11 May Well we had a lovely relaxing morning, I managed to get some washing done and Martin had a wee nap! We went off for a game drive around 3pm and had a lovely time. The scenery once again up here is different again and there seems to be a lot of elephants around which is really cool.

12 May Up quite early this morning as we are making our way to the Giriyono border into Mozambique. Had a lovely drive through to the border and then crossed into Mozambique. They would only issue one month visas here so will have to try and get an extension once we get to Maputo. Driving through Limpopo National Park there is lots of evidence of elephants although we didn’t actually see any. We saw impala, steenbok and zebra. The road goes from good to slightly bad and we decided to stay at Campismo Aguia Pesqueria (Fish Eagle Camp) which was beautiful – stunning views over the lake which is made up from Massingir Dam. The birdlife around here is amazing and the sunset beautiful.

13-15 May We drove through to Xai Xai (pronounced Shy Shy) where we will stay until Kerry arrives back from his boat adventure. Kerry Butler is a good friend also from NZ who has been living and working here in Maputo for around 15-20 years I think. He has a company called Mozaic Travel which obviously deals with travel throughout mostly Mozambique, but also SA. We arrived at Xai Xai beach and tried to find a nice place to camp, but it seems that most of the places are now very run down so we opted for the Xai Xai Caravan and Camp which seemed to be the easiest to access. A young boy called Jack helped us choose a site (with power, although the power stopped that evening) and set up camp. He then went home to bring his curios for us to see, so we bought a fridge magnet and ashtray. There seemed to be an abundance of stray starving dogs around who all wanted to protect us! There were two in particular whom I decided to feed whilst there – very skinny and sad and I hate to see animals suffer. We ended up staying 3 nights here in Xai Xai and on our last night we had heard about a good place to eat from a missionary called Mike. It was at a SA run place further along the beach road called Chongoene Holiday Resort and the food was great. We also found a lovely bakery in Xai Xai town and a good market; there are also plenty of ATM’s and good fuel stations. We rang Kerry on Saturday evening and he arrived back home in Maputo on Friday so we will make our way there tomorrow.

16-19 May We got directions from Kerry on Sunday morning and started to make our way to his place at Costa da Sol. We also put Costa da Sol into the navigation system and it took us through the back way to his place instead; which Kerry informed us is the quicker of the two ways anyway. We arrived at out 2pm so had some lunch and a great catch up with him. He cooked prawns on the braai for dinner which Martin loved and I had boerwors instead. After talking with Kerry about where we should go and what we should do whilst in Mozambique, we decided to get him to make up an itinerary for us. It is a fantastic trip and is about 56 days. We had a fabulous time at Kerry’s place; had a dinner out at Zambi one night; I cooked dinner one night and then Kerry cooked up some beautiful beef on the braai one night. We also heard all about his dhow trip which he had just done from way up north towards Pemba, just south from Fernao Veloso and he jumped off at Quelimane and flew back. Sounded great fun, but also quite hard work as well, especially with all the little problems they encountered along the way.

20 May Today starts our big adventure through some of Mozambique and I didn’t want to miss the opportunity of doing a little fishing along the way. I haven’t done any fishing since I left New Zealand so first thing in the morning we went off to GAME to big some rods and reels. We managed to find a couple of good rods and reels and other bits and pieces to get us started all with Kerry’s help who is an avid fisherman. We got to the check out also with some adapters for Mozambique as well and then the fun began! Firstly she kept telling me my card would not work, so I was trying to explain it was a chip and pin so she needed to put it in the machine differently; it is all so much hard work if they don’t speak English and I don’t speak Portuguese, but we got there in the end. Then Kerry had got a gaff for fishing which didn’t have a bar code on it so they were saying he couldn’t buy it, he told them it was on the shelf and therefore for sale so find the price now. Finally we got that all sorted and then one lay took one of our adapters and took off somewhere else in the store. We asked the other lady where she was as we wanted to leave and we had paid for it – we finally found her and got our adapter back, but have no idea what it was all about – AWA (Africa Wins Again)!

We got back to the house said our goodbyes and proceeded north towards Xai Xai again. We managed to get out the back way again, although at one stage Martin said this is wrong I’m going to turn around, but I said keep going as I trusted Kerry directions, we duly got to the tarmac road and were on our way. About 45kms north of Xai Xai we had our turnoff to the sand road (11kms) to Nascer do Sol which was right on the coast. We had a self catering chalet which was set above the restaurant overlooking the ocean – the view was amazing. We decided to eat in the restaurant the first night as all of our meat was frozen. We had a lovely meal and then an early night. Martin had to sleep in the lounge as the double bed had an end on it which made it tiny and he couldn’t lie flat.

