A letter from Ollie and Xaver - one year on

Dear supporters of the Journey of Hope,

Exactly one year has passed since we (Xaver Hausner and Oliver Macindoe) finished our ride for PolioPlus and arrived in Bluff on the 16th January 2011. We wanted to take this opportunity to thank you once more for the support you gave us either before we left or along the way, and to wish you success and happiness for the year ahead.

While on our 54-day-ride for PolioPlus we:

• travelled 3,481 km
• climbed 33,907 vertical metres
• raised $50,557NZ for PolioPlus
• met with members of more than 35 Rotary Clubs
• spent 17 nights in our tent
• took over 2,000 photos
• blogged over 31,000 word
• fixed 5 spokes and one puncture
• caught 3 ferries
• fell off the bikes 3 times
• visited 2 doctors.

To the many people who donated to PolioPlus, who welcomed us into their homes for the night, who met us on the streets to ride with us or promote the cause, who gave us equipment (or fixed it), who gave us a beer at the end of the day or a plum at the end of a long hill; our trip wouldn't have been possible without you and certainly wouldn't have been half as rewarding.

Thank you!

In the last year Xaver has been back in his homeland of Germany preparing for his law exams this coming March and Ollie has been in Christchurch training to be a teacher. In October Ollie came to Germany and since then has been studying at the University of Freiburg. Ollie spent Christmas with Xaver's family in Würzburg and it has been fantastic being able to catch up again. We have had a lot of fun reminiscing about the trip and looking over photos.

It would have been nice to be able to send a personalised email to all the people that supported us along the way but there are simply too many of you! We would love to hear from you if you feel like writing and letting us know what you are up to a year later. This trip was very special to us; we had planned it since we were 17 and 18 years old. Something we couldn't have planned for and something we couldn't have expected, however, was just how special the people we met and corresponded with made it.

Yours gratefully, Ollie and Xaver

Xaver Hausner and Oliver Macindoe at Milford Sound, January 10, 2011