Pretoria

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This morning we set off for Pretoria. We planned to start the day off with a visit to South Africa's National Botanical Gardens. Once we had arrived and wandered around for a while we decided to find the waterfall. We spent a while posing for Tim while he found the waterfall setting on the camera! Then we climbed to the top of the waterfall. Suzy spotted a Dassie but the rest of us struggled to see it in the trees. It was a baby badger moment! (Ask the Westons) There is a Dassie Trail at the top of the waterfall, Tim ventured into the outback but it had vanished! Rob had been dreaming of lunch since 11.15am so we decided to go and try the restaurant. We had a lovely lunch sitting out on the veranda looking back into the gardens. Had we been somewhere like Wisley on a Saturday it would have been packed but that was not the case for us!

After a leisurely lunch we headed off to Kolonnade, one of the many shopping malls in Pretoria. We had heard this was the best! We had created a shopping list of all the things we had wanted to get and so split into groups. With thanks to whatsapp, we were able to let each other know what we had managed to get from the list! After an hour, we met up, Tim and Rob took the purchases so far back to the car and then we hit the shops for round 2! By the end of our shopping most of our list had been found from socks to netball rings! Finally, the cake and coffee called. This was the first proper coffee we had had since leaving England! Amy and I unfortunately were defeated by our slices of cake but a doggy bag was provided!

After our refuelling, Tim and Rob returned to the car whilst us ladies went to stock up on the food shop and find tarts that Evelyn had requested! A milk tart was on the list (which we assume is a custard tart!) We whizzed around the shop and went back out to the van. But, when we got there, the van had gone! The boys, thinking that we would take ages in the supermarket, had decided to go the DIY shop. This is yet again becoming the place to find them! They had underestimated us on a mission! Finally, we were all re-united and began the journey home! We are now sitting listening to Suzy read parts of her new book on fabric. The best bit being a tip about setting fire to fabric which apparently most shops are happy to assist with! Rob may need to explore his insurance policies when he gets home!

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