Caites #HikeforEpilepsy

Rocking the purple today peeps!! It’s purple day! Donate to an epilepsy organisation today!! I’ll pop my link in the comments for Epilepsy Queensland

Tomorrow is Purple for Epilepsy Day!! Wear something purple and share it with us tomorrow!! And don't forget there is still time to donate towards Epilepsy Queensland:

https://myimpact.epilepsyqueensland.com.au/fundraisers/caitlynrolfe/caite--shikeforepilepsy?fbclid=IwAR3r4ip4NuX-5el_aNv5G6Q8KeVJDzpy4eI-7FmQDRDnH3iiyCk1RCf-58c

An article done by Ipswich News Today. Thank you for sharing our story!

There’s still plenty of time to make a donation to Epilepsy Queensland and don’t forget to wear purple on Tuesday

Caite talks on her family’s journey with epilepsy Caite Rolfe is calling on the community to wear purple ahead of this month's Make March Purple fundraiser event and [...]

It is almost Purple Day :-) 26th March lets all wear purple and turn march purple to help raise funds for the important organisations that support people living with epilepsy. I have included our family link below for people to donate to.

https://myimpact.epilepsyqueensland.com.au/fundraisers/caitlynrolfe/caite--shikeforepilepsy?fbclid=IwAR2H3tUrVbiLt92IyYo9lXLpC6BlsYinTBU6-d1WwpnrFj34pLGP7ovGHYI

Caite'sHikeforEpilepsy I'm raising money for a cause close to my heart and would love your support. Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological conditions affecting 50 million people worldwide. Every week in Australia, 280 people are diagnosed with epilepsy and sadly 5 Australians will die from epilepsy each week. I a...

That’s life did a story on our family to raise awareness of epilepsy during Make March Purple 🙂

Please donate to Epilepsy Queensland:

https://myimpact.epilepsyqueensland.com.au/fundraisers/caitlynrolfe/caite--shikeforepilepsy

Jasper had so much fun at the Make March Purple launch with sliming none other than the king Wally Lewis 🙂 thanks Epilepsy Queensland for the morning out

Please donate to this wonderful organisation!! They support the epilepsy community in various ways! Every cent goes back to continuing that support.

https://myimpact.epilepsyqueensland.com.au/fundraisers/caitlynrolfe/caite--shikeforepilepsy?fbclid=IwAR3ewdkRBcProVPQTcQpsV3nUFmJ53FpTqqq9-gowRHHqVNHcd2eBxO8Q4M

It’s Make March Purple, raising awareness and funds for epilepsy. We went to Epilepsy Queensland Purple Supper and had a fabulous night.

If you want to donate, please click the link below 🙂 we’ve been doing some media for Epilepsy Queensland, so I’ll share some of those over the next few days!!

https://myimpact.epilepsyqueensland.com.au/fundraisers/caitlynrolfe/caite--shikeforepilepsy?fbclid=IwAR3ewdkRBcProVPQTcQpsV3nUFmJ53FpTqqq9-gowRHHqVNHcd2eBxO8Q4M

I have been very quiet on this page but you will start to see more activity here now. Since my last post, our youngest child Carter has been diagnosed with epilepsy. So that is now 3 people with epilepsy in our household. Carter only ever had complex febrile convulsions, during this time he did have 2 seizures with no fevers but he fell sick the next day, so they called it atypical complex febrile convulsions.

Earlier this year, we noticed Carter doing repetitive facial movements and not responding to us. We were told it was ADHD motor tics and to ignore it. The rationale was the Ritalin he was on but this didn't sit right with us because he didn't have a medication increase and by this stage he had been on Ritalin for 2 years. So it made no sense that these facial movements just randomly started. His school marks started going backwards too. So we were worried but being ignored by healthcare professionals and they refused to do epilepsy testing to make sure given the history of David and Jasper. So we were pretty annoyed, it was frustrating that they wouldn't listen to us and that we had concerns. However, we just kept on keeping on.

17th August, we received a phone call from Carter's school. They told us he was having a tonic clonic seizure and that the ambulance was on their way. Luckily there were fire fighters at the school to do a demonstration with another grade, so they rendered assistance whilst we waited for the ambulance. Carter also then declared to us that he has these weird dreams, he describes them as out of body experiences and we started documenting these reports and he was having 2-4 per day almost everyday.

We were finally heard by Carter's healthcare team. They agreed to do epilepsy testing. We did feel they tried to blame his ASD and ADHD, but I put my foot down and told them to assess him as the child in front of him, listen to what he has to say. He has had an MRI, short EEG, and a long EEG. Everything so far is normal, this was the case with David too, neurology has often said that EEG's aren't reliable source even if someone is seizing right in front of them. We are still waiting for the results of the long EEG, he had it on for 6 days, so hopeful something might have been detected on that. We have invested in a SAMi camera to monitor him and have picked up unusual things in his sleep.

