The Victoria Falls

We have just returned from one of our most fabulous weekends away - ever!

In celebration of mom's 70th birthday, we (us and Roland and Caron, with Heidi and Darrell contributing) decided to take the folks to the Victoria Falls (so they can cross it off their bucket lists!!). It also fell over Alistair's 10th birthday, and a long weekend, so it worked out perfectly.

We had to stay at the Victoria Falls Hotel - the greatest colonial hotel ever! It was built in 1904, and, being the first hotel built in the area, secured the best spot of all. Every time I walked out onto the terrace, my breath was taken away with the beauty of it's view.

We arrived on Friday afternoon, but sadly our luggage did not (turns out it did make it, but they omitted to off load one container, so it went all the way back to JHB!!!). Lucky Roland and Caron got theirs! After much frustration and filling out of forms, we eventually took our transfer from Livingstone in Zambia, across the border into Zimbabwe.

The hotel, as I have already mentioned, was superb!! 5 star meant pure luxury! It wasn't just the view, it was the food, the decor, the giant bed, the excellent service, the lovely pool area and dining area and so much more that made it so special.

Please note, that I AM MISSING from the above photo - just in case you weren't sure!!!!!!

We arrived at the hotel in time for their world famous High Tea. Anyone who has ever been to the Vic Falls will tell you that that is something one has to do. So we did, and it was delicious!

We then ventured into the town so we could purchase some essentials to get us through the next 24hours until our luggage arrived (hopefully!). Meg got a gorgeous cosie and I'm glad she did because it was stinking hot, so she got good wear out of it (although, as Roland says, when you consider the cost to amount of fabric, it was a pretty expensive purchase!!). We went to a local supermarket and were pleasantly surprised to see the shelves full of goods. They now use US dollars, or SA Rands, and it seems that things are more available than I heard they were in the past.

Something rather odd about our sojourn into town was a 'tourist policeman' who attached himself to us as we left the hotel and stayed the whole duration of our shopping trip. At first we were pleased, then cynical and decided he was in it for the tip. As it turns out, every time we left the hotel, we were accompanied by a tourist policeman and it is obviously what they do to keep their tourists safe.

Because of our enormous High Tea and the fact that we felt stinky and gross, for dinner we just sat on the terrace and had a light meal. Then off to bed after a long day. But not after hand washing all my clothes for the next day!!

On Saturday morning, we decided to hang around at the hotel due to our lack of spare clothes. We took a little walk along a path which leads from the hotel to the Falls, and while out we came across 4 elephants!!!! That was a first for me - I was pretty nervous!

We lazed around at the pool area after brekkie and I'm glad the kids got to swim. Caron kindly lent me her cosie so I could cool off too (while mom looked on enviously!!). We had a cake around the pool to celebrate Ali's birthday. Poor boy - all his presies were in our missing luggage so he had no gifts to open, other than the generous one from R & C.

At 3pm we were collected from the hotel and driven to a nearby game reserve where we enjoyed an amazing Elephant Safari. We got to ride on Elephants through the game reserve, and on our return get up close to the elephants - feed them, feel them etc. It was quite an experience. Then we had drinks along the banks of a river before being returned to the hotel.We were all eagerly anticipating the arrival of our luggage (we had been tracking its progress by phone all day!) only to find it was not there. Then after some serious confusion we finally found out that Roland and Caron had collected our bags. WHEW!!!! At last, a good shower and CLEAN CLOTHES before going to the restaurant, Jungle Junction, for the joint birthday celebration dinner. There was traditional dancing and a buffet groaning with food, all enjoyed under the African Sky with the spray from the falls in the distance shining in the full moonlight. A more idyllic evening would be hard to find.

Sunday was mom's birthday. After brekkie we went to the falls. You have to see them with your own eyes to understand their power and magnificence. Because it is high water season, the spray was unbelievable and despite most of us wearing rain coats, we got drenched!!!

