So as most of you are aware, I am due to set off on the 4th March on a 3000km North to South cycle trip of New Zealand, The Tour Aotearoa. Obviously, when doing a trip like this what to pack is a big consideration… so I have decided to take an elephant with me!
Okaaayyy, so it’s not an actual, full sized, living Elephant. It’s actually a small 3D sticker made by a street artist which I found on the streets of Berlin back in September, and it has inspired me to use the opportunity of this crazy bike trip to try to raise some money for MND New Zealand.
Berger H Elefant is a project set up by an artist from Berlin with Motor Neuron Disease (MND/ALS). They make lots of little elephants and leave them around the streets for people to find and take with them. They ask that if you take an elephant, you take it on your travels and upload a picture of it somewhere cool to social media. The idea being that this will bring a little joy to people who are no longer able to travel because of the disease, as well as raising awareness for the cause. Their website, Facebook and Instagram are all worth a look.
Anyways, having picked up the little elephant in Berlin and having not yet got around to posting any pictures with it, I’ve decided to take the opportunity of this cycle tour to do just that. One of the rules of the Tour Aotearoa is that you must submit photos from each of the 30 photo checkpoints along the route in order to prove that you followed the course correctly. So, guess who will be featuring in all of my 30 checkpoint photos? You guessed it – Berger H Elefant!
Alongside taking the photos, I have also decided to take the opportunity to raise some money for MND New Zealand. I have set up a fundraising page here, and will also be asking for small cash donations (into an envelope with an official MND fundraising sticker on it) from people I meet along the way. Please, if you’re reading this I would REALLY appreciate it if you could go onto my fundraising page and donate some sponsorship money, just a few quid/bucks will do. After all, I am cycling 3000kms with an ELEPHANT! 😛
Dancing in the Dawn 