Aunt Stella

En route back to the airport I managed to squeeze in seeing my dear Aunt Stella. She remains one of the cutest, most dear people I know.

Margie and Stella had us in hysterics as they read our tealeaf fortunes. It would appear that Paul is in for parties non stop and a whirlwind of events leading to travel. Stella also had butterflies, which indicate social events lined up. My leaves said I was ready to travel and had packed up my home already. There would be a message soon. And a strange worm that I don’t know think Margie could figure out what it meant(though I think I might have some ideas). I think Margie missed her calling. She should have a teashop that called “Fortunes”.

And then the long flight back to the cold country. I forced myself to sleep as I was going straight into the office on Monday…

Springs Friends and Fellowship

Back in Springs. I spent the day with Margie and met her Woman’s Fellowship group while Paul played golf with Gareth.

The holiday was winding to an end. I started to think thoughts about London, careers, grey, impersonal, lonely…

Both Paul and I agreed that this was the best holiday we had ever had. There was so much to do and still so much more to do.

Good bye Cape Town, houses and sea

More paperwork. But not too bad because we still managed to have a snooze and chill out on our own little Seaforth beach before we headed back to Johannesburg. We experienced horrible delays to the flight but not worth moaning about.

(Johannesburg International airport is possibly one of the worst airports I've suffered - it's shameful!)

Simon’s Town to be home

We were back in Simon’s Town at the local backpackers which is good value for money. The agent we met at the beginning of the week suggested we have a look at a couple of properties that might interest us. We looked at a bigger property that would be a B&B business but could never really be transformed into a house.

The next property was in Seaforth. I think she knew we would love it. And we did.

It’s the cutest little original cottage. Literally a 5 minute walk to the beach. Two bedrooms, original wooden floors and sunshine. We decided to buy the house and spent the rest of the day sorting out all the paper work required, bonds, etc. Just like that, we have a home to go to!! It just seemed so right and I could picture
both of us being very happy there. It all just made sense.

The Wine Route

Because of our energetic antics the day before, my legs were so stiff I could hardly move and I think I’d strained my calf muscle. Back in my “wild and hectic youth” I used to routinely climb the mountain and run up and down… There and then I resolved myself to get fit and shake off the extra blubber I’ve gained.

A lazy day was in order. We drove out to Stellenbosch and Franschoek and popped into various wine farms. The only problem is that tasting wine at 11am is a bit too early for anyone except a hardened alcoholic. It was fun and we enjoyed the scenery but it was definitely one of our more chilled out days. Possibly because I made such huge groaning noises every time I tried to move, it seemed better to just sit and drive.

Paul snoozed off from time to time and I woke him with, “Paul! Look at the mountains! Take a photo. Look at the vineyards! Take a photo.”

Table Mountain

We woke to a perfect blue, blue sky. This meant that we were going to climb Table Mountain. I kept reminding Paul not to underestimate the mountain. It might be in the middle of a city, but it was still a mountain. We started the climb from Kirstenbosch Gardens (which by the way, has changed and improved dramatically). We went up Skeleton Gorge, 750m up on paths, ladders and scrabbling over rocks. Then along the mountain for about 1km to Mc Clears beacon which is the highest point on the mountain, just over 1000m. We had a lunch there and then started the descent.

By the time we got back to the top of Nursery Ravine we were both already tired! The 700 meters down the ravine is the toughest walk you can imagine. Poor knees! I was stepping on my toes to break the impact on my knees as they were swelling and aching. By the time we reached the bottom we were too exhausted to really care how beautiful the gardens were. We staggered to the very posh restaurant and had slices of the biggest lemon meringue pie you have ever seen. How we welcomed our little shed and by 8pm that night we were lights out.

Catching up on SA history

Paul gets twitchy when the sun is out. He feels very cheated to be indoors when the weather is good but there was a blanket over the mountain so I insisted on visiting the District 6 Museum. I’d never been and always wanted to and I’m glad we did. It was really interesting and describes South African history well. It also has a very
good time line that helps to get your head around the sequence of events.

After that we went to the Victoria & Albert Waterfront. It’s a huge tourist trap and we both felt a bit out of sorts with the bright lights and consumer fest going on. This didn’t stop us enjoying our day there!

