Katrina McFarlane

Share my page

In honour image

Dedicated to sick kids

My Activity Tracking

317,030
Steps

My target 10000 Steps

I’m fundraising for the Starlight Children’s Foundation. And I need YOUR support.

Did you know? Every minute of every day, a child is admitted to hospital in Australia.

This May, I’m taking on the Super Steps challenge to raise funds that will make hospital a happier place for seriously ill children.

I’ve set myself a goal to walk or run thousands of steps every day, for an entire month. And I need your support.

When you sponsor my challenge, you’ll help create much needed happiness for sick kids and their families. The money you donate will help seriously ill children cope better with the pain and stress of treatment, and helps families feel more connected and positive about what lies ahead.

Any amount you can spare will help brighten kids’ lives when they’re going through tough times in hospital. Can I count on your support?

My Step Progress

I’ve walked

317,030 steps

My daily goal

10,000 steps

Funds raised this year

My Impact

“I’ve helped brighten the hospital experience for 43 children.”

My Updates

29th and 30th

Saturday 30th May
Yesterday’s walk was wet,wet,wet. I tried out some new rain pants that I bought so that I could still get outside. Biggest problem with walking in the rain is the glasses 🤓 😄 Hard to know which is worse: wearing them and not seeing through the drops or not wearing them, still not seeing and having the drops hit your eyeballs 😁🤷🏼‍♀️ Anyway, a nice hot bath was good after that. 

Today the sun is out, so we’ll get to finish the month in the sunshine ☀️ , but with full water tanks 👏🥳


28th

Thursday 28th May
It’s properly raining 🌧️👏💃 Made myself stay on the treadmill a goodly while longer, so I’m just about done for the day. Time to finish off some crochet projects 😁 You can’t just have one thing to work on at once 😊 Not that many days of the challenge left now. Thanks for checking in on me if you’re reading this 😁 

26th

Tuesday 26th May
Was a bit drizzly this morning so I went to the gym to do my steps. Obviously I didn’t stay as long as I could have 😄 I did a leg workout again though. Still low on the sleep, so my shoulder and back pain is singing a lot louder than I’d like and therefore left the arms alone. 
I’ll try and get more walk in tomorrow, but it might be later in the afternoon. The cats are both calm heading into the night. Probably worn out from staring competitions through glass doors today 🫣😸 We’ll see how many hours that gives me 🤞 

25th.

Monday 25th May
I was really glad my son was home to drive my daughter to Tafe this morning. Operating a vehicle when you’ve had less than 4 hrs sleep is not just irresponsible, it’s dumb. So, it was a slow day. I did go for a walk near the end just for the fresh air. It was a slow walk and I bet my watch/phone would say I was less balanced than usual. So here’s hoping more sleep happens tonight. Night all 💤

24th May

Sunday 24th May
Glad I got a walk in early today. It’s all been about Max the cat 🐱 this afternoon. He seems like a lovely lad. Our lovely cat Sootica doesn’t know he’s here yet I think. The dividing door in the middle of the house is coming in handy 😊
Tomorrow is a new day. I’m sure we’ll all work it out 😉☺️

So blessed

Saturday 23rd May

Sunset

Saturday 23rd May

Weekend 🥳🍹

Saturday 23rd May
Happy Weekend! We’re getting there! Only a week to go. I certainly am feeling fitter 😁 Getting ready for a new little family member that’s arriving tomorrow😺 It could be an interesting week!

Fueled up and ready to go.

Saturday 23rd May

21st May

Thursday 21st May
Did a little op shopping. Got a red pair of pants and some very sparkly earrings. Gave away an oil heater to someone who really needed it and was very thankful. Most of my steps were on the walk from home though. Saw red robins today. Don’t always see those. So cute. Hope you’ve all had a good day 👋

20th

Wednesday 20th May
Was a little bit by little bit day. Walk around the park in the morning. Another 1/2 a park in the afternoon. And then I tackled the ironing. I leave this to become a bit of a pile. So I made sure I walked between one end of the house to the other every time I finished something 🤪 and hey presto🪄steps done for the day😊

19th May

Tuesday 19th May
Got the kind of walk I wanted today. Night walk. Cold enough to wear all the kit. Beanie. Gloves. Coat. My son came with me and we had good chats. There was stars in a gap in the clouds when we left. It closed up and was feeling misty again by the time we got back. Good walk. And now it’s raining again 😊 Perfect timing. 

