A huge catch up blog

Why, Oh Why, Oh Why do I leave it so long??? How on earth do I catch up after 2 months of no blogging? Well actually it shouldn't be too bad as I don't think a lot has happened lately.

Freckles had a calf. Typical, she required the assitance of a vet on a public holiday (Waitangi Day). Still the bull calf is heathy, and cute!!



On 10th February, at the end of a horrendously busy week, and when it wass nost inconvenient, the contractors baled our hay. This means it has to be colelcted in that day. I had thought we had got away with it as there was no sign of the contractors at 5pm but Eric came home at 5,30pm and said they were baling!! I had already asked Helen if Phil and Tom could help. They were able to come over, well not Tom as he was busy but Helen, Phil and Geaorge (11) came. Alice told Ketherine thatw e were baling and Richard phoned and offerd assistance so the evning turned out to be incrtedibly hard work but fun and sociable. I stretched our planned Mexan meal to feed 11 of us at 9pm!! At least we have heaps of hay in for the winter, and actaully very little stock. With the country/region heading for drought we are in a better poition than lots of others.







Emily also had a calf, rpoduced on her own, we think on the night of 18th February:



Mark and Eric have had some boy-time lately playing with chain saws:




and fishing. Well Eric fished and caught these while Mark threw up all day!!:

WOW!!! That word summed up yesterday for us. We went back up to Outshoorn to visit Cango Wildlife Ranch. Now we had been there on previous visits to SA and assumed that the girls would not want/need to go back but they did! If we’d have known before we went to Cango Caves we could have done both visits in one day but they only announced this after we had done the caves. Anyway... we planned to head back there yesterday. The weather has been so fickle here, totally unpredictable. Dense cloud makes you think you can’t do the beach so an ‘activity trip’ is planned for the day and then the sun comes out and the temps hit the high 30’s, or 42 degrees C as was the case yesterday!!! Anyway, the park had changed a little and we arrived and immediately were directed to a tour, obviously this is what you do as no one asked if we wanted to! The place is small, and with a tour under your belt you don’t need a map. Firstly was the Valley of the Ancients tour, and we were first taken into a giant greenhouse like structure, hot and damp, to look at fruit bats (I love these), turtles, some small buck (blue duiker) and gorgeous birds. Then it was vultures, crocs, pygmy hippos, etc etc. Next were the cats. Cango is part of a cheetah conservation project and has reared over 100 cubs. They had 8 cubs about 7 weeks old, sooo sweet and 3 Bengal tiger cubs that were a few months old – totally and utterly adorable. We looked at adult cheetahs, tigers and lions and then did the encounters. Into the lion’s den, well the cubs dens. First, the cheetahs, then the tigers. The experience was amazing; we were all so excited, awed and overwhelmed by a sense of privilege. How many other people have been able to sit with and stroke these animals? OK lots but have you??? The cheetahs, we freshly fed, remember it was 42 degrees C and totally out for the count. They barely stirred for us. One of the tiger cubs though was awake and playful. He was stalking single leaves blowing in the breeze and light patterns on the rock as it filtered through the tree above. I fell totally and utterly in love!
Another encounter you can experience at Cango is to get in a cage which is submerged in the croc pond! We saw a couple of Brazilian teenage girls do this. It was very amusing!
The South African kids have gone back to school now so the place is a lot quieter. I suspect that Cango Ranch was so quiet because no-one would be daft enough to go the The Klein Karoo desert on such a hot day. Mad dogs and Englishman and all that!
The previous day, Tuesday, Trish, Simon, Ashley and Sue came back from their Durban and Drakensberg trip. They had some great game drives seeing the big 5 within an hour on their last trip that morning, including a leopard with a cub.
On Sunday we went to Knysna. We started off at the Knysna Quays and had a very nice lunch at The Dry Dock restaurant. Gorgeous food and a great setting. We then had a drive around and viewed some of the dramatic scenery about the place. Much of the time Trish and Simon were away we took advantage of the privacy at the house to sunbathe and chill out. At Lynne and Vaughn’s there is never any privacy. Even if we stayed in when the Dukes went out there is the maid, the gardener etc around. Don’t get me wrong, I love being with them but here we have been able to get some decent sunbathing in. Eric, as usual, has sneered jealously at my brown skin as he curses his red, then peeling self. I, of course, am totally smug. I might not be blessed with good looks or a decent shaped body (OK it wouldn’t be too bad if I didn’t eat so much) but at least I can tan nicely. Please God do not make me pay in later years.

