Well for those of you who don't know we are now back in the UK. We arrived back on Monday morning early to a beautiful day - which was great. We ended up flying BA as they were the only ones who had any seats available. Martin slept from the time he put his head down till the time we landed (I think)!!
As for myself well it was a totally different story - there was alot of turbulence and I didn't manage to catch any sleep at all, but I did watch 5 movies!!!! Nevermind Andy was there to pick us up which was great and we got home about 11am.
Wizzy was over the moon to see us and she is looking a much slimmer version than when I left in January. Tristram has done a great job looking after her, so I now have to keep myself from feeding her little titbits as it is not good for her... smack on the hand Dee!!!
It is lovely to be back home and the weather yesterday was lovely, except for one heavy shower which almost caught Martin & his Dad out. I managed to weed and prune the rose garden which looks much better for it. Apparently there has been loads of rain here throughout July and August - so everything has grown heaps including the weeds.
Well hope you are all fit and well as we are. I have been in the gym every morning for an hour since we got home (yes I know only 2 mornings have gone by, but at least it's a start).
Loads of hugs and kisses to you all xxx
Wednesday 26 August 2009
Thursday 20 August 2009
Mike, Jo, Me & Wayne - having fun following the same footsteps!
It was an awesome trail and we were amazingly lucky with the bad weather (we managed to miss most of it whilst walking). The huts are all cool and very different which made it fun at the end of the day (to see who would sleep where). The food .. well what can I say I think most of us probably put on weight rather than loose it - dam good cooks we all are isn't that the truth (or it could have had something to do with the 2 tonnes of snacks that we all took????
Lea - overlooking the Breede River on day 1
We saw so many whales it was just not funny - I don't think anyone of us expected to see quite so many. They are great to watch as they do the sailing (tails in the air), breaching (jumping out of the water), spy hopping (or as we called it eye balling) and generally having a good time. We also saw a few mating as well which was rather a mess of tails, fins and so on. We also heard them a few times which was pretty cool.
A whale breaching whilst we are walking the coastal path - awesome. We saw both Southern Right & Hump Backed Whales.
I certainly lost a lot of sweat that first day out and was still worried about 5.5 hours into the walk that I wouldn't make it, but once I got up over the last rise and saw the hut and dam a smiled appeared on my dial and I knew I could do it. A big thanks to Jo who was following me that day as she said I had a bit of a wobble on and I most certainly did!! Mike was there to meet us all as we came down with a lovely ice cold beer - its never tasted better.
Mike with a whale out in front of him
Well the first day walking was a bit of a killer for me. I hadn't slept the night before as I was scared that I couldn't make it - about 7-8 months of not doing anything has played with the weight a bit I can tell you all....
The views were stunning and we reached an altitude of 611 meters as the highest point. We had Cape Vultures, Orange Breasted Sunbirds and Cape Sugarbirds as well as a Cape Cobra the first day (great back paddling Mike after spotting the snake).
Snow on the mountains in Worcester!!!
We went in two cars (the 8 of us) and started by doing a wee wine tour over the hill not far out of Cape Town (only to choose the right wine for dinner you know)!! Then carried on to Bredesdorp and had lunch at a little pub along the way. Beautiful scenery all the way and once we started playing 'windmill' (Wayne's game) along the way things got very exciting!!!!
Meerkats in the Quiver Tree Forest Camp
We then stayed at a lovely B&B in Worcester for the night and then had almost a full day at Bushwakka to sort things out. We then left the trailer there and made our way to Cape Town. We are staying in the V & A Hotel again, but we decided to do the Whale Trail in the De Hoop Nature Reserve with Leanne, James, Kerry Butler, Jo, Mike and Wayne Santini, as alot of people had pulled out and you have to book this walk a year in advance.
We went to Leanne's for dinner on the Thursday night to meet the others and have a braai. Barbs & Ashley were there which was cool - she is a real little sweetie.
