Great Aussie Rickshaw Ride 17th August

It was a beautiful day for one of the longest days of riding so far.
Graeme joined the support team after flying down from Brisbane the
night before. The day began with a departure from the Medical School
of the University of Western Sydney. The ride was from the UWS campus
to Mittagong, over 70kms. But to do this we had the largest number of
riders so far on GARR. They were composed mostly of students and a few
staff from the Global Health Awareness Western Sydney. The
participants in the morning were Vaughan and Amir, Kathryn and Sean,
Manik and Alex, Dean, Duc and Hussain. They rode to Picton through
beautiful rural countryside. Of course concentrating on riding a
rickshaw leaves little opportunity for sightseeing. All the riders
acknowledged that initially mastering the riding of a three-wheeled
cycle is not as simple as one imagines. The rider has to go against
their usual instincts. Those used to riding a bicycle are always
leaning to control when that is not the method. Steering is the trick.
In Picton we were joined by Gavin and Dave who are not UWS students or
staff. Gavin is one of Nick Sampson's brothers. Nick was helping us
all last week. The other students and staff to join in the afternoon
were Eric and Simon, Leon and Waldo and staff members John Whitehall
and Carl Parsons. John Whitehall's daughter Sarah and husband, Jon
also joined in the late afternoon. Only fading light prevented the
rickshaw reaching Mittagong as the riders were eager to continue. One
snag was that late in the day, the handle bar on the rickshaw broke
and we had to use the second one. One of the tasks tomorrow is the
repair (welding) of the handlebar. Ross of the support team comes to
the fore with his experience in mechanical repairs.
In the early afternoon, Khaleque, Hajrat and Morris went off to
Yanderra Public School for a presentation. There were about 35
students present in this little country school. The children heard
some Bangla spoken for the first time, heard Hajrat sing a song in
Bangla while Khaleque accompanied on the tabla's. Khaleque is our
travelling rhythm section. The students were also shown the two dvds
and gave great responses to questions after the dvd presentations.
Probably the highlight for the kids was that all were able to have a
ride of the rickshaw at the end.
So until tomorrow, ding ding!