Africa 3: Thursday 7th January 2010

Well a very Happy New Year! I am sitting on the elevated deck at Trish and Simon’s house in Wilderness, about 450km east of Cape Town. Their house is all wood, the living area above the garage and rain water tanks. It has 4 bedrooms, 2 on the next floor up, the main on this level and a smaller one on the ground level. All have en suites, which is beginning to seem like the norm for new houses in S.A. Harriette is in the spa out here on the deck, over the bush, Eric is suffering from a night on the loo but has just woken and moved from the couch to the shaded part of the deck, Alice is sunbathing next to me. From the deck you can just see the ocean in one direction and the inland lagoons in the other. It is beautiful, peaceful and seems to be safe here – totally different to the atmosphere in JHB.
I have left it longer than I meant to blog so will try to re-cap. Our stay at Lindani lasted until Monday 28th December. The week remained lazy except, I tried to get Eric to try out the bike. He was pathetic!! Even in the lowest (or is it the highest, I can never remember, anyway, the easiest gear) he could not manage. His leg has a lot to answer for. We were only on the farm tracks and went about the same distance I run in the mornings but that was his limit. I went on ahead then caught up with him on the return journey. I really do understand that it is not his fault and don’t resent him, just the fact that he has this injury. As I have got fitter, not scrub that, as I have become more active, I spend less and less time with Eric and the kids as I pursue the cycling etc. I really wish we could do these things as a family. If Eric and I could do them together then the girls would have to come along, but with Eric staying at home they do so also. Oh well!
We drove home from Lindani on Monday 28th December. It was good to have internet access again. At Lindani it was intermittent, through Vaughn’s TG3 card, and only available under one tree. By the time we all had a quick go the computers battery died! Poor Alice always seemed to be the one whose, urgent, Face book checking was interrupted! On Tuesday Eric and I headed off to the Eastern Transvaal, or the Mphalunga District as it is now called, to the Mount Sheba hotel. We stayed there in 1989 and loved it. We booked months ago and paid online. Afterwards Eric said we should have gone to the Lost City at Sun City and when we got there we decided that would have been the letter option. It was definitely below par, a bit disappointing. The restaurant was nice looking and the food sounded great but was a bit tasteless. On top of that the weather was overcast so all the spectacular scenery was hidden behind clouds. We stopped in at Pilgrim’s Rest on the way to Mount Sheba, an historical mining town, and had lunch at the lower end. On our anniversary, the 30th, I went for a run in the morning. Now Mount Sheba is seriously high up but in a dip, almost like a crater, surrounded by high peaks so the road down into the grounds is seriously steep. I run almost all of the way on my way out, though have to confess that I did resort to walks for very short sections at its steepest. Later, we headed off to Hazyview. We wanted to do a canopy cable trip, sort of like a series of flying foxes, but they were fully booked. As we drove into Hazyview I got pulled over for speeding. The (black) cop was very professional, and after long discussion let me off with a warning. I was pleased, for 2 reasons. A. We did not get a fine but more B. He did not try to elicit a bribe! This is common practice here. Lynne was stopped a week or two ago and the when the cop tried to get money out of her she went ballistic at him yelling ‘Are you trying to bribe me!” Some colleagues were nearby and the cop was horrified and shooed her away in a big hurry hoping the other cops had not noticed!! Also, when we were stopped in SA once before the cop tried to get money out of us – failed!! At Hazyview we had coffee and looked around some art galleries. We then headed off to The Pinnacle. I took photos of it they seem to have been downloaded. Maybe they are on the video camera. From here we went to God’s Window but could see nothing there. I was surprised that we now have to pay to park at these sights. Lynne and Vaughn also were and think it is to do with ‘2010’ ie the Soccer World Cup which comes here in June. We then went to Lisbon Falls

Lisbon Falls
The morning of 31st December was bright and sunny. Typical, we were leaving that day!! We drove up out of the hotel grounds and parked to do a walk to the Mount Sheba lookout along this path. It was quite lovely.

This was the view of the hotel from where we walked:

The Mount Sheba Hotel
When we got back to the hotel I made Eric come to do a walk to a waterfall. I had it in my head that this was a short walk but after about 5 minutes the path was becoming treacherous. There was no way Eric could make it so I sent him back and I pressed on. The path got steeper and more rugged but after about 15 minutes I came to this grotto/waterfall in the woods. I was all alone and it was quite divine.


I got back to the hotel and we checked out. When we got back to JHB the house was empty apart from Brian, the gardener. Lynne and Vaughn had taken the kids ice skating. Apparently, the purpose was to get H and A to appreciate how hard it was to ice skate before they went to see the Imperial Ice Stars in Cinderella. They had obviously had a good time. While we had been away they had been out for several meals, horse riding as well as ice skating. Mark, Claire, and her boyfriend Chris, had taken them to the movies to see Avatar. They loved the movie and I think we will probably go and see it sometime. Avatar was made at Weta studios, in Wellington.
For the NY’s Eve celebrations we went to the Barnyard at Broadacres. It’s a cabaret venue. The tables are long refectory type tables that accommodate large groups. You can take your own food or buy pizzas there. We went with Ali and William, H, A and Michael. H, A and Michael have been getting on brilliantly. The act was Broadway Musicals and great fun. We sang all evening and danced for some of it. It was a great night.
I think we have shopped every day when in JHB! The choice is fantastic. I cannot get over it. Living in JHB you could shop forever! I had forgotten how I had gotten used to such little choice living in NZ. I think I prefer it how we are in NZ, so little materialism by comparison. I guess you used to what you live with.
The 1st January 2010, and I guess the first day of a new decade, started off sunny but clouded over and stayed that way until we left JHB on the 5th. On NY’s Day Lynne’s family came for a braai in the afternoon. Vaughn, Marks eldest son, (yes there are two Vaughns!) came. I hadn’t seen ‘little’ Vaughn in over 23 years! I think he was about 7 then! Needless to say we had lots of embarrassing tales to tell him from my recollections of his early years. I also had photos with me, taken at Marks place in about 1985! We all did a lot of reminiscing!

January 1st at the Dukes

On Saturday 2nd January Lynne, Vaughn, William, Daniel and I went mountain biking again.


