0 to 3222m

At last! Something exciting has happened in our lives, so for those who do occassionally check to see if there is an update, you must be suitably surpirsed!

After our wonderful holiday in June, we decided to tackle Lesotho again, this time entering Lesotho via Sani Pass. Sani Pass a well known pass open only to 4 x 4's, so for those of us who own one, it is a challenge waiting to be ticked off!

We (our family, Roland and Caron, and my folks) left on Thursday afternoon and descended en mass on my very hospitable and generous in-laws, Selma and Bruno, who stay in Howick. This gave us the perfect location to begin our trip to Sani Pass, via Underberg. What I have not yet mentioned is that SOMEHOW Roland persuaded Carl that they had to try and CYCLE up Sani Pass. Yip - cycle!!! It is a 22km long pass, with an ascent of 1100m. Despite my best efforts to dissuade them from such madness, they left at 7am with Caron and my dad and drove to the Sani Pass Hotel and began their intrepid cycle from there, while Caron and Dad seconded in the car. This meant that mom, the kids and I had a far more leisurely start to our day because we gave them a 2 hour head start. The big bonus about Carl having accepted the challenge of riding meant that I got the opportunity of driving up Sani Pass. If Carl had been in the car, there would have been no way in hell he would EVER have let ME drive! Despite the fact that we both have a 4 x 4 course under our belts. Mom was very encouraging and we crept our way up slowly but surely. There were enough cars also doing the Pass, so I was hopeful that if something had gone wrong, a true gentleman would've helped the damsels in distress.

Our timing was perfect and we met the other group at the pub at the top of the pass only about 15 minutes after they arrived.Did they make it? I know you are all asking! They did about 16 kms, but the last 6kms got so incredibly steep, and energy was flagging, so they loaded their bikes onto the car and drove the last bit (naturally, Roland snatched the wheel back from Caron who had been managing just fine up until then....). Once in Lesotho we drove another 160kms or so to Afri-Ski (which took about 4 hours, the road is so awful). It was a big relief to arrive at the relative luxury of the Chalet at Afri-ski (no snow this time, sadly!). Despite the length of journey, it was absolutely beautiful as my pics will testify. Saturday was spent reading, relaxing, eating and sleeping (girls and Ali) and cycling (Roland, Carl and Dad - did they not have enough the day before, I ask you???). On Sunday we went home the usual route via Calendonspoort. We all stopped off for lunch in Clarens, a lovely quaint, but very touristy town in the Free State. Seeing as our whole weekend had been about the drive and not the destination, we went through the Golden Gate Nature Reserve, yet an0ther spectacular part of the world which all South Africans should do before they die! This lead us to Harrismith, at which point Carl joined Roland, Caron and my folks to go back to JHB, and I headed South again to Howick for the night.
On Monday, I went with the kids down to Selborne, and this time was accompanied by Selma and Bruno, as well as Carl's sister Laurie and her two girls, Anna and Erin. The weather wasn't fabulous - very windy, but at least not raining. And being real Vaalies (well, we are, Carl's family aren't) we still went to the beach, and spent the rest of the day picking sand out of unmentionable places. The house at Selborne is looking lovely, but the golf course is looking so dry - they are in the middle of a drought there. A real crises for the normally sub-tropical South Coast.

On Friday we packed up and I did the mammoth 670km drive back up to JHB.

All in all, we did 2100kms over the 10 days, of which I drove a big chunk of that. If I don't get behind the wheel of a car for a few days, that'll be fine by me.

2010 Soccer World Cup!

KE NAKO........

I simply COULD NOT let an event of this magnitude, which happened right on our door-step, go by without an entry in my blog!

We South Africans have been anticipating this since we were announced as the Host Nation in 2006. There were many who thought we could never do it, and certainly there were a few hiccups along the way, but 11 June arrived and we were READY!!!

The build-up was amazing: this whole year we have had 'Football Friday' where every Friday people go to work/school wearing a yellow shirt in support of our National Team - Bafana Bafana. A few days before the Opening Ceremony, there was parade of our Soccer Team through the streets of Sandton where an estimated 150 000 people came out to cheer on our team! Perhaps one of the biggest differences between us and other Host Nations, is that we never really expected to win, we were just all so jolly proud to be having it here and to welcome all the visitors to our beautiful country!

Also, as the time drew near, homes, shops, roads and businesses decorated themselves with flags/balls whatever to get into the spirit!

