Nostalgic South African adverts from the past

Here are some adverts from the 80's that are enmeshed in my memory and the fabric of my childhood.

Cremora "It's not inside, its on top!"

   

Timotei "It's so mild, you can wash your hair everyday"

  

Cadburys Lunch Bar "Mac Atini Makatini"

  

Chomp "You'll just have to grow some more kid"

   

Jan Spies Cremora

  

Castrol GTX: "A can of the best"

 

Blackcat Peanut Butter

Vaseline intensive care

Redro

Hooked on classics

On our Zululand trip, through Antony, I rediscovered the album Hooked on Classics — one we listened to over and over on childhood car journeys in the 1980s. Dad absolutely loved it. The moment it started playing, the nostalgia came flooding back. It really was a phenomenon at the time, becoming one of the bestselling classical crossover albums ever and introducing a whole generation to classical music through its catchy disco-style arrangements.

 

The Dance

I love this country song sung by Garth Brooks. It epitomises how I feel about my relationship with Ally.

The Dance

Lookin' back on the memory of

The dance we shared beneath the stars above

For a moment all the world wasn't right

How could I have known that you'd ever say goodbye?

And now, I'm glad I didn't know

The way it all would end, the way it all would go

Our lives are better left to chance

I could've missed the pain

But I'd had to miss the dance

And holding you, I held everything

For a moment, wasn't I the king?

If I'd only known how the king would fall

Hey, who's to say, you know I might have changed it all

And now, I'm glad I didn't know

The way it all would end, the way it all would go

Our lives are better left to chance

I could've missed the pain

But I'd had to miss the dance

It's my life, it's better left to chance

I could've missed the pain

But I'd had to miss the dance

Meeting fellow adventurer Matt in the wilderness

I met a wonderful video blogger called Matt in a remote part of Ash Island in Newcastle. He was out kayaking and I was birding. He asked me to star in his video. I've adjusted the video below to start at our interview. Always lovely to connect with a fellow explorer and nature lover.

Pure nostalgia: Acting in school plays at St Georges

One of my greatest joys in high school was acting.  Like my grandfather, I really liked to act on stage and I took part in several school plays.  Here are the ones I remember best.

Oliver!  (Aged 8)

I played the part of the one of the orphans in Oliver and various other roles I cannot remember. I loved the music, especially the song "Food, Glorious Food!"

A movie poster from the movie version of the musical "Oliver!"

Playing Huckleberry Finn in "Tom Sawyer" (Aged 12)

I played the part of Huckleberry Finn in the school stage production of Tom Sawyer. This was a major school production and it was many, many hours of work but I enjoyed every minute of it.  My most vivid memory was having to smoke a pipe on stage in one of the scenes.  I used my Gramp's pipe and he taught me how to smoke it!  Those were obviously the days when smoking had not yet been vilified.

Playing an elderly spinster in "Hijack" (Aged 15)

Because our school was male only, I did have to play a few female roles and I reluctantly admit I was pretty good at it.  My highlight in this regard was playing the part of an elderly, prim and proper spinster on a plane who foils a hijack attempt.  I studied my grandmother's mannerisms for hours to get inspiration and I really gave it my all.  I was really chuffed when I won an acting award for the role.

Playing Spokesperson A in "Us and Them" (Aged 16)

This was a play with a profound message and though I was worried it wasn't going to be good (so much so I asked mum and dad not to come), it turned out to be a triumph. It was directed by Graeme Allen, a student from the year above us (the son of my Sub-B teacher), and he did a great job.

Playing Pharaoh in "Joseph and his Technicolour Dream Coat"  (Aged 17)

I decided to leap out of my stereotype as a female "actress" with avengeance  in my final year.  I applied for the role of Pharaoh in Joseph and his Techni-coloured Dream Coat.  I had to cycle onto stage on a bicycle in a cycling suit with a padded crotch and grab a microphone and sing an Elvis Presley type song while gyrating my hips. I had a ball doing it and it made me popular through out the school which I hadn't experienced since Prep School.  The only embarrassment about the whole thing was having to perform on the 3rd night when my grandmother was in the 2nd row.  I made the gyration of my hips a little bit more subtle on that night.