18th May

Monday 18th May
It’s raining 🌧️ What a lovely sound, especially when you haven’t heard it in a long time. Saw birds having a bath in puddles on the way home this morning. That must’ve been a long time between baths 😁

So I did my steps in the gym today. Tacked it in either side of arm day. I really struggle to feel anything happening in the muscles on my upper back while I’m using them.  I sure can feel them now though 😆 Not really the way I enjoy getting my steps in. I put music in my ears to distract me, but I’d much rather cover some ground while I’m walking. The rain is awesome though, so if I have to walk indoors again tomorrow then that’s what I’ll do. 😃

17th May

Sunday 17th May
Much better day. Did one walk myself this morning and one this afternoon with the kids. Neck is still threatening to do bad things, but the headaches from yesterday are gone 🙌 And the medication has reduced other pains now. So much better. Just gotta ride the bad days out and be kind to yourself 🙂

16th May

Saturday 16th May
Today might need to be a gentler day. My neck is being very naughty. It’s an injection day and I’m a lot headachy this time. I didn’t sleep well last night etc etc 😄
I am charging my bike though.  Later if the head gets a bit better I might try for a ride. Which is likely to look like less steps. Banked steps are for days like this. 

The day wasn’t a total loss. I did some potting of plants in the afternoon. Then I went for a shorter walk at a very relaxed pace. Wasn’t up to a ride 😁 leg day has caught up with me. 

Cheers.

Friday 15th May
Dodgy photo thingy. Chops half my drink off 😆

15th May

Friday 15th May
Halfway hey? I’m a bit tired. Walked about 10am. It didn’t rain on me. So sad. Hope it does over the weekend. Went to the gym this arvo. Was leg day. Yeah I’m really tired 😆 Had a very relaxing drink with dinner. It was pretty so I’ll put a pic of that. And  that’ll be all she wrote 💤😴

14th May

Thursday 14th May
Was really not feeling it today. But I put my raincoat on about 3pm and headed out the door anyway. I got my glasses wet for about a km. Then it stopped raining. By halfway through the walk I was too hot. Sometimes you just can’t win 😄 I did feel good that I made myself do it though. Go me 😁 Maybe some enthusiasm will hit me tomorrow 😆 

13th May.

Wednesday 13th May
Was a bit misty on the walk around town this morning. Going to take a lot more convincing rain than that to slow me down 😁 Bring it on!! Cathie kept me company again 😃 If it pours down rain I won’t make anyone stick to walking plans 😄

Did another lap of the park this afternoon after my nurse jab. There’s a lot more leaves 🍂 🍁 on the ground now than left on the trees. Stopped and had a quick chat to a nice gent with a friendly dog. I’m not the only one who does laps 😁 It was the 2nd time we’d passed each other. The record so far is 3 times passing someone in the same walk. And that was Wednesday. This month is flying! 


12th May

Tuesday 12th May
Why’d the red belly black snake cross the road? I dunno, but I guess it wasn’t cold enough to be curled up yet 🤨 So I stayed back a few metres and let it cross 😁 It looked quite pretty shimmying across the road. Apart from that… uneventful really.  Did well on the walking again. Much easier when you’re not travelling 😊




11th May

Monday 11th May
Smashed it 😁 Was trying a new pair of shoes on a longer walk today. All good. Still have all the skin on my heals and toes 😊Was cool and windy, so I could do my walk early in the day and stay in my jumper the whole way. That’s about it. Still catching up on washing. That’s about the excitement of it. 

Cheat sunset 😆

Sunday 10th May
The sunset was really pretty. There was a lot of bugs on the windscreen. The heavy cropping in this page means you don’t see it.

