Africa – 7th Oct 2008 – Day 36

Today began a bit later than usual, due to us being woken during the night by a very nasty odor. The smell was so bad, that it woke John up.

He looked around the room trying to find the source of the smell which woke Fiona up too. Fi agreed that the pong was not good, so John continued to search the room. After a while, John opened the main door to the garden. The pong was coming from outside. We shut all the windows and eventually drifted back to sleep.

In the morning the pong was gone. Either it was an animal or maybe some plants. It’s a mystery.

After breakfast, we checked out of the B&B and headed to our next destination, The Auberge Clermont Hotel in the wine town of Franschhoek. The drive took us through some very pleasant countryside. We stopped to get some petrol. A few minutes after leaving to petrol station, a sheep lorry started to flash us furiously. We did not want to stop but eventually decided too. The chap at the garage had left our petrol cap undone and our fuel door wide open. We thanked the lorry driver and continued on our way.

We decided to travel to Franschhoek via the mountain pass, instead off the tunnel. As we climbed the pass we hit cloud level. The area looked similar to the Alps as we descended into the valley below.

Franschhoek looked great in the sun and we soon found The Auberge Clermont and checked into a wonderful room. Huge with a massive bath and enormous bed. Our room faces the rows of vines and the whole places nestles in the valley.

We had a cuppa and then chatted to the host about the various wine routes. He also recommended a restaurant for tonight and a spa where we can get a massage (Still aching from yesterdays hike). Everything is such good value here, even the massage!

We handed on some laundry and then walked into town for a spot of lunch. We found a very nice Salmon bar which flies it’s salmon in from Loch Duart in Scotland. We had a small baguette of salmon bites, a glass of wine and a glass of bubbly…. £6.50 the lot!

We booked our massages and walked back to our hotel for a relaxing afternoon around the pool. However, as the afternoon drew on, the clouds increased. So, we relaxed in our room and then sat in the lounge area where we could update the blog. The phone rang to inform us that our massage had been double booked. So that was the end of that.

In the evening we made use of the massive bath with candles, Champagne and bath salts. Very relaxing indeed.

We popped into town for another great value meal. The pound has strengthened even more, we now get over 15 Rand to the pound. Amazing! You can buy a very large four bedroom detached luxury pad here with masses of land for less than £200K.

Africa – 6th Oct 2008 – Day 35

After a typical South African breakfast of yogurt, cereals, toast, cold meats and cheese we put on our walking clobber and hit the trail for 8.45am.

We had decided today would be an exercise day, John had chosen the trail, a 16k hike to the top of a mountain, just outside the town, called Blaupunt.

The weather was sunny but cool. We found the park area, crossed three fords and began the hike. It took a while to find the trail, which was marked by White pained foot prints. After half an hour we came across the sign marking the trail to the top. On the way we walked through some great flora and forna, including hundreds of large white lilies. Some of the flowers were 9” across. At some points on the valley floor, we were walking up small rivers, managing to keep our feet dry using well placed rocks. A lot of trees were down, making some of the path quite tricky to navigate. We came across many different brightly coloured flowers. The over riding scent was of curry, mint and lemon given off by the plants and bushes along the trail.

Once off the valley floor we began the upward hike which went on for almost two hours. At times we were on our hands and knees navigating the endless switch backs up to the top of the mountain. Near the top, we came across a form of heather with the most flowers we have even seen.

We reached the top at just after mid day, exhausted. It was probably one of the most tiring hikes we have every done. The views were amazing but the wind was blowing a hoolie. After a 15 minute stop, be started the trip home. To begin with, the trail was OK, but as we walked further down the trail became very steep and we became more and more exhausted as the heat of the day increased.

As we reached the valley floor, we came across lots of frogs, a few deer and a troop of noisy monkeys.

We eventually reached the park office where we had to pay 40 rand. Luckily the lady had plenty of water as our water bottles had run out.

We eventually reached our B&B a full 7 hours and 10 minutes after we began.

After a shower and a quick rest, we walked to the local café for coffee and cakes.

We chilled around the pool and then walked to the local posh hotel for our evening meal which was awful. The hotel was like something out of the 50’s and the food tasted like it had been in the oven all that time.

We walked back to our B&B and did not see anyone. This place is a little spooky, it had the feel of a deserted town any time after 6pm.

