Fundraiser Website 
Website is not live until Wed 28th Jan

Meet Peter Steele

By Steve Holmes

Meet Peter Steele an 86-year-old Villager who is riding around Australia and in my opinion has cornered the market on energy and passion.

If like Peter you have a deep inspirational vision to achieve something, it is no surprise that it is underpinned by a deep unwavering motivation to see it to its reality. Now that is all well and good but 86 years old, come on who’s chain are you pulling Pete?

I have met Peter and this is no challenge is no fluke or late-night bar bet, this is who Peter is, he a man determined not to waste the opportunity of life and what he can contribute.

So let’s dive in and get to know Peter Steele.

Peter is a retired lawyer living in the Gold Coast’s jewel in the crown known as Main Beach.

A couple of years ago, shortly after commencing a solo shakedown cruise around Australia on his 32 feet yacht Teena-Marie in preparation for a solo sail around the world to raise awareness and funds for our endangered koalas, Peter suffered a stroke whilst alone at sea.  He felt dreadful but did not realise he had suffered a stroke and managed to get his yacht into Yamba. NSW.  A little later he suffered another stroke when ashore.  It was his fourth stroke, as he had suffered two strokes about 20 years earlier.

Since suffering the strokes, Peter was affected by frequent daily spells of giddiness that seriously affected his balance.  As a result, he had no alternative but to give up his plan to sail around the world on his own.  He still suffers from dizzy spells, but to a lesser extent – their severity and frequency have diminished.

Peter is passionate about helping endangered wildlife and abandoned and cruelly treated domestic pets and animals and about doing what he can to help fight global warming.  So, rather than do nothing, he decided that if he couldn’t sail around the world, he would ride the equivalent distance around the world on an e-scooter and work with an animal charity to use his ride to help create awareness about wildlife and domestic animals and to help fight global warming by creating a program through schools and others to progressively plant 2 million trees.

About the Ride

Updated 7th October 2022

The distance around the world at the Equator is 40,075 kms.

Peter is trying to ride 45 km’s a day for at least 6 days each week and, at present, has completed a distance of 13,540 kms.

He has divided his ride into various legs.

Leg 1, which he is currently riding, is 14,725 kms -that’s the equivalent distance on my route from the Gold Coast to Cairns, Cairns to the mainland’s northernmost point at Cape York, return to Cairns, across to Katherine, to Darwin and return to Katherine, across to the WA Coast and down to Steep Point, the main land’s westernmost point, to Geraldton, down to Perth, east to Coolgardie and then to Port Augusta  – should be in Adelaide early next week.

In Queensland, the law permits the riding of an e-scooter only on certain local roads and footpaths.  He is currently riding his chosen distance by doing laps on the footpath between Breaker Street/Rankin Parade and Waterways Drive at Main Beach.

The Charity

The animal charity that Peter is working with is Wildlife and Domestic Animal Habitat (‘WADAH’).  It is 100% not-for-profit.

The Website

www.wadah.org

WADAH’s website will go live hopefully next Tuesday afternoon

Please visit Peters’s dedicated website to keep an eye on his progress and when he arrives in Main Beach. It has the information on his Ride and WADAH.

Peter is not only a stunning example of Villagers pitching in, but I think he holds the torch high for those who follow. A man living the full opportunity that life affords us from birth.

Thank you so much for sharing your challenge and story Peter
Steve