A very merry Christmas to everyone from us over here in cold old London - I hope that you have a wonderful day wherever you are and hopefully have enjoyed reading about our travels in 2010. Here's to lots more in 2011!
Here are a couple of links to things which have either made me smile, or laugh so much I cried (I know I shouldn't but it's so funny), in the last couple of days:
Merry Christmas!
Friday, 24 December 2010
Marvellous Munich
A whole big group of us descended on Munich early in December to check out the Christmas markets, beer halls and other delights Germany has to offer. It was heaps of fun going with a big group, and remarkably easy to corral everyone over the city.
Adrian and I went earlier than the others and spent a day out at Daschau which was absolutely heartbreaking. Not something you want to see but something you feel you should. The others turned up later on Friday night and then the next day was spent sightseeing, marketing, drinking lots of mulled wine and beer and generally having a blast! Sunday was a bit more low-key, but still involved lots of food and beer (an inescapable past-time it seems in Munich...).
Check out the photos here!
Adrian and I went earlier than the others and spent a day out at Daschau which was absolutely heartbreaking. Not something you want to see but something you feel you should. The others turned up later on Friday night and then the next day was spent sightseeing, marketing, drinking lots of mulled wine and beer and generally having a blast! Sunday was a bit more low-key, but still involved lots of food and beer (an inescapable past-time it seems in Munich...).
Check out the photos here!
Wednesday, 1 December 2010
Saying hi to my mate Borat
So as some of you know, I’ve now got a new job (yay!), but what not all of you may know is that it was the craziest start to a job EVER. I turn up, have a day at work on the Friday, then on Saturday morning get on a plane and fly to Kazakhstan for nine days. No, that’s not a typo. I literally went to Kazakhstan on day two of my job!
It was to look at a reservoir/hydropower complex in a small town called Shardara in the very south-western corner of Kazakhstan, right by the Uzbekistan border. There were a whole group of us from different organisations and it was fascinating to hear some of the stories from Soviet times from those who’d been working in Central Asia for a long time. Shardara itself was very dry (but lovely and hot, nearly 30 degrees) and had been pretty much desert before they’d constructed the reservoir in the 1960s. We stayed in a pretty basic guest house, but it had the most amazing views right out over the reservoir and was a bit of a stunning vista to look out at in the mornings.
It was so interesting going right inside the hydropower plant and seeing the massive turbines and all the water gushing out through the turbines and back into the river(technical term: tail water – I’m going to be such a pro soon). We had all sorts of interesting food too – it was heavily based around bread and meat, but sadly despite horse being a local delicacy we never seemed to see it on the menu (actually, only sadly for Adrian who wanted me to try it, not for me...). Every meal always included a version of a delicious, but very basic tomato and cucumber salad – the tomatoes were just amazing, so flavourful and not at all like the perfect yet tasteless ones you get in the supermarkets in the UK. I’m determined to go to the farmers’ markets now and replicate it!
Shishlek was another popular dish (basically, skewers of different meats covered in raw sliced onions) and we tried lamb, beef and catfish versions. I actually preferred the catfish version the most – it was pretty tasty! Other things included various salads (all with lots of mayonnaise), a specially prepared pasta and meat dish, and the ubiquitous ‘piva’ (beer).
After staying in Shardara for three days it was time for a three hour drive back to Shymkent – the major town of the province. Sadly, I’ve got little to nothing to report on from Shymkent as I was struck down by an evil bout of food poisoning which confined me to my hotel room for two days. All I can say is that thank goodness I had my own (and western-style) toilet as if it had been back at Shardara with a hole-in-the-floor toilet shared between a dozen people life would have been very, very miserable indeed...
But once I recovered I managed to eat a bit more of the local food – and got to try ‘plov’ which was the one thing I’d read about before the trip. Apparently there are heaps of different kinds of plov (it's a dish based around rice), but the one I had was beef with roast garlic...mmm... Totally too rich for the delicate state of my stomach, and I definitely paid for it the next day, but worth trying nonetheless!!
Things got even more farcical as we arrived at Shymkent airport to fly to Almaty – the biggest city and previous capital of Kazakhstan. I totally didn’t see the tiniest, 10cm tall step and completely bailed as we entered the airport. Searing pain = twisted ankle = not good. Luckily one of our translators had sprained her wrist the previous week and had a bandage on her which I wrapped around my ankle and which actually made the world of difference. It was basically healed within a week which was great. I had also taken some ibuprofen immediately, but in the confusion and subsequent rush to get to the ticket office and check in, I forgot to re-zip my suitcase up after getting it out and when a colleague picked it up to take it to the check-in desk for me every single person in Shymkent airport got a close-up view of the innards of my bag... Thank goodness I’d put all my dirty washing in an interior bag! It was honestly like a scene out of a slapstick comedy...you’ve just got to laugh about these things though!
It had been getting steadily colder as we got further and further away from Shardara, but the air hostess telling us that the local temperature was zero degrees as we landed in Almaty at midday was a bit of a shock, as was the fact that the entire city was covered in a thick blanket of snow! Luckily I’m used to layering being a good NZer, so I put on everything I owned and went for a small (hobbling) explore. The city is surrounded by mountains which means that the clouds stick around for a long time and winter is basically one long grey cloud. But, in its defence the snow was very pretty!
And then that was that, back in the air to Heathrow and home. It was a really interesting, eventful trip and I learned so much about my new job by jumping in at the deep end which was great. I can tell you that Kazakh vodka is pretty full on, that it’s a country of huge extremes (hot/cold, dry/wet, rich/poor) and that you can still order cigarettes from a restaurant menu! The influence of the USSR era is still enormous and it will be interesting to see how it continues to develop. There’s pretty much no tourism infrastructure (as we are used to it) that I could see, and it probably wouldn’t be somewhere I’d recommend for holidays, but an excellent experience nonetheless.
And I didn’t say one word about Borat the whole time I was there...
Here are the photos - enjoy!
Wednesday, 17 November 2010
Tuesday, 2 November 2010
Beautiful Berlin
As part of my friend Alice’s fabulous round-the-world trip, she and I decided to spend a weekend in Berlin. I’d never been to Germany before and everyone has always said that Berlin is wonderful, so it seemed like a perfect place to visit!
The day we left (Friday) was completely harried, but we managed to get to the airport on time (just!) and sneak our two pieces of carry-on luggage past the amazingly officious EasyJet check-in guy. The whole evening felt like an absolute mish but we managed to get to the hostel eventually, where we collapsed into an over-tired stupor...
The next day the awesomeness of our hostel revealed itself – the EastSeven hostel in Berlin is pretty much the cleanest, biggest roomed, most comfortable, fanciest kitchen, nicest people hostel I’ve ever come across. Highly recommended! But, as much as I loved the hostel, that’s not where I intended us to spend the entire weekend! Our first trip was pretty important – out for breakfast! We had the traditional breakfast of bread, cheese and cold meats – the first meat I’d had in a month and it was funny, I hadn’t really missed it at all! It was so lovely and sunny (albeit cold) that it felt so luxurious and relaxing to just sit outside and have breakfast. After that we did a bit of exploring towards the town centre – finding a Birkenstock shop on the way (how fabulous, and how German!) – before heading back to our hostel for our walking tour. There were about half a dozen of us who were picked up by Theo, our Australian guide, and then we picked up another dozen and a half at the next few hostels we passed.
The tour started on Museum Island (home to a lot of museums so quite aptly named), before heading around the main sites of the city – Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie, the Reischtag and Brandenburg Gate, Holocaust Memorial, and Bebelplatz among others. The most moving thing for me was the memorial to the victims of war and tyranny – a sculpture of a woman cradling her adult son in the middle of this empty room. It’s open to the sky so when it rains, snows etc. it falls on her as well. I just thought it was so haunting.
Theo was a great guide – giving us all sorts of stories and tips as we went along. After the tour, Alice and I went back to the hostel and got flashed up before heading out to dinner and drinks and employing nearly every tip Theo passed on! First we had a traditional German dinner (Alice with Berlin meatballs and me with butter spatzle and veal – talk about an intense way to break a month of vegetarianism!) and a couple of glasses of the local beer. After that it was off to a couple of other places for some sweet German riesling at a place called Alta Europe and then a cocktail in a bar called Pony. It was quite funny that while we were there and Alice was drinking a White Russian, she was also getting chatted up by a white Russian guy...ironic.
The next day we had a fantastic long sleep in and then mustered the energy to head north to explore a bit more of our neighbourhood (Prenzlauer Berg). First we had croissants and coffee sitting outside in the sun – a much warmer day thank goodness! – and then went and explored the Mauer market. That’s a big flea market north of town and was absolutely amazing! So many people selling so much stuff – I got a scarf and a pair of shoes for 3 euro each, and we had the most delicious spinach and cheese filled pancake thing filled with hummus and lettuce...mmm... There were heaps of people just milling about, either sitting in the sun and eating and drinking, or getting on with the serious business of shopping! Once we’d had our fill it was down to the Kaiserallee (our local main street) to have a plate of Lebanese food, then back to the hostel and back on the plane! Alice stayed on for a few more days – actually going inside places and visiting West Berlin as well – and I definitely think I only gave Berlin a very cursory glance and absolutely need to go back.
It was so laid back and chilled out – it seemed to be all about sitting and eating and drinking – and the city itself was quite beautiful. We caught it at a really good time too, with all the beautiful Autumn leaves set against the pretty apartment buildings with their balconies chock full of hanging baskets and other plants. Once I see other bits of Germany I will be definitely booking my next trip back to Berlin!
The day we left (Friday) was completely harried, but we managed to get to the airport on time (just!) and sneak our two pieces of carry-on luggage past the amazingly officious EasyJet check-in guy. The whole evening felt like an absolute mish but we managed to get to the hostel eventually, where we collapsed into an over-tired stupor...
The next day the awesomeness of our hostel revealed itself – the EastSeven hostel in Berlin is pretty much the cleanest, biggest roomed, most comfortable, fanciest kitchen, nicest people hostel I’ve ever come across. Highly recommended! But, as much as I loved the hostel, that’s not where I intended us to spend the entire weekend! Our first trip was pretty important – out for breakfast! We had the traditional breakfast of bread, cheese and cold meats – the first meat I’d had in a month and it was funny, I hadn’t really missed it at all! It was so lovely and sunny (albeit cold) that it felt so luxurious and relaxing to just sit outside and have breakfast. After that we did a bit of exploring towards the town centre – finding a Birkenstock shop on the way (how fabulous, and how German!) – before heading back to our hostel for our walking tour. There were about half a dozen of us who were picked up by Theo, our Australian guide, and then we picked up another dozen and a half at the next few hostels we passed.
