The tale of Christmas in Africa... and some other stuff...

so it has been a while since we had Internet so i have a bit to catch you all up on ill start with where i think i left off...

on the 17th December we left the luxury of our hotel in Swakopmund and returned to our trusty green roll mats and our lovely canvas tent we spent a large portion of the day driving in the baking heat to Spitzkoppe a campground seemingly in the middle of nowhere the landscape was desert with the campsite nestled in the shadows of this huge rocky outcrop we arrived late afternoon and me and LP headed off to climb to a wee gappy bitty thing at the top (not the top top but the top of the bit we climbed) it didn't take to long to scramble up to within 5m of the top where things got a little tricky it seems the top is a popular place for the klipspringer and it seems they like to stand at the top and poop meaning the last wee bit was slick like a slide we did however manage to make it up (not slip on a poop slide to our deaths...) the view at the top was lovely so we took some pics and sat in the shade before starting the walk down stupidly we didn't go down the way we came and got stuck in several places had to backtrack a bit here and there and lastly squeeze through a little cave we arrived at the bottom just in time to climb another (much less high non-challenging) outcrop where we sat and watched the sunset...

18th December- we set off earlyish for Twfelfontein (doubtful spring) where we spent just one night again we drove most of the day and arrived late afternoon just in time to visit some bushman (san) rock carvings despite being early evening the sun was still bearing down in full heat without any shade so the visit was quick the etchings are so impressive and we also saw 2 Agama lizards and 2 dassie rats which are cute as pie!

19th December - at 8am we were back on the road heading for Etosha Namibia's premiere national park we were set to arrive about 5pm but actually got there about 2.30pm so after a dip in the pool to cool off we jumped on the truck and headed off for an evening game drive the wildlife in the park was huge in abundance an we saw our first WILD LION stalking some antelope in the distance defiantly a highlight of the day! we also saw 2 slender mongoose the first of that kind. that evening after some dinner we sat in silence at the watering hole waiting for something to appear we were well rewarded with a sighting of a black rhino a huge bull who came right up to the wall seemingly staring right into my eyes which was quite nerve racking (I'm not sure a piddly electric fence and a stone drywall would stop a charging rhino!) another great sighting was a cape fox also drinking at the watering hole GREAT day for animals!

20th December- today we drove across the national park it contains three campsites so we drove from one (i have temporarily misplaces the spelling and I'm not going to attempt it) to Halali in the middle where at 11am we stopped to wait out the hot part of the day eating lunch and lounging by the pool before continuing on to Namatoni where we camped for two nights we had a huge bout of excitement when we saw a chameleon being chased by a boomslang (snake) we stopped to watch and the went under the truck the boomslang then decided the trucks chassy would be a good place to rest so it slithered up oh dear....there was nothing we could really do except drive on...a wee while later it did drop out as we drove and unfortunately got itself a little bit run over which was sad we got out (breaking national park rules) and watched as it slowly died...not cool... we did see more lions all chilling out under trees....later that evening we went on another game drive and ticked spotted hyenas off our checklist our first wild dog type thing Etosha proved to be amazing for wildlife!...

21st December-up for an early morning game drive we saw alot of antelope giraffe zebra etc but nothing new we did a long drive looking for leopard and cheetah but found none back at camp we had a huge brekkie and chilled out for the day disappointed the pool was filthy so we did laundry to cool off! that evening we headed on anther drive and saw heaps of stuff including mountain zebra we also say wildebeest going crazy chasing each other around and playing (i think the prospect of rain was making them frisky!) we also drove around a corner there was giraffe all over the road which scattered in every direction they are quite funny when they run...and when they drink....and when the eat....and when they just stand still....

22nd December- we drove ALL day ending up at a campsite call Nyepi on the river (we heard hippos snuffling around all night) the campsite had some weird funny toilets like the 'view with a loo' out in the open overlooking some reeds 'the toilet of Eden' surrounded by huge tropical plants a block with boys on one door girls on the other but both doors lead to two dunnies side by side one pink one with the lid padlocked up! signs in the showers read 'warning these showers contain H2O' all very funny!....

23 December-today we had a late start not leaving till 11am at about 4pm we crossed the border from Namibia into Zambia at which point we decided to continue all the way to Vic falls and have an extra night there so we didn't arrive till about 8.30pm we just had dinner and chilled

24th December-CHRISTMAS EVE we went to watch a briefing of the activities on offer at Vic falls then picked....we decided on a tour of the falls, a sunset dinner cruise,and white water rafting after the activities brief we headed into the town of Livingstone for final Xmas things when we got back we covered the truck in tinsel to make things christmassy that arvo we headed to the falls where we walked around took some amazing photos and got drenched it is very strange that you can see Zimbabwe across the bridge! the falls are stunning there is just so much water and they make so much noise so not alot of surprise that their traditional name translates as "the smoke that thunders" when we got back to camp we hit the bar we were so lucky that we were lent a laptop and skype so we could phone home briefly and speak to family on their mas morning after that it got a bit messy (not me i just get to laugh at everyone else!)...

25th December-MERRY CHRISTMAS!! we slept in and then contained to doze till late (mostly for the sake of LP the first time he woke up he was still drunk!) when finally i got up i put on my pretty new xmas dress...thanks Mr price...at around 10.30am we exchanged small gifts with friends then headed to the bar for a few drinks before lunch (are you pickin up on the drunken theme?) just before we ate we did a secret Santa we all got to sit on 'Santa's' knee we had a big xmas lunch then waddled down the road to a 4 star hotel to watch an African choir unfortunately we arrived just as the finished we did sit in their lobby for a while in the cool (lowering the tone of the establishment!)...im just upset i didn't pee in a posh loo!...the rest of the afternoon we spent in the pool playing with LPs secret Santa prezzie a padda tennis set and a game we invented with balloons full of water....loving the hot Christmas!