Well no mountains in JHB but there was an interesting mountain bike trail along the spruit (river) from the Dukes place to Emerentia Dam. It was about 15km one way. Once there we went to a very nice, packed cafe for a well earned drink. I had gone through some muddy puddles and looked a state; hot sweaty and very mud sprayed. We sat amongst JHB’s beautiful people and drew a few looks!!! I was very amused. On the way back I had a moderately serious fall. Nothing broken, but definitely more serious than a simple tumble. I was thrashing it and just about keeping up with William, a serious biker, when we went round a sweeping bend at speed. Immediately there were 2 short, sharp downhill bends. I managed the first but on the second I think I went up the side slope, overcorrected and caught my peddle in the ground. I crashed spectacularly. I hit my head hard, hurt my ribs, both arms and was generally stunned. The rear wheel came off the bike and the handle bars bent. No one actually saw me fall but Lynne came round the bend a few moments later to find me flat out, not moving and tangled in the bike. I heard her call out and, knowing how she panics, struggled to call out I was OK. I had visions of her leaping on me and doing CPR!!!! I felt her checking my pulse and pupils and eventually pulled myself into the present. I pulled myself together, assessed my injuries and assured everyone I was OK. The guys repeatedly told me they would go and get a car but I decided I would be able to carry on. They spent a few minutes reconstructing Michael’s bike and eventually I was able to complete the journey. Unfortunately we were near the start of the return journey so it was a long trip back. I had lost my confidence and took it slowly. Vaughn had to carry my bike in a few places as there was no way I could push or carry it across the streams. Back at the house Lynne’s nursing skills were put to full use and I was settled in a hot bath with muscle ache relieving stuff in and plied with tea and pain killers. Just as well as the sympathy from my own family was sadly lacking!!! My face (left side and across my forehead along the ring of the bike helmet), ribs and arms were sore for quite a few days but I was surprised how little bruising I sustained considering how I hurt!!
On the same evening we four and Stephanie, went to see the Imperial Ice Stars (mainly East European ex-Olympic ice skaters) perform Cinderella on Ice at the Teatro Theatre at Monte Casino. It was amazing! I cannot believe that I was not aware of the show when it was in NZ. They are ¾ the way through a 2 year tour. I will certainly go and see them again if I get the opportunity. We all really enjoyed it. On top of the amazing ice skating skills the choreography and costumes where spectacular.
The following day, Sunday 3rd, we decided to head off to the Roof Market at Rosebank Mall. It took ages to find (Rosebank has at least 3 huge malls) and when we got there it was not there, closed for a few weeks over the Christmas period. So, we headed off to Newtown, a busy hub in downtown JHB, where the Market Theatre is housed. It was dead. It seemed that JHB was empty for the holiday period! We then went to Zoo Lake (an old haunt) to a new, and amazing restaurant called Moyo’s. There we were entertained with live music, all (yes including the adults) were face painted, and had a great meal before walking around the lake.








Monday 4th January was the day of our drive down to Wilderness, near George on the Garden Route. We left at 4.30am and arrived at 6.10pm. It actually was not a bad journey. We listened to audio books on my iPod, finally orientating Eric to the Twilight series. We got through book one and started book 2. Books pass the time so easily. We drove in 3 hour chunks and only had to fill the Kombie once. 1250km (about 750 miles). Trish (Eric’s sister) and Simon live in the UK but love Africa. Over the years Simon has travelled extensively across the continent. They have built an elevated log house on the huge dunes between the Indian Ocean and Langvlei lagoon. The property is surrounded by dune scrub/bush and has large decks. Trish and Simon arrived from the UK a few days earlier with some friends, Sue and Ashley.
Tuesday 5th January Eric and Simon went into George to run some errands while I ran, then waited for the girls to get up. We then headed off to buy groceries and birthday pressies for Eric. We came back to a wonderful braaied giant prawn lunch for Ben and Liviana, friends of T+S. Ben’s company built the house, in fact they also built the Caboose Hotel in Taupo!! After lunch we 4 headed off to the beach off Buxton Rd. I laid there thinking this could easily be a NZ beach ie gorgeous, quiet, long golden and sandy! Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. It was perfect. Unlike the meal we had that evening!! We went to the Wilderness Grille. Don’t you go! We were seated then waited about 30 minutes before anyone took our drinks order. What was galling was that a young Afrikaans guy was standing not 4 feet from us doing very little. When we asked for some service he said our waitress would soon be along. To cut a ong story short although the actual waitress was nice the general service and time we waited was terrible. We refused to pay the 10% ‘gratuity’ which resulted in Eric having a heated discussion with the manager, a very rude Afrikaans women who sat smoking all evening although the place was obviously understaffed for the evening. I felt sorry for Simon and Trish as they had booked it.
Yesterday, the 6th, Eric woke with the trots so I took T, S, A and S to George airport with the girls. We then shopped and made our first trip to an internet cafe. R39 (about NZ$8, GBP3) for 25 minutes x 3. I thought that was pretty good. I started off telling the girls to remember to send Sarah an email for her birthday then promptly forgot to do so myself until I walked out the place!! I then decided I would text her from home but could not send. I was out of credit and we have not been near a Vodafone shop since (you cannot top up by credit card as I usually do). So Sarah, if you are reading this, we were thinking of you and hope you had a great day. And sorry I did not get a card to you. I could not add my blog entries as I did not have my hard drive with me but will do next time. Gosh I am so disorganised. It was overcast all day and we did not get back from shopping until mid afternoon so spent the rest of the day at Bakatad. And that brings us up today – phew!!

Africa 2: Boxing Day

Gosh this Christmas week has turned out to be all we had wished for. The 4 families have got on well. Everyone has pulled their weight with the cooking and cleaning up (if the only the bare minimum has been done). We are living in 4 cottages and eating meals in the largest one which is in front of the pool. Plenty of space to allow for privacy when one wants it. We sort our own breakfasts out and join up for lunch and supper (sorry, 'tea' for the kiwi readers!).

Tuesday, after my first blog, we all headed off to the dam a few kms away for sundowners.

As we 18 arrive in 2 vehicles and on mountain bikes there was a couple there sitting quietly with binoculars!!! We apologised from the off-set for the noise as we settled down to GnT’s, chips n’ dips. I felt sooo sorry for them but they were fine saying they were staying very close by and could come down any time. Vaughan and I made our way through the bush to the other side of the dam to get a better view of the sunset but I did not have my camera. On the way back Michael happily relinquished his bike and I had my first taste of mountain biking, be it just on farm tracks. However, I had 3 large GnT’s on board and it was mainly downhill and much of the track was soft sand. I yelled most of the way and still do not know how I did not fall off. I guess the booze helped to dull my senses/relax me so I did not care. I don’t know. Whatever, it was exhilarating and great fun. I should thank Michael for doing the uphill slog bit for me.

