Day 7 - Almost time to round things up

The girls spent a lovely evening at the Garden Route Game Lodge close to Albertinia in the Western Cape, and it was from there that they departed this morning. But first they had to make a few stops in the vicinity to spread their message of hope and encouragement. At this day, day 7, they had spoken face to face to approximately 8 000 people! What an amazing achievment, and the Journey isn't over yet!

Petro van Staden organised an amazing breakfast for the team at the Kraaines Restaurant in Albertinia, along with some other breast cancer survivors from the small town. Petro makes prosteses for underpriveleged women,and the Journey of Hope team decided that they will sponsor this angel for one year with funds they have collected.

At the Albertinia High School the kids and other visitors dressed in pink waited in anticipation for the arrival of the Harleys. But besides the impression the bikes made on young and old, the message came accross very strongly. Shimmy was also having the time of her life on stage in front of the very big bra that Petro made in support of one of her friends.  Elize inspired them further with her story of survival.

Albertinia is Aloe country, and because everyone received some lovely gifts from  Alcare Aloe, they decided to pop in and give personal thanks. Little did they know that another big bra awaited them. This enormous brassiere was handed over to the Journey team on behalf of everyone at Alcare Aloe.

Langeberg Foods is one of the largest canning factories in South Africa, and when the team wheeled through Ashton they simply had to stop to talk to the factory workers. After Shimmy had the men and women rolling on the floor with laughter, Elize did her second talk for the morning.

At that time they were running behind schedule a bit, because of the terrible riding conditions. Road works and patches of heavy rain slowed them down tremendously, but like the Road Captain Petto said numerous times during the Journey: Safety first. The delay on the road made all the girls rather hungry, but our fabulous organisers made sure of a late lunch they would never forget. Bon Courage in Bonnievale did not only feed the hungry survivors,but also spoiled them with a couple of cases of their famous pink bubbly called Blush.

The weather suddenly cleared up which made the ride through the winelands an awesome experience. The mountains and lush green vineyards made a great backdrop for the camera crew following them to Montagu, but the hole in the wall just before this lovely town also caught their fancy!

The last event for the night was held in the NG Church School Hall beforethe girls booked in at the Montagu Country Lodge for the last official night of the Journey.

Tomorrow, Saturday 16 October, is the big day - if you are curious to hear and see what happened during the grand finale, please come and read the blog.