Africa – 5th Oct 2008 – Day 34

Today we left Hermanus for our next destination, Montagu, in the wine region, north of the coast. The lady at La Fontaine suggested we visit another bay en route. So we drove along the coast to Arniston, the most southerly point in Africa.

As we drove the clouds began to build. When we arrived at Arniston, we were not that impressed. The bay was very pretty and Whales were around. We walked into one of the old parts of the town and quickly regretted it. The place was full of small stone cottages, littered with old bikes and fridges and full of fighting dogs.



We walk out of the area back down to the bay where we befriended a collie dog who wanted to play. He followed us up the beach until we threw stones which he quickly fetched back to us.

The sun began to come out so we sat on the stone bench looking for the Whales. Suddenly a large Whales breached, heaving about 70% of his bulk into the air, crashing down with a huge splash. As always the camera was in the bag!!



We jumped into the car and drove to the other side of the town. What a contrast. We came across a wonderful bay, with white sand, turquoise sea and yet more Whales. John went for a paddle in the sea which is both the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean, as this is where they meet. The sea was very cold, but some people were swimming anyway.

We left Arniston, heading north for Montagu. The clouds quickly melted away as we drove North along the 319 and then the 317. This route is wonderful, starting with wide open rolling hills, full of sheep, cows, horses, ostrich and these amazingly pink flowers.

The roads are very long and very straight snaking up and over the rolling hills. The colours of the fields were constantly changing with the odd peaty river meandering through the countryside. As we neared the mountains the vista grew wider and wider.

We stopped at smallish town called Bonnievale for a drink. However, we decided to have a small snack. Fiona had a chicken pitta and John had a Chicken Liver Pitta. However, when they arrived they were huge and delicious and cost £2.50 each. The whole meal came to £6.50 including a tea and a water. South Africa is such good value for us Brits.

We finished our meals and phoned our respective parents. Good news. John’s Dad is beginning to feel better and is now back home. Fiona’s Mum & Dad were also fine but not too impressed with the Scottish weather and lack of blog!!

We drove to Montagu and found our next B&B, The Malherbe Guest House
(see http://www.malherbe-guesthouse.com/ ). We have a great garden villa opposite the swimming pool and main garden. We settled in, walked into town and then crashed out around the pool enjoying the sun and the higher temperatures than we experienced along the coast.

It being a Sunday, many restaurants were shut, so we went to one of the few that were open and had a small meal.

Africa – 4th Oct 2008 – Day 33

We woke up to a great sunny day, the wind had calmed right down. We had breakfast on the terrace with the glass windows open. The scene from the terrace is just amazing, yet again many Whales in the bay. We were lucky enough to see a Whale breach 5 times, yet again no camera to capture the event.

We walked down to the rocks near the hotel. Fiona searched for breaching Whales, John was mesmerized by the size of the waves crashing against the rocks. The waves here have been huge ever since we arrived.

We walked down to the small port for 10.30, where we paid our money for the Whale Watching boat trip.

The trip was very disappointing as we only went about 200 yards out of the harbor wall and watched five Whales with about 70 other people. We did see them slightly closer, but not much. Certainly not worth the money!!

We walked down to the beach front bar, Bientang’s Cave, and had a wee drink in the last of the sun. We watched a young chap jump in the sea and then struggle to get out. We could not work out why he jumped in as the currents here are very strong and they get the odd White Shark pottering around. At one time he was begin pushed against the rocks by the waves.

He eventually got out and then proceeded to try and dry off. Very odd!

The boat trip had made us quite cold, so we came back to the B&B, had a hot bath and then a quick snooze, before watching the Whales from our terrace.
We went to the Fisherman’s Cottage restaurant for our evening meal. We both had the sea food curry which was delicious. However, the restaurant was a bit chilly, even though they had a fire.

Africa – 2nd Oct 2008 – Day 31

The weather overnight had been very wet and windy but we woke up to blue skies and sunshine but still very windy.

We had breakfast then decided to go to a museum in Cape Town called district 6 (it had been recommended by a couple we met in Namibia.

The museum was very small but the message very poignant. When we got inside, 30 black school kids arrived and the main guy at the museum gave them a 30 minute presentation on the history of district 6. Basically all races lived there happily until the late 60’s when it was decided to move all coloured people to small council type accommodation outside cape town. This went on until the 80’s when eventually apartheid was got rid off. The guy doing the talk had lived through this process and was very interesting to listen to. We couldn’t happen but notice that all the teachers accompanying the kids were white which seemed a little odd.