Favourite songs 2025: Señorita

Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello singing "Señorita"  Such a sexy song!!  

Favourite songs 2025: Save Your Tears

I discovered the joys of both Ariana Grande and The Weekend this year.

Favourite songs 2025: Popular

From the musical "Wicked"

David Attenborough

Gavin has done a wonderful video about David Attenborough for one of his Upschool lessons. I love it. One of my ultimate role models.

Favourite songs 2025: Laufey

I'm totally in love with the voice and music of Laufey, an Icelandic singer I have discovered. Not only does she compose her own songs, she is a very accomplished cellist (an instrument I love too) and often plays it in her songs.  Her music is both timeless and retro. It makes me feel deeply nostalgic.

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Agnus Favourite music: Dei - The Armed Man: A Mass For Peace

Absolutely stunning music from Karl Jenkins.

 

Favourite songs 2024: Good Luck Babe!

Chappell Roan at her best.

Gavin's amazing course: Write a book to change the world

Gavin has created so many amazing courses on Upschool but the one that has captured my imagination the most is his "Write a book" course where he teaches kids to create a book using Canva. He organised with Canva, the great online design site that Jo loves so much, to give away free Canva subscriptions to every Upschool student. So many sublime, creative books have been created by children throughout the world, available to be viewed and ordered via the Upschool Library . The course has been so successful that Canva even made a very generous offer to buy Upschool! 

 

Favourite songs 2024: Birds of a Feather

I love this song by Billie Eilish

Favourite songs: 2024

How I love Sabrina Carpenter at the moment!

Nostalgic moments from my childhood: Torvill and Dean

Torvill and Dean were a couple I was captivated by as young teenager. The 1984 Olympics, which I remember was one of the most revolutionary moments in figure skating. Torvill and Dean changed the entire nature of the sport of ice dancing through this daring performance. Prior to this, it had been formal ballroom dance transferred to ice; they transformed it into ballet on ice. Pure genius.  A great article about this performance by the BBC.

 

Watching Barbie with Elna

A beautiful song by Billie Eilish featured in the song.

Favourite music 2022: Elegy for Dunkirk

From the movie Atonement

 

Introducing the star of our Arctic expedition: The Greg Mortimer

The ultimate polar expedition ship

The Greg Mortimer is Aurora's amazing polar expedition ship that took us on our Arctic adventure. The ship was launched in 2019 so it is still very new.  It was designed and custom built for polar expeditions and icy conditions. It is a beautiful looking ship and apart from being highly functional, it also provides a high level of comfort and luxury. To say we were spoiled is an understatement!

Who is The Greg Mortimer named after?

The ship is named after Greg Mortimer – a famous Australian mountaineer (he was the first Australian to climb Mount Everest)  and explorer who, along with his wife Margaret Werner, was the founder of Aurora Expeditions. They no longer own the company but Greg is still a trusted advisor.

A specially designed bow that cuts through waves and ice

The Greg Mortimer is the first expedition cruise ship designed with the Ulstein X-BOW.   This streamlined bow cuts through the swell rather than being lifted by the waves so you feel fewer vibrations and disturbances. Thanks to this, I never felt sea-sick once on the ship and I can be very susceptible to it.

The streamlined bow also allows the ship to cross oceans more efficiently with lower fuel consumption and lower air emissions and means the ship is amazing at breaking through sea-ice as I will show in a video in a future post.

The bow also allows for virtual anchoring which means the ship can float anchor-less while launching the zodiacs without disturbing delicate sea floor areas.

