New Zealand - 26th Oct 2008 - Day 3

Sun streamed into the room this morning, so we decided to get up and have an early breakfast so we could drive to the west side of Auckland and do some walking.



By the time we had finished breakfast the clouds were moving in. By the time we set off in the car it was beginning to rain and the air was cold.

We drove for over an hour trying to find the walking area. John ended up using his iPhone to find out where we were.

The rain began to tip down. We ended up stopping at a garage. Luckily the lady knew exactly where we needed to go. We not that far at all.

When we reached the beginning of the walk, the sun began to peep out from behind the clouds. However, after half an hours walking the heavens opened and the heavy rain and hail began to batter us. We tried sheltering under some trees but the rain soon came through.

After ten minutes we were soaked through, so decided to make our way back to the car. By the time we reached the car the rain had stopped but the cold wind was still making things unpleasant.

We drove to a near by beach. The wind was blowing the dark sand along the beach, stinging our legs.





We thought about trying the first walk again, but the wind was too cold. It was strange to experience this weather as this is rain forest and it looks as if it should be hot and sticky.

As we made our way back to Auckland the breaks on the car began making a terrible sound. we stopped off at the car rental office, again! This time we upgraded to a newer model. It is still very good value but we feel better in the new car.

In the afternoon the weather began to clear, so we drove to Devonport, the other side of the inlet. The walk was bracing in the strong wind, but we found a beach and bay which were out of the wind. By now the sun was out so we warmed ourselves on a beach bench.

The weather so far has not been that great. Auckland is a nice enough place, but the bad weather does not show it off at its best.

In the evening we went to an Italian restaurant called Da Vinci's. However, the restaurant was at the very top of Auckland. It took over half an hour to walk too and the last ten minutes were almost vertical. By the time we arrived John was sweating and knackered.

The meal was very poor. John had a pizza which looked and tasted like a frozen job. Fiona had a steak with tomato and Cheese which tasted of nothing!! Not a great recommendation from our hotel staff at all!

On the way home we brought some sweets as we still felt hungry. We watched another video and fell asleep.

New Zealand - 25th Oct 2008 - Day 2

The wind and rain had been keeping us awake during the long night. Jet lag had kept us awake for some of the night. At 3am we watched BBC news over a cuppa. At 6am we woke up properly and had breakfast at 7.30am but not before taking some photo's from our view of a very surreal looking Auckland Tower. The cloud was low enough to touch the top mast and the pink lighting gave the whole tower a strange look.





The boats opposite our room looked great in the dawn light.



The rain was not too heavy so we decided to take the car to a local aquarium, given a good write up in the Lonely Planet guide to Auckland.

On the way to the Aquarium the clouds grew blacker and the heavens opened. It threw down rain for half an hour. We arrived at the Aquarium which was OK, but not as wonderful as we had expected. They have a large indoor penguin enclosure with water, snow etc. The under water walkway was good fun. They have some large sharks in the tanks including a brown one.


The penguins were quite large but our favourites were the tanks of sea horses.

When we came out, John realised he had left the car lights on. Yes, the battery was flat!!

Luckily we had the mobile, so John called the rental company who dispatched a chappie to jump start the car. we had decided earlier to change the car due to a number of noise issues.

We went to the car rental offices and, after a long wait and a cup of coffee, were given our replacement car. It's identical in make and model but this one only has 156,000 miles on the clock and is much less noisy.

We brought the car back to the hotel, changed and headed for the tourist info office in order to find some good local walks. Walking is a good way to get over jet lag (according to Fiona).

We chose our walk and headed off. The weather was now not so good with frequent heavy showers. we walked through the local park, via the huge University campus and up to Mount Eden, which had wonderful views over the city. Well they would have been wonderful had it not been for the heavy rain and strong winds!!

We headed back to the City visited a few shops and returned back to the hotel in the pouring rain.

We had walked for four hours and the jet lag was not so bad. Well done Fiona!!

We rested, watched the city and the rain from our huge windows and then dressed for dinner. We had decided on a local Indian restaurant.

The restaurant was on the Quay front but it was not that good. The waitor was on another planet and the Chicken Tikka Massala we had was very hot and not that flavoursome.

Still, the beer and wine was good!!

We watched a horror movie, called Shutter, in bed and drifted of to sleep.

New Zealand - 24th Oct 2008 - Day 1

Travelling long distances is never much fun but the flights from London to Auckland via Singapore and Sydney were not too bad.

BA managed to put us right in the middle of the club cabin on the first leg of the journey and would have put us back in the same seats for the second leg. However, John managed to get the check in staff to swap us out for a window seat.

By the end of the last flight we were beginning to flag. We arrived at Auckland, picked up our bags and took the free bus to our car rental office. We had booked the cheapest possible car hire and boy did it show.

The Toyota was very old, had 176,000 miles on the clock, made a wining noise but had character. We drove into the centre of Auckland and found our hotel on the quay side area.

The Westin is a new hotel and very nice to boot. Our room has a harbour view and is light and airy. (See: www.westin.com/auckland) .

The weather was shooty shiny but dry. We fought the jet lag and walked around the trendy dock area, checking out the restaurants, bars and other activities. Earlier we had watched people throwing themselves off the side of the Auckland Tower in a kind of ab sailing event.

John was feeling very fatigued with the jet lag. We walked for about two hours and then headed back to the room for a bath and a snooze. First impressions of Auckland are favourable. Very English, very clean and trendy in places.

We ordered room service, watched a video and fell asleep.

Africa – 10th Oct 2008 – Day 40

We had booked our tickets for the infamous Robben Island, Nelson Mandela’s place of incarceration during the apartheid years, over a week ago, so popular is the Island and the hunger for understanding the madness that was apartheid.

After a quick breakfast, we headed for the docks. As usual, we arrived too early, so we had a coffee and watched seals in the dock area. Suddenly, they announced the bridge was to close, leaving us stranded on the wrong side. We legged it across and were soon queuing for the fast catamaran across to the Island.

