We arrived in Perth on Monday 8 September to surprise my brother Sean at the start of his ride from Perth to Melbourne to raise awareness for Huntington's Disease (see his website www.genepositive.com). We stayed with my cousin Linda, her husband Glenn and their three sons, Sam, Ethan and Kalen. Linda's house would be full later in the week with all those arriving for the ride.

My brother in law, Shane happened to be in town for work on Tuesday so he took us out for lunch. When he suggested the Windsor in South Perth I got a bit worried thinking David and I wouldn't have the appropriate clothes for such an establishment (thinking of the Windsor in Melbourne). I rang and was pleased to find out we were able to wear shorts and thongs. On arriving at The Windsor we discovered it was just a pub! The food, drinks and company were all good and we had a very enjoyable day.

Wednesday was my birthday and we ended up having a pretty quiet day early on. We had agreed lunch the day before could be for my birthday. So we just killed time with Linda and the boys until Sean, Annabelle and Sean's mate Bevo arrived at 5.30pm and Mum arrived at midnight.

Linda, David and I went to the airport for the first pick up. We let Sean see Linda first and then I went and stuck my head in his face. He was surprised to see me. He said he'd thought that perhaps somehow I may be at the finish of the ride, or at least hoped to, however, he never thought I'd be at the start even though we were in the same state.

Later that night David and I went to pick up Mum. She stopped in her tracks and dropped her bags when she saw me. My wanting to surprise all worked perfectly.

Thursday we got ready to head off and in the afternoon we all went to a wine and cheese night held at the Huntington's Disease Association of WA (including my aunty Trish and her mate Bernadette, who had driven the Jayco motor home Sean is using for his ride from Melbourne to Perth, and my cousin Lisa who also lives in Perth). The evening was enjoyable. Everyone is offering so much support to Sean for his ride - it's great.

Sean had aimed to leave at 6.30am this morning but it was 7 before he hit the road. We saw him off before heading back and packing up our gear at Linda's and hitting the road to follow him. Linda and the rest of the family were so great to David and I and Sean and co. I think they might have been glad to see the back of us all so their lives could return to normal.

Kylie