By Alana Mitchelson
PAKENHAM’S Heidi Austin and her walking team, the Blister Sisters, are four of 2000 trekkers preparing for this year’s Wild Women on Top Coastrek coastal charity walk.
Having participated in last year’s 55 kilometre trek, Heidi could not help but rise to the challenge of ticking this year’s 60 km achievement off her Bucket List.
The Blister Sisters have so far raised more than $2500 for the Fred Hollows Foundation to continue its fight to end avoidable blindness.
“The Fred Hollows quote ‘I believe the basic attribute of mankind is to look after each other’ was the initial inspiration behind being involved,” Heidi said.
“It’s such a privilege to see different colours and to see my beautiful family and friends.
“It’s such a unique thing that the Fred Hollows Foundation offers people, so I thought why not get on board and support that.
“Other than the physical and mental challenges that come with the trek, why wouldn’t you want to spend 12 hours or so talking non-stop with your friends about life, and maybe getting a blister or two that bears the scar of an epic adventure.”
This year Heidi will be joined by Patterson Lakes’ Cavill Tullberg and Pakenham’s Bec McSweeny and Jennifer Younie who lost her brother to eye cancer.
Jennifer’s husband has also had cataracts removed from both eyes and her mum has had operations to both eyes, so she felt that the Fred Hollows Foundation was a worthy cause.
The Blister Sisters trains every Sunday, averaging 30km per walk and is expect to complete a 40km walk over the next two weeks in preparation for the trek on Friday 18 November.
The course trails along the coast of the picturesque Mornington Peninsula from Cape Shank to Point Nepean.
“We average six to 6.5 km/h for each training walk and expect to maintain that speed on the actual day,“ Heidi said.
“People may have seen us walking around town. We’ve walked to Berwick and back, Army Road to the end of the Aqueduct Trail and back, and from Patterson Lakes to the top of Oliver’s Hill and back.”
Fred Hollows Foundation founding director Gabi Hollows said avoidable blindness affects 32.4 million people worldwide.
“Four out of five people who are blind don’t need to be, and everyone who takes on the Coastrek challenge is helping us to restore sight and change lives,” she said.
“The impact of restoring someone’s sight is enormous.
“For every $1 invested in eliminating avoidable blindness, at least $4 is returned to the local economy, as adults can return to work and children can receive an education and fulfil their potential.”
In 2015 alone, the Fred Hollows Foundation supported sight-restoring eye operations and treatments for 890,066 people, trained 64,613 surgeons, health workers and teachers, built and upgraded 110 medical facilities, and treated more than 8 million people with antibiotics for trachoma.
For more information or to support the Blister Sisters, visit melbourne.coastrek.com.au/fundraisers/BlisterSisters161.