26th December BOXING DAY i can sum this up quickly we got up and ate a big cooked brekkie then we sat sat some more did a bit more sitting had lunch followed by sitting then for a change we sat in a different place then sat the sat then sat then sat and now I'm doing this sitting....

A few more adventures including MY BIRTHDAY!

So let me begin where i last left off way back on the 9th December We packed a back pack of all the stuff we needed for one night bush camping on an island in the middle of the Okavango Delta (its not much at all in fact we only took one bag between us and all that came out of it were our jandals and our doxy...) so off we trotted to the river bank where we jumped onto a speed boat and speeded down river to a point where we could transfer into Makoras (traditional dug out canoes) i sat right up front (almost losing my hat in the extreme wind...) and took in the view as it blurred past we arrived at the canoes where we met our polers (that's right we ride in style whilst someone else does all the grunt work...) our original guy was called Jack and he had a fairly new fibre glass jiggery whatsit i was like "so this ain't really traditional...but its sound,watertight and has nice high sides and comfy seats..."but then my contentment was dashed as we were asked to change Makoras (a weight thing) so we met our new poler Gladys i have to admit when she introduced herself i thought we wouldn't make it to the delta till night fall but she proved me wrong and showed what a tough old biddy she was we kept steady pace relatively close to the front the whole journey plus she pointed out heaps of neat stuff and caught a frog for us! we shared our snacks with her and became fast friends! her Makora was however more of a tradition style...basically a carved out tree trunk floating along the Delta i was concerned that if a hippo should cross our path we would be wasted!..(fortunately it doesn't really matter if you are floating on a dingy or a speed boat if a hippo don't like you he don't like you an you are toast...) the ride took about 2.5hours that's 2.5 hours of blissful sun filled snack filled floating along through the reeds (no hippos) when we arrived on the island (cant remember the spelling of its African name and i wont attempt to guess but it translated to 'Kudu horns') we had some lunch the lounged around for a few hours (the day was a sizzling hot fry an egg on your head 40 something degrees) the idea was that after 4pm the day would be cooler and we would go in search of some game only it hadn't cooled off at all...none the less we trooped off (in boots and long pants due to holes and long grass) we didn't see any animals just loads of spoor but we did have a walk filled with snacks first up we had some wild onions which tasted of...onions! then we had some small sour plums the skin was really bitter and jank but the flesh was like eating a squidgy sour lollie (sweet/candy bit of translating here) we walked for about 2.5 hours taking in the lovely scenery of the island before heading back to camp for tea and to my extreme delight we had baked beans and jacket spuds heck yes!

Friday 10th woke up at 5am (the first Early of many in a row!) for another game walk and it was worth it within minutes we spotted a massive bull elephant just going about his business enjoying life we also saw hippo,zebra,impala,warthogs,red lechwe,black backed jackel,wildebeest and a heap of birds including fish eagles,bateleur eagles an African barn owl and several hammerkops. we didnt walk too long just a few hours before the intense heat got us down so we headed back to camp and hung out till it was time to float our way back to the mainland the float took the same amount of time but we did see a crock which was EXCITING we were hands reach away from him just basking in the sun ignoring us completely!

Saturday 11th not alot to report from today we were on the road from 6am (yes driving from 6am till 7.30pm! we crossed the border into Namibia which was uneventful... (apart from the random girl doing drugs in the toilet whilst i almost peed my pants waiting)

Sunday 12th another long day on the road leaving at 7am and driving till about 3.30pm when we arrived at camp we didn't do alot set up tents and cooled off in the pool then that evening we drove to a big canyon which we climbed down...(being slightly retarded and not finding the stairs) we walked through the canyon and baboons threw rocks at us whilst i smiled and waved we clamoured here and there before heading back to the car park and having sun downers by the truck (and posing for some cheese factor photos on top of the truck...and almost falling whilst standing on one leg...) after sunset we went back to camp and crashed....

Monday 13th i feel like today was special...oh right it was MY BIRTHDAY! we woke up at 4am and drove 45km into the desert to climb a dune (named dune 45) and watch the sunrise! who else can say they watched the sunrise in Namibia on their 23rd birthday? we were told it only took 5-6 mins or 10 if you are slow so we set off at speed running up and almost dying in the process it actually took closer to a half hour to reach the highest ridge but heck it was worth it! we stayed up there quite a while taking in the spectacular view (and catching our breath) then we ran down the dune...LP is in his element here in Namibia he has both swimming pools to float like a dead person in (dont ask) and dunes to roll down (easily explained he likes to roll down stuff..) so he set off at extreme speed lost control and ate sand as he rolled to a stop at the bottom (and then staggered like a drunk person) we got back to the truck for birthday brekkie BAKED BEANS! then we drove further into the desert to explore we found a sand whippit snakes a bunch of lizards and a ton of beetles we also say gemsbok and sprinbok the landscape is truly outstanding and the sun played ball and didnt get to hot till we left yay! the rest of the day was spent chillaxing and eating lody a truly most perfect birthday!