The Vic Falls area is known for its adrenalin activities and while I was NOT going to let Ali bungi jump off the bridge, we did let him do the Zip line over the gorge. An exciting experience for him, less so for me!!We chilled at the pool for the rest of the afternoon (at last all of us had our cosies!).At 4pm, we got picked up and taken upstream of the Zambezi to enjoy a Sunset Cruise. It was just beautiful. We saw hippo's and an elephant as well as lots of bird life. We had drinks and snacks on board, so on our return to the hotel, we just sat on the terrace again and had a light supper.Monday morning was pack up and go. Sniff sniff! It was so marvellous, I have run out of adjectives to describe it.

If you have not already been there - PUT IT ON YOUR BUCKET LIST!!! And, if your budget allows, make sure you stay at the Vic Falls Hotel. Liyamangalisa!!

a true fishing story...

Yes really, this one is true!

After fishing at the Vaal Dam for two years, and always catching a decent, yet small sized catch, the secret to big game fishing has finally been discovered. And not only discovered, put into practice - successfully!

Two weekends when we were moving into our new place at the dam (more about that later), we witnessed a young guy catching a whopper of a Barble (or Cat Fish) right where we normally fish(by we I mean the boys - I personally hate fishing!!).

The secret (yes, we are sharing it!)....

SNAILS for bait!

So, this past weekend, Carl and Ali tried it out.

Very pleased with the first catch - the biggest yet.

Then came this one which Carl caught.....

Carl thinks it must weigh 10 - 12 kgs.

Then Ali had his turn to shine...

This one we weighed on our scale and it was a 7kg whopper.

The next day, Carl had gone to work, and Ali was so inspired that he went off and fished all on his own (while we kept the occasional eye on him from our new patio!) and blow me down, he caught another two fantastic sized fish. And what was more amazing is that he baited his hook, cast, reeled it in and landed it all by himself! I was SO proud of him! What a kid. Perhaps he has his great-grandfathers genes (paternal), who was a Springbok fisherman.

Eco-Challenge 2010!

Those who know our family would know that we are NOT the rough it/camping types. However, this year we signed up for the Eco-Challenge (an adventure race), organised by the kid's school. The fact that winter has arrived rather abruptly, and we've seldom had such a wet April, was not enough to deter the intrepid adventurers. Needless to say, our team's name was MACK ATTACK, and I did rather a fine job (if I may say so myself!) of painting our name onto T-shirts for us to wear.

I must also add that we were told that we had to have seconders, so I roped my surprisingly enthusiastic parents (who are hovering on either side of 70!) in for the job.

The venue was The Spirit of Adventure Camp near Rustenburg. Unfortunately, we only arrived after dark (but fortunately after a massive cloud burst!), so it was quite weird trying to find our way around and settle down. We had the choice of either camping in tents, or using the dormitories. The fact that we don't own a tent, and are camping averse made it an easy choice - dormitories it was! We first landed ourselves into enormous girls/boys dorms. However, cunning Carl managed to secure us two very cosy little dorms adjacent to each other (which meant my one night away from Carl was still spent listening to him snoring. Or was that my dad????). We had our dinner, a race briefing, and then off to bed.

An early start at 6am had us breakfasted and ready to race by 7am. Another briefing, and we were off by 7:30am. We ran the Junior Race which was open to children Gr 1 - 6. We basically completed one 10km route, with activities along the way. We had to choose what we thought was the best route, then using a map, orienteer ourselves around. And at each 'checkpoint' we had to either do something and get a stamp, or simply take a rubbing off a marker as proof of our having been there.

The activities were:

Go-Karting -

With Ali driving and we three pushing, in the thickest, sludgiest mud ever. Will our takkies ever be the same again?

Swimming -

Yes, today is the 1st May, yes it has been freezing and rainy for two weeks, and YES the water was freezing. And YES, only 3 people had to do it, so Carl and the kids went in!!! I sound flippant, but it was over 200m and bone chilling cold, and each of them had to really find the strength within themselves to complete it. Brrr, I was SO glad I got to watch!

Rock-climbing -

Ali did this task, by choice, and truthfully, Carl and I had our doubts about whether he would manage it or not, but we let him have a go. Well, let me tell you, he blew us away, and shimmied up and down that rock face like a champ. We were SO proud of him, you have no idea, and it proved to us how easily we can under-estimate our children.