When we came out of the museum the weather had improved, it was really sunny and the wind had reduced a lot, so we decided to make our way up to Table Mountain. You can either walk up or take a cable car, we decided to try the walk up. The walk up was really hard, it was made up of stone boulder steps which were huge, felt like you were taking 2 steps at a time. We climbed up for about 40 minutes then you start to climb through a gully to take you to the top, this was even steeper and we were totally shattered at the top, we met several people on our way up, it took about 1 hour and 40 mins. The fauna was also very varied, some great coloured cactus type plants and we also saw 2 sheep on the mountain side.

Once we reached the top we had a quick bite before heading towards the various lookout points where you can get stunning photo’s of both the Atlantic coast and Cape town. When we first reached the top it was misty and very cold so we made our way to the cable car where there was a café, we had a coffee and tea to warm up.

Once we left the café the sun had come out and the wind dropped and we got some really nice photo’s from the top of table mountain. We started our climb back down to the car park, the climb down was considerably easier than going up and we were down in about 1 hour 30 mins, but our legs were pretty weak by this point.

We drove back to Whale Cottage, then we took the video’s we’d hired the night before and got out Kite Runner which is based on a book a read some time ago.

We went to a restaurant called the 12 apostles for dinner, it is perched below the mountains with the same name and has great views. We sat down behind an English couple with a small child, and made our order, Fiona having fish of the day and John having a huge sea food platter. Whilst waiting for the main course we started to get a little fed up of the couple and kid behind, the little girl had a playstation type toy which was playing music very loudly, which we felt wasn’t really on. We spoke to the restaurant staff, who said they’d move us and that they fully understood. They moved us to a seat right by the window which was great. The food was yet again really wonderful and the wine.

We went back to Whale Cottage and watched the Kite Runner which was pretty close to the book, but much of the dialogue is sub titled which takes some concentration to keep up with the plot.

Tomorrow we are going to Hermanus where hopefully we will see lots of Whales.

Africa – 3rd Oct 2008 – Day 32

We had breakfast and said goodbye to Whale Cottage in Camps Bay.

We headed to the Kirstenbosch botanical gardens just outside of cape town centre. The gardens have a spectacular setting with the 12 apostles mountains as a back drop. The gardens are kept immaculate. The colours of the flowers were spectacular especially the Protea family which look a cross between a Scottish thistle and cactus.

There were also lots of very brightly coloured small birds having a great time collecting nectar from the protea flowers. Our legs were still suffering a little from the steep climb up Table Mountain the day before. Just as we were leaving the gardens it started to rain.

After the gardens we started our journey to Hermanus. The road signs here aren’t great but we managed to get onto the main road and headed out of Cape town. The road sides are filled with shanty towns, they went on for miles and miles. There are large signs saying that these shanty towns are to be redeveloped.

We decided to take the coastal route to Hermanus which was very pretty, the weather was sunny so showed of the scenery perfectly, the colour of the sea was deep blue. Right along the coast line you can see the outlines of Whales.

It took us 2 ½ hours to reach Hermanus. Our B&B, La Fontaine, is situated right opposite the beach. Our room (room 1) is huge and looks directly onto the sea where we could see the Whales. Our room has a massive bathroom and a massive dressing room and large balcony to sit out and watch the world go by. This is by far the best place we have stayed so far.

La Fontaine - Hermanus
We took a walk along the sea front, the waves were amazing, some of the largest we have ever seen. Before long we came to a viewing area where there were several Whales performing for us, we got some great shots of their tales being flicked up.

We headed to a bar called Beitang which Shauna had recommended. You get there by walking back into town from the B&B and walking down some steps to the bar which sits on the rocks. It has a fantastic view of the bay and the Whales which were only 30 feet away. There was a mother and baby in the bay having fun. The mother was rolling from side to side and seemed to love the large waves. After a relaxed glass of wine we headed back to the B&B.

Just before we went out for dinner, Fiona was sitting on the balcony watching the whales, when one lifted itself out of the water and ‘breached’, of course she had put the camera away so doesn’t have this on film but an amazing sight to watch.