On Wednesday Eric, Alice and I went into Vaalwater to top up supplies! It is a real African small town. A few small shops, one supermarket and Africans everywhere. There was a strike going on outside the Spar with lots on singing and chanting with posters accusing the owners of being racist and not paying a decent salary. It is so sad to see the extent of the poverty, but where on earth does a government start to address things? The road from Vaalwater is lined on both sides with game farms like the one we are staying on so you sometimes see game. Eric saw 2 giraffe as I was driving back on this occasion but I missed them.

Thursday, Christmas Eve, was lazy. I went with Ali and Mel to visit her friends Denise and Alan. Alan is the son of the owners of this place and they live here on the farm. Their home is amazing. Denise is a fine arts artist and I comment on her beautiful paintings throughout the house, not knowing she had painted many of them!! The stoep (patio) is huge, probably 40’ by 15’ deep and looks out onto the longest pool I have ever seen in a private home. The garden is surrounded by snake proof bush fencing. It is another world!! They told us stories of living in the bush, including watching a troop of baboon attacking a python who was crushing, and then ate, a full sized female. The python was so badly injured it probably did not survive.

Eric, Alice and I went for a game drive in the early evening. We found it difficult to follow the maps and ended up at a road end with a sign to a lookout. For some reason I thought it was just a few yards into the bush so we poured a GnT each and headed off. We walked, and climbed, for 15 minutes thinking “It can’t be much further” as we rounded each bend. We reached the top about 1 minute before the sunset and boy was it worth the climb.


I was then immediately nervous, not sure how much light we had left and very keen not to be caught in the bush with no torch! We hurried back, well tried to but Eric was struggling on the downhill climb because of his leg, and eventually got to the Kombie with just a few minutes of dusk left.

Christmas day was perfect. I ran in the morning, so I would feel less guilty eating later! The day was soo relaxed with far too much food. We managed to get 2 huge tables together to seat all 18 of us.

CLAIRE, ALICE, ERIC, HARRIETTE AND YVONNE

Dinner consisted of a starter c/o Eric. A whole, camembert stuffed with gorgonzola and soft goat’s cheese, topped with walnuts and a cranberry sauce.


Absolutely divine - everyone wanted the recipe. Turkey, braaied fillet steaks and a gammon with salads and roasted vegetable made up the main course. Lynne was just going to do Christmas cake and coffee but we insisted on desserts (of course) and did a mango tiramisu (orange juice and sherry to soak the biscuits instead of Tia Maria, and topped/layered with fresh mangos) and Harriette did a pavlova. We even managed to find kiwi fruits for that.
STEFFIE, LYNNE, WILLIAM AND HARRIETTE IN THE KITCHEN. YVONNE, MEL, VAUGHN, ABBY AND ALI AT THE TABLE.

We did nothing else all day except laze around and when it got too hot, swam. This is Mark and I.

This is Willam, Mark, Eric and Mel in the kitchen.


This morning, Boxing Day, I went for a run, swim, press-ups and then sunbathed (at 7am!) before breakfast. This has been my routine here. The run was very special this morning as I disturbed a small herd of impala. They ran ahead of me down the farm track for about 5 minutes, stopping every so often to see if I was following, and darting in and out of the bush before finally disappearing. Amazing!! After breakfast we 4 Tanners took the Kombie and went on a game viewing drive. We are staying on a game farm of about 4,000 hectares (10,000 acres in old money). There are no large cats (apart from a few leopard), rhino or elephant here, hence you can walk and cycle in the bush. There are more kudu than I have ever seen and we saw this feller

with about 12 others when we went out on Christmas eve evening. They are my favourite antelope. We see a lot of kudu, impala (by far the most common antelope) and wart hogs from our accommodation. When we wake up in the morning I creep round the place looking out all the windows as they are often very close to the cottage, until the sounds of tea making and breakfast start up!
On our drive today we saw the above, plus wildebeest with lots of babies, zebra, baboons, eland, hartebeest, bontebok and the animal we had been most hoping to see, giraffe; a mommy and baby:

Eric and I got out the Kombie and took a few paces closer to the giraffes to get a better picture but mommy spotted us and took up a very protective stance, and my battery died on the camera! I then walked down the farm track and watched a few small herds on the plain around the trees until Eric drove up to meet me. By the time we got back to the cottages I was cooking and feeling quite nauseous but then it was in the high 30’s. Straight into the pool, then lots of chatting with the others, in the shade of course, before lunch. The afternoon was spent lazing around until 5pm when William, Vaughn, Justine and I went out for a cycle. Well this was not what I expected. I thought it would be a cycle along some farm tracks, negotiating a few bumps and hills. Boy was I in for a surprise. We went mountain biking!!! It was so scary, and exhilarating. We didn’t see much in the way of animals but boy did we get round the bush. First we cycled over these 2 rickety bridges that I had been nervous walking over the previous day, then Vaughn and William decided to climb a foot path over the hill, on bikes. I reminded them that I was a novice and said that Justine and I would go a different route!! They were such gentleman they would have none of it and we took an alternate route. Back on cycle tracks this time. It was really hard work and I felt that I was holding the others back but they encouraged and advised me on the way round. The cycle paths are graded 1-3 for difficulty and on the 3’s most of us climbed/walked with our bikes for short distances. There had been a huge rain storm a few hours before we left and Justine said the bush was much prettier after the rain, the light in the damp bush was fantastic, when I was not so scared that my eyes were actually open!! It was fantastic. I loved it but boy was it hard and tiring. Sooo different to road biking. When I later commented on slowing them down lWilliam said he enjoys getting new people into the sport and does not mind the slow rides with the novices. So kind.
So who are we here with, apart from the 5 Dukes? Lynne’s brother Mark and his gorgeous girls, Justine and Claire, who are uni age, Lynne’s Mom, Yvonne and friends of the Dukes; William and Ali with their 2 children Jamie and Abby and Ali’s Mom Mel. When I lived in SA in the 80’s Lynne’s family were like a second family to me and it is great to be spending time with them again. Mark in the film/sound making industry and I am trying to persuade him that he should come and do some work in NZ for awhile.
So far, and only on the second week of this holiday, I have written 3000 words. This is going to be a novelette not a blog entry. Well done if you are still with me.