9th and 10th

Sunday 10th May
Pic below is from yesterday. Still didn’t quite get the steps in that I wanted. Was a decent hill by the end. That should count for more steps,  but it doesn’t 😁

Today we’re travelling home. We put a 15min walk in the first stop of the day. Do the same later and see how it pans out by the end of the day. 
Hope the Mothers are having a lovely Mothers Day 😊 wherever you are. 

Annd I didn’t quite get there… but I’m 100% sure that now I’m home that will quickly turn around and the step count will be awesome next few days 😁 Travelling really hurts for me, so I’m not going to push for the steps tonight. I’ll hit it fresh tomorrow.  Hope you’ve all had a great day. 






Up the hill

Sunday 10th May

7th and 8th May

Thursday 7th May
Having a little trouble with the blog page again 🫣 So I’ll just say Thank you very much to the newest sponsors 🤗 and I’ll update in the morning. 
 Or in the afternoon because the buttons to do that were missing most of the day 🧐

As expected, it has been a bit tricky getting the steps in while car shopping. We did go somewhere in the evening to catch up a bit. I might be needing to do the same tonight. 

If you donated anonymously thank you ☺️ Big thankyou to Nigel at Kings Gym. The support in rehabbing my shoulder and generally helping reduce my pain is soo appreciated 😊





Evidence that it rained a little

Wednesday 6th May

6th May

Wednesday 6th May
I went for an early walk this morning and made it extra long. I knew I’d be a long time in the car today; so I wanted some insurance on getting the steps in. So at 2pm I’m up to 11570 steps. So I’m happy about that 😊
I think that was a good move. Not sure how the next couple of days will pan out step wise. Doing some test drives. Will depend what else we get up to 😁 

5th May

Tuesday 5th May
Haven’t sat down much the last couple days. So that’s good for the step count. 

Yesterday’s walk was shared with Cathie 😊 Was a lovely way to start the week. Today I walked the park on my own…kinda, I was on the phone half the time. Y’know, looking like so many people who get around talking to themselves. And then I’ve been busy cleaning and tidying ever since, getting ready to go on a little road trip. 

3rd May

Sunday 3rd May
The word pioneer came up a couple times today. At church, and then in a Stak Trek we watched this evening. And it has me thinking also about the medical pioneers. All the firsts that had to happen to make treatments today possible. 

Both of our kids have needed operations to help with breathing. One of them had 3 operations before 6 for this. Even though they’re deemed simple procedures now…there are all those that went before. Firsts, leaps of faith, courage. Every time you watch your child be anaesthetised is scary. I’m thankful in those situations that we are not the first!!!

Then while you’re in the hospital you become aware of the  parents who aren’t taking their kids home tomorrow, because their illness is more serious, or long term. These walks are as much for those parents as the kids. Days in hospitals are loong. Distractions in the form of fun are super important!! And I know they’re appreciated. 





2nd May

Saturday 2nd May
So that was Saturday. Didn’t do anything that remarkable. Walked the supermarket. Had Brioche lamb burgers for lunch 😋 Was an injection day for me, so I jabbed that in my leg. And went for a long walk but slightly later so it was colder. Only one fly hassled me. Had to snort him out 😂 apart from that it was a nice walk 😁 

1st May

Friday 1st May
Here we go, here we go, here we go now 😁 Get busy! 

I’ve got two hours to kill between dropping off my daughter and the gym today. So I should have no trouble reaching steps today!

I had forgotten about the Celtic festival this weekend. The Main Street was Packed when I went in there, and getting onto the highway to get in there was a bit the same. 

So I heard some good piping and fiddlin’ while I was walking to my jobs this morning. Honestly, the crowds just make me want to get past quickly 😁

Weekend tomorrow. Whoo. I’m going to try n sleep in. Good luck if you’re doing the same. 

