Lawrence Norton is driving around Australia at 45km/h to help families with sick kids.
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After starting in Melbourne in mid March, Lawrence arrived in Newcastle yesterday and parked his Leyland double decker bus - his home - at Horseshoe Beach.
He's been collecting donations and selling ad space on his bus to raise money for Eli's Gift - he's raised about $20,000 so far.
Lawrence will be at Horseshoe Beach until this afternoon and he wants people to visit, have a cuppa and make a donation before he heads towards Queensland.
Follow his journey on Instagram: @twiceasnicegallerycafe
On the run... straight to prison
Topics did a double-take at our morning emails on Wednesday when we read that a bandit on the run from police had been caught after trying to escape through a prison farm.
In what has to be a contender for the Hunter's dumbest criminal effort of the year, the 46-year-old tried to evade officers by running through the grounds of St Heliers Prison Farm at about 10am on Tuesday.
Police quickly rounded him up.
The man was wanted for an alleged crime spree that stretched from Sydney to Gloucester. He was taken to Muswellbrook police station and charged with 15 offences including theft, stealing a motor vehicle, being involved in a police pursuit, fraud, driving in a dangerous manner, unlicensed driving, trespassing, resisting police and having a knife.
Police on the hunt
Still in the Upper Hunter, police have put a post on Facebook saying they are pleased with the results of a crack-down on illegal hunting over the long-weekend.
Detectives from the Rural Crime Prevention team spent the Queen's Birthday period checking vehicles, camp grounds and weapon storage facilities.
Operation Devil Ark, as it was called, targeted illegal hunting at Glenrock, Ellerston, Tomalla, Moonan Flat, Stewarts Brook, Gundy, Upper Rouchel, Timor and Murrurundi. Only two warnings and one fine was issued during the weekend.
Nourishing partnership
Restaurant chain Nando's tells Topics it has been donating food to people a little less fortunate in the Hunter via charity SecondBite.
The Westfield Kotara chicken store has been donating food for about 14 months as part of its campaign NanDonation (see what they did there?). Food that would otherwise be thrown out is set aside for a weekly lunch.
"We are absolutely delighted with the way our partnership with Nando's is developing," SecondBit CEO Jim Mullan said. "The opportunity to provide high quality protein to our food relief partners around the country makes a real difference in the lives of families doing it tough across Australia."