the press
Sunshine Coast Daily: Tuesday, July 28, 2009, page 7
THE Lone Postie packs up his trusty bike, Pronto, ready to embark on his adventure across Australia 's open roads.
He carefully scans the horizon for his arch nemeses — trucks and caravans.
Clad in his all-black riding costume, he is open-minded about the time it will take to complete his journey from Cotton Tree to the northern tip of Australia and back .
The Cape Crusade sounds lifted straight from a comic book, but this is really a Sunshine Coast man pursuing a selfless and worthy cause.
Aaron Thew, aka The Lone Postie, is a solicitor and engineer who decided late last year to plan a mammoth riding trip.
But instead of doing it simply for fun, he has turned the trip into a fundraising venture for the children's ward at Nambour General Hospital .
He has no personal connection to the hospital — he just knows how vital funding is to keep the children's ward operating and saving lives.
Aaron will be handing out Lone Postie business cards during every leg of the 5,200kms trip and encouraging everyone he meets to donate to the cause.
“To get a bit of interest you have to do something a bit silly, and there's nothing sillier than riding a postman's bike through the wilderness of the Cape York Peninsula,” he said.
“But I've done my homework and found t he CT110 is a very reliable little bike.”
The idea came to Aaron after an old Canadian friend he met while riding in Burma 25 years ago showed up on his doorstep last year. The friend had just ridden around the world — 37 countries in 14 months.
“There was a fair bit of peer pressure to get back on a bike . "
“Then I thought, it's one thing to go for a ride, but why not try to raise a bit of money for charity as well . "
“The reality is, sick kids have to be first in line.”
So Aaron then set about the task of creating a website for the self-funded mission and fitting Pronto out in full Cape York battle amour.
He hopes to leave by the end of July.
Head to www.aaron.com.au/lonepostie/ to read regular updates of the adventures of The Lone Postie or to donate to the children's ward.
Alternatively, cheques or money orders should be made out to the Sunshine Coast Health Foundation and sent to The Lone Postie, PO Box 2610 , Nambour West, QLD, 4560.
Cairns Post: Tuesday, July 28, 2009
A SUNSHINE Coast lawyer is due to arrive in Cairns this week on a charity motorcycle ride to the tip of Cape York.
Dubbed The Lone Postie, Aaron Thew is making the journey alone on an ex-Australia Post Honda motorcycle that was once used to deliver mail.
Mr Thew said he decided to embark on the adventure to raise money for the children's ward at Nambour General Hospital. "I must be mad. I hope to arrive in Cairns on Friday after leaving the Sunshine Coast on Monday," he said.
He will travel more than 5000km from Maroochydore to the northern most tip of the Australian continent and back.
"Navigating through the crocodile-infested wilderness of the Cape York Peninsula is a tough job at best but to make things a little more interesting I'm making the trip solo, without any support crew, and riding Pronto, a little red Honda Postman's bike," Mr Thew said.
He said the Honda CT110 was a success story for Honda. "Despite a rather humble apprearance and a motor with a quoted output of just 7.5 horsepower, this little red bike is renowned for its reliability and has outsold every other model of motorcycle in the world," he said. "Pronto was once a proud member of the Australia Post team at Townsville.
"After travelling more than 30,000km to deliver mail, he was decommissioned in early 2009 and I promptly snapped him up at an ex-government vehicle auction in Brisbane." Mr Thew said the motorbike only had a top speed of 75km/h so he would be trying to avoid main roads as much as possible.
He said Pronto had been fitted out in full Cape York battle amour, including a heavy duty clutch, a long range fuel tank, potable water storage tubes, waterproof US military aviation grade aluminium panniers, waterproof rack bag, a lambs wool seat cover, a relocated and waterproofed ignition switch, spoke ties, a clear inline fuel filter and a hybrid power supply to recharge batteries for a lap top, a mobile phone, a digital camera and a spotlight.
Mr Thew said that when he arrived in Cairns he would have kobbly tyres fitted by mechanics at Cairns Honda, one of his sponsors.
"The real test lies in navigating through the vast expanse of corrugated red dirt, dust holes and creek crossings that lie between Cairns and the northern most tip of the Australian continent," he said.
He said he would provide regular online updates of his adventures.
Go to www.aaron.com.au.
The Weekend Post, Weekender Magazine Feature Article, August 22, 2009
...For Aaron Thew, it was the need to do something silly combined with the desire to raise much needed money for a Sunshine Coast children's hospital that led him to embark on a 5200km round trip from Maroochydore to the tip of Cape York on a postie bike.
Aaron bought the bike, named Pronto and boasting a top speed of 75km/h, at a government auction and decided to ride it to Cape York and back for the benefit of the Nambour Hospital's child unit.
Dubbing himself The Lone Postie, he said he was looking forward to taking his bike off-road and onto the Bloomfield track after his trip through Cairns. Aaron says he was prepared to do whatever was necessary to raise much-needed funds and that's why he chose to make his trip on a postie bike.
"I am trying to raise money and if I was riding a BMW people would just think I was a middle-aged rich guy having a good time," he says.
"I had to do something silly and I couldn't think of anything sillier than riding to the Cape and back on a postie bike."
Aaron, who has been updating his adventures via his website says donations to the cause had been coming in steadily since he began his ride at the start of August.