The long awaited trip to Marico Oog finally happened!
And it took a bit of organisation: not sure how many times we tried, and when we eventually set the weekend, the Wits compressor broke, so we had to spend hours at NUC filling cylinders. Thanks Paolop! And we were missing some of the orinators of the idea (:( to Doug and Roach!) Then rushed day on Friday, but eventually we were in the car just before 4! At 5, we were about 30km – from home. At 6, we were still in Jo’burg (!@#$%^&* traffic). Eventually, we were in Rustenburg, then Swartruggens and finally Zeerust. With no music! Not because we weren’t organised or because we couldn’t decide on who’s music to play (this was a likely scenario) but because the GPS/music player kept blowing the radio/cigarette lighter fuse. So poor Paolo had to make do with Shona and I. I think he would’ve preferred our music!
Eventually though, with the help of cell phones with GPS, we were almost there. Or so we thought. The co-ordinates were wrong! And it was pouring with rain! And the roads were very muddy! And we had Alex following us in a little Taz. (Read we got stuck in the mud. And rain). Eventually, after SIX AND A HALF HOURS, we got there! And amazingly, it stopped raining for long enough for us to put our tents up :) And Julie and Chris had been there for an hour already!
Early Saturday morning, Hardy and family arrived. While having coffee and breakfast, we all took bets as to what time Peter, Jolande and Karen would arrive and were all hopelessly wrong when they arrived way before any of us expected them.
Eventually, we got to the water and decided to try some free diving. SUCH fun! I was so happy to get to 5m – and then watched the others showing off with Hern and Little easily going to 10m and Hardy and Alex freaking 1*’s out while they were doing skills by watching with no gear and swimming under the grid! We also free dived to an eye. Then it was onto SCUBA diving and the real eye! Viz was amazing – about 10m! Until we went through the water lilies and reeds that is – when lots of silt meant that half way through overhangs you could see Nothing! Nada! Niks! Niente! Was interesting :) But still absolutely amazing. While some of us made it out, others swam in “deeper” and ended up the other side of some reeds from us – and so ensued a game of Marco Polo. Eventually though, we all swam back through the fence (the cool reed beds are in another “angry” farmers land so the eye has a fence through it) and went for lunch.
The afternoon was spent relaxing around the campsite and getting ready for a night dive – which was also on the list of to-do’s for all the other divers. We were luckily the 2nd group in and were able to sit on the grid and moon gaze through the bubbles at the full moon from 5m under the water – AMAZING! But (insert expletive – use your imagination!) cold!
So while Shona and I counted the minutes until we could have a hot shower, Paolo cooked our food for us! And just as we got out of our nice warm shower, food was ready – perfect timing. And then we hit the sack early – 4 people in my little tent (when there was a HUGE tent free) meant that we all (except Chris) woke up at some stage during the night boiling hot and finding the tent very stuffy.
After a lazy morning and full cooked breakfast, we went back to the water and after a brief amount of training, Julie hit 10m! And Zena got to 7m! And then I got to 10m! And Shona swam under the grid! We finished off doing another SCUBA dive while Hardy and others were free diving. Hardy decided to “shadow” us – unbeknown to Alex. Resulting in an amazing face-plant/corkscrew action into the silt when he pinched her bum. We were all laughing so much we had to surface to catch out breath. And then we went back to the reed beds – and with just 3 of us and minimal silting, it was incredible – swimming under reed beds with caverns. And the viz was about 10-15m so we could see so much.
Then it was home time – packing up tents and all that wonderful stuff that has to happen at the end of a camping weekend. And back to reality! And even after loosing Flex, and going to find her, the return trip took about 3 hours!
Pics can be found at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lancasterjenny/EyesOpenedAtMaricoOog?authkey=Gv1sRgCLub5YvH-5_N_wE#
Or
http://picasaweb.google.com/lancasterjenny/EyesOpenedAtMaricoOog?authkey=Gv1sRgCLub5YvH-5_N_wE#
Friday, 05 March 2010
Midmar madness
It was that time of year again – when half of Jo’burg (or so it seems on the N3) heads down to Midmar, swims a mile and then turns around and comes back again with a brief stop at the Bierfasl. We joined the madness… again!
Friday afternoon saw us hurriedly packing the car in order to beat the traffic – err – good attempt, but it still took us a LONG time to get out of Joburg. But pretty soon we were at Woodwind Cottage and unpacked. It was then that a theme for the weekend was set – tease me (not bad) and decide what-Jenny-wants-for-her (suppose my fault for going away with 4 guys!), beginning with what makes someone attractive (after analysing George Clooney)… Interesting conversations! “Hello” rapidly became a better option for me :) – which means conversation had stooped to an all time low!
And then onto another theme for the weekend – Marius “Miss Girly Pants” Van Wyk – who refused to share a bed with Theo and insisted on sleeping on cushions on the floor instead! Even worse, he made Theo sleep on the floor the next night, thereby giving Theo the better bed the night before “the race”.
And so it was that the next morning, we left (late) for Midmar, parked the car and headed off to register – what a pleasure in comparison to other years! And then for the reason we went – the swim :) Yes, we all made it, despite it being significantly further than previously due to all the rain recently. Well, that’s my excuse anyway…
After relaxing in the beer tent for a while, we headed off to Hilton to pick up a friend of Mikes and then headed towards Howick Falls, with me in the boot of my own car! I still wonder! Anyway, Howick wasn’t far away and pretty soon Mike, Henk (the friend), Chris and I were at the bottom of the falls to climb/relax while Marius and Theo stayed at the top (remember the girly pants?). Climbing was unsuccessful and Chris and I realized that perhaps, maybe there was sudden;t more water coming over the falls. We almost ran back up and then it started raining. And raining. And pouring! So I ran to get the car, Mike, Henk and Chris walked, then found shelter and proceeded to open beers and I fetched Marius and Theo who were waiting 300m away (err, need I say girly pants – they didn’t want to get wet!).
We headed back and within an hour, all 5 of us had showered and warmed up and we headed off (in the rain) to the Bierfasl to meet Julie and co. Yummy dinner while attempting to control 4 boys – 1 who was dancing while sitting at the table (Theo), another who was drooling over school girls (Marius) and another two were picking out cougars and men I should take home. *sigh* Got home and attempted to watch Troy. Fell asleep.
