A group of inspiring Hunter women are preparing to set off on a 10 day trek of the Flinders Ranges, hiking to raise money for women escaping domestic violence.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
The ladies, who are hiking for charity Jenny's Place, have already raised an incredible $108,000, not far from their $120,000 target.
Jenny's Place community relations coordinator Donna George, of Maitland, has organised the hike and is looking forward to taking part.
She said they will trek 125km along the Heysen Trail in South Australia. The ladies will sleep under the stars each night and hike for up to nine hours per day.
"It will be walking, it'll be cold, it'll be rainy, lots of different gradients, but everybody has been training really hard and everyone's been doing non-stop fundraisers or getting sponsors on their shirts so that we can try and get to our $120,000 target," Ms George said.
The money will go towards the Jenny's Place resource centre.
"It's a place where women can go to see one of our case workers and get advice," Ms George said.
"They have not necessarily left their DV relationship, they can go there and we can help them develop a safe exit plan on how they can leave the relationship safely."
Jenny's Place helps women from across the Hunter and works closely with other domestic violence services like Carrie's Place and Nova for Women and Children.
This is not the first time Ms George has led a hike for Jenny's Place - it's actually the 10th.
Previously she has taken groups on the Kokoda Trek, where she broke her wrist on day two and went on to complete it, and across the Simpson Desert, becoming the first charity to cross it on foot.
"There's been times especially when we did Mount Kilimanjaro it was quite scary because of the altitude sickness, we had a lot of people get sick," she said.
"And when you're running the event you've got to get everyone down safe and sound. I broke my wrist on the second Kokoda one on day two and couldn't get out so we just had to finish it."
The ladies leave on Monday, June 24 and begin their hike on Tuesday, June 25.
The 16 women taking part have spent the past year getting to know each other by fundraising and going on walks, which Ms George said is vital for ensuring camaraderie on the hike.
"I think what's different about our treks is we don't just get 16 women and show up on the day," she said.
"We've been training together and fundraising together and socialising together for almost a year, and that's how we like to do it so when we go everyone's so bonded, we would literally drag each other out of there because we know everyone's worked so hard to get there.
"You have to rely on each other to keep each other's spirits up, we become very thick together. One of the other Maitland ladies Ali Kimmorley, she's done all 10 treks with me so she's amazing too."
Visit the ladies' fundraising page heysen-flinders-trek.raisely.com.