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. From my adopted home on the coast in Hervey Bay, I walked 113 kilometres while raising funds for the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Fittingly, I finished the challenge in my birthplace of Barcaldine, in Central Western Queensland.

It was my first Oceans to Outback event. My goals were modest: walk 90 kilometres and raise $500. By the time I put my feet up at the end of the month, I’d comfortably exceeded both. My final tally was 113 kilometres walked and $1,922 raised.

More than the numbers, though, it was the meaning behind the walk that really mattered.

From ocean air to red dust

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. She taught music, art, geography and home economics during a career spanning around 25 years.

Together with my late father, William (Bill) Scott, she was also deeply involved in Barcaldine’s cultural life. Among their contributions, they helped establish the folk museum that still stands today. In 2017, Mum received the Australia Day Volunteer of the Year Award, recognising a lifetime of contribution to her community.

Over the past decade, the RFDS has transported Mum several times from Barcaldine to Rockhampton following serious fractures. At those moments, 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. Sadly, he was too weak to travel.

Dad passed away as we approached Rockhampton.

He had been the first baby born at Muttaburra Hospital after Dr Arratta arrived there in 1925. It might seem a small detail, but it 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 did not. Later, a close friend in Maryborough flew as a pilot with Angel Flight Australia. His work brought home just how vital services such as these are in a country as vast as ours.

In regional Australia, healthcare isn’t always about convenience. Sometimes it can be the difference between life and death.

A walk of gratitude

Friends who’ve lived rurally often tell me they’d love to return. As they get older, however, some hesitate because they worry about access to medical care. I understand that concern completely.

For me, this walk became a way of saying thank you. It was for Mum, for Dad and for countless others who rely on services such as the RFDS when distance and urgency collide.

At the same time, the challenge connected me with people across Australia who understand what it means to live far from essential care.

Along the way, messages, shared posts, encouragement and generous donations kept me going. Every step felt supported.

Eventually, it was time to head home. I pulled on my walking shoes for one final half-kilometre stroll to the railway station, then boarded the Spirit of the Outback for the 1,000-kilometre journey back to Hervey Bay.

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: thoughtful living extends beyond our own front door.

Sometimes that means volunteering. At other times, it means 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 story helps shine a light on the work of the Royal Flying Doctor Service and why it remains essential across Australia’s 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.)