The Royal Flying Doctor Service is again the recipient of donations from a unique fundraising adventure put together by CFA firefighters. This time, though, the firefighters do owe the doctors!
The adventure motorbike group Trek The Trak is ready again to launch into its major fundraising efforts for the Flying Doctors. This Sunday, 20 September, and again on Sunday 4 October, the group will screen its full-length feature movie 'On The Limit' at Wangaratta Cinema.
Trek The Trak consists of a number of CFA firefighters and community members, largely from Wangaratta, and is headed by Senior Station Officers Carl Stibilj and David Brock of Wangaratta Brigade.
As previously reported on CFA News & Media, the group goes into the outback to remote, off-the-beaten-track locations on motorbikes, film the adventure and then show the movie to raise money. In previous years, the team has raised many thousands of dollars. Last year alone raised over $4,000.
This year, though, they are paying some dues, as during their adventure last year one of the group, Ambulance Victoria Paramedic Justin 'Joc' O'Connor, crashed his bike on the Anne Beadell Highway in the remote Great Victorian Desert, not far from a place known as Vokes Hill. Joc sustained some serious injuries, to the extent that he couldn't continue to ride, and the TTT team had to take him to the Oak Valley Aboriginal Community for assessment by their nurse. The result of the assessment was that Joc was flown out of the desert by, you guessed it, the Flying Doctors. The 'On The Limit' movie is the story of that trip.
Justin's injuries resulted in eight days in the Royal Adelaide Hospital with broken ribs and a badly punctured lung. Without the support of the Oak Valley Community and the Flying Doctors he would have been a lot sicker. He's now made a full recovery and is ready for this year's trek which starts less than a week after the second screening of the movie.
The guys aren't planning much this year. They are just going to cross Australia from the western most point in Western Australia to Byron Bay, the eastern-most point. Oh, and with a trip through the Simpson desert in the middle!
On The Limit movie tickets are still available from the cinema on 5571 5555 or through Carl or David at Wangaratta Fire Station. Donations can be made directly to the Flying Doctors, or through the TTT everyday hero web page at https://rfdsvic-fundraisers.everydayhero.com/au/trek-the-trak-
TTT also has a web page: www.trekthetrak.com and Facebook: www.facebook.com/trekthetrak where more information on the group can be found, and details of our trek across Australia will be posted. A teaser for the movie, created by David Brock and his partner Cynthia, can be viewed below.
Author: David Ferguson