Africa1: Lindani the Tuesday Before Christmas

Well, we are finally here - Africa. Lindani to be precise. It’s mid-day-ish a few days before Christmas and I am sitting under a tree (already a tad red from sitting by/in the pool this morning), and blogging. I am writing this in Word as internet connection here is intermittent to say the least. Actually, we are not that far from civilisation. This is in effect a farm, with game, and very nice accommodation in the form of cottages. We have a cluster of 4 of them between 18 of us. There are others around but who knows where. Nowhere near here that’s for sure. The nearest town (take the word ‘town’ with a pinch of salt, we are not talking anything as big or flash as Matamata here) is about 30km away.
To describe where we are, and by the time I post this the photos will accompany, the accommodation area is a mowed area of grassland surrounded by hills of African bush, i.e. scrub and thorn trees. The cottages are spaced out and look out to mowed grass with a pool dotted with huge red rocks around it and a native looking fence and shade area. Then it is longer grass, through which a small herd of around 50 springbok strolled 30 minutes ago, and then the hills. The farm has farm tracks along which you can drive (we plan to do that later this afternoon) and walking and cycling tracks.

This morning Eric woke about 5 and I was up about 5.30am. Outside the cottage were lots of impala (smallish, elegant buck), and I think Eric saw a kudu. Mark saw a herd of buffalo but we missed them. Harriette, Eric and I did a short bush walk about 7am but didn’t see anything.
I guess I ought to start at the beginning. When we went to the UK in 2007 we said we would meet Trish (Eric’s sister) and Simon out here for Christmas 2008. They live in the UK but have built a house in Wilderness (on the Cape Coast), I think to retire to. We therefore planned for that trip but in 2008 they said they would not be out here that Christmas so we re-arranged for 2009. We managed to wangle 6 weeks leave somehow. So, we left NZ on 17th December, so exhausted after a hectic (I mean more hectic than usual) 3 months and arrived in Johannesburg on Friday morning (6pm NZ time). We spent a 7 ½ hr stopover in Singapore airport, leaving at 2am local time. Two 11 hr flights. Lynne collected us from the airport and we battled through traffic jams like I cannot remember, to their house. Lynne and Vaughn are amongst our dearest friends. Lynne and I met in 1984 when we both did our ICU training in JHB. During this time Lynne and Vaughn dated and finally married some time after I left SA. They have 3 children; Michael (15), born the day after Alice, Stephanie (10) and Daniel (9). Vaughn has his own mine consultancy business and talks in billions of rands (the local currency – R1+NZ$5) in his dealings. Lynne assures me she is very busy, but does not work and has a full-time maid and gardener. You can imagine how I tease her . They live in a gorgeous house in crime ridden JHB. Their house, like all others, is behind a high fence topped with 5 electric wires entered through a huge remote controlled gate. Once inside you are not really aware of the security, it just feels like a nice secluded garden.

We managed to stay awake all Friday but did not see Vaughn. He left for work at 6am and returned at 3am Saturday morning for a few hours kip. I saw him when I went for a run at 6am as he headed back to the office. (Just as well really as I had no idea how to exit the property!) They were just finalising a mining feasibility study for some Indian clients and right on the deadline. I am not sure if that was the projects deadline or Vaughn’s as he was heading off on holiday. He said he’d be back about 12. Naively I thought he meant mid-day. He finally got home at 11pm Saturday night! I’ll never complain about Eric working in the evenings again! (It’s all gone very quiet here, the children have left the pool and I think everyone that can is tucked up in the shade reading or snoozing. Eric’s asleep in our bedroom).
Saturday, still in Johannesburg, we went to Fourways to collect our car. We had booked a small people mover, a Toyota Avanza but they upgraded us to a VW Kombie. Now Alice dreams of owning a kombie and nearly burst into tears of joy when we met back up with the girls and told her she would be cruising round Africa for 6 weeks in one! Later that day we went to Monte Casino HYPERLINK HERE , a very impressive Tuscan style mall, I guess you would call it, but rather than shops it is mainly entertainment and food orientated. We had a late lunch/early supper there at John Dory’s and bought tickets for Cinderella on Ice, which Lynne has seen and said was unbelievable. We go on 2nd December and will take Steffie, who missed out on it first time round. We then headed home for another early night.