We sat up top in the sun. Bad move! After just 5 minutes from port we were being freeze dried by the Atlantic ocean. We persevered, arriving at Robben Island like a couple of blocks of ice.

Once on dry land we soon warmed up and walked with about 50 others to the first stop of our tour, the infamous jail where the political prisoners were held. Our tour guide was an ex inmate who had supported the ANC. The tour was actually quite disappointing, as many of his stories were about his experiences in other jails.

We saw the cell in which Nelson was held for 18 years. He had a hard time, with a very slim mat and just three blankets to sleep on all year round. They were forced to endure 8 hours of hard labour a day, breaking lime stones. Nelson went partially blind during his experience.

The amazing thing, is that these ex political prisoners do not preach revenge or hatred. Just that we all learn from the experience and are able to forgive and reconciliate.

We returned to the mainland, but this time inside the boat.

When we reached the hotel, we chilled out around the pool deck. Unfortunately, a live band was playing badly just down the beach, so we had to endure three hours of that. It was so loud that even the iPod could not drown the noise.

We showered, changed and left for the airport. We checked into the BA lounge (from where l am typing this blog entry) and awaited our return to the UK, reading the very down beat news about the UK. Ho hum!!

Heathers picture (on the laptop) managed to lift our spirits, as did the wine and bubbly. We have enjoyed Africa, but six weeks has seemed like a long time. Maybe, its due to us getting towards the end of our year off. Traveling is great fun and not working is even better, but maybe, just maybe, you can have too much of a good thing…….. Or maybe not!!

We have certainly missed Heather.

New Zealand is next.

Africa – 9th Oct 2008 – Day 39

Smoked salmon on toast in the morning sun, sitting under a pagoda of vines. What a great way to start a day. The weather was perfect this morning, so we made the most of it before checking out of our hotel. It’s a great place, our room was perfect.

During breakfast a visiting dog came into the court yard, to be met by the owners four dogs. For a while we thought blood would be spilt. Certainly teeth were on show and a lot of growling. It ended without too much violence!

We drove down the N1 towards Cape Town, but came in the wring side, so it took a lot of Fiona’s navigation skills to get us on the correct path to Camps Bay and our next hotel, The Bay Hotel.

We checked into the hotel, swapped our back room for a beach front room and then drove to the beginning point for out hike up to The Lions Head. This impressive peak, stands on its own besides Table Mountain.

We began the hike easily enough, passing a launching pad for Para gliders on he way up. We had seen a couple floating down to the bay below.

To start with, we had assumed you could not walk to the very top as it looked far too steep. However, we met a couple coming down who informed us otherwise. The hike began harder and steeper until we found ourselves by a long metal chain. Luckily for ud a local couple were about to scupper up it. They assured us it was safe, so we began our ascent up the rock face, holding onto the chain for dear life.

We made it too the top of the chain. The hike continued up very steep rock until we reached the top of Lions Head. What an amazing view of the bays below, cape town, the twelve apostles and table mountain.

We met a local chap, who took a couple of photo’s of us. He had been in the UK in March to see some football matches. He was amazed how cold it had been!!

The walk down was equally as challenging and we reached the bottom, three hours after the start.

We drove back to the hotel, shared a sandwich and then went down to the beach which is opposite the hotel. John wanted to swim in the Atlantic. However, the water was incredibly cold, much colder than the UK. It took him a while to get under the water but the large waves helped with the process.

We made our way up to the sun deck and pool area and chilled for the rest of the afternoon. It was very pleasant and the sun was not too hot.

We then made our way to one of our favorite restaurants in Camps bay called Tuscany Beach. They gave us a window seat which had a fantastic view but all the windows were open, so after a few minutes Fiona got very cold so we asked to be moved to some where a little warmer. The waiter told us they wanted to close the windows but 2 guys sitting at one of the tables had to leave before they could do this as the doors were concertinaed against their table.

We had a lovely meal, and even at the end the 2 guys hadn’t moved so they still had the windows at the front of the Restaurant open, at this point it was really cold, so we were very glad we had asked to be moved.

We got back to the hotel at about 0900 and decided to watch a video.

Tomorrow is our last day in Africa, we have had a fantastic time, we have seen so much on this leg of our trip but we are ready to come home for a few days before our next adventure to New Zealand.

Africa – 8th Oct 2008 – Day 38

Better weather greeted us this morning. Cloudy nut dry. So, after a wee breakfast, we headed down town, purchased our hiking day permits (£1.50 each) and drove up to the park.

The walk began slowly, but after a while the weather began to improve. We reached the mountain ridge where we came across a very wet part of the walk.

We turned back and walked back down. As we descended the sun came out. As we neared the last mile, a large troupe of baboons joined us. The walk ended in brilliant sunshine.

Fiona had an idea, what about visiting a few vineyards by pedal bike????

We drove down town, hired two bikes and began pedaling to our first location. Bad idea Fiona!! The cycle was all up hill. We arrived at the first vineyard, hot sweaty and out of breath. John was not in the mood for a tasting, so Fiona tasted three which were fine.

We decided to visit the place where Nelson Mandela was released, but after cycling for almost an hour, we realised it was too far. So we checked the map and found a route taking us through some breathtaking country. The road soon turned into a dirt track.

We climbed a huge hill and ten down the other side to arrive at our hotel, where we sat in the sun and recovered over a cup of coffee and tea.

We cycled back into town, dropped of the bikes and had a wee glass of bubbles to celebrate our three hours of hard hiking followed by three hours of cycling up hills. Shauna would have been impressed!!

We read our books on the sun loungers, before watching Shrek 3 on the TV.

We had a pizza in town. Great pizza but not much atmosphere!

Tomorrow we are driving back to Camps Bay and the next day our Africa adventure ends.

Africa – 8th Oct 2008 – Day 37

The sound of heavy rain greeted us this morning. We pulled back the curtains, the valley was shrouded in black cloud, the wind was light but the rain was falling in torrents.

We had breakfast and decided that it was too miserable to go for a hike. Fiona thought it would still be a good idea to go for a walk into town. John tried to delay things by doing emails first.

