South Africa - Lanscapes and Animals, a set on Flickr.
A few pictures from our recent trip to RSA...
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Behind the Lens…
Sue got me a second hand Digital SLR camera for my Xmas/Birthday present and the first time I have used in anger was on our South African trip, with mixed success. I realised early on that I need more practice and training to be able to master the manual settings and so I have a subscription to a magazine, a book on the subject and now I have joined the Dorking Camera Club with the hope I can improve.
More of wot I have heard…
Let Them Talk by Hugh Laurie
Everybody knows the multitalented Hugh Laurie, rowed in the boat race for his university, acclaimed comedian and actor of stage, TV and film, but now we hear he is a musical genius as well… …there must be something wrong with the guy.
His new album shows his passion for the blues and showcases his not inconsiderable talent at the piano and guitar. It is a faithful and heartfelt tribute to a school of music that has influenced so many, and it’s a good listen as well.
Oh my God, Charlie Darwin by The Low Anthem
American indie-folk-rockers The Low Anthem’s music can tug at the heart strings on a wispy ballad or can have you bouncing around the room with a heavy beat, all with very accomplished musicianship and certain amount of facial hair.
Flaws by the Bombay Bicycle Club
A young UK indie-folk band who have been influenced by traditional folk music, but not let it stop them from adding their own thing to it in a familiar and at the same time refreshing style.
Jupiter’s Corner by The Carrivick Sisters
Devon based twins are as talented as they are beautiful and we witnessed this at our local folk group. They play a multiple array of instruments in a bluegrass heavy set of music and where their un-amplified voices sometimes got lost live; the album is balanced to bring the lyrics forward better.
Everybody knows the multitalented Hugh Laurie, rowed in the boat race for his university, acclaimed comedian and actor of stage, TV and film, but now we hear he is a musical genius as well… …there must be something wrong with the guy.
His new album shows his passion for the blues and showcases his not inconsiderable talent at the piano and guitar. It is a faithful and heartfelt tribute to a school of music that has influenced so many, and it’s a good listen as well.
Oh my God, Charlie Darwin by The Low Anthem
American indie-folk-rockers The Low Anthem’s music can tug at the heart strings on a wispy ballad or can have you bouncing around the room with a heavy beat, all with very accomplished musicianship and certain amount of facial hair.
Flaws by the Bombay Bicycle Club
A young UK indie-folk band who have been influenced by traditional folk music, but not let it stop them from adding their own thing to it in a familiar and at the same time refreshing style.
Jupiter’s Corner by The Carrivick Sisters
Devon based twins are as talented as they are beautiful and we witnessed this at our local folk group. They play a multiple array of instruments in a bluegrass heavy set of music and where their un-amplified voices sometimes got lost live; the album is balanced to bring the lyrics forward better.
Another Mid-Life Crisis…
I seem to have these every so often and at the moment I am hankering for a VW Kombi again. A couple of companies (Danbury and VW Kampers) import the old Type 2 van from where it is still made in Brazil and convert them into campervans, the only thing is they are about £35k each. Even the original ones and the older more iconic split-screen versions are incredibly expensive here, good ones easily demanding £15k.
We went out on Saturday to see if I could get it out of me system by visiting a motor home show. On the way we came across signs for Dubs at the Park, and so a detour was made and we found ourselves in the grounds of an old stately home crawling with old Volkswagens. There were some absolutely gorgeous examples of the splitty and bay window vans to be seen, and some were for sale, but even tatty old bangers were going for more then you would expect.
After wiping the drool off my chin we carried on to the Southern Motor Caravan Show were we found ourselves amongst all manner of sizes and shapes of motor homes, nearly all white panel work outside and dreadful chintz upholstery inside. Some were huge with lounges bigger than ours at home, but all had the feeling of old people’s homes on wheels. Some of them were very reasonably priced, in comparison to the vee-dubs we had just seen, but even the smallest ones were too big when you don’t have off street parking, and none could be used as your day-to-day runabout.
I started to realise it wasn’t a camper van that I wanted, but a VW Kombie van.
It was further complicated when we looked inside one of the static homes that was finished to look like a log cabin. Rather than the old fashioned soft furnishings and traveller external paintwork, this one was more for the holiday park market and had all the mod-cons inside, flat screen TV above the stylish wall mounted fire, piped music throughout, a fully fitted kitchen with double door American style fridge, an suite wet room and a bright and airy feel inside. We had a moment there where we started to mentally go through the possibility of selling our house, buying the cabin and having it located in some picturesque country local and still buying the camper van… …we shook our heads and decided to leave before the dark side over powered us.