Sunday we, and Steffie, went to a Sandton mall shopping for last minute Christmas presents. You cannot believe the shopping here. I have never seen so much wealth, and contrasted to such poverty when you move out of town. Everywhere there are car dealers for Lotus, Aston Martin, Bentley, Lexus. It never stops. And the shops!!!! I have never seen so many. It is quite a culture shop after NZ. Cheryl (as in Mark and Cheryl) is in NZ at the moment visiting Mark who lives there (Yes an odd set up but the plan is that Cheryl will eventually move out there), asked me a few weeks ago if I missed proper shopping living in NZ. I said no, not really understanding the question as I had everything I needed in NZ, but when I was in Sandton I thought of the question again, and understood! I think I prefer lack of choice (most of the time. How on earth do you find the time to shop here. You could go on forever!!
On Sunday afternoon we went to Alberton to see Anna and Ginty (Ouma and Oupa to Harriette and Alice). This elderly Afrikaans couple ‘adopted’ me when I lived out here after I supported them in caring for their son, my friend, Alex. Alex had motor neurone disease from the age of 21. He was their only son and an incredibly gifted guy. He died after about 6 years living paralysed and on a ventilator at home. It was terribly tragic. I admired and loved Alex and cannot imagine what Anna and Ginty went through. Anyway, they are both very dear to us and it was an emotional visit. We will try and get over there a few more times while we are here.
Monday was shopping and packing for this trip. We spent a small fortune in Fourways Woolworths (R4,500 = nearly NZ$1,000), Lynne also left with 2 trolley loads of shopping. When it came to packing up it was such a good thing we had the Kombie. I am not sure how we would have done it otherwise! We finally headed out of JHB about 3pm (which was the time we had planned to arrive!). We had to drive through a township and had strict instructions from Lynne on about approaching the 2 sets of traffic lights slowly if they are red so you are not actually stationery for too long. Lynne drives like a madman (the girls said they would never complain about my driving again) but assured us that we were not in a hurry and it would be a leisurely drive. We averaged 130km/hour all the way there!!!!
PHOTO’s

Breaking Point?

That's where I was yesterday. I am very stressed at present. I am doing a presentation to the National Immunisation Conference next week and have got sooo much work to do to get it ready. I am also involved in a second DHB (sorry District health Board) presentation, again, work needed on that. At work I am involved in reviewing the NZ Immunisation Handbook, which is due for re-publication, have a 6 monthly report due in etc, etc.... I am also waaaaay behind on my GDITE and the final assignment is due in the day after conference. Add to that I have 2 major meetings for the Waikato Youth Music Association (which I chair) in the next fortnight, the Xmas events are beginning, oh, and I'm meant to be training for Taupo in 2 weeks time and, well you can see where my stress levels are. Today is one precious day in about 6 weeks when I have nothing specific planned and tonight is only one of 3 nights in over nearly 3 weeks. Yesterday I drove to Diane's in Matamata, and we went in her car to Te Aroha where we were participating in a cycling event. My plan was to do the 42km route with the girls, then cycle back to Diane's (another 40km) in the afternoon, and drive home form there. I won't go out with those doing the 80km ride because they cycle fast and I am a plod er. With hindsight I should have cycled with Lindsey on the 80km route. He came in way after the others and did not enjoy it as he did most of the ride on his own. I also would have got home by 2.30pm instead of 4.30pm. The ride back on my own was OK (I am listing to the Twilight series on my iPod) except for the wind. I groaned out loud occasionally during the last 10km's as it was sooo hard. I barely got above 16km/hr as opposed to the 23-32km/hr I usually do. Got home to find the house in the same tip it was when I left (I was teaching Wed and got home at 11pm, out at band on Thursday and Friday and left home 7.30am Sat), Eric had been butchering a side of beef all day and was tired and crotchety. Alice seemed to have spent all day clearing her bedroom floor (which still was not clear) and writing essays with no thought of helping Eric or even putting the shopping away I had done on Friday night. When I made a tea and sat down (well fell into the chair) I felt like Eric resented me taking a break (he's adamant that he didn't) but I fell asleep in the chair anyway. We were going out to a surprise 50th birthday party in Hamilton for Kathy. A band mom and mother of Alice's nearly boyfriend - Kent. It was a pot luck and Eric was making a bobotie but it was not going to be ready until the last moment to get us there for 6.30pm. Alice then said it was a 6pm start - opps. I jumped in the shower and went to change the head on my lady razor but after about 15 attempts couldn't because I could not see what I was doing. My eye sight is shocking. I screamed so loudly in frustration that Alice and Eric came running and my throat hurt! I threw the razor at Alice for her to sort out which she did and then she shoo-ed Eric out, muttering, probably something along the lines of "Mommy's gone mad leave her alone".

We finally got to the party and ended up having a really good time. Well I had a good bottle of wine and certainly felt a lot better. Richard and Robyn were also there as were Liz and Steve (other band parents who we really enjoy). Sarah (flute), Alice (clarinet) and Kent (alto sax)played some music along with Kent's brother Ash (drums), Steve (tuba), Patrick (Steve's son- trumpet) and some other trumpet players. All totally un-rehearsed and great fun. I so admired that they could all play music so well that they could come together and just play and have such good fun - and give others such pleasure. Kathy was totally overwhelmed by the occasion and Ray had done a fantastic job pulling it off in total secrecy. I didn't have my camera but pinched Kent's. When I get some photos I'll post them.

Mark popped in last weekend. He had just arrived from the UK and was on his way home. It was great to see him. He had not seen Cheryl, Myles and Laura for 4 1/2 months which was hard on them all. Still, Cheryl arrives in a few weeks and we will catch them just before we head off to South Africa on 17th Dec. They will be gone when we get back though. Not sure what there plans are after that.

We have friends of Mom and Daddy staying with us at the moment, Maxine and Gary. They are on an LSD trip (look, see, decide) and bought a house in Cambridge this week. We haven't seen a lot of them as we haven't been around really. Maxine is a nurse so I have set her up with some meetings with people about work. Gary is an electrician.

Well I am going to get up and potter now.

A Saturday Posting for a Change

Another Sunday morning. I should be working on my course but instead I'm here. I am doing a 'Graduate Diploma in IT in Education' (GDITE). The first module is online and I have not really got into it. I have gone weeks without looking at the site and am really busy at work so it keeps dropping down on my list of priorities. It is also very primary school teaching focused and so not relevant in that sense to me (I teach adults). Anyway, I will press on with it.