30th April

Thursday 30th Apr
Took myself for a long walk in the middle of the day. Thought because it was breezy I wouldn’t have trouble with flies. Nope. They stuck with me the whole way. Was a good motivation not to stop!! At least if you’re moving they can’t settle too often. Dumb flies 🪰 😑😁 Eye is better. Still no rain. Gym tomorrow. Quick Jazz break and I’m off to😴 💤 

29th April

Wednesday 29th Apr
Eye is still dodgy. There’s clouds in the sky though. I’m trying not to get too excited 😁
Didn’t rain. Was a cool breezy day. Wore a beanie on my evening walk and that was not too hot. Did a lot of steps today. Easy to do while waiting for the car I guess. Not so much planned tomorrow. I’ll have to make myself move. 

28th April

Tuesday 28th Apr
Started out in the park in town. Doing that when I drop my girl off is an easy way to get half way on the steps.

Hm  writing with one eye is truchy tricky? lol  I've got ablocked tear duct. The chemist said just warm compress. Hope it clears up Soon. 
taking my car for rego check tomorrow  wjhich means my clever hubby got it fixed. i''ll be finished my sreps early wgile they do that  thiscwill look fun in the morning 🤪  

27th April

Monday 27th Apr
Little bit under on the steps today. Did do a decent walk, Was a bit of a catch up the house cleaning day. Remind me to empty the wet vac in the morning 👀 oops. 

It’s so dry. The paddocks around the place are looking rather brown and depressing. I’ll keep walking and hopefully it’ll catch me out one day and I’ll get drenched. That’d be lovely 😊

What I took home

Sunday 26th Apr
There’s a bag at the back with Pecan Nuts. Which are my favourites 😋

What I made.

Sunday 26th Apr

26th April

Sunday 26th Apr
I’m back. Pretty sure I just needed the 2 days. Really want to make sure I’m right at the start of May. Physically it is difficult to maintain that level of effort with my existing medical limitations. I really pay attention to that normally, and I know when I need a break before I crumble. 

4-5 weeks is about my limit of trying to live at the pace of a regular healthy person. Trying being the operative word 😆 It’s not really achievable. The maintenance on me just gets too difficult! and my demeanour starts to micro fracture at alarming speed. 

Went to my first homemaker swap this afternoon. Was good fun to see what everyone brought. A good variety of crafted, baked, potted goodies. Look forward to next months. I’d better decide what to make/take next time 😊

24th April

Friday 24th Apr
Had a good session at the gym today but a very quiet day otherwise. Going to take the next few days to be silent and less accountable. I will come back on the 1st May all renewed and ready to rumble ⚡️🌩️ 🦶
If you’re planning on meeting up for a walk I’ll be calling you before then 😊 Excited for May! 

23rd April

Friday 24th Apr
Op shopped till we dropped 😁 Almost. I had some good finds. Still needed a walk at the end of the day. Definitely starting to be that I Want the walk as well as needing it. 

Then I rugged up to look for meteor shower at the end of the day. It was a lot like fishing. I walked outside, saw the most impressive thing so I came back in got rugged up. I went back out and only saw two more in the next half hr. I came back inside underwhelmed but tired 😆 I slept well though. So the silent star gazing probably was therapeutic 😊

22nd April

Wednesday 22nd Apr
Not long now. Be checking my steps a bit more carefully soon😉 Saw some pretty cows on our walk this afternoon. Bit of a silvery slightly long haired coat. They’re always curious about us walking when they’re new to the paddock.
Going to go op shopping in the next town over tomorrow. I’m sure that’ll get us some steps 😁 Hopefully some of us find some treasures 🎁 too 

21st April

Tuesday 21st Apr
2nd Verse same as the first. Kinda was a bit like yesterday. Cruised the park in town in the morning. This time my parents came with me. It was quite breezy, so they did well for Queenslanders 😁 Had a short but quick walk with Ben after work. I’m pretty tired, I don’t generally sleep well after arm day at the gym. So I’m off to try for a better night tonight 🤞Catch you all on the flipside. 