Quiver Tree Forest in Namibia
Well as per usual things changed again and when we left Fiddlers Creek on the SA side of the border we drove all the way through to Worcester. It started to rain and there was even snow on the mountains!!
We got there and went straight to Bushwakka to see the Hewitt brothers about all the things we would like or need doing to the trailer and car while we are home in the UK.
Monday 10 August 2009
Sorry just had to rush off and do something. So tomorrow we will be staying at The Baths at Citrusdal and then off to Worcester/Cape Town.
First thing we will have to see if we can get flights back to the UK. As it is the European holidays it may be a bit of a wait. Other wise I guess we willo be back home in UK towards the end of August.
We will have to have a day or two with the Bushwakka guys to get things sorted as far as the trailer and car are concerned. I will put some more photos on once I get a card here in South Africa. As we are just literially over the river from Namibia that is why I can still use the Namibian one - which is great.
So sending huge hugs and kisses to you all xxx
First thing we will have to see if we can get flights back to the UK. As it is the European holidays it may be a bit of a wait. Other wise I guess we willo be back home in UK towards the end of August.
We will have to have a day or two with the Bushwakka guys to get things sorted as far as the trailer and car are concerned. I will put some more photos on once I get a card here in South Africa. As we are just literially over the river from Namibia that is why I can still use the Namibian one - which is great.
So sending huge hugs and kisses to you all xxx
Well hope you are all fit and well. Plans have changed again due to the fact that the Kgaladigadi National Park was fully booked and they do not let anyone enter unless you have a confirmed booking.
So we went up to Bossie & Jackie's farm (took the 2 girls and kittens and the dog with us) on Friday afternoon. When we got there Bossie and a couple of mates were going to see if they could shoot an animal for the freezer so Martin went with them.
They got back empty handed, but it sounds like they had fun. We had a great braai that night and then the following morning we took off to just north of Gochas to stay at Auob Country Lodge Campsite.
A really long driving day, but we saw untold game along the way including meerkats, oryx, kudu, slender mongoose and loads of warthogs. A great scenic drive and we arrived to find the lodge itself full and the campsite had a load of people as well. Nevermind we had a nice dinner and an early night (apart from the Afikaaner music not a bad night), they tend to like it very loud, at least they stopped at midnight!
We then drove down just north east of Keetmanshop and stayed at Quiver Tree Forest Rest Camp which was a lovely little camp. We saw 3 meerkats running through the camp which was pretty cool. Then we went for a walk through the quiver tree forest which was pretty good as well - loads of dassies in amongst the rocks.
Today we drove down and through the Vooilsdrift border and are staying on the Orange River at Fiddlers Creek.
So we went up to Bossie & Jackie's farm (took the 2 girls and kittens and the dog with us) on Friday afternoon. When we got there Bossie and a couple of mates were going to see if they could shoot an animal for the freezer so Martin went with them.
They got back empty handed, but it sounds like they had fun. We had a great braai that night and then the following morning we took off to just north of Gochas to stay at Auob Country Lodge Campsite.
A really long driving day, but we saw untold game along the way including meerkats, oryx, kudu, slender mongoose and loads of warthogs. A great scenic drive and we arrived to find the lodge itself full and the campsite had a load of people as well. Nevermind we had a nice dinner and an early night (apart from the Afikaaner music not a bad night), they tend to like it very loud, at least they stopped at midnight!
We then drove down just north east of Keetmanshop and stayed at Quiver Tree Forest Rest Camp which was a lovely little camp. We saw 3 meerkats running through the camp which was pretty cool. Then we went for a walk through the quiver tree forest which was pretty good as well - loads of dassies in amongst the rocks.
Today we drove down and through the Vooilsdrift border and are staying on the Orange River at Fiddlers Creek.
Friday 7 August 2009
07 Aug We had a lovely dinner with Jackie, Bossie and the girls last night. Today we are going out to their farm and taking the girls (with new kittens) with us as Bossie has a meeting and Jackie goes on safari today.