After the motor home show we went on to Cliveden, a lovely former home of the Astor’s and now a grand hotel. We had a walk about and tea in the orangey, but it was getting late and the wind outside was making strolling about unpleasant, so we continued on into the city where we planned to meet some Kiwi friends of ours.
We met at the Punch and Judy on Covent Garden for a quick drink before relocating to a lovely nearby restaurant where we spent a lovely few hours over dinner chatting and catching up on what we had all been doing over that intervening period. It was a great evening, but with all the running about we had done we were glad to get back home and tumble into our bed.
We went out on Saturday to see if I could get it out of me system by visiting a motor home show. On the way we came across signs for Dubs at the Park, and so a detour was made and we found ourselves in the grounds of an old stately home crawling with old Volkswagens. There were some absolutely gorgeous examples of the splitty and bay window vans to be seen, and some were for sale, but even tatty old bangers were going for more then you would expect.
After wiping the drool off my chin we carried on to the Southern Motor Caravan Show were we found ourselves amongst all manner of sizes and shapes of motor homes, nearly all white panel work outside and dreadful chintz upholstery inside. Some were huge with lounges bigger than ours at home, but all had the feeling of old people’s homes on wheels. Some of them were very reasonably priced, in comparison to the vee-dubs we had just seen, but even the smallest ones were too big when you don’t have off street parking, and none could be used as your day-to-day runabout.
I started to realise it wasn’t a camper van that I wanted, but a VW Kombie van.
It was further complicated when we looked inside one of the static homes that was finished to look like a log cabin. Rather than the old fashioned soft furnishings and traveller external paintwork, this one was more for the holiday park market and had all the mod-cons inside, flat screen TV above the stylish wall mounted fire, piped music throughout, a fully fitted kitchen with double door American style fridge, an suite wet room and a bright and airy feel inside. We had a moment there where we started to mentally go through the possibility of selling our house, buying the cabin and having it located in some picturesque country local and still buying the camper van… …we shook our heads and decided to leave before the dark side over powered us.
After the motor home show we went on to Cliveden, a lovely former home of the Astor’s and now a grand hotel. We had a walk about and tea in the orangey, but it was getting late and the wind outside was making strolling about unpleasant, so we continued on into the city where we planned to meet some Kiwi friends of ours.
We met at the Punch and Judy on Covent Garden for a quick drink before relocating to a lovely nearby restaurant where we spent a lovely few hours over dinner chatting and catching up on what we had all been doing over that intervening period. It was a great evening, but with all the running about we had done we were glad to get back home and tumble into our bed.
More of wot I have seen…
We have just been to see Warhorse at the New London Theatre as a belated Mother’s Day treat with Sue’s mom and sister. We had read the book by the children’s author Michael Morpurgo, and were very taken with the tale. The stage production had to be altered from the original story to accommodate the point of view other than that of the horse. The sets were deliberately sparse and the animals were life sized puppets but this did not detract from the story, in fact, along with the clever use of projected ‘hand drawn’ graphics, it actually gave you room as an audience to use your imagination like you would in a book. It was very engaging and well performed and produced. The unexpected highlights were the superb singing of traditional folk anti war songs and a comedy turn by the animated goose.
I here that a film version of the book is due out at the end of the year, even so, I would recommend seeing the stage show and that youngsters read the book.
I here that a film version of the book is due out at the end of the year, even so, I would recommend seeing the stage show and that youngsters read the book.
City Living…
We were planning to visit London on the weekend to see a show and so we arranged to travel in earlier to catch up with Jamie to celebrate his 25th birthday. We had cakes at the apartment he shares with Beth and then we all went out for lunch at a lovely place in Bermondsey Square. What a cool place it is too, the whole square, café’s, museums, cinema, shops, office and residential all in an interesting and vibrant little space. It made me wish I could have a London crash-pad and spend more time in places like that one. The only down side was when we were walking back to the flat and Jamie and I were verbally abused by a couple of drunks and for a moment we both were close to turning all caveman until Nan came to the rescue and saw them off.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
More of wot I have read…
Mayan Prophecy by Steve Alten
I was given this book for my holiday away and although I don’t think I have ever given up on a book, this one came close. It was full of action and drama but there was something about the characters and the plot that was all too two dimensional and it was hard to engage with the book. Not one I would recommend.