Autumn colour

Monday 20th Apr

20th April

Monday 20th Apr
Oof. Did a lot of steps today, and arms 😁 Be feeling that tomorrow night maybe. Split my walk in 2. Some in the morning in town and some this afternoon near home. That did feel more comfortable on the foot. Looking forward to meeting people to share some walks too 😊

Morning stroll

Monday 20th Apr

19th April

Sunday 19th Apr
Did move a little more today, but only just 😁 Was a pleasant breeze when I headed off walking today. Helps me not to mind the walking in the daylight thing. Not that I’m going to vaporise in the light. I just like the cooler temperatures. 

18th April.

Saturday 18th Apr
I was half expecting to wake and find that the first 2 times I tried to write this actually posted 😁

So yesterday was the most sedentary day I’ve had yet. As a result I was heading out the door for my walk with only 3000 steps. Which was an opportunity to see what I need to do if that happens. 

And the answer is: an hr long walk. I was waffling on about the pretty wildlife I saw when the website kicked me off. The one that amused me was the red parrot that thought it was invisible in the red berries. I’m so lucky with all the birds I get to see. My favourite around here are the little ones as small as a leaf. Their chittering is so cute and as they fly away you see a little flash of yellow on their butts. 

The aim today is to move more so it’s not such a long walk I need 😁 My foot would appreciate that!

Thanks to the newest Sponsors: my good friend Claire 🥰 and the talented Vinko Design who’s artworks I’ve just seen from afar 😊👋  I appreciate the support!

17th April

Friday 17th Apr
Got my steps in without an end of the day walk today. Which is nice because Mum and Dad arrived this afternoon. So yay. 
Did some decent leg stuff at the gym. Reclaimed some storage space which will now get occupied by wool 😁 All in all a good day. Body is still saying do more sleeping. But I need music first 😊

16th April

Thursday 16th Apr
Ok I’m tired. Think it’s all caught up to me a bit. Probably need to go to bed earlier. 

I had that panic when you seriously think you’ve lost your phone today 😟. So there was a lot of steps looking for that. And in the end I had to go do a bunch of things without it. So I rocked up at the supermarket to pick up my online shop and had to walk in to tell them 😆 Went to meet someone and was hoping my memory recalled the address properly 😬🤞 And all because I was wearing something with no pockets!!!! So I put my phone down in weird places. No,  not that weird (whatever you just thought 🤪) So it’s been found and I’m all relieved. 

And tomorrow my parents arrive for a visit 😊 Looking forward to that. 
Oh and I saw 1 shooting star but it was slower and made me happy to be out there 🤩 

15th April Are you smarter than the new AI helper?

Wednesday 15th Apr
It was super hard to avoid the AI ‘helper’ that popped up on the page today. It’s position on the page blocks being able to add a post. I told it the problem and it informed me it’s not responsible for the web page layout 😆 Fun times. I found a loophole through an email link. Sigh🙄😄

Anyhoo. Had a blissful day where I didn’t leave my house 😁 and I got a lot done. Then I had a lovely visit from a friend in the afternoon 🥰 Saw 4 shooting stars on my walk tonight. And now that I’ve conquered the AI annoyance I think I’m ready for z’s 😝 Hope I remember how to get here tomorrow 🤪👩‍🦯 Sending you all much patience for the digital world 😌


14th May.

Tuesday 14th Apr
The weather is just how I would bottle it today. Still warmish during the day but cooling off nicely by about now (5pm). A couple more hours and I’ll need a light jumper on my walk, which is also fine. 

Today I did a bunch of stuff you usually do when you’re moving house. The kind of sorting, tossing, deciding what to keep stuff. And I’m not moving house… but it’s been 8 years since we have … so a clean out definitely doesn’t go astray. And when I’m finished I always feel really good about it, so why is it so hard to start? 😆 So my steps were in between 2 or 3 rooms I was sorting, and it’s quite a lot for just that 😂
If you feel compelled to tidy your house now…you’re welcome😁 Hope you feel great about it afterwards! There will be more of the same tomorrow for me😉 
Did also walk under the ✨ Beaut way to end the day. 



