Epic trek ends with updates for Lion-hearted fundraiser

Andrew Mathieson
INTREPID charity walker John Olsen had been gone so long that Billy Brownless warned him a few things had changed in Geelong.
Tired and fatigued from a 7000-kilometre, seven-month odyssey, the Belmont 57-year-old heard that, for a start, the city had a new mayor as Mr Brownless pointed to John Mitchell in Westfield Geelong on Tuesday.
“Did you know about the football last year?” Brownless then asked Mr Olsen.
“Yeah, I did hear about the result,” he replied.
“I rang up my partner to wish her happy birthday and all I got was tears.”
Mr Olsen had just completed the first unassisted walk across Australia, travelling from Steep Point, Western Australia, to New South Wales’ Byron Bay then back to Geelong.
The journey raised about $73,000 for research into leukodystropy and cerebral palsy, both illnesses that limit the ability to walk.
Mr Olsen’s partner, Vida Brazionis, a leukodystrophy sufferer, was the inspiration behind his charity walk.
Mr Olsen dragged “Wilson”, a hastily designed cart carrying all supplies, from one side of the country to the other during his epic trek.
“I got very close to running out of food and got down to just three days of supplies left,” he said, leaving onlookers gasping at the shopping centre.
Only a group of aboriginals in the Simpson Desert saved him from perishing after losing 25kg.
A barbecue from the dingo fence boundary riders gave him strength to walk 174km the next four days.
“I had 17 lamb chops for tea that night,” Mr Olsen winked.
Despite fierce winds blowing away dusty tracks between stations, the Lions club member never found himself lost in the outback.
But he had no chance of wandering astray as a Scottish pipe band led him through Geelong’s main streets to a rapturous reception at the shopping centre.
“He’ll get the key to the City if the mayor can find it,” Mr Brownless told daytime shoppers.
“I think Cameron Ling still has it.”