Follow that fire engine!

Kia Ora, everyone! Hope you're all enjoying the weekend. I want to do an extra little post here about a group of people that we walked behind when we exited the boat in the Abel Tasman park on Christmas day. We didn't talk to them or even really see them on the boat, but as we all filed down the ramp onto the beach, I noticed that they had on red shirts and the girl in front of me even had matching red flip flops. They caught my eye and I wondered where someone might find such very red flip flops. The shirts read Follow That Fire Engine.

Dennis pointed out the truck as we left and headed back to the cottage. Looked interesting and I wondered what was up, so I took a quick photo and figured I'd check it out online. Then I forgot about it.

A week or so later, we were back up on the North Island in Auckland and Dennis drove a mile up the road to get takeaway from our favorite Indian restaurant, and there was the fire truck again! OK, so now I remembered and had to see what this was all about, and I'm so glad I did! It's really fun to read about what these people are doing and they take some fantastic photos!!!

This group of friends is circumnavigating the globe (truly they are -- they even had to pass through two antipodes to make it official, one being in Auckland, the other in Spain) in a fire truck to raise money for three charities to honor a firefighter from Dorset in the UK named Garth Moore. Garth passed away in the summer of 2009 at the age of 63 from lung cancer and the leader of this group is his son, Steve. 100% of the money raised goes to the three charities: Macmillan Cancer Support, The Firefighters Charity, and The Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation.

Steve and a changing cast of crew members are making their way from London around the world and back to London. They have passed through Europe, Russia, China, Laos, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, and then across the Pacific on a container ship. Currently in San Francisco, they'll head across the US to New York, across the Atlantic to Africa, and finally back to London.

Being a big fan of travel in general and specifically experiencing different cultures, meeting people, trying weird foods, improvising in whatever situations, and just seeing what happens next, I've really enjoyed reading a few of the Follow That Fire Engine blog posts and seeing their amazing photos. I mean, really, can you imagine the improvisational skills required to drive a fire truck across all these borders and through places where they don't even have fire trucks? I thought you all might think it was cool, too. Check out their stories in these links:

web
blog
facebook

And click on their route to see if they're passing through your town. You could probably offer them a place to park overnight and maybe some dinner. I did but they're not coming through Cleveland. They just don't know what they're missing!! :o)


xo to all, k.