Farm Fun with a Durban Excursion

Friday finally came and i said Sinara! to good ole Joburg! Kate picked me up and we headed off to fetch Ed from work and hit the road. We were just driving along when this odd looking building popped into view so we made a quick exit to check it out.... yup those are emus made out of metal and those are tire chairs not to mention the chickens pecking around while inside it sold jams and jellies, random souvenirs and also had a butchery. The first 200 kilometers were flat and lets just say...borrrring. But don't worry we had Shakira to keep us in the proper south African spirit. And then the landscape started to change... we arrived a little later than amy had anticipated..haha but we made it!! Met amy's mom and dad and made homemade pizza from scratch - bekah you will be proud. We left after dinner to check out the local hangout with AMy's brother and his mates, then came back and crashed. Day 2:

We got up in the morning had coffee and headed off for breakfast at the farmer's market and met Amy's old hockey coach. We got a tour of howick which of course includes Howick Falls. there were some crazy boys trying to rock climb up the rock face....

they maaaaaay be there all day. We continued on to see the area of a thousand hills with little lookout areas here and there... Kate reenacted some bollywood for us haha. Then made a few more stops and kept on until Durban which was about an hour away. Durban....hmmm. Let's say this place is Africa with Indian flare. There is this whooole HUGE indian market with all things indian and i made lots of friends!!

they were mostly from south india which was still fun to chat about.

There was an endless supply of interesting items to see and buy and well try on of course!

Amz - i found our new profile pic...handsdown.

After the market we headed to the beach for our picnic lunch and here's the urban scene from the beach - to the far right is the durban stadium where all the world cup matches were played here..then we challenged some kids to a soccer match - we lost 2 -nil.
THEN we walked about and took pictures and relaxed before heading off to catch a movie. This was also the Durban International Film Festival weekend so we went to see "A woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop" ---- ummm liked it a lot! so funny!
See the Trailer with reviews

after the movie we grabbed dinner - A famous Durban meal - Bunny chow. Its an indian curry inside a bread loaf. you can get chicken or mutton curry and order a quarter/half/or full loaf of bread for it to come in. We headed back to the farm.

In the morning we got a tour of the farm which was breathtaking! We came back and had breakfast then tried out our riding skills....

for the record english saddles are trickier than western saddles. Just sayin. =)
We then went on the Midlands Meander and checked out a lot of fun little shops and then said goodbye to amz and headed off into the sunset back to Joburg.

Tembisa

quick trip to Tembisa, one of the townships outside of joburg, where one of our holiday programmes ran for 4 weeks.....

Needed to document some images from the programme

and chatted with the social worker there. Sweet sweet dear woman with the biggest heart i have ever seen. She must be one of the strongest women ever in order to deal with the issues these kids are forced to face.

that is a lot to carry and hold.

.

Joburg outings with Ed and Kate

A weekend tale...

THIS: is the Top of Africa... well at least that's what they say to get 15 rand out of you. ANyways its just the tallest place in joburg- 50stories high with a lookout of the city and surounding areas.... i suppose you would go to Capetown for the Bottom of Africa? THey added the soccer ball to the tower in honor of the world cup...

that's how i know where i work if i get lost...

(i look for the soccer ball and my office is about two blocks from there. =)

who says i have no directional sense?? really.

(ok you are right. i couldn't tell you WHICH way those two blocks were...)

After this exciting excursion, we headed to Rosebank markets to walk around and get lunch. Lo and behold! who knew we would see such treasures as THIS! authenticity i tell you.

orr get interviewed by THIS guy - apparently we looked like good interviewees and ended up onthe Blue Nile tv station....haha.

Yup. were were probably THOSE "tourists"

After this we dropped one of the guys off at the airport, we came back to rosebank...

(can't get enough apparently)

and went to the movies!! - that's right.

we saw the new twilight movie.

muahaaha.

Ed you are such a good sport. Here you get to choose your seats when you order your tickets and they have an assortment of salt flavors to put on your popcorn...

some interesting flavors but tastey.

SUNDAY:

Ed and Kate must like me because after spending allll day saturday with me they still invited me for a hike on sunday - which was FAB! We ate breakfast at the south african favorite:

Wimpy's.

hehe its kind of like a cross between ihop and burgerking....ish.

we loaded up on water and biltong and headed out.

soo We get there and start off down the trail...

we are thinking the Zebra roete for a nice little stroll and then to be off back to jo'burg...haha. well we started well. came across this fun contraption... hoisted ourselves across and back and kept on... EVEN saw the sign for the zebra roete which we were on at that point... we were good to go...but perhaps Ed's naivity of my directional sense allowed for his choice to let me lead our charge. ahha. I think this might have been my mistake.