Finally the BIG DAY came and the country was electric with excitement! We had my whole family over to watch, which is a fair crowd! We were wearing yellow and blowing our Vuvuzela's. Anyone who does not know what a vuvuzela is, where have you been for the past 4 weeks?? It is a long trumpet type thing that sounds like the droning of angry bees during the matches, and individually are so loud they can wake you from your sleep! The Opening Ceremony was fabulous, and when Bafana scored their first goal, the Vuvuzela's in the whole neighbourhood went wild! Even here in the normally quiet and sedate Northern Suburbs of JHB, where it is usually rugby that people watch, not soccer! I can safely say that there has NEVER been such a spirit of excitement, community and camaraderie in this City! Hosting the World Cup had so much less to do with the actual Soccer, than about the feeling of Pride and togetherness that has never been felt before. Everyone of us was PROUDLY South African - Black, White, Indian and other! No money in the world could buy what this world cup has done for us as a Nation, and I think the foreigners felt that.

I honestly had no idea of the magnitude of this event, and how much it would grip us all, and I really regret not getting any tickets to watch a match live.

Carl was privileged enough to be invited down to Cape Town to watch the Quarter-final between Argentina and Germany. He said that it was an amazing atmosphere, but in truth, you get a better view of the game on Telly in your own (warm and cosy) home. I think he was just saying that to make me feel not so envious!

However, we had our own fun and we went a Fan Park at Innesfree Park in Sandton, where there was a huge screen and thousands of people. It was one of the free venues, and quite close to Alex, so I did have my doubts about going, but the security was excellent and the vibe was awesome! It did help that we were supporting Germany, not Argentina (unlike Carl - ha ha!!), so it made it a very exciting match!

Because we had such fun at the Fan Park, we went again in the evening (yes, BRRRRRR!!!) for the semi-final between Netherlands and Uruguay. Of course we were supporting Netherlands, and happily they won!

One of our favorite places to take the kids is Sci-Bono in Newtown. They put on a Soccer Theme so we all went and enjoyed all the activities/displays there. They also had displays of a Lego competition for some schools where they had to build a Stadium out of Lego. Some were very impressive!

For the Closing Ceremony and the Final Match, we opted to have the whole family over again and enjoy the match in the cosiness of our lounge with the big-screen TV and a fire. With Soup & Rolls for supper.

We are all feeling somewhat bereft now that it is over - like someone has died! Many of us still have our flags on our cars/homes but gradually they will disappear. No longer are there flag/scarf/mirror sock sellers at every traffic light. Being here, in SA, for this, was something to be cherished and remembered, and something we will tell our grandchildren about one day!
So, while life returns to normal, each one of us who was here is somehow changed.

Now that's AYOBA!!!

Sea and Ski Holiday

We escaped a freezing cold Joburg and headed off to Selborne, on the KZN South Coast. Happily KZN enjoys mild winters, so while everyone at home was complaining of the cold (and anyone watching a soccer match in Gauteng during that week nearly froze to death!!), we were in shorts and T-shirts and swimming in the sea. OK, let me rephrase that - we were in shorts and T-shirts and the kids were swimming in the sea!

A highlight of the holiday was a new passion for Carl and Ali - sea fishing. After several false starts, they finally caught some Shad (3 one night, and 2 the other) which we cooked and enjoyed for dinner. Even me, and I am not much of a fish person!

We also had Selma and Bruno join us for one night which was lovely. Especially seeing 3 generations of van der Riet fisherman on the beach. For those who don't know, Bruno's father (Ali's great-grandpa) was a Springbok fisherman, so it clearly runs in the veins!

Then, from Selborne, we headed up to Howick for one night, where we got to spend sometime with Carl's sister Sarah, and her children, which was super.

From there we headed up towards Harrismith, through the Golden Gate Nature Reserve, a quick lunch stop in Clarens, and finally down into Lesotho to Afri-ski. It was not nearly as cold as it has been in previous years which was a relief! Our chalet was so comfortable and warm and fitted all 10 of us in easily! The 10 of us comprised of the four of us, Roland and Caron, Caron's sister Kim and her daughter Sage (6), as well as Caron's other sister's two children, Samuel (15) and Hannah (13).

Megs and Ali really enjoyed the company of the other kids. We skied for 3 full days and had a blast. Megan and Hannah were ski-buddies, and Ali and Samuel spent a lot of time having snow-ball fights! We ate like kings (pigs actually!), but with all the physical activity of skiing, we were allowed to! Lesotho has become a favourite annual Pilgrimage for our family and we love it! We're already planning out next trip!

The Year of the Dog

About a year ago, we had Trixie successfully covered by a young chap, Tintin, and at the end of July our 6 beautiful puppies were born. What a highlight! However, it really has been rather downhill from there on the dog front.

Firstly, one of our puppies tragically died at 3 weeks (if you keep up to date with my blog, you would have read all about it, so I won't bore you with the details again!).

