Hospital's special delivery
The West Gippsland Healthcare Group has welcomed a mail delivery of a different kind recently, accepting a $50,000 cheque from the Great Postie Bike Adventure.
by Nicholas Duck
The West Gippsland Healthcare Group has welcomed a mail delivery of a different kind recently, accepting a $50,000 cheque from the Great Postie Bike Adventure.
Dozens of men on classic Honda CT 110 "postie" bikes converged on the hospital's front lawn to bring the cheque as part of their three-day ride around regional Victoria.
The Great Postie Bike Adventure is an annual charity event that has taken place across a variety of routes, including central Victoria, Hall's Gap and Tasmania.
Riders typically cover 300 to 350km on the small-capacity motorcycles, which were originally designed for Australia Post deliveries.
The event aims to raise significant funds for regional health services, with the Warragul hospital a recipient this year along with Echuca Regional Health. The 2026 ride saw participants travel across parts of Gippsland, heading from Warragul to Phillip Island and back again before taking off for places like Mt Baw Baw, Boolarra and Mirboo North.
Locals and Trafalgar TTMI proprietors Jason Henry and Andrew Snape were among those on the ride, as well as TTMI Maffra service manager Chris Hulls.
West Gippsland Healthcare Group chief executive officer Shannon Wight said they were "delighted" to welcome the riders on their arrival.
"We're just really pleased that we've got a great partnership starting and going on. We'd just like to say thank you so much to everyone who's involved," she said.
"Every bit counts and our community is growing.
"We've got a heap of population coming in so it just means we can look at buying additional equipment and providing better care."
Despite a few breakdowns along the way, Jason hailed the event as a great success.
"When we go to these places we put the money back into the local community and that's why we're here in Warragul," he said.
"We're proud that all these guys are helping raise money for our local hospital. It's our family, our kids, our friends so that's really important to us and we have three days of fun."
Jason said the reception the group received in each town was always a highlight, given the odd sight of the fleet of postie bikes.
"It's really good, everyone waves and takes photos and we just give them a toot of the horn and a wave back. It's funny, everywhere you go they don't know what the hell's going on but they all acknowledge us."
