IT WAS not exactly the working holiday this English couple originally signed up for when they landed in Australia almost a year ago.

What started out as a "bit of fun" to boast to the relatives about back in the mother country, turned into a three month, 5070km bike ride for Tom Denley and Rachael Wallace-Lower - all for a good cause.

The intrepid duo arrived in Cairns yesterday after originally mounting their bicycles in Adelaide back in February for the start of their charity cycle.

"We've never really been cyclists. We only ever cycled to and from work which was about three or four kilometres," Mr Denley said.

"We didn`t set ourselves any goals and we didn`t do any training for it or anything like that.

"We set out just to ride from Adelaide to Melbourne just for the fun of it."

When the pair found out a close friend was undergoing a lung transplant though, their "fun" cycle took on a more serious edge and they decided to use the journey to raise funds for both the Australian Lung Foundation and Macular Disease Society.

And what made their trip even more impressive was they completed it on single-gear "fixies`, the type of bike you would normally not ride much further than the corner shop.

The pair will spend the next two weeks enjoying some much-needed relaxation in the Far North, but will spend the weekend at Cairns Central chasing donations to add to the $1000 they have already raised.

Online donations can also be made at www.poms-on-fixies.com.

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