We went to a small Italian restaurant just a few minutes from the B&B. It had a great atmosphere, the chef was also very good, we had the Pizza special which was fab.

We then retired back to the B&B for a nights rest as we were really tired.

Africa – 1st Oct 2008 – Day 30

After a great nights sleep, we had a healthy breakfast and then headed out to town to try and book onto a Robben Island tour (where Nelson Mandela) was jailed. We could not book for today, so booked for a trip on the 11th of October.

After a coffee, we found some great African pottery and ended up buying a Fish and a picture.

We headed down to town of Boulder to see the colony of penguins. They were great fun to watch up close although they don’t smell so great!!

We then headed down to the cape (the most southerly point in Africa) via Simon Town. The cape was quite impressive. We walked down a trail, stopping off to see a beautiful beach (dai beach). The waves were huge and we saw some seals in the surf.

We eventually reached the end point of the cape (Cape of good Hope) when Fiona spied a huge black rain cloud heading our way. We rushed back along the trail reaching the car just before the heavens opened.

On the way back we came across some more baboons. Some idiots were feeding them out of their car. We had seem some earlier in the day. A baby baboon had climbed onto our car bonnet before quickly sliding off and hitting the ground!!
We drove back to our hotel and kept seeing some large Southern Right Whales in the bays.

We had a great meal at the Tuscany Beach Restaurant. Fifi had this amazing fish kebab on a small sword like device which allowed you to dribble butter down the fish. Fiona thought the Kingklip fish was the best she had had. John had a wonderful Paella.
On the way back we visited a near by town called Sea Point to get a couple of DVD’s to watch in our room. We watched a film called The Bucket List, a very nice film indeed.

Africa – 30th Sept 2008 – Day 29

The alarm woke us with a start today at 6am, even though we had not asked for a wake up call!!

We eventually rose at 7am when the building works opposite the hotel kicked off. Wehad breakfast at 8am and then tried to log onto the BA web site to check in on line. The wireless network was still down. The manager came over and tried his PC but the network was broken.

So, we checked that it was OK to walk down to town, found an internet café on the map, dropped anything of any value and went off on our travels. After 20 minutes walking, we realised that we had forgotten the BA login details, so we had to trudge back up the hill to get them from our room.

On the way back into town we received some very strange looks from the locals. They are not used to seeing a couple of Brits walking down the road. Some nodded to us another asked us for money. John gave a wee blind man 10N$ which will do him for the day.

We found the internet café which boasted that it was the biggest and best in Africa. We paid our 10N$ and tried to log into the BA web site and Johns email. Neither worked.

Eventually the shop owner moved us to a new PC and everything was fine. Even though BA had sent us an email saying we could book in on line, our flight did not allow for it.

John sent Audley travel yet another email complaining about sending us to a building site for our last days in Namibia. Much of our holiday has been great but they have managed to muck up quite a few things.

Just before leaving for the airport, John got chatting with a Newcastle lass who had just come back from a three week horse riding trek from Windhoek to Swakapmond. She really enjoyed it but 8 hour days followed by putting the horses to bed had taken its toll. She recommended a web site to us called www.inthesaddle.com .

At 12.30 the cab picked us up and stopped at some other hotels to pick up guests. Who should be coming to the airport with us but the English couple we met at Haub lodge.

We had a sandwich and drinks at the departure gate and bought some socks for Fiona and a couple of African candles. The flight was on time and everything went smoothly.

On arrival at Joburg, we collected our bags, walked to the domestic departures, checked in and waited for our next flight to Cape Town.

The flight went well. John had a young African chap next to him who had not flown before. John did his best to relax him, by telling him not to worry about any bumps!!

We landed on time, collected our bags and headed for the car hire office. We drove out of the office following the directions given to us by our next hotel.

However, we managed to get lost and ended up in the docks area. We retraced our steps and eventually found the road which took us to Camps Bay. We found the hotel, checked in and went to bed.

Africa – 1st Oct 2008 – Day 30

After a great nights sleep, we had a healthy breakfast and then headed out to town to try and book onto a Robben Island tour (where Nelson Mandela) was jailed. We could not book for today, so booked for a trip on the 11th of October.

After a coffee, we found some great African pottery and ended up buying a Fish and a picture.

We headed down to town of Boulder to see the colony of penguins. They were great fun to watch up close although they don’t smell so great!!