The tour started on Museum Island (home to a lot of museums so quite aptly named), before heading around the main sites of the city – Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie, the Reischtag and Brandenburg Gate, Holocaust Memorial, and Bebelplatz among others. The most moving thing for me was the memorial to the victims of war and tyranny – a sculpture of a woman cradling her adult son in the middle of this empty room. It’s open to the sky so when it rains, snows etc. it falls on her as well. I just thought it was so haunting.
Theo was a great guide – giving us all sorts of stories and tips as we went along. After the tour, Alice and I went back to the hostel and got flashed up before heading out to dinner and drinks and employing nearly every tip Theo passed on! First we had a traditional German dinner (Alice with Berlin meatballs and me with butter spatzle and veal – talk about an intense way to break a month of vegetarianism!) and a couple of glasses of the local beer. After that it was off to a couple of other places for some sweet German riesling at a place called Alta Europe and then a cocktail in a bar called Pony. It was quite funny that while we were there and Alice was drinking a White Russian, she was also getting chatted up by a white Russian guy...ironic.
The next day we had a fantastic long sleep in and then mustered the energy to head north to explore a bit more of our neighbourhood (Prenzlauer Berg). First we had croissants and coffee sitting outside in the sun – a much warmer day thank goodness! – and then went and explored the Mauer market. That’s a big flea market north of town and was absolutely amazing! So many people selling so much stuff – I got a scarf and a pair of shoes for 3 euro each, and we had the most delicious spinach and cheese filled pancake thing filled with hummus and lettuce...mmm... There were heaps of people just milling about, either sitting in the sun and eating and drinking, or getting on with the serious business of shopping! Once we’d had our fill it was down to the Kaiserallee (our local main street) to have a plate of Lebanese food, then back to the hostel and back on the plane! Alice stayed on for a few more days – actually going inside places and visiting West Berlin as well – and I definitely think I only gave Berlin a very cursory glance and absolutely need to go back.
It was so laid back and chilled out – it seemed to be all about sitting and eating and drinking – and the city itself was quite beautiful. We caught it at a really good time too, with all the beautiful Autumn leaves set against the pretty apartment buildings with their balconies chock full of hanging baskets and other plants. Once I see other bits of Germany I will be definitely booking my next trip back to Berlin!
Monday, 25 October 2010
Winchester
As part of Adrian’s summer training regime, we went to Winchester so he could run in the Clarendon half-marathon (an off-road affair, all along tracks etc. in the woods). We couldn’t get a train down there early enough on Sunday morning to make the start time, so decided to make a weekend out of it.
We headed down on Saturday morning, then walked about 20 minutes through town and out the other side to our B&B. It was my first time (well, that I can remember at least), in a traditional B&B and this one was really just a spare room that they were letting out. It was really nice and comfortable though – I wish I could have swapped the bed over for the one we have in our flat! But we weren’t in Winchester just to appreciate a nice B&B – it was time to get out and explore town. The first thing we came across was the Hampshire Farmers’ Market festival thing and boy, did we come, eat and conquer that! As well as having nearly every sample under the sun, we had a water buffalo burger, a watercress burger (both slightly different tasting from the other!), an Eccles cake, and then to top it off, a ‘lardy cake’. And, I’m ashamed to say, despite its massive size (and the fact we’d both had burgers), it hardly took any time to finish off at all. Who would have guessed that the combination of flour, fat and sugar could be so appealing...
After the market it was time to walk off all our excesses, so we signed up for a walking tour of the main sights of the town. John, our guide, was a wealth of information and we saw Winchester School, heard all about the history of the town, and then (my favourite), the last house Jane Austen ever lived in. To top that off, after the tour we visited Winchester Cathedral where she’s buried. I don’t know where I’d be with a bit of Pride and Prejudice in my life so it was lovely to stand there and appreciate her work.
After that, and before it got dark, we headed up St Giles Hill where we could look out over the whole town. They had some particularly appealing ladybugs on the handrails of the park too which totally captivated me for ages! A massive dinner of pasta (it’s all about the pre-training bulking up!) and it was home for an early sleep. The next morning dawned incredibly wet and soggy – good for the ducks but not so much for the runners! But Adrian’s a hardy soul and ended up coming 12th overall and smoking his previous PB which was awesome! I on the other hand went shopping and ate a cream tea which was shamefully nowhere near as energetic (although possibly more fun...).
After the run we had some lunch and then it was off to see the Great Hall where they have the Round Table (as in King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table) hanging on the wall which was pretty cool. It was made in 1250 or something ridiculous and is in remarkably good nick. (I imagine it’s been painted a fair few times since then though!).
So thanks for the good times Winchester – perfect ‘mini-break’ destination from London I’d have to say!
We headed down on Saturday morning, then walked about 20 minutes through town and out the other side to our B&B. It was my first time (well, that I can remember at least), in a traditional B&B and this one was really just a spare room that they were letting out. It was really nice and comfortable though – I wish I could have swapped the bed over for the one we have in our flat! But we weren’t in Winchester just to appreciate a nice B&B – it was time to get out and explore town. The first thing we came across was the Hampshire Farmers’ Market festival thing and boy, did we come, eat and conquer that! As well as having nearly every sample under the sun, we had a water buffalo burger, a watercress burger (both slightly different tasting from the other!), an Eccles cake, and then to top it off, a ‘lardy cake’. And, I’m ashamed to say, despite its massive size (and the fact we’d both had burgers), it hardly took any time to finish off at all. Who would have guessed that the combination of flour, fat and sugar could be so appealing...
After the market it was time to walk off all our excesses, so we signed up for a walking tour of the main sights of the town. John, our guide, was a wealth of information and we saw Winchester School, heard all about the history of the town, and then (my favourite), the last house Jane Austen ever lived in. To top that off, after the tour we visited Winchester Cathedral where she’s buried. I don’t know where I’d be with a bit of Pride and Prejudice in my life so it was lovely to stand there and appreciate her work.
After that, and before it got dark, we headed up St Giles Hill where we could look out over the whole town. They had some particularly appealing ladybugs on the handrails of the park too which totally captivated me for ages! A massive dinner of pasta (it’s all about the pre-training bulking up!) and it was home for an early sleep. The next morning dawned incredibly wet and soggy – good for the ducks but not so much for the runners! But Adrian’s a hardy soul and ended up coming 12th overall and smoking his previous PB which was awesome! I on the other hand went shopping and ate a cream tea which was shamefully nowhere near as energetic (although possibly more fun...).
After the run we had some lunch and then it was off to see the Great Hall where they have the Round Table (as in King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table) hanging on the wall which was pretty cool. It was made in 1250 or something ridiculous and is in remarkably good nick. (I imagine it’s been painted a fair few times since then though!).
So thanks for the good times Winchester – perfect ‘mini-break’ destination from London I’d have to say!
Monday, 4 October 2010
Vegetarian experiment
So as some of you know, I've been experimenting with being a vegetarian over the last few weeks. The intent is to give it a go for a month and then see how I'm feeling and whether I'd like to carry on with it. For me, the trial is excluding fish, but I'm not going so far as to exclude rennet (I love cheese too much...). The main intent has been the unsustainable way meat is being produced and the impact that it has on our climate. We can't continue to cut down rainforests just so we can eat hamburgers.
The month is up this weekend and I have to say, I've actually really enjoyed it! We've definitely eaten a whole lot more vegetables - you plan the meal around the veges rather than the protein side of things I find - but it has helped that I do really like tofu and quorn. And while I know that the idea of quorn can be a bit icky (fungus cooked in large vats...mmm...not), it's actually really handy to have on hand. We've had two quorn meals - nachos and Thai red curry - but have always bumped them up with beans or mushrooms or something else. I haven't felt too tired or anything, but Adrian has noticed he's had to have a bit of steak occasionally because he's doing quite a bit of training at the moment (oh, and fyi, 1h32 and 12th place in the Winchester off-road half marathon yesterday - awesome!!).
I did have a slight faux pas moment when I ate a tuna sandwich offered to me without even thinking about it (my head was elsewhere), but as it was completely unintentional I'm giving myself a free pass for it!
So, do I think I'll continue? The main downside has been eating out. We went to a Vietnamese place in Chinatown and of the bazillions of choices, about two were vege and they were so disappointing. Another example, we were in a pub in Winchester yesterday and it was either a plain salad or a mushroom suet pudding. I'll just let the thought of what a mushroom suet pudding would look like sit with you for a second shall I?? (Needless to say we went elsewhere).
I think that the final conclusion is that while I won't buy any meat to eat at home anymore, and will actively look for the vegetarian option, if I really want to have a piece of salmon or some roast lamb when I'm out, then I will. I think reducing my meat consumption (albeit dramatically) rather than having none at all is the most sustainable option long-term for me.
The month is up this weekend and I have to say, I've actually really enjoyed it! We've definitely eaten a whole lot more vegetables - you plan the meal around the veges rather than the protein side of things I find - but it has helped that I do really like tofu and quorn. And while I know that the idea of quorn can be a bit icky (fungus cooked in large vats...mmm...not), it's actually really handy to have on hand. We've had two quorn meals - nachos and Thai red curry - but have always bumped them up with beans or mushrooms or something else. I haven't felt too tired or anything, but Adrian has noticed he's had to have a bit of steak occasionally because he's doing quite a bit of training at the moment (oh, and fyi, 1h32 and 12th place in the Winchester off-road half marathon yesterday - awesome!!).
I did have a slight faux pas moment when I ate a tuna sandwich offered to me without even thinking about it (my head was elsewhere), but as it was completely unintentional I'm giving myself a free pass for it!
So, do I think I'll continue? The main downside has been eating out. We went to a Vietnamese place in Chinatown and of the bazillions of choices, about two were vege and they were so disappointing. Another example, we were in a pub in Winchester yesterday and it was either a plain salad or a mushroom suet pudding. I'll just let the thought of what a mushroom suet pudding would look like sit with you for a second shall I?? (Needless to say we went elsewhere).
I think that the final conclusion is that while I won't buy any meat to eat at home anymore, and will actively look for the vegetarian option, if I really want to have a piece of salmon or some roast lamb when I'm out, then I will. I think reducing my meat consumption (albeit dramatically) rather than having none at all is the most sustainable option long-term for me.
Monday, 13 September 2010
Helicoptering over London
On Sunday night we had the most exciting 12 minutes I've had in ages - helicoptering all over London!
Adrian's brother Stefan is currently working as a doctor on the emergency helicopters out of the London Free Hospital at the moment. The helicopter has to fly back to its home base every night (to Denham, just north of London) and there are two empty seats every night - and Sunday night it was our turn to fill them!
