Blogs from Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa, Africa - page 51

After 24hours of travel we arrived in sunny South Africa! Of course, arriving and finding out the airline had lost half our luggage was a fun, fun moment..... not. However, seeing Maria and Tyron (and meeting Tyron's sister Kelli) was awesome! We spent all day Wednesday at Sun City (2.5hrs drive from Joburg) with Maria, Kelli and Benedict, who's from Zululand and works for Maria and Tyron. It was fantastic weather in the mid-30s for most of the day, and though I had been last time I was here with Maria it was so great to go back as it really is a wicked place to go to, and Martin and never been before and loved it!! It was a really fun day, the slides (including the gut-wrenching "Temple of Courage") and wavepool are great fun ... read more

Well, I just wanted to let everyone know that I arrived safely in Johannesburg. The 18 hour flight wasn't all that bad... I survived. Tomorrow I head to Namibia where much is planned, so don't expect to hear from me again for like 1-2 weeks... sorry... time flys when you are having fun. The trip back to the States was good. It was good to catch up and my mom really enjoyed her birthday. I thought I would the top 10 questions I was asked while home. Mostly no particular order 1) When are you coming back for good 2) Where will you live 3) What will you do (These 3 by far outpaced all other questions) 4) Where are you going next 4a) Where is Namibia 5) What was your favorite place 6) Did you ... read more

We hope you are all well; we have read some disturbing reports about the weather across the country and have noticed some cold temperatures there. Bob continues to sit on our porch/patio, in a pair of shorts, every morning enjoying breakfast of fresh papaya, pineapple or mango - wish you were here! This past week has been a sad one for the people of South Africa. Last week the famous battlefield historian, David Rattray, was murdered in his home during a gang robbery. Rattray was one of the foremost authorities on the Anglo-Zulu War and had written many books. He would give wonderful two hour storytelling sessions on the Battlefields of Isandlwana and Roarke's Drift, both of which he was the foremost authority. He and his wife had built a lodge called Fugitive's Drift on the ... read more

Well folks, this is the last blog from the dark continent and we will both be sad to leave. Africa has been such a surprising and varied place and we are both sure that we'll be back in the future (we failed to go to Mozambique (which everyone has been raving about), Uganda to see the Gorrilas or Madagascar). Lost luggage, broken guitars, sea urchin spines and fungal parasites have failed to dampen a thoroughly enjoyable stay in Africa. We ended our it with two, rather rainy, days in the Drakensburg at the Inkosanna hostel near Winterton. The place was pretty cool but a little lacking in facilities. Linz went for an hours horse ride in the Drakensburg before we set out (for approximately 4 quid!) whilst Bri snuck into the hotel next door to use ... read more

Hi to everyone back home and in the States too! I decided to let you all know what I’ve been up to again as I’ve had a pretty busy week. I had my friends from Aus, Em and Lachie, here for the weekend, then Dave and I went to a game reserve near Kruger National Park on Tuesday for a job interview. We decided to take Em and Lachie to the Sterkfontein caves and to the Lion Park for the day on Saturday. The caves are situated in an area known as the ‘cradle of humankind’ because this is where the oldest fossils of early hominids were discovered. They are 20 million years old and are currently still an excavation site as they have been digging up the remains of ‘little foot’ for the past 2 ... read more