Obstacle course -

I volunteered for this one, and like to think that my running/gymnast past helped, but I'm not so sure. It was a very strenuous course of climbing through barrels, walking on ropes, hopping pole to pole etc. By the end, my muscles were shaking! A good work out, but I'll feel it tomorrow!

Tower jump - Carl did this one (none of us even offered!). A scary climb up a huge tower, and then a leap to catch a handle, and then get lowered back to terra firma.

Throughout the race, we had been neck and neck with another family team, 'White Wash', and it was only at the very end, that they just beat us to the Tower Jump, and raced home in first place. The fact that the father of that family has done this Eco-Challenge six times (in fact he is the teacher who organises it!!) put them at a huge advantage, and we, the rookies, did extremely well to come in Second place!


You may be asking what was the role of our seconders? Well, turns out, not much! It seems that the junior race has only one continuous leg, and as a result, we didn't really need them. However, being who they are, they made the best of the situation by finding jobs - cleaning up our breakfast things, tidying the dorms, and then going for a walk and reading their books. They assured us that they enjoyed it, even though they didn't turn out to be needed very much, and we really appreciated their enthusiasm!

After a quick clean off, and loading the car, we headed back home, only stopping for a fabulous lunch at one of our favorite eating spots in the Cradle of Mankind. We had to thank our sacrificial seconders somehow!

As Arnold Schwarzenegger says......'we'll be back'.

Water, water everywhere!

Anyone who either lives in JHB, or knows someone who does, will be well aware that this has been one of our wettest summers ever! In fact, it hardly feels like we've had summer! Other than all the unbelievable pot-holes it has caused, not to mention broken traffic lights, as well as lightning strikes taking out various electronic equipment (like our gate intercom, for instance), it has been excellent for filling up our dams. The Vaal Dam in particular. They have had such incredible rain in the Vaal catchment area, that they have had to open up the flood gates, and release water downstream. If the media is to be believed, at a rate of 2 million litres per second! And the water flowing into the Dam is at a rate of 3 million litres per second!

Obviously, we had to go and take a look! At Marina Letata, it was at its highest we've ever seen it.

On our way home, we took a detour past the Dam Wall. After queuing for over 1/2 hour in a traffic jam, we got out and admired the scene! Wow! I'm putting quite a few pics, because I think some are rather artistic! If you don't think so, I apologise.

I'm a canoe

Perhaps only my father will understand the origins of the title, but that's OK.
I'm guessing you haven't all been waiting in anticipation for whether my pirated canoe was where we left it, but I was! And it was!
Yip, still there, just moved a few metres over, to reveal a large canoe shaped dead patch of grass. Oops!
Ali and I bravely launched our canoe on Saturday and paddled a few hundred meters and the canoe seems completely waterproof. Then Megan hopped on (and Gemma) and we all went for a ride. Even my dad and I went for a paddle. And we all stayed completely dry. Here we are enjoying yet another glorious afternoon!

Sunday morning saw me, the kids and my dad scrubbing and cleaning it, so other than looking a bit faded, it is clean and shiny! The fibreglass is thin in places, so Carl will have to fix that at some stage (sorry Carl!!), but I am so excited about it.

We did let our caretaker know that we had found it, so if the rightful owners appear, we will have to hand it over, I guess! I'm hoping they won't recognise it now that we've picked off the registration number....

The Vaal (again!)

We have just enjoyed another pleasant weekend at the Vaal, this time with my folks, brother and his kids. The weather was once again fairly missy, but we did still get out on the boat. Austin skied like a champ, and Liam managed to get up, although not stay up! He gets a medal for trying though!!


I have to include this photo, which I took with my cell phone, of our other member of the family on the boat. She looks like she's ready for lift-off (Gemma, that is, not Megan!).

Other than that, we did some paddle-skiing, fishing, cycling, braai-ing, sleeping, eating, chilling!

Y'know, the usual!

A weekend at the Vaal

I saw something this weekend at the Vaal that I haven't seen before, in three years of going there......Yip, sunrise!!