We were so lucky to do it as there are no scenic flights over London because it's such a busy air space - and we got the perfect evening with clear skies in every direction.
Have a look at the rest of the photos here!
Adrian's brother Stefan is currently working as a doctor on the emergency helicopters out of the London Free Hospital at the moment. The helicopter has to fly back to its home base every night (to Denham, just north of London) and there are two empty seats every night - and Sunday night it was our turn to fill them!We were so lucky to do it as there are no scenic flights over London because it's such a busy air space - and we got the perfect evening with clear skies in every direction.
Have a look at the rest of the photos here!
Thursday, 2 September 2010
Moroccan-inspired meatballs
I notice that my recipe section has been sadly lacking lately, so I thought I might post some of the recipes I make up along the way - which might also help me when I try to make them again!
So here's what we had for dinner last night:
Mixed together 1 finely chopped red onion, 3 cloves garlic finely chopped, 250g lean minced beef, 1 egg, about 1/3 C flour, salt, pepper, 8 finely chopped prunes, generous teaspoon each of dried coriander, cumin and cinnamon (all ingredients entered in the order I remember adding them into the bowl!). Formed together in balls and lightly fried on each side.
Review: delicious! However, next time I'd cook the red onion first because it was a little on the crunchy side. The cinnamon and prunes were a good combo - but it was actually hard to pick once they were cooked what it was giving them the sweetness. I might reduce the prunes to about 6 next time... We had them with corn on the cob and a big green salad. I reckon they'd also be good in a tomato-based sauce and on an orange couscous...yum!
Wednesday, 1 September 2010
Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair...
As my flight to London went via San Francisco it seemed rude not to take advantage of a short stopover - particularly as Miles (Rachael's boyfriend) is currently living there and had a couch with my name all over it!
After arriving, wending my way through the hills of SF's suburbs in a shared shuttle bus, then getting the keys from Miles, it was off to Pacific Heights. Miles lives on the border of Pacific Heights and the Tenderloin - so near to all sorts of interesting things! Day 1 had fantastic weather which I absolutely had to take advantage of, so I walked down to the Marina, checked out the Golden Gate bridge in all her afternoon sunshiney glory, then around the coast and back up the steep cable car street home. Oh, and via Whole Foods - or as it's colloquially known, Whole Wallet... It's definitely expensive but such delicious food! With a bit of mozzarella and proscuitto I transformed Miles' fridge ingredients into a pizza...mmm...
Day 2 dawned bright and sunny again, and after a sleep-in to recover from the plane ride, I ran down Van Ness Avenue to try and make the midday free tour of city hall - unfortunately just missing it by 5 minutes! But never fear, another one was scheduled for 2.30pm so I investigated downtown while I waited. It was a bit sketchy, what with all sorts of people muttering to themselves (and yelling to themselves too), and if I wanted to buy some dodgy goods I'm sure I was in the right neighbourhood, but interesting nonetheless. It was also directly adjacent to the fancy part of downtown (Saks 5th Avenue and the like) - I guess all the locals know exactly where the borders are!
Back at City Hall I had an absolutely brilliant 1 and 3/4 hour tour with our guide Al Lopez. He knew everything! It was fascinating how the building's had such an unstable history - completely destroyed in 1906 by an earthquake, rebuilt, hosted some infamous marriages (Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio), another earthquake in 1989 (whose cracks are still visible today) and political assasinations (Harvey Milk). It's a beautiful building as well - I would definitely recommend stopping by if you're in town!
After that it was a short stroll back through the Tenderloin and again to Whole Foods where I found some tamales for dinner. I'd always wanted to try them - just to see what they were as I'd heard the name and heard that they can be delicious! I can attest that they're quite delicious and I'll keep my eye out for them in London! After dinner Miles and I went to the California Academy of Sciences for their NightLife event. It was brilliant! The museum is packed with people, there are cocktails, DJs, and the ground floor aquarium (where we spent most of our time) was all dimly lit so the amazing colours etc. of the fish can be seen really well. I particularly liked the pulsating jellyfish and scaredy-cat seahorses. Hopefully some of the photos come out! We even managed to get a cab home without waiting too long which was an absolute coup.
The next day was nice and lazy - I slept in, checked emails etc. and then ventured up to Japantown where I had to physically restrain myself from buying every single piece of crockery I saw... I particularly loved these crumpled china mugs - like these ones - but thought they might be a bit inappropriate considering how close to (ok, over) the luggage limit I was! That night Miles and I went out to a delicious Thai restaurant in Pacific Heights, then into town for some cocktails at a kind of hidden bar behind another bar - very urban cool ;)
Saturday (my last day) ended up being a behemoth (we walked about 5 miles or 8km). First we walked to Chinatown for some dim sum (or yum cha as I've always called it) at a place called Gold Mountain - at US$11 each it was an absolute bargain. Their sticky rice was the best I've ever had - definitely another recommendation! Then, to work it off we went to a place called Precita Eyes in the Mission District. This is a community-based mural art organisation - murals being a big part of Latin American culture, and with 75% of the Mission's inhabitants being Latin American, no wonder it set up shop there. We went on a tour with one of the muralists (Patricia Rose) and saw hundreds of different murals. The streets were packed as there was a food festival in the neighbourhood at the time so it felt like a really buzzy, full-on place. The murals were beautiful and it was so interesting to hear their back stories.
Then it was off! Our taxi driver home from the Mission (and mine onwards to the airport) had been to NZ recently and was a great find - chatting all about this and that. I worry that I didn't tip him enough - it's so difficult to know what to do!! As with all other NZers I fervently wish the whole thing just didn't exist...
And then to London where a whole lot of new adventures await!
After arriving, wending my way through the hills of SF's suburbs in a shared shuttle bus, then getting the keys from Miles, it was off to Pacific Heights. Miles lives on the border of Pacific Heights and the Tenderloin - so near to all sorts of interesting things! Day 1 had fantastic weather which I absolutely had to take advantage of, so I walked down to the Marina, checked out the Golden Gate bridge in all her afternoon sunshiney glory, then around the coast and back up the steep cable car street home. Oh, and via Whole Foods - or as it's colloquially known, Whole Wallet... It's definitely expensive but such delicious food! With a bit of mozzarella and proscuitto I transformed Miles' fridge ingredients into a pizza...mmm...
Day 2 dawned bright and sunny again, and after a sleep-in to recover from the plane ride, I ran down Van Ness Avenue to try and make the midday free tour of city hall - unfortunately just missing it by 5 minutes! But never fear, another one was scheduled for 2.30pm so I investigated downtown while I waited. It was a bit sketchy, what with all sorts of people muttering to themselves (and yelling to themselves too), and if I wanted to buy some dodgy goods I'm sure I was in the right neighbourhood, but interesting nonetheless. It was also directly adjacent to the fancy part of downtown (Saks 5th Avenue and the like) - I guess all the locals know exactly where the borders are!
Back at City Hall I had an absolutely brilliant 1 and 3/4 hour tour with our guide Al Lopez. He knew everything! It was fascinating how the building's had such an unstable history - completely destroyed in 1906 by an earthquake, rebuilt, hosted some infamous marriages (Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio), another earthquake in 1989 (whose cracks are still visible today) and political assasinations (Harvey Milk). It's a beautiful building as well - I would definitely recommend stopping by if you're in town!
After that it was a short stroll back through the Tenderloin and again to Whole Foods where I found some tamales for dinner. I'd always wanted to try them - just to see what they were as I'd heard the name and heard that they can be delicious! I can attest that they're quite delicious and I'll keep my eye out for them in London! After dinner Miles and I went to the California Academy of Sciences for their NightLife event. It was brilliant! The museum is packed with people, there are cocktails, DJs, and the ground floor aquarium (where we spent most of our time) was all dimly lit so the amazing colours etc. of the fish can be seen really well. I particularly liked the pulsating jellyfish and scaredy-cat seahorses. Hopefully some of the photos come out! We even managed to get a cab home without waiting too long which was an absolute coup.
The next day was nice and lazy - I slept in, checked emails etc. and then ventured up to Japantown where I had to physically restrain myself from buying every single piece of crockery I saw... I particularly loved these crumpled china mugs - like these ones - but thought they might be a bit inappropriate considering how close to (ok, over) the luggage limit I was! That night Miles and I went out to a delicious Thai restaurant in Pacific Heights, then into town for some cocktails at a kind of hidden bar behind another bar - very urban cool ;)
Saturday (my last day) ended up being a behemoth (we walked about 5 miles or 8km). First we walked to Chinatown for some dim sum (or yum cha as I've always called it) at a place called Gold Mountain - at US$11 each it was an absolute bargain. Their sticky rice was the best I've ever had - definitely another recommendation! Then, to work it off we went to a place called Precita Eyes in the Mission District. This is a community-based mural art organisation - murals being a big part of Latin American culture, and with 75% of the Mission's inhabitants being Latin American, no wonder it set up shop there. We went on a tour with one of the muralists (Patricia Rose) and saw hundreds of different murals. The streets were packed as there was a food festival in the neighbourhood at the time so it felt like a really buzzy, full-on place. The murals were beautiful and it was so interesting to hear their back stories.
Then it was off! Our taxi driver home from the Mission (and mine onwards to the airport) had been to NZ recently and was a great find - chatting all about this and that. I worry that I didn't tip him enough - it's so difficult to know what to do!! As with all other NZers I fervently wish the whole thing just didn't exist...
And then to London where a whole lot of new adventures await!
Friday, 20 August 2010
Chillin' in Port Macquarie
Thanks to my wonderful Qantas airpoints, I managed to get a short trip in to Port Macquarie to see Chloe, Israel and Alana on my way to London. I love the little planes that take you up there - there's really something about seeing the propeller whizzing around so fast until it becomes see-through which helps you imagine how it must have been like flying in 'the olden days'.
Chloe et al live in a great house which borders a huge reserve on two sides - full of kookaburra and frogs (which I heard), kangaroo (which I saw) and snakes (which, thankfully, I neither heard nor saw). Maybe the presence of Indie, their boisterous bull terrier puppy helps to scare them off! It was such a nice, chilled visit. We basically just hung out playing with Alana who's now eight and a half months old and cute as a button (particularly the hands and feet which rotate around like crazy whenever she's happy or there's food nearby - that generally makes me happy too so I completely understand), and had a few excursions to the beach and into town. Port Macquarie has such a lazy atmosphere - and considering it was 23 degrees and the middle of winter I completely understand!