‘For thirty-two years, archaeologist Julius Gabriel investigated the Mayan calendar, a 2,500-year-old enigma that predicts the Apocalypse. His research led him to believe that ancient constructions like the Great Pyramid, Stonehenge, Angkor Wat, and Chichen Itza, were all built as part of a primeval fail-safe system, that might save humanity from total annihilation. But now Julius is dead, and his theories have perished with him, discredited and ridiculed.
With the help of Dominique, a part-Mayan psychiatric intern, Julius' son, Michael, breaks out of an insane asylum in Miami, where he has been illegally imprisoned. Together they flee to the Yucatan Peninsula, where Michael believes he can find the evidence he needs to prove his father's theory, and to convince the world of the fast-approaching global catastrophe.
In Mexico, at the autumn equinox, a serpent's shadow appears over the northern face of the Temple of Kukulcan, as it has done for a thousand years. But this time is different - it is the beginning of the end...’
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell
After reading this and Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell is my current favourite author. It was an engaging story with believable characters in a highly detailed and mysterious world. This was a superbly crafted piece of work that satisfied the reader on so many levels.
‘The year is 1799, the place Dejima in Nagasaki Harbor, the “high-walled, fan-shaped artificial island” that is the Japanese Empire’s single port and sole window onto the world, designed to keep the West at bay; the farthest outpost of the war-ravaged Dutch East Indies Company; and a de facto prison for the dozen foreigners permitted to live and work there. To this place of devious merchants, deceitful interpreters, costly courtesans, earthquakes, and typhoons comes Jacob de Zoet, a devout and resourceful young clerk who has five years in the East to earn a fortune of sufficient size to win the hand of his wealthy fiancée back in Holland.
But Jacob’s original intentions are eclipsed after a chance encounter with Orito Aibagawa, the disfigured daughter of a samurai doctor and midwife to the city’s powerful magistrate. The borders between propriety, profit, and pleasure blur until Jacob finds his vision clouded, one rash promise made and then fatefully broken. The consequences will extend beyond Jacob’s worst imaginings. As one cynical colleague asks, “Who ain’t a gambler in the glorious Orient, with his very life?”’
I was given this book for my holiday away and although I don’t think I have ever given up on a book, this one came close. It was full of action and drama but there was something about the characters and the plot that was all too two dimensional and it was hard to engage with the book. Not one I would recommend.
‘For thirty-two years, archaeologist Julius Gabriel investigated the Mayan calendar, a 2,500-year-old enigma that predicts the Apocalypse. His research led him to believe that ancient constructions like the Great Pyramid, Stonehenge, Angkor Wat, and Chichen Itza, were all built as part of a primeval fail-safe system, that might save humanity from total annihilation. But now Julius is dead, and his theories have perished with him, discredited and ridiculed.
With the help of Dominique, a part-Mayan psychiatric intern, Julius' son, Michael, breaks out of an insane asylum in Miami, where he has been illegally imprisoned. Together they flee to the Yucatan Peninsula, where Michael believes he can find the evidence he needs to prove his father's theory, and to convince the world of the fast-approaching global catastrophe.
In Mexico, at the autumn equinox, a serpent's shadow appears over the northern face of the Temple of Kukulcan, as it has done for a thousand years. But this time is different - it is the beginning of the end...’
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell
After reading this and Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell is my current favourite author. It was an engaging story with believable characters in a highly detailed and mysterious world. This was a superbly crafted piece of work that satisfied the reader on so many levels.
‘The year is 1799, the place Dejima in Nagasaki Harbor, the “high-walled, fan-shaped artificial island” that is the Japanese Empire’s single port and sole window onto the world, designed to keep the West at bay; the farthest outpost of the war-ravaged Dutch East Indies Company; and a de facto prison for the dozen foreigners permitted to live and work there. To this place of devious merchants, deceitful interpreters, costly courtesans, earthquakes, and typhoons comes Jacob de Zoet, a devout and resourceful young clerk who has five years in the East to earn a fortune of sufficient size to win the hand of his wealthy fiancée back in Holland.