Tuesday 14th another day on the road starting at a reasonable hour of 9am after a brekkie of eggy bread we drove and drove but it was through amazing landscapes of desert and gorges and canyons and big huge rock shapy thingys it was so lovely to look at we arrived into Swakapmund in time for a late lunch and a chilled afternoon and the loveliness of 3 nights in a hotel!

Wednesday 15th got up and had a huge cooked brekkie then got picked up and drived into the desert for a morning of sand boarding action! surprisingly LP didnt roll down a single dune instead saving his energy for the walk up between each run he maxed out at a speed of 71km/hour on the fast slope whilst i did a steady 67 then 68 the 69km/hour try as i might i couldn't brake the 70 barrier but heck yes it was fun! we spent all morning boarding then walking up and doing it again exhausting but brilliant at middayish we stopped for lunch then came back into town where we de-sanded not easy....then headed out shopping for my bday dress! (and my xmas dress) at about 7pm we headed out for dinner we had a beautiful gemsbok steak best game/antelope so far melt in your mouth perfection! then headed out for a night on the town (which was mostly playing pool and being checked out by a man in a white shirt....no Sam that's a women!)

next national park in a few days is Etosha (which my new e-mail friend Leonardix (the bank security guard)says is amazment yay)

I friggin LOVE Africa!

First of all i have to give myself a HUGE slap on the wrist! I'm not sure how i managed it but i forgot to blog about one of my FAVOURITE places in all of Africa! this was the Great Zimbabwe ruins in Zimbabwe (if you couldn't guess) it was the first place we visited when we got to Zim we stayed in the campsite inside the gates of the ruins but as we arrived late in the afternoon we didn't go to the ruins until the next day....we only spent just over 2 hours there but ideally i would have loved to stay all day we had a great guide (Phillip who asked me to be his second wife ...he offered LP 20 cattle...and a cellphone for me!) the time just flew by as he told us all the history and we walked around taking in the stunning views from the hilltop enclosure and marvelling at the 5m thick walls in the great enclosure 5m thick and way way high all built without the use of any mortar!....and then we went to Antelope park

well let me catch you up what we have been doing since...on Sunday 5th December we left Antelope park we were going to have a city stop off in Bulawayo to get to the post office,Internet etc but as it was Sunday the place was shut down just loads of peeps in their church clothes so we continued on our journey to Motobos national park we only spent one day there i wish we could have spent more as its way up there on the list of favourite places we arrived in the afternoon and went on a bush walk with the campsites main man Brown he showed us heaps of bushman paintings dating back 1000 years and pointed out all the spoor (poo and footprints) of various animals we saw a bunch of klipspringer bound across the road and then headed back to camp just as the skies let rip and the rain pissed down on us that night was so dark as the campsite was on day 7 of a power cut there wasn't even a moon or stars in the sky annoyingly this was also the night my torch ran out of battery's whoops!....

on the Monday we headed off with 2 local guides in 4x4s they were experts in the area and the park we spent the morning travelling to different caves filled with bushman (san) paintings and heard loads of information and tales about this absolutly incredible race. next stop was a local village where we met the chief poundo (named for the pound coin) an 80 year old guy with such spirit! he was dancing all over the show and even thought he didn't speak a word of English he told us all about himself and his family and asked after all of us (through our guide as translater) then his kids and grand kids did some traditional dancing for us and sung us songs Zimbabwe defiantly hasn't the warmest most welcoming people we have met so far! in the afternoon we tracked Rhino in the national park we saw one bull on his own with a horn over 75cm long! we got up ridiculously close to him and sat in the grass and watched while he went about life...in the park we also saw klipspringer,giraffes,steenbok and a ton of birds including black eagles snake eagles and a giant eagle owl...we then tracked some more rhino finding 4 in a clearing again we walked up close and were within metres luckily one of the guys looked behind us just in time to see a massive bull rhino strolling towards us no sooner had we moved when he charged towards the others running right across where we had been sitting!....

Tuesday we said a sad goodbye to Zim as we crossed the border into Botswana where apart from finding a post office Internet (and Nandos haha) we haven't yet done anything tomorrow we head into the Okavango Delta in canoes....

(sorry in advance for spelling/grammer mistakes!)

So i have soooo much to tell you and im sorry if i miss things out but i have left my journal somewhere so am doing this if the top of my head and due to lack of internet i have an extreme amount of days to catch you all up on!....well here goes....so we spent 7 nights in Mozmbique one in Maputo the capital city where the most exciting thing to happen was a friggin awesome lody (ice-cream)... we spent an afternoon lunching and interneting then went out for a meal altogether where i hiccuped whilst taking my doxy causing it to explode in my throat which lead to several days of a burnt throat and a foul taste in my mouth...

next morning we took a walk down to the market and marvelled at all the piles of fruit,veg,seafood and randomly budgies....that afternoon we drove to Tofo where we spent three lovely days sunning ourselves on a beautiful soft sandy beach every morning we were up by about 6am as the sun is instantly hot as soon as it rises and failure to get out of tents leads to slow cooked peeps haha!... the first day we headed out to sea on a small rigg and went snorkling with whale sharks i saw two and was within arms reach of a huge 5metre beauty! i did however get quite seasick so the whale sharks got my brekkie along with their usual plankton!...

the next day we chilled all day either on the beach or in the pool returning to the water everytime we came close to being dry the heat was so intense!...i lied it was 3 nights there not days so the third morning we were on the road again heading up the coast to Vilancouls (hope thats spelt right) where we spent 2 more nights as soon as we arrived hot and sticky from the road we jumped into the pool which overlooks the most goregous sea!...