It was lovely seeing Chloe again too - it's sometimes a bit of a challenge keeping up with everyone when we all live scattered over the globe but it's great when you can talk to someone and it's like no time's gone by at all, you're exactly as you were. Hopefully we can meet up again in London soon!
No photos yet as I've resorted to using my old film camera in place of my sadly departed digi. Hopefully they come out ok! The excitement of anticipation is half the fun though anyway.
Next stop, San Francisco!
Chloe et al live in a great house which borders a huge reserve on two sides - full of kookaburra and frogs (which I heard), kangaroo (which I saw) and snakes (which, thankfully, I neither heard nor saw). Maybe the presence of Indie, their boisterous bull terrier puppy helps to scare them off! It was such a nice, chilled visit. We basically just hung out playing with Alana who's now eight and a half months old and cute as a button (particularly the hands and feet which rotate around like crazy whenever she's happy or there's food nearby - that generally makes me happy too so I completely understand), and had a few excursions to the beach and into town. Port Macquarie has such a lazy atmosphere - and considering it was 23 degrees and the middle of winter I completely understand!
It was lovely seeing Chloe again too - it's sometimes a bit of a challenge keeping up with everyone when we all live scattered over the globe but it's great when you can talk to someone and it's like no time's gone by at all, you're exactly as you were. Hopefully we can meet up again in London soon!
No photos yet as I've resorted to using my old film camera in place of my sadly departed digi. Hopefully they come out ok! The excitement of anticipation is half the fun though anyway.
Next stop, San Francisco!
Wednesday, 11 August 2010
Krazy Kroonstad
Kroonstad was definitely not somewhere which we had read about in the Lonely Planet and thought, my gosh, we absolutely can't miss it! In fact, I don't know if I even bothered to read past the introduction...
But, as the only place worth mentioning on the way between Lesotho and Johannesburg, it was where we were destined to spend the last two nights of our trip. We rocked on up to the near deserted, yet enormous, campsite. In fact, the only other people camping were the some workers...obviously Kroonstad's not a big winter camping destination! After spending the night out at a very 'interesting' Afrikaaner biker bar watching the Spain vs Germany game, we realised why - it was freezing! Luckily we had our fantastic Basotho blankets to keep us nice and toasty.
After a hearty breakfast of stale fat cakes rolled in sugar (we really were sinking to new lows of coronary meltdown by that point), it was off to explore! The tourism office was barred closed, but once the workers got over the shock of seeing some tourists, let us in to look over their paltry selection of pamphlets and gave us a list of the top 20 things to do in Kroonstad. While the white lion breeding centre could have grabbed our attention on another day, we were all animal-ed out, so instead decided to spend the morning doing practical things (i.e. the internet) then a bit of a historical jaunt around town.
While Emilia and I were at the internet cafe, Adrian and Dan managed to strike up a lengthy conversation with an extremely friendly local who owned not only the bargain goods shop, but the fish and chip shop next door. Next thing we knew we were being shouted a massive fish and chip lunch! And that was only the beginning of the generosity of the Kroonstad locals...
After lunch we decided a walk around the place was warranted. We checked out the market (Emilia narrowly avoiding, yet again, buying a traditional African dress which while very cool, was several sizes too big and probably would have languished helplessly in the back of the wardrobe waiting to be altered), then went to the local church. It was quite impressive, all round turrets and manicured gardens. One of the gardeners saw us trying the door to see if it was open and got the caretaker who gave us the grand tour! The door key was enormous, as were the bibles inside and the beards of all the ancestors in the photos on the wall! Inside it looked more like a theatre than a church, but still in quite an austere style - I thought it was a great combo.
After the church we decided to make for the jukskei museum. Jukskei I hear you ask? It's a traditional folk sport which is kind of like petanque - you throw these big sticks at another stick in some sand - and it's awesome fun! It's a really big deal in South Africa (mainly among the Afrikaaners) and the people at the museum were so friendly! The guy showed us round the museum, pointing out all the interesting things, and then actually took us outside for at least an hour and showed us how to play! I had a freakishly good start, knocking the stick over in the middle every time for my first three goes, but my form rapidly deteriorated after that... It was definitely beginners' luck!
Another braai followed the jukskei and then it was our last night in the tents and last night in South Africa... A drive up to Joburg the next day and straight on the plane! Strange that it was all over.
I will definitely, definitely, be back in Africa soon. It was absolutely wonderful and I'm dying to see more!
Tuesday, 3 August 2010
Where can you see lions...
Here are Adrian's photos of South Africa, and then of Lesotho. His are much more animal heavy than mine given the fancy nature of his camera and awesome zoom lens! If you ever want to see more animal ones, give us a shout - there are hundreds more where these came from...
Monday, 26 July 2010
Lesotho #2
Imagine if you will, a village perched high up in the mountains, accessible only by steep, rocky paths and comprising about a dozen, round mud huts. Oh, and a whole lot of animals, including donkeys, cows, roosters and pigs. That was the sight that our saddle weary bodies encountered about mid-afternoon on our first fully day in Lesotho.
We hopped down from our horses, checked out our rondavel and were introduced to our teenage guide who would take us on the walk up to see the waterfall at the end of the valley. Now, if we were thinking this would be some pleasant stroll through the hills we would have been sadly, sadly mistaken. It was like being on an army assault course! Determined to keep up so I would know where to put my feet on all the rocky terrain, it was a hard hour slog up to the waterfall and another one back, but my goodness, was it worth it. I think it could easily have been the single best thing in the whole trip – it was absolutely, incredibly beautiful. And the sense of adrenalin and endorphins from charging across the hillsides at such a pace was pretty awesome too! Our guide was loping across the rocks in gumboots, going at the same pace up and down hills as on the flat – unlike the rest of us scrambling behind! I only fell over twice which I think was pretty reasonable for me… We took some photos but I just don’t know if they would have captured it – it really was magical.
That night we hunkered down in our rondavel – which was actually really warm and cosy. Our dinner of pasta, veges and luncheon sausage was a delight (I’m allowed to say that, I was cooking it) and after sharing it with our two guides they shared with us their 'fat cakes' which were absolutely delicious… (We loved them so much that we bought a whole heap the next day, learnt to roll them in sugar, and gorged ourselves until we could eat no more…oh well, this was also after we cut them open, put chocolate inside them and cooked them in the embers of the braai…mmmmm….).
The morning dawned slowly through the mist – what a place to wake up. Surprisingly no-one was too sore and achy, so after a gourmet breakfast of tinned spaghetti, it was back in the saddle. It was all going well until Emilia’s horse went a bit mental. She was on the lead (Mujalifa was holding the reins) and decided to basically walk into a hole and throw Emilia off. Luckily she didn’t fall too awkwardly so no broken bones! She and I swapped horses at that point – my horse Mistress was so placid that it was a nice change for me to have to (literally) rein in a more uptight ride. It took until about 1pm to head back to the lodge, going on the other side of the river so we got a completely different perspective on all the mountains. Once we got back we went straight back out for a walk to see some rock art and a cave which helped you throw the best echoes out across the valley – very cool. That night was our extravagant cooked dinner at the lodge followed by (you guessed it) watching more football.
The next day we sadly had to leave the lodge, but dampened our pain by doing a bit more sightseeing in the hills and buying a blanket each! The blanket in Lesotho (also known as a Basotho blanket is really important (see here or here for the very interesting story of how they came to be so integral to daily life).
We’d seen them on nearly everybody, and while I thought it was quite ironic that the locals liked our ‘western clothes’ and we liked their blankets, that wasn’t going to stop us buying one. Adrian had wanted one for a while, having read about them in the guide book, but I think it wasn’t surprising that we were all so enamoured we had to buy one. We had thought you needed to go to a special souvenir shop or something, but no, these are sold in the supermarket along with everything else. We caused a bit of a commotion though buying four at a cost of 550 maloti each (just over NZ$100) – the manager of the supermarket was definitely in a good mood! Dan and I got ones with a corn pattern (me black and dark blue, Dan orange and light blue), while Adrian got a red and yellow crown pattern and Emilia got a black and dark blue kind of fleur de lis pattern. They’re pure wool and just fantastic.
After a slight scare where the customs official thought we had bought them to on-sell and wanted us to pay duty on the blankets, it was back into South Africa and up to Kroonstad, a mid-size Free State town where we were passing a couple of nights before heading home.
Last entry on Kroonstad coming soon!
We hopped down from our horses, checked out our rondavel and were introduced to our teenage guide who would take us on the walk up to see the waterfall at the end of the valley. Now, if we were thinking this would be some pleasant stroll through the hills we would have been sadly, sadly mistaken. It was like being on an army assault course! Determined to keep up so I would know where to put my feet on all the rocky terrain, it was a hard hour slog up to the waterfall and another one back, but my goodness, was it worth it. I think it could easily have been the single best thing in the whole trip – it was absolutely, incredibly beautiful. And the sense of adrenalin and endorphins from charging across the hillsides at such a pace was pretty awesome too! Our guide was loping across the rocks in gumboots, going at the same pace up and down hills as on the flat – unlike the rest of us scrambling behind! I only fell over twice which I think was pretty reasonable for me… We took some photos but I just don’t know if they would have captured it – it really was magical.
That night we hunkered down in our rondavel – which was actually really warm and cosy. Our dinner of pasta, veges and luncheon sausage was a delight (I’m allowed to say that, I was cooking it) and after sharing it with our two guides they shared with us their 'fat cakes' which were absolutely delicious… (We loved them so much that we bought a whole heap the next day, learnt to roll them in sugar, and gorged ourselves until we could eat no more…oh well, this was also after we cut them open, put chocolate inside them and cooked them in the embers of the braai…mmmmm….).
The morning dawned slowly through the mist – what a place to wake up. Surprisingly no-one was too sore and achy, so after a gourmet breakfast of tinned spaghetti, it was back in the saddle. It was all going well until Emilia’s horse went a bit mental. She was on the lead (Mujalifa was holding the reins) and decided to basically walk into a hole and throw Emilia off. Luckily she didn’t fall too awkwardly so no broken bones! She and I swapped horses at that point – my horse Mistress was so placid that it was a nice change for me to have to (literally) rein in a more uptight ride. It took until about 1pm to head back to the lodge, going on the other side of the river so we got a completely different perspective on all the mountains. Once we got back we went straight back out for a walk to see some rock art and a cave which helped you throw the best echoes out across the valley – very cool. That night was our extravagant cooked dinner at the lodge followed by (you guessed it) watching more football.
The next day we sadly had to leave the lodge, but dampened our pain by doing a bit more sightseeing in the hills and buying a blanket each! The blanket in Lesotho (also known as a Basotho blanket is really important (see here or here for the very interesting story of how they came to be so integral to daily life).