Why, you may ask? Well, we took our puppy Gemma down with us. She slept in her crate in the kids' room, but at 5:15am I heard snuffling and decided that getting up at 5:15 was a lesser fate than getting up at 6am to a crate with a poo and a wee in it! So I quietly removed Gemma from her bed, and took her outside for her to do the necessaries. Which she did. And then I spent 45 mins playing with her, until the kids woke up and took over their duty. At which point, I returned to the place I should have been all along - my bed!

Saturday was very laid back (for me. Carl did a 92km training ride). We took the boat out and I had my first water-ski of the summer. Brrrr, the water was still pretty cold, and I am a total wimp. But I still had fun, and still popped out the water first time. As did Carl. The kids didn't even try.

On Sunday Carl had invited his work colleagues down for the day, which was pleasant, even though it was totally hectic (for me!). We decided to do all our entertaining, including braaing and eating, down by the water's edge. However, this involved carting all the required equipment down. Hmmm, very busy, especially when I kept forgetting things!!

I think they all had fun? Carl took some of them out on the boat, some kayaked, others just chilled.

Gemma had some time on the kayak and even had two swims - one on purpose (she lept off the front of the kayak) and the other by mistake (she lost her balance and fell off).

Mpumalanga

Those of you who read Roland's blog will have already heard about this trip. However, the people who went were clearly divided into two groups - those who cycle and those who don't!

Let me tell you about the weekend from the latter group's point of view!

Roland, Carl, Hennie and Jason decided to embark on a mad-cap, hare-brained idea of doing a cycling tour through Mpumalanga (yes, that of Robber's Pass fame!). Much excitement in the organising, and the time for the great 'tour de mpumalanga' arrived.

Carl went down on Thursday with Roland, Caron and Jason, along with the van der Merwes. I believe their accommodation and food was fabulous that night, although I cannot comment as I was not there! The next morning the little troupe of intrepid cyclists set off and cycled an obscene amount of kms up and down some obscenely steep passes (for those of you who really care, check out Roland's blog for the graphs of the routes and profiles - I kid you not!!).

However, the jury is still out as to who had a tougher day - I left JHB at 2pm, drove solidly on my own with the kids for 5 hours through JHB traffic, rain and past accidents to arrive in Graskop after dark. Fortunately, Carl and Roland came and met me in Graskop because the last little bit would have been very confusing. Whew! So, to add to my not-so-nice afternoon, I was confronted with the fact that we were sharing a tiny little wooden chalet (read VERY NOISY!) with Jason, whom we had never met. That wasn't so much the problem as the only toilet was en suite to Jason's bedroom!!! Those of you who know me, know that I am a girl who enjoys her luxury and privacy and here I had driven through hell and high water to be confronted with neither!! Anyway, once I was over the shock, it was super to be there. And it turns out Jason is a pretty nice guy after all!

I arrived with dinner (pre-prepared bolognaise - so I couldn't even have turned around and gone back home!!) which we all wolfed down and headed for bed, after enjoying some time sitting around the fire.

The next day the cyclists set off again and after some time reappeared, claiming that the weather was terrible and they had to change their route (naffs!). Once again, if you want the low down on the cyclists, refer to Roland's blog!

Those of us who stayed behind - Dee and her kids, and me with Megs and Ali, enjoyed what the accommodation had to offer (other than the toilet which I could now freely use before Jason returned from his cycle!!).

The chalets were on a working silk farm, so we did a tour of the farm.

The biggest saving grace, however, with 4 kids on a rainy day with not much to do, was the jacuzzi!! Lovely! They wallowed for hours while Dee and I chatted and read.

Caron escaped the chaos of the kids and chose rather to drive at a snail's pace behind the cyclists - for which we wives were extremely grateful!

Once the cyclists were back we did the obligatory visit to Harrie's Pancakes in Graskop, and then had a whopper of a braai in the evening!

The next morning was a disappointment for the cyclists because they had planned to go up Long Tom Pass, but the mist was just too thick and dangerous. Instead we converged on Dullstroom for lunch and wended our weary way home wards!

I fear that Carl had a super time and that this may be the first of many such weekends!