It's a long weekend here. Yesterday was gorgeous. I went on a bike ride up Taotaoroa Rd and back. It's 15km long and seriously, and I mean seriously, hilly and windy (going round bends windy not weather windy!). It is the first real ride I have done this year. The hills nearly killed me. I could have easily been sick at the top of one of them, but coming down was so exhilarating. I got up to 60km/hr on one :-) . I am meant to be doing an 80km section of the Round Lake Taupo challenge http://www.cyclechallenge.com/index.php?id=34 in late Nov and have to get some serious training in to get fit enough for that :-( I then spent the day pottering in the garden. I weed sprayed the drive (350m of it) and strimmed the paths in my veg plot and started tackling the huge amount of weeds in there. As we are away for 6 weeks from Christmas I am in a dilemma as to whether to plant lots of veggies that we won't get to eat or put large parts of the plot to rest and have nothing when we get back. I am advertising for a house-sitter for the 6 weeks we are away do hopefully we will have someone in who will keep on top of the weeding (assuming I can get on top of it first!!)

Today we are vacillating between another day at home (I will go out with the peddlers, Eric will kill a few sheep for the freezer) or a day ticky touring around the Coromandel. I think the former will win and we can go out tomorrow.

Tsunami Horror

We have been shocked by the earthquakes and tsunami's hitting the pacific region, mostly the ones in Tonga and Samoa. Lalamonu is the worst hit area of Samoa, which is where we stayed in July. In fact if you go to this link
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/image.cfm?c_id=1&gal_objectid=10601073&gallery_id=107687
and scroll down to picture 64 (4th up from bottom in left column), the guys are standing at almost the exact spot where our fale stood as far as we can work out.

It makes my winging about last weekend, when we had real water problems at Cedar Lodge, seem pathetic.

It also sounds like 2 sisters, in their 20's, from Matamata may have been killed in Samoa. I feel sick with sadness for all the loss and suffering.

A Water-less Weekend

The last blog was the week from hell and this one could be 'What a bl**dy awful weekend' but, because I'm a generally optimistic type, it isn't. It has been an awful one though. It's Sunday morning and I am hoping things are on the up now.

It started on Friday night. I took Alice to Youth Band practice, we leave at 4.30pm. Harriette had gone in to Matamata after school to shop for a dress (had an 18th birthday party on Saturday night). She was meeting Eric at the car parked behind his office at 5pm. She called in at 4.30pm and he said he'd be done by 5pm. At 4.55pm Eric was asked to swear an emergency affidavit. He went out to tell Harriette but she had popped round to the bank (having left a message attached to the rear view mirror. However, Eric did not get in the car so did not see it. He got cross that she had cleared of without telling him! He then went back to office, Harriette returned and waited... and waited....... She repeatedly texted Eric but, of course he did not reply. So, by the time he emerged at 6pm she was pretty cross (understandably). I am guessing they rowed on the way home. Harriette had bought hair dye but when she went to use it there was no water. Eric then had to investigate this in the dark. Someone, we assumed the neighbour Ian, had turned off the water pump. He turned it back on but there was still no pressure so we had to be left with no water overnight. In these situations we use buckets of water from the pool to flush toilets and have bottles and bottles of stored water. When Harriette relayed the office mix up to me later Eric went balistic at her. Alice then sprung to Harriette's defence (she should be a human rights lawyer, she's a great one for springing to the defense of someone she feels has been treated unjustly) and a huge row followed.

I have been reading Jodi Picoult's Handle with Care which was hard to put down so ended up reading until 1.30am. At 4am Eric woke up feeling he had something in his eye. The next 30 mins was spent me trying to see what it was - nothing. He was in a lot of pain and huffed, puffed, tossed and turned through the next 2 hours. We finally fell asleep about 6.30am and woke at 9am. So, so far, big row, no water, no sleep and Eric with a very painful eye.

Saturday morning we got up and Eric set to the task of sorting out the water problem. When he turned the water on again he could see a water fountain from the front paddock. He fixed that and all seemed to be OK. I took Harriette to work (before the water had been fixed so she was still cross as she could not shower) and did a huge supermarket shop and things seemed to settle down. I replaced the tyre on my bike (it had burst 6km into my first bike ride of the year the previous Sunday), and finished my book. All was good until I went to make tea late in the afternoon. No water!!!!! So, poor Eric had to go back out and start all over again trying to work out the problem. He thought he'd sussed the problem but did not have the required items to repair so we had to call out the emergency plumber. We always end up calling them at a weekend when the call out fee is huge!! It's like Alice, she only ever gets really sick at a weekend. Before he arrived I had to pick Harriette up and convey to her that we did have water but now it's off again! Poor girl, it was really turning out not to be her weekend! When the plumber finally arrived Eric had relayed a whole new load of alkathene piping to by-pass the area he thought was a problem (some underground piping) and they attached it to the water tank. Still no water and they could not work out the problem was. So, back to basics, we walked the pipes again and found a separated joint and water pouring in to the paddock. Eric had not checked this in the afternoon (normally the first thing we would do) as he had done this in the morning. So, we had a call out fee for something we could easily have sorted ourselves. Anyway, at least we had water. Harriette, and the rest of us, got showers and we finally got out for the evening. Harriette to her 18th and Eric and I to a 21st for one of the girls in his office. I was not looking forward to it. Eric hates parties, loud noise and won't dance! On top of that he is tired and grumpy. It actually wasn't too bad, except for the speeches. The sound system did not work well and so lots of people at the back were talking which made things worse. On top of that the father gave far too many details about the twins conception, and the twins friends were only able to relay events of drunkenness that went into a cringingly awful detail. Note to self, what not to discuss at Harriette and Alice's 21sts. Anyway, Eric had a good few beers and lightened up significantly so was not hurrying me out the door at 10pm. In fact Harriette texted at 11pm asking us to pick her up.