We’d seen them on nearly everybody, and while I thought it was quite ironic that the locals liked our ‘western clothes’ and we liked their blankets, that wasn’t going to stop us buying one. Adrian had wanted one for a while, having read about them in the guide book, but I think it wasn’t surprising that we were all so enamoured we had to buy one. We had thought you needed to go to a special souvenir shop or something, but no, these are sold in the supermarket along with everything else. We caused a bit of a commotion though buying four at a cost of 550 maloti each (just over NZ$100) – the manager of the supermarket was definitely in a good mood! Dan and I got ones with a corn pattern (me black and dark blue, Dan orange and light blue), while Adrian got a red and yellow crown pattern and Emilia got a black and dark blue kind of fleur de lis pattern. They’re pure wool and just fantastic.
After a slight scare where the customs official thought we had bought them to on-sell and wanted us to pay duty on the blankets, it was back into South Africa and up to Kroonstad, a mid-size Free State town where we were passing a couple of nights before heading home.
Last entry on Kroonstad coming soon!
Wednesday, 21 July 2010
Photos!
Here's a teaser of some photos from the trip...
At the Nelspruit fanzone watching South Africa vs Uruguay.
Outside the NZ vs Italy match at Nelspruit.
Congratulating the team.
Elephant at Kruger National Park!
At the Nelspruit fanzone watching South Africa vs Uruguay.
Outside the NZ vs Italy match at Nelspruit.
Congratulating the team.
Elephant at Kruger National Park!
Click here for the rest of the photos from the first couple of weeks of our trip (before my camera got knocked out of my hand and went bung...).
Adrian's much better ones should be up at some point - we just have to go through the 3000 shots of elephants, 2000 shots of lions and one million of various antelope species to pick out the perfect ones for the album...
Lesotho
Dumela from Lesotho!!!!
This is going to be a good, honest, absolute rave about Lesotho. I absolutely, absolutely loved it. The complete highlight of the whole trip I reckon – hopefully I’ll be able to convey all the things which made it so special.
On the way down to Lesotho we stopped for lunch in Kroonstad and partook of Debonairs Pizza – a pizza chain which we’d seen just about everywhere in SA. It was insane. We got one pizza which had two complete layers, then another one which had three – three layers in a pizza?? How everyone is not falling over dead from heart disease I do not know. They were pretty delicious – but even we conceded that they were a very, very occasional temptation…
From there it was straight to the border at Maseru. One more stamp in the passport later we eagerly tripped over the border straight into a bit of a teaming mass of market stalls. Saving the purchasing until a later date (it was getting dark) we got straight on the road to our final destination – Malealea Lodge.
We got caught up in a traffic jam just outside the capital – and were immediately the centre of attention from all the kids who were crowding around either trying to sell us things like single cigarettes or mandarins, or were just curious to see the tourists in their overloaded car. Some of them were incredibly cheeky and were asking for us to give them the entire contents of the boot, but luckily we had a few extra baseball caps and vuvuzelas we’d picked up on the way which proved to be extremely valuable bootie. Some of the others just wanted to say hello and either shake your hand or have a kiss on the cheek – it was a pretty funny way to pass the time. The stop/go man finally turned in our favour though and it was back off down the extremely, extremely terrible roads. Dan was in his long-distance zen-like driving mode, but the constant inhalations of breath and screams of ‘watch out!!’ hopefully helped avoid some of the worst pot-holes. I have never seen pot-holes like it actually; some of them seemed to cover the entire road and even though you swerved to avoid one, you nearly always managed to hit one in on the other side of the road…
Leaving the tarseal behind didn’t actually improve things… Once we’d headed through the 2000m high pass, it was down the dirt road to the lodge itself. We were doing this in pitch-black and suffering from nervous passenger syndrome clearly was not helpful. But, finally, we made it. For the first time in the whole trip it felt like the lodge actually knew we were coming and sent us straight to our rooms. The lodge operates on generator electricity so we just managed to get into the communal kitchen area and make some dinner and clean up before the lights were turned off for the night in lieu of candle power.
We were up and at em early the next day, ready at the tack room at 9am to load up our ponies and meet our guides. Our first guide, Mujalifa (phonetic spelling) (also known as Jeff) got us all sorted with our ponies – I had Mistress who according to the little kid who helped me onto her was far too soft and left me in no doubt as to his feelings on this matter! Adrian named his horse Silver (as in heigh-ho Silver) but as he was the oldest of the lot didn’t really have the pep his namesake did! Emilia had a pony variously named Buttercup or Butterscotch who had a fiery temperament and who was in her bad books pretty much immediately. I never knew what Dan called his horse – he was always up the front and leading so I just followed! Our second guide who I want to say was called Mandala, but it was probably another variation on that, was dressed in what appeared to be the ultimate in Lesotho chic: a combination of tracksuit, blanket and freezing worker gumboots. The agility of those guys in their gumboots was something to be seen to be believed!!
And then we were off. We started plodding through the fields recently harvested for maize and I have to say, I was thinking, is this it?? It didn’t seem nearly difficult enough. I was soon sharply corrected! We reached the edge of the cultivated area and woah, were we really heading straight down to the river on that path?? The majority of the up and downhill sections over the next two days comprised steep switch-backs made entirely of big chunks of rock which the ponies were quite frankly very scary! Emilia opted to walk down the first section (sensible girl) but the rest of us honed our horse whispering skills and made it in one piece. As we were concentrating there was a constant distraction – the absolutely stunning landscape. It was absolutely glorious! The river far below, lazily running over rock beds, the cliffs rising up on either side, the immense feel of the sky… I’m far too bad a writer to give it anywhere near the justice it deserves – and I doubt the pictures we took will either. You’ll just have to go for yourselves!
The rest of the day consisted of up and down sections, some through villages, others across more open, cultivated land, all in pursuit of our final village destination. We had a fun interlude playing patter-cake with some kids in one village; they were incredible mimics and it was hilarious hearing your Kiwi accent coming out of a little kid from so far away.
Finally the village was in sight…but that was nowhere near the end of the journey for that day! Stayed tuned for the next instalment…
This is going to be a good, honest, absolute rave about Lesotho. I absolutely, absolutely loved it. The complete highlight of the whole trip I reckon – hopefully I’ll be able to convey all the things which made it so special.
On the way down to Lesotho we stopped for lunch in Kroonstad and partook of Debonairs Pizza – a pizza chain which we’d seen just about everywhere in SA. It was insane. We got one pizza which had two complete layers, then another one which had three – three layers in a pizza?? How everyone is not falling over dead from heart disease I do not know. They were pretty delicious – but even we conceded that they were a very, very occasional temptation…
From there it was straight to the border at Maseru. One more stamp in the passport later we eagerly tripped over the border straight into a bit of a teaming mass of market stalls. Saving the purchasing until a later date (it was getting dark) we got straight on the road to our final destination – Malealea Lodge.
We got caught up in a traffic jam just outside the capital – and were immediately the centre of attention from all the kids who were crowding around either trying to sell us things like single cigarettes or mandarins, or were just curious to see the tourists in their overloaded car. Some of them were incredibly cheeky and were asking for us to give them the entire contents of the boot, but luckily we had a few extra baseball caps and vuvuzelas we’d picked up on the way which proved to be extremely valuable bootie. Some of the others just wanted to say hello and either shake your hand or have a kiss on the cheek – it was a pretty funny way to pass the time. The stop/go man finally turned in our favour though and it was back off down the extremely, extremely terrible roads. Dan was in his long-distance zen-like driving mode, but the constant inhalations of breath and screams of ‘watch out!!’ hopefully helped avoid some of the worst pot-holes. I have never seen pot-holes like it actually; some of them seemed to cover the entire road and even though you swerved to avoid one, you nearly always managed to hit one in on the other side of the road…
Leaving the tarseal behind didn’t actually improve things… Once we’d headed through the 2000m high pass, it was down the dirt road to the lodge itself. We were doing this in pitch-black and suffering from nervous passenger syndrome clearly was not helpful. But, finally, we made it. For the first time in the whole trip it felt like the lodge actually knew we were coming and sent us straight to our rooms. The lodge operates on generator electricity so we just managed to get into the communal kitchen area and make some dinner and clean up before the lights were turned off for the night in lieu of candle power.
We were up and at em early the next day, ready at the tack room at 9am to load up our ponies and meet our guides. Our first guide, Mujalifa (phonetic spelling) (also known as Jeff) got us all sorted with our ponies – I had Mistress who according to the little kid who helped me onto her was far too soft and left me in no doubt as to his feelings on this matter! Adrian named his horse Silver (as in heigh-ho Silver) but as he was the oldest of the lot didn’t really have the pep his namesake did! Emilia had a pony variously named Buttercup or Butterscotch who had a fiery temperament and who was in her bad books pretty much immediately. I never knew what Dan called his horse – he was always up the front and leading so I just followed! Our second guide who I want to say was called Mandala, but it was probably another variation on that, was dressed in what appeared to be the ultimate in Lesotho chic: a combination of tracksuit, blanket and freezing worker gumboots. The agility of those guys in their gumboots was something to be seen to be believed!!
And then we were off. We started plodding through the fields recently harvested for maize and I have to say, I was thinking, is this it?? It didn’t seem nearly difficult enough. I was soon sharply corrected! We reached the edge of the cultivated area and woah, were we really heading straight down to the river on that path?? The majority of the up and downhill sections over the next two days comprised steep switch-backs made entirely of big chunks of rock which the ponies were quite frankly very scary! Emilia opted to walk down the first section (sensible girl) but the rest of us honed our horse whispering skills and made it in one piece. As we were concentrating there was a constant distraction – the absolutely stunning landscape. It was absolutely glorious! The river far below, lazily running over rock beds, the cliffs rising up on either side, the immense feel of the sky… I’m far too bad a writer to give it anywhere near the justice it deserves – and I doubt the pictures we took will either. You’ll just have to go for yourselves!
The rest of the day consisted of up and down sections, some through villages, others across more open, cultivated land, all in pursuit of our final village destination. We had a fun interlude playing patter-cake with some kids in one village; they were incredible mimics and it was hilarious hearing your Kiwi accent coming out of a little kid from so far away.