Next morning, Valentines Day I may add, I cooked breakfast for all while they watched Troy. Again! Well, there were offers of help and Chris and Mike did wash up… And then it was off to the chocolate shop! YUM! And coffee! Also good! And then Rawdons for beer! :) And then the long drive home :(
Pics:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lancasterjenny/MidmarMadness?authkey=Gv1sRgCOWEyrKjtojSLw#
or
http://picasaweb.google.com/home
Friday afternoon saw us hurriedly packing the car in order to beat the traffic – err – good attempt, but it still took us a LONG time to get out of Joburg. But pretty soon we were at Woodwind Cottage and unpacked. It was then that a theme for the weekend was set – tease me (not bad) and decide what-Jenny-wants-for-her (suppose my fault for going away with 4 guys!), beginning with what makes someone attractive (after analysing George Clooney)… Interesting conversations! “Hello” rapidly became a better option for me :) – which means conversation had stooped to an all time low!
And then onto another theme for the weekend – Marius “Miss Girly Pants” Van Wyk – who refused to share a bed with Theo and insisted on sleeping on cushions on the floor instead! Even worse, he made Theo sleep on the floor the next night, thereby giving Theo the better bed the night before “the race”.
And so it was that the next morning, we left (late) for Midmar, parked the car and headed off to register – what a pleasure in comparison to other years! And then for the reason we went – the swim :) Yes, we all made it, despite it being significantly further than previously due to all the rain recently. Well, that’s my excuse anyway…
After relaxing in the beer tent for a while, we headed off to Hilton to pick up a friend of Mikes and then headed towards Howick Falls, with me in the boot of my own car! I still wonder! Anyway, Howick wasn’t far away and pretty soon Mike, Henk (the friend), Chris and I were at the bottom of the falls to climb/relax while Marius and Theo stayed at the top (remember the girly pants?). Climbing was unsuccessful and Chris and I realized that perhaps, maybe there was sudden;t more water coming over the falls. We almost ran back up and then it started raining. And raining. And pouring! So I ran to get the car, Mike, Henk and Chris walked, then found shelter and proceeded to open beers and I fetched Marius and Theo who were waiting 300m away (err, need I say girly pants – they didn’t want to get wet!).
We headed back and within an hour, all 5 of us had showered and warmed up and we headed off (in the rain) to the Bierfasl to meet Julie and co. Yummy dinner while attempting to control 4 boys – 1 who was dancing while sitting at the table (Theo), another who was drooling over school girls (Marius) and another two were picking out cougars and men I should take home. *sigh* Got home and attempted to watch Troy. Fell asleep.
Next morning, Valentines Day I may add, I cooked breakfast for all while they watched Troy. Again! Well, there were offers of help and Chris and Mike did wash up… And then it was off to the chocolate shop! YUM! And coffee! Also good! And then Rawdons for beer! :) And then the long drive home :(
Pics:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lancasterjenny/MidmarMadness?authkey=Gv1sRgCOWEyrKjtojSLw#
or
http://picasaweb.google.com/home
Tuesday, 12 January 2010
For the love of a bike (or lack thereof) – Botswana Road Trip
This story starts with a frantic phone call from Anne (aka Banan) on the 30th Dec to see what I was doing the next day and if I had a valid passport and ends 2400km and 3.5 days later... The long and short of it was that Anne’s oldest brother, Vito, was in a motorbike accident in Botswana (luckily only 2 broken ribs but sill needed to be flown back to SA) and so we went up, with her youngest brother, Luigi, to fetch the bike!
And is was one of those trips were a pictue (link a the bottom) says a thousand wods!
So, we duly hit the road and, with no particular plans, headed towards Botswana and Gabarone. We got to Gabs and continued on… and on… and on… Until we got to Mahalapye and dinner. And then on… and on… and on some more until we got to Francistown at about 1am. Bed was very welcome – and a very comfy one at that! The birding (a couple of lifers but this wasn’t a birding trip) started with a Woodland Kingfisher, whose 4:30am wake up call did not go own well! The hotel (Cresta Marang) was very well set out but we had no time to enjoy it as we left early and headed up to Nata the next day, not knowing exactly how long anything was going to take. However, the police couldn’t have been nicer and everything was sorted out very quickly with no fuss. They had listed everything and all was in a box waiting for us – apart from valuables which they had locked in a safe! I don’t think even a drop of petrol was taken! After making sure we knew where we were going, we continued towards Kasane to get the bike at a veterinary control barrier.
And then we stopped in absolute amazement – there was an elephant walking down the road towards us! This would not be surprising – except that it was on the A3, the main road between Gabarone to Kasane! And this was no chance occurrence – there was another one a couple of kilometers further along! Again, the Botswana people (in typical hospitality and friendliness) at the barrier couldn’t have been more helpful, helping us (read Luigi) load the bike (while telling us about the 3 lion that had walked past earlier) and then giving us detailed directions to the accident site. So off we went…
We think we found it, took a couple of pics and then headed back towards Nata wondering what we should do with ourselves. The idea was to try to get to the Makgadikgadi Pans so we stopped and asked around. It was recommended that we head towards a lodge, Planet Baobab as the pans were flooded (strange being the wet season!) but that they would have a better idea. The road was interesting with donkey carts, termite mounds, huge concrete aardvark (?)… Planet Baobab was an oasis and we didn’t venture further – a pool, cold dink, large baobabs… Amazing! The lounge/bar area was decorated in cow hide with beer bottles and an outside lounge suite in concrete couches and the rooms were stunning as well with a very cute bathroom. After a game of “straight sharky, we had a braai dinner and despite huge plans to download pictures, we hit the sack.
Next morning we drove around for a while looking for markets but once we realised that the only place to find them was Francistown or Gabarone, decided to head down that direction via Nata to see if we could go quad biking. Banan and I made very good use of our cameras while Luigi struck different poses on the bike – not only while we were sill but while we were driving as well! No luck for quad biking (pans still flooded!) but it was suggested we head to Nata Sanctuary. We couldn’t take the trailer in and the P55 seemed a lot but we went for it anyway!
