A BUNDABERG family who have spent the past year bike riding more than 16,000 kilometres around Australia are set to reach New Beith in just over two weeks.
Diana and Jozef Wolters started their country journey with their kids Jack, 13 and Chloe, 14, to raise money in support of the Motor Neurone Disease Association of Queensland (MND).
The Wolters were inspired to raise $50,000 for the organisation after Jozef’s father died from the disease in July 2017.
Ms Wolters said they wanted to pay back MND for the practical support offered during difficult times.
“They helped us with equipment and it meany (Jozef’s father) stayed home longer,” she said.
“There was a wheelchair for him to use and a hospital bed for him to stay. They also offered a lot of counselling and we found that to be important.”
The family recently reached Canberra and are en route to Sydney with a further 1400km to go before arriving home.
They raised more than $30,000 on their ‘One Year on our Bike’ Everyday Hero page making up a total of $35,526.54.
Read more: Charli fights for quality of life
Read more: Heartbreaking loss for Smith family
Ms Wolters said she had a deep connection with the Jimboomba community and looked forward to visiting a friend in New Beith on January 20.
“I grew up in Jimboomba and went to Jimboomba State School. I lived there for 14-15 years,” she said.
“We used to live on acreage at Kurrajong Road.”
The family will visit Clear Mountain and Woolloongabba when they reach south-east Queensland.
Ms Wolters said the year long experience exposed the family to unique challenges and kept them in fit condition.
“The headwinds were challenging as it was very windy in Western Australia and we have been through hail storms while riding,” she said.
“The heat is terrible...we were riding in 38-40 degree temperatures where you can get overheated very easily.
“We do surf life saving, swimming and riding so we were always pretty fit but nowhere near as fit as we are now.”
Ms Wolters said she hoped the Federal government would invest more money to support people suffering from the disease.
