The crew prepares to depart Weipa at dawn on 15 July for the first leg of a 3,000-kilometre jetski fundraising ride to Darwin. Photo: Supplied.
Weipa has played a critical role for a group of seven adventure-seeking fundraisers who have set out on a 3,000-kilometre ride for a good cause.
The group, which is part of a larger cohort of jetskiiers riding around Australia to raise funds as they explore the coastline from a different perspective, set out from Weipa to Darwin on 15 July on a journey likely to take the best part of a fortnight.
Group spokesperson Matt Brown said the group was raising money for the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) and RFDS Near and Far Volunteer Auxiliary on its current ride, and praised the Weipa community for its generosity in supporting pre-departure fundraising efforts.
“We’re just going with charities that actually make a difference and actually do something with the money,” he said.
“Tim from the Alby gave us a couple of meat trays to auction off before we left, and the community there supported us so much, we raised $1,400 out of them.
“We will have probably raised about $5,000 for the RFDS, thereabouts, and $4,400 for the auxiliary.”
The ride has another link to Weipa, with well-known local Sam Nolan jumping behind the wheel of a support vehicle to assist Mr Brown and his fellow riders on the trek to the Northern Territory capital.
The last ride for the group was the Broome to Darwin leg a couple of years ago, and Mr Brown said the goal was to finalise the lap of Australia by completing Ceduna to Perth in 2025.
The group conquered the Gulf of Carpentaria from Weipa to Pormpuraaw to Karumba in quick time, an effort Mr Brown said took a significant toll.
“It’s like the [snow skiing] moguls all day long, and we were on the ski for about eight or nine hours yesterday, and that was a 300km day,” he explained.
“That was the second day in; 300km days in open ocean are big days – we’d average between 40 and 50 [kilometres] an hour.
“It’s getting through the pain; you’re in pain after the first day and you’re on there for 10 minutes and you’re already banging and hurting; you’re elbows and legs hurt, because we don’t sit, so they’re your shock absorbers.”
While the threat of saltwater crocodiles is always at the forefront of the group’s collective thinking, Mr Brown said “they aren’t as bad as they are in the Territory”, adding the riders just enjoyed being out on the open water fundraising for a worthy charity.
“It’s people we’ve all been riding with for over 20 years, but just not all the time,” he said.
“The main reason we do it is the adventures, drinking beer in different places and just meeting some amazing people.”