Brilliant decision! The sanctuary is the north east corner of the Makgadikgadi pans and really made the vastness and flatness real. Absolutely amazing and indescribable. The road often disappeared – either in mud (those flooded pans again!) or into a large pan where it was pot luck as to where the exit was. After playing in what we thought was a large pan, we headed to the “river mouth” but didn’t make it – need a 4 x 4. We did however get super dooper excited at 3 flamingo’s! We continued along the road for a while and then came across the view that everyone looks for – MILLIONS (literally!) of flamingo’s – and a couple of ostrich. This pan was Humungous and literally stretched as far as the eye could see. We were all 3 speechless – for the 1st and last time on the road trip – and for about ½ hour as we just attempted to take in the sites (and not get stuck in the mud!). Reluctantly, we started heading back but found some other interesting sites along the way back – a baobab, some springbok…
And then on to Francistown, and yet more chicken for dinner J We found ourselves another hotel (Tati Rive Lodge – not as nice as Cresta Marang) and duly crashed into bed - again! The next morning we went shopping and looked for the now infamous markets which were nowhere to be found. Instead, we found a whole 3 roadside stalls… We continued looking all the way out o Botswana, even taking a detour to a “craft centre” (closed) and an ostrich farm (yip – you guessed it – also closed!). We left Botswana, crossed over the Limpopo and immediately got “welcomed” back to SA with a glare from the customs official (she was talking on her phone). We decided to push on home rather than stop and eventually got home (after a Wimpy – no chicken!) at about 11. Thank goodness for Banan’s Mom who quickly made coffee while we unpacked and repacked cars. Vito arrived very quickly – supposedly to drop off keys but to check his car and bike (and us?) were back safely?
In conclusion: Essential ingredients for an AWESOME road trip =
2 x amazing friends (thanks Banan and Luigi)
1 x no real plan for 3.5 days and 2400km
1 x kind bother who wants his bike from somewhere in Northern Botswana back (thanks Vito)
Pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/lancasterjenny/ForTheLoveOfABikeOrLackThereofBotswanaRoadtrip?authkey=Gv1sRgCK_dluymm_nXPQ
And is was one of those trips were a pictue (link a the bottom) says a thousand wods!
So, we duly hit the road and, with no particular plans, headed towards Botswana and Gabarone. We got to Gabs and continued on… and on… and on… Until we got to Mahalapye and dinner. And then on… and on… and on some more until we got to Francistown at about 1am. Bed was very welcome – and a very comfy one at that! The birding (a couple of lifers but this wasn’t a birding trip) started with a Woodland Kingfisher, whose 4:30am wake up call did not go own well! The hotel (Cresta Marang) was very well set out but we had no time to enjoy it as we left early and headed up to Nata the next day, not knowing exactly how long anything was going to take. However, the police couldn’t have been nicer and everything was sorted out very quickly with no fuss. They had listed everything and all was in a box waiting for us – apart from valuables which they had locked in a safe! I don’t think even a drop of petrol was taken! After making sure we knew where we were going, we continued towards Kasane to get the bike at a veterinary control barrier.
And then we stopped in absolute amazement – there was an elephant walking down the road towards us! This would not be surprising – except that it was on the A3, the main road between Gabarone to Kasane! And this was no chance occurrence – there was another one a couple of kilometers further along! Again, the Botswana people (in typical hospitality and friendliness) at the barrier couldn’t have been more helpful, helping us (read Luigi) load the bike (while telling us about the 3 lion that had walked past earlier) and then giving us detailed directions to the accident site. So off we went…
We think we found it, took a couple of pics and then headed back towards Nata wondering what we should do with ourselves. The idea was to try to get to the Makgadikgadi Pans so we stopped and asked around. It was recommended that we head towards a lodge, Planet Baobab as the pans were flooded (strange being the wet season!) but that they would have a better idea. The road was interesting with donkey carts, termite mounds, huge concrete aardvark (?)… Planet Baobab was an oasis and we didn’t venture further – a pool, cold dink, large baobabs… Amazing! The lounge/bar area was decorated in cow hide with beer bottles and an outside lounge suite in concrete couches and the rooms were stunning as well with a very cute bathroom. After a game of “straight sharky, we had a braai dinner and despite huge plans to download pictures, we hit the sack.
Next morning we drove around for a while looking for markets but once we realised that the only place to find them was Francistown or Gabarone, decided to head down that direction via Nata to see if we could go quad biking. Banan and I made very good use of our cameras while Luigi struck different poses on the bike – not only while we were sill but while we were driving as well! No luck for quad biking (pans still flooded!) but it was suggested we head to Nata Sanctuary. We couldn’t take the trailer in and the P55 seemed a lot but we went for it anyway!
Brilliant decision! The sanctuary is the north east corner of the Makgadikgadi pans and really made the vastness and flatness real. Absolutely amazing and indescribable. The road often disappeared – either in mud (those flooded pans again!) or into a large pan where it was pot luck as to where the exit was. After playing in what we thought was a large pan, we headed to the “river mouth” but didn’t make it – need a 4 x 4. We did however get super dooper excited at 3 flamingo’s! We continued along the road for a while and then came across the view that everyone looks for – MILLIONS (literally!) of flamingo’s – and a couple of ostrich. This pan was Humungous and literally stretched as far as the eye could see. We were all 3 speechless – for the 1st and last time on the road trip – and for about ½ hour as we just attempted to take in the sites (and not get stuck in the mud!). Reluctantly, we started heading back but found some other interesting sites along the way back – a baobab, some springbok…
And then on to Francistown, and yet more chicken for dinner J We found ourselves another hotel (Tati Rive Lodge – not as nice as Cresta Marang) and duly crashed into bed - again! The next morning we went shopping and looked for the now infamous markets which were nowhere to be found. Instead, we found a whole 3 roadside stalls… We continued looking all the way out o Botswana, even taking a detour to a “craft centre” (closed) and an ostrich farm (yip – you guessed it – also closed!). We left Botswana, crossed over the Limpopo and immediately got “welcomed” back to SA with a glare from the customs official (she was talking on her phone). We decided to push on home rather than stop and eventually got home (after a Wimpy – no chicken!) at about 11. Thank goodness for Banan’s Mom who quickly made coffee while we unpacked and repacked cars. Vito arrived very quickly – supposedly to drop off keys but to check his car and bike (and us?) were back safely?