We then headed down to the cape (the most southerly point in Africa) via Simon Town. The cape was quite impressive. We walked down a trail, stopping off to see a beautiful beach (dai beach). The waves were huge and we saw some seals in the surf.

We eventually reached the end point of the cape (Cape of good Hope) when Fiona spied a huge black rain cloud heading our way. We rushed back along the trail reaching the car just before the heavens opened.

On the way back we came across some more baboons. Some idiots were feeding them out of their car. We had seem some earlier in the day. A baby baboon had climbed onto our car bonnet before quickly sliding off and hitting the ground!!
We drove back to our hotel and kept seeing some large Southern Right Whales in the bays.

We had a great meal at the Tuscany Beach Restaurant. Fifi had this amazing fish kebab on a small sword like device which allowed you to dribble butter down the fish. Fiona thought the Kingklip fish was the best she had had. John had a wonderful Paella.
On the way back we visited a near by town called Sea Point to get a couple of DVD’s to watch in our room. We watched a film called The Bucket List, a very nice film indeed.

Africa – 29th Sept 2008 – Day 28

After breakfast we said our goodbyes and drove to Winkhoek, a five hour drive. We had decided not to go to the mountains but to chill out by the hotel pool instead.

However, as we approached the hotel we saw a large cement lorry delivering a load right next to our next hotel. Yes, Audley has done it again. We had come here to relax by the pool but the pool was overlooked by a large team of workmen and the building work noise was constant. We tried to contact our travel agent but lack of phone signal and internet connection thwarted our attempts.

After settling into our very nice room, we drove down to town to get some Namibian Dollars as we needed to fill Winston up with Diesel and all petrol stations in Namibia refuse credit or debit cards.

We found a bank and John ran over and joined the security queue for the ATM machine. Here everything that has value is overseen by security men, including all ATM machines.

After returning to the building site, we sat around the pool, trying to relax but failing miserably.

We endured the conditions until 5.20 pm when the car hire man turned up, inspected Winston and then drove him away. We will miss Winni. He got us out of a few sticky situations and kept us safe and cool in Namibia.

John managed to contact his Mum this afternoon. Unfortunately Johns Dad is still in hospital. His hand and arm are improving but he has now had an allergic reaction to the new antibiotics so he is covered with a very itchy rash. They now want to keep him in hospital until they can sort out the rash and confirm that the infection in his hand and arm is under control.

At 7pm our taxi arrived to take us to Joe’s Beer Bar. As we came out of the car port we noticed some armed guards. They seem to guard certain areas of the city.

Our taxi took us too the door and we agreed to phone him and to wait for him to come into the bar and collect us once we had finished.

The bar was in fact a very good restaurant. John had prawn Chow Mein and Fifi had a massive beef fillet. Both meals were fantastic, Fiona saying it was the best steak she had ever had.

Our taxi arrived on time but it also had a German man inside who had asked for a ride!!

He had just arrived in Windhoek. He said we was addicted to the place. John said he was not surprised due to Namibia being so Germanic. He reacted badly, saying this simply was not true, as if John had meant it as a criticism, which it was not.
We sat in bed with a cuppa and watched the USA $700 Billion Financial Bail out Bill fail in congress. What a mess the banking world is in, and it’s all down to greed. At least one of the speakers said just this. We just heard that Bradford and Bingly Building Society have been Nationalised. Where has all the money gone? Where have all those billions of profits they have spent the last 10 years telling us about gone to???

Africa – 28th Sept 2008 – Day 27

After a good breakfast we said goodbye to the staff at the lodge and headed off to our next destination, Zerba River Lodge.

Our drive took us along some very bumpy road and we crossed our first real river in Winston who coped very well.

On the way we suddenly came across a couple of Springbok, a mother and baby. They bounded ahead of the car so we stopped to watch them. Suddenly the Mother panicked and flew off the road, running bang into a wire fence at great speed and getting her back hoof caught in the wire. We quickly jumped out and John went over to see if he could help. By now she was on her side and very still but still breathing.

John managed to undo some of the wire and release her hoof but she just laid motionless on the floor. For a while she was still breathing but then just stopped. We both felt very sad.

We moved away and looked for the baby. After a while we found the baby who was now running from one side of the road to the other bashing itself into the wire fence. There was nothing we could do to help as we could not have caught it. It was so disturbing to see that we decided the best thing to do was to leave in the hope it would calm down.

