Anyone with an eye to the Murray River this spring might be rewarded with the memorable sight of a septuagenarian sharing a kayak with a poodle, paddling 2,400 kilometres for a good cause.<\/p>\n
Peter Dixon is on a fundraising mission, but he is also paddling through his grief after the loss of his wife Helen Dixon to pancreatic cancer in March.<\/p>\n
His unlikely poodle co-pilot Maggie May isn’t much of paddler, but she has taken to the journey all the same.<\/p>\n
The pair set off from Bringenbrong Bridge on the Victoria\u2013New South Wales border on September 2, and expect to arrive at Goolwa, South Australia in November.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The community is right behind Peter Dixon’s (second from left) paddling journey. (Supplied: Peter Dixon)<\/p>\n
“She doesn’t even like the bathtub,” Mr Dixon said, of Maggie May.<\/p>\n
“She seems to love it [on the river] if the weather’s good \u2026 but when the wind picks up and it becomes overcast she starts to whinge a little.”<\/p>\n
Repeating a kayak trip he made 15 years ago with his daughter and wife as support driver, Mr Dixon is floating down a river of memories to relive one of his happiest times.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Peter Dixon talks to both Maggie May the poodle and his late wife Helen as he kayaks. (Supplied: Peter Dixon)<\/p>\n
A life together<\/p>\n
The Dixons’ love story sounds like the premise of a movie: a young man in the air force in Sydney admiring from afar a young woman working behind the bar.<\/p>\n
They married in 1977, had four children, and moved to Wandiligong in Victoria’s Alpine region to run a guesthouse.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Helen and Peter Dixon were married 47 years. (Supplied: Peter Dixon)<\/p>\n
In 2023 the pair were working together at a local supermarket when Ms Dixon started experiencing chest and back pain and was referred to the local hospital.<\/p>\n
“Unfortunately, the tests came back that she did have cancer, and it had spread by that stage,” Mr Dixon said.<\/p>\n
“I was lucky, I suppose, that Helen lasted for the 20 months.”<\/p>\n
Helen Dixon received a terminal diagnosis in 2023 and died in March 2025. (Supplied: Peter Dixon)<\/p>\n
Giving back<\/p>\n
A silver lining in the very dark cloud of stage four pancreatic cancer was the availability of treatment in nearby Albury-Wodonga.<\/p>\n
“I almost found myself looking forward to it,” Mr Dixon said.<\/p>\n
“The treatment itself wasn’t much fun, but the people were so nice.<\/p>\n
“If we’d had to go down to Melbourne for all this it just would have been horrendous \u2026 I can’t imagine how difficult it would have been if that cancer centre hadn’t been there.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Peter Dixon and Maggie May trained for just a few hours on a lake before embarking on their journey. (Supplied: Albury-Wodonga Regional Cancer Centre Trust Fund)<\/p>\n
He came up with the idea to paddle down the Murray as a fundraising opportunity, and surpassed his goal of $50,000 before he put an oar in the water.<\/p>\n
So far he has raised more than $80,000 for the Albury-Wodonga Regional Cancer Centre Trust Fund, under the name of “Pensioner Pete”.<\/p>\n
The cancer centre is run in partnership with Ramsay Health Care, but will be publicly managed from July next year<\/a>.<\/p>\n Albury-Wodonga Health says the centre’s relationship with the trust fund will remain unchanged.<\/p>\n Trust fund manager Andrew McKinlay said Mr Dixon’s efforts were significant for an individual fundraiser, compared to the organisation’s annual Sunshine Walk, which raised about $150,000.<\/p>\n Andrew McKinlay says the Albury-Wodonga Regional Cancer Centre Trust Fund relies on philanthropy. (Supplied: Albury-Wodonga Regional Cancer Centre Trust Fund)<\/p>\n “The passion that Peter’s got is contagious,” he said.<\/p>\n “He’s certainly become a bit of a fan favourite amongst the trust fund staff.”<\/p>\n Mr Dixon is finding supporters along his route as well, with the Walwa Riverside Caravan Park providing free accommodation.<\/p>\n Kev and Heidi Conway and supporting Peter Dixon on his expedition. (Supplied: Heidi Conway)<\/p>\n “My father passed away from cancer and I \u2026 used to work at Epworth Hospital,” Walwa Riverside co-owner and manager Heidi Conway said.<\/p>\n “So I thought it was a great opportunity and he was doing such a great thing.”<\/p>\n A coping mechanismIf you or anyone you know needs grief support:Griefline<\/a>:\u00a0Phone support for all Australians Monday to Friday\u00a0and 24\/7 online forums<\/a>. Call 1300 845 745 from\u00a08:00am to 8:00pm AEDTKids Helpline<\/a>: 24\/7 phone support and WebChat <\/a>for young people aged between five and 25. Call\u00a01800 551 800Headspace<\/a>: Centres for young people in each state and territory or check out\u00a0headspace<\/a>\u00a0for online or phone supportLifeline<\/a>: 24-hour support for all Australians on 13 11 14<\/p>\n Mr Dixon said his wife’s diagnosis was all consuming, and planning for his expedition had given him something to focus on after her death.<\/p>\n “Even when I was at work, I would just be thinking about absolutely nothing else,” he said.<\/p>\n “Preparing for this trip has probably helped me get through.”<\/p>\n His support driver and friend of more than 50 years Geoff Barton said he was happy to assist the project.<\/p>\n “You’ve got to say at the very minimum that it’s inspirational,” he said.<\/p>\n Tales of getting lost on the river 15 years ago have already been added to, with the car stuck in “the biggest pothole you’ve ever seen”, and Mr Barton falling in the river as he was helping to launch the kayak.<\/p>\n Peter Dixon and Geoff Barton expect to take two months to travel 2,400km down the Murray. (Supplied: Peter Dixon)<\/p>\n “Little things like that help to make trips like this,” Mr Dixon said.<\/p>\n He said his journey down the Murray was many things: an escape from a house of grief, a tribute to his beloved wife and a chance to show his gratitude for the treatment she received.<\/p>\n As his thoughts wander on the river, Mr Dixon said they took him in one direction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Anyone with an eye to the Murray River this spring might be rewarded with the memorable sight of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":157474,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[104798,64,63,99,1617,3321,6084,42273,49526,75078,104799,104800,104802,104801],"class_list":["post-157473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-albury-wodonga-regional-cancer-centre","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-cancer","tag-fundraising","tag-grief","tag-kayak","tag-kayaking","tag-murray-river","tag-paddling","tag-pensioner-pete","tag-peter-dixon","tag-poodle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157473\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n
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