In conclusion: Essential ingredients for an AWESOME road trip =
2 x amazing friends (thanks Banan and Luigi)
1 x no real plan for 3.5 days and 2400km
1 x kind bother who wants his bike from somewhere in Northern Botswana back (thanks Vito)
Pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/lancasterjenny/ForTheLoveOfABikeOrLackThereofBotswanaRoadtrip?authkey=Gv1sRgCK_dluymm_nXPQ
Wednesday, 16 December 2009
Back to the beginning…
So thanks to a Frenchie (aka Jerome) leaving and wanting to go to the Cradle of Mankind, we spent an amazing day exploring…
It started off with a coffee (not for me – I had my mug you’ll be pleased to know) at some garage and Chris and Anne Banan chasing each other around/hooting/generally causing chaos. Did I mention they were chasing each other around in their cars? Oh well… It was a sign of things to come.
After Anne leading and driving past the HUGE Sterkfontein Caves sign and concrete pillars (she claims she was talking too much, Chris reckons you should get a Garmin not a Tom Tom), we made it to the caves and met Francois, Karen and Charl. More coffee and crazy pics and we went down the caves – which were amazing. After descending 119 steps (ask Chris the exact number – he counted!), we entered the elephant chamber, so called because of the large stalagmite and stalactite formations which form an “elephant”. We also went past a very secure door where little foot, a complete Australopithecine skeleton, is still being excavated. It was then onto the 2nd chamber past an underground lake that extends for miles. The guide’s horror story was about a dive expedition that went wrong with 1 diver getting lost and dying down there – not something to tell divers as we immediately wanted to plan a dive in the caves. Apparently its not allowed :( Then it was lights off with the predicted howling to see how dark it really gets down there. The last chamber was the “body” with cavities that looked a heart and kidney, but also had some of the holes though which “they” think animals fell and subsequently died or where saber tooth cats brought their prey leaving fossils in the brecia. And then back into the sunshine (and heat) past a statue of Robert Broom – rub his nose for good luck or hand for wisdom… decisions, decisions
We walked the long way back with views over the cradle before going for ice-creams and Banan buying a hat (whats new?) and Jerome buying some strange monkey (to make sure Chris didn’t feel left out?).
Then it was off to Maropeng and Anne didn’t drive past this time! It is really well done – you approach a huge grass covered dome which houses the museum. You walk in and down a timeline starting at the most recent and ending on a boat ride depicted water (including an ice tunnel and real snow storm), fire, earth and wind. And then through a vortex tunnel depicting the big bang, and you get thrown into life on earth – “so much of fun” with games and hand on exhibits but also many thought provoking sayings. They also had an interesting section on what makes us human before going through a fossil section.
By now tummy’s were talking so we paid a friendly visit to Anne’s farm for a braai. We went to see (and feed) little piglets, saw calves been fed and went to the rabbits. The barn cats had had kittens – so cute! By this stage, Anne’s brother had the fire ready and it was food time – YUM! Good company, good food (Anne did fish that she had caught), good (relaxing) times and suddenly it was 8pm :) So we reluctantly started getting ready to leave when Anne offered us a ride on her brothers motorbike. Only Alex and I were brave enough to go – but such fun. Then it really was time to leave and hit the big smoke again ;(
Pics can be found at: http://picasaweb.google.com/lancasterjenny/BackToTheBeginning?authkey=Gv1sRgCPf_hcDp9t7imQE#
It started off with a coffee (not for me – I had my mug you’ll be pleased to know) at some garage and Chris and Anne Banan chasing each other around/hooting/generally causing chaos. Did I mention they were chasing each other around in their cars? Oh well… It was a sign of things to come.
After Anne leading and driving past the HUGE Sterkfontein Caves sign and concrete pillars (she claims she was talking too much, Chris reckons you should get a Garmin not a Tom Tom), we made it to the caves and met Francois, Karen and Charl. More coffee and crazy pics and we went down the caves – which were amazing. After descending 119 steps (ask Chris the exact number – he counted!), we entered the elephant chamber, so called because of the large stalagmite and stalactite formations which form an “elephant”. We also went past a very secure door where little foot, a complete Australopithecine skeleton, is still being excavated. It was then onto the 2nd chamber past an underground lake that extends for miles. The guide’s horror story was about a dive expedition that went wrong with 1 diver getting lost and dying down there – not something to tell divers as we immediately wanted to plan a dive in the caves. Apparently its not allowed :( Then it was lights off with the predicted howling to see how dark it really gets down there. The last chamber was the “body” with cavities that looked a heart and kidney, but also had some of the holes though which “they” think animals fell and subsequently died or where saber tooth cats brought their prey leaving fossils in the brecia. And then back into the sunshine (and heat) past a statue of Robert Broom – rub his nose for good luck or hand for wisdom… decisions, decisions
We walked the long way back with views over the cradle before going for ice-creams and Banan buying a hat (whats new?) and Jerome buying some strange monkey (to make sure Chris didn’t feel left out?).
Then it was off to Maropeng and Anne didn’t drive past this time! It is really well done – you approach a huge grass covered dome which houses the museum. You walk in and down a timeline starting at the most recent and ending on a boat ride depicted water (including an ice tunnel and real snow storm), fire, earth and wind. And then through a vortex tunnel depicting the big bang, and you get thrown into life on earth – “so much of fun” with games and hand on exhibits but also many thought provoking sayings. They also had an interesting section on what makes us human before going through a fossil section.
By now tummy’s were talking so we paid a friendly visit to Anne’s farm for a braai. We went to see (and feed) little piglets, saw calves been fed and went to the rabbits. The barn cats had had kittens – so cute! By this stage, Anne’s brother had the fire ready and it was food time – YUM! Good company, good food (Anne did fish that she had caught), good (relaxing) times and suddenly it was 8pm :) So we reluctantly started getting ready to leave when Anne offered us a ride on her brothers motorbike. Only Alex and I were brave enough to go – but such fun. Then it really was time to leave and hit the big smoke again ;(
Pics can be found at: http://picasaweb.google.com/lancasterjenny/BackToTheBeginning?authkey=Gv1sRgCPf_hcDp9t7imQE#
Tuesday, 08 December 2009
And beach… within a week – the hecticness continues!