the next day we hoped into a local boat (no seasickness this time) and headed across to one of the islands we used the moter going there and the sails comming back the trip each way took about an hour and a half once on the island we set off on a walk which we thought would take 30 mins only we misheard and it actually took and 1.5 hours it was a cool walk though we saw heaps of crabs and a whole flock of flamingos which were white until they lifted thier wings, underneath was brigh bright pink! when we got back to the boat a lovely lunch awaited of chargrilled red snapper rice colslaw crab and fresh fruits just what we needed! after lunch we snorkelled the reef for a few hours and saw so many amazing fish and corals then it was back to the mainland as the weather was changing and raining was comming close....that night we had an array of seafood (which LP actually tried...didnt like but tried) we have now had oysters,mussels,clams,crab,prawns and of course fish!...

next day we got up and drove all day and camped in a place we named bug city due to the intense volume of bugs amongst which were blister beatles and we are now travelling with 3 guys with blistered butts from sitting on them! that was also where we spent our 5 year anniversary so there wasnt much celebrating mostly hiding from bugs!...

next day we drove the 50 remaining miles to the Zimbabwe border where we crossed slowly but surely into our 4th country! we are now at Antelope park which specilises in rehiblitating lions although they also have other animals elephants antelopes (funnily enough) and other game zebra and giraffes.

yesterday the skies let rip so half a day we sheltered in the resturant making use of the free tea then when it cleared in the afternoon we set off to do 'elephant training' where we got to feed the elephants get on their backs watch them play football etc then we hoped on for a 60min safari atop Africas huge beast! we saw zebra and a tortoise and thats all the rains chase all the animals (giraffe included i really wanted to see one!) to the other side of the park for shelter but the ride was amazing they are such gentle intelligent beings!

then this morning we awoke at 5.30am to head out walking with the lions we went out with 3 juviniles one male two females the male is a bit of a loner so headed off on his own but the females were lovely rubbing up against us and letting us pat and cuddle them they are so lovely! when we left the male was stll awol and was later found by the river eating fish! tomorrow we leave Antelope park for another game reserve where we will hopefully see black rhino!......

Mozambique baby!

Today we have arrived in mozambique after 4 days in Szaziland ive found i quite like border crossings despite how long they can take from SA to Swaziland was easy as pie get out of truck walk in get stamped out of SA get back on truck drive into limbo get out of truck get stamped into Swaziland and Bobs your uncle! today Mozambique was just as easy but took alot longer there were forms to fill in and photos to be taken and money to be paid i look like a bit of a Dorcus Lane with a funny sideways half smile (we were not allowed to smile this made me desperatly want to smile!) also i moved a little so the top of my head got cut off haha!...

So what did we do in swaziland (this is the super quick run through i have 14 minutes left and counting and sorry to anyone on fb i havnt answered it wouldnt load i wasted 4 minutes on it arghhhh next internet i will reply) first day we spent roaming craft markets where i got some friggin choice African print pants which with my new sewing skills (and some help from Jeanne i made into wicked awesome cutoffs with a drawstring)...i did however split the crotch doing some Swazi dancing they are al mended now and i have also half told you about the Swazi dancers we went to wacth! we spent 1 night in Mlilwane national park where you can go on walikning Safaris we went out with a guide in the afternoon and learnt all there is to know about dung and then the next morning on our lonesomes following the "hippo" trail which actually took us rather to close to some crocidiles arggghhh!but it was fun! the next two days we spent in the Shewele (hope i spelt that right) mountains staying at a comminity project the orphan school there Ayibuyembeleko orphan school is sponsered by Truro college small world huh! we visited the school and a comminty project and also went to one of the homesteads for some locally brewed beer and had an awesome game of football against the locals we had 11 players they had 7 it was a draw yeah baby i kicked the ball twice! me and LP both played bare feet so have sore toesies! he also cut his head open heading the ball with sunglasses on and b roke his sunglasses which was sad times! i have to go now before i die of nervousness that my time runs out! peace!....

We jumped the worlds highest bungee...need i say more...

Of course i friggin need to say more cuz theres so much to tell! so let me put some dates in here so you know where i am and i know where i am and it saves confusion on both ends cuz lets face it I've confused myself already with this rambling...so its a Thursday the 11th of November and we leave Knysna (from where i last blogged) we left camp around 8am and let me tell you was i in a foul mood or what? (pretty much because later that morning i was planning on flinging myself off the worlds highest single span concrete bridge also home to the Guinness world record holding highest bungee) at about 9.30am we pulled into Bloukrans bridge where we paid, were weighed, harnessed and had a quick safety briefing before walking out to the middle of the bridge on a "bridge walk" for those of you not mental enough to have ever done this its basically a metal meshy cage bolted onto the underside of the bridge so yes you can see straight down into the gorge (where the river runs a muddy reddish brown...as the guide says from all those crapping their pants) when we got to the jumping platform we were told our jumping order LP was second i was third so he saw me as he was being hoisted back up and i watched him on the screen i jumped like a retard... it basically looked like i was trying to climb back up whilst jumping but LP jumped like a bungee ballerina so graceful sailing through the air...the bungee is 216m with a 4 second free fall and a 3 second pendulum swing then a minute to be winched back up (a full 60 seconds of major wedgie time)...we have a huge number of photos as proof as well as certificates...I'm so proud of us...and i was the only girl so even prouder of me!.... that afternoon we arrived at Tsitsikamma national park for one night it was friggin windy and rainy and in the campsite we saw a massive baboon apart from that we chillaxed....