Sky News was playing in the lounge area and the news was particularly depressing. The UK government had just announced a £200 Billion bail out for the banks, but the markets were still falling. More banks had said they were in trouble and a big Icelandic bank has gone to the wall with 350,000 UK deposits at risk. What a bloody mess. One minute the banks are paying their top brass tens of millions in bonus payouts, golden hellos and platinum goodbyes, the next minute they expect us to bail them out. What a nerve!!

After emails and two cups of tea, the rain was still heavy. We walked into town with an umbrella each. We booked a restaurant, visited the Tourist Information office and then walked back. The day was cold and wet, not what was expected.

Driving seemed the only option, so we went to Stellenbosch, another wine producing area near by. The weather over there was better but the town was a real disappointment. It is more of an industrial wine production centre than a pretty wine producing area.

We wanted to find a particular producer called JC L’Roux. Whilst trying to find the place we drove into a large shanty area just outside of the centre.

It’s the one thing that has disappointed us about South Africa. They may have dumped the worse aspects of apartheid, but the black population are still woefully poor compared to the Whites, which still seem to own everything. The shanty’s are a disgrace to this country. Black people regularly beg on the street, especially children. All menial work is undertaken by the blacks. South Africa has a great deal of changing to do, but nobody seems in any rush.
We found the vineyard and enjoyed the £2 tasting event. We ended up buying two mini bottles of a sparking red, which John loves. We also bought a bottle of bubbles for Johns Dad.

We came back to our Hotel and snoozed for a few hours, due to the effects of the wine tasting!

In the evening we went back to The Salmon Bar for s light evening meal.

We watched a weird film called 300. We only managed about an hour before turning off the TV and zonking out.

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.

Africa – 26th Sept 2008 – Day 25

At 5.30 our wake up knock at the door arrived. Far too early!!

We dressed in a daze, went to the lodge for a coffee and then jumped into the Lodge 4x4’s for our journey to Sossusvlei. Six of us ended up in one car, Tim and Freda plus a nice Dutch couple from Brussels. The dusty drive to the park gate took us 30 minutes. At 7am, the gates opened and we began our 60Km drive to our ultimate destination Dead Vlei. On route we stopped at some small dunes where two hot air balloons were passing near by. Our guide, Alex, talked us through Dune facts and figures and then said he would find us a White Lady spider and a side winder snake (much to Fiona’s disgust).

Whilst Fiona took pictures higher up on the dune, we looked for the spiders and snakes. Not long into our search, Alex found the tell tale signs including a smell! Within minutes he had found the snake. It looked amazing as it wound it’s way around the sand in a side ways movement. The snake is very poisonous so we had to keep our distance.

Soon after, Alex found the White Lady spider deep in the sand. After a while the spider relaxed and we took turn’s holding her.

We retuned to the 4x4 and drove past some wonderful dunes, arriving at the famous Dune 45, so called as it is 45Km’s from the park gate. We considered climbing it but decided to go to the largest Dune in the world. The famous Bid Daddy Dune, standing at 365 meters.

Alex dropped us off by a dry lake and we walked to the base of the Dune. As always, these things look bigger when get to the bottom of them.

We began our decent and soon realised we had bitten off more than we had realised. On a sand dune like this, it’s two steps forward and one and a half steps back. We reached the first stopping point. Tim and Freda were exhausted, as were we all. They decided to not walk further up, so Fiona, myself and the Dutch couple continued. Alex joined us half way up. We walked for an hour along the ridge of soft sand formed by the wind. The sand was soft but hard enough to form a kind of ridge path. We made frequent stops and reached the top after and hour and a half, a good speed according to Alex.

We were all truly exhausted but views of Dead Vlei below re focused our minds. The way down to the vlei (this means an area where water can collect however this vlai has not had water in it for 1000 years) below was the fun bit. It was a very steep sandy slope which resembled a black run in skiing. You just had to run down it vertically, the sand made a very strange noise as you tumbled down, a loud sort of squeaking noise. The sand was such that when you ran down it cushioned your steps and felt like you were running on air and in slow motion, it was FAB. It took us about 5 minutes to run down the slope to dead vlei.

Dead vlei looks like a white set of ceramic tiles and is made of lime and mud and is very hard, we walked across it taking pictures of the numerous dead trees which had a stunning background of the red dunes and the piercing blue sky. These made really great photo’s. At the edge of the vlei we met up with Tim and Freda who had walked around big daddy.

We all then headed back to the car, where Alex drive us a few minutes to a picnic stop under a large tree. Here he set up our brunch, which consisted of cereals, eggs, meats, cheese and Champagne. It was wonderful.

We then drove back to the gates, by now the heat was in the late 30’s and there was no one to be seen. When we arrived at the gate, Alex stopped to pay the entrance fee and get some petrol. He then drove us to Sossusveli Lodge so we could check out the quad biking for tomorrow, we booked to go on the sundowner trip which starts at 16:30. Whilst at the lodge we came across the tractor that is being driven by a 35 year old lady all the way from Holland to the south pole. On the way she met up with a dog and they now travel together. We also met her at Solitaire. For more info about her trip see www.tractortractor.org . We then drove the 30 minutes back to the lodge where we caught up on some sleep before meeting Tim and Freda for the sundowner horse ride.

We met our guide, Sam, who took us down to the stables to meet our horses. They were all very happy horses who looked in peak condition. Fiona was teamed up with Ubella, the turbo charged version. John had Johannas, a compact GTI.

Unfortunately John did not bring and jeans to Africa, so after 45 minutes of galloping, his calves were very sore. Still, the galloping was wonderful, even though Fiona’s horse kept stopping as he did not want to leave his friends to far behind!!

When it came to getting off the horses for our sundowner drinks and snacks, we all felt the effects of not having ridden for a while. We sat around our table drinking our G&T’s and watching the sun sink over the mountains. Suddenly, the chap who had been looking after the horses shouted that there was a large scorpion in the camp. We went over to the horses and here he was. About 7” inches in length, blackish crawling quite quickly. Again, we had to keep our distance as a sting from one of these is very painful indeed.

