Life Trove: South Africa 2015

Showing posts with label South Africa 2015. Show all posts

May 31, 2015

South Africa 2015 Highlights

What a time in South Africa. First the Tsitsikama Trail with the family and Chrisel. Then Storms River, Addo Elephant Park and Mosselbay with Chrisel. Then back to Cape Town do enjoy outings to Kirstenbosch, Lion's Head, Table Mountain, the beaches and Hermanus. Then a super trip on the Baz Bus to Jeffrey's Bay, Cintsa, Hogs Back, Port St Johns, Southern Drakensberg, Northern Drakensberg and Joberg. Finally some more time in Cape Town with the family.

Date

22 March 2015 - 31 May 2015 (10 weeks)

Cape Town

Garden Route

Cape Town with Chrisèl

Baz bus

Cape Town

All posts from the trip

All posts

May 31, 2015

Cape Town, Garden Route and Baz bus Diary 2015

22-Mar	Flight to Cape Town. Watch Road, some Wild, Paddington.
23-Mar	Cape Town. Chill out, such relief to be here. Fetch Matt from hockey. Mum for dinner.
24-Mar	Cape Town. Blue Route to buy Matt game (Grand Theft Auto) Play game.
25-Mar	Cape Town. Walk block. AOL Galore. Mum chat. GTA with Matt.
26-Mar	Cape Town. AOL galore. GTA with Matt.
27-Mar	Cape Town. To mum to get car + lunch. GTA with Matt.
28-Mar	Cape Town. Blueroute with Matt, Jo, Ant. Buy lazer. To mum (lazer fun) To MaryAnn for dinner. Plenty of work on humour.
29-Mar	Cape Town. GTA with Matt. Wilga and Norman for dinner.
30-Mar	Cape Town. At home all day. Admin day. Spoke to Chrisel. Add lots of exercise music.
31-Mar	Cape Town. To mum with Matt. Shop for shoes. Steak and chips. Apple store with mum. Work on compass (insights)
1-Apr	Cape Town. Lots of Compass (expense and cash flow) Ant's family - nice salad lunch.
2-Apr	Cape Town. To dentist. Then to Marcela for physio. To mum to set up computer (email especially) Overnight at mum's.
3-Apr	Cape Town. Finish setting up computer for mum. Club house for fried hake. To Jo's for braai with Boting clan.
4-Apr	Cape Town. Wake early to support Ant's run. Fun with Matt (BB gun duels, walk with M&S, serial killer) Lightroom photos. Cattle Baron with Botings.
5-Apr	Cape Town. Easter egg hunt. Speak to Sue. Boting family and mum over for lunch. Enail for Jilly. Then to restaurant Fercuchio for amazing salad. Brainstorm hiking.
6-Apr	Cape Town. Shopping for hike with Antony and Jo. To mum for night. Help her with computer. Speak briefy to Jilly.
7-Apr	Cape Town. Day of stress. To mum, lunch at Woodside, shopping for ankle straps. Go fetch Chrisel at airport.
8-Apr	Garden Route. Drive to Nature's Valley to Piet and Ronnel. Drive to station to see Graeme (ranger). 4 km walk with Chrisel to hut.
9-Apr	Garden Route .Walk up hill to wonderful view. Feet fine! Walk to amazing hut with perfect view. Chrisel a bit distant, self conscious. Walking is fine! Swim in pool at 2nd hut. Chrisel cossie view (wow).
10-Apr	Garden Route.Walk down to car. Fetch my car and drive to petropoort. Mug n Bean. Walk up to hut. Swim in river under waterfall (climb down).
11-Apr	Garden Route. Walk back to petropoort. Drive to Storms River. Walk Otter to waterfall for amazing swim. Eat at restaurant and talk spirituality.
12-Apr	Garden Route.Drive to PE. Visit Doo Doo, Nicky, Ryan. Drive to Addo. Listen to music, massive cry. To shops for salad. Talk re spiritual stuff.
13-Apr	Garden Route. Addo Elephant park. Amazing views of elephants. To restaurant for piza and wine. Talk about speaking your truth and get very serious. Get Chrisel to log moments of joy.