12th November we arrived into Addo Elephant park where we set up camp,checked out the watering hole for a few hours (saw some Kudu in the far away distance) that afternoon we did a game drive as the day cooled down saw heaps of elephants (funnily enough) including several teeny tiny babies they are so friggin cute the curl their little trunks round the mamma's back legs as the walk and a juvy mock charged our truck which was quite exciting...the park hands out checklists so i was in my element checking off animals while LP took photos we also saw black backed Jackals meercats,yellow mongoose kudu and some pumbas...next day we did two more drives one at the crack of dawn and one late afternoon we checked off buffalo,a boomslang snake,osterich zebra eland red hartebeeste and a dung beetle ....

14th November we spent almost all day driving when we arrived at Chintsa ready to set up camp and get some food only to get well and truely stuck in the mud! we spent about 4 hours in total getting covered in mud (some alot more covered then others...i put up tents and carried bags up and down for peeps) that night we had to leave the truck stranded in the very churned up road to await being pulled out the next day (by a 4x4 pulling a tractor pulling the truck all in all it got out but it took a broken bull bar 1 broken chain a broken cord thing and some broken strappy things) that night was a big one getting back to camp after 4am with not everyone making it into tents and several waking up with drunken related injuries....(not me i was sober to tell all the tales mwaaaahahahah)....

15th November we spent the morning in camp with most peeps nursing their heads then after lunch we headed for a very quick spot of beaching the wind was roaring so after a quick swim and a spot of hole digging we retreated to the pool which we didn't swim in we played a fierce few hours of volleyball and played with Bella the dog (who adopted us and spent all evening the night and next morning trailing us around even sleeping away from home cuz she loved me so much!)...

16th November spent a good 12 hours trucking along the coast...nothing to report there....

17th November arrived in St Lucia where we will be staying at another national park on the look out for leopard and white rhino we have just had some delightfilled Wimpys and are feeling stuffed....(ruining my concentration is the Jesus music playing here in the Internet cafe and the fact that the e key sticks every time i push it!)...off to Swaziland on Friday....LOVING IT!....

Catch up on our first week on the road...

(please excuse any spelling errors i am speed typing...and lazy..)

hello my little lovelies! we have now been on the road a week and are loving it! its so scorching here most days but night times are quite cool we are realising that perhaps we don't have as much practical gear as we should...but hey...

Since i last wrote we have been up to quite a lot! our first day on the road we spent ducking in and out of wineries in Stellenbosch along the garden route I mostly wandered around the lovely grounds LP did sample some but un-surprisingly was not much of a fan...we got to visit a cheetah sanctuary that had Cheetahs captured rather then destroyed after eating livestock its a breeding programme as well so lots of cubs so cute! also theres little kittens all over the show they wont let me cuddle them though!that night we set up camp and sat looking up at the ...clouds...when the stars are out they are so bright!...

next day we headed into Stellenbosch town its a uni town so lots of students we wandered round for a while then headed to the edge of town where there is a nature reserve there we saw loads of birds and three tortoises and a heap of lizards...

the next day it was back on the road first stop was Betty's bay and a penguin colony they were everywhere! so cute waddling around like drunk old men.. my favourite is when they run really fast then fall over we spent a good while just laughing at (with?) them!then it was back on track to Hermanus "the worlds best land based whale watching"only all we saw was the water from a blowhole...we did see two chameleons and i got to hold one! also we have seen Dassies everywhere including babies at the penguin colony they are so friggin cute i cant catch one though despite numerous efforts!...that night we were bush camping complete with poo pit but was so lovely having a tent in the middle of nowhere we walked up a big hill and sat and watched the sunset the colours were amazing...

next day we roasted as we walked over the dunes onto the beach and a long slog into town we saw whales along the way which was lovely! when we got to town cold drinks were a necessity after which we headed back to the water where i swam in my knickers and bra it was so hot the water was coldish but crystal clear and there were fish all over the show...that night back at camp we saw our first snake yay! it was long long long a mole snake we have been told!...

next day we rolled out of camp and were on the road about 3 hours till we reached the southern most tip of Africa Cape Alguhas it was sooooo ridiculously windy there so we didn't spend to much time by the beach instead heading to the campsite and pitching up i got quite bad hay fever so retired to the tent... whilst LP went to watch Cricket in the bar...

Next day our first long day in the truck about 7 hours total not much other then being in the truck we did however see our first elephant and Baboons and i sampled oysters for the first time raw with Tabasco i actually quite liked them...

today we saw some sweet bids at camp they were lorries (unsure of spelling here) and also a mother and baby bush buck right behind our tent! the wildlife here is amazement everyday we see something new it blows my mind today we are having a town day Internet, money changing, postcards then this arvo we are off to play golf...in our jandals...

You did what???? (is what you will be saying when you read this)

Today is day 2 in cape town and we headed back to the waterfront where we got the ferry over to Robben island which is where Nelson Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years in prison its a really moving place and the guide is a former political prisoner...

Yesterday was day 2 in Cape town and we decided to head up table mountain in the cable car for those of you who don't know what table mountain looks like google it and then imagine it in real life its friggin huge so much bigger than i was expecting! so up we went its nothing like Christchurch's little gondola in fact it makes that look like the kiddies ride at a fair! so up we went with the idea of looking what the trail down was like and if it wasn't to rough we would walk it and if it was we would stop being tight and cough up another R90 when we got to McClears beacon we decided to wing it and head down we spent some of the time walking and the other time climbing or sliding down on our bums it was probably the hardest thing iv ever done...oh and did i mention we did it in jandals...