We also went to Robben Island. When you are a local I think you tend to neglect doing things, assuming that it’s always there and you’ll do it one day… Again, I’m really glad I finally went.

The thing that struck me about the visit Robben Island was not so much Madiba’s story but the story of the other people, thousands of South Africans, who were involved in the struggle against apartheid. I couldn’t help feel very emotional. We all seem so focus on investing in tomorrow and the children of the future but those who where children and teenagers at the time of the struggle have been some what forgotten and even considered a menace? They have missed out on being normal teenagers and now struggle to make sense of their lives. It’s a complex story and
made my heart ache.

I would suggest reading Nelson Mandela’s “Long Walk to Freedom” before visiting Robben Island because it makes the place come to life.

Cape Town, you beauty

I hadn’t really thought about it much until we were on the flight to Cape Town when I started to tell Paul about Cape Town and all the things we could do. I started to get really excited – I hadn’t been there for 3 nearly 4 years. I was in a mad rush to get out of the airport so I could see my most loved Table Mountain again.

Paul suggested we drive out to Simon’s Town to have a look at my house in Welcome Glen. I didn’t really mind what we did as there are so many choices and all are brilliant. We had a look at my place that appears to have hippies living in it, with a bonfire in the front garden. They pay their rent, so I’m not too bothered. Then we did some spontaneous house hunting in the area and found our dream home. Only it would be really expensive to manage and could end up living to afford a house. So we managed to get a grip on ourselves.

Chapman’s Peak drive is open again (and a toll road) but well worth travelling on as its one of those amazing roads that you have to drive along at a very slow speed for two reasons, the lovely sights and the sheer cliffs either side. One side has cliffs that have large nets on them to catch boulders falling onto the road. And the other side is cliffs that descend vertically to the sea. It’s dramatic.

It was a great day of driving around and showing Paul all the beaches and telling him stories of days long gone.

We decided to stay in Cape Town city area for a few nights so that we would be closer to sights and things that side. We found a self-catering chalet for R250 per night in Tamboerskloof that turned out to be a shed. It was such a comfy little shed that we stayed on for 3 nights.

Back to Springs to get our flight

We had to get back to Springs over 600km away in time to catch our flight early on the next day. No pressure, but our lift didn’t arrive. We didn’t exactly panic but we both found it unpleasant having to depend on others to get about. Finally a sweet girl at the dolphin diving place organised a lift.

As we drove I thought about Moz and all its wild beauty, but realised that if we did have a business there it had to be one to buy and sell and required a partner and trust issues. It wasn’t going to be forever. That suited the gypsy me but probably not Paul.

It was Paul’s turn driving when one of the famous Highveld storms set it. Thunder, lightening and sheets of rain like you can’t believe. Driving was really slow and rather thrilling.

Ponta - Life is a beach

It was great to be in Mozambique. I’d been going on about my dream life of a little business run from a shack, my pet goat and beach that went on forever since Paul had met me. Although I’d never been to Mozambique, it had been the subject of this fantasy of mine.

So this was an opportunity to look about and get some idea of what life in Moz could be like. The beach was extraordinary. The pace of life was very slow. The people seemed friendly and no big issues to note. The place has a quaint run down feel with enough happening to not feel it’s a bad thing. There were also clearly pockets of first world sophistication and the dive schools that Moz is so well known for.

We really did just hang out and about for the day. The beach was straight out of a postcard and matched the fantasy exactly.

That night we had one hell of a storm. The only getting out of the tent was to push tent pegs back in as the wind blew them out. The lightening was clearly above us and was so loud and bright it was hard to not fear being reduced to a bit of
smouldering black stuff.

Kosi Bay to Ponta d’Ouro

I’d heard that one of my friends from school days was working at Tembe Elephant Park and it wasn’t unreasonably far away so we drove up to see if it would be possible to visit. It wasn’t. Wayne was out at a meeting all day and the park could only be entered by 4x4 vehicle. Plan two was to go to Kosi Bay. We got there and not too much further when we realised that the only way to the beach was by 4x4. We stopped in a B&B / Campsite with OTT stone cladding to think things over. It was afternoon
already. Through discussions with the barmaid we met two European girls who offered us a lift to Ponta D'Oura, a town just over the Mozambique border. Great idea. So we left the car in a secure lock up at the border and did the 4x4 trip to Ponta.
We found a campsite right on the beach and could not help feel rather exited by the wild beautiful beach that seemed to go on forever. Well. It went all the way to Tanzania for sure.

