A stunning evening closed an amazing day...

And a beautiful morning greeted us as we awoke at Nepean Dam.  It was a big morning to pack up everything we had and move on down the road even closer to our final destination – Parramatta Stadium.

We’ve had such great support from the media we decided to give Kyle & Jackie O at 2Day FM a call and got through at around 6:50am.  The guys were really interested in our story and helped by promoting our website.  They even agreed to play our tour anthem “Don’t Hold Back” by the Potbelleez which gave us real kick.

Andy did another interview with Jason Morrison from 2GB.  The only downside of this was that Jason was meant to be hitting the pavement with us but unfortunately had to fill in again for Alan Jones.

We made our way to Denham Court Caravan Park before we started walking for today which will be our base tonight.  Margaret, the lovely lady who manages the park, greeted us very warmly and has gave us prime position with great access to all the facilities.

Andy had lined up a mate and his colleague to take some professional footage to show at the Gala Dinner.  These guys were awesome and spent over an hour taking various shots from all sorts of angles, so we’re hopeful he can get some decent footage of three very ordinary blokes.

We were met by a champion Australian, champion netballer and champion lady – Liz Ellis.  Liz had just arrived back in Sydney from shooting a pilot for Channel 9 in Melbourne and walked the walk with us for a few hours and was fantastic company.  She endured the stench of 9-day old sweat and continued on to help with some media commitments in Campbelltown. 

Nova 96.9 sent their CassaNova vehicle to Campbelltown Stadium where we met with the Macarthur Advertiser and Pat Farmer. 

More photos and another great opportunity to tell even more Australians about the walk and the issue of YPINH.  Also joining us was Debra Stevens, a long term advocate of the cause in the local Macarthur area.

Shannon posed for star photo number 17.

Liz and Andy couldn't resist posing with Amazon from Gladiators...

A quick photograph of the hallowed turf of the mighty mighty 2005 Premiers - The West Tigers.

Not convinced we had done enough walking for the day, we headed back to the Hume Highway at Liverpool for a quick hour or so to see us finish the day at Warwick Farm.  We were joined by some family of my (Dave’s) wife Katrina – Kathy, Michael, Kerry & Seren - giving us great words of encouragement and a couple of bottles of bubbly to celebrate the impending completion of project Youngcare Walk.

Other media coverage for the day included ABC Local Radio with James Valentine and 2GN Goulburn radio.  We’ve also secured a live cross in the morning to The Today Show and Karl Stefanovic will be with us from 1pm.

Much time was spent teeing up all the final details with the Eels for the walk in to Parra Stadium.  Fingers crossed, we’re set to mark the end of what has has been such a remarkable experience and has achieved more than we could have ever hoped for.

Troy had another massive fix-up job from Soc and was looking for inspiration to carry on...

We’ve enjoyed dinner out as a team at the Outback Steakhouse in Leumeah sharing stories of the past 9 days and our hopes for tomorrow.  Troy, Andy & I have sorted out the all important issue of colour coordinating our shirts for the day, pedicure done and eyebrows waxed!!

A late night donation from a caravan park colleague Adam and a quick photo...

There’s so much that could be said on the eve of our finish but it’s so hard to put this in to words.  To all the team on the road, to our loved ones at home, to the YC walk committee, our family & friends and to everyone who has donated, sent messages of support or tooted their horns along the 300km of this amazing trek, we simply say a hearfelt and sincere thank you.

As we look to the future we know our journey has reached many people and our story has been heard. Celebration of our steps is firmly in our sights with our Gala Dinner being held at the Sydney Hilton on Sat 5th April, a mere eight days away - a night certain of great joy and laughter.

A huge day tomorrow and we can’t wait!!

p.s. a quick late edit to the blog thanking The Ch9 Footy Show, the NRL One Community Team and those of our friends and family who stayed up until 11:15pm to watch our coverage.