This morning I was meant to be up at a reasonable time as Liz and Kenny were coming by early to pick up Liz's car that she left here on her way to Auckland. Liz was taking one son on to Rotorua for a football game and Kenny would carry on home with the other 2 boys so would not be in a rush. They are Sottish, have lived here, well in Whakatane for a lot longer than we have. Kenny is an ex-cop and now runs a kayaking business and does some work with youth (I think, not totally sure on that). I think Eric and Kenny would get on well. They missed each other on Thursday when Kenny collected Liz and so I thought we could have a coffee and chat this morning. Didn't happen though as we woke to find they had already been and gone! Oh well, another time maybe.

A Week From Hell

8.15am, Sunday morning. The news is on the radio. I'm obviously blogging earlier today as Chris Laidlaw hasn't started yet! Eric is sitting next to me writing up notes from his Flying Start Course (something all lawyers have to do before they can become a partner), Alice says she's been awake since 3am and is on the computer in the living room and I guess Harriette is on her computer, she's still in bed.

The week from hell started off Friday a week ago. I got sick again. I had D+V, probably norovirus. Because of my lack of large bowel (colectomy for unlcerative colitis in 1995) when I get D+V I rapidly become dehydrated. In fact, because I had weighed myself Friday am, I knew that overnight I had lost 3.7kg (that's over 8lbs)!! No wonder I am on the verge of fainting every time I stand up. Now this really threw a spanner in the works for Mom's taxi service! Cathy had taken Alice and Claire to Youth Band in Hamilton (we alternate Fridays) and Claire stayed overnight as they had a sectional in Hamilton 6-8am Saturday. A ridiculous time I know but it means many of the members can make it prior to Saturday jobs and sports committments. Now Eric was on his course in Hamilton from 9.30am so the plan was, Eric would take them in early, watch them, have breakfast and generally kick his heels until 9.30am. I would feed out (silage to the 4 cows, chooks (not silage obviously :-) and dogs), then drive through to pick the girls up at 8am, come home, take Harriette to work for 9am in Matamata and drive through to Walton to drop Claire home. That was the plan anyway. What actually happened was; Eric got up at 4.30am to feed out then took Alice and Claire to Hamilton for 6am but had to bring them home. He literally dropped them off and hurtled straight back to Hamilton, just getting to his course on time. We then got a neighbour Shirley to take Harriette to work and drop Claire at her grandparents in Matamata where Cathy collected her. Eric had bought me some Gastrolyte in Hamilton (I had not replaced our stock we used up in Samoa) which made me feel much better. By 11am I was just about able to drive Alice in to Matamata for netball. I didn't have the strength to stand and watch so curled up in the back of the Mistral and slept! Harriette finished at 1pm so walked round to the courts and drove us home when Alice finished. Needless to say, Eric and I hit the sack at about 8pm Saturday night.

Sunday evening Mom and Daddy came over for a meal. I immediately knew something was wrong when I said the "Hi, how are you?" on their arrival. Daddy said he was being investigated for liver cancer (I hasten to add the subsequent liver scan was normal). Anyway, I asked why? Pain in that area and a blood test that indicates that he has cancer somewhere though I have seen his blood results and can't see what the doctor is talking about. I was very rational 'let's wait and see what the scan shows', 'don't put 2+2 together and make 5' etc but as soon as they left I completely lost it! Although my head told me it could not be true (Daddy looks disgustingly healthy, no weight loss) I was so scared! I spent Sunday night thinking it all through, our trip to South Africa would have to be cancelled, Daddy would either be dying or have recently died by December and we could not leave Mom, what would Mom do, stay in Paeroa, go back to the UK, move into a smaller house, Paeroa?, Matamata? It was awful! Anyway, thank heavens they had a liver scan arranged for Monday morning. I met them Hailton for this and it was normal. We all just about cried when the sonographer told us. The issue now is that he may still have cancer and where. The GP wants to repeat the blood test and I think he needs a colonoscopy (Daddy had bowel cancer in the 1990's which was resected.) Still, whatever it is there is almost no diagnosis as awful as liver secondaries.

So, after acute illness and 24 hours on an emotional roller coater Alice then got the bug and had Tuesday and Wendesday off sick. She was proper poorly and poor girls was on her own much of the time as it was the only 2 days of the week I was out and about. I did offer to cancel my appointments but she said not to. She slept most of Tuesday, well when she wasn't on the loo anyway.

Things then got better and I am hoping for an uneventful week. I was really hoping to spend the weekend gardening as we have had a couple of weeks of absolutely gorgeous weather. Harriette then reminded me that I had a Rotary convention on Saturday and on top of that it has hardly stopped raining since Thursday night. 4 of us went to this convention in Rotorua and I really enjoyed it. Picked up lots of tips to improve our local club. I must say Matamata is a very dynamic club but there are things that could be tweaked. As Eric was on the second day of his course the taxi service was again unavailable so Mom and Daddy came over and took Harriette to work and Alice to and from netball.

Today we plan to catch up with Richard and Robyn. It is calving time and so they are holed up on the farm for 6-8 weeks. I'll ring them shortly to see how their day is panning out and when would be best to meet them. Harriette and I will also go to the gym and Eric will swim (I am trying to get him to do some exercise and get a bit of weight off before we go to South Africa).

Well, I think that's all I have to report. I must go and get an email off to Schools Band. I really need to update them on all the arrangement for the Festival in September and all the playouts we have been offered over the coming months.