Not long after we came across a huge monitor lizard, probably three foot long.

When we got to the lodge, the owner phoned a friend who promised to go out immediately and see if they could find the baby.

After a drink we decided to do the five hour self guided walk around the mountains by the lodge. We set off with a packed lunch and five litres of water to boot.

The walk was very good with views all around. After an hour John was so hot and sweaty, he decided to commune with nature, so whipped off his clothes and walked for half an hour in his birthday suite before the roasting sun forced him to pop his shorts and shirt back on. He had read about some famous climbers doing the same to stay cool. It works!!

We shortly came across a couple of Clip Springer antelopes, who watched us walking for ages.

We hit a hard climb to the top of the plateau. The views at the top were spectacular. We sat down and had lunch. We then sang a couple of songs (one about Heather) and concluded that probably nobody else had sung so well at that location before, especially as only we know the song (and Heather of course).

We saw a great deal of Zebra poo, but no Zebra (we now know a great deal about African Animal Poo).

We stopped at the Quiver Tree, so named because locals used a part of the tree to make a quiver for their arrows. It is certainly a very good looking tree and very unique.

We headed down although we almost took the wrong track. We arrived back at the lodge after only four and a half hours. Good going. The lodge owner, Rob, was very impressed.

We had a quick beer and then sat moved into our room and chilled around the pool (yet another pool that is so cold you can hardly get into it. One of the three dogs they have loves the pool!!

Apparently there are just four archeologists staying with us tonight, so it should be an interesting evening!!

After a relaxing afternoon, we dressed for dinner and then sat outside our room taking in the wonderful views and the setting sun.

We then walked down to the main area and met the archeologists, two English men, a Dutch Woman and a Namibian young girl.

The older English chap seemed to be the group leader with the younger one being very English and a bit bumbling. We chatted about their work, but soon got a bit fed up with the topic which seems to be a bit flowery for our liking.

We went into the lounge for dinner which was a game stew with plenty of fresh veg. To start we had an asparagus salad, dessert was home made ice cream, very good indeed!!

After dinner we chatted for a bit and then went to our room, moved our chairs out into the garden and sat watching the starts and the milky way. We have never seen such a sky so full of stars. This area of Namibia is well known for it and it didn’t fail to impress us.

Africa – 27th Sept 2008 – Day 26

Today we awoke to a very strong and blustery wind blowing across the prairie. We decided to have breakfast indoors due to the vicious wind. Tim and Freda joined us and we had a good chat over a full English.

We said our goodbyes (T&F are off to South Africa today) and headed back to our room. John went to the office and connected his PC to the web and wrote the blog.

Afterwards, we headed down to the horse stables to say hi. They have great looking horses here. Very fit and very friendly.

The wind gradually dropped so we sat around the pool chilling.

Come 3pm, we jumped into Winston and headed to the Sossusveli Lodge for our evening quad bike nature trail. The lodge looked very nice indeed with a large pool, accommodation that is a mixture of brick and tent and a cool looking bar area. A film crew were there filming a documentary on African wildlife.

We drove to the quad bike area with a family of four Namibians. The father was extremely fat, the mother thin and the young girls OK. Turns out the father is a crown prosecutor for the Namibian government.

We were shown how the bikes worked, given 5 minutes to get used to them and then we were off.

The outward journey was fun but a bit tame. John kept taking his bike off tracks for a bit of fun, much to the amusement of the Namibians. At one point the girls were so slow, John got stuck in the sand and had to get off and push the bike up!!

We had a sundowner drink and chatted away to the Namibian family who could not get their head around us having year of travelling.

John asked the guide if the trip back could be a little faster. And it was!! We all set off at a fast pace with John racing the guide. These bikes are great fun and can really fly.

Towards the end we Fiona, John and the guide were having a great time, flying through the dust and sand towards the starting point.

We reached the end of the trip covered in dust but exhilarated.

As we drove back to our lodge, the sun began to set on the mountains. We just had to stop as the colours changed by the minute. Namibia has unique mountains which almost look fake.

After showering and changing we headed back for dinner. Alex (our main guide) had reserved a great table for us under the stars. We had a pork meal with not much pork. However the choir struck up and entertained us well.