Once again plans have changed and we will leave from the farm and go through the back road to Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park which we can access from Namibia. It is a small park which borders Botswana, Namibia and South Africa and is meant to be great. Meerkats and other cool things to see. We will probably spend a couple of nights there which will be really relaxing.
So hope you are all well and sending hugs and kisses to all xxx
Once again plans have changed and we will leave from the farm and go through the back road to Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park which we can access from Namibia. It is a small park which borders Botswana, Namibia and South Africa and is meant to be great. Meerkats and other cool things to see. We will probably spend a couple of nights there which will be really relaxing.
So hope you are all well and sending hugs and kisses to all xxx
Thursday 6 August 2009
Some of the local markets along the way in Northern Zambia.
Well I think that will do for now and I am hoping that I will be able to update the blog each day now as we will be following the main road all the way down to South Africa. I think we will probably spend another 3-4 nights in Namibia before crossing over into South Africa. Then it will be a couple of days before we pull into Worcester first and then onto Cape Town.
Us in Livingstone at the Ocean Basket one night.
God do I need a haircut! It hasn't been touched since I left the UK in January - I think I will definitely need to book in for hair, facial and a general maintenance when we get home... Also need to start those exercises again - my look at the double chin and fat tummy - not nice!!
Martin trying to chop wood at Waterberg - he had just finished telling me that his 'chopper' stopped chopping?? Figure that one out....
Martin has improved immensely with his fires - really and truly there was only one way and that was up. He now gets a great fire going with coals ready to cook on by about an hour - so all good.
The bike riding day - my don't we all look glam!!! NOT!
Today is just a catch up day and resting day. Jackie is home tonight so we will be able to catch up with her and maybe go out for a meal. Then tomorrow we will leave Windhoek and start our way south - slowly.
Hope you are all fit and well, sending big huge hugs and kisses to all xxx
Wednesday 5 August 2009
28 Jul Livingstone – catching up on the blog and email. Get to see Sue today which is great – these two work so hard! Had a meeting with Garth about the next part of the trip. We need an itinerary and also how much it will cost. We are generally just catching up on things – washing, sleep, with people and relaxing a bit. Dinner out with Kim & Sue at Ocean Basket.
29 Jul Decided today that the next part of the trip was getting up in price and we will leave things until next year now. We will transit back down through Namibia to Cape Town and fly out from there. There is quite alot of work to be done on the trailer since we overloaded it and managed to crack the chassis. Also the car will probably need a bit of work also. We have spoken to the Bushwakka guys and they will be able to fix everything and also we will be able to leave the car and trailer with them until next year when we start again!! We are both getting tired as well and I really can’t wait to get back home. So we will leave on Sunday and start transitting down.
30 Jul Today we are off to Zimbabwe for the night to try and catch up with everyone on that side. Arrive over (visas for Zim – British $55US and Kiwis $30US) and go straight to Garth & Trish’s office. They now work most of the time from the office at home, so we decide to call in and see Mags and Kelly. Both looking great and good to see them, seem very busy and we grab a taxi and go up to Garth & Trish’s place. They both look great; in fact there is not much of Trish left to see she looks fantastic! We all decide to go to Ilala Lodge for lunch and Rob meets us there. Great to have a good old catch up with how things are going – they all look good (Rob has lost a little more hair) and was fab to see them. Get back to their house and ask about Jenni & Angus (who have been living in Vic Falls for almost 3 years), give Jen a ring and she arrives around with wine which is awesome as Trish didn’t have any. Trish is training for a bike ride (320km) around the Tuli region as well as SA and Bots next week. Kids get home and my God they have grown like weeds, Connor and Courtney are so tall. They are off to Zambia tomorrow to play sports against a school about 4 hours north of Livingstone. We get dropped off at Shoestrings to catch up with Leon & Mags and have a few drinks with them. Mags is as ever busy with a meeting, but we have a great chat with Leon and he looks great. Jen & Trish pick up us and we go off to get pizza for dinner. Have a great dinner with Garth, Trish and Jenni. We are going to stay at Jenni’s place as she is on her own tonight.
