After the excitement of the Albury Ball it was back to business of making the ride a reality.

Basically still sorting out insurance, announcing new major sponsors, and getting all things organised in our individual lives for the time we will be away.

The team made its way to Melbourne for the 14th to 17th of May, where we were to announce that Telstra Countrywide had come on board as a major sponsor. They are helping immensely by allowing us to stay in touch with the office, sponsors and home with CDMA mobiles and a satellite phone, as well as financial help.

It was an excellent test of the suitability of the vehicles for the ride and we certainly discovered some interesting hiccups that needed some attention.  Not the least of all is the speed of “Moby Dick”, the affectionate name given to Dan’s truck. At least the old girl is consistent – 40 kmh up big hills – 100 kph going down!  Never missed a beat, although passing under a 4.0 metre low clearance in a 4.15 metre truck certainly makes for interesting entertainment (lucky the road dipped a little so there was about 2cm to spare!)

On the other hand – Col’s truck provided many headaches, one being its total refusal to start on petrol or gas after the first fuel stop (and every other stop on the way down!) We had to push start it with the horses and all the gear loaded up three times on the way down.  To add insult to injury the truck finally gave up the ghost on the Tullamarine freeway at about 7.30pm!  As luck would have it, Dan’s uncle, John Phegan, happened to be going past and offered a tow (into Flemington Road) where we managed to get the truck running again …this time it was because the alternator wire was off and the battery went flat while Col was driving along! Col’s spare battery soon sorted that one – but it made for a very long day on the truck for the horses.

The biggest was the “camping area” near the Melbourne Entertainment Centre.  It just happened to be under the busiest part of the freeway! The horses and crew got a maximum of three hours sleep and were not happy campers the next morning – Especially when the television station could not make an appearance until the day after we were supposed to make it! Dan and Yola did the TV interview, and Dan and myself had a great time talking to the ABC radio.

One unforeseen bonus of the trip was the availability of free horse feed – the Council and landowners in the immediate vicinity of the entertainment centre appear none too interested in mowing the grass which grows prolifically nearby – so the horses got to graze on sweet green grass (better than at home in most cases) for free -  we chuckled to think that in a city so full of cars – here we were getting ours “re-fuelled” for nothing!

The trip home was a beauty too – the horses riding in Dan’s truck were literally boxed in by two pallets of Akta-vite, kindly donated by Tony Myer, CEO of Akta-Vite, which had to be man-handled off before the horses could be unloaded on the return journey!

At the end of the day it was a great trip from an experience point of view – and showed us where the work needed to be done in terms of transport, but the media and publicity generation left a lot to be desired  – mental note made for the Sydney trip…

Melbourne done – Sydney to go… cheers for now!

Ian