We are in Africa!!

So this morning i finally got to accomplish a childhood dream setting foot on African soil and even better i don't have to leave for almost half a year I'm so excited i could wet my pants! Our first day has been a good one after arriving in Cape town this morning we got to the hotel checked in showered dressed and what have you then set out adventuring we didn't have much of a plan just to wander...we ended up at the Victoria and Albert waterfront where we spent the afternoon taking in the scenery eating ice-cream watching a slightly strange Italian movie being filmed and riding on a boat around the bay with a comedian as a guide it was very interesting and lovely to get some breeze we even saw seals! on the way home however i stubbed my toe so bad i left a small puddle of blood on the pavement and a large puddle of blood in my jandal ironically our very comprehensive first aid kit was sitting in our hotel room whoops! apart from that slight mishap it has been a lovely day bring on more Africa!...

Merry "Christmas"

let me start off by saying its now 11.17pm (or 10.14pm depending on if you have or haven't turned your clock back...) and i am sitting here blogging and enjoying and i mean really enjoying a left over roast turkey sandwich... but I'm getting ahead of myself so let me explain...

Today has been a great day! as a final farewell we are celebrating Christmas complete with Turkey, presents, Christmas crackers and fairy lights its amazement! The day started this morning with a massive skype catch up with Moo and Sian back home in NZ... whilst talking i said "its Christmas so we should be eating smoked salmon and scrambled eggs for brekkie a tradition which ended up continuing today... all it took was a quick trip into town to pick up supplies since that breakfast (which was really at lunchtime) it has felt like its actually Christmas... LP got the turkey on... then we relaxed until bout half two when we got the veg going and the pavlova topped.... then it was time for prezzies we got such a good haul! (and gave lovely gifts as well if i do say so myself) around 4.30pm we sat down for an AMAZING meal then (after doing all the washing up) we hobbled into the living room and watched TV/napped for a while before stuffing our faces with yet more food (the Pavlova) then it was out to the pub for a quick drink with some friends now back at home getting ready for our long day tomorrow...

The presents in all their glory...

Sue opening a prezzie...

LP showing off our card from moo (thanks Moo!!!!)...

Me and my brand new head torch ...

All around the dinner table...

And the other end...

Me panda hat and my Xmas hat...

Pav before decoration...

Finished product....

LP relaxing with a full belly...

LP has now printed off our boarding passes after checking in online a process which i find baffling what if (touch wood) you don't make it to the airport?... any who we got to choose our seats which were already mostly all gone... we got the last window seat.... LP loves looking out the window i love turning into a zombie watching a movie then conking out till we arrive... when we get to Heathrow all we need to do is drop off our luggage and head through security...tomorrow we just have one or two things to get done before we head off to the station our train is 8.45am but due to day light saving ending its actually 9.45am so it wont even feel early! this time tomorrow we will be on board the plane the adventure has finally started!....

This will be my last post from Blighty so i say a big goodbye to mother England see you in half a yearish...

Look what I can do!

The last few weeks i have been a busy little bee sewing up these cute little bags... (We call them moon bags but don't ask why its one of those things that doesn't make sense if you weren't there and so is just a tad weird!)... any who I'm so impressed with my sewing skills and i now know TWO different stitches which is extremely good as before i started i knew a grand total of none!

My lovely auntie is the one who taught me how to make them and also provided me with the dried lavender to put inside... harvested from her beautiful garden earlier in the year...

They don't really have alot to do with anything but I'm so proud of myself that i had to show them off so enjoy....

On another completely different note this week has been bizarre for me... normally i have no trouble sleeping what-so-ever as in i can sleep anywhere anytime on trains,planes,buses,cars in the morning, in the afternoon, at night, in a bed on the couch, i have even been known to curl up in a little ball on the floor in the staffroom at lunchtime for a 20 minute kip if the mood so takes me... but this last week i close my eyes and just lay there sleepy but wide awake at the same time its so strange i think its excitement but not my usual jump up and down screaming i could throw up I'm so excited excitement more of a extremely zen peaceful excitement in which i dream (whilst awake) of Africa and all the adventures we will so soon be having....so soon as in two more sleeps till we leave!....

Its the final countdown!

"We're leaving together...but still its farewell...."

This time next Sunday we shall be at Heathrow airport just waiting for our flight our last few hours in England before getting on that airplane and arriving in Africa....just seven short days and we will be leaving... its kind of surreal now that its almost finally here...i only have two more shifts at work tomorrow and Wednesday LP has five (but i need the extra days to pack up we have already started by putting LPs cricket kit up in the loft)

the countdown is officially on once work is over we are all going to enjoy "Christmas" this year we are having a little celebration on the 29th October! and then its final preparations and off and away! Africa here we come!...

Books Books and more books!

