Boyd For The Win

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There's been a few sayings developed and attributed to each of the individuals on tour. For example "Trickett, it just makes sense". "Heron, sh*t more, sh*t big, sh*t now!". But the one which dominates headlines this week is "Boyd for the win!".

As I mentioned previously we had planned to head back to Nelspruit for a couple of days, and a night in Hoedspruit in search of the ellusive Cheetah, Lion, and Leopard. It started well with us setting off from JoBurg and following the right directions. However as we neared Rustenburg we realised we had gone horribly wrong! The directions we had been given were fairly misinformed and failed to mention that the onramp had 2 turns on it, one for east and one for west. As a result we took the wrong one. However it was google maps on Rich's phone that directed us safely back into the correct direction, and over came the piss poor sign posting for directions! Boyd for the win.

When we arrived in Nelspruit we caught up with the family, but were in desperate need of exercise. We headed to where we had played some footy before in Nelspruit but unfortuately it was locked. Stuart, Steve's younger cousin, was with us and we headed to his high school! We had a cracker of the time as we found full size goals, with nets, on the lower field with a steep embankment behind it to stop the high and wide shots! It was a hell of a lot of fun as we were able to really unleash our lack of football and take it out on the poor person playing keeper, as well as practice some set pieces etc!

The next day we headed to Hoedspruit for what was meant to be one night! We got there late afternoon, just in time to check out the endagered species centre that hosts a Cheetah breading programme. We had a good time and saw some cheetah from the vehicle in quite an enjoyable manor, however we didn't get up close to any of them as we had hoped, and it was suggested there would be a few more different species we'd get up close to. Slightly disappointed we headed to our self catered chalet to get an early night before our game drive. We drove for about 30 minutes into the middle of no where to find this place. We then arrived at our chalet to find we were the only people staying at this 6 chalet place. We also realised that within 100m of our chalet was a watering hole for the local animals to get a sneaky pint. As a result we thought we were witnessing the begining of our very own blair witch project. However we got over it, made a feed, and Chris and Rich demolished the remaining bourbon and beer to ensure "...a lighter trip back"!

Having survived the night we rose early, packed, checked out, and headed to the meeting point to be picked up for our game drive. 10 minutes went, 20 minutes went, 30 minutes went. We then called the people we thought we were going through and they didn't have our information and knew nothing about us. Time for a fairly frustrated trip to the travel agent in Hoedspruit who'd coordinated it all! As we arrived we were informed that we had been screwed around by the tour operator who'd got their details wrong and not picked us up. As a result we were faced with 1 of 2 options. Firstly we take the money and head back to Nelspruit as planned, minus the game drive. Secondly we could do another game drive and then drive back at night to Nelspruit. The 2nd option was best, but no one recommended driving back. As we sat and pondered it all we were all fairly miffed. Eventually we agreed that the scenario we wanted was to do the evening game drive, and for the tour operator to pay for our accomodation that night. A very fiered up Boyd was sent in to the travel agents operator to sort things out. After a brief chat with the travel agent, and the tour operator, it was sorted. Team Kiwi was to go from staying Blair Witch styles in a 3 star chalet for 600 Rand for the night to staying at a 5 star game lodge at no expense for the night! BOYD FOR THE WIN.

We then killed time during the day with an amazing feed of pancakes for breakfast at supposedly the tallest Baobab tree (google it) in South Africa. Unfortunately it had fallen over and was far less majestic than suggested. However it turned out that the pancakes made up for this. We then headed to a damn and waterfall in the area for some more photo's and to enjoy some sun! Eventually we made it to the game lodge and boy were we looked after! Upon arrival we were greated with drinks and towels to freshen up. The owners were very apologetic and ensured we were waited on hand and foot. Our bags were wrestled off us and taken to our rooms. After which we headed out on the game drive!

Now this game drive was a lot different to all the game spotting we'd done ourselves. When we did things on our own we had strict rules that we had to follow, like staying on road for one. However our driver was a loose unit, and if he heard of something good on the radio, or the tracker that sat up front spotted something, then we went off road. Within 30 minutes we found a Leopard! We couldn't believe our luck! After nearly 2 weeks of not seeing a single cat in various parks we had one rocking out in a tree! Boyd went nuts taking photographs, and the results were spectacular! After we spent about 30 minutes admiiring it we then quickly found a cheetah skulking around the open savanahs! The rest of the tour was a blur but we even found some Lions as night fell, aslep, and they were so undisturbed by our presence we got within a couple of meters and were able to take flash photographs!

Upon our return to the camp we meet the owners parents, and these two were a hoot! Throughout the trip we've had a lot of brothers, sisters, aunts, and uncles to fill the family void, but we found ourselves with grandparents! This lovely couple were a very hard case and they were from Holland! So we watched with them, and another american guest, the Holland vs Uruaguay semi final, which was a cracker! The first half was watched at the bar as we had a "dutch oven" for dinner. However we then went and watched the 2nd half in their home, which was amazing! It was such fantastic hospitality we couldn't believe our luck! The next morning we got up early to drive back to Nelspruit but before we left we went to square up...and there was nothing to pay! The owners included all our drinks and food for free as a part of the atonement for messing us around. They certainly made up for it all!

I'm going to leave the rest of the journey unfinished, for us to tell when we get back! I can't put all our stories on the net, other wise how the heck will we keep you all enchanted when we're retelling these over a pint?

We get back on Wednesday, and we're all looking forward to catching up!

We miss you NZ (maybe not the weather)...

Rich, Steve, and Trickett (Chris)

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