St Lucia Adventures

We were having so much fun we decided to stay on in St Lucia and rather fly to Cape Town. We sorted that out at the internet café and went about enjoying the whole safari experience.

We spent the day doing walks. On foot one feels that much more vulnerable. I have a very healthy respect for all wild animals and so a few hours into the walk I was all wired up and jumpy. The final stretch of our walk entailed climbing over a very high style over a very high fence. We read the sign warning of “You are entering a dangerous area” and looked at all the “beware of” pictures. As we walked we discussed what you would do when faced with each animal. I figured a croc we could
climb a tree, a hippo was unlikely to be about during the day, but we could climb a tree. As for the elephants, we were stuffed, same with the buffalo, same with the cheetahs but they were quite shy. All I could do was talk a lot to hopefully frighten them off so we would have no encounters. The path was in a pretty obvious
state of disrepair and then vanished all together. To say I was a bit shit scared was about right. Just as I started to feel lost we saw a sandy bank with a break of blue and according to the compass in the right direction. So we climbed up. It was
such hard climbing, as we seemed to fall down as far as we stepped up each time, and by now I was in fits of nervous laughter as I could just imagine if a dangerous animal tried to chase me then. My only defence was to voluntarily die on the spot.

St Lucia & Cape Vidal’s Glory

We woke up with the sunrise, as soon as the sun was out the tent started to bake. Then I lay there listening to what I thought might be birds fluttering about the car. Eventually I dragged my lazy butt out of bed to see a large troupe of vervet monkeys had descended on the camp and the car was covered with lots of little money
footprints. The cheeky buggers were digging through the bins and clearly would try to grab anything that might pass as food. They were hugely entertaining. In particular the young ones seemed to enjoy playing with each other and engaged in hide and seek and running around objects to catch each other. There were numerous
mother monkeys with very teeny baby monkeys clutching to their bellies. There was a lot of grooming going on, particularly picking fleas and ticks off each other’s bums.

While we were transfixed on the monkeys (Paul taking photos furiously) I heard a rustling in the bushes behind us. Low and behold, a whole family group of about 40 banded mongoose made their way through our camp. They used their little noses,
making grunts and snuffles, for digging out tasty bits in the ground and made little noises to each other and appeared to not be at all concerned by our presence. Ray Mears eat your heart out. There were numerous little ones again whose little legs whizzed them along as they tried to keep up with their parents.

That was all before breakfast.

It was only about 9am when we left the fenced area of Sugarloaf camp (after all that excitement) to find out what was there in daylight. We just passed the gate when we saw an estuary with crocodiles sunning themselves and hippos wallowing in the water. We kept pulling over to look at and photograph various animals: pelican, kingfishers, red duiker… By midday we reached the town where be pulled into the tourist tat shops and got sorted with flip-flops, baggies and a cooler-box. We were sorted and ready.

The rest of the day we went to Cape Vidal. This is a 30km stretch of land along the coast but it took us about 2 hours to drive to the end of the road. We had lunch on the beach and then drove back – and that took just as long. Again, we saw an abundance of animals: kudu, gnu, reedbuck, waterbuck, warthog, moneys, zebra and
more.

That evening we went on the turtle tour in which you have a guided drive in the evening through Cape Vidal, then a drive on the beach in search of turtles, and a night drive back. We were really lucky and saw a loggerhead turtle, but unfortunately she decided not to lay eggs and went back into the sea. They are extremely shy animals. We also saw rhino, hippo and buffalo – both rather exciting dangerous animals to see, especially the hippo on land.

On the Road to St Lucia - East Coast of SA

The plan was to borrow Margie’s car and drive to St Lucia, about 600km East of Springs on the East coast of SA. I wanted to go to St Lucia because I’d never been there before and it made Gareth so jealous I couldn’t resist.

