Trevor and faithful companion Blaze back at home after their odyssey. Photo / Dave Murdoch
Trevor and faithful companion Blaze back at home after their odyssey. Photo / Dave Murdoch
If there was one thing Trevor Moore’s Walk for Recovery taught him, it’s that people are very supportive.
Especially when someone like himself sets out to achieve a goal that leads to helping others out, they want to be part of it.
In his darkest times in intensive care at Wellington Hospital, when his accident had left him bed-ridden and only with a smidgen of a chance to ever being able to walk again, did he think that thousands of ordinary Kiwis would help him raise close to $30,000 for the Palmerston North Grassroots Helicopter Trust which saved his life back on May 31.
Initially, his idea to walk for recovery was to pay back the cost of that flight from a remote Tararua farm to Wellington Hospital after a tree had fallen on him – estimated at $12-15,000. But the extraordinary reaction of ordinary Kiwis has now meant twice the sum has been raised and he hopes the surplus could be used to save someone else.
Trevor Moore canvassing Dannevirke for sponsorship on December 1, the day before departure, helped by St John Cadets. Photo / Dave Murdoch
“It will be nice to pay it forward,” he says as he recuperates back on his farmlet north of Dannevirke.
The personal touch is what Trevor enjoyed most - total strangers reading the signage and reaching into their pockets, cars stopping, sometimes in the middle of the road, and donating, people rushing out of houses and shops to hand over a few dollars, especially children.
A lady in Ōtaki gave him a hug and $50 but when she discovered he was $500 short of his $15,000 target, despite Trevor’s protestations, she returned with the other $500.
When he featured on TV One’s Seven Sharp his phone “went crazy”, earning $100/minute.
Trevor emphasises that every cent raised has gone directly to the Palmerston North Grassroots Helicopter Trust. He paid all the costs of the journey from his own pocket.
The extent of Kiwi generosity does not just include cash donations. It includes local company StitchMe providing him with printed singlets, hi-viz vests, and caps with the Grassroots logo, free saunas at the Johnsonville Pool, free accommodation at the Ashhurst Domain, two pairs of walking shoes from Kelly’s Footwear, the local Dannevirke café The Catching Pen supplying meals for three days of his journey, free lunch at Waikanae Subway, a shower and cooked meal at Manakau, Oxford Brands providing socks, electrolytes and energy drinks and local signwriter Cathy Radford who put signage on the vehicle.
The team rests at Jon Telford Autos after collecting $1440 from the town.
Trevor’s journey had many special experiences. Walking the Manawatū Gorge along the old road he found incredibly peaceful and interesting as he took in the way Mother Nature was reclaiming the old highway. The bird sound was a cacophony at times.
Rolling country was some of his favourite landscapes.
He says when you are walking you see so much more like the old school he used to attend 50+ years ago between Tokomaru and Shannon – gone but for its pool with beautifully clean water in it.
He averaged about 45 kilometres per day on the 270-kilometre trip, breaking up the journey to reach each town on the way but by the back roads like the old road from Johnsonville to the hospital in Newtown.
His longest trip was Manakau to Pukerua Bay – 57 kilometres, taking 11 hours but that was because he added the cliffs – an extra 10km, incredibly “because he felt like it”.
Some experiences were less enjoyable – being clipped by a campervan’s wing mirror as it overtook his support van and cut in sharply. Fortunately it was on the first leg between Woodville and the Manawatū Gorge and St John medic Delwyn Walker was following who patched him up. It is still sore and it was not a welcome experience so early in the journey.
Trevor did get other welcome medical help - a GP in Levin giving him a cortisone shot to overcome a misbehaving knee – an old wound. Otherwise he would have had to stop.
Landscape aside, what is on the road, especially the verges, provided interest over the journey. The downside is “the verges are filthy”, putting into question New Zealand’s tourism claim to be 100 per cent pure.
He lost count of the number of D-shackles and tools amongst the gravel. When it was safe he removed nails and screws from off the tarseal and he picked up coins.
The funniest sight sitting in the middle of the road in the “back of nowhere” were two flounder – fresh!
Weather was changeable - rain near Palmerston North “which was pleasant to walk in”, heat which burnt his lips, otherwise pretty reasonable.
For Trevor, one of the best aspects of his challenge was the company he kept. He is very proud and grateful to his son Daniel who walked every step of the way, his dog Blaze, an English springer spaniel who walked half the journey, John Hamilton who drove his own campervan in which they slept, Trevor’s niece Pachience who drove his pickup and others who kept him company when they could like the St John Cadets at the start of the week.
On the way, representatives of the Grassroots Helicopter Trust came and said gidday, he visited Oxford Brands, one of his major sponsors based at Tokomaru, and ultimately met the medical staff who managed his recovery. They were thrilled to meet him and he was pleased to show them what his recovery looked like.
In retrospect, Trevor is astonished with the support and media coverage he has received. He thinks part of it reflects the need to get good news in these challenging times and that his attempt to walk for recovery shows people can take on challenges and succeed.
As he enjoys sleeping in his own bed, catching up with farm chores, watching five 1-day-old chicks follow their mum about and recovering physically, he says the week “Became bigger than Trevor Moore” and he is pleased it did.
Dave Murdoch is a part-time photo-journalist based in Dannevirke. He has covered any community story telling good news about the district for the last 10 years.