We finished our drinks and snacks and somehow managed to get back onto our horses for the return journey. We walked back due to the darkness closing in. It was wonderful to walk gently back through the dessert with the stars shinning above us. The peace and tranquilly washed over us all and by the time we arrived at the stables we were relaxed but stiff and very sore.

John had managed to rub the skin on his left leg. So, Freda went into nurse mode, promising to bring dressings to dinner.

We staggered back to our room, showered, changed and went back to the lodge to meet Tim and Freda and the Dutch chap who was on his own, due to his wife taking the horse ride and dessert sleep over trip.

During our meal, the staff began to sing local songs and entertained us for about half an hour with dancing and singing. At the end of dinner, Freda dressed Johns friction burns and we went to bed tired but very happy if a little exhausted.

Africa – 25th Sept 2008 – Day 24

We woke up at 8am, had a quick breakfast, checked out and hit the road for our long drive to Dessert Homestead.

Initially the drive was just flat as we drive through the dessert. However, this route, the C14 followed by the C19, turned out to be the best drive so far. Every half an hour the scenery changed. We drove through stunning mountains, twisting gravel passes and long. , long sandy roads. We passed through the tropic of Capricorn and a host of animals on our way to our half way stop at a very small hamlet called Solitaire. We tried the world famous Apple Crumble, not bad but not as good as we have had at home. By now we were in amongst the cactus and hordes of white butterflies.

After a rest, we hit the road again. As we continued the spoil became orange and red and we began to see some dunes appearing on the horizon.

After 5 hours of driving we found the Dessert Homestead lodge. We settled into our new room which has a fantastic view down the valley. We sat around the pool, relaxing. The temperature here is not as hot as other parts of Namibia.

Later on Tim and Freda joined us for a beer. They had also travelled the same stunning route and were staying at Dessert Homestead for a couple of days. We all booked to visit the dunes at Sossusvlei early tomorrow as well as the evening horse sundowner ride.

Freda is a nurse back in the UK, so John showed here is burnt nipples which were now quite hard. Freda said they were not burnt but probably a reaction to a couple of insect bites, one on each nipple! They have begun to itch like mad, but John has resisted scratching them.

We had a very good meal and hit the sack in preparation for our early start.

Africa – 24th Sept 2008 – Day 23

The alarm woke us up at 6.15am. Breakfast was a rapid affair. We jumped in the car and headed for Walvis Bay about 30 minutes drive along the coast.

The weather was calm but very foggy. This town has morning fog for almost 9 months of the year. The car heater was on full to start as the air is damp and chilly in the morning.

As we snaked our way along the skeleton coast, the fog lifted slightly, before coming in again at Walvis Bay.

We met our Kayaking guides at the Mola Mola Eco Kayaking hut, Jean and Barbara. We also met another couple of Brits from Manchester. Tim and his wife. We jumped into the 4x4 and began our journey to the launching beach.

At the beach, we could already see the odd seal face popping out of the cold Atlantic to take a look at us. We donned our kayaking kit, settled into the kayak and launched off into a mixture of sun and hazy fog on a very calm sea.

Immediately the younger seals began leaping around our Kayak, jumping and diving like small torpedoes. We turned right and headed up the coast to the seal colony. Once there the seals came to meet us in their droves. They are so inquisitive and up for fun. Fiona was in the front of the Kayak so received most of the splashes from the seals. They came up to sides of our craft and nibbled the oars. Some just chilled out whilst floating in the sea. The clasp a front and back flipper together and just float like a piece of drift wood.

After some time, we turned out to sea to find the local dolphins. They look quite different from your typical bottle nose.

After half an hour we found them, but they were shy. We managed to get in amongst a pod and had some swimming very close to us. Some other boats came near which excited them for a while. They were great to see in the open sea.

On the way back we were visited by hundreds of seals, both small and very large. They kept us entertained for almost an hour, coming right up to our hands and jumping just inches from the kayak. Suddenly, we looed up to see thousands of Cormorants heading our way in a huge flock. They fly just inches from the sea.

Once back on dry land, we took off our kit and supped some hot drinks. Somehow, Fiona had managed to get a very wet bottom! Just behind us a German couple got stuck in the sand in their vehicle. After much our effort our team managed to get them out. You have to let the air out of your tires and rev the engine in a high gear. Getting stuck out here in sand is not a good idea.

On the drive back, we came across some salt pans, but they were bright pink. The pans contain an algae that secretes a kind of natural dye. The pink water against the white salt and the blue sky looked amazing.

As we drove back to our lodge the fog closed in again as we decided not to quad bike here but to wait until we reach our next destination, Dessert Homestead where they also do horse riding in the dunes.

The kayaking had been great fun but exhausting. So we had a wee rest in our huge bed which we have named Bear, as it has a giant bear like fur top to it which is great to snuggle down into.

We then went into town for a coffee and a wander. We came across a few good shops where we purchased our African memento, a ceramic leopard called Lucy. We then walked back to The Stilts via the sea front where we picked up some lovely smooth pebbles for our earth collection. On the way back we stopped to watch a lone surfer, kite surfing in the strong winds.

After our rest, we showered and dressed in readiness for tonight’s restaurant at The Tug. As we sat in our hut, the sun began to set and wow, what a sun set. We have seen so many wonderful sunsets this year but this one was amazing. After the sun fell into the sea, we jumped into Winston and drove to the tug. However, when we reached The Tug the sunset was even more dramatic but we had left our camera’s at home. It looked as if someone had slapped some bright orange and pink sandy paint onto the sky. The edges looked like neon white paint.

We had the best table in the house, over looking the lapping waves. A great meal was had. A bottle of Brut bubbles in a top restaurant here is only £8.

Tim and Freda joined us later in The Tug. Luckily, they had stopped to photograph the whole sunset, so they will email them when they get back to the UK.

Africa – 23rd Sept 2008 – Day 22

We had a lay in today, 7.30am. After our breakfast, we paid the bill, dais our goodbye’s and hit the road. On our way out of camp, we stopped to take a wee boy to the local hospital. He was at the camp gate and worked at the lodge. He had problems with his eyes. We took him right to the front gates of the hospital. Our good deed for the day!!

