Harper Newsletter - March 2009

News from Harper the Guide Dog

March 2009

“Unbelievable - Tandem Ride”

When I tell my 4-legged friends that my life is full of excitements, I really mean that! Just last Sunday, we drove to Picton and met up with Toireasa and her family. I was real excited to see them and was a bit upset when Lindy and Toireasa got on this little aeroplane with a whole bunch of people without me. I sat around the picnic table with the rest of the Ryans, Gallaghers and other friends and waited. Instead of seeing food being placed on the table, Lindy and Toireasa appeared from the sky with someone on their backs carrying two huge tablecloths without any food on them. I was told later that it is calls a parachute. They both had a huge grin on their faces and couldn’t stop talking about their “Tandem Skydive” experience. Well, to tell you the true, none of that make sense to me. Why would anyone, certainly not a smart Guide Dog like me, jump out of a perfectly good aeroplane. I will let Lindy describe to you about her jump in the next issue of  my newsletter and you might even get to see some of the footage! I can tell you now from all accounts, she definitely is not the best Skydiver around. Since the last newsletter (February), things have been very hectic.I had a short holiday at the end of February while Lindy went to Cambodia to give a key note speech for Prudential Insurance at their Asia Pacific Regional Conference. We then helped launch the Powerhouse “Living in a Sensory World” Exhibition and also celebrated International Women’s Day by giving the speech at the Manly Council Women’s Day Breakfast at Manly Golf Club. More importantly, I starred in the Guide Dog NSW/ACT training Video. My role was to walk Lindy to the Golden Harbour Chinese Restaurant in China Town, be greeted by the manager and then take her to the table. At the table, two blonde-haired girls were waiting for me. I love any role that allows me to be among food and other guide dogs, especially the blonde ones. The purpose of this training video is to educate restaurant owners and managers that Guide Dogs are allowed to go into restaurants. Watch the upcoming newsletter for details of the video premiere, when I get to walk down the Red Carpet. (I like to dream too!) Now I am off again for another holiday because in April, Lindy is going to ride a Tandem Bike from Cairns to Melbourne. That’s right !! -  a distance of just under 3,200 km.   I definitely will not be publishing any newsletter in April nor will I have a chance to answer any emails while my secretary is away. However, you can always call or text Lindy on her mobile.  Living in a Sensory World: stories from people with blindness and low vision 

This exciting exhibition explores the world of the blindness and low vision community and celebrates their achievements.

 I took Lindy to the Powerhouse Museum for the launch of the exhibition on Wednesday 4^th of March. Lindy was asked to represent people with blindness and low vision from this exhibition and gave a short speech. I was pleased to share the stage with Minister Peter Garrett. As a politician, Peter actually gave an enlightening speech. He recounted the story about how his grandfather used to volunteer his service to the blind community by translating books into Braille. I am glad that there is so much more technology available now so Lindy does not have to depend on brail books, as her Braille the alphabet is really slow. Fortunately for all of you, she uses the Screen Reader calls JAWS to help her type up this newsletter.  Lindy and Toireasa have their 2006 World Championships medal and World Champions Jersey on display at the exhibition. An interview with them both is also being shown on the TV screen. You can have a look at the interview through the Powerhouse website http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/living/exhibition_videos.asp. Bike for Bibles - Cairns to Melbourne Inland RideWhy is it that recently Lindy has been spending more hours on the bike than before she retired from Para-Cycling? She tries to explain to me that she is doing this Charity Ride that requires her to sit on that little seat for hours on end to get her from Cairns to Melbourne. I can’t understand why she doesn’t just catch a plane! Maybe there are some special coffee shops on that Inland route that she is not taking me to! I guess I just have to be satisfied with a holiday instead. In the mean time, I will just give you the facts.  Lindy and Rosemary Robinson, from Canberra, are doing the Cairns to Melbourne Bike for Bibles Ride on the tandem bike. They are going to cover 3,192km. I am sure they will manage to tick over the 3,200km mark on the computer just by going to the coffee shops. They will ride with another 15 cyclists on their single bikes. No, they won’t have to carry all their food on the bikes because they will have a support team of 10 people to feed them.  They will start on Sunday 5^th April from Cairns and finish on Saturday 2^nd May in Melbourne. The longest days are 205km, 203km and 194km, with another three days covering the distances of 150 to 190km. There are four easy days under 100km, with the shortest day being 84km. The remaining riding days are all between 100 and 150km. With all this riding, they get to have four rest days to catch up on washing and coffee shops! If you want to know where they are stopping each night and how far they are scheduled to ride each day, just check out the Bible Society NSW website.http://www.biblesocietynsw.com.au/Events/cairns_melbourne This ride is to raise fund to support a number of Bible Society projects including Literacy Education, Health & Hygiene etc in a number of Indigenous Communities in Northern Australia. =========================================================== That is about it from the Black Labrador Guide Dog from Beacon Hill, I will write again after my holiday. “It is not the challenges that we have to face in life, it is how we face these challenges that determine the quality of our life”  

Woof Woof

 Harper Hou02 9905-26230402 113 836harperhou@optusnet.com.auwww.lindyhou.com