14-Apr	Garden Route. Drive to MosselBay. CD's in car. Amazing Georgian Backpackers. Braai with Barnacle and German ladies. Eat in candlelight, lovely chat with Chrisel by fire.
15-Apr	Garden Route. Drive back to Cape Town. Stop at amazing place for vetkoek. Drive via Betties Bay and walk in Harold Porter Botanical Gardens.
16-Apr	Cape Town. To Kirstenbosch to tree climb. Lovely red cappo at top restaurant. Mum to dinner.
17-Apr	Cape Town. Work on photos. To Somerset West. To Franschoek to vist Chrisel's Tannie Mia for cake (eventually). Home for Chinese takeaway
18-Apr	Cape Town. Up Lion's Head with Antony, Matt, Chrisel. Beach crawl to Clifton, Camps Bay, Hout Bay. To Sam's party.
19-Apr	Cape Town. To Brass Bell for lunch with family. Then to Boulders Beach for swim.
20-Apr	Cape Town. Up Skeleton Gorge with Chrisel. Mug n Bean for nice meal. Shop. To Jo's - mum for dinner. Ipad videos with Matt.
21-Apr	Cape Town. To Hermanus. Wine route (Winehaven, Spookfontein.) Cliff walk. Seafood lunch. Road to Caledon.
22-Apr	Cape Town. Cape Point. Shopping and car wash. Packing and gift. To mum's for dinner (lamb)
23-Apr	Baz bus. Lift from mum to Pinelands. Drive to Jeffreys Bay on Baz Bus. Arrive late to terrible service at Hard Rock. Walk to beach in dark. Drink wine, and hear about drug deal from English lady.
24-Apr	Baz bus. Jeffreys Bay. Move to Island Vibe. Walk to town and separate. Swim by self. To mall to buy memory card. Taxi guy. To dinner (chicken) where meet Chris and Norway girl. Sick with a cold. Back to room where Chrisel bubbly again. Discover Chrisel suffers from big mood swings. No wonder I'm struggling!
25-Apr	Baz bus. Jeffreys Bay. To breakfast for veggie juice. Very uneasy. Walk to hostel while Chrisel walks. Read. Long walk along beach. At bar with Chrisel where good again. Baz bus to PE. Hostel booking problem. Dorm. Girl gets up at 4 to pack.
26-Apr	Baz bus to Buccaneers. Long walk along beach past rivers with shells. Volleyball with corporate team. Buccaneers Chicken green curry meal. Wine and Ammarulla with Meggan and American girl.
27-Apr	Baz bus. Buckaneers. To breakfast with amazing views. Phone around - Coffee Bay or Port St Johns? Meditate, joy, birds come to me. Walk along beach with Chrisel down right side. More meditation. amazing swim floating on my back. To pizza restaurant. Volleyball. To dinner. To pub for nice chat with newly weds (Javed and Kate)
28-Apr	Baz bus. Buccaneers. Paddling along river with Chrisel. Fish eagle, kingfishers. Walk along beach. Snuck into Prana Lodge. Amazing swim. Back for Volleyball. Dinner Indian. To bar for drinking game. Red wine and Tequila.
29-Apr	Paddle along river at Buccaneers. Fish eagle, crested eagle. Shuttle to Hogsback with Dan - history lesson. Walk around town. Chill out at bar with fire. Amazing pizza.
30-Apr	Baz bus. Hike in Hogsback into valley, to waterfalls. Cliff walk. Amazing meditation. Pizza and wine in bar by fire. Chrisel and I sitting close.
1-May	Baz bus. Epic travel day. Taxi to East London. Swim at beach. Baz bus to Umtata. African taxi experience to Port St Johns Jungle Monkey. Lamb chops. Chrisel and I have "thin skin" chat.
2-May	Baz bus. Port St Johns. Go for hike with Buntu. To gap and blowhole and 3rd beach. Giant kingfisher. Trip with Mike, owner, to the cliff.