31 Jul Jenni decided last night that she didn’t want to go for a bike ride with Trish in the morning as she wanted to go to gym instead, so I put up my hand and said I would ride with Trish. Trish arrived around 7.30am and had a spare pair of shorts for me to wear, Jenni lent me her bike and gloves. Trish has a bear banger on her in case we encounter any elllies, lions or buffalo along the way.... We have a fanstastic ride and I thoroughly enjoy myself we do a total of 18.7km which for me is great as I only ride a bike once a year at Monar!! We end up at the boat club and only see impala and baboons on the way. Jenni & Martin meet us there and we have breakfast. This has really made me think that I will get my bike out when I get home and start riding before the snow and ice come. I will also have to get back into the gym and lose a bit of weight – I think 10kg would be a good start. Thanks to everyone in Zim for a lovely afternoon, evening and also the awesome ride Trish. We will see you all again next year and give you all a bit more notice and stay longer as well. Got back to Zambia and read/slept for a couple of hours in the afternoon. Jenni & Angus are over this side as Angus has to fix a starter motor on the truck, so we meet at Waterfront for drinks. Sammy is also there as he works for Acacia as well and it is great to catch up with him. Angus looks good and was great to catch up with him as well – sorry it was brief, but next year we will have more time. We then make our way down to Livingstone Golf Club as it is Bingo night and I promised to meet Dehy there. What a cool evening and Sarah manages to win two prizes and Jojo gets one also. Sarah has never played bingo in her life (and shes English) and manages to win twice – jammy bugger!! Jo jo is over the moon with her win and says it was because of the lucky pen...who knows! I didn’t win a thing, but had great fun. Got back to Kim & Sue’s house and it was locked, so we put up the tent and camped in their back yard.
01 Aug Today we got some more supplies on board and made sure that everything was set to go tomorrow. It’s our last day/night in Zambia until next year so we just relaxed and made sure everything was ready to go. Went to Fez Bar in the afternoon to watch the rugby (SA beat NZ very convincingly), I actually didn’t see much of the game as Linda came and we had a really good catch up. Went out to dinner with Kim, Sue & Kate to Rhapsody’s.
02 Aug Got up and no water so will have to forgo the shower this morning. Got to Jollyboys and had some breakfast, filled up with water and said our goodbyes. A huge big thank you once again to Kim & Sue who have made our stay in Livingstone even more enjoyable and see you in a few months time in the UK...don’t forget the BIG bottle of champagne that we all have to drink!! Fuelled up and departed Livingstone at 930am. Arrived at the border of Sesheke at 11.50am and finally got through and out the other side at 12.35. Stopped for lunch along the way for about 40 minutes and finally arrived at N’Kwazi Campsite at 5.50pm – what a long day. Total of 418 miles driving. There is an hours time change here – put your watches back one hour (only at a certain time of the year though)!
03 Aug Depart N’Kwai at 9am and stopped in Grootfontein about 12.05, then departed at 12.33 – just wanted to get some nice bread and rolls. (Zambia does not have the best bread around)! Arrive Waterberg Wilderness Camp at 4.30pm, I phoned to book from Grootfontein – what a fantastic campsite. We have a lovely dinner and then an early night. We decided to stay 2 nights here as you can go for walks and game drives in the reserve. We book for the early morning hike up onto the plateau. Total of 343 miles driving.
