Free wheeling for big sister

Trying to unicycle any significant distance would seem like a crazy idea to most, but imagine aiming to complete 15,000km while raising money for cancer research, breaking a world record and making your big sister proud.

Well-known Australian actor Samuel Johnson is almost one third of the way into his Love Your Sister mission and is currently en-route to Karratha, with a planned arrival date of May 22.

His journey will have him crisscross the nation, taking in all capital cities as well as regional areas to raise money on behalf of his big sister Connie, who has been diagnosed with terminal breast cancer.

The Pilbara News spoke with Johnson while he was enjoying a rest day in Halls Creek last week.

“It’s an act of love before she (Connie) dies,” he said. “She dared me to do it and I agreed, so it’s all in an effort to raise awareness about breast cancer and also try and raise a million dollars for the Garven Research Foundation.

“We were really keen to find something that hadn’t been done before and it came down to a unicycle or a pogo stick — I think I made the right choice.”

He said the journey had started as a bit of a dare from Connie but now he was more than 70 days into the journey, the enormity of it was starting to become apparent.

“If you look up tiring in the dictionary you will see a photo of me on the unicycle,” he said.

“Obviously it’s a gruelling task, but it’s made easier by the support we receive on a daily basis.

“We live in a very kind country and the support I’ve been offered has served as a real motivator.”

Johnson said he travelled an average of 80km and 100km per day but had beaten his record getting into Kununurra.

“My PB (personal best) is 180 kilometres coming into Kununurra, that took 14 hours and nearly broke my spirit,” he said.

So far, Johnson has been helped to his fundraising goal by people daring him to do a variety of out there tasks along the way.

He said there had been too many highlights to choose from and he was looking forward to what Karratha people would dare him to do, as long as it wasn’t eating any live animals.

“I’ve had all kinds of crazy challenges issued to me along the way, including eating a live huntsman and shearing a sheep and riding a steer at a rodeo, so it’s been a crazy adventure,” he said.

“I was able to unicycle 700 metres underground at a nickel mine — that was really cool.”

To dare Johnson, donate to the cause or if you are interested in hosting an event while he is in Karratha, please visit loveyoursister.org.