Ticket to Hope June 09

Olly who has kidney Disease - Read his Story

"This was the awesomist day"

Ticket to Hope was extra special this time, with 13 wonderful young kiwi kids and a parent each, 17 fundraising champions, 2 celebrities and 4 Cure Kids crew who have the privilege of hosting this event.
On Friday 19th June we met ten very excited families at Auckland airport, who had been counting down the sleeps to this all expenses paid trip of a lifetime to New Zealands mecca of fun- Queenstown. We were accompanied by Craig Parker and Renato Bartolomei, and fundraising champions from Pumpkin Patch and Rebel Sport.

We had a lot of fun on board the Air New Zealand flight making sure our families were tattooed with Cure Kids tattoos on their faces. There were a couple of reluctant Dad’s but their daughter’s soon encouraged them to join the ‘club’ and accept this weekend of fun had begun! Air New Zealand crew offered the first treat and invited the kids to pass out the sweets and view the cockpit.
Upon our arrival in Christchurch we were joined by two other families and some of our special fundraising champions from Life Pharmacy Northlands and PricewaterhouseCoopers. We promptly applied tattoos and boarded the flight for Queenstown. It was a smaller plane so personally, I was very pleased to receive rescue remedy to overcome flight nerves! Once again Air New Zealand was wonderful and allowed the children to wear their uniform jackets to pass out the sweets!

At last we were in Queenstown! We picked up the Budget vehicles and headed straight up to Skyline Gondola and Luge for a scrumptious lunch and to attack the luge tracks! It was icey cold, but glorious views over Queenstown, happy smiles and a nice hot chocolate from the Skyline team kept us going for a couple of hours and truly brought out the competitive streak in some of our guests!

Browns Ski very kindly tested the patience of their staff on our ‘club’ of 50 who needed to be fitted out for the snow. The staff was fabulous and prepared our tired but excited families for the prospect of playing in the snow the next day. Little did they know they still had a night of clowning around and more treats to get through!
Mercure Resort, Queenstown had gone all out with fabulous feet and helium balloons steering our guests to the party room. The room was spectacular with glitter, more balloons and an area where the kids could paint on the wall. (The Hotel Manager assured us he was okay with this!) This was the same Manager who had been honing his juggling skills since last year and enjoyed himself as much as those he entertained. We enjoyed Hell’s Pizza and yummy party food provided by the hotel, lots of icecream and cake and surprise goodie bags provided by our Key Partner, Pumpkin Patch. The kids eyes were so wide and overwhelmed by their first day you would think an early night would be in order but no, the treats kept coming! Puma provided bright and cheerful sweatshirts and they had gorgeous beanies to help keep their ears warm in the cold air. However, the best surprise was yet to come in the form of Stars in their Eyes contestant, Kelvin Cummings from Dunedin. Kelvin, aka, Gerry Lewis in the first show just happened to bring his guitar along and kept the party room singing and dancing along for a couple more hours! Could Day two top this?

Following another yummy breakfast at the Mercure Resort we made our way to AJ Hackett Bungy to watch a fascinating movie about how it all began. I always feel a sense of pride watching the innovative AJ Hackett take his ‘silly’ idea of jumping off bridges with a elastic band tied to your leg, and continuing to improve it and then promoting this ‘world first’ so boldly by jumping off the Eiffel Tower. This is what we do at Cure Kids! We believe in, and are proud to fund the innovative medical research being done by New Zealanders. It doesn’t happen overnight but with the knowledge that thanks to Cure Kids supporters their work will be funded in the future, our Scientists can focus on better outcomes, positive solutions and just occasionally – another world first!!
We encouraged a couple of our Dad’s to jump and experience the thrill of facing a challenge which that morning had appeared in the too hard basket. Imagine you are faced with your child having a life threatening illness and all that encompasses and you can see why jumping off a platform is actually a small step.

It was off to the snow and lots of spoiling by Coronet Peak staff who treated us as VIP’s with more yummy food and a special trip up to the top of the chairlift to experience the amazing views. We had a lot of fun playing in the snow with the Coronet Kiwi and throwing snowballs at unsuspecting kids and Cure Kids staff!
“This was the awesomist day” according to one of the families and we were only half way through the trip! That night we headed up to Skyline Gondola for another scrumptiously delicious buffet dinner and treated to a song by Kelvin. The kids had been given a challenge at our Welcome Party to offer words for a Cure Kids song, which Kelvin would write and sing at this occasion. Kelvin did a fabulous job writing a tribute to the weekend reflecting the fun and atmosphere of this memorable trip.

It was also the birthday, as we found out that day, of Emma’s Grandmother, Diane. We managed to celebrate with a candle and small gift of a book and card signed by all on the trip.

Most of the kids collapsed into bed that night with full tummies, loads of extra goodie bags and treats from Coronet Peak and another happy day to think about.

Day three started off at 4 degrees but we soon had the kids getting even colder (-10 degrees )on the Kawerau Jet boat ride up the Kawerau and Shotover rivers. It speeds around doing 360 spins and racing perilously close to poles and trees! “It’s so cold your nose feels like it’s going to fall off, but really fun.”
How would we warm up and recharge the energy used up to keep our bodies warm and adrenalin pumping? Chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate…..and ice cream would you believe!! Thirteen children lined up to taste the out of the world ice cream from Patagonia Chocolates in Queenstown. The adults lined up for the best hot chocolate in Queenstown, we all enjoyed sampling the array of chocolate flavours made at Patagonia. Yum Yum!!

Our bellies full and hands warm we walked up the road to be treated to a huge lunch from Mc Donalds! The entire crew was treated to Happy Meals and burgers to give us the energy required to now take on the tricky mini golf courses at Caddyshack. Divided into teams of five we enjoyed a couple of challenging hours watching the small white ball disappear into mini sawmills, rocket ships and Swiss gondolas. The scores were very high is some cases but only because it was too much fun to watch the ball run down the side of a mountain and end set off the hut of explosives !

It was time to head back to the hotel to enjoy afternoon tea, thank you’s and teary goodbyes. Our thanks particularly, to the companies who donate their services and product to enable Cure Kids to deliver this amazing event. Also to the staff of those companies, who were extremely welcoming, kind and went out of their way to ensure our families had a very special experience. We are extremely grateful for the opportunity as are our families as quoted below.

Rhianna says, “I really enjoyed all the activities especially the jet boat. I made lots of new friends and had the best weekend of my life so thank you so much”
“Thank you so much for taking me and my Dad to Queenstown. I like the part when we went to the snow and mini golf too. Thank you to all the people who gave money to Cure Kids and for all the cool presents they donated. Love from Chelsea”

Chelsey’s Dad wrote, “ I find it truly amazing and inspiring that so many people donated their time, money and resources to give these kids a fantastic weekend away. …whenever she has painful procedures done I always would talk about something to get her mind off what was going on and now we will be able to talk about the Queenstown weekend.”
“The trip was the most exciting adventure we have had. I am truly humbled by the care and support shown by all involved with Ticket to Hope.” Sharon and Joshua.
“James and I are still buzzing about the weekend “– Susie and James
It is a absolute privilege to be part of this event, to witness the generosity and goodness of New Zealanders who go out of their way to ensure Ticket to Hope is a success. At Cure Kids we are proud to be associated with these companies and encourage everyone to support them where they are able.