Walking Dad's Dream: 780ks for Parkinson's New Zealand

Our Dad, Richard Milne, was diagnosed with Parkinson's in his later years of life, although turns out he'd had it since his 20s!

Dad and I had many adventures together, despite his Parkinson's. We did several multi-day bike rides throughout New Zealand when he was in his 60s and 70s, carrying all our own gear on your average non- e-bike- including his foldable walking stick! (He was determined to do it all unassisted!) It was definitely challenging for him but he persevered with determination, gratitude, peacefulness, a warm sense of humour, positivity and an open heart.

Dad always wanted to hike the Camino de Santiago, but his Parkinson's had progressed to the point where it was getting pretty unlikely for him to be able to do it. He passed away unexpectedly a few years ago, so he was never able to complete the pilgrimage.

This year, my brother and I decided to hike the Camino in Dad's honour. We are starting our 38 day, 780k journey on the Camino Francés on the 16th of September, 2025.

Thank you to Parkinson's New Zealand for helping my Dad through his Parkinson's and helping others with the same terrible disease. I would love to support your charity, so I thought what better than to raise money for Parkinson's NZ on my hike. Dad would have loved the idea too.

Any donation is much appreciated 🙏 let's show our support for this wonderful NZ charity that has made a huge difference in the lives of people living with Parkinson's.