It’s that much easier to wake up early in SA, and so we managed to get on the road fairly early and planned to do the trip in one day. A lot of the way is along main road (N17 and N2) that pass through industrial towns. The only thing that made me a little sad was seeing how ugly the landscape was. It is flat as flat can be on the Highveld but sadly this serene landscape is scared by power lines, factories spewing out pollution and waste. It seemed a shame that these less trendy, non-tourist areas of SA seem to be looking pretty bad. I thought of Gaudi who believed that no matter how poor people were, they still appreciated beauty. That was why he used such creative ideas, the landscape and recycled items in his work. I felt a bit sad that the poverty and industry are about were, dare I say, ugly, when they needn’t be. Where so many of the big cities in SA are all clean and new and exciting, these towns were being left behind. At times it felt like stepping back into the old SA. Even to the point of I got served before a queue of Black customers in a shop, it made me feel awkward. And yet I should not complain, these towns have good biltong, and I appreciated the nostalgia.

I diverge… We arrived in St Lucia after dark. The trip there was interesting but not pretty and so I think we both had fairly low expectations. It did seem a bit greener and there were clearly tourist offices all about so we asked about and finally found the campsite “Sugarloaf”. Paul was surprised that the cost was about the same as the UK R120/£12. I reminded Paul that UK campsites were muddy fields with little damp ablutions blocks. We had our own little area surrounded by trees, a brick braai area, a bin and water tap nearby. The ablution block was nearby as clean and inviting as an ablution block could be. We pitched Steve’s very old tent, blew up Gareth’s super-huge inflatable mattress and had our first SA camp experience. Life was very good indeed.

Family day

Day two was a family day. I hadn’t seen some of my relatives since I was a teenager – which is now almost 20 years ago and others since I first left for the UK which is now 7 years ago. When I was late teens and twenties, I pretty much decided to go my own way. And did. As a result, I lost touch with family but heard snippets via my parents. The crazy thing is that they all look so the same. There are spouses and kids and again I got the feeling that everyone was doing really well.

A friend of my mothers (who again has known me since knee high to a grasshopper) looked at the crowd and said how lucky I was to have all these people come to see me. I hadn’t really thought about it 'til then but Margie had really gone out of her way to arrange the two get-together braais so I could touch base with friends and relatives who otherwise I wouldn’t have had the chance to see me, and they get to meet Paul.

I must admit that this was a long day as the sleep depravation finally set in and both Paul and I were shattered.

At the end of the day we walked back to my parents house. Springs is a strange place for someone like Paul to visit. I appreciated the good and the bad things about it – and possibly acknowledged my roots.

Arrive in SA – on holiday at last

Both Paul and I have been desperate for a real holiday for a while. It’s the stress at work and the lack of hours in a day that gets to us. Then of course, the UK winter has set in already and it’s very easy to think life is just one gloomy rat-race.

We arrived in Johannesburg at about 10 in the morning having watched movies all night on the aeroplane. I probably should have gone to sleep but it was just so good catching up on so many movies I’ve not had the chance to see – especially "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" which turned out to be brilliant.

We should have slept but we didn’t. Margie and Steve met us at the airport and we make the 50km trip back to Springs. Springs: the town I grew up in. It’s a small town on the East end of the Witwatersrand – which is a crescent of mining towns that have developed on a reef of gold that runs under the earth. I sat silently in the car as Steve, Margie and Paul caught up on news. Blimey, that place is ugly. I didn’t remember it as being ugly, rather I remember the extraordinary sunsets, how cool mine dumps look on the horizon and the long straight main road with purple
jacoranda trees lining the sides. I have been away a long time now, Springs has stayed the same and I’ve changed.

One of the first things I had on my holiday agenda was to see my new little nephew. So as soon as we had changed and had that desperately needed cup of tea, I went off to visit my brother who lives down the road from my parents. His little boy Ethan
is just the cutest. It was good to see Gary and his wife Lizelle happy and little Ross (the older boy) doing so well.

That evening my parents had arranged for some old friends to come over and have a braai (barbeque). The meat was glorious. South African meat tastes so different and its is absolutely delicious. My old pals from school days, Mandy and Rauri came
over, along with spouses and rather grown up kids! Other of my parents friends who have know me since a baby came over too. I didn’t have enough time to catch up with every one but it was so good seeing them. The best is that they look well and healthy – and so I’m left feeling satisfied that all is good.