Finally the village was in sight…but that was nowhere near the end of the journey for that day! Stayed tuned for the next instalment…
Thursday, 8 July 2010
South Africa #3
Hallo (Afrikaans for hello) from Kroonstad for an update #3:
So we were supposed to look at the CBD and all the municipal buildings in Pretoria before going to the cheetah centre - but I completely got the timing wrong (13.30 does not mean 3.30pm in case you were wondering), so we didn't see Pretoria city in the end and hoofed it out to the Ann van Dyk Cheetah Centre just in time for the start of the tour. It was very cool to see all the cheetah (or is the plural cheetahs??) but having already had such a wonderful time at Moholoholo, it was kind of hard not to be a bit jaded (as terrible as that sounds!). This one was quite enormous though so we went round on a big safari truck and having the African wild dogs all chasing the truck and being so close to everything was pretty cool. All the rehab centres do a wonderful job so it's fantastic to be able to support what they do.
That night we threw caution and all our rand to the wind and went out for a quite fancy dinner at a place called Pappa's in Pretoria. I had another potjiekos while Adrian had an ostrich stew, Dan an enormous T-bone steak and Emilia had calamari - delicious. In fact, it was so delicious that we bought the potjiekos dishes that everything came in as souvenirs! They're cast iron and pretty heavy so hopefully we get them home without paying excess luggage...
The following day it was down to Joburg to meet up with my friends Fats and Andrew who I met at Oxford. Andrew's from Port Elizabeth but was up in Joburg for some of the football and Fats actually grew up in Soweto and still has a lot of friends and family in town so he was enjoying being back for the football too. They took us on a fantastic tour of the city - starting off in Newtown which is a slowly gentrifying area close to the CBD (where he pointed out the police buildings where all the dissidents 'committed suicide' while in police cells) and the original market buildings of Joburg when it was still very much a gold-rush town. Next we went to a kind of traditional medicine market which was very much not on the tourist trail at all and had all sorts of hallucinogenic plants, animals (all dead, either whole or in bits), leopard skins, and lots of different types of bark which no-one was really sure what it was for, but very interesting nonetheless. After that we went to Soweto's first mall which is actually pretty iconic because until only a couple of years ago, you couldn't work or shop in Soweto - it was only a place to come home and sleep so the fact that there's a big mall owned by a former resident of Soweto which has ATMs and everything is quite a big deal. In fact, I was quite surprised at how developed Soweto was - although Fats said that quite a lot of it has come about relatively recently (like having minor roads tarsealed, not just the big main ones). One thing which was totally crazy though was the hospital - one million people pass through its doors every day! Can you believe it?? Soweto has six million, but its such a renowned centre for trauma accidents that medical staff come from all over the world to work there. We then went for lunch in Soweto near Nelson Mandela's house which we toured after lunch. It was really interesting to see it having read his autobiography so recently. The house was quite focused on Winnie - unsurprising given she lived there much longer than Nelson I suppose. It was great being shown round by two locals - really gave such an interesting insight into the whole thing.
That night for dinner we went to this restaurant buffet which I'd randomly found on the internet - it's called Chief Boma's and was insane. We ate warthog, kudu, ostrich, impala and springbok - just to name a few! And as well as all that meat, so much other stuff - I'm a huge fan of these macaroon type things they called Hertzogs...mmm... We rolled out of there feeling so ill... But it was a bit of a deal, R155 for two people so we definitely got our money's worth!
The next day was our big game day in Joburg and from the get-go was a bit of a schmozzle. We started the day with a flat tyre which we had to change before we could get on the road, then we had to pick up our ticket for the park-n-ride which turned into an absolute nightmare with Adrian and I literally running for 30 minutes trying to find a place which was open to pick it up at, and with Emilia and Dan getting stuck in a taxi queue outside ParkStation which we gathered was not the most savoury place to be hanging out in... Then, after getting completely lost in the motorway system despite the help of our trusty GPS Suzy, we managed to have to wait for ages to get lunch before finally, finally getting into the Apartheid Museum at about 3pm (and which the booklet said closed at 5pm so we all rushed through, but actually closed at 6.30...). However, even if we had to rush a bit, it was absolutely incredible. Honestly one of the best museums I've ever been to. It was completely heartbreaking, and just made you incredulous that people could be so inhumane to other people. I honestly cannot recommend it enough.
It was a bit strange to go from that to our final game, but I guess it was a symbol of the new South Africa to have such a crazy mix of things going on. It was Paraguay vs Spain which, thank goodness, the Spanish won! (We don't like the Paraguishans because they made us go out). We had pretty good seats and after nearly an hour's queue for some potato spirals (delicious) settled in for the game. The whole World Cup thing has been interesting, but being a complete football heretic I'm actually quite glad that we don't have to watch any more football now...
The next day we drove the big trek down to Lesotho. Now, that deserves its own post in an of itself, so stay tuned for the next installment!
So we were supposed to look at the CBD and all the municipal buildings in Pretoria before going to the cheetah centre - but I completely got the timing wrong (13.30 does not mean 3.30pm in case you were wondering), so we didn't see Pretoria city in the end and hoofed it out to the Ann van Dyk Cheetah Centre just in time for the start of the tour. It was very cool to see all the cheetah (or is the plural cheetahs??) but having already had such a wonderful time at Moholoholo, it was kind of hard not to be a bit jaded (as terrible as that sounds!). This one was quite enormous though so we went round on a big safari truck and having the African wild dogs all chasing the truck and being so close to everything was pretty cool. All the rehab centres do a wonderful job so it's fantastic to be able to support what they do.
That night we threw caution and all our rand to the wind and went out for a quite fancy dinner at a place called Pappa's in Pretoria. I had another potjiekos while Adrian had an ostrich stew, Dan an enormous T-bone steak and Emilia had calamari - delicious. In fact, it was so delicious that we bought the potjiekos dishes that everything came in as souvenirs! They're cast iron and pretty heavy so hopefully we get them home without paying excess luggage...
The following day it was down to Joburg to meet up with my friends Fats and Andrew who I met at Oxford. Andrew's from Port Elizabeth but was up in Joburg for some of the football and Fats actually grew up in Soweto and still has a lot of friends and family in town so he was enjoying being back for the football too. They took us on a fantastic tour of the city - starting off in Newtown which is a slowly gentrifying area close to the CBD (where he pointed out the police buildings where all the dissidents 'committed suicide' while in police cells) and the original market buildings of Joburg when it was still very much a gold-rush town. Next we went to a kind of traditional medicine market which was very much not on the tourist trail at all and had all sorts of hallucinogenic plants, animals (all dead, either whole or in bits), leopard skins, and lots of different types of bark which no-one was really sure what it was for, but very interesting nonetheless. After that we went to Soweto's first mall which is actually pretty iconic because until only a couple of years ago, you couldn't work or shop in Soweto - it was only a place to come home and sleep so the fact that there's a big mall owned by a former resident of Soweto which has ATMs and everything is quite a big deal. In fact, I was quite surprised at how developed Soweto was - although Fats said that quite a lot of it has come about relatively recently (like having minor roads tarsealed, not just the big main ones). One thing which was totally crazy though was the hospital - one million people pass through its doors every day! Can you believe it?? Soweto has six million, but its such a renowned centre for trauma accidents that medical staff come from all over the world to work there. We then went for lunch in Soweto near Nelson Mandela's house which we toured after lunch. It was really interesting to see it having read his autobiography so recently. The house was quite focused on Winnie - unsurprising given she lived there much longer than Nelson I suppose. It was great being shown round by two locals - really gave such an interesting insight into the whole thing.
That night for dinner we went to this restaurant buffet which I'd randomly found on the internet - it's called Chief Boma's and was insane. We ate warthog, kudu, ostrich, impala and springbok - just to name a few! And as well as all that meat, so much other stuff - I'm a huge fan of these macaroon type things they called Hertzogs...mmm... We rolled out of there feeling so ill... But it was a bit of a deal, R155 for two people so we definitely got our money's worth!
The next day was our big game day in Joburg and from the get-go was a bit of a schmozzle. We started the day with a flat tyre which we had to change before we could get on the road, then we had to pick up our ticket for the park-n-ride which turned into an absolute nightmare with Adrian and I literally running for 30 minutes trying to find a place which was open to pick it up at, and with Emilia and Dan getting stuck in a taxi queue outside ParkStation which we gathered was not the most savoury place to be hanging out in... Then, after getting completely lost in the motorway system despite the help of our trusty GPS Suzy, we managed to have to wait for ages to get lunch before finally, finally getting into the Apartheid Museum at about 3pm (and which the booklet said closed at 5pm so we all rushed through, but actually closed at 6.30...). However, even if we had to rush a bit, it was absolutely incredible. Honestly one of the best museums I've ever been to. It was completely heartbreaking, and just made you incredulous that people could be so inhumane to other people. I honestly cannot recommend it enough.
It was a bit strange to go from that to our final game, but I guess it was a symbol of the new South Africa to have such a crazy mix of things going on. It was Paraguay vs Spain which, thank goodness, the Spanish won! (We don't like the Paraguishans because they made us go out). We had pretty good seats and after nearly an hour's queue for some potato spirals (delicious) settled in for the game. The whole World Cup thing has been interesting, but being a complete football heretic I'm actually quite glad that we don't have to watch any more football now...
The next day we drove the big trek down to Lesotho. Now, that deserves its own post in an of itself, so stay tuned for the next installment!
Wednesday, 30 June 2010
South Africa #2
Hi again everyone!
It feels like it's forever that we've been here - but actually it's only just over two weeks! Just goes to show how fantastic this holiday's being.
Right, let me recap from where I left off.
The day after NZ vs Italy we went to a reptile park where we saw lots of venomous snakes (adders, mambos etc.) , some big, hairy spiders, as well as some big friendly pigs who loved having their chins scratched! It was quite interesting to learn a bit more about snakes - such as the fact that they've all got the remains of back legs from when they used to look more like iguanas etc.
But the day after that was the biggie - Kruger National Park! We got up at the most ungodly hour of 5am, then were bundled into our open top safari 4WD (complete with blankets, thank goodness, as it was FREEZING), then drove to the Numbi gate at bang on 6am. A quite dispiriting hour followed where the only thing we saw were a couple of impala and each other's cold and hungry faces! But a hot breakfast stop later, and a bit warmer so the animals were getting up, it was all on! We saw: 2 male lions complete with big scarred faces, lots of herds of giraffes and zebras, a male elephant whose musk scent was quite overpowering, 2 other herds of elephants, chacma baboons, some leopard tortoises (unfortunately no leopards though!), warthogs, gemsbok, kudu, mongeese (mongooses?) and all sorts of other antelope creatures. It was BRILLIANT! It really lived up to all expectations.
The day after that we drove up to Polokwane (which used to be called Pietersburg) to see what turned out to be the final NZ game (vs Paraguay). Again, how proud were we of our team - undefeated!! And even though we're out of the match, we still sent Italy home as well which was pretty good. We stayed in a pretty dodgy part of town, and our funny campsite had barbed wire all around it, plus a security guard, but it was actually pretty good fun because the whole place was NZers. After the game we met this Afrikaaner couple (Jeanne and Rolonde) who took us in their car to the bar where all the Kiwis were and we had a really fun night celebrating our team.
