Why I Walked: RFDS Oceans to Outback 2025

SOME walks are about fitness.
Some are about clearing your head.
This one was about gratitude.

In October, I took part in the RFDS Oceans to Outback Challenge 2025, walking 113 kilometres from my adopted home on the coast in Hervey Bay towards my birthplace in the red-heart country of central Queensland, while raising funds for the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

It was my first Oceans to Outback event. My goals were modest — to walk 90 kilometres and raise $500. By the time I put my feet up at the end of the month, I’d exceeded both comfortably, finishing with 113 kilometres walked and $1,922 raised. More than the numbers, though, it was the meaning behind the walk that stayed with me.

From ocean air to red dust

Jocelyn visited her mother, Del Scott, at Barcaldine, Qld.

I finished the challenge in Barcaldine, where I was born, and where my mother — now 94 — lives in permanent care at the hospital. On one of my final days, we shared a barbecue lunch there, surrounded by familiar faces and long-held memories.

Many locals remember Mum, Delpine (Del) Scott, from her years teaching at the high school — music, art, geography and home economics — over a career that spanned around 25 years.

Together with my late father, William (Bill) Scott, she was also deeply involved in Barcaldine’s cultural life, helping establish the folk museum that still stands today. In 2017, Mum received the Australia Day Volunteer of the Year Award — a recognition that reflected a lifetime of quiet contribution.

Over the past decade, the RFDS has transported Mum several times from Barcaldine to Rockhampton following serious fractures — moments when the care she needed simply wasn’t available locally. Each time, the RFDS bridged the distance between vulnerability and treatment.

That’s not an abstract idea to me. It’s a lived experience.

When distance matters

In September 2001, my late husband Don Watts and I were driving the long road from Maryborough to Barcaldine after learning my father was critically ill with pneumonia. The Flying Doctor had been called to transfer him to Brisbane, but he was too weak to travel. He passed away as we approached Rockhampton.

Dad was the first baby born at Muttaburra Hospital after Dr Arratta arrived there in 1925 — a small detail, perhaps, but one that anchors our family story firmly in regional Queensland and its medical history.

Over our married life, Don and I lived in eight regional Queensland towns and cities. Some had strong medical services. Others didn’t. At one point, a close friend in Maryborough flew as a pilot with Angel Flight Australia, which brought home just how vital these services are in a country as vast as ours.

Out here, healthcare isn’t about convenience. It can be the difference between life and death.

A walk of gratitude

Friends who’ve lived rurally often say they’d love to return, but hesitate as they get older, worried about access to medical care. I understand that hesitation completely.

So this walk became a way of saying thank you — for Mum, for Dad, and for countless others who rely on services like the RFDS when distance and urgency collide.

It was also a way of connecting with people across Australia who understand, in one way or another, what it means to live far from care.

Along the way, I was buoyed by messages, shared posts, encouragement and generous donations. Every step felt supported.

By the time I pulled on my walking shoes for a short half-kilometre stroll to the railway station and boarded the Spirit of the Outback for the 1,000-kilometre journey home in Hervey Bay, my heart was full — and my goals for next year had already formed. Whatever my final tallies, rounded up, will become my targets for 2026.

RFDS Oceans to Outback 2025: Why This Story Belongs Here

This story sits within Good Causes because it reflects a core belief behind Jocelyn Magazine: that thoughtful living extends beyond our own front door.

Sometimes that looks like volunteering. Sometimes it’s sharing stories that matter. And sometimes it’s simply putting one foot in front of the other for a cause that supports regional Australia.

If this piece helps shine a light on the work of the Royal Flying Doctor Service — and why it remains essential across vast distances — then the walk has done its job.

Curious About the Work of the RFDS?

If you’d like to learn more about the Royal Flying Doctor Service, the Oceans to Outback Challenge, or watch the RFDS television series, you can explore their official links below.

→ Royal Flying Doctor Service
→ RFDS Oceans to Outback Challenge
→ RFDS television series online
→ My RFDS Oceans to Outback Facebook Page

Good Causes exists because thoughtful living extends beyond our own front door. Sometimes that looks like volunteering. Sometimes it’s storytelling. And sometimes it’s simply showing up.

Supporting Regional Healthcare More Broadly?

If you’re interested in other ways charities support healthcare across Australia, you can also explore the current Mater Lotteries prize home — a house lottery that helps fund maternity, neonatal and cancer care.

→ View the current Mater Lotteries prize home

(Affiliate link — supporting Jocelyn Magazine at no extra cost to you.)