My second special treat on the holiday agenda was meeting my older brother, Brian’s girlfriend, Shereen. I think Brian wound her up a bit about meeting me, in his usual prankster way, as she seemed a little nervous. Well, how my brother scored such a wonderful woman is a mystery to me! She is wonderful and I couldn’t be happier – nor could Brian. Both my brothers have wonderful women in their lives. Gareth met Lizelle through me, but Brian managed to find Shereen all on his
own. I’m a lucky sister! Shereen is one of those people that has the wow factor. She is very kind, generous, bubbly and yet strong and confident. You can’t help liking her.

NEC Bike Show 2005

This year was an excellent show. Kawasaki and Yamaha in particular had great stands with exciting bikes to ogle. Most of the bike stands were brilliant but Honda didn't excite - their bikes looked the same as they always have. Overall, lots of new, very good-looking, street bikes out.

At the risk of sounding disappointed... These original, hard-core, fantasy biker chicks are fast becoming a rare animal. When once they were draped across bikes at almost every stand, there weren't many this year and even then, they were just girls in lycra. It's almost a shame really. I never thought I'd think that way but there is definitely something about the reckless abandon of morals that I quite enjoy. On the downside, this year we didn't have the BMW dancing boys either. But I guess if the "sex sells" aspect is leaving biking, it's not an entirely bad thing.

The HP2 is BMW's latest. It's quite a move away from the traditional BMW and costs a whole whack selling for about £12,000. Nice but I'm not convinced. It has funky features that fascinated us like a little spirit level so you can sit on the bike and then adjust the suspension to your own body weight. Not sure I'd be prepared to pay quite so much for gimmicks. However, can't argue it's exciting.

This was the whole reason I went to the show. I'd read about Kawasaki's latest model, the ER-6n and couldn't wait to see it in the real. Besides the fact I think it looks amazing and it is in my price range (making it a definite possibility for a next bike), it's also been described as Kawasaki's first customer focused bike. It just struck me as an exciting move away from the traditional manufacturer's approach of making machines and then mass selling to an unknown market. This bike had the customer in mind and then Kawasaki made the bike. I love it. I really do. It looks sexy and raw. I'd buy one. I might well do just that but I have to get to Cape Town first.

Pure candy. Not much to be said about this as its ART to be admired and drooled over.

My thespian-biker friend Sanjay having a dramatic moment with a bike that shares a sponsor with him.

Royal Enfield in India

Here is a pic taken in India of an Enfield. Thank you to my dear friend Davina, for the pic and thinking of me while on holiday in India!

Time flying and I don’t know what else to say about it

I’ve set myself the goal of writing to the blog at least once a week. And most weeks I have something interesting happing or a little bit of information to share – but last week was absolutely uneventful and this week has been about the same. On the bike front that is. My growly blue baby is parked up and going nowhere at the moment. I feel pretty sad about that but I’m a bit low on cash as the submersion exercise has eaten up funds that weren’t there. I any case, it’s getting cold, miserable and dark so the commute to and from work is no longer fun but rather a chore, and from time to time scares me witless, it’s utterly dissatisfying.

I’m back at work after two weeks off on “stress leave” and things in the office are as always – in other words – political hell. On the bright side, however, I have two new Execs on board and they really do brighten my day and lighten my work burden. I think the time off was good for me as I’m enjoying my work in spite of everything.

As far as travel plans go… Last weekend I had a fantastic catch up with some South Africans who have all done trans Africa trip. In particular I was interested to find out how a woman friend, Charne, coped with all the tough bits of off road biking. I realise I’m utterly hopeless at off road biking and so I desperately needed to find out just how much of Africa would be really hard going off road. So, the basic run down is that there are more and more roads being built all the time. Probably only North Africa will have no tarmac options and the rest will normally have a choice. Most true too, is that once you are out there, you do cope and learn the required skills quickly. And I guess the final point really is that you aren’t in the same kind of rush as we are here. So with time on our side, options available and the hope that I will actually get better… I’m slightly less worried that I was the week prior.