Lindy Hou OAM

News from Harper the Guide Dog - May 2009

I have just returned from four weeks annual leave. I spent it with my 4-legged friend, Tyson while Lindy rode her tandem bike from Cairns to Melbourne.

 

Lindy and I are home now for 8 days before she takes off again to the United States with her family. I will stay with the Gould family this time for two weeks. This will be my last holiday for the year, as I will have used up all my annual leave and long service leave!

 

It is great to spend time with my friends and check out different dog parks. We often meet new friends and have different dogs to play chasing with. However, one thing about being a celebrity dog is that people still recognize me wherever I go!

 

I haven’t got a lot to report this issue, so I will let Lindy tell you about the Cairns to Melbourne ride.

 

Bike for Bibles - Cairns to Melbourne Inland Ride

Rosemary and I rode a tandem bike, along with 12 other single bikes, from Cairns to Melbourne & covered a distance of 3,242 km. The ride took us exactly 4 weeks, with 4 rest days during this period. 4 vehicles, 10 road crews and many churches supported us along the way & during the month-long ride, the temperatures ranged from 1 to 44 degree C!!

 

The longest day was 207 km taking 7 hours 59 minutes on the saddle, while the biggest day for climbing was 2,086 meters, when we rode out of Cairns on the first day. The total time spent on the saddle for the month was 124 hours and 30 minutes, with an overall average speed for the whole ride of 26.3 km/hr. 

 

One of our roadies, Graeme Keast, has a very good website, where he has reported the whole ride, with photos and comments. For those of you who would like to know more about the ride, this is certainly worth having a look at. Note: there are other blog entries after the one about the ride, so you may have to look further down the site. The website is: http://granomad.blogspot.com/

Some of my memorable moments on the trip were:

Guided Outer Reef Tour

With an instructor, I had a personalised snorkelling guided tour of the outer reef. I was able to have a close examination of the reef. The instructor gave me an in depth description of the natural habitats. It was a most enjoyable hour as I was able to relax & take in what I could with my limited sight, without worrying about having to find the boat to get back to Cairns!

 

Getting Lost in Roma

In Roma, we stayed in a church hall that has a separate building for the toilet. Before I went to bed, we came up with a system for me to find my way to the toilet & back. The system consisted of leaving the light on at the toilet block, as well as leaving the light on outside the church hall.

 

I had no trouble finding the toilet block, however the back door light for the church is only a security light and it had turned off by the time I had to aim for it on my return! I got totally lost and found myself standing on the side of the road wondering what to do next. I was going to flag down the first car that drove past to ask for the direction back to the church hall! As I was pondering how the driver would react to someone in pyjamas standing on the side of the road with a white cane, I heard people calling out my name. I was saved from spending the night on the street.

 

Someone had seen me going out to the toilet and when I didn’t return for a long time, decided to come looking for me. When she couldn’t find me, she alerted the rest of the group and a huge search party set about looking for me.

 

As we were spending two nights in Roma, many new strategies were suggested to ensure I didn’t run away again. One consisted of a retractable rope & another, a cowbell. Thank goodness none of these were needed, and I spent the next night safely.

 

“Behind the Scenes” Tour of Dubbo Zoo

With my very limited eyesight, I have very little chance of seeing any of animals at the Dubbo Zoo. A “behind the scenes” tour was organised for me by one of the other cyclists. I got to pat a rhino, nearly step on an echidna in their enclosure and receive kisses from the elephants.

 

It was great day out for me as I got to feel the animals and I learnt a lot of interesting information from the zookeepers. 

 

The whole bike trip has been full of many new experiences, with a wonderful group of people who are friendly, thoughtful and helpful. I certainly didn’t go hungry at any stage & I only got lost once (see above)! I didn’t lose anything along the way, as even my socks kept finding their way back to me!

 

Thank you to all those people who have sent in their donations. The money raised will certainly be put to good use through the Bible Society projects.

 

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That is about it from the Black Labrador Guide Dog from Beacon Hill.

I will write again after my next holiday.

 

“Prepare to push beyond our comfort zone. Achievements are made because we are prepare to push beyond the limit that we impose onto ourselves”

 

Woof Woof

 

Harper Hou

harperhou@optusnet.com.au

www.lindyhou.com