is high, another 47km this afternoon and sadly we dismantle the bikes and head to Saigon tomorrow for our last night, ( our legs are quite pleased about that.

Hi all a few days have passed since last update computers getting less available, shopped til we dropped in Hoi An, had fun at Taylors and went on a fishing boat so a paced time there, on from there we had a look at a local farm and a feast for lunch before setting off from there. While in Hoi An we visited the Lifestart projects and saw some some poor living and their school as well as womens workshop all very humbling and made us all the more happy and pleased about our efforts for Lifestart. We will update a more detailed visit as a seperate post.

It is now 4.30am and thats pretty hard wake up call after a 9okm ride in heat and dust yesterday. However we did stop at the Mei Lei memorial a village that was dessimated during the war and this was another visit that again made us so aware of wars in general and the things people endure, very sad.

We finished our day with beers by a huge river with a sandy bank and then quick to bed as 5 of us are ririding 110km through, up and over mountains to the Central Highlands today. We will meet the others aty th lst 60km and more hills await.Another huge day and challenge ahead.Bek is just getting over her second bout of tummy bug but is giving the hills ( 22km of climbing) a go.

Thanks again for all the comments so take care and look forward to hearing from you all

Team Elwood

Hello to all

we certainly did make it a fantastic experience and an emotional one as we saw each other achieve so much, each person working hard and getting up that pass. It was a spectacular ride, barely any traffic and views of distant beaches, mist and boats and jungle. We stopped every couple of kilometres to regroup and cheer each other on and give the legs a quick rest before going up again and finally reached the top finishing all together,and true syle with a small costume on over the top in true super hero style.If you are wondering what the print is on our knickers it reads Hai Van Pass Kiss My ….
After celebrating with delicious iced coffee and a few trinketts purchased as momentos of the ride we had a great freewheel down the other side and onto China Beach for lunch. Jo and Fiona even squeezed a surf in at China Beach during the lunch stop.

We then had a bit of a Mordy headwind as we rode the last 20km into Hoi An which is a stunning ancient city bustling with tourists shops and beautiful buildings,rice paddies and river.

This afternoon we are visiting the Lifestart Projects and seing Karen as we cycle to the projects around the town.

Luv to you all and please feel free to post comments as we love hearing from you.

Team Elwood

Well, they did it!  Team Elwood has survived the Hai Van  Pass.  All present and correct and rode like the wind for the 11kms up hill climb.

A Huge THANK YOU to everyone that came along to the screening of Wall-E on Friday 19th @ Elsternwick Classic. It was a great way to end the school term and everyone enjoyed themselves. We sold all but one of our tickets and that, with the raffle ticket sales, made the afternoon a fantastic success. We made $820…. so as I said a BIG THANK YOU TO EVERYONE. Have a look at the photos…. check out our new ‘Team Elwood T-Shirts too!

We had a fabulous weekend in Warburton – Thank you to Angie and Ian (holiday house) – to celebrate both mine and Jo’s birthdays. Of course not all play and no training, although Saturday’s rain did put a spanner in the spokes – as one turned back two more joined! (It really was very wet and very cold – you can probably guess I was the first to abort our ride!). Luckily there’s nothing like lots of cake, cake and cake to make you feel guilty and by Sunday we were up and out again. The weather was great and the kids were on good form. We managed a very respectable 20km family ride and while others also embarked on a walk later in the atfernoon, I simply went shopping……. Anyway take a look at the pictures to see all this for yourselves. Cheers Beck

Howdy folks, it’s time to dust off those cowboy boots and get ready to dosey doe those partners for our big fundraiser. Yes sirree it’s a good old Aussie BUSH DANCE on Friday November the 14th @ the Elwood Sailing Club. Watch this space for more info.  If you want to swot up beforehand check these out: www.shenanigansmusic.com.au andhttp://www.users.bigpond.net.au/mckelson/bushdance/

Contact any of us for tickets. Hope to see you there!