So after a hectic couple of days in KNP, I literally had a couple of hours to get ready for Sodwana. Shopping for 4 people for 4 days = 20mins! Inbetween lunch at JCC Woodmead, drinks at JCC Auckland Park & cooking a dinner for my Mom. But I was ready to leave (a little late thanks to a nice cut on my toe) by 6:45am. By 8, we were still not on the highway… It was a hint of things to come! It took over 10hrs to get to Sods, about 500km away!
After avoiding potholes (aka Craters-that-trucks-disappeared-into), we arrived in Ermelo, bursting for the loo! Happily relieved at MacDonalds, we noticed a Game opposite and so began a shopping-for-forgotten-things experience (we got a watch, sheet & picnic set). Back in the car, we remembered we had forgotten to draw money. Roll on Piet Retief. Except that a) every 2nd person in the bustling metropolis of PR uses STD bank (as do Julie & I), b) there was only 1 working ATM, c) it was pay day and d) it starting pouring with rain after waiting in the queue and not moving for 20mins! We decided to try elsewhere and headed off to Pongola. 3 hrs and 100km later (thanks to road works and storms), 3 VERY grumpy people arrived in Pongola. We were slightly happier when there was no queue at the ATM which worked, and singing again after Wimpy lunch! Food Glorious Food! And it was off to Hluhluwe – and another shopping-for-forgotten-things experience (this time for “Pretty Girl/Lady” etc.) hair stuffs (try diving with hair in your face – not fun!). And finally, we got to Sods!
After a quick unpack, it was off to the Smoothie Bar for some cocktails – YUM! Anyone in the area – it’s worth the stop :) A quick dinner and it was off to bed – needed to be on the beach at 6am for a 7am launch
First dive was to 7 mile – YAY – a long boat ride, which turned out to be even longer than expected due to a malfunctioning motor and Meg attempting to steer ;) However, it was worth it – although not as much life as shallower on 2 mile, very different and very pretty with many different corals that hid hawkfish. After about 35mins at 25m, I was out of air, so left Candice (buddy) and Leandra and I headed up and got caught in the bubble stream – amazing! On the surface we waited… and waited… and waited! Eventually everyone was up and we got on the boat. I immediately fed the fish (sea sickness…). Change of boats into one with 2 functioning motors) and Leandra joined the fish-feeding club!
Back on the beach, we were joined by a beautifully scratched Liesl – who had gone snorkeling and ended up on the rocks – OW! But we were soon off on another dive to Stringers. LOTS more life with awesome teeny tiny box fish, some eels, nudibranchs, octopi,eels… and no fish feeding!
Shopping followed (again!) at the beach markets followed by showers and an attempt to cook before the graduation, which was themed survivor-style, complete with flags, sashes and torches! Thanks to Doug for the music! And not thanks to Chris for the Shooters! Or Shona for not being there so me drinking for her!
Sunday was not so early but an awesome deep dive to Deep Sponges – amazing… HUGE eel amongst other things, but nice long dive, thanks to my buddy Peter! Upon surfacing, we saw whales breaching about 15m away – WOW! And then a turtle in the breakers! That afternoon’s dive was also great, and, thanks to the efforts of Dave (DM), Candice (buddy) and Peter, I saw my 1st ray (blue spot) for this trip but also some Porcelain crabs!
We headed back to the Smoothie Bar for dinner on Sunday Night – where I promptly fell asleep… Oops! After being starving when we got back from the beach and eating lunch at 5:30 (after assisting Tomme who tried to cut his thumb off), Candice and I could not finish pizza between the two of us! Bed called, so we headed home early.
Monday was another early dive to Roonies to find seahorses. No seahorses but we saw a HUGE marble sting ray (wing span 2m), eels, mantis shrimps, cleaner shrimps in a potato bass mouth, a scorpion fish (good spot Meg), 2 paper fish (thanks Cathy) and some awesome nudibranchs! A deep dive by Paolo, Francois and Karen meant they had a long deco and we bounced in the water = others joining the fish feeding club!
It was sad to leave but leave we did. The journey back was much better apart from a freak storm which lasted about 100m with bright sunshine either side but such hail and wind and rain that we couldn’t tell which direction it was all coming from, never mind where the road was!
Again, thanks all for an AWESOME weekend!
Pics are at: http://picasaweb.google.com/lancasterjenny/Sodwana09?authkey=Gv1sRgCLvGrtS976SO8wE#
After avoiding potholes (aka Craters-that-trucks-disappeared-into), we arrived in Ermelo, bursting for the loo! Happily relieved at MacDonalds, we noticed a Game opposite and so began a shopping-for-forgotten-things experience (we got a watch, sheet & picnic set). Back in the car, we remembered we had forgotten to draw money. Roll on Piet Retief. Except that a) every 2nd person in the bustling metropolis of PR uses STD bank (as do Julie & I), b) there was only 1 working ATM, c) it was pay day and d) it starting pouring with rain after waiting in the queue and not moving for 20mins! We decided to try elsewhere and headed off to Pongola. 3 hrs and 100km later (thanks to road works and storms), 3 VERY grumpy people arrived in Pongola. We were slightly happier when there was no queue at the ATM which worked, and singing again after Wimpy lunch! Food Glorious Food! And it was off to Hluhluwe – and another shopping-for-forgotten-things experience (this time for “Pretty Girl/Lady” etc.) hair stuffs (try diving with hair in your face – not fun!). And finally, we got to Sods!
After a quick unpack, it was off to the Smoothie Bar for some cocktails – YUM! Anyone in the area – it’s worth the stop :) A quick dinner and it was off to bed – needed to be on the beach at 6am for a 7am launch
First dive was to 7 mile – YAY – a long boat ride, which turned out to be even longer than expected due to a malfunctioning motor and Meg attempting to steer ;) However, it was worth it – although not as much life as shallower on 2 mile, very different and very pretty with many different corals that hid hawkfish. After about 35mins at 25m, I was out of air, so left Candice (buddy) and Leandra and I headed up and got caught in the bubble stream – amazing! On the surface we waited… and waited… and waited! Eventually everyone was up and we got on the boat. I immediately fed the fish (sea sickness…). Change of boats into one with 2 functioning motors) and Leandra joined the fish-feeding club!