21 May Got up and had breakfast and then went for a walk along the beach. It had been raining through the night and still looked threatening, but was a lovely walk. I decided to get out the rod and reel and try my luck at fishing. I found a guy who would show me where to fish, got me bait and also show me how to use my new toy. I had never used a reel like the one we got, but unfortunately neither had he. We went along the beach and he baited the hook and then cast, bang we got a fish – cool this is going to be great fun. I had a go at casting and apart from not casting as far as he had but did okay, got a wee bit of a birds nest, but all okay. Then I got a bite, but didn’t manage to get the fish. He then rebaited the hook and tried casting again, well he got a hell of a birds nest and then after an hour of putting it right cast again and you guessed it another bird’s nest! He put things right for me and said Mrs you try. So I cast and got it near perfect each time and caught another fish. I think he was a little put out that I could cast without messing up the reel so he kept trying and kept getting birds’ nests galore. Nevermind I was very excited about the two fish and was looking forward to fishing my way through Mozambique. As so happens with fishing, sea air and all I was knackered that night and we had a braai then went to bed.

22 May Today we are meant to be doing a couple of exploring days. Up just outside Quissico there is a 4x4 bush camp which Kerry told us to go and explore and camp there, so we started off and about half an hour to an hour into the journey the heavens opened up and the rain came down. If you have never experienced a tropical down pour it is hard to appreciate how much water falls so quickly. It turns roads into rivers and puddles into lakes at the blink of an eye! It was at this point we quickly realized our car leaks like a sieve! Not good. I was sitting in the passenger seat with my good thick waterproof from UK over me and still getting really wet. It started in one place and then spread throughout the car, although the driver’s seat managed to keep very dry. We got to our turnoff and made our way about 11kms through the coconut plantations over the bridge across the lagoon and to the campsite which appeared to be deserted. There was no way we could have made it on the road to the beach bar so we made the decision to turn around and go back to the main road and carry on to Tofo which was our next port of call. Well by this time the roads were definitely rivers and at least 6-8 inches deep, but in places up to a foot or more. It also meant that the edges of the road as it was sand was collapsing along the way and it seemed like the road was 6 inches lower than when we came in. At one stage a small truck (Tata) fill with people on the back came the other way and refused to back up. It was easier for him than us with a big trailer, but the guy obviously couldn’t drive properly and so after a lot of shouting on my part and getting even wetter (how is that possible) we eventually backed up and pulled over for him to pass us. At this stage there was 3 vehicles one way and 2 the other. We were scared that he was going to slip into us as he was a terrible, but with some good luck we managed to get by unscathed.

At this stage wet and cold and definitely with humour failure I just wanted to get somewhere dry with a hot shower. We drove onto Inhambane sometimes having to pull off the road as the rain was so hard you couldn’t see the road let alone anything crossing it or coming the other way. We phoned Kerry who informed us that it was a lovely sunny day there in Maputo and asked him to see if we could book into Baia Sonambula 2 days early. We found an ATM in Inhambane and made our way out towards Tofo. Kerry phoned back to say that it was fine and we made our way towards a lovely hot shower. Got a little lost in Tofo as we couldn’t find any signs for our accommodation, so phoned them and got directions. We finally arrived and unpacked in the rain to our lovely room. Martin went to turn the car around and got the trailer stuck so after a little encouragement and having to drive onto the beach we had it back in the parking spot ready for our 6 nights in Tofo. Hopefully the rain will stop so that we can get some diving and fishing done. Had a lovely shower and then went across the road to Casa Barry for dinner. We arrived at half time of the Bull v’s Crusaders game which we lost (boo hoo) and then also watched the Waratahs v’s Stormers game as well. A lovely meal and great game and then back for a well deserved sleep.

23 May Got up and had a lovely breakfast up on the balcony overlooking the ocean which was great. We met a South African couple who had been travelling since December up to Egypt and back. Very interesting hearing their tales and stories. It is not such a nice day again although the rain is not as heavy and very intermittent today. We went to the dive shop to ask about any advance weather reports and it seems that Wednesday the weather should improve – so hopefully we will get some diving done. We had a walk around town to find out where the best eating places are and ordered our dinner in advance so that you don’t have to wait for hours when you get there. We also had the best sandwiches in town at an internet café. We have just been watching from our verandah a family take their goat (yes I said goat) for a walk along the beach!

The roads out here so far have been shocking, especially from Xai Xai north which is the main road (highway) north. It was sand or should I say mud for around 60-80 kms and you really have to watch out for the buses and trucks as they don't move for anyone! Quite an experience and scary at times!

I will try and upload some photos, but are not holding out much hope.
Love, hugs and kisses to all xxx