Hi all,

'Brilliant'

I’m begining to think we really are quite mad! After what seemed like a great idea to prepare for our (half way) round the bay, next week,  we cycled from Frankston to Rye (82km), down on the Mornington Peninsular, today. The sun was out, no wind and excellent views across Port Philip bay. The hills seemed managable and we all kept to a similar pace…. all good I hear you say! BUT its now 10pm and I’ve been off my bike for 6 hours. My bum is sore (red!), my shoulders caked in arnica cream(thanks Ang’ & Ian), and the rest of me just knackered! I am hopeful for the 100km ride next week but may have to have a few wines afterwards just to make my body go numb! Thank you girls for a great day, all be it a sore evening! Check out the photos – Cheers Beck

Well done everyone – How fit are we?!  I was so impressed with us all as we braved the lycra crew and held our own for the 100km, all the way from Sorrento, over Mounts Martha and Eliza, to Alexandra Gardens on Sunday – And not only that but we all reported actually enjoying ourselves as well, suffering a puncture, but cheered on by good friends at Elwood.  My legs certainly know all about it now but I have to say that we all seem to have pulled up ok so those boot camps are certainly paying off.  Of course our next challenge is to do that everyday for 9 consecutive days, but hey we can worry about that later.  In the meantime I’m sure there are more cycling clothes and accessories that need buying. So well done everyone and a big thanks to our support crew, in particular Sue for driving all our stuff and Anna’s car back, Dunny for looking after all the children and Will for cooking us up a storm on Sunday night – BRILLIANT!

Team Elwood at the finish

Nearly there, only 11kms to go

Hi folks, it’s been a long time coming but our Everyday Hero website is now up and running so if you want to sponsor us, or if you know someone who might, here is the link to follow:  http://www.everydayhero.com.au/Team_Elwood

Thanks so much, we really value your support

Cheers, Jo

emerald_hill_weekly_article_nov_12-18_2008

We are media stars!

It was a cold moring on Elwood beach when we were invited for our very first photo shoot to advertise our cause. We were asked to look thoughtful, competent, fit and bloody gorgeous – none of which we carried off! Never mind we still got our 5 mins of fame and got ourselfs published!

Well we pulled it off!  Heeps of cold calling, meetings, emailing and stress we actually organised a great night. With around 100 tickets sold and loads of fantastic raffle, silent auction and loud auction prizes later we managed to raise a whooping $8,OOO. Everyone had a great night and danced their cowboy boots off. A big thank you to: the the band -The Shenanigans, great job. The boys from Chisholm & Gamon for their help in getting as much as possible out of our wonderfully generous dance goers in the auction. Dunny who organised the bar so well and to Pete who helped him on the night. Needless to say we would not have been able to reach such an incrediable amount with out the help of all our sponsors, whom too many to mention have their own page – click on sponsors page above and have a look. If you don’t believe so much fun could be had a good ‘ole fashioned Bush Dance’ have a look at the pictures on flicker……

 

 

On the 30th November a group of 17 with Sue and Beck as extra help went to the Yarra Valley for a day out wine tasting.We set off from Elwood’s Café Cuba in our 25 seater bus, Fiona the driver and Dunny the host telling historical tales of passing vinyards and the odd joke along the way.

 

We were treated like royalty and had some very generous donations from several wineries. First stop was Tarrawarra Winery for a 1 hour tour and a tasting set up in the barrel rooms and we learnt a lot about the wines and processes from our host Darren Fraser (Cellar Door Manager) We then sat with amazing views of vines and the lake to a fantastic morning tea of pastries and coffees as well as a tour of the Museum and Gallery.

Tarrawarra gave us all this as well as 10% of all wine sales back to the charity and this all help bring a great atmosphere for the rest of the day.

 

We then did some quick stops at Yarra Track who gave us a lovely platter and Train Trak, set in a great old milking shed before we set off to settle in for a lunch at Brumfield at The Oaks.

 

Sue, Beck and Dunny had set up the long table under the shade of the Oak tree and started the BBQ, Anda and David our hosts at Brumfield gave a tasting and talk about the winery and the group sat down and had a lovely lunch with wine in a picture perfect setting. Brumfield donated the 3 pack of wine for our raffle prize won by Jim and Lynette, second prize from our last winery Sticks went to Beverly ( who also won a bottle from Tarrawarra earlier in the day)

 

We then exhaustedly went on to Sticks winery, more tastings and purchases and then the winery kindly donated a bottle of  Sticks Pinot Noir to each of us.

 

We sang our way home to Elwood dropping off people weighed down by bottles and produce and even got stopped for a breath test! (I passed!) With this we raised almost $900 and thanks to all as well as Dunny who helped arrange the visits to Tarrawarra and Sticks and to Sue and Beck for their help on the day.

 

Thankyou to everyone for such an enjoyable day

Lunch under the Oak at Brumfield

Final arrangments to the stall

Continuing a week of fundraising we held a stall at the Elwood Traders Twilight Festival. Fiona, Angie, Ian and I baked away creating wonderful Christmas cookies and decorations, prepared craft activites for the kids, made Crazy Sock Creatures and poped pop-corn. We also so had some wonderful handmade Christmas cards kindly donated by friend Beverly. The afternoon/night wnet very well and we managed to sell out of the 150 cookies, most of the toys, and sent some very happy kids away with thier fabulous works of art. It was a great night and we managed a fantastic $700 for our efforts. A big thank you to everyone who supported us on the night.