Back on the beach, we were joined by a beautifully scratched Liesl – who had gone snorkeling and ended up on the rocks – OW! But we were soon off on another dive to Stringers. LOTS more life with awesome teeny tiny box fish, some eels, nudibranchs, octopi,eels… and no fish feeding!
Shopping followed (again!) at the beach markets followed by showers and an attempt to cook before the graduation, which was themed survivor-style, complete with flags, sashes and torches! Thanks to Doug for the music! And not thanks to Chris for the Shooters! Or Shona for not being there so me drinking for her!
Sunday was not so early but an awesome deep dive to Deep Sponges – amazing… HUGE eel amongst other things, but nice long dive, thanks to my buddy Peter! Upon surfacing, we saw whales breaching about 15m away – WOW! And then a turtle in the breakers! That afternoon’s dive was also great, and, thanks to the efforts of Dave (DM), Candice (buddy) and Peter, I saw my 1st ray (blue spot) for this trip but also some Porcelain crabs!
We headed back to the Smoothie Bar for dinner on Sunday Night – where I promptly fell asleep… Oops! After being starving when we got back from the beach and eating lunch at 5:30 (after assisting Tomme who tried to cut his thumb off), Candice and I could not finish pizza between the two of us! Bed called, so we headed home early.
Monday was another early dive to Roonies to find seahorses. No seahorses but we saw a HUGE marble sting ray (wing span 2m), eels, mantis shrimps, cleaner shrimps in a potato bass mouth, a scorpion fish (good spot Meg), 2 paper fish (thanks Cathy) and some awesome nudibranchs! A deep dive by Paolo, Francois and Karen meant they had a long deco and we bounced in the water = others joining the fish feeding club!
It was sad to leave but leave we did. The journey back was much better apart from a freak storm which lasted about 100m with bright sunshine either side but such hail and wind and rain that we couldn’t tell which direction it was all coming from, never mind where the road was!
Again, thanks all for an AWESOME weekend!
Pics are at: http://picasaweb.google.com/lancasterjenny/Sodwana09?authkey=Gv1sRgCLvGrtS976SO8wE#
Monday, 07 December 2009
Back to the Bush!
What a hectic couple of days…
It started with my Uncle and cousin arriving from the UK, and the cricket match that didn’t happen due to the freezing cold and rain. They headed off to Kruger with my Mom while I went to Lisa and Andrew’s wedding. What an AMAZING wedding! Lisa looked stunning and I’ve rarely seen such a happy relaxed couple :) And amazingly, the weather let up for a couple of hours! We had such fun – so much so I even managed to keep high stiletto’s on for (most) of the night, despite almost falling a couple of times on the grass. It really was fantabulous!
Then it was off to Kruger for me as well! I stopped and had coffee and muffins with Tracy in Lydenburg and then got to the heat and humidity (I had forgotten it!) of Skukuza. I met up with the family and we went for a picnic lunch at Lake Panic – much to the concern of my uncle and cousin who were quite wary of being out the vehicle in “the middle of Kruger”. I then quickly caught up with Karen and Stevie from OTS before we headed off to Biyamiti…
Well, at least tried to head off on a relaxing afternoon drive. Due to all the rain over the past couple of days, many bridges were flooded and quite a few of the roads as well. Everywhere we turned we came across people saying roads were impassable. But we arrived safely with some nice sightings along the way, including a HUGE python!
The next morning it was up early (read 4am) for a walk – which was amazing! Apart from a black rhino really close (about 10m away!), we saw elephant and white rhino and the usual impala, giraffe etc. That evening, Chris and Uncle John treated us to an evening (which turned into a night) drive – and we saw another python, a mamba, a white-tailed mongoose, and finally after not seeing much but impala for about 1.5hrs, some lions with cubs! SSOOO cute!
a nice drive through the park, we set off for home…
…or so we thought! Dad’s car decided otherwise when the fan belt broke just past Hazyview. Not a good idea with 4 over-tired people who are all head strong. However, Renault assist and AA were great and just over 2 hrs later we were on the way to Old Joe’s Kaia. Which was great except for the fact it was my Mom’s 60th the next day, and my graduation. However, the folks at Old Joe’s couldn’t have been nicer – they made us welcome, made my Mom a Chocolate Baked Alaska birthday cake and set an amazing birthday breakfast table complete with “Happy Birthday” serviettes. The fact that my other cousin passed more of his GP exams was further cause for celebration :)
Then it was off to Renault in Nelspruit – not the best experience ever. But eventually, the fan belt was fixed and we rushed back to Jo’burg.
After getting my gown, unpacking and changing, we got back to graduation with literally 10mins to spare! And we all got tickets :)
At the end of a rushed day, we went out for a yummy (sushi) dinner!
Pics are: http://picasaweb.google.com/lancasterjenny/LisaAndrewSWedding?authkey=Gv1sRgCLXPu6Hd-L-81wE# (Lisa & Andrew's Wedding)
and http://picasaweb.google.com/lancasterjenny/KNPNov09?authkey=Gv1sRgCOLLycP57L6ZeQ# (KNP)
It started with my Uncle and cousin arriving from the UK, and the cricket match that didn’t happen due to the freezing cold and rain. They headed off to Kruger with my Mom while I went to Lisa and Andrew’s wedding. What an AMAZING wedding! Lisa looked stunning and I’ve rarely seen such a happy relaxed couple :) And amazingly, the weather let up for a couple of hours! We had such fun – so much so I even managed to keep high stiletto’s on for (most) of the night, despite almost falling a couple of times on the grass. It really was fantabulous!
Then it was off to Kruger for me as well! I stopped and had coffee and muffins with Tracy in Lydenburg and then got to the heat and humidity (I had forgotten it!) of Skukuza. I met up with the family and we went for a picnic lunch at Lake Panic – much to the concern of my uncle and cousin who were quite wary of being out the vehicle in “the middle of Kruger”. I then quickly caught up with Karen and Stevie from OTS before we headed off to Biyamiti…
Well, at least tried to head off on a relaxing afternoon drive. Due to all the rain over the past couple of days, many bridges were flooded and quite a few of the roads as well. Everywhere we turned we came across people saying roads were impassable. But we arrived safely with some nice sightings along the way, including a HUGE python!