But Jacob’s original intentions are eclipsed after a chance encounter with Orito Aibagawa, the disfigured daughter of a samurai doctor and midwife to the city’s powerful magistrate. The borders between propriety, profit, and pleasure blur until Jacob finds his vision clouded, one rash promise made and then fatefully broken. The consequences will extend beyond Jacob’s worst imaginings. As one cynical colleague asks, “Who ain’t a gambler in the glorious Orient, with his very life?”’
Friday, May 06, 2011
Out of Africa…
We have just returned from a long three week break in South Africa with some friends of ours who came from there originally and we returning to visit family and friends and to show their young daughter some of the sights.
We flew out on Virgin Airways and did not have great service. There were over seventy children on the flight and the staff had not catered for them, so we all suffered.
Our first port of call was Cape Town where we had rented a couple of cars and an apartment in Green Point near the Victoria & Alfred waterfront.
On the first day we went around the bay to get the iconic view back towards Table Mountain. The water looked too inviting for Yendall and Sue to resist, but they were soon back out when they felt the cold Atlantic waters. Later on we went shopping for supplies and then ventured out to the waterfront for a meal.
The next day we went up the mountain on the cable car. We had spectacular views across Cape Town from the dizzying heights. The weather was brilliant and we walked around the top seeing cute little dassies along with lizards, birds and other small creatures. We were very lucky with the conditions as we later heard the mountain had been closed for days, and a day or so afterwards there was the famous table cloth cloud covering it over.
After that we drove around a few of the bays.
While we were in Cape Town we also saw sea lions, penguins at the Boulder’s Beach colony, hungry and scary baboons, and ostriches on the beach at Cape Point. We visited the lovely Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens where we saw some amazing plants and some creepy golden orb spiders. We stopped for smoked snoek at Hout Bay and went for a spin on the wheel back at the V&A waterfront.
After a few days we went on to the Wine Region where we stayed at a lovely rural location which we used for a few days of touring around the Stelenbosch region visiting a few vineyards, the historic town, and admiring the stunning scenery. Vineyards we stopped at included Simonsig, Hartenberg where we had a superb lunch, Delheim, Muratie that had great port – though no chocolate today, Spier where we visited the Cheater Outreach and Eagle Encounter centers, Neethlingshof, and Fairview where they make the Goats do Roam wine and where we had great wine and cheese sampling.
We split up for the day after that as the others went to visit friends in George and we continued on to Knysna where stopped in a delightfully quirky place and had the most amazing seafood meal.
In the morning we went up to the Heads and decided that this would be a great place to return to.
We met up again in Jeffery’s Bay on one of the few rainy days of our trip but we still managed to get out and visit the world renowned surf beach and when we returned early the next morning we were rewarded with the sight of a pod of dolphins surfing alongside the human surfers.
Near Port Elizabeth we went to stay a few days at the Addo Elephant Park and were very impressed with the site as a whole. It was our first visit to a park like this and we were not sure what we would find, but we were pleasantly surprised with the courteous and helpful staff, the comprehensive visitors facilities and the lovely accommodation, in fact we fell in love with our little cottage and could see our selves reclining on the veranda sipping cocktails as we watched the herds of animals on the horizon.
We were somewhat surprised that we were not immediately tripping over the elephants though and we were told on our first game drive, an evening one, that the rains that came the day before meant that the elephants would have retreated to the quiet valleys as they did not need to come to the waterholes to drink. We did see lots of other animals though, including kudu, zebra, Cape buffalo, antelope of various types, warthog, black back jackal and an owl.
On the morning game drive we didn’t see many different animals and we did see elephants, but they were a couple of miles away on the horizon. We also saw paw prints of a lion, but that was as close as we came to the big cats.
We were a little disappointed that we hadn’t seen the big beasts so we took a car around the pack ourselves to see if we could track them down during the day. We couldn’t, but we did see some other interesting creatures, including mere cats, a rare rhino, large snails and plenty of the rare dung beetles rolling their collected poop across the road.
Later as we sat around the swimming pool we got talking to a new arrival that had entered the park from the other entrance and had seen plenty of elephants as he drove through. We decided then when we left the next day to drive out through the park to this other exit. Luckily we did because almost as soon as we entered the park we came across the large creatures walking across the road, what a thrill, we then saw others further into the park. It was amazing how an animal so large could just seem to disappear into the undergrowth so easily.
It was a superb visit and quite the highlight, though the delay in driving through the park did add extra time to our long leg of the journey up to Kokstad, which was a particular tiring and unpleasant episode.
