The last few days have definately been interesting. On Good Friday we visited The House Of Prayer; a dainty Indian church. It was quite a new experience for many as the preacher liked to shout into the microphone a lot. Brooke found that the preacher was so passionate about what he was discussing, that she was caught up more so in his enthusiasm than what he was actually preaching. We found that the sound system is more than capable of reaching high volumes with the preacher often topping out the mic.  While some of us found the preacher a little hard to handle, the service was still one that many of us will never forget. "The curtain ripped from top to bottom."

Saturday was spent visting the orphanage, Ndola Child Protection and Adoption Centre in the morning, followed by the feeding program at Kantolomba.

There were only 14 children at the orphanage, including about 4 month old Irene. Irene was very popular with all members of the team enjoying her cuddles. The director of orphanages, Gilbert, addressed the group, telling us that all the children needed was love and that he loved taking on the father role for all the children. The hardest part of this visit, like most others, was good-byes. There were cuddles all round, as even though we only spent approximately 2 hours at the orphange we would have been more than happy to provide a home for each and every child. Wes found the feeding to be the most profound experience. He ended up serving chicken towards the end and was a little shocked at the innedible pieces of bone and other off cuts of chicken he was serving, it was interesting watching the food as it was running out and hearing the women and children yelling in Bemba. The pieces ran out and were replaced with chicken feet, which seemed so much better yet he wouldn't eat it himself. He felt slightly sick after that and went for a bit of a wander. As a team there was a great feeling of accomplishment as we all pilled onto the bus after the feeding program. While the students of Kantulomba School are fed regularly, for most of the village kids they dont know when there next meal is coming. The meal we had provided them with would keep them going that little bit longer.

The evening was spent having a barbeque with the staff of the school and Emmanuel Mercy Ministries. The experience was one we will never forget! While we enjoyed an Aussie meal, the Zambians were more than happy to teach us to dance to the African music they had provided. The Zambians amazed us with there singing and dancing in union. Their singing would definatelty have to be one of Brooke's favourite parts of Africa, it definately showed up our performance of the national anthem and home among the gum trees. Caleb intrigued the Zambian staff and the team with his playing of the digeridoo, which ended with a few of the male staff having their own attempts. Overall we found the night very enjoyable and while it we said our good-byes, many of the team felt they weren't forever.

The team is loving every experience Zambia has brought. While we say good-bye to Ndola tomorrow the team is very excited for Livingstone especially for Victoria Falls and safari in Botswana. While our missionary work is slowing down the team is enjoying the time to relax and reflect on everything that Zambia has had to offer.

Wes and Brooke (supervised by Caleb)

Caleb, Kaitlyn and Brooke.

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After a 5 hour delay at Perth we missed our connecting flight to Ndola but thank the Lord they put us on the next one and for a lucky few on our team - got upgraded to business class! :) 

We settled in the Evangelical Churches of Zambia guest house well. We have hot running water, even though there is no shower head - but whose complaining?! 

We had our first day at the Kantalomba community school which was an amazing experience for the whole team. I was surprised to see how much work has taken place at the school since the last trip in 2010. We were able to meet all the Staff and students who greeted us with traditional Zambian singing and big smiles. We had the opportunity to go for a walk through the village and nearly the whole village came out to greet us and they were predominantely children.

The following are some comments from our students to describe the first day:

Brooke - unreal

Lina - scary

Lara - intense

Nicki - insane

Wes - busy

Kirsty - incredible

Shontae - life changing

Caleb - amazing

Back on soon, hopefully with photos :-) 

Ray and Manuela 

In the opening hour the competition for the King of the Mountain commenced with five courageous (or foolish) riders battling for first position as the rest struggled up the category four climb. Pedal Dancer Henry Pennell was declared KOM - he insists on being called Lord of the Alps but a more fitting title would be Prince of the Ant Hill. The riders then struggled with headwinds, rain and undulating terrain before they hit their second climb for the day. This climb continued for kilometre after kilometre after kilometre (6kms in total). As predicted we thought it would take about an hour to finish this section of the ride, the last rider made it to the top in one hour one minute and twenty six seconds. At this point the smarter riders in the group, namely Austin, Nathan and Uncle Gazza got on their deadly treadlies to join the wet peloton. 