3-May	Hike to The Lighthouse. Baz bus. Travel to Southern Drakensberg. African taxi to Umtatha. Baz bus to Kokstad. Taxi to Sani pass.
4-May	Baz bus. Hike from Sani Lodge in Southern Drakensberg. Gxalingenwa hike 5 hours. Short cut through hotel. Sublime hike.
5-May	Baz bus. Shuttle to Pietermaritzberg. Shop for Potjie at Spar. Baz bus to The Amphitheatre. Walk through grassland. Make Potjie.
6-May	Baz bus. Amphitheatre backpackers. Hike to Tugela Falls. Dinner (pork belly.). We discuss best and worst moments at dinner.
7-May	Baz bus. Go for walk in grassland by river. Baz bus to Joberg. Meet family and dogs and have dinner (vegie pasta).
8-May	Joberg. Late get up in dark room. Download photos. To Mug n Bean for wrap. To mall to see power banks and fleeces. Fetch Christopher from water polo. Play Lazer Tag and come 2nd. To Spur (ribs and onion ribs, pecan nut Sunday). To cinema: The Avengers 2.
9-May	Joberg. Watch Christopher play football, taking photos. Shop for utopia. Sushi. Sit outside at dusk. Indian takeaway dinner. Talk to Kevin re spirituality.
10-May	Joberg. Helped with greenhouse and finished it. Andreas and Monica came for amazing braai.
11-May	Joberg. Drive to Utopia via Hartepoort Dam. Chameleon village, buy presents for Kevin and Esle. Buy jam and wood. Go for walk along river. Make Potjie Kos.
12-May	Joberg. Fruit salad and toast breakfast. Walk into Mountain Sanctuary over fence. Amazing red rock canyon. Clean up. Drive home. To Christafa's play about Walt Disney.
13-May	Book taxi. Take photos of farm. To airport. Fly to Cape Town. Dinner with family,
14-May	Waffles (Tashas) with Matt. Buy Jo gift (foot massage). To buy lens with Jo. Mum & Mike for dinner.
15-May	Work on photos from trip. Watch Matt play hockey. To dinner with Jo, Ant, MaryAnne, John, Sean etc.
16-May	Jo's card and birthday present opening. To mum, then to Sam's hockey. To istore to buy Mac for Jo. Set up Mac. To Cattle Baron for dinner.
17-May	Edit my holiday photos. Set up computer for Matt. Work on Chrisel reflections.
18-May	Edit my photos. Show Jo how to use Mac computer. More coputer set up. Learn to rename photos in Lightroom.
19-May	Shop for food. Cook for family (lamb caserole on slow cooker). Download Wunderlist. Movie quiz with Matt
20-May	Set up Wunderlist and Evernote. Photo editing on Jo's computer.
21-May	To mum. Work on Wunderlist. To dinne at The Barn with mum and Mike.
22-May	At mum. Work on Todolist (migrating over). Blog Tsitsikama Hiking.
23-May	To breakfast at Woodside. Some work. Home with Mike. To Jo and Steve for piza dinner. Watch The IT Crowd.
24-May	To Rhodes Mem with Jo and Ant. Fun with Matt (app inventions). Watch IT Crowd.
25-May	Train Jo on Lightroom & Evernote. Work on Compass (home.) To Cattle Baron with family (my treat). Watch IT crowd.
26-May	Migrate evernote. Set up Jo on Spotify.
27-May	To Tokai forest with Jo for photography. Wow her with Lightroom. Watch Matt play hockey, beating Rondebosh 4 nil. Shopping to buy gifts for Matt and Sam (R450 itunes voucher) & Ant (wine.)
28-May	Breakfast at Tashas with Heather. Wine farm for platter with mum and Mike. To mum for night. Start reconnecting on Facebook.
29-May	Work, blogging. Lunch at woodside with mum (fish & chips). Back to Jo for dinner & help with Lightroom.
30-May	With Jo to Kalk Bay to phone big waves. Dinner at mum (gammon).
31-May	Antony and Matt take me to airport. Fly home to Sydney. Work on Moments (Compass) at airport. Watched Hobbit 3.