The long journey to Kokstad was through an area formerly known as the Transkei and it took us through the main settlement called Mthatha during the afternoon rush hour. This area had been granted ‘independence’ by South Africa, though it seems that that may have been more for show and to provide a place for the native population to be located in while limiting the central governments responsibility for financial support and development. Hence the place today still seems to be very poor and underdeveloped and we did feel a little uncomfortable as the only white people crawling through the city centre in our shiny hire cars as the locals clambered into the back of pick-ups or squeezed into the ever present taxis.
The advantage of the long journey to Kokstad was the next days travel to Durban was shorter and allowed us time to recover as we met Yendall’s brother’s family. We also had a chance to go down to the beach where we met Sally’s mother and had a dip in the much warmer Indian Ocean.
We stayed with Yendall’s family and met the extended clan and their friends over the next week of so and enjoyed socializing with real live South Africans. We joined in with a mixed and varied sampler of local culture that included visiting the uShaka marine world with its fascinating aquarium built into a mock ship wreck, cocktails and beers on the Moyo Pier, watching the Durban Sharks beat the Wellington Hurricanes in Rugby and then later going on to buy a typical after match meal of bunny chow and triple chip and cheese roti from Johnny’s takeaway, taking the SkyCar to the top of the new football stadium for a panoramic view of the city, traveling out on a boat at dawn to watch the shark net inspection and then going on to watch the Sharks Board presentation and autopsy. We also saw Yendall’s brother perform in the Durban Passion Play that is based on the one performed in Oberammergau, visited the Essenwood Market, and looked around the historic centre of Durban and had a meal in a Waxy O’Connors’s Irish Pub who are part of an international chain.
We made several visits to the various beaches around the bay and also took trips out to the Midmar Dam where our brai (BBQ) was extinguished by a dramatic hail storm.
Our second game park was the Tala Game Reserve where we saw more animals including hippopotamus, lazy rhino, giraffe and herds of wildebeest. It is a lovely small park with a picturesque picnic area and a relaxed feel to it.
The last long journey was to drive from Durban to Johannesburg where we stayed with some of their friends for the night. We only ventured out to a flash out of town shopping mall called Sandton City to pick up some last minute gifts and have a last meal together at the Lekgoltla restaurant in Nelson Mandela Square (lovely setting and staff, but I don’t think I will be having ostrich poikie again) before we took the evening flight back home.
Luckily we had the Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday to recover as the flight was again hard work and we needed the rest.
We flew out on Virgin Airways and did not have great service. There were over seventy children on the flight and the staff had not catered for them, so we all suffered.
Our first port of call was Cape Town where we had rented a couple of cars and an apartment in Green Point near the Victoria & Alfred waterfront.
On the first day we went around the bay to get the iconic view back towards Table Mountain. The water looked too inviting for Yendall and Sue to resist, but they were soon back out when they felt the cold Atlantic waters. Later on we went shopping for supplies and then ventured out to the waterfront for a meal.
The next day we went up the mountain on the cable car. We had spectacular views across Cape Town from the dizzying heights. The weather was brilliant and we walked around the top seeing cute little dassies along with lizards, birds and other small creatures. We were very lucky with the conditions as we later heard the mountain had been closed for days, and a day or so afterwards there was the famous table cloth cloud covering it over.
After that we drove around a few of the bays.
While we were in Cape Town we also saw sea lions, penguins at the Boulder’s Beach colony, hungry and scary baboons, and ostriches on the beach at Cape Point. We visited the lovely Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens where we saw some amazing plants and some creepy golden orb spiders. We stopped for smoked snoek at Hout Bay and went for a spin on the wheel back at the V&A waterfront.
After a few days we went on to the Wine Region where we stayed at a lovely rural location which we used for a few days of touring around the Stelenbosch region visiting a few vineyards, the historic town, and admiring the stunning scenery. Vineyards we stopped at included Simonsig, Hartenberg where we had a superb lunch, Delheim, Muratie that had great port – though no chocolate today, Spier where we visited the Cheater Outreach and Eagle Encounter centers, Neethlingshof, and Fairview where they make the Goats do Roam wine and where we had great wine and cheese sampling.
We split up for the day after that as the others went to visit friends in George and we continued on to Knysna where stopped in a delightfully quirky place and had the most amazing seafood meal.
In the morning we went up to the Heads and decided that this would be a great place to return to.