Observation decks, platforms and lounge

The outdoor top deck allows for 360 degree views. It brings you wonderfully close to the environment for stunning views of Arctic scenery passing by and sea birds flying past. 

The ship also has an indoor observation lounge with unobstructed panoramic views and bottomless coffee.  This was one of my favourite places on the ship to chill and where I edited most of my photos.

The ship also features unique hydraulic viewing platforms which fold out for unobstructed views of passing marine life and seabirds.  Gavin did one of this lessons on this viewing platform as you can see in the photo below.

The spacious observation deck in the front of the ship

The observation deck wraps around the side of the ship to the back where there is another large deck, thus offering 360 degree views.

Observation lounge where I hung out a lot

Gavin doing a lesson on the hydraulic viewing platform.

Lecture lounge

The ship features a modern lecture lounge.  We met here every evening for a recap of the day and an introduction to plans for the next day.  There were also some fascinating lectures by the ship's experts on topics like polar bears, glaciers, Svalbard's history, glaciers, marine biology and photography.

Elephant bar

Every night at 6 pm there were cocktails and canopies served in The Elephant Bar next to the lecture theatre.  After a rather boozy Singapore, I drank very little but it was a very social place to come and meet other passengers.

The boys at The Elephant Bar

Cabins

The ship accommodates up to 132 guests in 76 cosy, comfortable cabins with en-suite facilities.  On our trip, there were only 80 passengers and 100 crew!  All cabins have a view of the ocean and 85% of cabins have their own balcony, as ours did.

A view from our balcony

Zodiac launching platforms and mud-room

The ship carries 15 zodiacs, which we were able to board via four dedicated, sea-level launching platforms. These platforms made boarding the zodiacs quick and efficient. When the zodiacs are launched, the ship's hydraulic system allows the ship to lean to one side, thus making the zodiac platforms more accessible. Very ingenious how it works.

The zodiac platforms enter into the ship's "mud-room".  This is where our life jackets and boots were kept.  For expedition landings onto the shore, there were also special buckets for us to clean our boots so that we didn't spread germs from one environment to another.

Zodiac platforms along the side of the ship.

The mudroom where we put on our boots and life jackets before getting on the zodiac

Ship library

A library stocked with a wide range of fascinating books on the geography, biology and history of all Aurora's remote destinations.

Restaurant

Ah, my favourite place on the entire ship!  We ate like kings.  Breakfast and lunch were buffets with a wonderful spread of options including lots and lots of dessert!  Dinner was ala carte with a starter, main course and dessert and "always available" sides like chips and grilled vegetables.  Dinner also included alcohol if we wanted it.

One of the highlights of the restaurant were the staff.  They were so friendly and always happy to provide an extra dish (dessert!!) if we wanted it.  

Dining room

Serving station for breakfast and lunch buffets

"So Graeme, what are you going to have for dinner?"

Gym

This was our least used part of the ship.  Richard did one work-out and the rest of us zero!

Jacuzzis

Now this is a part of the ship we did frequent on an extremely regular basis!  There were two jacuzzis, one on each side of the ship. What a setting and so lovely to luxuriate in lovely hot water, protected from the Arctic chill.  Of course, it was decidedly chilly to get out which just encouraged us to stay in for longer until our fingers were prunes.  The jacuzzi was the perfect place for watching the scenery go by and a lovely place for deep conversations and telling of stories.

What a setting !!

Wellness centre including a sauna

The Wellness Centre provided massage and other treatments but we didn't make use of this.

The sauna, part of the Wellness Centre, was another of our favourite places to heat up after chilly zodiac cruises, often before having a jacuzzi. Even the sauna had a great view of the passing scenery through a big window.

Some more views of the ship

Videos by Aurora introducing The Greg Mortimer 

Aurora's summary sheet of some of The Greg Mortimer's key features

The ship's deck plan

Photos I took of The Greg Mortimer in the natural environment it was designed for

Read more

• Our Arctic adventure: A list of posts