My (major) Minor achievement... driving from Aberdeen to Africa
By John Jeffay
IT would be an ambitious journey to attempt even in a modern car. But Laura Morrison has managed to drive almost 12,500 miles from Aberdeen to South Africa in her father’s 61-year-old Morris Minor.
The 35-year-old embarked upon the six-month journey – which took her through 14 countries – to pay tribute to her late father, Neil.
And Miss Morrison, who was born in Aberdeen but now lives in New Zealand, has raised nearly £18,000 so far for the Cancer Society charity in his memory.
She said the trip was one she and her Aberdonian father had dreamed of taking together, but they never got the chance – he died just over two years ago, at 62, after a battle with skin cancer.
Miss Morrison reached her final destination of Cape Town, South Africa, on Saturday and was escorted into the city by the local Morris Minor appreciation club.
She announced her arrival in a post on Facebook, and included a photograph of herself on the Cape Town coast with a well-earned beer in her hand. She wrote: ‘This is an emotional day – it’s been a long time coming.
‘It was my dad’s dream to drive from his birth city to Cape Town as he had a love of Africa, but unfortunately he never got to realise that dream.
‘This was something I always wanted to do as well. I’m doing it for him and me, and to raise as much money as I can for cancer research.’
Miss Morrison set out on her journey from her home in Picton, New Zealand. She took a ferry to Auckland before shipping her car to North-East Scotland.
Her blue 1958 Morris Minor, which was passed on by her father, is emblazoned with the slogan ‘Morri 2 Africa’ and the logo for Cancer Society.
The self-funded journey took Miss Morrison across Europe and Africa – including via London, France, Malawi, Kenya and Sudan.