Hillary Expedition Grant!

At my work in Tasmania, we have a mother duck that walks around the yard who we call Jemima. A while back Jemima got some action and just last month popped out 5 fuzzy cute ducklings. Every time I look at Jemima and her little ducklings walking around I can’t help but think how she represents the Final Continent Expedition, ie the Expedition ducks are slowly but surely all lining up. And lately we have been waiting for the Hillary Expedition Grant duckling to get in line.

On my recent stint when I came back to work after a week off in Melbourne, poor Jemima had lost 3 of her ducklings. I thought to myself, ‘shit, that isn’t a good omen’.

And guess what? It wasn’t a good omen. Yep our Hillary Expedition grant duckling died. We didn’t get it.

But the ducks are still in a row, just minus the $20,000 duckling that would of covered the costs of our bikes, cycling gear and flights to Africa.

But that’s history, it’s just a dead duckling. In fact I couldn’t feel better, we are all still super pumped. Getting the grant would have been too easy. Already alternative ideas are flowing.

So how can you guys help out? If you know of any companies that maybe interested in sponsoring our expedition, or have potential contacts, then please forward on the FCE promo video (http://vimeo.com/17556003) and my blog. One thing I would like to point out here is that sponsoring the expedition is totally separate to donating. Money donated goes directly to our expedition charity Bicycles for Humanity and the $12,000 transportation cost of the container. Whereas what we are looking for here are companies who are passionate about what we are doing and willing to sponsor gear/services eg cycling/camping gear/clothing, communications, flights to Africa etc to help us bring the costs down.

But don’t fear, the show will go on regardless, if sponsors can’t be found then I’m sure our credit cards will happily sponsor us. This is just one tiny little hurdle in the Final Continent Expedition, plenty more to come, bring it on.

So what have I learnt from all this…………………..…….I’m glad I’m not a duck.

OK, I’ve just realised I’ve spent a whole blog post talking about ducks. So to conclude my ducked post, we didn’t get the grant and are now looking for sponsors. We wish all the successful Hillary Expeditions all the best and I can’t wait to see them revealed in the coming month.

Nuthin but love Hap