Rest Day in Kimberley Before the Final Stretch

I've just worked out that we have cycled 1178kms so far on the Cancer Fighting Journey and only have 585kms left to go before we reach JHB! I cannot believe that time has gone so fast and that tomorrow we embark on our last 4 days of cycling.

We have had a fantastic time in Kimberley with the Wheelock family and as Jaco said, all we seemed to have done is eaten and eaten! We actually weighed ourselves again using the bathroom scale and only seemed to have lost 2kgs each (OK that was after a huge dinner followed by swiss roll, fruit cake and icecream!!.

Today we decided to go and see the Big Hole. It was perfect that our fellow 2 cyclists, James and Helghardt, who will be joining the Cancer Fighting Journey for the last leg, were staying at the new Protea Hotel right at the Big Hole. So we organised that we join them for a buffet brekkie and literally ate as much fruit salad and yoghurt as we could to get our 20 servings of fruit a day! We then walked across to the Big Hole and went out onto the cement platform overlooking the hole. I didn't realise that the Kimberley Mine has produced an equivalent of 2,722kgs of diamonds! Wow, imagine how many diamond rings that must be ;-)

We watched a short video about the history of Kimberley and how the mining began in the town and then walked around checking out all the beautiful diamond replica's. It was about at this point that my legs started getting sore from too much walking, so we all hopped in a taxi and went to the local mall to watch the film Invictus. Wow, it was really great (being able to sit down and the film!) and made me so proud to be a South African. It was also exciting to spot my sister's boyfriend, Brendon Shields, as one of the French rugby players in the film.

After some brief shopping for our cycle the next day, we headed off back home to eat some more and help the Wheelock family wrap their Christmas presents as they're heading to the Cape tomorrow on holiday. James and Helghardt came over for dinner and Coral made her famous lasagne which was divine. We have been blown away by the generosity of this family and how they have just opened their home and hearts to us! Thank you so much for everything you have done for us!