Amy's diary entry 8

I am now a lot older and wiser, having turned the big 23 on Friday. That was a strange day actually. I saw a chook on the side of the road. There were no houses around and no obvious chook pen to be seen...just a lone brown chook clucking about minding its own business. When I went to try and catch it, it nearly pecked my finger off. I was just going to carry it to safety into the next town, but the cranky thing didn't like the look of me and hid behind a tree.

We arrived in Armidale at 4pm on Sunday afternoon, greeted by the local member of Parliament, Richard Torbay, and students from various schools along with members of the community and Challenge Armidale. It was such a great feeling, having walked since 6am, to see a whole group of people waiting to welcome us, clapping and cheering. As we all walked into town there was so much chatter and excitement about, the last thing anyone expected was someone dressed up as a moose...?

The following day was one of the greatest days on the trip. I spoke at several schools in Armidale including PLC, O'conner Catholic High, Armidale High, Duval High, New England Girls School and The Armidale School. It was a strange feeling, walking into an entire school assembly, knowing that they were all there to listen to what I had to say. I am only a few years older than some of them, I thought to myself - why would they take me seriously? So I explained myself to all the students before I spoke. I wasn't there to preach or pretend I was better than they were, because that's not what this is about. I'm not an athlete, politician or movie star. I'm just a Uni student, I had an idea and am making it work. Simple. This, I hope, helped everyone (including myself) feel a little more comfortable and I was able to speak about ABI and what the walk was all about with ease, knowing that if I made a mistake, needed to sneeze or tripped in my heels it was ok because I'm as normal as they are!

We were then taken to the Armidale Dumaresq Council Chambers for a reception with the Mayor of Armidale, Peter Ducat, representitives from: various councils, Colleges, the Police Force, the Catholic Church, Challenge Armidale, reporters and members of the community. The Walk With a Rose project was spoken about very highly, we were congratulated and praised by all. Then it was my turn to speak. I've never been one to write speeches - the way I see it, if I don't know what I'm talking about then there's no point being there. I spoke about everything; how the walk came about, the many many people who have made it all happen, the journey so far and the team. I am often congratulated for my efforts but my hat goes off to the team here with me. Nothing is a problem for these guys, most dramas are fixed without me even knowing there was a problem.

Our departure from Armidale was also a very special one, the local police walked out of town with us along with students from various schools, members of the community, Challenge Armidale and the local media. My name was mistakenly pronounced Amy Bantom so the guys got a laugh out of it by clucking at me.

It was very quiet once everyone had left and it was just us again...so you can imagine the excitement when (whilst having lunch in the almighty bus) a cyclist came aboard to give us a donation and meet the crew. We bombarded him with questions and stories and laughter, made him sit down and have lunch with us and whipped out the cameras for a new face to capture. As much as the on-road team love eachother, it's always nice to have a fresh face.

Brian and I had a ripper of a day yesterday. We spent about 6 hours walking the road, talking rubbish as we do. We came across about four UFO landing spots, played 'I spy' (he cheated), played quoits with a rubber hoop we found and the white reflector poles (he's actually pretty good at that) then practiced yodelling together. Had a good tune going there for a while...then my throat started to hurt. Yodelling over and over again for long periods of time whilst trying to raise your voice higher and louder than your competitor and the passing trucks is quite a mission. I think I may get lucky with finding a yodelling instructor in Tamworth. Brian thinks I need lessons but I think fine-tuning a natural gift is all I need.

By now I could be running my own P plate business we pass so many on the road. As he is yet to be classified as a fully fledged walker, Brian found a very attractive belt on the road, put it on and stuck a P plate in it on his back. Good look.

I saw the most magnificant cow of all my sightings yesterday. It had a black back with a white tummy and a white head with black ears. It was the biggest of all and was all alone, as if to say no other cows were worthy of it's company. Brian made reference to the two hairs sticking out of the wart on the left leg of a fly that he reckons was sitting on the cows tail but seriously, the cow was stunning.

Today I walked to Bendemeer. Just as I was turning the corner into town I passed one of those big green signs (facing the other way). The end destination was Brisbane, 543k's. I was proud.