Secondly, we took Gemma, the puppy we kept from the litter, for a walk last November to watch Carl ride the 94.7 Cycle Challenge, and she got attacked by another Jack Russell.

A couple of months ago, the kids and I bravely took our 3 dogs (kids each had a Jack Russell, and I had Lucy, the retriever) down to our park, and had a mostly successful trip (other than our poorly trained dogs on leads, which has to be said is our own fault for not taking them a) to training and b) out more on walks).

So now, I was on a mission to get out more with the dogs, and our evenings now are just so beautiful that it is the perfect time to get out.

2 Sundays ago (our 3rd walk in 6 months!), the kids and I again ventured past our gates with the 3 dogs off to the Park. Carl opted to stay at home, and the less I say about that, the better. On our way there, one of the people in our road opened their gate to let some visitors out, and their enormous Staffie came charging out the gate straight for us, with a look to kill.

I yelled at the kids to pick up the JR's which worked perfectly for Gemma, but Trixie was NOT going to be held and wriggled straight out of Ali's arms into a fight. I just started SCREAMING my head off, hoping like crazy that someone would hear us and come and help (I was hoping Carl would hear, but he was watching Cricket, and the less I say about that the better). The Staffie started tearing into Trixie (who thinks she is a Rotweiler, but sadly is not), and Lucy alternately. The kids and I were screaming and kicking this dog with all our might and this dog would not stop attacking. At one stage, a man came running from the house of the dog and came toward us. I assumed it was his dog, but it turned out, that he was just a visitor there. He took one look at what was happening and refused to help as he thought the Staffie would attack him, and he ran off!! Leaving me still on my own with the 2 kids and a dog fight. Ali was a little hero in trying to pull the Staffie off Trixie, but I was so worried that he would get bitten that I told him to stop. I was trying to pull Trixie away and then I realised that she had her choke chain on, so all I was doing was choking her. I then turned my attention to the Staffie, grabbed his collar and started twisting. Quite by instinct, as I assure you, as my brain was not working at that stage. Eventually I succeeded in choking the Staffie enough for it to let go of Trixie, who was lying limp and half dead on the ground. My poor little Ali had to scoop her up and walk with her in his arms back to the house. Traumatic! Fortunately, another neighbour heard the commotion, and came out in time to see the kids walking the JR's back up to the house on their own while I was still holding the now subdued Staffie, so he took Trixie from Ali and walked them safely home.

In the meantime, the not-so-gallant visitor had returned with a set of Wooden Cricket Wickets in his hands. Quite what he was planning on doing with them, I can't say. So I just asked him to take Lucy from me (who I had on lead the whole time this was happening) and walk her home. The owner, a young lady who was 8 months pregnant, eventually appeared, apologising profusely, and finally another neighbour came and took the Staffie from me so I could get back to the kids.

To say it was traumatic would be an understatement!

Trixie was in terrible shock, with some serious bite wounds. I briefly checked Lucy, but didn't see anything. So we all rushed Trixie off to the Bryanston Veterinary Hospital where she spent the night and had about 19 stitched in various places on her body.

It was only when we got back home that we noticed that Lucy had indeed been bitten - a puncture wound on the upper section of her right front leg. I tried my best to clean it and treat it myself, but eventually had to take her to the Vet too, as it was just not getting better.

So, 3 walks in 6 months, 2 of which resulted in traumatic dog fights. This does not bode well for the future of dog walking in our family. How very sad that we are now trapped even more behind out high walls and electric fences.

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'.

Abu Dhabi

My apologies for the silence. I went from having nothing of significance to write about, to a whirlwind of a holiday in Abu Dhabi (UAE) for 2 weeks in April.

For those of you who don't know, my sister, Heidi, lives there, which is the reason for our going. I assure you, it was not even a blip on my radar screen of 'places I would like to go to on holiday', so if it weren't for Heidi, we would not have gone. The kids and I went on our own, leaving Carl behind at work to pay for it!

It was so super to see where Heidi lives, to see what her house looks like, meet her dogs, and her sweet Philippino maid, Daisy. To see her children's school, meet her friends, and check out the local shops -which one to go to for fruit and veg, which one has decent bread, which one is the one for Pork products etc.! I kid you not, shopping there is a mammoth task. And Heidi hates shopping at the best of times!

Not to mention to finally understand first hand the oddities of living there -in a desert, in essentially a 3rd world country, but with first world money. I think I can safely say it was the weirdest place I've ever been to, and I think Heidi is amazing to have made such a go of it. No easy task in a strictly Muslim state where the expats are second class citizens. Of course, it is not all bad - living on a real desert island can have some benefits!