The descent into Nannup allowed the spirited riders to test their skills, quickly approaching the speed limit while the faint hearted sat on the brakes for the majority of the hill. The reward in Nannup was hot chocolates, cake and coffee as we tried to defrost and people changed out of their squelching socks. A quick rip around the shops in Nannup asking for donations brought the cash total to over $700 before we headed up into the hills once again. 

The Doctor of Pain set a cracking pace and attempted to see how many riders he could break in the process. Austin was the first to go but the group had a brief reprieve as we had our first on road puncture, Henry's bike had a quick tyre change which allowed the rest of us to recover. The doctor didn't let up and as we ascended the next hill all we could hear from the front was "we're nearly half way there", while we traveled at 28km/h up hill. By this point, conversation in the peloton had reduced to monosyllabic grunts. 

Ah.......... Finally lunch at Busselton. It was a welcomed sight to a tired and hungry bunch of riders. As the food was consumed, conversation started to flow. The sun came out and we started to thaw and dry ready for the last stint through to Eaton, our accommodation for the evening.

When we arrived we were met by a nice surprise, Mr Lewis had organised a massage therapist to work on our tired bodies. We had a delicious last dinner together (Pam's Special Curry), before we had a final meeting handing out awards for service, courage and consistency. Uncle Gazza gave us a talk about the great work being done in Cambodia and how many people the money will benefit. He focussed on the need to look past yourself and take a global perspective, using your skills and talents to add value to others, not just yourself.

A quick game of Mafia with the Dallinator and it was off to bed, resting up for the final stage of the trip. 

As we awoke to a foggy cabin at 5:00am and peered out into the misty air of Coalmine Beach anticipating a day of lots of climbing. We packed our bags for the third last time (not like anyone was counting) before heading down to an early breakfast. Some of the smarter members of the group decided to ride in the car and skip the first of four steep sections. After a quick warm up lap around the peninsula the group hit the steepest hills of the day, taking a good 10 minutes to get to the top, where some passengers mounted their bikes, including Uncle Gary from Awareness Cambodia. Today was the longest and the hilliest ride so far, made worse by the fact that it was made a designated 'no push' day. By the time we pulled up to lunch in Manjimup at 2pm there were a fair few older members of the team needing a caffeine hit to finish the final stage to Bridgetown.

As we went through the tingle tree forest someone in the team made a really profound comment; "that's a really big tree". One of the highlights of the day that was causing the birds to drop from the trees was the harmonious singing of Josiah, Henry, Lewis, Kaleb and Mr Dallin. Despite the bad tone and missed lyrics they managed to keep up the morale throughout the morning.

Lunch was very welcome and refueled us for the fast downhill run to Bridgetown. The road was lumpy, with lots of photo opportunities and more trucks.

We arrived at Bridgetown around 4pm, with many relieved that the pain and suffering was over and done with. By keeping the goal in mind, we raised over $200 from the generous donations of people on the streets of Bridgetown. It was a late dinner back at the convent where the boys got to sleep in the chapel, surrounded by crosses. They were very well behaved. An early night was had by all to prepare for the big ride to Bunbury on Tuesday.

With our first early morning start, we woke at Great Southern Grammar. After a cold night in their gym we departed to Walpole. As soon as we left we hit the hills and passed a small farm where Mr Dallin, Jordan and Nathan decided to try scare the sheep by barking only to find that the owner was just around the corner. The ascent was long and steep but once we reached the top, the climb soon became worth it with the breathtaking scenery of Middleton beach. We had a curvy descent out of Albany and before long, we hit the rougher roads.

When we stopped for morning tea the sly Jordan Kuchel decided to slip his orange peels into everyone's back pocket, later being caught out by Mr Dallin at the lunch break. During our lunch at Denmark, we enjoyed another delicious lunch prepared by our wonderful support crew. It was so delicious that the local seagulls were hanging around to try scab some off us. Just as we were about to depart Kaleb decided to try some chin ups while still on his bike, resulting in him earning the splatula of the day.

As we were heading towards Bow River Luke was at such break neck speed that his water bottle escaped without him realising and a new Big Ram recipient was born!

The intermediate sprint of the day was planned for Bow River. The preparation and planning for the sprint had begun before breakfast. As Bow River approached Cavendish moved to the back and was protected by Mr Lewis and Mr Davis. He quickly swallowed back two gels and was so full of energy he resembled a bull dog chained to a tree. The sprint was planned for 300m before the bridge at Bow River; however, Mr Lewis began the lead out 1500m before the finish line. By the time he crossed the front of the peloton he was riding at 53kms an hour. The snowman (aka Mr Dallin) dragged the lead out team up to 57kms an hour. He moved to the side and the doctor of pain dragged the peloton up to 63km an hour with Cavendish chewing the bar tape. All of a sudden Henry sprinted past at a speed of 65kms an hour looking comfortable. Unfortunately, he was sprinting for the wrong finish line. At that moment Mr Banks sprinted past Cavendish and took the glory with finger pointing to the heavens.

In Bow River, we enjoyed a Cold Chisel rendition from the one and only Ben 'snowman' Dallin. Following a short food break the riders hopped back on their bikes for the final stretch into Walpole. After a long day the young Kasey Smith put his head down for a second and dismounted over his handle bars while still in motion. Our little trooper got back on his bike to finish the stage with the pelaton, earning himself the courage award for the day.

When we arrived at Walpole some of the riders checked out the beach for some downtime. After a bit of mucking around Kasey decided to 'use the force' to try and move a coke can off a short wooden post. As he tried to move the can with the force (his foot) he ended up kicking the post and badly injured himself. After about 1km Kaleb finally gave in to give Kasey a piggy back and we realised that the injury was more serious than we initially thought.

We enjoyed another spectacular meal prepared by our support crew but had to fight the flies for our kebabs. An early night was had by most ready for our 6.15am Monday morning breakfast call.

The roads were quiet, the sun was out and we were surrounded by fields of barley and canola. Then, a few members in the group discovered that they could cause sheep and cows to go on a stampede when they barked at them like sheep dogs much to the dismay of the teachers (and the farmers).

Before morning tea the peloton group decided to try out some new riding formations, abandoning the old 1 and 2 abreast sets. The peloton performed a left echelon and a right echelon, across the road; only when the white line was dotted.

Lunch was coming, the plotting began; three km to go, two km to go, one km to go. Josiah was sent to the back to start the train, Cavendish began moving to the front and then ... a surprise ... Mr Lewis was off at 54km/hr. The train started, the Doc was on, the snowman was sucking the wheel and then Cav dashed for the line. Ten meters before the "finish" Josiah (big calves) cruised past with a cadence of 55 while everyone else sucked the oxygen from the air. The planning for tomorrow's intermediate sprint has begun already!

The closer we got to the hills we started to see Bluff Knoll and Mt Trio and other lesser known large rocks. The mountains slowly grew larger until we could see the shrubs and paths. As the day progressed the riders were happy to be able to say the mountains were behind them.

As we came into Albany we unfortunately came to more hills. We started climbing and then the descents. On our last ascent, Mr Davis (using his servant heart to help the others) met the gravel with an impromptu dismount. Rather than getting up, he laid there impersonating a dead upside down out of the water starfish and banged his helmet +++ knowing that he had became a candidate of the paint scraper award for today.

The day ended at Great Southern Grammar (thanks to Mr Marquardt) where we are getting ready for a good nights sleep for the 6 am rise for a 130 kilometre ride to Walpole.