Mon 13th April

Monday 13th Apr
Another Gym day. Arms were still feeling it after carrying water on Saturday 😁but we still treated it as Arm day. Eventually muscles will happen. It’ll be a thing 😁  I’m functioning a whole lot better than before the surgery, that’s for sure. 

We went for a nice walk on the brink of dusk. I feel the occasional uncomfortable tweaking around my Achilles attachment point, but my foot is doing better than I thought it might with the increase in steps. 
Hope you all have a good evening 😊

Sunday 12th April

Sunday 12th Apr
Sundays I get some steps at the end of church just chatting with my church family 😊 Then not many after that … until I decide it’s time to get it done. 7:30 I’m fed, walked and the cat thinks it’s time to claim me 😺
I’ve added some donations that were made as cash. So it looks like one thing… but it’s from little things ☺️

The plants won’t mind.

Saturday 11th Apr
I’m glad we’re not drinking it.

Hot work.

Saturday 11th Apr

11th April - Tank cleaning day.

Saturday 11th Apr
Our water tanks are getting cleaned today. There’s so little water in them that we thought it’d be good to get the silt in the bottom out before any new water goes in. It uses some water to clean out the muck. So today I’m getting some steps in by bucketing water to the trees. Poor things haven’t had a drink in a while. 

A lot of steps 😁 but it’s my arms that are feeling it! Muddy water is heavy. 

Thank you very much to Chris! Some sick kids days got a bit brighter 😊 Thanks more for the friendship and the laughs 😁 

Mmm protein stick.

Friday 10th Apr

10th April.

Friday 10th Apr
Doing a bit better on incidental steps today. Got a PT session this afternoon and I’m curious how many steps it counts that as. I don’t think it’s as many as I’d like 😁 

Been doing regular PT’s as a natural progression of my shoulder rehab. Happy to say that I’ve regained all the range of motion that you’d hope for. Still a lot of strengthening to happen. And now the rest of me is getting some attention too 😀

As I suspected the gym session doesn’t count as steps. Darn. So that’s probably going to be my biggest challenge; having something left to go walking on gym day 👀
 I was told “It’s not May yet” 😁 I walked anyway! 

9th April.

Thursday 9th Apr
Well I’m off to a slow start today 😁 Been working on a little crochet project. Sometimes it takes a bit to get settled on the right pattern and hook size. Think I’ve got it sorted now. 
I’ll ramp up the walking when I go into town. I’ve been having weekly injections to help with foot pain ( I know right 👀 this is an interesting challenge for that !😆) I’ll do some laps in the park 😊🍃🍂🍁 
Just got back from our walk under the stars. Moon isn’t up so it was spectacular out there. Tally for the day 10953. Happy about that 😊

8th April. Setting intention 🙃

Wednesday 8th Apr
Hi all 👋 I’ve chosen 10,000 steps because it’s slightly above what I normally do in a day😁 and it’s meant to be a challenge right? 
I’ll be using the rest of the month to warm up. I’ll post how I’m going with that. Stay tuned 🙂
So I had a reasonably ‘normal’ day with my 40min walk at the end. That brought me to 8800 steps. So that gives me a starting point to work out how much extra I’ll need 😊

Thank you to my Sponsors

$83.39

Katrina Mcfarlane

$83.39

Matched Donation

$83.39

Chris

"Good onya mate. 👍 Every step helps go a long way."

$22.58

From Your Friends At The Pen

"We support you every step of the way."

$242.65

Chris Green

$147.70

Katrina Mcfarlane

$23.50

Claire J

$23.50

Vinko Design

"You got this!"

$54.84

Anonymous

$54.84

Matched Donation

$194.22

Kings Gym And Fitness

$194.22

Matched Donation

$78

Anonymous

$78

Matched Donation

$100

Anonymous

$200

Matched Donation

Super Steps is proudly supported by

Major sponsor

Sponsor

Event partners

Sponsor
Sponsor
Sponsor
Sponsor
Sponsor