What's got 40 Legs, 8 Tails & 4 Shaggy Manes?

After 80 days in the saddle the Long Ride 4 Life (LR4L) Team hotfoots it into Victoria! LR4L originated via a crazy idea about how to transport four horses from Queensland to Tasmania. 

Why not ride them, we thought? 4 People, 4 horses, 4 dogs! It can’t be that hard. This idea then developed into a community fund-raiser supporting the Leukaemia Foundation (LF) and the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS).

We started 16th July 2014 from the Australia Stockman’s Hall of Fame and Heritage at Longreach, and been travelling down through central western Queensland and New South Wales via stock routes.

Sunday 5 October we’ll leave NSW at Corowra. Our ride through Victoria includes Boorhaman, Glenrowan, Yea, and Flowerdale then into Whittlesea before sailing to our finish after 3,000km at Devonport in Tasmania, on 29 October 2014.

After approximately 100 days, we'll be proud to say, "That’s a lot of sore backsides!"

Our LR4L Team consists of self-confessed city slickers; doctor and leukaemia survivor, Andrew Gibson who is the team roadie and truck wrangler and his interior designer, and leukaemia carer wife Terrill Riley-Gibson who coordinates the PR and community. Terrill’s

father Harold Riley, a life-long stockman, bushman, and Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) frequent flyer and Dutch architectural technician and experienced horsewoman, Anna Hoogeboom complete the human team.

So far throughout the 80 days in Queensland and New South Wales we have faced very hard yakka with plenty of challenges and the usual ‘behind the scene’ developments that beset any major adventure: poor or no internet/phone reception, equipment failure including torn shredded trailer tyres, a fatigued disintegrated trailer wheel rim, a separating trailer wheel guard, broken tow bar. On top of that we’ve survived gastro, chest infections, toothache and a bucking bronco horse.

In amongst these challenges we've experienced great community support from a range of people throughout Australia and beyond. The heart and soul of our time in Queensland and New South Wales has been the amazing local people we’ve met who have overwhelmed us with their generosity and support. These wonderful ambassadors have taken us into their hearts and souls in spite of the dire circumstances they face each day due to drought and economics.

We’re proud to say we’ve raised $35,000 and still counting on more donations.

We're looking forward to achieving our goal of giving back to the wonderful charities that have helped us in our times of need. What's become very important too is the thriving group of followers we have on Facebook who have been cheering us on during our epic ride over the past 80 days of our journey. Community support whether online or offline is important to all, and especially so to those in remote locations.

To connect with us while we're on the road, please visit http://facebook.com/longride4life or our website http://longride4life.com