Carter has been started on epilepsy medication. We didn't explain to him what the medication was for, just said he was starting new medication, just to see what he says and how he responds to it. The highlight for us is he said his brain feels better (after 2 weeks on the medication) and has no longer reported those 'dreams'. We have since explained the medication to him but so thankful that it appears to be doing something for him!

So this month is "Walk for Epilepsy", I have signed up (its free) and I am fundraising. You can join my team "Shaken but not Stirred" and walk daily to raise awareness. I am fundraising for Epilepsy Queensland. These funds will help individuals and families be support with epilepsy, help fund community programs, help fund research, and more! So please consider a couple of dollars. I understand it is tough times at the moment, but $5 would be amazing for this organisation. My link is:

Caite Rolfe I'm Walking for Epilepsy to make sure no one has to go it alone! I'll be walking my local neighbourhood to contribute to a collective goal of 25,000 kilometres in honour of the 1 in 25 Australians living with epilepsy. Every dollar counts, so please support me if you can.

Day 5

Hiked Mount Sonder! I can’t begin to tell you how difficult today was. We started at 1:45am and hiked up Mt Sonder approx 8-9km steeply. It was so hard but we made it at 6am and sat to wait for sunrise!!

The hike back down was a killer!! So difficult… pretty sure I’ve broken a toe and scored a blister.

It was worth it.

I did it for Epilepsy Action Australia
I did it for those living with epilepsy
I did it for those who care for those with epilepsy
I did it for my husband
I did it for my kids
And most importantly, I did it for me!!

Please consider donating, I’ve got 4 more weeks before my fundraising page is closed

Day Four

I’m fairly certain there was dingo over night and I heard something tip toeing around and sniffing. It was warmer overnight last night that I stripped off. Today is meant to be the hottest day at 31 degrees. Thankfully today is a 13km easy walk - the guides claim it’s the easiest day. Today we are walking section 11B, it’s broken up into 2 as it’s so big, and we will end up at Redbank Gorge.

We walked today and it was a simple and easy walk, however the heat made it difficult! It was just lovely to wind through the trail. Our guide Amy found some ocre on the way and she coloured in rocks during our break. She then coloured in my tattoo. Along the way we saw much more people; primarily female hiking in groups of 2. Once we got to Redbank gorge we ate lunch and then took a 30 minute hike to the gorge and went for a swim. It was bloody cold but a magnificent view. We went for a swimming adventure along the gorge for as long as we could swim. I can’t wait to show GoPro video of this adventure. After the 3 boys skimmed rocks along the water. It was just a wonderful end to the day.

Tomorrow is Mt Sonder, we are waking up at 1:45am and hiking for sunrise. It’s going to be difficult but thankfully in the cool of the night.

Day three

I can’t begin to tell you how beautiful the stars are and we can see the Milky Way. I’ve attempted to get photos but can’t. It’s just amazing! It’s beautiful to wake up to.

Today is one of our hardest days. I’m writing this as we drive to the hike. It’s section 11A, it’s 18.9km long, our longest walk so far. It will be 10km walking like yesterday which wasn’t terrible, and then 4km up a hill and 4km back down. The incline will be steep. We’ve had 2 ladies pull out today out of worry about the hike. It’s crossed my mind heaps. However I keep telling myself I can do it, life is harder. Breakfast this morning was porridge. Lunch packed is a ham and salad wrap, apple juice, museli bar, mandarin, and a chocolate muffin.

Post walk:
The walk started off easy, it was flat. We came across a natural archway which was lovely and the walk was quite easy. From the distance we could see Rutjtma (sorry spelling is wrong I’m sure, I’ll have to google but otherwise called Mount Sonder). She’s one of the 7 sisters, she fell in love with a man of the same skin which resulted in her being outcasted by her sisters. She now lays here as a pregnant woman looking up at her sisters in the stars. We stopped for morning tea and I learnt how to skim rocks along the water. Damo one of our guides is the best rock skimmer I’ve ever seen. I had a Mandy and the continued to walk. Shortly after, I had abdo pain on and off and I started feeling nauseous. I put it down to psychological ie. working myself up for the ascend coming our way.

The climb up was tough, extremely tough but I had a belly ache and nausea the entire time. Everyone was motivational and encouraging. Damo had me listening out for the native bullfrogs haha, heard it 4 times!! (Turns our native bullfrogs are farts). So we got up to Hill top look out which had amazing 360 degree views. It was beautiful, except I had the nausea. I said “oh geez I’m super nauseous” and next minute I had a mouthful of vomit and I had to run and spew, right in front of everyone eating lunch haha. I felt so much better.

So we descended down the mountain which was steep and rocky. Into the valley of death. Trees were black and hunched over, the heat was intense, it increased by at least 5 degrees and there was no breeze or shade. It was a difficult end to the walk we did today but geez it was with it.

