After a brief overnight stop in Durban we decided it was time for a 2nd road trip. We picked up a cheap small car and headed down the South Coast. First stop was a small town called Umzumbe, the attraction was a cool looking hostel called the Mantis and Moon set amongst banana trees a short walk from a surfing beach. The place did not disappoint, we got a small wooden hut and access to table tennis, a pool table, rock pool for swimming, a Jacuzzi and free surf boards. We booked in for a surf lesson the next morning and watched the sun go down on the sundeck … happy days! Marissa and I have been itching to try our hand at surfing for a few years now. Several attempts have been made in Devon ... read more

Yebo!! Greetings from Swaziland. We have now headed south down the coast into the Kingdom of Swaziland. The first thing that struck me was the number of cattle here - it literally did almost strike me as our mini bus dodged a kamikaze bovine as it stepped out in front of us on the highway. Some interesting facts about Swaziland: It is a Kingdom and hence ruled by a King. They call this absolute power but it sounds to me like a bit of a dictatorship - but then neither of us here ever studied politics or history! This King really gets to do what he wants, he chooses his parliament and it is illegal to have an opposition party. As a gesture of democracy to his public he lets them elect the assembly every 5 ... read more

So here we are in Mozambique, to be precise we are in the capital Maputo. It’s not the prettiest place in the world, but it has some charm and we have thoroughly enjoyed wandering about the place for the last 2 days. The thing that strikes me most about this city, is you can buy anything off a person on a street corner; fruit and veg, nuts, 4 gang extension leads, chocolate, arts and crafts, ivory ... even a toothbrush. In some places you get little tin shacks on the corner of 2 streets set up as a bar. Perfect for that can of ice cold beer on the way to work in the morning! Our highlight here was a visit to the local fish market. It was just after 4pm and the days haul had ... read more

It was a hectic weekend all round, what with everyone making sure we were actually leaving. We spent Friday night saying goodbye to the Kilburn gang, and got a timely reminder of how long we have known everyone and the fun we have had along the way. Emily - the photo album is incredible, thanks for putting it together. So on Saturday, armed with a monster hangover, we set off east to Karl's for our proper send off. The boy really had gone to town and we can't thank him enough for all he provided, even if we did have to wear Angel wings for most of the evening!! There's not really much more I can say about a great night, other than to let the pictures do the talking. So this really is it. We ... read more