I took the path less traveled... Buuuuuuuuut we ended up finding some cool caves that went pretty deep and had lots of little rooms... =)We had fun. we decided to keep going and this part made me slightly cautious.. i kept waiting for a lion to bust out of his hiding spot since we were pretty much sitting ducks. It looked like the discovery channel. We kept our eyes peeled for any zebra sightings since we WERE on the zebra trail,

at least we thought. Didn't dawn on us until we noticed that our trailmarkers were now backwards....and unless Daisy here was hiding her stripes, she was the only wildlife we saw.

oh wait there was that bird. We finally stopped and checked our map since our little stroll had suddenly taken a turn up a very LOOONNG trail with a very steep incline and realised somehow we had ended up on the OTHER trail going backwards. HA. well we needed a stairmaster anyways. We finally got to the top and enjoyed the view. It really was a nice hike, no stroll in the park but definitely enjoyable!!the tall grasses i think are exquisite. there is a bit of green at the bottom then it turns to colors of red to orange to gold and its like a symphony when the wind blows. (ok so you can't tell from THIS picture and perhaps you'd have to be there. just trust me on this one. *winkwink)Saw lots of interesting plants and cacti.
We still made it back before sundown, no worries friends. Caught the sunset on the way home as well as saw a pre-finals soccer match .... made it back intime to watch a loong world cup finals match. There was some serious vuvuzella blowing, Shakira blaring, cheering, and dancing that lasted well into the night.

Great Job Jo'burg!

The Rock of Holding - Lefika la phodiso

Jo'burg has been alive with worldcup fever. Now its over. Several of my southafrican coworkers commented today...the world cup was great but i'm so glad for it to be over so life can get back to normal! The traffic is congested again. The street guys are selling new things instead of scarves/jerseys/and vuvuzelas. Its snowing in the cape which means its COLD here. I'm sitting in my office with 3 layers on, including my jacket and i can't feel my toes...

I've been typing and typing and typing and missing a team to work with and typing and typing...did i mention typing??? I think i hit my wall. I've been sitting here staring at my PILE of reports and observations to type up and code... and i just can't do it. I think i'm just too cold, too tired, too emotionally beaten to read any more. In therapy language...I am holding too much.

Funny FIFA 2010 questions....

These questions about South Africa were posted on a South African Tourism Website and were answered by the website owner - i think we would be friends.

Q: Does it ever get windy in South Africa ? I have never seen it rain on TV, so how do the plants grow? ( UK )
A: We import all plants fully grown and then just sit around watching them die.

Q: Will I be able to see elephants in the street? ( USA )
A: Depends how much youve been drinking.

Q: I want to walk from Durban to Cape Town - can I follow the railroad tracks? ( Sweden )
A: Sure, its only two thousand kilometres take lots of water…

Q: Are there any ATMs (cash machines) in South Africa ? Can you send me a list of them in JHB, Cape Town , Knysna and Jeffreys Bay? ( UK )
A: What did your last slave die of?

Q: Can you give me some information about Koala Bear racing in South Africa? ( USA )
A: Aus-tra-lia is that big island in the middle of the pacific. A-fri-ca is the big triangle shaped continent south of Europe which does not…oh forget it. Sure, the Koala Bear racing is every Tuesday night in Hillbrow. Come naked.

Q: Which direction is north in South Africa ? ( USA )
A: Face south and then turn 90 degrees. Contact us when you get here and well send the rest of the directions.

Q: Can I bring cutlery into South Africa ? ( UK )
A: Why? Just use your fingers like we do.

Q: Can you send me the Vienna Boys Choir schedule? ( USA )
A: Aus-tri-a is that quaint little country bordering Ger-man-y, which is…oh forget it. Sure, the Vienna Boys Choir plays every Tuesday night in Hillbrow, straight after the Koala Bear races. Come naked.

Q: I have developed a new product that is the fountain of youth. Can you tell me where I can sell it in South Africa ? ( USA )
A: Anywhere where a significant number of Americans gather.

Q: Do you celebrate Christmas in South Africa ? ( France )
A: Only at Christmas.

Q: Are there killer bees in South Africa ? ( Germany )
A: Not yet, but for you, well import them.

Q: Please send a list of all doctors in South Africa who can di spense rattlesnake serum. ( USA )A: Rattlesnakes live in A-meri-ca, which is where YOU come from. All South African snakes are perfectly harmless, can be safely handled and make good pets.

Q: Will I be able to speek English most places I go? ( USA )
A: Yes, but youll have to learn it first.

Paul the octopus....

on the radio news sunday morning, it was reported that holland was undaunted by paul's prediction...

Perhaps they should have been...

Congrats Espana!!!

a wonder-ful day

i'm alive, don't you worry.

THis is me after i found a microphone and talked to mi familia. Made me VERY happy. Last Saturday, my friends, kate and ed, picked me up and took me to their favorite organic market where i saw such new fashions....

why would you want a world cup shirt when you could wear THIS: See below:

This is Joseph.

Notice his sweatshirt....

we were instant friends.

he was our tourguide through the wondercave....it was incredible. ANd he was hilarious.

you can't tell in this picture but there is a pool of water down below

that was so clear it looked like glass. we left afterwards and took a wrong turn "accidentally" and ran into these guys...then we drove to a dam right at sunset... perfect timing it was even better than muir beach overlook .... woah. i know. i just said that.

then we drove some more to Monte Casino where it looked like a little italian town inside and we watched some soccer and then ate a delicious dinner. I even ate snails. I know, right? AND the other day i ate meat off the bone. i did enjoy the snails however not the bones. These are my australian friends, Ed and Kate, who invited me along and drove me all over the place. Thanks guys for such a lovely day!