The next day we went to the Polokwane Game Reserve where we saw white rhinos from about 10m away - they were so close! - and a whole flock of ostriches. That night, we went and stayed at Jeanne and Rolonde's house and they made us a 'potjiekos' which is a traditional Afrikaaner stew - it was so delicious and they were so kind to have us random strangers to stay! Everyone we've met has been so friendly, it's been great.
From Polokwane we drove north to the Blyde River Canyon. On the way we saw the 'Sunland Baobab' - supposedly the biggest baobab in the world and which has a bar inside it! How random. We set up at the campsite in Blyde River (where we had some more fantastic braais with borewors) and then the next day went for a big hike around the canyon. It was absolutely breathtaking - it's the third largest canyon in the world and we saw lots of beautiful waterfalls and vistas. Emilia even got a photo of the elusive protea she's been looking for!
After another braai that night, the next day was a bit of a surprise - it was raining! It was the first day of rain we've had and considering every day since has been brilliantly sunny, it could even be our last. We went to the 'Echo Caves' which were a traditional hiding place during the Stone Age for the local tribe and which were rediscovered by an Afrikaaner farmer during the 1920s. It was really interesting - being the amateur geologist I am! After that we drove south to Graskop to Harrie's Pancake House - delicious! I had venison, Dan had chicken livers, Emilia had biltong and mozzarella and Adrian had peach and pork...mmmm... (By the way, we are in love with the biltong!). After that we went to the Moholoholo Rehabilitation Centre which was something we'd been told about by a guy on our Kruger safari. It was excellent! It cares for lots of animals who have been captured on private farms - including some tame(ish) cheetahs which are used for educational purposes, some lions, lynx, cervils, and even a leopard! We finally saw one so now we don't have to search so high and low anymore... There was even a baby black rhino who charged everyone, too cute. The other highlight there was all the birds - especially the eagles and the vultures. Emilia and Adrian fed a vulture - eek!! But very cool, I can't wait to put the photos up.
From there we've come down to Pretoria. Yesterday afternoon we went to the Japan v Paraguay game which was a nil all draw even into extra time - which meant we got a penalty shootout! We were going for Japan which was a bit sad they didn't get through, but because of the result of another game that day, our next (and final) game is Spain v Paraguay in Joburg in a couple of days time. After the game we had some delicious chicken and rice which some ladies were cooking up on the side of the road, then went out to a local bar to watch the later game - meeting some more very friendly locals! Everyone seems to be very keen that the tourists have a great time here - and tell everyone at home to visit! I have to say it's working on me...
And so today we're going to see the capital buildings in Pretoria, then out to a cheetah rehabilitation centre north of the city. Tomorrow we're catching up with some friends from Oxford in Joburg which I'm really looking forward to, then after a few more days in the big smoke, down to Lesotho.
The travel's been really good so far (apart from when my camera got hit out of my hand and broke...gutted...but thank goodness Adrian's got such a good camera - which I have basically hijacked now), can't complain at all. We're eating our bodyweight in meat (borewors, stew, biltong...) and the luxury of being in proper beds at the moment after two weeks of winter camping is unbelievable.
I hope everything's going well at home - hopefully I'll be able to write another update soon!
It feels like it's forever that we've been here - but actually it's only just over two weeks! Just goes to show how fantastic this holiday's being.
Right, let me recap from where I left off.
The day after NZ vs Italy we went to a reptile park where we saw lots of venomous snakes (adders, mambos etc.) , some big, hairy spiders, as well as some big friendly pigs who loved having their chins scratched! It was quite interesting to learn a bit more about snakes - such as the fact that they've all got the remains of back legs from when they used to look more like iguanas etc.
But the day after that was the biggie - Kruger National Park! We got up at the most ungodly hour of 5am, then were bundled into our open top safari 4WD (complete with blankets, thank goodness, as it was FREEZING), then drove to the Numbi gate at bang on 6am. A quite dispiriting hour followed where the only thing we saw were a couple of impala and each other's cold and hungry faces! But a hot breakfast stop later, and a bit warmer so the animals were getting up, it was all on! We saw: 2 male lions complete with big scarred faces, lots of herds of giraffes and zebras, a male elephant whose musk scent was quite overpowering, 2 other herds of elephants, chacma baboons, some leopard tortoises (unfortunately no leopards though!), warthogs, gemsbok, kudu, mongeese (mongooses?) and all sorts of other antelope creatures. It was BRILLIANT! It really lived up to all expectations.
The day after that we drove up to Polokwane (which used to be called Pietersburg) to see what turned out to be the final NZ game (vs Paraguay). Again, how proud were we of our team - undefeated!! And even though we're out of the match, we still sent Italy home as well which was pretty good. We stayed in a pretty dodgy part of town, and our funny campsite had barbed wire all around it, plus a security guard, but it was actually pretty good fun because the whole place was NZers. After the game we met this Afrikaaner couple (Jeanne and Rolonde) who took us in their car to the bar where all the Kiwis were and we had a really fun night celebrating our team.
The next day we went to the Polokwane Game Reserve where we saw white rhinos from about 10m away - they were so close! - and a whole flock of ostriches. That night, we went and stayed at Jeanne and Rolonde's house and they made us a 'potjiekos' which is a traditional Afrikaaner stew - it was so delicious and they were so kind to have us random strangers to stay! Everyone we've met has been so friendly, it's been great.
From Polokwane we drove north to the Blyde River Canyon. On the way we saw the 'Sunland Baobab' - supposedly the biggest baobab in the world and which has a bar inside it! How random. We set up at the campsite in Blyde River (where we had some more fantastic braais with borewors) and then the next day went for a big hike around the canyon. It was absolutely breathtaking - it's the third largest canyon in the world and we saw lots of beautiful waterfalls and vistas. Emilia even got a photo of the elusive protea she's been looking for!
After another braai that night, the next day was a bit of a surprise - it was raining! It was the first day of rain we've had and considering every day since has been brilliantly sunny, it could even be our last. We went to the 'Echo Caves' which were a traditional hiding place during the Stone Age for the local tribe and which were rediscovered by an Afrikaaner farmer during the 1920s. It was really interesting - being the amateur geologist I am! After that we drove south to Graskop to Harrie's Pancake House - delicious! I had venison, Dan had chicken livers, Emilia had biltong and mozzarella and Adrian had peach and pork...mmmm... (By the way, we are in love with the biltong!). After that we went to the Moholoholo Rehabilitation Centre which was something we'd been told about by a guy on our Kruger safari. It was excellent! It cares for lots of animals who have been captured on private farms - including some tame(ish) cheetahs which are used for educational purposes, some lions, lynx, cervils, and even a leopard! We finally saw one so now we don't have to search so high and low anymore... There was even a baby black rhino who charged everyone, too cute. The other highlight there was all the birds - especially the eagles and the vultures. Emilia and Adrian fed a vulture - eek!! But very cool, I can't wait to put the photos up.
From there we've come down to Pretoria. Yesterday afternoon we went to the Japan v Paraguay game which was a nil all draw even into extra time - which meant we got a penalty shootout! We were going for Japan which was a bit sad they didn't get through, but because of the result of another game that day, our next (and final) game is Spain v Paraguay in Joburg in a couple of days time. After the game we had some delicious chicken and rice which some ladies were cooking up on the side of the road, then went out to a local bar to watch the later game - meeting some more very friendly locals! Everyone seems to be very keen that the tourists have a great time here - and tell everyone at home to visit! I have to say it's working on me...
And so today we're going to see the capital buildings in Pretoria, then out to a cheetah rehabilitation centre north of the city. Tomorrow we're catching up with some friends from Oxford in Joburg which I'm really looking forward to, then after a few more days in the big smoke, down to Lesotho.
The travel's been really good so far (apart from when my camera got hit out of my hand and broke...gutted...but thank goodness Adrian's got such a good camera - which I have basically hijacked now), can't complain at all. We're eating our bodyweight in meat (borewors, stew, biltong...) and the luxury of being in proper beds at the moment after two weeks of winter camping is unbelievable.
I hope everything's going well at home - hopefully I'll be able to write another update soon!
Monday, 21 June 2010
South Africa!
Hello!
I'm coming to you from Hazyview, just a hop, skip and a jump from Kruger National Park (where we're going for a safari in a couple of days - exciting!).
There's so much to update, and not that much time (internet is surprisingly expensive), so I'll do my best...
We started off with me spraining my ankle in Joburg in a pothole in the pavement, which could have been absolutely disasterous, but thanks to some Macgyver-esque strapping with a pack handle the crisis was averted and it's only slightly sore now. We watched a football game then drove up through the night to Rustenburg. Our car is great - roomy enough and already lots of chips and dents so we won't feel too bad if we make too many more!
Rustenburg was FREEZING. Absolutely so, so cold. However, my fantastic new sleeping bag was a star and kept me nice and toasty. Adam on the other hand was slightly less prepared and spent a first pretty uncomfortable night before borrowing some thermals to sleep in the next night. The first game in Rustenburg was great fun, particularly due to that brilliant late goal! We stayed in a camp site in a nature reserve which was ok, and spent a lot of time at the malls just getting camping gas, new gloves, pies etc. We also went out to Sun City, which is this apartheid-era resort which was absolutely crazy. It's all completely over the top, but we saw these crocodiles at their crocodile reserve which were incredible. A) I've never seen that many crocodiles, B) I've never seen any that big before (some were over a tonne!) and C) I'm glad it's winter and they're not so active...
After Rustenburg we drove into Limpopo province to a small town called Thabazimbi where we stayed at the Thaba Nkwe Bushveld Inn with some really nice people. We were the only people camping (and they thought we were insane), but they took us out on a hunt one morning (fortunately none of the shots were successful) and we ate the biggest steaks I've ever seen. We also went to the Marakele National Park where we saw giraffes, warthogs, lots of varieties of antelopes and even a herd of elephants!! That was very cool - and slightly scary when our car somehow got caught between them, but a brilliant experience.
From Thabazimbi we drove down to Joburg to pick Emilia up via a town called Bela-Bela which has this big hot baths complex. I've got a massive bruise on my cocyx from bumping down these incredibly fun hydroslides (we're all just big kids really). From Joburg we've come out here to Hazyview. Yesterday was the NZ vs Italy game which was fantastic. The goal at what, minute seven, led to everyone being drenched with beer, hugging complete strangers and generally just being extremely excited. If NZ goes through our travel plans are completely shot (we'll have to drive down to Cape Town...) but wouldn't that be amazing.