Our drive to Swakopmund took us though rapid changes in both scenery and weather. After only one and a half hours on the road, the landscape began to flatten out and we could make out a cloud bank on the horizon. Later we took the C1991 dirt track which took us through an amazing moonscape. As we drove further, the land flattened and quickly turned to sand. We had hit the desert. Suddenly we came across the sand dunes. As we drove on they became larger and larger. As we came closer they looked more and more unreal. The look as smooth as plastic sheeting with many colours. As we drive down the road we saw cars coming directly at us on the wrong side of the road. We had to get off the road and let an enormous convoy pass by, carrying the largest dumper truck you can imagine. They mine a lot of minerals here, no doubt these mega trucks are used at the mine. Just as well we have a 4x4.

As we arrived in Swakopmund, Africa turned into a cross between a small German and American town. It is a strange place, with many German speaking chops and bars but with the locals still doing the poorly paying jobs. If feels like stepping back in time, like an aging seaside town with modern estates. It just doesn’t feel like Africa at all.

We found our next lodge, The Stilts, checked in and then went into town to check out restaurants for tonight. We had a tea and coffee, visited the local supermarket for toothpaste and then browsed some shops. Fiona eventually bought a couple of T-shirts.

We chilled out in our beach front villa (standing on high stilts – hence the name). Being on the coast has it’s draw backs. IT is too chilly and windy to sit on the balcony, Luckily our villa has big picture windows from which to look a the Atlantic waves crashing on the beach.

John has now managed to burn his nipples (can’t work out when) so is in some discomfort. His back is also still playing up but it is not as bad as it was. Namibia is a great place, but it can bite back!

In the evening we went to the sea food restaurant Der Kinder in town. Here you have to be back before 10pm and pay men to look after your car while it is parked up in town. It seems like standard behavior to the locals.

We arrived bang on 7pm for our meal at Der Kinder. We were only the second clients in the place. John had only paid the car minder 2 dollars on the way in and he did not look impressed. The lady serving us said we should pay 5, so John popped out and gave him another 3. He looked happy!

The wine in Namibian restaurants is very good value. About £1 for a large glass. We had a glass each and ordered our grub. John had baby octopus in a peri peri sauce followed by a delicious fish stew with rice. Fiona had deep fried camembert followed by he catch of the day. Also vey nice indeed.

Once back at the lodge, John managed to get a good phone signal, so phoned home to see how his Dad was doing. They had flushed both his arm and his hand out during some key hole surgery, but had not found anything conclusive which can explain the terrible pain he has now been in for five weeks. John’s Mum said that he was feeling more comfortable now. Rhidian (Johns second cousin who is also a surgeon) had spoken to Johns Fathers surgeon who had admitted that diagnosing the problem is proving problematic.

We hit the sack nice and early ready for an early morning alarm call.

Africa – 22nd Sept 2008 – Day 21

Today began with the alarm beeping at 6.10am. We washed and dressed quickly, meeting another Swiss couple for a cup of tea and coffee before beginning our morning walk with our guide.

The five of us set off across the huge granite outcrops that give this area such a unique vista. Much of the walk was spent either climbing up or down the granite outcrops. It was quite a work out and luckily, John’s back seemed a little less stiff.

We came across various antelopes and small cuddly critters, plus a family of Dik Dik. These are the smallest antelopes of all and very cute indeed.

The arrived back at the lodge three hours later, hot and ready for breakfast. They make great fruit juice here, including Orange and Strawberry.

We then chilled out around the pool for most of the day, photographing the brightly coloured lizards and birds who visit from time to time. We sat with another couple from England, but they are the quietest people on the planet. We have not said a word to each other all day!!

Africa – 21st Sept 2008 – Day 20

Today began with a nice lay in and a relaxing breakfast with a difference. Jan served us all with a glass of bubbly so we could all toast a warm congratulation to a German couple were at the lodge with their son and his boyfriend. Today was their 50th wedding anniversary. We toasted their longevity. Suddenly this wonderful African singing began and all the staff came into the lounge and entertained us for 20 minutes. At the end they sung this wonderful, uplifting song, and filed passed the German couple hugging then. It all got very emotional and most of us were “filling up” by the end.

After breakfast, we settled the bill, said our goodbyes to everyone and hit the road. Our journey today is too the Erongo mountains, where we are staying at the Erongo Wilderness Lodge (see: www.erongowilderness.com).

The drive was very nice, ever changing scenery, with larger mountains than we have been used too in Africa. We stopped at a town called Uai, had a cuppa and shared a muffin and toasted sandwich from Vicky’s Café. John thought is was OK, Fiona was not so impressed. We travelled onwards, passing many brightly dressed ladies, trying to sell us dolls. We resisted as the dolls looked rubbish!! However, we passed a group of three children who indicated that they had run out of water. We turned the car around as we had a spare bottle of water. When we stopped to give them the bottle that also said they were very hungry. We had nothing to give them, but they were pleased about the water. One of them only looked about three years old. It’s a very harsh country. Us with our money and them with nothing. Sad!!

We reached the lodge at 3.30pm, feeling tired and relieved to be at our next base. The owners met us and were great. Our tent is very good, with a great bathroom. The landscape is wonderful with huge rock outcrops. Very different to the scrub and sand we have been used too. We just relaxed around the pool area which has wonderful views from the top deck.

John managed to contact his parents. Unfortunately, his father is still in great pain with his hand and wrist. Currently the NHS seem unable to diagnose the problem. The pain relief medication is making his feel very poorly.

Tonight we had a very good meal indeed. Due to our travel company making some errors, they had arranged for us to have a complimentary bottle of wine and a free game drive. We had a lovely bottle of un oaked Chardonnay tonight. All the better for being on our tour operator.

During the meal, some large porcupines joined us for a wee while and earlier was was a family of giant guinea pigs and a family of four wart hogs. Fiona has spied a wart hog carving that will probably end up back at Chaddleworth!!

