A Picnic in the Park and One Long Walk

On the weekend, when the sun shines gently and bright, one of my favourite things to do is pack a fresh meal, head to a grassy knoll and laze about on a rug sharing a meal with loved ones. The lingering sun beckons you to stay all afternoon… reading, puppy spotting, performing handstands and cartwheels, munching on picnic perfect food and snoozing. If you’re lucky, a fellow picnicker will have a guitar and play Jack Johnson-esque tunes as a backdrop to your blissfully nonchalant day.

Ben and I did just that the other weekend (minus the guitar). We bathed in the sunshine, shared a big, fresh salad (roquette, tuna, roasted beetroot, goats cheese, olives, carrot, cucumber, lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil) and were happily gate crashed and smothered by a gorgeous Labrador puppy. All capped off with a peaceful nap.

The perfect Spring day…

This weekend looks to be ideal picnicking weather in Melbourne. However Ben and I will not be pulling out our tartan rug - quite the contrary. We will be walking 65kilometers this weekend, from Red Hill to Bentleigh. Why? Just for fun! No, honestly I alluded to it in this post. We are walking to raise money to help build a Technical School in Thailand. We volunteered at Baan Dada, a children’s home in Western Thailand, for 5 weeks last October.

Baan Dada do a lot of fantastic and necessary community work (helping Thai locals and Burmese refugees) including vaccinations, eye checks and affording kids an education. Baan Dada is such a special place. Every cent goes to these kids and the community.

The latest project initiated by Baan Dada, is the building of a Technical School in the area (the locals don’t have access to further education other than a 4 hour drive away). This is a massive task, and requires a lot of funding.

The Dadas (‘brothers’), current volunteers and some of the kids have already completed a 218km walk last month, aiming to raise funds for the school via sponsors. Check out this youtube video if you want to see the beginning! One of the Dadas is still making his way down to Phuket, hoping to raise more funds. You can read his walk journal here - he is an amazing man.

This weekend, we are doing our bit and walking from my parent’s house (in Red Hill) to our apartment (in Bentleigh) with an overnight pitstop in Mt Eliza. We have already had some very generous donations, of which we are so very grateful. I'm not using this blog to beg for donations, my friends and family will endure this :), however if you do wish to donate you can email me. Any donation is greatly appreciated. Ben and I are returning to Baan Dada this coming January, which is very exciting. We cannot wait to get back there!

This evening I was busy making power bars and energy balls for us to eat on this massive journey. You can imagine how much fun I had planning our menu :) I will post an update on how we travelled, as well as what we ate and some recipes on Monday.

In the mean time, wish us luck!! And if you’re not also walking 65km this weekend, I suggest you go out and enjoy the beautiful weather with a picnic :)

Heidi xo
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