04 Aug Up early and have a fabulous shower and some breakfast before the 3-4 hour walk. Andres is our guide and fortunately we are the only 2 on this walk this morning. Andres points out certain plants and their medicinal properties that the Bushman use them for. We see loads of animal tracks all around, but only see a Damara dikdik on the way up. The scenery is stunning and the plateau is quite awesome – a 200m high plateau which is about 50km by 16km and dominates the whole area. We spot some rock dassies and klip springer whilst climbing up to the top. Views from the top are awesome – we don’t manage to see any of the wildlife up top which includes white & black rhino, buffalo, giraffe, baboon, oryx, kudu and other small antelope. We see evidence of all of them though!! We have a break overlooking the Kalahari which seems to go on forever. Then make our way down again via Plateau Lodge. All in all a great walk and well worth doing. Relaxing in the afternoon is the highlight of the day for me – as all the travelling makes you exhausted and Martin now agrees as well. Can’t wait to get home and see Wizzy and Tristram. Have a lovely dinner and another fairly early night.
05 Aug Depart Waterberg at 8.30am and stop at Okahandja for a bite to eat for about half an hour. Arrive at Chameleon Backpackers around 12.30. Meet Claire who is going to show us how to get to Jackie & Bossie’s place. I have spoken to Jackie and she said to stay at their place – no one home tonight, but she is back tomorrow, so will be able to catch her up with our travels then. 168 miles total driving today.
Okay I think I am up to date with the text now, so will try and put some more photos on also for you all to see.
Hope your all well and love and hugs to all xxx
29 Jul Decided today that the next part of the trip was getting up in price and we will leave things until next year now. We will transit back down through Namibia to Cape Town and fly out from there. There is quite alot of work to be done on the trailer since we overloaded it and managed to crack the chassis. Also the car will probably need a bit of work also. We have spoken to the Bushwakka guys and they will be able to fix everything and also we will be able to leave the car and trailer with them until next year when we start again!! We are both getting tired as well and I really can’t wait to get back home. So we will leave on Sunday and start transitting down.
30 Jul Today we are off to Zimbabwe for the night to try and catch up with everyone on that side. Arrive over (visas for Zim – British $55US and Kiwis $30US) and go straight to Garth & Trish’s office. They now work most of the time from the office at home, so we decide to call in and see Mags and Kelly. Both looking great and good to see them, seem very busy and we grab a taxi and go up to Garth & Trish’s place. They both look great; in fact there is not much of Trish left to see she looks fantastic! We all decide to go to Ilala Lodge for lunch and Rob meets us there. Great to have a good old catch up with how things are going – they all look good (Rob has lost a little more hair) and was fab to see them. Get back to their house and ask about Jenni & Angus (who have been living in Vic Falls for almost 3 years), give Jen a ring and she arrives around with wine which is awesome as Trish didn’t have any. Trish is training for a bike ride (320km) around the Tuli region as well as SA and Bots next week. Kids get home and my God they have grown like weeds, Connor and Courtney are so tall. They are off to Zambia tomorrow to play sports against a school about 4 hours north of Livingstone. We get dropped off at Shoestrings to catch up with Leon & Mags and have a few drinks with them. Mags is as ever busy with a meeting, but we have a great chat with Leon and he looks great. Jen & Trish pick up us and we go off to get pizza for dinner. Have a great dinner with Garth, Trish and Jenni. We are going to stay at Jenni’s place as she is on her own tonight.
31 Jul Jenni decided last night that she didn’t want to go for a bike ride with Trish in the morning as she wanted to go to gym instead, so I put up my hand and said I would ride with Trish. Trish arrived around 7.30am and had a spare pair of shorts for me to wear, Jenni lent me her bike and gloves. Trish has a bear banger on her in case we encounter any elllies, lions or buffalo along the way.... We have a fanstastic ride and I thoroughly enjoy myself we do a total of 18.7km which for me is great as I only ride a bike once a year at Monar!! We end up at the boat club and only see impala and baboons on the way. Jenni & Martin meet us there and we have breakfast. This has really made me think that I will get my bike out when I get home and start riding before the snow and ice come. I will also have to get back into the gym and lose a bit of weight – I think 10kg would be a good start. Thanks to everyone in Zim for a lovely afternoon, evening and also the awesome ride Trish. We will see you all again next year and give you all a bit more notice and stay longer as well. Got back to Zambia and read/slept for a couple of hours in the afternoon. Jenni & Angus are over this side as Angus has to fix a starter motor on the truck, so we meet at Waterfront for drinks. Sammy is also there as he works for Acacia as well and it is great to catch up with him. Angus looks good and was great to catch up with him as well – sorry it was brief, but next year we will have more time. We then make our way down to Livingstone Golf Club as it is Bingo night and I promised to meet Dehy there. What a cool evening and Sarah manages to win two prizes and Jojo gets one also. Sarah has never played bingo in her life (and shes English) and manages to win twice – jammy bugger!! Jo jo is over the moon with her win and says it was because of the lucky pen...who knows! I didn’t win a thing, but had great fun. Got back to Kim & Sue’s house and it was locked, so we put up the tent and camped in their back yard.