We've been watching pratically every other football game going which has been a bit of an overload for me, but the others are absolutely loving it. There are lots of tourists about, probably about 500-750 NZers I'd say, and everyone seems to be in a pretty good mood.
I'm sure there's lots I've forgotten to say, and I wish I could post some photos, but rest assured you'll all get bored with them when I finally do!
We're having another braai (bbq) for lunch today, then off to a reptile park and potentially some waterfalls this afternoon too.
I'll check in soon!
I'm coming to you from Hazyview, just a hop, skip and a jump from Kruger National Park (where we're going for a safari in a couple of days - exciting!).
There's so much to update, and not that much time (internet is surprisingly expensive), so I'll do my best...
We started off with me spraining my ankle in Joburg in a pothole in the pavement, which could have been absolutely disasterous, but thanks to some Macgyver-esque strapping with a pack handle the crisis was averted and it's only slightly sore now. We watched a football game then drove up through the night to Rustenburg. Our car is great - roomy enough and already lots of chips and dents so we won't feel too bad if we make too many more!
Rustenburg was FREEZING. Absolutely so, so cold. However, my fantastic new sleeping bag was a star and kept me nice and toasty. Adam on the other hand was slightly less prepared and spent a first pretty uncomfortable night before borrowing some thermals to sleep in the next night. The first game in Rustenburg was great fun, particularly due to that brilliant late goal! We stayed in a camp site in a nature reserve which was ok, and spent a lot of time at the malls just getting camping gas, new gloves, pies etc. We also went out to Sun City, which is this apartheid-era resort which was absolutely crazy. It's all completely over the top, but we saw these crocodiles at their crocodile reserve which were incredible. A) I've never seen that many crocodiles, B) I've never seen any that big before (some were over a tonne!) and C) I'm glad it's winter and they're not so active...
After Rustenburg we drove into Limpopo province to a small town called Thabazimbi where we stayed at the Thaba Nkwe Bushveld Inn with some really nice people. We were the only people camping (and they thought we were insane), but they took us out on a hunt one morning (fortunately none of the shots were successful) and we ate the biggest steaks I've ever seen. We also went to the Marakele National Park where we saw giraffes, warthogs, lots of varieties of antelopes and even a herd of elephants!! That was very cool - and slightly scary when our car somehow got caught between them, but a brilliant experience.
From Thabazimbi we drove down to Joburg to pick Emilia up via a town called Bela-Bela which has this big hot baths complex. I've got a massive bruise on my cocyx from bumping down these incredibly fun hydroslides (we're all just big kids really). From Joburg we've come out here to Hazyview. Yesterday was the NZ vs Italy game which was fantastic. The goal at what, minute seven, led to everyone being drenched with beer, hugging complete strangers and generally just being extremely excited. If NZ goes through our travel plans are completely shot (we'll have to drive down to Cape Town...) but wouldn't that be amazing.
We've been watching pratically every other football game going which has been a bit of an overload for me, but the others are absolutely loving it. There are lots of tourists about, probably about 500-750 NZers I'd say, and everyone seems to be in a pretty good mood.
I'm sure there's lots I've forgotten to say, and I wish I could post some photos, but rest assured you'll all get bored with them when I finally do!
We're having another braai (bbq) for lunch today, then off to a reptile park and potentially some waterfalls this afternoon too.
I'll check in soon!
Sunday, 13 June 2010
20 hours in Singapore
It's official. I am seriously, head over heels in love with Changi Airport. Singapore, how did you get it so right?!
Let me backtrack...right to the beginning.
My flight (Singapore Airlines) to Singapore was pretty uneventful - bar a bout of twitchy leg starting before I even got on the plane and which got progressively worse until (sorry Dr Stone) I couldn't take it any longer and had to take a sleeping pill... It took about 45 minutes to kick in, but gave me a blessed three-four hours of relief. And it was a way shorter flight than anticipated (just under 11 hours, rather than 13, which made so much difference) so I got off the plane in not too bad shape.
However, I had a plan. I've done a bit of research on the airport and heard so much about it from everyone else that I knew all the things I wanted to do. First stop, book myself in for a free tour. I got on the tour at 11am so seeing as at this stage it was only 7am, it was off to search for a reclining couch for a bit of shut-eye. I had nearly two hours of sleep once I finally found them - genius!
Then it was up and out for my tour. I had landed on the 'colonial' one which was all about the city's heritage (rather than the 'cultural' one which went through Chinatown etc.). It was really interesting! I had no idea this Raffles character was such an important guy (apart from giving his name to a hotel of course). Our guide was pretty frank - telling us bad things as well as good about Singapore - and it made it much more interesting compared to a bland from rote tour. We got off the bus near the main city buildings and WHAM. It is rather hot here I must say... Ok, no, can't keep up that charade. It is HOT, H-O-T. The humidity slapped you in the face and it's like walking around in soup. I know this will come as no surprise to the vast majority of people who may read this, but it's all a novelty to me!!
Back on the bus and then back to the airport, where I immediately turned around and booked myself on the other free shuttle to get into town. I love you Changi! I got dropped off at a place called Suntec City which is a giant mall, which I immediately left and made for the subway to get downtown to go for lunch at a hawker food centre called Lau Pa Sat which I gather is a bit of an institution. For $4.50 (one of only two choices available at the place I chose to go to) I had 'braised meat ban yian' which was delicious (the proof of which is splattered all over my t-shirt at the moment). I honestly think I could live in Asia just for the food alone!!
After lunch I wandered back towards Suntec via Chinatown, finding interesting temples and parks and things to fritter away memory space on my camera (I'll try and upload pictures as soon as I find a computer where I can and it's not too dodgy). Several things intrigued me: what is the toasted sandwich-like thing that everyone's eating? Also what is the dried pork all about? And are televisions particularly cheap here as I seriously saw at least 20 being checked in as luggage (mostly it seemed to India??). I love the grass - it's all fat-leaved and was lovely to walk on. And all the (hundreds!) of ships up and down the coast - are they heading to China?? I also saw a Swensens! (Mention of that is just for you Mum).
Then, back on my, again free, shuttle to the airport, where I went to the rooftop pool for a swim and a shower. That's right, the ROOFTOP POOL. Auckland Airport, avert your eyes in shame! You have a lot, I repeat, a lot, to learn from Changi. A swim and a shower was glorious and prepped me for my $3.80 (no, that's not a typo) laksa from the airport food court. $3.80!!! And it was delicious! I don't know what's different about Singaporean laksa, but it always seems browner, richer somehow than Thai laksa (or is laksa not really from Thailand and I just have no idea). Anyway, totally yum.
Now I'm making use of the free internet, before I go down and watch Algeria vs. Slovenia on the big screens they're showing all the World Cup matches on. Honestly, it's going to be hard to get on the flight!
Sorry it's been such a long one, but I do have five more hours to kill until I even have to be at my gate, so you'll just have to lump it!
Next stop, Johannesburg!!!!
(P.S. Slovenia won 1-0! If they can do it, surely NZ can...)
Let me backtrack...right to the beginning.
My flight (Singapore Airlines) to Singapore was pretty uneventful - bar a bout of twitchy leg starting before I even got on the plane and which got progressively worse until (sorry Dr Stone) I couldn't take it any longer and had to take a sleeping pill... It took about 45 minutes to kick in, but gave me a blessed three-four hours of relief. And it was a way shorter flight than anticipated (just under 11 hours, rather than 13, which made so much difference) so I got off the plane in not too bad shape.
However, I had a plan. I've done a bit of research on the airport and heard so much about it from everyone else that I knew all the things I wanted to do. First stop, book myself in for a free tour. I got on the tour at 11am so seeing as at this stage it was only 7am, it was off to search for a reclining couch for a bit of shut-eye. I had nearly two hours of sleep once I finally found them - genius!
Then it was up and out for my tour. I had landed on the 'colonial' one which was all about the city's heritage (rather than the 'cultural' one which went through Chinatown etc.). It was really interesting! I had no idea this Raffles character was such an important guy (apart from giving his name to a hotel of course). Our guide was pretty frank - telling us bad things as well as good about Singapore - and it made it much more interesting compared to a bland from rote tour. We got off the bus near the main city buildings and WHAM. It is rather hot here I must say... Ok, no, can't keep up that charade. It is HOT, H-O-T. The humidity slapped you in the face and it's like walking around in soup. I know this will come as no surprise to the vast majority of people who may read this, but it's all a novelty to me!!
Back on the bus and then back to the airport, where I immediately turned around and booked myself on the other free shuttle to get into town. I love you Changi! I got dropped off at a place called Suntec City which is a giant mall, which I immediately left and made for the subway to get downtown to go for lunch at a hawker food centre called Lau Pa Sat which I gather is a bit of an institution. For $4.50 (one of only two choices available at the place I chose to go to) I had 'braised meat ban yian' which was delicious (the proof of which is splattered all over my t-shirt at the moment). I honestly think I could live in Asia just for the food alone!!
After lunch I wandered back towards Suntec via Chinatown, finding interesting temples and parks and things to fritter away memory space on my camera (I'll try and upload pictures as soon as I find a computer where I can and it's not too dodgy). Several things intrigued me: what is the toasted sandwich-like thing that everyone's eating? Also what is the dried pork all about? And are televisions particularly cheap here as I seriously saw at least 20 being checked in as luggage (mostly it seemed to India??). I love the grass - it's all fat-leaved and was lovely to walk on. And all the (hundreds!) of ships up and down the coast - are they heading to China?? I also saw a Swensens! (Mention of that is just for you Mum).
Then, back on my, again free, shuttle to the airport, where I went to the rooftop pool for a swim and a shower. That's right, the ROOFTOP POOL. Auckland Airport, avert your eyes in shame! You have a lot, I repeat, a lot, to learn from Changi. A swim and a shower was glorious and prepped me for my $3.80 (no, that's not a typo) laksa from the airport food court. $3.80!!! And it was delicious! I don't know what's different about Singaporean laksa, but it always seems browner, richer somehow than Thai laksa (or is laksa not really from Thailand and I just have no idea). Anyway, totally yum.
Now I'm making use of the free internet, before I go down and watch Algeria vs. Slovenia on the big screens they're showing all the World Cup matches on. Honestly, it's going to be hard to get on the flight!
Sorry it's been such a long one, but I do have five more hours to kill until I even have to be at my gate, so you'll just have to lump it!
Next stop, Johannesburg!!!!
(P.S. Slovenia won 1-0! If they can do it, surely NZ can...)
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