Saturday, September 13, 2008
13th Sept. Pretoria
11th Sept Pietermaritzburg
The van went into the container yesterday. Lovely and clean and well tied down. We gave it a gentle pat before they closed the doors. Hope it gets to Sydney safely. They had made a mistake earlier and it was booked to go to Brisbane but we were able to change that in time. We had to ait for the customs inspection then longer for the container to arrive but managed to have it completed by 2pm. The staff at the warehouse who loaded it were very helpful and dropped us off at the Avis depot after .
We have hired a VW Polo to drive up to Joburg and will have a look at the Drakensburg Ranges on our way. They are meant to be spectacular. It is funny to be driving a small car after the van for so long.
South Africa is a very picturesque country where you cold spend months looking around nd the people are hospitable. Yet there is sch a divide etween the blacks and the whites with many of the whites still looking longingly back at the apartheid era. The problem is going to get bigger as time goes by.
13th Sept. Near Pretoria.
We met Ria & Len At Etosha NP and had a couple of good evenings together. During that time they insisted we visit them before we fly out. We arrived at their beautiful house yesterday, had a braai last night, visited one of these amazing shopping malls this country has in abundance this morning then spent the afternoon in the game reserve that borders their property. It was very fulfilling seeing many animals including a couple of meerkats, an animal we hadn’t seen up to now.
This will be the last post while in Africa but I want to do a final one back home giving a run down on the costs etc in doing a trip like this.
The van went into the container yesterday. Lovely and clean and well tied down. We gave it a gentle pat before they closed the doors. Hope it gets to Sydney safely. They had made a mistake earlier and it was booked to go to Brisbane but we were able to change that in time. We had to ait for the customs inspection then longer for the container to arrive but managed to have it completed by 2pm. The staff at the warehouse who loaded it were very helpful and dropped us off at the Avis depot after .
We have hired a VW Polo to drive up to Joburg and will have a look at the Drakensburg Ranges on our way. They are meant to be spectacular. It is funny to be driving a small car after the van for so long.
South Africa is a very picturesque country where you cold spend months looking around nd the people are hospitable. Yet there is sch a divide etween the blacks and the whites with many of the whites still looking longingly back at the apartheid era. The problem is going to get bigger as time goes by.
13th Sept. Near Pretoria.
We met Ria & Len At Etosha NP and had a couple of good evenings together. During that time they insisted we visit them before we fly out. We arrived at their beautiful house yesterday, had a braai last night, visited one of these amazing shopping malls this country has in abundance this morning then spent the afternoon in the game reserve that borders their property. It was very fulfilling seeing many animals including a couple of meerkats, an animal we hadn’t seen up to now.
This will be the last post while in Africa but I want to do a final one back home giving a run down on the costs etc in doing a trip like this.
8th Sept Salt Rocks
6th Sept.
There just happened to be a Mozambique restaurant over the road from our camp site. Apart from Hamburg’s Portuguese restaurant we haven’t eaten out for some time. It was a very nice meal, good service in nice surroundings. Good reward for a day cleaning the van. You have no idea where the dust has worked its way, fortunately we seem to have the inside beaten and there’s just the outside to do.
So it’s all coming to an end. This part of the trip has been difficult at times,. I knew Africa would put added pressure on both of us and that it has, but we seem to be reaching the end with a better attitude than some times over the last 6 months. It will be good getting home though this trip has been quite an experience for us both. We were discussing today how travel like this necessitates a certain type of person: looking back at the ones we met along the way they all lack pretensions, are prepared to accept whatever happens and get as much as they can out of the different countries and cultures they are passing through. At Hamburg we met a bloke who lives in East London (south of Durban). He was saying he had a large RV sitting in Belgium that he tours Europe in when he goes there. He had travelled widely but missed a companion to share it with. He said I was lucky to have someone who loved travelling like we did. That I am.
Travel like this is not easy. In fact it is hard and stressful at times. Yet the satisfactions we have along the way make up for all the hardships. We will be asked what were the highlights, looking back I can’t think of any one thing that stood out above the rest. There has been so many but then that is what you get travelling through Africa. An amazing continent. So full of life yet laden down with corruption, Aids and lack of infrastructure. Things are improving on the latter with foreign aid, Aids is being fought in some countries, but corruption seems to be an ongoing problem.
8th Sept. Salt Rocks.
As expected, this week has been mucky with most of the time taken with organising the van’s shipment. On Friday we headed north of Durban to find a camp site to clean the van. We found a good one and got the work done. Then we had a phone call to say the customs had to site the carnet papers before they would arrange inspection prior to shipping. So it was back to Durban, where we thought we would spend the last 2 nights. However of the 2 places we went to one was closed and we couldn’t find the other one. We decided to head back up the north coast and spend the last 2 nights somewhere on the coast. So here we are, metres from the water overlooking what must have been old salt works but is now a massive swimming pool that has the waves breaking over the outer wall on a regular basis. The sea mist is heavy, swirling around the spotlights and leaving all surfaces dripping.
There just happened to be a Mozambique restaurant over the road from our camp site. Apart from Hamburg’s Portuguese restaurant we haven’t eaten out for some time. It was a very nice meal, good service in nice surroundings. Good reward for a day cleaning the van. You have no idea where the dust has worked its way, fortunately we seem to have the inside beaten and there’s just the outside to do.
So it’s all coming to an end. This part of the trip has been difficult at times,. I knew Africa would put added pressure on both of us and that it has, but we seem to be reaching the end with a better attitude than some times over the last 6 months. It will be good getting home though this trip has been quite an experience for us both. We were discussing today how travel like this necessitates a certain type of person: looking back at the ones we met along the way they all lack pretensions, are prepared to accept whatever happens and get as much as they can out of the different countries and cultures they are passing through. At Hamburg we met a bloke who lives in East London (south of Durban). He was saying he had a large RV sitting in Belgium that he tours Europe in when he goes there. He had travelled widely but missed a companion to share it with. He said I was lucky to have someone who loved travelling like we did. That I am.
Travel like this is not easy. In fact it is hard and stressful at times. Yet the satisfactions we have along the way make up for all the hardships. We will be asked what were the highlights, looking back I can’t think of any one thing that stood out above the rest. There has been so many but then that is what you get travelling through Africa. An amazing continent. So full of life yet laden down with corruption, Aids and lack of infrastructure. Things are improving on the latter with foreign aid, Aids is being fought in some countries, but corruption seems to be an ongoing problem.
8th Sept. Salt Rocks.
As expected, this week has been mucky with most of the time taken with organising the van’s shipment. On Friday we headed north of Durban to find a camp site to clean the van. We found a good one and got the work done. Then we had a phone call to say the customs had to site the carnet papers before they would arrange inspection prior to shipping. So it was back to Durban, where we thought we would spend the last 2 nights. However of the 2 places we went to one was closed and we couldn’t find the other one. We decided to head back up the north coast and spend the last 2 nights somewhere on the coast. So here we are, metres from the water overlooking what must have been old salt works but is now a massive swimming pool that has the waves breaking over the outer wall on a regular basis. The sea mist is heavy, swirling around the spotlights and leaving all surfaces dripping.
Friday, September 5, 2008
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