Adam Sutton

It was a continual, relentless challenge today!

“With John Easterling going it’s really changed the mood of the walk, but has also given it special meaning. It gives reason and meaning to actually why we are here, and makes me want to walk further. This, this suffering, is why we are here in the first place.”

G’day everyone,

Just a note from me to say thanks for your support and let you know how we’re going over here in China: We are five days into this walk and it’s been an amazing experience all the way, especially with this incredible group of people I’ve met. I’ve made a bunch of new mates and we’re experiencing the journey of a lifetime.

Part of the journey is the physical one – actually walking every day on the wall – and the other journey is the personal one – learning about ourselves, what we’re capable of, and being reminded of the real reason we’re here - to fight cancer. The wall is a symbol of that fight, but the best symbols and the real inspirations are the thrivers – they inspire us every day. Thanks again for your support. Keep it coming, tell your friends!

“The terrain is incredible. My knee is twinging already, this will affect people more and more as the walk goes on”.

Sutton strained his knee today but he’s in the team, so he won’t be letting the others down. “There is a real bond. This is really hard for people, but there is a real sense of unity, everyone is helping each other get through this walk.”

“We’ll be right, we’ll help each other out. It’s mind over matter that will get me through.”

Mind-blowing! I've travelled a lot but I've never seen anywhere like this - the scale of everything, it's just BIG in every sense - especially the number of people, and the traffic - the roads are crazy. The flight over was great, it was a bit strange to get on board and find that Qantas has got a bunch of Heath Ledger movies playing on board as a tribute to him this month. So there I was on my way to China to do this Walk in memory of my mate and there were like 10 movies of his including Brokeback screening on the in-flight entertainment. Was tops to catch up with some of the people I met at the Great Walk launch and to meet some of the other people who are part of the team on stage 1. After a good sleep we headed off to do some shopping in Beijing, wandered through some bright and noisy markets - I love the colours and the smells of the food. Language is a bit of a problem for me - the locals don't catch much of my Cooranbong cowboy drawl, so I might have to modify that and get my head around the important words and phrases or I'm going to spend most of every day trying to get people to understand me! Tomorrow, Sunday, is when the real adventure starts - our official farewell lunch before we start on stage 1. I've got butterflies, but after our great farewell fundraiser in Sydney on Thursday I'm still charged and excited and ready to make a good go of it, and keep that spirit going on so the money keeps flowing in to Olivia's appeal.