We are currently sitting on our balcony looking at the stars and sending John’s Dad positive vibes!

Africa – 20th Sept 2008 – Day 19

We had arranged with Ben our guide that we would do a long morning walk starting at 09:00. We went down to breakfast at 08:00 and thankfully John was feeling back to his old self.

Again breakfast was up there as the best so far, lots of variety.

We met Ben at 09:00 to start the walk, however whilst John’s tummy was better he had bent down to pick up a bottle of water and pulled his back !!!. We started our walk anyway with John bent over a bit but keeping up. Two of the dogs came along with us Eli and Mafi, they can sense if there is any danger out there so it was good to have them along.

The objective of the walk was to track down the mountain Zebra, we walked along tracks and through tall grass land but found no Zebra, just a couple of Oryx and Coudoo. When we started it was quiet cool but by about 11:00 it was stifling. We stopped at a large rock outcrop for 10 mins to recover. The dogs were really tired especially Eli, we shared our water with her.

After the stop we headed back to the lodge but the grass was so long that poor Eli was really struggling. Ben picked her up and carried her back to the lodge which she seemed to appreciate.

Once back at the lodge we went back to the room to have shower to cool down before lunch and right behind us was Eli. She came into our Bungalow and chilled on the cool floor, we can’t tell Heather this as she will be very angry with us, but we got it on film.

Lunch as again really good and we met the Suzi who is Jens wife again perfect English. During Lunch we had a call from the local Audley agent (he had been trying to get us for 2 days). He had a call from Audley as a result of the email we sent re our waterburg plateau lodge experience and has offered us free wine at the next lodge and a free game drive. However John is holding out for something more substantial. Later on we logged on to our email, Audley have apologized for the Waterberg stay and have offered us a full refund for that part of the holiday.

After we had both booked in for a message with Melanie. Fiona went first, we had booked a head, face and neck message for 45 mins. Whilst in the massage parlor, John relaxed by the lovely cool pool. The bright red dragon flies darted about the place, diving down for a drink every now and again. John also went down to the natural hot pools, alternating between the hot and cold stone baths in order to relax his lower back. The hot spring area is great, with a large thatched roof, hammock chairs, sumptuous sun beds and a wonderful vista. The massage turned out to be absolutely brilliant, she is one of the best masseurs we have come across. She has trained in several countries like India and Thailand. She also worked on John’s bad back, so here’s hoping it gets better soon.

The rest of the afternoon was spent round the lovely pool and thermal spring baths. We met with a nice couple of ladies from the UK who live together near Kingston. They were on a three week Africa trip, also arranged with Audley.

We like Huab Lodge very much and wish we were staying another day, it couldn’t be more different to the first lodge, even though most of the clients are German everyone makes an effort and you never feel awkward. The host Jan, has a wonderful sense of humor.

Africa – 19th Sept 2008 – Day 18

We got up and had breakfast before heading of for the new lodge. John was still feeling unwell so Fiona did the driving. It took us 4.5 hours to reach Huab lodge. The last part of the journey was on dirt track and Fiona had great fun pretending to be a rally driver, this didn’t help John’s tummy !!!.

We were met by Ben and some of the other staff and shown around. The owners also have three dogs, Tess, Mafi (Labrador) and Eli (jack Russell), they also came to met us, and were very friendly, we especially fell for Eli who is just so cute. We were shown to our bungalow which is great, really spacious with a large balcony and spectacular view.

At lunch we met the owner Jan, who is German and made us feel really welcome (he speaks perfect English), most of the guests are German but there was also a British couple from Warrington (Liz and Mike). We had a fantastic lunch of salads and home made ice cream, John even tucked in as he was feeling better or so he thought. However after lunch John went down hill so we chilled until the late afternoon game drive with Ben our guide. John was still feeling quezzy (we think he had perhaps got mild food poisoning from a fried egg he had the last morning at Ongava).

We were joined on the drive by Liz and Mike. The pace of the drive was great much slower and not so frantic. Huab doesn’t have as much wildlife as Ongava but is much more mountainous. We saw the regular’s out there but we also saw a huge eagle owl in a tree, it was beautiful and posed for some photo’s. Apparently they can eat a small deer which is amazing.

We returned home had a quick shower and down to dinner. John was feeling even worse by now, so stuck to soup and water. This was a real shame because the owner brought out all these different types of South African wines for us to try, they were great the best we had had all holiday. The food was also excellent and the best so far, not great for the waist line.

We went back to our little bungalow and watched the stars from the balcony, absolutely amazing.

Africa – 18th Sept 2008 – Day 17

Last night turned out to be a very windy one indeed. By 2pm, the curtains in our tent were flying all over the place. John thought that he saw a lizard running around the room, but this turned out to be his imagination. However, the Zebra were screaming during the night which kept Fiona awake.

At 7am, after breakfast, we went on a walking safari with Cameron, the lodge manager. Otr was a very interesting walk, learning about all the local flora and fauna. Fiona spotted a buzzard in a tree. It turned out to be quite a rare species which even Cameron had not seen before in his 4 years at this Lodge. It turns out that Cameron and his wife Mary are opening a couple of lodges in another part of Namibia next year. They sound very interesting, tourism is certainly booming in Namibia.

Cameron was also telling us that Kate Humble from the BBC had been recently doing some filming.

We arrived back at 10 and chilled out on the patio, watching all the animals coming to and from the water hole which is just 20 foot from the patio. Some days you can see as much here as on a big drive.

After lunch we headed back to our tent to sit out the searing mid day heat. After refreshments, we headed off on our 4pm game drive with Angela and Adrian.

It was something of a frantic drive, word got around that there were a pride of lions in the area with cubs and who had recently made a kill (Oryx). John our guide drove quickly to the sighting, there were already 3 other trucks at the area of the lions. In the ongava reserve, trucks are not allowed off the main tracks, 3 of the trucks were already off tracks so they could get a better look at the lions. However we stayed on the tracks and 5 minutes later the ranger for the park arrived and caught one of the drivers, apparently the resort gets a huge fine and the driver looses his job. Of course it is the punters which put the drivers under this pressure to get so close, not good.

