After a great dinner in Warrnambool we gathered at ‘Simon’s Waterfront’ for the morning briefing and a big breakfast.

It was pretty hard to concentrate on the plans for the day when each time I looked out the window I could see the beach. I’m still not happy that I didn’t get to go for the swim, and I will be taking it up with my drive team when we return.

From there we set off on what would end up being a very busy day.

 All I wanted to do was go to the beach.

We started off with a stop in the small town of Penshurst where we got to have a cup of tea with the locals who had come down to show their support. It’s also pretty important to acknowledge their fundraising efforts. They all dug deep to contribute and raised money that will go a long way. 

Before we knew it we were back in the car again and on our way to the next stop. 

It was a bit of a longer drive as we passed through the Grampians and was only made longer by the fact that I was taken off car DJ duties.

Lunch was served at the ‘Brambuk Indigenous Cultural Centre’. We had a quick walk around and listened to some traditional didgeridoo playing, but we were unfortunately unable to stay too long as we had lost a bit of time on a wayward route out of Warrnambool and had to get to Castlemaine Secondary College for a chat. 

We made it to the high school where I had the opportunity to talk to around 50 kids about the drive, MND and what we’re trying to achieve. I managed to hold the crowd and answer questions until Neale made his way there and was able to explain it on a more personal level.

There were plenty of questions and it was very impressive to see the kids’ genuine interest in Neale’s story as well as the work that he has been doing. The impact Neale is having really became clear to me when three students came up to me after we had finished talking and gave me their lunch money as a donation.   

It wasn’t long until we were back in the Kia again and on the way to Bendigo for the goal kicking competition that was being held in the afternoon. I was pretty excited to get out of the car and have a bit of a kick and it was also good to catch up with young Joey Daniher who had come down for the day.

I was part of a team that included Joey, Terry and Chris Daniher, David Neitz and female football superstar Daisy Pearce just to name a few. We’d be taking on the finest players from right around Bendigo.

 The Daniher's Drive team.

Having not kicked a footy in a while, I was actually pretty nervous and was wondering how the old left leg would go. I was trusted with an on the run shot from about 25 metres out and on a  45 degree angle. A fairly lucky bounce saw the ball dribble through the big sticks right at the last second. 

The shoot-out would come down to the last few kicks. We trusted TD with the shot from 35 metres right in front to get us over the line. He let us all down when his kick didn’t even make the distance! 

After a few autographs at the ground we had another quick turn around before we headed to the Bendigo Sportsmans’ Night. It was another cracker of a night with all the Daniher's taking the stage to have a chat about growing up in the country, footy and of course some of the family stories that you don’t often hear.  

Garry Lyon, Billy Brownless and BT joined us as MCs and got the crowd up and about for the night. 

 The Dynasty.  

We finished off with a very successful auction where we raised another $20,000 for Cure For MND. This drive is really showing just how generous people are willing to be and just proves the level of awareness that now exists.

A big thanks to everyone I had the pleasure of meeting along this stretch of the journey and thank-you to everyone who has donated so far! 

Any donation helps. Head here to find out more about MND and also make a donation