The next morning it was up early (read 4am) for a walk – which was amazing! Apart from a black rhino really close (about 10m away!), we saw elephant and white rhino and the usual impala, giraffe etc. That evening, Chris and Uncle John treated us to an evening (which turned into a night) drive – and we saw another python, a mamba, a white-tailed mongoose, and finally after not seeing much but impala for about 1.5hrs, some lions with cubs! SSOOO cute!
a nice drive through the park, we set off for home…
…or so we thought! Dad’s car decided otherwise when the fan belt broke just past Hazyview. Not a good idea with 4 over-tired people who are all head strong. However, Renault assist and AA were great and just over 2 hrs later we were on the way to Old Joe’s Kaia. Which was great except for the fact it was my Mom’s 60th the next day, and my graduation. However, the folks at Old Joe’s couldn’t have been nicer – they made us welcome, made my Mom a Chocolate Baked Alaska birthday cake and set an amazing birthday breakfast table complete with “Happy Birthday” serviettes. The fact that my other cousin passed more of his GP exams was further cause for celebration :)
Then it was off to Renault in Nelspruit – not the best experience ever. But eventually, the fan belt was fixed and we rushed back to Jo’burg.
After getting my gown, unpacking and changing, we got back to graduation with literally 10mins to spare! And we all got tickets :)
At the end of a rushed day, we went out for a yummy (sushi) dinner!
Pics are: http://picasaweb.google.com/lancasterjenny/LisaAndrewSWedding?authkey=Gv1sRgCLXPu6Hd-L-81wE# (Lisa & Andrew's Wedding)
and http://picasaweb.google.com/lancasterjenny/KNPNov09?authkey=Gv1sRgCOLLycP57L6ZeQ# (KNP)
Monday, 12 October 2009
A Miraculous Weekend
We went diving (again) this weekend – and, what a miraculous weekend!
Miraculous coz we were:
a) diving at Miracle Waters
b) it was injury free (pretty amazing with all that was going on!)
c) Shona and I only managed to loose a compass (me), cylinder (me) and ourselves (Shona’s navigation skills!)
After shoving a “miraculous” (sorry – I had to) amount of stuff into my car, we hit the road early on Saturday morning. And that is when Shona and I started laughing, which meant we were well on the way to mild hysteria by the time we reached Hartebeespoort for breakfast. When Alex pulled out her “Oppie Koppie” glasses, we were finished and Jerome (a new French member of the club) was beginning to think he’d made a mistake coming. By the end of breakfast with Anne and Meg involved as well, I think he was pretty convinced! Especially as we went back to the shops about 5 times to get things we had forgotten, despite my car already being overflowing! Anyway, onwards to Miracle waters!
We arrived and set up base, only to move base 5 minutes after we’d finished setting up. Our first dive was to about 15m to do navigation. So we needed to use compass, which would be fine, if somebody (aka yours truly) didn’t get to the descent point minus compass which was definitely in my hand when I left the shore… Luckily we had another compass and did a “search and recovery” and found it on the way back. However, I also “lost” my cylinder (2 dives in a row – am getting a complex – are my buddies trying to tell me something?). My cylinder was quickly re-secured but not without Shona (not my buddy on that dive) falling off the bus she was laughing so much – and didn’t stop when we hit the surface, leading Jerome to believe that we really are mad!
Despite most of the rest of the country having cold, rainy weather, Miracle was very warm – especially in a wetsuit so we quickly made shelter from shade cloth between 2 cars – and then proceeded to cram cooler boxes, people etc underneath for a whole 2 minutes before it was time to kit up again! This time we went to the bus and then plane and Shona and I did well – not loosing anything, not freezing too much, not getting narc’d… We make an awesome pair! Except, as usual, we hit the surface and burst out laughing at something, totally convincing Jerome that we were high.
Our next dive was a 30m skills dive, and thank goodness, we had moved around the dam so we didn’t have a huge long swim again to get to the grid. All went well, until Shona and I decided to move around the grid as we were getting knocked by the people doing skills… except that this little movement caused Shona to become so narc’d she was giggling non-stop and couldn’t get back onto the grid (distance perception!)! In true buddy style, I didn’t desert her, despite her mocking my graceful entries into the water, and we ended up having a great dive.
Then it was night dive time :) And a 30m night dive at that! I got totally narc’d and was quite relieved when Chris (my buddy)’s torch decided to die so it meant he had to hold onto me and lead me for the rest of the dive. At 30m, with no torches, it is pitch black! Again, a great dive. Thanks Francois! When we got to the surface, we realised Paolop (sorry, Paolo)’s torch had also died so he and Shona had a similar dive to Chris and I!
As usual, around a braai, there was much talking and laughing (and drinking). The conversation of the night though had to be Shona and Chris’s discussion of their “marriage” (they were talking at that stage and not "divorced" - Peter wasn't around to steal Chris!) to a 1* who didn’t know them. It was quite funny watching Slim trying to decipher what was going on! Basically good friends and nothing more, Shona and Chris also get “divorced” at the slightest hint of anything and both have other “interests” as well so to outsiders it could be very confusing especially when they both deny it being an open relationship. The other laughing points were Francois jokes…
Bed time called and ended up with Meg, Shona, Chris and myself all sharing a small 4 man tent, on a smaller mattress! Emphasis on the word small. This inevitably, with Shona, Meg and I involved, ended up in giggles, until Meg fell asleep and Shona started getting SMS’s from Paolop telling us to keep quiet! However, no sooner had we kept quiet than over-amourous doves started calling. Let me explain that they were in a cage, right next to our tent! Who keeps doves in cages? And why on earth did they start coo’ing at 2:30am again! And 3:30? And 4:30? Which then woke up an over-excited rooster and he proceeding to start crowing. By 6am, we were all awake, drinking coffee and plotting ways to get rid of certain birds!
But we did get the best dive of the weekend in (thanks Mike)! It was a 30m to a helicopter – much to the excitement of all diving as only Karen had been there before. So after a long swim out, we go down to 30m. And Shona gets narc’d. Again. In hindsight, maybe 30m wasn’t a great place to start diving with a slate and knife but it was only when I wrote how awesome it was and she agreed, but said what is it (to a rather large helicopter) and started leaving her mark that I realized quite how narc’d she was! But we have now left our names at the bottom of Miracle! After a quick explore, we headed back up.
