This blog page is designed for students to journal the experiences they are having each day during the Cambodia and Zambia Impact Trips. Blogs can sometimes be somewhat limited depending on trip schedules and availability of reliable internet access. Click here for more information about our Impact Trips.
Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 12:55PM 2012 is here and Swan Missions has a number of exciting impact trips coming up! All trips will have regular updates with the blog for the Zambia trip commencing early April 2012. The Cambodia trip will take place in late June - keep an eye out for more information coming soon!
Tuesday, October 18, 2011 at 11:04PM It was another early start at St Brigid's Convent in Bridgetown. It was reminiscent of last year's ride as the dark rain clouds hovering over the small town of Bridgetown. Breakfast was consumed and bags were packed, and before long, the peloton set out for a short warm up through Bridgetown. The warm up was more like a cool down as the rain bucketed on the riders. Mr Davis found an excuse to back the Pajero out of the drive way to avoid the warm up and decided to meet us at the start of the hills. He later suffered severely requiring Nurofen and Voltaren for pain relief after the first 20kms.
In the opening hour the competition for the King of the Mountain commenced with five courageous (or foolish) riders battling for first position as the rest struggled up the category four climb. Pedal Dancer Henry Pennell was declared KOM - he insists on being called Lord of the Alps but a more fitting title would be Prince of the Ant Hill. The riders then struggled with headwinds, rain and undulating terrain before they hit their second climb for the day. This climb continued for kilometre after kilometre after kilometre (6kms in total). As predicted we thought it would take about an hour to finish this section of the ride, the last rider made it to the top in one hour one minute and twenty six seconds. At this point the smarter riders in the group, namely Austin, Nathan and Uncle Gazza got on their deadly treadlies to join the wet peloton.
The descent into Nannup allowed the spirited riders to test their skills, quickly approaching the speed limit while the faint hearted sat on the brakes for the majority of the hill. The reward in Nannup was hot chocolates, cake and coffee as we tried to defrost and people changed out of their squelching socks. A quick rip around the shops in Nannup asking for donations brought the cash total to over $700 before we headed up into the hills once again.
The Doctor of Pain set a cracking pace and attempted to see how many riders he could break in the process. Austin was the first to go but the group had a brief reprieve as we had our first on road puncture, Henry's bike had a quick tyre change which allowed the rest of us to recover. The doctor didn't let up and as we ascended the next hill all we could hear from the front was "we're nearly half way there", while we traveled at 28km/h up hill. By this point, conversation in the peloton had reduced to monosyllabic grunts.
Ah.......... Finally lunch at Busselton. It was a welcomed sight to a tired and hungry bunch of riders. As the food was consumed, conversation started to flow. The sun came out and we started to thaw and dry ready for the last stint through to Eaton, our accommodation for the evening.
When we arrived we were met by a nice surprise, Mr Lewis had organised a massage therapist to work on our tired bodies. We had a delicious last dinner together (Pam's Special Curry), before we had a final meeting handing out awards for service, courage and consistency. Uncle Gazza gave us a talk about the great work being done in Cambodia and how many people the money will benefit. He focussed on the need to look past yourself and take a global perspective, using your skills and talents to add value to others, not just yourself.
A quick game of Mafia with the Dallinator and it was off to bed, resting up for the final stage of the trip.
Monday, October 17, 2011 at 8:36PM 
As we awoke to a foggy cabin at 5:00am and peered out into the misty air of Coalmine Beach anticipating a day of lots of climbing. We packed our bags for the third last time (not like anyone was counting) before heading down to an early breakfast. Some of the smarter members of the group decided to ride in the car and skip the first of four steep sections. After a quick warm up lap around the peninsula the group hit the steepest hills of the day, taking a good 10 minutes to get to the top, where some passengers mounted their bikes, including Uncle Gary from Awareness Cambodia. Today was the longest and the hilliest ride so far, made worse by the fact that it was made a designated 'no push' day. By the time we pulled up to lunch in Manjimup at 2pm there were a fair few older members of the team needing a caffeine hit to finish the final stage to Bridgetown.
As we went through the tingle tree forest someone in the team made a really profound comment; "that's a really big tree". One of the highlights of the day that was causing the birds to drop from the trees was the harmonious singing of Josiah, Henry, Lewis, Kaleb and Mr Dallin. Despite the bad tone and missed lyrics they managed to keep up the morale throughout the morning.
Lunch was very welcome and refueled us for the fast downhill run to Bridgetown. The road was lumpy, with lots of photo opportunities and more trucks.
We arrived at Bridgetown around 4pm, with many relieved that the pain and suffering was over and done with. By keeping the goal in mind, we raised over $200 from the generous donations of people on the streets of Bridgetown. It was a late dinner back at the convent where the boys got to sleep in the chapel, surrounded by crosses. They were very well behaved. An early night was had by all to prepare for the big ride to Bunbury on Tuesday.