I all things Africa and since i can say that my only natural talent is reading i think its only natural that i love reading about Africa i can safely say that two of my favourite books of all time are "A story like the wind" and "A far off place" by Laurence Van Der post (i wasn't so keen on the movie adaption which is a surprise as its Disney and i love all things Disney) other memorable African books are "Half of a yellow sun"-Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and "The other hand"-Chris Cleave... anyway its safe to say I've read some amazing African books in my time... but since we first started planning our Africa trip earlier in the year my reading list has been almost exclusively African from African themed novels ("things fall apart"-Chinua Achebe,"Heart of Darkness"- Joesph Conrad,"white mischief"-James Fox the list goes on and on and on...) to travel writing ("Dark star safari"-Paul Theroux, "Geldof in Africa"-Bob Geldof, "Livingstone's tribe-A journey from Zanzibar to the Cape"- Stephen Taylor again the list goes on and on...)to guide books (lonely Planet-Africa)...i am from all fronts absorbing all things Africa including now watching African themed movies (the constant Gardener,Out of Africa,Gorillas in the mist...and a whole lot more downloaded and on LPs i-pod to watch whilst in Africa...)and listening to African tribal music that LP has down loaded... i have now read all the relevant books that the Truro library has on offer and have branched out to reading about all of Africa Rather then just the countries we are going to i am currently reading "Blood River" by Tim Butcher its all about his journey across the Congo following in the footsteps of H.M Stanley's famous expedition its an amazing book and a real eye opener to how other people live... its sure going to be different from our African Adventure riding in relative luxury compared with the hardships that the vast majority of the Continent endure...

I have also recently finished reading "The map of love"-Ahdaf Soueif in it there is a powerful paragraph (many of you will have already read it in some form its one of those things that circulates in forwards emails...)

"if we could shrink the Earths population to a village of 100 people, with all the existing human ratios staying the same, it would look like this: There would be 57 Asians , 21 Europeans, 14 from the Americas and 8 Africans. 80 would live in Substandard housing. 70 would be unable to read. 50 would suffer from malnutrition. 50 percent of the entire worlds wealth would be in the hands of only 6 people. And all 6 would be citizens of the untied states." -Ahdaf Soueif

of all the things i have read lately this really stuck out to me...It really makes you think...

I got Your Money Monies!

This morning when i headed downstairs to put some washing on i stuck my head out onto the porch to see if we had any post... and to my delight found a little package that had been squeezed through the flap in the door... i already knew what it was but resisted opening it till LP came home from work... when finally he arrived home just moments before i had to head out the door to work... we opened it together and what did we find...MONEY 6435.2 in various African currencies to be exact...you see i am lucky enough to have a lovely Auntie who travels for work in Africa who sent this little bundle of joy...anyway 6435.2 yeah baby we have hit the jackpot!....only when you convert that into pounds it does only add up to £13.12...but when you consider that 1000 Kenyan Shillings will buy you a meal in a restaurant or that 20 Kenyan shillings will get you a ride on the bus or that 250 Malawian Kwacha will get you two bottles of beer its all pretty good really i cant wait to actually get to Africa and spend it!...

Visa Fever

Since we are going to be heading through a whopping 15 countries in Africa I'm rather pleased that we only have to get one visa before we go... so last week we sent away all our forms and passports (and some money) for tourist visas for Egypt...i was fairly certain they would arrive on time but there's always that tiny little nagging feeling that something will go horribly wrong!...now some of you may say I'm worrying for nothing but considering LPs UK work holiday visa arrived mere hours before we got on a plane i think this is reasonable! lucky for us we didn't have weeks of uncertainty and annoyance as our visas arrived back this afternoon...LPs looks so lovely but mine is crooked he says we will have enough stamps and whatnot in our passports to worry... but then again his is straight so he would say that!...I'm quite pleased that i have something in my passport as its my brand spanking new NZ one its black and silver so much cooler then LPs stinky old blue one!...

strangeness lurking

let me start with an apology... it is almost certain that even I cannot make this post relate to Africa or travelling or anything that my blog is normally about... but today I saw something I just cant keep to myself...Its not often that you see a lady with a beard yet today I saw two... yes that's right two ladies each sporting a beard... why?... do they not have mirrors at their houses? because I'm fairly certain that if i wake up tomorrow with a beard the first thing I will do is grab the closest available wax strip/tweezers/razor that comes to hand... so how can both these ladies walk around with over a centimetre of beard protruding from their chins!?!...now as i write this I'm thinking to myself "are you being a hypocrite Georgia?"... for just yesterday I was complaining to LP that at the moment I look a bit like a man in drag... there is a reason for this and that reason is I'm currently growing out my eyebrows... about a month ago I looked in the mirror from across the room and I looked like I only had one eyebrow!...yes I am guilty of over plucking but its only because I don't actually want to look like a man... be it in drag...once when I was at school a close guy friend of mine turned to me and said "no offence Georgia but you kind of look like a man" I'm sorry but on what planet is that not an offensive comment? luckily I did find it quite funny I'm reasonably sure i don't look like a man (except with my bush man eyebrows) so believe it or not I laughed about it... now I'm not really sure where I'm going with any of this but had to share it with someone beards on women are not attractive...

on another note (which actually does have something to do with Travelling....) today I quit my job from tomorrow I officially only have two weeks left of work... then three days to finish packing,pack up our room,say all our goodbyes and head off into the great unknown...Africa we are coming home....

Panda Hat and other bits and bobs

Last year around this time.... well a little bit later when I was thinking of what I wanted for Christmas I started to see people wearing the coolest hat around... and to tell you the absolute truth I was so jealous I didn't have one... I wanted one so bad but didn't know where to get it.... I even walked up to a girl on the street and asked but hers was gift and she didn't know...I sent LP on a mission I wanted this hat for Christmas so bad... but alas come Christmas morning there was no panda hat...sometime during the year I found out who sold them as a friend had one but there was none left...you can then imagine my utter absolute extreme excitement when yesterday we were out and about at the shops and happened to stumble upon one! lucky for me I have an amazing Auntie who brought it for me and I have barely taken it off since... despite the fact that the last two days have been two of the loveliest days in weeks!... Panda hat is in fact going to now travel with me always at all times panda hat is not only a hat but a travel companion and lucky charm...(i know I'm so weird)...below are some delight filled photos of me and panda hat in the garden in the sunshine...