The last event for the week of fundraising saw a huge turnout for the biggest market of the year. Beck came over to Fiona’s at 6am and helped a rather weary reveller to finish off the packing of biscuits and the car. Angie and Ian baked the popular Christmas Cookies and helped set up and sell our wares;  the beautiful handmade cards from Beverly as well as Beck having to sew another 7 Crazy Sock Creatures in the space of  2 days! All this with only the best of the Bric a Brac and the Books kept a steady flow of Xmas shoppers and we raised an amazing  $477. Once again thank you to all for your support.

Angie is 48 on the 10th January, and has (temporarily) given up alcohol in order to get fit and lean enough for our 600 KM fund-raising cycle in March. PLEASE  take pity on her, and support her efforts on our Everyday Heros site – the link is on the right hand side of this page. Thank you! xxx

Our Second Girls’ Night In on Thursday 12 Feb marks the end of our fundraising effort!  Our first Girls’ Night was such a success that the ‘ladies’ of Elwood & District asked to come back and bring more friends!  Auction, Raffle, Wine, Pampering, Hand Crafted Puzzle Games, Pink & Grey Ribbons, Lanterns, and Gift Bags – We’ll have it all again, and Karen Leonard, the founder of The Lifestart Foundation, will be there to share a glass of wine with us.  If you missed the limited chance to buy a ticket, you are welcome to donate using the Team Elwood ‘Sponsor Us’ link to Everyday Hero.

As we complete our fundraising & preparations for the Vietnam ride, we are reeling from the ongoing Victorian Bushfire Crisis, and are extremely concerned about our Yarra Valley friends that so kindly hosted the Wine Tour – See photos of that lovely day, below.  Some of those wineries are directly impacted.  All proceeds from our wine sales at the Girls Night In will go directly to the Bushfire Fund, as a mark of respect from Team Elwood, and we will also make individual contributions.

Well folks, not long to go now. After all our training and fundraising efforts we finally head off to a rather rainy Vietnam on Wednesday night. It’s been a full on 6 or so months, and it seems a long time since that photo was taken of us all on Elwood beach that cold & rainy Saturday morning. But amongst the hard work we’ve had lots of fun, and I think we have got to look at least a little bit more like we can actually ride a bike than we did back then.

In terms of fundraising – overall we raised around $25,000 which is fantastic and we are really grateful for all the support people have given us along the way. We’re really excited as while we are in Hoi An we will actually get to spend some time with Karen Leonard the founder of the Lifestart Foundation who will take us to visit some of the projects that the money we have raised will go towards supporting.

I have posted our itinerary below and we will try and keep you up to date with our adventures along the way with blog entries and photos whenever we can. Although we head off on Wednesday the 11th the trip officially begins on the 15th but we have treated ourselves to a few days R&R before the riding begins (actually we need those days to recover from all our training which has exhausted us all)!

Anyway this is what we will be up to while we are away. See you when we get back!

15th March: Arrive in Hanoi
16th March: Overnight train to Hue
17th March: Explore ride around Hue (40k)
18th March: Ride to Lang Co (80k)
19th March: Ride to Hoi An (70k over the Hai Van Pass – yikes)

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20th March: Free day in Hoi An to visit the Lifestart projects
21st March: Ride to Tam Ky (50k)
22nd March: Ride to Quang Ngai (90k)
23rd March: Ride to Kon Tum (110k)
24th March: Ride to Pleiku (46k)
25th March: Fly to Ho Chi Minh
26th March: Relax at the beach for a few days
29th March: Arrive home – Yay!!

We are now well on our way thankyou to our friends who saw us off last night, now having coffee and trying to wake up and spend a few hours here before our flight to Hanoi! will keep you posted of our travels

Team Elwood undertakes some serious acclimatisation training in Hanoi

Hi all, great to hear your all following us, we caught the overnight train last night a rattly noisy night but arrived weary ( bunks short for some) Got our bikes fitted and headed off through the main streets of Hue traffic as well as rural laneways and off roading ( which were actually roads) dodging wheelbarrows, mopeds, trucks and small children and each other, We stopped and toured the Citadel and Kings Temple and had noodles for lunch..Now heading out for as well earned beer as we all survived today! more tomorrow stay tuned