We met up again in Jeffery’s Bay on one of the few rainy days of our trip but we still managed to get out and visit the world renowned surf beach and when we returned early the next morning we were rewarded with the sight of a pod of dolphins surfing alongside the human surfers.
Near Port Elizabeth we went to stay a few days at the Addo Elephant Park and were very impressed with the site as a whole. It was our first visit to a park like this and we were not sure what we would find, but we were pleasantly surprised with the courteous and helpful staff, the comprehensive visitors facilities and the lovely accommodation, in fact we fell in love with our little cottage and could see our selves reclining on the veranda sipping cocktails as we watched the herds of animals on the horizon.
We were somewhat surprised that we were not immediately tripping over the elephants though and we were told on our first game drive, an evening one, that the rains that came the day before meant that the elephants would have retreated to the quiet valleys as they did not need to come to the waterholes to drink. We did see lots of other animals though, including kudu, zebra, Cape buffalo, antelope of various types, warthog, black back jackal and an owl.
On the morning game drive we didn’t see many different animals and we did see elephants, but they were a couple of miles away on the horizon. We also saw paw prints of a lion, but that was as close as we came to the big cats.
We were a little disappointed that we hadn’t seen the big beasts so we took a car around the pack ourselves to see if we could track them down during the day. We couldn’t, but we did see some other interesting creatures, including mere cats, a rare rhino, large snails and plenty of the rare dung beetles rolling their collected poop across the road.
Later as we sat around the swimming pool we got talking to a new arrival that had entered the park from the other entrance and had seen plenty of elephants as he drove through. We decided then when we left the next day to drive out through the park to this other exit. Luckily we did because almost as soon as we entered the park we came across the large creatures walking across the road, what a thrill, we then saw others further into the park. It was amazing how an animal so large could just seem to disappear into the undergrowth so easily.
It was a superb visit and quite the highlight, though the delay in driving through the park did add extra time to our long leg of the journey up to Kokstad, which was a particular tiring and unpleasant episode.
The long journey to Kokstad was through an area formerly known as the Transkei and it took us through the main settlement called Mthatha during the afternoon rush hour. This area had been granted ‘independence’ by South Africa, though it seems that that may have been more for show and to provide a place for the native population to be located in while limiting the central governments responsibility for financial support and development. Hence the place today still seems to be very poor and underdeveloped and we did feel a little uncomfortable as the only white people crawling through the city centre in our shiny hire cars as the locals clambered into the back of pick-ups or squeezed into the ever present taxis.
The advantage of the long journey to Kokstad was the next days travel to Durban was shorter and allowed us time to recover as we met Yendall’s brother’s family. We also had a chance to go down to the beach where we met Sally’s mother and had a dip in the much warmer Indian Ocean.
We stayed with Yendall’s family and met the extended clan and their friends over the next week of so and enjoyed socializing with real live South Africans. We joined in with a mixed and varied sampler of local culture that included visiting the uShaka marine world with its fascinating aquarium built into a mock ship wreck, cocktails and beers on the Moyo Pier, watching the Durban Sharks beat the Wellington Hurricanes in Rugby and then later going on to buy a typical after match meal of bunny chow and triple chip and cheese roti from Johnny’s takeaway, taking the SkyCar to the top of the new football stadium for a panoramic view of the city, traveling out on a boat at dawn to watch the shark net inspection and then going on to watch the Sharks Board presentation and autopsy. We also saw Yendall’s brother perform in the Durban Passion Play that is based on the one performed in Oberammergau, visited the Essenwood Market, and looked around the historic centre of Durban and had a meal in a Waxy O’Connors’s Irish Pub who are part of an international chain.
We made several visits to the various beaches around the bay and also took trips out to the Midmar Dam where our brai (BBQ) was extinguished by a dramatic hail storm.
Our second game park was the Tala Game Reserve where we saw more animals including hippopotamus, lazy rhino, giraffe and herds of wildebeest. It is a lovely small park with a picturesque picnic area and a relaxed feel to it.
The last long journey was to drive from Durban to Johannesburg where we stayed with some of their friends for the night. We only ventured out to a flash out of town shopping mall called Sandton City to pick up some last minute gifts and have a last meal together at the Lekgoltla restaurant in Nelson Mandela Square (lovely setting and staff, but I don’t think I will be having ostrich poikie again) before we took the evening flight back home.
Luckily we had the Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday to recover as the flight was again hard work and we needed the rest.
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