We managed to see the lions and the cubs, three of them, they were very cute. Again all the trucks bunched up together and this resulted in the mother lion being separated from the cubs, the poor cubs were distressed and were calling for mum. They managed to get round the trucks and were reunited. We told our driver we would rather leave the lions in peace which we did.

We drove for some time then came across a Lioness and Lion chilling by the side of the road. It turns out this is the mating season and just as we arrived they got down to the business, then chilled out again. According to John our guide, they mate for 4 days every 15 minutes !!!!.

We got back and had dinner, we sat with Ange and Adrian and had a really nice night. They live near the lake district, so we plan to go up there next year for some walking. They also have a dog a black Labrador who is two and very full of life, not sure this would suit Heather.

Cameron and Wendy our hosts bid us farewell for our journey to Huab lodge the next day.

John had a bit of a funny tummy that day so didn’t eat very much at dinner. We went to bed at about 10:00pm. After about 30 minutes we heard voices coming nearer and nearer to our tent. Then suddenly the door opened and two of the new girls who had ariived that day bounced in thinking it was their tent. We all got a shock but they managed to get to their correct tent which was one up from ours.

Africa – 17th Sept 2008 – Day 16

We both had a wonderful nights sleep, waking a few minutes before our wake up call at 6am.

After a quick shower we headed down for breakfast. Just as we arrived a lovely porcupine joined us in the garden looking for some breakfast. He has been names Charlie, by Camerons wife. He arrived in the camp a year ago looking ill and with a poorly foot. They have nursed him back to fitness and now he pops in every week for some apple and bread. They are much larger than we expected, but very cute.

We joined Cedric and Sabbela for the morning drive to the Atosha Gane Reserve. John was our guide again. We had a long drive to the park but once in the park saw a large number of animals including large elephants, hundreds of Zebra, a family of hogs having a mud bath and our first group of Mia cats.

We headed back for a good lunch where we met a couple of new English guests called Adrian and Angela.

The temperature here gets very hot by 2PM, so we headed back to our room to relax. We updated the blog and then tried to sleep, but the weather was far too hot. Unfortunately our new tent does not yet have it’s fan in place, so it gets very hot indeed.

By 3.30pm we met Angie and Adrian, Cedric and Sabbela for the afternoon drive. The animals were very thin on the ground, apart from two male lions and a few Giraff and, as always, the myriads of antelope.

On the trip, John, our guide, told us about the time, four weeks ago, when 15 lions came into the camp over night. It was his job to check the camp next morning. He almost came unstuck, when a female lion managed to sneak up to him in an ambush. Luckily John’s two gun shots scared the lioness off.

Dinner was a very civilized affair, we sat with Angela and Adrian. Wow, have those two travelled. They have given us lots of ideas for the future and introduced us to a company called Discovery Initiatives which they could not recommend enough. They live near Blackpool and love the outdoor life. Adrian works for one of Fiona’s companies resellers, Fijitsu. Angela is an accountant.We asked for some sparkling wine but ended up with a free bottle of Champagne. Very nice indeed!!

We headed for bed at about 10pm.

Africa – 16th Sept 2008 – Day 15

We woke up at 7am, dressed, at a little breakfast and packed and left ASAP. On the way out, the hostess again spoke to us in German!!

We drove out of the main lodge up to the reception area to settle our bill. The chap who took the game drive on the previous afternoon was at the desk.

He asked John if he had enjoyed his stay, so John gave a polite but honest answer. He found it quite amusing, agreeing that this was not really set up for any other nationality but Germans. He apologized for no English, literature, menu’s etc. and then told John that a couple from Manchester had visited a month ago and also hated the place. John asked him why his boss seemed happy to run the lodge in such a manner, He just shrugged and said “have a nice day”.

We left feeling angry and ripped off. They are happy to take our money but not to make us feel in any way, shape or form welcome. What a hell hole!!

We began our drive to Ongava Tented Camp, opposite the Etosha Game Reserve.

The drive was long and very, very easy, due to the Roman like, straight roads in Namibia. We saw lots of wart hogs on the way and stopped at the town of GoJoe to fill up with petrol. We felt that our car had allowed us to escape from Colditz, so we have named it Winston!!

We arrived at Ongava at 12.30, to be met by Cameron, one of the resort managers. What a relief. Back to the normal welcome and friendliness we have been used to in Africa. We had a quick lunch and then were shown to our lovely tent. It is spacious, new and fitted with both an indoor and outdoor shower. We look onto the waterhole where lots of Zebra, Acoodo, bush back etc. hang out.

After a rest, we joined the rest of the group for a 3.30pm cup of tea and coffee and then headed out for the afternoon game drive with our guide John, Mary and Sheradon (From Toronto) and Cedrick and Sabella from Paris, although Sabella is originally from Spain.

We drove around chatting, how nice to be able to chat with fellow guests again!! We came across a group of 9 White Rhino. They were all huge and we have never seen so many in one pod before.

John asked us to all get out of the Land Rover. He loaded his rife, checked the direction of the wind and then marched us quietly towards the pod. Rhino have very poor vision, but a good sense of smell and keen hearing to compensate. We had to watch were we were trading in order to minimize our noise. We got within 30 ft of the beasts. What a fantastic experience. At one time they became a tad edgy. John and his fellow guide were fantastic. They had already told us not to run, what ever happens. We stayed with the pod for about 20 minutes before making our way back to the Rover.

Later on, we came across a couple of Lions, who did not want to be hassled. As we moved away towards the watering hole, a pride of five arrived for a good drink. We were so close to them. We just looked at each other. They look so relaxed and cute. You really feel like you want to get out and stroke them!!

We had our G&T’s with the lions in the evening twilight. Great.

We had a quick turn around before sitting with the other guests and enjoying a good evening meal. We went to bed, escorted by one of the staff, just in case if lions in the camp, our faith restored in Namibia.

As lay in bed, we heard the lions raw in the distance and the sound of a few lizards scampering over the tent roof.

