The Notorious B.I.G. Walk Bloggers

When I woke up this morning my first thought was "Can I call in sick?". It had been pissing down all night, the forecast was shocking and the only thing darker than the clouds were the bags under my eyes after three hours of sleep. At that point I thought it would have been much better, and definitely far less painful, to die of a protracted vomiting fit than walk for 6km in the rain.

I'd signed up for the Big Walk a few months ago and figured it would be a leisurely stroll around the river on a lovely, sunny day. My only concerns, other than the whole "what if my broken body seizes half way around?", was if I'd get hat hair, but Perth's latest attempt at Spring has been rather dismal and hat hair was the least of my concerns.

Seeing as I was the one who organized all I figured I didn't have much of a choice. And honestly, a little bit of wind and rain is nothing when you think about what the kids in Princess Margaret Hospital have to go through. Plus I figured since 4yo Adam was coming up to Perth to join us and walk too, some crappy weather wasn't much of an excuse. Well that and I couldn't let a 4yo show me up.

So whilst it was a morning of rain, lightning, thunder, a few minutes of hail (which will henceforth be known as "those little icy bastards") it did lead itself to putting the Mighty Boosh's claim that it's impossible to be unhappy in a poncho to the test.

For part of the walk it appeared Tricky had thrown out the Mighty Boosh ideal and instead was channeling Laura Palmer's "wraaaaaapped in plaaaaastic". Top mother points to me for making it look like I was suffocating my child.

The team tshirts turned out to be quite disastrous. Although I got mine to work eventually, it wasn't after much swearing, hair pulling and threats to throw the printer out of the window (thanks, nameless brand for not putting full instructions on your damn packet). The only time I touch an iron in this house is to do iron on transfers - the frugal gal's answer to dress up parties and funky kids clothes - yet I still had trouble. Then after all that it was too bloody cold to even show them off. Damn you, Perth weather!

But on the upside there were long stretches of glorious sunshine (meaning a lovely jacket off, jacket on, jacket off, jacket on cycle), great company, a fabulous sausage sizzle, free rides for the kids and, at last count, $1330 in donations to our team.

Tricky on his first ferris wheel ride. He was fine, thanks to Adam

Thank you so much to all the walkers for joining in and braving the weather and to everyone who donated. You can see a list of the participants and our generous donors here - and if you're feeling sorry for us having to walk in the rain, you can still donate.