Day 9

Mt Malakoff to Byron Bay

The Bashers set off along the dirt road out of Mt Malakoff and hit the highway before reaching some more challenging tracks on the way to the morning’s fun stop.

The fun stop took place at Basher, Kellee Bickerton’s property and was hosted by Presenting Sponsor, Blue Dog Training. Dubbed the “Viking Games”, there was a little bit of jousting, paintball slingshots and plenty of fun.

Lunch was at Kyogle State High School where Bashers presented the school with special camping equipment. The school has a large number of students who live with a disability or who face financial disadvantage.

There are also a large number of mainstream students who meet the disability criteria through NCCD. The school wants to establish camps for boy’s 14-16 years of age. The camps will be designed to draw on the power of outdoor experiences to learn skills of teamwork, communication, self responsibility, resilience, while engaging in fun activities such as hiking and camping. They requested camping gear to run their own Boys Lifeskills Camp – they have a lot of disengaged boys from low socio-economic homes who in many cases do not have good role models to turn to.

A fitting theme for the location when we reached Bryon Bay, Bashers turned out for the night’s function flaunting their flashiest tie-dye shirts, flares, platform boots, flower crowns and peace signs.

It  was an evening  filled with emotion as some of the parents who had received assistance from Variety in the past shared their stories and gratitude with the crowd.  Sharon, Abbi, Amy, Geoff and Tiff, told of how their lives were changed by the dedication of Variety’s supporters just like the 339 unique characters in the room who come from all walks of life, and had been brought together by a shared mission to give ALL kids a fair go.