Africa – 15th Sept 2008 – Day 14

We had a wonderful nights sleep, the bed is comfy as are the pillows. Breakfast here is between 7 and 9, depending on your morning activity, as there is not so much to do here. The breakfast was good, but very German, cheese, ham, eggs etc.

After breakfast we joined the walking safari with another couple. The walk quickly became steep as we climber towards the plateau. On the way we saw cacubara, they look like a very large guinea pig, but they are very agile and climb trees to reach the juicy leaves and fruits. Very entertaining.

We also came across a troupe of monkeys who were as interested in us as we were of them.

After an hour of walking through the arid landscape, and amazing natural rock sculptures, we came to the plateau edge. Wow, what a great view. We rested on the edge for half an hour enjoying the cooling breeze.

We then made our way back down to the valley floor, passing a recent trail left by a black mamba snake.

By the time we reached the valley floor, the temperature was through the roof. We walked back along a dusty road, hoping we would be home soon as the temperature continued to climb.

Once back at the lodge (which we renamed Coldizt), we sat in the garden trying to ignore all the flies. We soon noticed that they had spread animal dung all over the garden, no wonder there were so many flies!!

After a siesta, we went to the afternoon tea area where we met the German guide. He spoke quite good English but he mentioned (without prompting) that this lodge was very Germanic!

When the afternoon drive began, it became obvious that he did not want to speak any English, due to the fact that seven guests were German and only two English. He occasionally spoke a few words of English but that was it. It also became obvious that the other guests were only interested in seeing Rhino. So, the trip out was frantic. He would not stop to see any birds or other animals as they just wanted Rhino.

We found the Rhino, which seemed far too tame. They came right up to the Land Rover.

At sun downer time, we stopped for a drink. However, unlike every other lodge, we were not asked what we wanted to drink. The other guests seemed happy with beer or cider, so that was that. During the stop, another extremely tame ostrich joined us. He just stood with us all watching!

After the game drive was over (thank god), we dressed for dinner and headed down to the bar. We were dreading another evening meal, being ignored by the staff and most of the guests.

The evening was as bad as expected. Again the menu was only in German, the host only spoke German (even though she knew were did not speak the language). We ate a quickly as we could and then went back to our room.
We are very angry with the staff and our travel agent, Audly Travel, for sending us here. We hate this place and can not wait to leave.

Africa – 14th Sept 2008 – Day 13

After a very fitful sleep we were up at 05:00am to catch our bus to the airport. We had ordered food to our room the night before which was truly dreadful and after several attempts we gave up trying to order a video to watch – how the D’Oreal can claim to be a 5 star is quiet beyond us – it’s a 3 star at best.

We were driven right to the departures gate at J’burg airport, we were second in the queue for the check-in to Windhoek flying with Air Namibia. The check-in was supposed to start at 05:45 but no one arrived to set up until after 06:00, by which time there were loads of people queuing. BA staff were doing the check in for Air Namibia – what a lot they were, couldn’t organize anything and were all really stroppy – seems to be the standard in J’burg. Anyway after some palaver we got our seats and went through to departures.

J’burg airport is pretty new and has some nice shops to Perouse. The exchange rate is very good so stuff is cheap. Fiona bought some long walking trousers (the bugs really bite out here, so hoping long trousers will do the trick).

The flight was pretty good and on time. When we arrived at Windhoek we were going to be met by the local Audley agent, however we waited 30 minutes and nobody arrived. John managed to get some signal on his phone but couldn’t get through to these guys, about 10 mins later the guy arrives saying the flight is usually always late !!!. He drove us to a local hotel where we were going to meet the main rep, he drove like a nutter, about 2” from the bus in front the whole way to Windhoek city centre.

Windhoek is actually pretty big and very clean, it is hugely influenced by Germans who had control of the country until 1990, all the roads have German names or famous African leaders – even Robert Mugabe.

We picked up our car which is a huge 4 wheel drive job, and the local rep took us through our itinerary in detail. Around lunch time we set off for our first destination – Waterburg Wilderness lodge, but not before John had churned up the hotel garden trying to reverse the 4 wheel jeep to get out the front gate – the rep’s face was a picture when he saw the hole that had been left, we needed to put the car in 4 wheel drive to get it out.

After that we hit the road with no major incidents. The roads are very good compared to Zambia, the main roads are tarmac, the road signs are great, either a warning triangle with a wart hog or springbok. We saw wart hogs, monkeys, goats and horses along the road side. Eventually we took a turning of the main road and headed for the lodge along a dirt track.

When we arrived we were shown to our room, the itinerary describes this lodge as simple, which is pretty accurate, the rooms are clean. When you get into your room you are given an itinerary of room items, which you need to check and then sign. We have never had to do this before, it made us feel like we could not be trusted, very odd. Everyone else at the lodge is German, so perhaps they are apt to nick the odd china cup or bowl of sugar, time will tell. One of the gardeners gave us a whirl wind walk round the facilities, these guys are not as relaxed as the staff in the Zambian lodges and it feels a bit like an army camp in terms of the rules etc.

We arrived just in time for coffee and cake, very nice. We then headed to the swimming pool, but it was very dirty and uninviting, so we sat in some loungers reading.

When we returned to our room, there on the floor was a print out of an e-mail sent to us from Pat & Ad which, was great. We will try and reply from here, but getting e-mail connection in most of the lodges is pretty patchy.

After another wee rest, we dressed and headed down to the dining area. The wine here is OK, so we sat around the fire with a few other German couples. John put some wood on the fire and then wondered if that was the correct thing to do as the Germans looked a little stern.

When we sat in the dinning area we realised that we were the only non Germans in the entire camp. Everyone just speaks German, including most of the staff and guides.

We sat with a German couple who spoke some English. However, once another German couple joined the table, the conversation was mostly in German. The dinner menu is only in German, very rude. We are in Namibia, not Germany!!

Tomorrow we are doing a walk up to the plateau in the morning and a game drive in the afternoon. We are hoping to see some Rhino in Namibia which aren’t found in Zambia, or at least at the reserves we stayed in.