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After a whopping
733 kilometres to Johannesburg for another night at the wonderful Beckley
House we had to visit Johannesburg Airport. Firstly we had to exchange
cars at Avis as they had rung us and asked us to return it for a service!
Secondly we had a meeting with Equity Aviation to get a new bag in
exchange for the one they destroyed on the flight over from Hong Kong! A
further 339 kilometres the following morning to Kestell finally got us to
Dean's house! Phew!
Dean's place,
funnily enough is in South Africa. Over the previous eight years when we
have been it has rained only once and although it is cold at night, it is
hot and sunny during the day. It hasn't snowed in Kestell since 1996 but
the Brits arrive and the following morning the place was covered in snow!
Not only that, it kept going all day!
The following day
we drove up to the Sentinel, part of the Drakensberg Mountains, where you
also get spectacular views of the Maluiti Mountains, which were blanketed
in snow from the previous day.
From there we
visited the Basotho Cultural Village where you can see how these people
have evolved over the centuries. Firstly you are welcomed into the
village by the Chief and his Adviser who invites you sits with them and
share a cup of their locally brewed beer. This is not like your average
pint, it is milky white, fizzy, tangy and got bits in, but it tastes
great! After that you go and visit the village medicine man who can give
you a health check or read your future using bones and shells, although he
now also has a couple of dominoes and a few dice in there. When we asked
why, he explained that as money became part and parcel of his culture they
needed ways to read the numbers! We then walked around the village where
they have built houses in the way they used to be built in previous
centuries. Some of these houses, even the ones from the 14th century
where better built than some of the houses we see today.
From the cultural
village we drove through the Golden Gate to Clarens to visit one of Dean's
friends, Mush, who makes the best cheese scones we have ever eaten, before
returning to Kestell.
From Deans we
headed to a place called Umhlanga, just north of Durban. On the way we
visited Jennie Pretorius and her son, Joshua. In the "How It All Began"
chapter of our diary we mentioned that one of the reasons we considered
leaving our jobs and taking this year off was that someone we knew had
died a few weeks before his son, Joshua, was born. Well Joshua is now two
years old, mad about tractors, looks very much like his dad and from what
we saw, quite a handful! It was great to see Jennie again, meet Joshua
and see where they are building their new life.
We arrived in
Umhlanga at lunchtime, headed to the Gateway Shopping Mall and devoured a
plateful of Nando's Extra Hot Peri-Peri Chicken. That evening we went to
Crossfields, a local bar, to watch the Sharks beat the Falcons. At the
pub Angela had her first "Bunny Chow," a Durban curry served in a hollowed
out bread loaf. The idea being that you eat the spicy curry out of the
loaf and break off bits of curry-soaked bread as you go. Delicious!
On the Saturday
we went to uShaka Marineworld where we watched the Australians narrowly
snatch victory away from the Springboks to with back the Mandela Cup. We
then headed into the Marine Park where they have built the most amazing
aquarium we have ever seen into what is made to look like a grounded
ship. The detail in the ship is incredible and the display tanks are even
more amazing. Outside they have Dolphins, Penguins and Seals as well as a
lazy river to float around and a lagoon which you can swim around and look
at the fish.
On the Sunday we
went shopping for a local school that we are going to try and help out
near Thula Thula, where we got married, but more on that when we get to
Thula Thula. We then went and picked up Dean's mum, Merle, to go out for
Sunday lunch at our favourite restaurant, Razzmatazz, on the beachfront in
the Cabana Beach Hotel, Umhlanga. After dropping Merle back home we
continued our shopping until the stores closed before heading back to
Flamingo Lodge to collapse! |