Our final dive was another nav dive with Rob, from the bus so we could “explore” while people were doing their nav. Despite having no trail mix, I still managed to bounce on the bus, and Shona and I really made our mark! Then it was our turn to navigate and we ended up doing a 3-sided square… and getting slightly lost in the process (all Shona’s doing!). This of course caused more hysteria back on the surface. However, before surfacing we went on a little explore and saw so many whelks – WOW!
Then it was back to pack up and drive home… but needed to pack first - a car that was packed to the brim with 2 people on the way there now needed to get 3 people back... um, err. And then we were starving so to extend the weekend, a whole lot of us went for dinner as well :)
Once again, thanks to those SPECIAL people (you know who you are) who, despite everything else, made the weekend so enjoyable for me! And to those who organized it! BIG THANKS!
Pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/lancasterjenny/AMiraculousWeekend?authkey=Gv1sRgCInYufTg7Zi3_QE#
Miraculous coz we were:
a) diving at Miracle Waters
b) it was injury free (pretty amazing with all that was going on!)
c) Shona and I only managed to loose a compass (me), cylinder (me) and ourselves (Shona’s navigation skills!)
After shoving a “miraculous” (sorry – I had to) amount of stuff into my car, we hit the road early on Saturday morning. And that is when Shona and I started laughing, which meant we were well on the way to mild hysteria by the time we reached Hartebeespoort for breakfast. When Alex pulled out her “Oppie Koppie” glasses, we were finished and Jerome (a new French member of the club) was beginning to think he’d made a mistake coming. By the end of breakfast with Anne and Meg involved as well, I think he was pretty convinced! Especially as we went back to the shops about 5 times to get things we had forgotten, despite my car already being overflowing! Anyway, onwards to Miracle waters!
We arrived and set up base, only to move base 5 minutes after we’d finished setting up. Our first dive was to about 15m to do navigation. So we needed to use compass, which would be fine, if somebody (aka yours truly) didn’t get to the descent point minus compass which was definitely in my hand when I left the shore… Luckily we had another compass and did a “search and recovery” and found it on the way back. However, I also “lost” my cylinder (2 dives in a row – am getting a complex – are my buddies trying to tell me something?). My cylinder was quickly re-secured but not without Shona (not my buddy on that dive) falling off the bus she was laughing so much – and didn’t stop when we hit the surface, leading Jerome to believe that we really are mad!
Despite most of the rest of the country having cold, rainy weather, Miracle was very warm – especially in a wetsuit so we quickly made shelter from shade cloth between 2 cars – and then proceeded to cram cooler boxes, people etc underneath for a whole 2 minutes before it was time to kit up again! This time we went to the bus and then plane and Shona and I did well – not loosing anything, not freezing too much, not getting narc’d… We make an awesome pair! Except, as usual, we hit the surface and burst out laughing at something, totally convincing Jerome that we were high.
Our next dive was a 30m skills dive, and thank goodness, we had moved around the dam so we didn’t have a huge long swim again to get to the grid. All went well, until Shona and I decided to move around the grid as we were getting knocked by the people doing skills… except that this little movement caused Shona to become so narc’d she was giggling non-stop and couldn’t get back onto the grid (distance perception!)! In true buddy style, I didn’t desert her, despite her mocking my graceful entries into the water, and we ended up having a great dive.
Then it was night dive time :) And a 30m night dive at that! I got totally narc’d and was quite relieved when Chris (my buddy)’s torch decided to die so it meant he had to hold onto me and lead me for the rest of the dive. At 30m, with no torches, it is pitch black! Again, a great dive. Thanks Francois! When we got to the surface, we realised Paolop (sorry, Paolo)’s torch had also died so he and Shona had a similar dive to Chris and I!
As usual, around a braai, there was much talking and laughing (and drinking). The conversation of the night though had to be Shona and Chris’s discussion of their “marriage” (they were talking at that stage and not "divorced" - Peter wasn't around to steal Chris!) to a 1* who didn’t know them. It was quite funny watching Slim trying to decipher what was going on! Basically good friends and nothing more, Shona and Chris also get “divorced” at the slightest hint of anything and both have other “interests” as well so to outsiders it could be very confusing especially when they both deny it being an open relationship. The other laughing points were Francois jokes…
Bed time called and ended up with Meg, Shona, Chris and myself all sharing a small 4 man tent, on a smaller mattress! Emphasis on the word small. This inevitably, with Shona, Meg and I involved, ended up in giggles, until Meg fell asleep and Shona started getting SMS’s from Paolop telling us to keep quiet! However, no sooner had we kept quiet than over-amourous doves started calling. Let me explain that they were in a cage, right next to our tent! Who keeps doves in cages? And why on earth did they start coo’ing at 2:30am again! And 3:30? And 4:30? Which then woke up an over-excited rooster and he proceeding to start crowing. By 6am, we were all awake, drinking coffee and plotting ways to get rid of certain birds!
But we did get the best dive of the weekend in (thanks Mike)! It was a 30m to a helicopter – much to the excitement of all diving as only Karen had been there before. So after a long swim out, we go down to 30m. And Shona gets narc’d. Again. In hindsight, maybe 30m wasn’t a great place to start diving with a slate and knife but it was only when I wrote how awesome it was and she agreed, but said what is it (to a rather large helicopter) and started leaving her mark that I realized quite how narc’d she was! But we have now left our names at the bottom of Miracle! After a quick explore, we headed back up.
Our final dive was another nav dive with Rob, from the bus so we could “explore” while people were doing their nav. Despite having no trail mix, I still managed to bounce on the bus, and Shona and I really made our mark! Then it was our turn to navigate and we ended up doing a 3-sided square… and getting slightly lost in the process (all Shona’s doing!). This of course caused more hysteria back on the surface. However, before surfacing we went on a little explore and saw so many whelks – WOW!
Then it was back to pack up and drive home… but needed to pack first - a car that was packed to the brim with 2 people on the way there now needed to get 3 people back... um, err. And then we were starving so to extend the weekend, a whole lot of us went for dinner as well :)
Once again, thanks to those SPECIAL people (you know who you are) who, despite everything else, made the weekend so enjoyable for me! And to those who organized it! BIG THANKS!
Pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/lancasterjenny/AMiraculousWeekend?authkey=Gv1sRgCInYufTg7Zi3_QE#
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