Man walking around Australia with his dog makes surprise return for family
After nine pairs of shoes and thousands of kilometers, a Townsville father has paused his epic charity walk around Australia for a special milestone.
Townsville Bachelor of the Year entrant Garth Murray is back home this week, taking a brief respite from his walk around Australia to raise funds for charity.
He is joined on the trek by his assistance dog Max.
Murray has parked his purpose-built trailer he pulls along the road at a benefactor’s shed at Port Pirie and flown back to be here for his son Seth who is graduating from William Ross High.
He left Townsville on his marathon trek around the county just over 12 months ago and has gone through nine pairs of shoes walking 6500km with Max down the east coast, around Tasmania, through Victoria, into South Australia.
So far the pair have raised more than $60,000 for Act for Kids, the Brain Foundation and Mates4Mates.
But before talking the gruelling 1200km Nullarbor Plain from Ceduna in SA through to Norseman in WA, Garth wanted to come back home and be there for his son’s graduation.
“I was at Port Pirie, and my foot, my ankle, played up with an injury, so I was going to take a day or two rest there but then I decided I would come back earlier than I had initially planned for my son’s graduation. Give my ankle a bit of rest, spend time with the family and not be down there just resting, doing nothing,” he said.
“He’s doing really well in school, and he’s obviously has to wait for his results, but he is going down to Brisbane next year to do a degree in computer science and hopefully a master’s in data science. Very proud. He’s very good kid, and I’m very lucky.”
But he will be back on the road later this month and has already bought airfare tickets back to Adelaide on November 22.
“I’ll probably be restarting walking on the 23rd or 24th of November, and I’m going to continue walking down to Port Lincoln and then up to Ceduna, and then start the Nullarbor in December.
“It’s the hottest part of the year, but in my reckoning, it’s the least hot of the three hottest months, because it’s the first month of December.”
He said he did not initially plan to be one of the Townsville Bulletin’s Bachelor of the Year entrants.
“Somebody mentioned my name for it, and I agreed to it solely for the purpose of publicity for the charity for the walking around Australia, and we’ve made the top three,” he said.
“I believe it’s because of Max that we have made the top three. But the kind of the requirements that they mentioned for the Bachelor, it wasn’t to do with looks, thankfully, it was to do with people who help out and play a part in the community.
“With Max and I having volunteered for four and a half years at the hospital before we started this lap and at the Good Shepherd home, volunteering at other places as well as walking around Australia for charity, then we definitely fit that bill.
“It’s good for the fundraising and for the three different charities. So I definitely just jumped on board.”
But he said he currently had little time for romance during his charity walk.
“Not yet. But I am also walking around Australia, and it’s going to take me at least another year to finish it, a year of actually walking, because we still have roughly 10,382 kilometres to go. So that’s going to take a little bit of time.”
Mr Murray plans to take a Christmas break and fly home in December after crossing most of the Nullarbor.
“It’s 1200 kilometres from Ceduna to Norseman, which is the length of the Nullarbor. And if I do 50 kilometres per day, every day, without a rest day, then that’ll be 24 days. But because I’m starting from Port Pirie, I won’t have enough time to finish the Nullarbor, but I’ll just park up the trailer somewhere and then catch a bus back to either Perth or Adelaide, depending upon where I’m closest to, and fly from there back to Townsville for Christmas.
“For my son, Seth’s 18th birthday for the remainder of summer, and just for the end of summer is my mum’s 70th birthday as well. It’ll be good to be here for those three milestones, Christmas with the family. And my sister and her kids may be coming over from Perth for that as well. And my brother and his my brother, his wife and their two daughters are here in Townsville. So yeah, it’d be good to catch up with everyone over that Christmas period.”
He remains committed to finishing the walk, intending to go up the west coast, across the top end and back to Townsville.
“What keeps me going is caramel lattes, z’ he said with a straight face.
“I have up days and down days, as well as psychologically as well as physically, with hills. But it’s been walking along, enjoying the scenery.
“Sometimes some negative thoughts come in and I think that would happen with most people throughout their day or their life, and then just continue walking, and then I start to feel a bit better and a bit more positive.
“It’s good for my mental health. Walking with Max, obviously, we’re raising money for three charities that I care about, that I’ve chosen. So many people on the FB page say that I’ve done more than most people would have done, and that I can quit, I can stop, especially with my injuries.
“I can’t stop, unless I get a catastrophic injury, so there’s a very, very good chance that I will finish the lap in Australia.”
He said the kind words of strangers also kept him on the road.
“I thank all the people and the shops and companies that have supported us through kind words, a free cold bottle of water or lunch or dinner or accommodation.
“It’s definitely helped us, and it’s good to see the positive and the kind nature of people, rather than just what you see sometimes, in the media, in the news,” he said.
He has a Facebook page, Garth & Max’s Australia Lap.
To donate visit: https://personalchallenge.gofundraise.com.au/page/Garth-91423833
Originally published as Man walking around Australia with his dog makes surprise return for family
