The Fossil (aka Des) says that I can wrap up this edition of my Walk 4 SOS Huskies journey from Plettenberg Bay to Cape Town. There are so many people (and Huskies) to thank, so if I’ve not mentioned you (or your Husky), leave a comment and I’ll update this post.
First off, I’ve gotta tell you about the grooming that frits Dog Hotel & Daycare Centre sponsored for me! We met Yonic Klue from Frits at the Sea Point doggy fair on the last day of my journey and she gave The Fossil a voucher. He took me to their Dog Hotel at 117 Castle Street in Cape Town on Tuesday.
But, before that, I had to get my vaccinations up to date ’cause they’re worried about kennel flu. So the Fossil took me for jabs at Hakuna Matata Veterinary Clinic in West Beach on Monday. It wasn’t sore ’cause Dr Michelle Carlow is very good at giving injections. And they didn’t even charge The Fossil full price ’cause Delray had arranged it.
Frits really is a Dog Hotel – they have Dormitory Rooms, Luxury Suites, and even a Super-luxury ‘Fritsidential Suite‘ for overnight and long-term stays. And there’s a Dog Park, and a Dog Training area, and a Wellness area, and a Pet Store, and… Well, go check it out for yourself. You’ll see what I mean.
The groomers at Frits Salon & Spa are gentle and patient, although I still don’t like that hot air thing blowing up my tail!
So, whatcha think – I’m all fluffy and cuddly now, right? Not for long though – check out the last pic of todays blog.
Anyway, after the grooming session The Fossil and Chase (that’s his son, and my best buddy) fetched me and we drove to Melkbosstrand to meet one of my campaign supporters, Angelique Victor, and her two best friends, Malakai and Chloé. They really are great dudes – we had lots of fun butt-sniffing on the beach, although they must have thought that I smell odd after my grooming.
Oh yes, today I got some more press coverage about my fundraiser. This time by journalist Carl Thomas in Die Burger newspaper. It’s in Afrikaans but that’s OK ’cause The Fossil speaks the language fluently and he translated it for me. A pity that Carl didn’t include a link to my crowdfunding page :-(.
On Monday and Tuesday nights, the Fossil and I were hosted by Wolf and Katja Haslinger at their pet-friendly Cape Oasis Guest House in Blouberg. That’s Katja and their dog Winnie in the Cape Oasis garden pic above. Winnie is very friendly and so is Katja too.
The garden facing studio apartment where we’re staying is spacious. It has two bunk-beds, a table and chairs (for The Fossil to work on his iMac), a master bedroom with queen size bed, TV (with DSTV channels), a ceiling-fan, panel heater, and a safe-box in the wardrobe. There’s also an en-suite bathroom with enormous shower space.
Best of all is that our apartment has a sliding door that leads out to the huge garden at Cape Oasis. It even extends into a long corridor of land that separates the residential area from the Rietvlei Wetlands, but it’s all fenced off so I can’t escape (as we Huskies like to do).
Of course, my favourite spot for an afternoon nap is in the cool flower beds. That doesn’t make the Fossil too happy after he’s gone to all the effort of having me groomed, but hey, that’s what Huskies do! And, as long as I’m happy, he’s happy!
Fundraising Update
The Fossil says that the 31-day duration of my journey from Plett to Cape Town raised just 2% of my crowdfunding target. But that’s just from the Quicket crowdfunding platform. We also received cash donations along the way, and some donors did bank transfers, so in total we raised R5,868 (that’s about $408 USD).
“The problem,” he says, “is that the journey cost us over R14,000 for fuel and food. And that excludes our overnight accommodation (other than the 6-nights that we slept in the Mahindra PIKUP), which would have added around R23,000 if pet-friendly establishments had not hosted us along the way.
“On top of that, we also received R2,760 in value from sponsors, so we didn’t have to pay for your leash harness, signage, and grooming sessions. So, overall Jaxx, we did very well even though we didn’t reach your fundraising target.”
“For the sake of transparency,” the Fossil says, “the fundraising proceeds were to be split 50/50 with Saviors Of Siberians (SOS Huskies) after deduction of expenses incurred (Walk4Africa’s 50%, had there been any, would have been used to fund the SPCA event). As it turned out, though, we effectively made a loss of R8,239, which W4A will absorb. Full disclosure has been made to SOS Huskies in a spreadsheet that records all donations received, via the Quicket platform and in cash, in-kind sponsor values received, and a list of all expenses incurred.“
Well, I guess we did create some awareness about pet-friendly travel and Husky Rescue issues. And, of course, we had fun and met some really nice people (and Huskies) along the way.
Gratitude
The Fossil also says that I must thank everyone who made donations to my fundraiser. Well, there’s too many to name individually, so from me to all of you – a big Thank You! And to my sponsors – Thank You Too!
I must also thank Maria Shadford (and her Huskies, Aslan and Robot), and Beresford & Rene Williams (and their Husky, Storm), and Sam Gunter and Tracy-Lee Palframan – the people who organise the MushItUp sessions every Saturday.
And finally, a Special Thank You to the special people at Saviors Of Siberians, Delray & Brett Nortier and Bernice Lemaitre – without your dedicated effort in finding foster homes and adoptions for us Huskies, I wouldn’t be around to tell my story. I am forever grateful!
Thanks for reading and sharing my blog posts over the past thirty-one days Husky loving folks!.