Panda hat as a mask

Panda hat as a hat

Playing with stones

Hiding behind a tree

Ok so moving on (I Know you don't want to I don't either panda hat is so amazing I'm still wearing it as I type) onto some other news...

"Money makes the world go round"

Not only a snappy tune from the musical cabaret... but also a sad truth... Today we had hoped to get all our currency we need a bundle of American dollars... so off we trooped around town getting the best quotes... we started off in M&S not a bad rate but we're not silly enough to take the first thing we look at... next we tried our bank LP left me in charge of speaking.... let it be noted for the record i didn't actually want to and surprise surprise somehow...(and I'm going to try and blame the cashier here but I'm pretty sure I just asked wrong I don't really get numbers...) they gave us an AMAZING rate I'm talking hundreds of dollars better then M&S... turns out that was the "them buying from us rate" not "the us buying from them rate" so turned out to be not that great so off we went...next stop the post office (where I let LP do the talking) the best rate so far but we still had one more place to ask and it was worth waiting for (ish) now I add the ish at this point because although Sainsburys gave the best rate (mostly down to the fact that they have preferential rates for employees... (and LP is an employee) but what a hullabaloo the travel money counter is quite new... its only been there a few weeks and they are still ironing out most of the kinks... for one it took so much longer then it needed to... we told them what we needed- American dollars,large bills,good condition,year 2000 or newer the lady at the desk just didn't seem to comprehend this... she wanted to give us some kind of travel money card and wouldn't quite listen that we were going to more African countries then just south Africa... when she finally realised we only wanted cash she tried to give us $300 in $1 bills slightly ridiculous? um id say hugely ridiculous! eventually it was decided we couldn't get all of what we wanted because they didn't have it in stock so we would get some today, they would order more, and LP would get it tomorrow... so we payed and then waited while she counted out the bills.... shes counting away "$100,$200,$300...etc...$1000,$1100,$1200...etc...$1600,$1650,$2000" im not so good with numbers but i don't think even I'm that bad but we all had a laugh about it and despite it taking a long time she was a lovely lady and we are half way to having all the cash we need so thanks Sainsburys travel money lady (called Moni which as a little joke in my head I read as Money!)

Later on......

After getting our money we did some groceries then headed home, had a spot of lunch, wrote a resignation letter for my job, then organised all our gear... last Wednesday I had a bit of a practice pack it wasn't to hard and I got mostly everything in (considering my pack is 65L but LPs is only 40L I don't think this was a bad first attempt)... but last Wednesday I didn't include everything... (not our mountain of Anti-Malaria meds, not all our electronics-torches,chargers etc and not our entertainment items-books,PSP,ipods, journals,mini-cludeo or monopoly cards)... to start off with we reorganised all our pills... they come in useless packs of 8 tablets so we put 3 packs in each box...Then we got everything we could possibly need out and put it out on the bed....we started by packing our carry on luggage. once that was done... we packed our packs LP had a brilliant idea and so his pack contains our sleeping bags,bed rolls ,first aid kit, and a few other bits and bobs and then my bigger pack has all our clothes and toiletries and boots which take up so much space! all in all it was hugely successful and LP even stuck around long enough to help unpack (unfortunately we still need things before we go)... as we unpacked we also started the process of packing up our room which has now left us with two massive bags of clothes to donate somewhere...I wonder if some of them will end up in a market somewhere in Africa....

Drugs anyone?

So on Friday LP took our prescription for the most dreaded and hated anti- malaria tablets into the pharmacy (boots was our pharmacy of choice very good price, wonderful service...) and since it was such a humongous order we had to wait until Monday to pick it up so on my lunch break yesterday i popped in asked for it then waited.... as the pharmacist double checked it all....i waited...and waited... and waited.... for this...

that's enough doxycycline for me and LP for our entire trip!

Pretty much need another bag each for all our pills!

One pile for LP...one for me...

Can you see now why this has been the bane of my life since i first started rambling about it on here?

(now let me just point out although this post is headed "drugs anyone?" I'm not actually giving away/selling drugs....just to avoid confusion...)...

These boots were made for walking.....

So recently as you know LP brought my hiking boots back from NZ... they have been sitting there in a bag in the crawl space above the garage since my semi-childhood bedroom was completely moved into storage.... so i figured along with the whole "i have to break these boots back in so they don't give me massive blisters..." it might be nice to have some fun with it and since my lovely friend Maezee (that's right you get a shout out!) back in NZ insisted on photos i thought i would write a random blog all about my boots (and LP's if you remember i made him get some too although he says they are are lovely to wear although he didn't use the word lovely that was all me...) so any who long story short yesterday we turned regular Sunday into... boot trek Sunday!! and went for a somewhat leisurely walk around St Clements... we are yet to re-test/test the boots on some mountainous terrain but for now at least they have had a run in the mud and puddles of the Cornish countryside....

Setting off from home...

the hard track ahead...

Me trekking along...

Jumping over puddles...

Heel click!

Taking a break from trekking to skim some stones...

LP jumps for joy!...(or more likely because i made him)

My boots as they look like from directly above...

LP's boots looking a bit muddy...

Home again home again Jiggidy jig....

Heres hoping this wee jaunt will have slightly prepared our boots for Africa...i dont think so somehow...