Sunday, October 16, 2011 at 8:18PM 
With our first early morning start, we woke at Great Southern Grammar. After a cold night in their gym we departed to Walpole. As soon as we left we hit the hills and passed a small farm where Mr Dallin, Jordan and Nathan decided to try scare the sheep by barking only to find that the owner was just around the corner. The ascent was long and steep but once we reached the top, the climb soon became worth it with the breathtaking scenery of Middleton beach. We had a curvy descent out of Albany and before long, we hit the rougher roads.
When we stopped for morning tea the sly Jordan Kuchel decided to slip his orange peels into everyone's back pocket, later being caught out by Mr Dallin at the lunch break. During our lunch at Denmark, we enjoyed another delicious lunch prepared by our wonderful support crew. It was so delicious that the local seagulls were hanging around to try scab some off us. Just as we were about to depart Kaleb decided to try some chin ups while still on his bike, resulting in him earning the splatula of the day.
As we were heading towards Bow River Luke was at such break neck speed that his water bottle escaped without him realising and a new Big Ram recipient was born!
The intermediate sprint of the day was planned for Bow River. The preparation and planning for the sprint had begun before breakfast. As Bow River approached Cavendish moved to the back and was protected by Mr Lewis and Mr Davis. He quickly swallowed back two gels and was so full of energy he resembled a bull dog chained to a tree. The sprint was planned for 300m before the bridge at Bow River; however, Mr Lewis began the lead out 1500m before the finish line. By the time he crossed the front of the peloton he was riding at 53kms an hour. The snowman (aka Mr Dallin) dragged the lead out team up to 57kms an hour. He moved to the side and the doctor of pain dragged the peloton up to 63km an hour with Cavendish chewing the bar tape. All of a sudden Henry sprinted past at a speed of 65kms an hour looking comfortable. Unfortunately, he was sprinting for the wrong finish line. At that moment Mr Banks sprinted past Cavendish and took the glory with finger pointing to the heavens.
In Bow River, we enjoyed a Cold Chisel rendition from the one and only Ben 'snowman' Dallin. Following a short food break the riders hopped back on their bikes for the final stretch into Walpole. After a long day the young Kasey Smith put his head down for a second and dismounted over his handle bars while still in motion. Our little trooper got back on his bike to finish the stage with the pelaton, earning himself the courage award for the day.
When we arrived at Walpole some of the riders checked out the beach for some downtime. After a bit of mucking around Kasey decided to 'use the force' to try and move a coke can off a short wooden post. As he tried to move the can with the force (his foot) he ended up kicking the post and badly injured himself. After about 1km Kaleb finally gave in to give Kasey a piggy back and we realised that the injury was more serious than we initially thought.
We enjoyed another spectacular meal prepared by our support crew but had to fight the flies for our kebabs. An early night was had by most ready for our 6.15am Monday morning breakfast call.
Saturday, October 15, 2011 at 9:09PM The Gnowangerup Hotel - an experience that we will all remember. We left town early with not a car in sight ... it was Saturday ... but everyday is quiet in Gnowangerup. We headed to the Stirling Ranges and left the Chafe Dragon behind at the hotel; however, he was replaced by the abominable snowman (aka Mr Dallin wearing so much zinc cream that he was barely recognisable). At the morning tea break we had to say good-bye to one of our lovely support crew members Mrs Friend who had worked tirelessly to support the crew for four days; however, we recruited the one and only Miss McKellar. After riding 60km we entered the Stirling Ranges and admired their beauty before we realised we had to 'climb' over them.
The roads were quiet, the sun was out and we were surrounded by fields of barley and canola. Then, a few members in the group discovered that they could cause sheep and cows to go on a stampede when they barked at them like sheep dogs much to the dismay of the teachers (and the farmers).
Before morning tea the peloton group decided to try out some new riding formations, abandoning the old 1 and 2 abreast sets. The peloton performed a left echelon and a right echelon, across the road; only when the white line was dotted.
Lunch was coming, the plotting began; three km to go, two km to go, one km to go. Josiah was sent to the back to start the train, Cavendish began moving to the front and then ... a surprise ... Mr Lewis was off at 54km/hr. The train started, the Doc was on, the snowman was sucking the wheel and then Cav dashed for the line. Ten meters before the "finish" Josiah (big calves) cruised past with a cadence of 55 while everyone else sucked the oxygen from the air. The planning for tomorrow's intermediate sprint has begun already!
The closer we got to the hills we started to see Bluff Knoll and Mt Trio and other lesser known large rocks. The mountains slowly grew larger until we could see the shrubs and paths. As the day progressed the riders were happy to be able to say the mountains were behind them.
As we came into Albany we unfortunately came to more hills. We started climbing and then the descents. On our last ascent, Mr Davis (using his servant heart to help the others) met the gravel with an impromptu dismount. Rather than getting up, he laid there impersonating a dead upside down out of the water starfish and banged his helmet +++ knowing that he had became a candidate of the paint scraper award for today.
The day ended at Great Southern Grammar (thanks to Mr Marquardt) where we are getting ready for a good nights sleep for the 6 am rise for a 130 kilometre ride to Walpole.