We changed camp grounds to one near Redbank gorge. We have gone from 5 star camping to 1 star apparently haha but I like the new camp site, toilet smells better and more stars of the night. Our guides showed us a tarantula nest, the female spider wasn’t there but maybe we will see her tomorrow night! We sat by the camp fire chatting away the night before we retired to our swags.

Day Two

This morning I woke up at 5:45am, I looked up at the starts and saw a shooting star! I made a wish for my family. I missed them today. Got up, sat around the fire eating porridge and then made lunch for the day.

We set off about 7:30am for todays adventures for section 10. This was an easier walk than yesterday but it was still difficult. Whilst we are walking we learnt so much about the natural fauna and flora. One flower was called Mulla Mulla which means pretty but useless. We also walked through a desert rose garden with so many desert roses - the territories flower, a hibiscus. This flower only survives 1 day and today we were lucky to see some flowered. We also found some native lemon grass which smelt amazing. The entire desert smelt today!! You could smell the eucalyptus, the flowers, and so forth. It’s hard to describe but it was a pleasant smell. Also had the honours of tasting a paddy melon, a melon that was introduced into the area, it was disgusting haha, do not recommend, no one liked it. The views of Mount Sonder was amazing! I’ll tell you about her in a few posts time as we will hike her on the last day. The views of mountains and cliffs were amazing. The story behind it from the indigenous is about caterpillars and beetles forming them, then they would battle and the winner would take a bite out of the other, thus leaving gaps/gorges between them. The geological story is that there was an inland sea in Australia which shaped the mountains around. We also walked the finke river, the oldest river in the world. It recently fully flooded but is almost dried up.

We finished up at Ormiston Gorge. We were surrounded by orange walls. The water was freezing. It reminded me of when we lived in Darwin and would go to the watering holes. I dived in and swam around and it was so worth it! Maybe David was right about me packing my swimmers haha but don’t tell him that! We spent a few hours here chilling before returning to our camp to wrap up the afternoon.

Dinner tonight was spaghetti bolognaise and it was delicious, followed by marshmallows around the camp fire. It was so fun chatting around the camp fire and hearing peoples stories. I’m travelling with a bunch of amazing women who have fundraised for various charities. I’m the youngest here and I hope I amount to the achievements and experiences these ladies have had.

It will take a while to share photos/videos as I did majority of it on my GoPro. However, I’ll share some quick stories with you and some iPhone photos 🙂

Below is what I wrote day to day:

Day One (already shared photos)

Today we walked 14km on section one of the Larapinta track. We woke up at 6am and met our guides Amy, Damo, and Oscar. We got taken out to the telegraph station where we learnt how Alice springs got the name. I learnt that Alice springs has a springs but the Alice was named after one of the telegraph station workers wife (who has never been to Alice springs). We started our hike and it started off easily but got harder and harder. I had to keep reminding myself that life is harder, this is fun as mentally I was questioning why I was doing this hike. I’m doing this hike for me!! I’m doing this hike to raise awareness.

We stopped for lunch and when we went on, we hiked up to euro ridge. I even went for a bush wee haha. Euro is a type of kangaroo and in the dream time, a euro came through the area. This ridge was spectacular!! I was absolutely blown away at it’s beauty. We were about 600m above ground and walked along this ridge before descending down.

Then we drove 1 hour 30 minutes to our camp. We set up our swags and tents. Mice are everywhere haha, this is making me frightened but see how it goes, the guides reassure me that they won’t bother me too much.

We had curry chicken, veggies and rice for dinner. Followed by rice pudding and birthday cake for dessert as it was our team leader Simon’s birthday!

We went off to bed about 9pm and I think I fell asleep instantly.

I did it!!

I did it for Epilepsy Action Australia
I did it for those living with epilepsy
I did it for those caring for people with epilepsy
I did it for my husband
I did it for my kids
Most importantly, I did it for me

Ok peeps, about to loose reception. Day one complete! It was amazing. It was hard but I’m reminding myself that life has been harder and that I can do this! See you all next time I have reception

This place is wonderful

I’ve still got reception. This is my current view

Euro Ridge

Currently 4km in 🙂

Off I go!! See you all on the flip side

Today was a quieter restful day in preparation for tomorrow! I went to the RFDS museum which was interesting 🙂

Tonight we met our team leader and we met the other hiking participants. I’ve met some wonderful women tonight from different fundraising organisations and across the age spectrum!

Tomorrow is the day peeps!! 7am Alice Springs time, I’ll be starting the 70km hike!! 🥹 I can’t believe it’s here 🙈

We have been given a link for a blog that will be updated during our hike :-)

https://inspiredadventures.com.au/adventure-blog/t4ad-larapinta-2022-dep2-adventure-blog/

Nothing is on it at the moment but it will be updated during our hike :-) However, I will share photos and give updates once I return into reception

inspiredadventures.com.au

This time next week, I’ll be chilling in Alice Springs 🥹