It’s day 23 of Rob Pennicott’s circumnavigation of Australia to raise funds for polio eradication. He and his crew and their two yellow dinghies have crossed the Gulf of Carpentaria. The Tassie tourism operator won’t ever be much further north on this voyage. That’s a long way from his home waters around Bruny Island south of Hobart: more than 4,000 kilometres (2235miles) from Hobart, in fact.
Almost $70,000 has so far been raised by Rob for Rotary’s End Polio Now campaign. That’s enough for around 100,000 polio vaccinations. Very roughly that works out to about 25 polio vaccinations for every kilometre Rob is currently from Tassie.
Nigeria, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan are the remaining four countries in the world where polio has not been eradicated. But polio is a little like Darth Vader in that it’s not about to be killed off easily. Unless it, that’s polio, is wiped out it could come back in enormous quantities. More donations will be gratefully received. By Rob’s calculations he has only got three more corners to turn before he returns to Tasmania.
Progress of the Yellow Boats into the Gulf
At follow.theyellowboatroad.com you can donate to Rob’s campaign and follow his circumnavigation.