Twelve-year-old Dusty Langby has today made it to Canberra, completing a 500-kilometre, 16-day walk from his hometown in western New South Wales and raising more than $400,000 to deliver paediatric care to bush communities.
To top off the long journey, Dusty has a meeting locked in with the prime minister to discuss that same topic.
"When we were walking to Canberra today, we saw there were flags at the top of parliament," Dusty told 666 Canberra.
The trek began in Dusty's hometown, Warren in NSW, on August 30, his crew comprising his mum Sarah, local nurse Christine Letton, Little Wings nurse Nichole Callan, and Little Wings chief executive Clare Pearson.
The charity Little Wings provides free flights for children who are seriously ill, or who need specialist care in rural and regional NSW, ACT and QLD.
Both Dusty and his brother have flown from Warren to Sydney with Little Wings for specialist medical appointments.
"It's just such an amazing cause," Dusty said, wanting more children to be able to access the service.
"The pilots and the volunteers are such kind people, and they all are just really kind, and I wanted to help," he said.
On his agenda for his appointment with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Dusty said, was asking the PM to match every dollar he's raised for the charity.
In total, he raised $423,000, which he said was "going to change heaps of rural family's lives" and "just help more kids".
Getting used to walking
For Dusty, committing to the mission meant slowing down and finding a hobby in walking.
"I don't really walk, I normally run. So it took me a long time to get used to walking, not running," he said.
That involved training since January on walks which overall ate through four pairs of shoes, he recalled.
Over the course of the trip, with each day ranging from a 19 to a 55 kilometre-long commute, the team's energy levels ebbed and flowed.
"At the start we were just chatting all the way, we weren't listening to music, we were just chatting away," he said.
"I had a couple of my friends join me, and we were chatting. I think it was the third day where we started to walk in silence," he said.
Sometimes he passed the time by planning upgrades to his 1999 Toyota Hilux ute.
"My pop has some lights I'm going to put on the ute, so I was just thinking about that: 'hm, how can I fix my ute', so I might sell some of my stuff in my bedroom and upgrade my ute, like, fix it," he said.
On one day, they felt a "little sprinkle" of rain and rushed to get their their gear on.
"We put all of our wet weather gear on, because we thought it was going to pour down with rain. 10 minutes later [or] five minutes later, it stopped and we were just wet as," he said.
"But all rewarding in itself, each day and every community we enter just welcomed us so gracefully and so humbling, and we are just amazed."
Ms Langby said they had many supporters cheering them on, and offering them food at each leg.
She gave shout-outs to the people, pubs and inns of Yass, Murrumbateman, Parkes, and the Lake Cargelligo school which delivered the crew a Woolworths order.
"There's just so many we can't even [thank them enough], and express our gratitude for feeding us beautiful and nutritious food for the trip," Ms Langby said.
Family time to 'decompress'
Now in Canberra, Dusty said his feet have been spared from blisters and he was feeling "really good" after the 16 day mission.
Loading...
"But on the other hand, my mum and the rest of the team are not going so well," he added.
The family will go camping together, Ms Langby said, to take in Dusty's huge feat.
"We're going to decompress, just have a bit of time with Dad, my other son Angus, just being on the river fishing, motorbike riding, and just enjoy our company and reflect on what we've just achieved."
