Well it rained all day on and off (mostly on though) so we played cards, had a lovely hot shower and prayed for the rain to be stopped by tomorrow morning!

25 April Well you guessed it we woke up to rain! So there was nothing for it, but to pack up in the rain as we were making our way across to Sabie, which is only around 50km away from the Kruger Gate. We got away and headed off across country driving mostly in rain. We arrived here at ‘Merry Pebbles’ our campsite to be told that someone had cancelled so there was a room available if we wanted it. We decided to take it and try and dry everything out. Last night the rain was so heavy and it leaked all over the tent. My side of the bed was drenched this morning and it would be great to have a dry night’s sleep. So we parked the trailer across the road and opened it all out to try and dry everything. We took all the bedding and mattresses into the room and also the carpet from the tent to the room to dry. We also did heaps of washing as they had dryers here which helped with the bedding. We had a lovely meal at the restaurant and a great DRY night’s sleep, because that’s right it rained again! Martin managed to break the jack on the trailer whilst backing the trailer into position which he was very angry about, but nevermind tomorrow is a working day so we will sort it out.

26 April Well today we set off to Nelspruit after breakfast to get the trailer jack fixed, to get some food and also Martin wanted some new pillows. We encountered a bike race along the way, God knows how many entrants there were, but we passed hundreds of them. Got to Nelspruit and did the food shopping, and then managed to find someone to do a bit of welding which will be fine for the next couple of weeks and finally Martin found some knew pillows. We got back to the campsite and fortunately there didn’t seem to be any rain today. Things are drying out nicely.

27 April Today Martin confirmed our stay at Ulusaba so that he can catch up with Trevor Savage, who is a guide he met about 4.5 years ago and we are going to stay for 4 nights. We have managed to be able to leave the trailer here at the campsite which will be great as it takes such a long time to drive in Sabi Sands with the trailer. We also managed to get everything dry and put all the mattresses and bedding back into the trailer and pack it all up – nice and clean and dry. We will come and stay here for 2 nights after getting out of Sabi Sands and then make our way into Kruger National Park before crossing into Mozambique at the Giriyondo border.

Well not sure if I will be able to get you updated whilst in Sabi Sands if not I will have heaps to tell you all when we get back here on Sunday and loads of wildlife pictures as well.

Hope you are all well. Thanks for the message Mum & Colin and nice to talk to you also. Take care and love and hugs to all xxx

23 April We decided after not such a grand sleep (too much noise as you are located very close to the city centre) to move on to our next campsite. Martin had found out Trevor Savage was still at Ulusaba in Sabi Sands and he wanted to go and stay for a couple of nights to see him. So we made a booking for 28 & 29 April, so we are slowly making our way across to Kruger N.P. We had a heck of a slow journey up to our campsite Thaba Monate which is north of Pretoria. We hadn’t realized that it was a public holiday on Tuesday and a lot of people decided to take off the Monday and make a long weekend of it, so we found it very difficult to find any where to stay. We encountered road works through a lot of our journey which slowed us down considerably – in fact I think it added a good hour and half to the journey. We didn’t get into camp until about 6.15pm so had to set up in the dark. Then to boot it has rained all night!

24 April We woke up to rain so didn’t get out of bed until around 8am this morning. Make a quick check of the tent to get rid of any pockets of water and trying to stop any leaks. Had a lovely hot shower, made some breakfast and then Martin busied himself putting up new poles and ropes to try and keep the tent verandah tight so that the water doesn’t accumulate into pools. It is 11.30am and we are still getting rain, but hey it is winter (or rainy season) so what do you expect.

David, Julie & Helly we are really pleased that you finally made it home at last! Must have been a horrible drive from Rome - nevermind I hear the sun is shining so sit back, relax and maybe have a braai tonight! As for us I think it will have to be chilli con carne as its too wet to start the braai!

Hope ecveryone is fit and well. Love and huge hugs to all xxx

The 'big hole' at Kimberly

21 April Well up and at ‘em! Got to the factory to pick up the trailer and away! I think we left about 11.45am. We are off up towards Kimberly, but will have a stop along the way as it is too far to go in one day. We stopped at a place called Travalia just short of three sisters. As it is only for one night we decided to get a room. We also decided to have dinner in their restaurant as it was easier as I hadn’t got anything out of the freezer to thaw. We had lovely roast lamb and then Martin had cheesecake, whilst I stuck with coffee. Apparently this place used to be a stopping off point for the wagons from Cape Town to Kimberly in the diamond rush days. The story goes that on one of the journeys a man was very ill and couldn’t carry on; basically dying, so he was dropped off under a tree with food and water and left there. Meanwhile bushman had been watching and nursed the man back to health, he stayed on and ever since then Travalia has been some sort of accommodation and restaurant place, even when it changed hands every time it has keep to the hospitality concept.

22 April Today we are off to Kimberly to see ‘the big hole’! We started out on the N12 and en countered road works, so we tried to stay off the main roads, but also encountered road works. Nevermind, South Africa should have some of the best roads in the world by the time they are all finished. We were going to stay in the municipal campsite which is located right next door to the big hole and museum. We arrived around 2pm and there is a huge building construction site right next door. We set up, had some lunch and then headed over to see the big hole. They do tours which involve a movie about the early days and new rush days of Kimberly, then you go out onto a viewing deck overlooking the big hole (which is incredible. Apparently around 22,500,000 tonnes of earth was extracted in the 13 years it took to make this massive hole in the ground. Also around 2200kg of diamonds were extracted and the overall depth is around 1097 meters! There is water in this hole which is natural underground water and now makes this look like a serene deep pond! We then went into an old mine shaft and learnt about how the diamonds were extracted and the conditions that the men worked in – very hard work is all I can say. Lastly we went into the vault and saw all the different type of diamonds that had been extracted here in Kimberly. There are still diamonds, but De Beers does not seem to think it is viable to extract them and since the whole area has become a heritage site no one is allowed to take anything or dig for gems any more. All in all it was an interesting tour and well worth it.

19 & 20 April We were up and at the factory even before Jeremy arrived this morning. They have had two days getting all the last minute things sorted out. I will get Martin to go onto the blog and explain all the changes for all of you mechanical buffs who would be interested. I went shopping to stock up on food for the next week or so and we should be all AOK to take off tomorrow morning.

Things are definitely moving along nicely this end and we will definitely be leaving on the morrow - can't wait, can be rather boring waiting around a factory when you have already been away, but only for a week!

I will try and obviously keep as up to date as I possibly can, but will depend on the remoteness of the area and whether I can get a signal or not. Once into Mozambique I will have to look into whether I can get a sim card and use the USB I got here in South Africa - fingers crossed that I can then I will have you all along for the ride.

Mary and Ann thanks for the messages. Love and hugs to all am missing you all xxx

Well at last I am truly up to date and you will all be able to see where we have been and what we have seen so far! We are having a wonderful time and can't wait to get started out towards Mozambique; Kerry see you there soon, Muzza God I hope you are truly on the mend - take care of yourself, James & Leanne I hope you had a wonderful honeymoon, Kym & Nana was wonderful to talk to you both today. David, Julie & Helly I hope you make it back from Hong Kong soon!

Everyone take care and sending loads of love and hugs to all xxx

Springbok at Kgalagadi