We did HEAPS - Heidi was the consummate tour guide. There is no public transport, so Heidi really set aside 2 entire weeks on her life to take us around and show us everything there was to see. Darrell also took some time off work and took us on the longer distance/high effort activities.

I took 360 photos (with my new camera that I bought there), but I will narrow it down to a select few (that's cos it takes forever to upload photo's!!). Some of the highlights were:

A trip to an oasis, Al Ain, and a drive up Jebel Haffeet mountain. Such a rugged, but beautiful landscape.

A day at the Water Park, Atlantis, in Dubai. It is situated on the Palm Jumeirah which is reclaimed land shaped in a palm, and then developed. Crazy, but true. We saw it with our own eyes!

A visit to the Grand Mosque. Absolutely beautiful and so impressive - it contains the world's largest carpet, world's biggest chandelier and world's biggest dome in a mosque. You'd think it was a land of short men, for all these 'world's biggest' records they hold!

A visit to the Falcon Hospital. Falcons are a big thing there - it is part of their history from living in the desert, and Falcon hunting is a tradition that has continued. Mostly by the Sheiks, and you can see why when they can pay up to R800 000 per bird!

We had an amazing day in Dubai where we saw so much! The kids had their longed for Camel ride; we saw the ski Dubai (3 deg inside, but 40 deg outside, go figure!); a wonderful trip on an Abra up the Dubai creek, we also got to watch those amazing sand bottles be made by hand, then we finished the day off at the Dubai Mall , at the foot of the Burj Khalifa (world's tallest building at 828m high) where we had dinner and watched the most incredible musical fountains. Wemmer Pan has a long way to go!!!

Another highlight was a camping trip in the desert (the boys camped overnight, we girls bailed at about 10pm). Darrell took us dune bashing which the kids loved, but I am getting too old for it!

We also did some kayaking - both in the channels running past some amazing hotels, and the Grand Mosque, and then another day we went through the mangroves. Did I mention before that it was 40deg??? I nearly died!

So, all in all, what a fabulous trip! A massive thank you to Heidi and Darrell, as well as Alex, Davey and Steph who also had their lives and rooms invaded for the duration of our stay!

Going, going, going.....Green!

I have been wanting to make my home more 'green' for some time. And after our weekend with the Bester's in the Karoo, I was very inspired. So, 2010 has been the year for going green.

I have been recycling for a while now, but have just sorted out my bins more efficiently so I now have 3 bins in my kitchen -normal, recycling and compost. The contents of the compost bin gets handed to Sechwayo, the gardener, and he deposits them in my new compost heap. Sechwayo and I spent a day building the compost heap, and I am rather proud of the finished product.

From far, you can't even see it (or smell it, fortunately!!).

Next project, rain water tank. This I now have, but it is not yet connected to the down pipe. Rome wasn't built in a day, you know! Obviously, I only took delivery of the tank after the wettest month of the year was recorded!!! But, seeing as it is STILL not connected, I don't feel too bad. I'll get that done soon (maybe before the next rainy season starts in October!!!).

Onto my new vege garden. This is something the kids and I did together - sort of! We are so pleased with the results, and have already been enjoying some of the herbs. The veges will take a while longer to reap the benefits. What is worrying me is actually controlling it and not letting it get out of hand. Planting is one thing, managing it is another!

Lastly, the solar geyser. WHAT a confusing decision to make. Every single manufacturer has their own story, angle, and pitch about why theirs is the best product and how we shouldn't fall for what the others tell us!! Since the dreadful load shedding happened in early 2008, SA has finally woken up to the fact that alternate forms of water heating should be used. In fact, it should be compulsory for all new houses!! Eskom does offer a rebate of sorts, but I've heard that it is quite a schlep to get, if you get it at all. That was from a company that didn't offer the rebate, of course!!!. Eventually we went with a company called Sun Tank who were around long before load shedding, and don't import from China! We had a 300l geyser installed in-roof (you see, I have all the lingo now!), and after a few hiccups, we are feeling very pleased with the result. Problem is, it was so jolly expensive that it will take us a loooong time to make back our money! Although with Eskom's 25% increases over the next 3 years, it may pay itself off a bit quicker than we think! So after running a 200l and a 150l geyser 24/7, we now have one 300l geyser which we hardly switch on!

My musings on the topic of going green is this:

Everything green (from energy-saving appliances to solar geysers) is so expensive, that being environmentally friendly is only for the very poor who can't afford electricity, or the rich who can afford to use alternatives. For everyone in the middle, energy saving requires far more of a lifestyle sacrifice which, while possible, is much more effort.