01 Aug Today we got some more supplies on board and made sure that everything was set to go tomorrow. It’s our last day/night in Zambia until next year so we just relaxed and made sure everything was ready to go. Went to Fez Bar in the afternoon to watch the rugby (SA beat NZ very convincingly), I actually didn’t see much of the game as Linda came and we had a really good catch up. Went out to dinner with Kim, Sue & Kate to Rhapsody’s.
02 Aug Got up and no water so will have to forgo the shower this morning. Got to Jollyboys and had some breakfast, filled up with water and said our goodbyes. A huge big thank you once again to Kim & Sue who have made our stay in Livingstone even more enjoyable and see you in a few months time in the UK...don’t forget the BIG bottle of champagne that we all have to drink!! Fuelled up and departed Livingstone at 930am. Arrived at the border of Sesheke at 11.50am and finally got through and out the other side at 12.35. Stopped for lunch along the way for about 40 minutes and finally arrived at N’Kwazi Campsite at 5.50pm – what a long day. Total of 418 miles driving. There is an hours time change here – put your watches back one hour (only at a certain time of the year though)!
03 Aug Depart N’Kwai at 9am and stopped in Grootfontein about 12.05, then departed at 12.33 – just wanted to get some nice bread and rolls. (Zambia does not have the best bread around)! Arrive Waterberg Wilderness Camp at 4.30pm, I phoned to book from Grootfontein – what a fantastic campsite. We have a lovely dinner and then an early night. We decided to stay 2 nights here as you can go for walks and game drives in the reserve. We book for the early morning hike up onto the plateau. Total of 343 miles driving.
04 Aug Up early and have a fabulous shower and some breakfast before the 3-4 hour walk. Andres is our guide and fortunately we are the only 2 on this walk this morning. Andres points out certain plants and their medicinal properties that the Bushman use them for. We see loads of animal tracks all around, but only see a Damara dikdik on the way up. The scenery is stunning and the plateau is quite awesome – a 200m high plateau which is about 50km by 16km and dominates the whole area. We spot some rock dassies and klip springer whilst climbing up to the top. Views from the top are awesome – we don’t manage to see any of the wildlife up top which includes white & black rhino, buffalo, giraffe, baboon, oryx, kudu and other small antelope. We see evidence of all of them though!! We have a break overlooking the Kalahari which seems to go on forever. Then make our way down again via Plateau Lodge. All in all a great walk and well worth doing. Relaxing in the afternoon is the highlight of the day for me – as all the travelling makes you exhausted and Martin now agrees as well. Can’t wait to get home and see Wizzy and Tristram. Have a lovely dinner and another fairly early night.
05 Aug Depart Waterberg at 8.30am and stop at Okahandja for a bite to eat for about half an hour. Arrive at Chameleon Backpackers around 12.30. Meet Claire who is going to show us how to get to Jackie & Bossie’s place. I have spoken to Jackie and she said to stay at their place – no one home tonight, but she is back tomorrow, so will be able to catch her up with our travels then. 168 miles total driving today.
Okay I think I am up to date with the text now, so will try and put some more photos on also for you all to see.
Hope your all well and love and hugs to all xxx
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