A taste of South Africa

TIA...This Is Africa (17/03/08 - 04/04/08)

What can I tell you about my first Non-European experience of my journey so far,only that I've fallen in love with South Africa.What a vast country stretched across 2 Oceans,Atlantic and Indian..with so much stunning and diverse landscapes and with so many things to see,do and still yet to discover.

Of my 3 weeks or so stay I tried to cram as much as possible in, with much help from my good mate Scott...would not have been the action packed holiday without you Bud!

I spent my first ever St.Paddy's Day not in an Irish pub but in a hip bar in Benoni, Johannesburg where I was warmly greeted by the locals and tasted my first of many South African beers named Hansa!

Just one of my most memorable experiences has to be the National Park and Game Reserve of Pilanesberg, where we came across 3 of the big 5, Elephant, Buffalo and an up close and personal encounter with the Rhino..something I will never forget for the rest of my life!

We were out of luck to see the Lion and Leopard, however we did hear the Lion's roar during our night drive, which is believed to be heard as far as 8km..it made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck I can tell ya!

We managed to clock up about 5000km on the rented Toyota Yaris with a boot (What's that all about?!) by driving through the desert of Karoo to Kimberley where we visited The Big Hole, a huge open-pit mine believed to be one of the largest holes excavated by man, during the diamond rush and then made our way to Cape Town.

Cape Town, an unbelievable place with the view of the Table Mountain towering over the V&A point where you can sit and wine and dine and treat yourself to the catch of the day...just to be clear...I'm talking fish here ok! ;-)

I also ticked off another of my 'Things to do in life' by climbing the Table mountain in less than 1.5 hours..was very proud of myself!

Another breathtaking experience had to be watching the Sunset on the Atlantic Ocean while being comfortably seated on a Catamaran sipping Champagne. That brings me onto our many Wine Farm visits, Spiers, Fairview and Delheim where we tasted Pinotage, Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz and Merlot and many of their tasty cheeses.

We got to see thousands of seals on a boat trip and also stopped off at Boulders Beach where a massive colony of Penguins waddle about their daily lives at an arms length.

We took a spin along some of the Garden Route and stayed in one of the most beautiful places on earth, Knysna. Our fabulous wooden cabin overlooked it's estuary which passes two headlands and opens out into the Indian Ocean.

We even got a chance to hold a Black Eagle at a Bird of Prey and Owl sanctuary and to see some Cheetahs up close at a Cheetah Outreach farm...imprinted of course but still stunning to experience. Visitors even had the chance to pet the cats but I felt it unfair to do so to such wild and magnificant creatures. I did however pet an Ostrich while visiting an Ostrich farm but passed on the opportunity to ride one, others in the tour group took advantage though...what a comical sight that was to see!

We also took an adventure tour into the Cango caves, caves containing spectacular halls and grand limestone formations and hellishly narrow tunnels to climb up and through, and of course last but not least my drive through Johannesburg itself, down Commissioner Street and through Yeovil..a totally different experience from the rest of my 3 weeks in ZA.

I must have tried every type of South African food, Steers, Nandos, Jimmy's prawns, Saddles, Spurs, Ocean Basket, Fishmongers and I forgot to mention my new found love for Brandy and Coke..good ZA brandy called Klipdrift..better known as Klippies and coke.

I'll just finish off now by saying that the whole ZA adventure was just lekker man!!!!

Best wishes for your RTW adventure

Hi Aine,

Sorry I couldn't make it to the farewell party, I've been told it was great fun.
Hope you are doing well...

Many cheers!!

Francesco

Going Xtreme

Just back from my yearly snowboard trip and although this was probably the worst holiday ever because of bad snow conditions and heavy snow blizzards I found me some great off-piste areas to compensate the days we were stuck in the apartment.

I convinced my 'scared of heights' best friend to join me for a day and to take a few pictures for the wife and kids.

Getting the poor guy down again from those steep 'walls' was a different story but he survived :-)

I hope you survived St. Patrick's Day in Johannesburg? ... the day after I mean :-)

Talk to you soon!

Bheith faichilleach!

Fransie

One for the Road

Managed to deliver Aine safely to Heathrow airport where there was just enough time for one last beer before heading on to the plane at Heathrow. Her last beer in Europe for 2008.

UPDATE FOR IVAN
The UK Branch of AA has now been established with nightly meetings in Croydon throughout 2008 and early 2009.

Farewell Europe (04/03/08 - 16/03/08)

After 11 days of driving around the UK, the time has come to say cheerio to Europe for 11 months.

Apart from the gale force winds trying to blow me off the motorways and an unfriendly Leicesterian swiping my left hand side mirror, my stay in the UK was pretty much plain sailing! It was great to see family and friends I hadn't seen in quite some years and great to be stall feed in preparation for the rough months ahead.

I did stumble across something quite interesting during my stay in Scotland. While walking along Carnoustie golf course with a mate, I spotted a lost golf ball by the side of the green . Nothing was thought of it apart from having a nice souvenir from my trip, but after further investigation by my friends I'm told it's a genuine signature of Vijay Singh! I ain't the expert...so for those keen golf players reading this please add your comments.

Next up is Jo'burg where I will celebrate St.Paddy's day the South African way.

HAPPY ST. PADDY'S DAY TO YOU ALL!!!

SLÁINTE

xox

First AA drink

Hey Dudie,

Here are the pics of our first AA (After Aine) Fedexdrink . What's in the name, I was home at 9pm, can you imagine this a couple of weeks ago when you were still around ? ;) .

Anyways, COME BACK NOW ! PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEASSSSSSSSSSSSSSE !