Justin Christoforou isn’t a hiker — neither is Jeremy Burgess nor Sam Miller. 

So their decision to walk from Warrnambool to Halls Gap is 165 kilometres outside of their comfort zone — but it’s all for good reason. 

“We’re doing a charity walk on the Australia Day weekend to raise money for Peter’s Project. It’s about 165 kilometres over three days,” Mr Burgess said. 

Their trek is also a similar distance from Warrnambool to the nearest radiotherapy services in Ballarat and Geelong and even further for towns in the far south-west.

 The three Warrnambool Cheese and Butter workers have known each other since childhood and have seen the first-hand effects of cancer on loved ones. 

“We’ve been pretty close for the last few years,” Mr Burgess said. 

“It was Justin’s idea to start off with and he was going to do it by himself. 

“We wanted to jump on board and help him out. It was going to be pretty lonely on the road.”

The learning curve has already resulted in the first training blisters. 

“We’ve been doing a few walks. Sam’s been in Queensland doing a few walks along the beach up there,” Mr Burgess told The Standard yesterday. 

“I did a trial walk,  doing 30 kilometres the other day.” 

As the fund-raising effort for a south-west cancer care centre targets the last million dollars, all three were keen to get involved. 

“It was one of those local charities that you hear most about,” Mr Christoforou said. 

They hope supporters will visit their Facebook page for fund-raising details before the hike kicks off on January 24. 

“We’re calling it Bool to the Gap,” Mr Burgess said.

“They’re at the $4 million (mark). 

‘‘It’ll put a bit into it. 

“It all counts.”