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Published: October 10th 2010
Saturday, September 18th
We got up at 6am and Ferdi went to play golf with Konrad and dad Franz. He didn't do too badly, considering that he hadn't touched a golf club in four years.
While Ferdi was whacking little white balls Talita went for a power walk with dad Mike and mom Mariana. It hurt! As a reward they went for omelets at Maxis while Ferdi had Wimpy with his golf crew.
When we hooked up again we quickly packed a few picnic things and drove to Nkwe, a bush retreat a short drive east of Pretoria. Here we met up with a group of our friends and had an absolute blast catching up. It was almost like old times, except for little Seth who had joined the clan since our last get-together.
Later we had a braai at mom Sonja's place. All of us were exhausted, so we called it a night pretty early.
Sunday, September 19th
We couldn't sleep late and we didn't have the energy to do much. We spent a leisurely morning and when the afternoon rolled around we drove to a park in the Brooklyn area where we met up with
friends for Konrad and Vicky's "Batchelors/Kitchen tea". We spent the afternoon sitting on blankets in the shade of a tree enjoying a delicious picnic and playing games.
Monday, September 20th
Today was our two year wedding anniversary. So far we've had an absolutely blessed marriage with great adventure and lots of growth and we thank God for that!
We did a bit of shopping, got a couple of CDs from SA artists and a white shirt for Ferdi for the wedding. We had a nap before meeting up with our parents, a few brothers and sisters and some friends for a feast at the Hillside Tavern for our anniversary celebration. It was wonderful to have so many of our people together and made us feel a little guilty for leaving them behind for another year.
Tuesday, September 21st
Ferdi did some more car admin things while Talita met up with Annie (a close friend from her school days) and her two little ones.
Our time in SA was running out and even though we were very excited about starting our new life in NZ we couldn't help but feel a little sad at leaving our people
again.
Late in the afternoon we braved the traffic to Jo'burg to visit with Deirdre and spend the night in her new house. We enjoyed Indian take-aways and the cats playing around our feet.
Wednesday, September 22nd
On Deirdre's balcony we stood in awe of the large amount of super expensive luxury cars that drove past her house every morning. 9 out of 10 cars were more expensive than we could/would ever afford. It's truly mind boggling how much money SAffers spend on cars.
After breakfast at the Wimpy we went to visit an acquaintance who's interested in moving to NZ, then went on to visit Ferdi's work friends at Postmasters. It was awesome to see them all again.
Back in Pretoria Ferdi helped Konrad with some last minute shopping for the wedding while Talita took a trip down memory lane. She looked through the thousands of pictures we'd taken over the last 20months and selected the best ones to give to our parents.
Dad Mike and mom Mariana got heaps of pizza and a few friends came by for a farewell evening. It wasn't nice to say goodbye, but we know we'll see them
again soon enough.
Today was really the first day we felt like we'd gotten over the jet-lag. That's great except for the fact that we fly home on Saturday...
Thursday, September 23rd
The big day had finaly arrived. Konrad was getting married! Ferdi's car was the wedding mobile so he took it for a valet before heading over to mom Sonja's place to help put ribbons on it. With his car looking all wedding like he delivered it to the bride-to-be at her (soon to be their) home.
When the bridal party had left the groom arrived for a few pictures before we three piled into his car and headed for the venue. Here we setup the DJ station and performed a few "best man" duties.
In the wink of an eye it was 3pm. We were all "suited up", the venue was looking great, the cameras were on stand-by, the guests were all in attendance, and we were ready for the bride to arrive.
Vicky arrived right on time and a beautiful ceremony followed. Once those two crazy kids were hitched and the photographs were taken we had starters, then dad Franz, Konrad and
Ferdi gave a short speech each, followed by a feast, lots of champaigne, nice dancing, cake, crazy dancing, and an all-round good time.
Friday, September 24th
Luckily we didn't drink too much at the wedding so there was no hangover. We had slept at the Minty house and during the morning the van Huyssteen side of the family came by to say hi and bye to us.
In the afternoon we went to dad Franz and mom Corne's place and hung out with the De Lange side of the family.
Saturday, September 25th
After breakfast with dad Franz and mom Corne we went to mom Sonja's to say goodbye to Konrad and Vicky. They looked much more relaxed now that the wedding was over and we were delighted that we had the opportunity to be there for their special day.
We had lunch at the Minty house followed by cake and tea. We repacked our bags and found them to be way too heavy, so we had to leave some clothes behind. Around 17:30, with heavy hearts and a few tears, we said goodbye to mom Sonja and Deirdre. Dad Mike and mom Mariana took us
to the airport where we met dad Franz and mom Corne. We had a quick drink and then had to check in early because the customs control people were on strike (like most of South Africa). We stood in a huge queue where Talita had to put a guy in his place when he tried to jump the queue. Eventually we made it through customs and rushed to our plane. We were near the last people to board, but the flight was delayed an hour because a passanger got ill and had to be removed from the plane. Once underway we had dinner, watched a movie and had quite a good night's sleep.
Sunday, September 26th
We arrived late in Melbourne, but it didn't matter because all the check-in systems were down and they had to cancel a lot of flights. Our flight was delayed by three hours so we sat around waiting for everyone to get checked in manually.
Monday, September 27th
Having traveled ahead 11 hours in time we had lost our Sunday. After four more hours in a plane sitting on our backsides we finally arrived in Auckland at 4am. Our butts were flat and
sick of sitting, but we were home and very thankful for that!
Ahhh... Home sweet home!
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Melinda
non-member comment
Sunny SA
Hi Maatjies!! Mis julle ook al klaar baie. Dit het uiteindelik begin reen! Daar was sommer al paar lekker storms, maar nog nie daai lang reen wat nie ophou nie. Natuurlik is die Jakaranda stad so mooooi! Pers in al sy glorie! Kan nie wag om julle weer te sien nie, your place next time! xXx