May 30, 2015

Watching the huge waves roll in at Kalk Bay with Jo

Jo and I had a marvellous time photographing huge waves crashing onto restaurants at Kalk Bay. The seals and sea gulls also gave us a great show. I fell even more in love with my new 18 - 300 mm lens and the versatility it gives me.

This colourful art was selling at a local stall.

May 25, 2015

Rhodes Memorial with Antony and Jo

Highlights

A brisk but sunny winter's day.
A delicious lunch of chicken curry at a restaurant with one of the best views in all of Cape Town.
Photographing the lions (I always loved these as a kid) and Rhodes on his horse. Cecil John Rhodes is not an admired figure in South Africa these days. In fact, just recently UCT students threw excrement all over his statue. Not sure he would be too happy about this!
The beautiful view from the memorial over Cape Town's southern suburbs.
A short walk to view the mist over the city through the pines and past lovely silver trees.

Views of Devil's Peak.

May 13, 2015

Flying into Cape Town

It always feels wonderful flying into Cape Town. Not just the beauty of it, but knowing I'll get to see the family. One of the great pleasures of my life. Here I am returning from my adventures on the Baz bus.

May 12, 2015

Utopia

Chrisel's family has a little bush retreat, just over an hour's drive out from Joburg, near the Magaliesberg Mountains. It really did live up to its name and I loved my time here.

Highlights of the overnight stay included:

Stopping off at The Hartbeespoort Dam on the way.
Buying some delicious cheese from a local farm.
Stopping at a huge African market and a distillery to get Chrisèl's family a thank you gift.
Buying delicious berry jam at a quaint little farm stall on the way - maybe the best jam I've ever tasted.
Feeling immediately relaxed as soon as we arrived. Such a gorgeous, tranquil setting right in the bush veld with the constant sound of birds calling.
The view from the deck of the house, out onto a far away lake.
Going for a walk along the river and stopping off to photograph white-fronted bee-eaters on the way back - one of my favourite birds.
Making a delicious lamb potjie. We did one at The Amphitheatre, but this time I knew what I was doing and it was a considerably more relaxed experience!
A stunning walk in the reserve next door along a dry river gorge, gazing in awe at some of the reddest and most ancient rocks I've ever seen. It certainly gives Australia's Red Centre a go for its money!

The houses in Utopia - built to meld into the landscape.

A big deck to admire the view out onto the bush.

A walk along the river.

The local white-fronted bee-eaters, the iconic symbol of Utopia.

Making a delicious lamb potjie.

Exploring a river gorge. Aren't those rocks amazing!

Lots of wind and water sculptured rock formations.

A cute Vervet monkey along the way.

May 09, 2015

Spending time in Joburg with Chrisèl's family

Highlights:

Getting to meet Chrisèl's wonderful family and being made to feel so very welcome.
Getting to meet all the beloved family pets including Rosie, the pug, and the chooks.
The lovely setting of the house on a huge piece of ground - who knew you could enjoy such space and tranquility in the heart of a huge city?
A walk in the neighbourhood - and the dogs going absolutely crazy!
A delicious braai with family friends, including the best potato bake I've ever tasted. The ribs were also right up there.
The best veggie pasta I ever tasted. And an awesome smoothie.
Playing lazer tag (so much fun) and watching The Avengers 2 at the Montecasino.
Watching Christafa play in a football match and sing a solo in a school musical. Very multi-talented!
Seketa - a little ray of the purest sunshine.
A drive through Joburg in the middle of load shedding with none of the traffic lights working. So glad Chrisèl was driving. What a consumate driving professional she is.
Helping Kevin to build a greenhouse frame for the vegetable garden - a lot of fun.
Shopping up a storm for our trip to Utopia.

Chrisèl's sister, nephew and niece.

More of the family household. That's Rosie in the bottom right, the most loved dog in all of Joburg !!

The lovely house, set on a huge ground with a river running through the bottom of it.

The frame of the greenhouse we made for the veggie garden.

Watching Christafa play football.

May 07, 2015

Hiking to the Tugela Falls in The Northern Drakensberg

And here we are now at the highlight of the whole Baz bus trip: a hike to The Tugela Falls in the Northern Drakensberg, the 2nd highest waterfall in the world at 3400 metres. This is possibly the best hike I've ever done. The scenery was so spectacular that I had to keep pinching myself. I'm so totally in love with The Drakensberg. I can't wait to come back here.