Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
My feet and toes are, quite literally, a bloody mess, the skin shred-
ded and blistered, covered in bleeding sores. My damned right knee is
hurting. That said, I am physically and mentally strong, as strong as at
any time on the run. It has been a trek, and I am looking forward to it
ending. It will be bliss to use a toilet in a bathroom instead of having to
huddle under a bush on the roadside. I have to banish negativity from
my mind and keep pressing on, putting one foot in front of the other
until I prevail. That philosophy has seen me through so far.
Back in Australia, I've learned, not as many people as I'd hoped
know that I'm doing this event. That is a worry in terms of donations,
but that aside I'm not concerned. More and more, this 21,000-kilometre
run has been about me doing what I said I would do: run from the top
of the earth to the bottom and make as much money for the Red Cross
as I can. In a few weeks I will have done that. A wonderful by-product
is that I am a changed man. I know now that I am once again the man I
was before I embarked on my political career and a quest for material
things, which changed me from the simple bloke with whom Lisa fell
in love. Once again I can appreciate beauty and family and friendship
and, like Louis Armstrong sang, what a wonderful world this is.
december 28
We're still in Punta Arenas. Today, the wind has been blowing at 100
kilometres per hour. It's as cold as charity, and I am a five-hour flight
away from the polar ice shelf. Just like we did at the North Pole, we have
encountered bad-weather delays here. The strong winds grounded us
last night and all of today, and Eric, Ming and I will not take off until
tomorrow. So most of the day has been taken up with going through
the clothing and supplies. It's important nothing is left to chance. But
Eric is very organised, and although he has travelled this route dozens
of times, he checks, double-checks and triple-checks everything.
I did another live cross to Channel Nine, and viewers were able
to see how bad the weather is. I explained how the conditions have
forced me to run the South Pole leg before I finished completely with
the mainland. When I think of all the unnecessary pressure I put on
myself trying to make a deadline that was already predetermined by
Mother Nature to be impossible, I could cry. Everyone else just cares
about whether I complete the journey or not, and fair enough. I would
