Tramping tales for the period 20 Sept - 30 Oct 2014 (SOUTH AFRICA)

After three months away traversing the southern hemisphere on what can only be described as the “trip of a lifetime” - here we are in the UK, of all places, feeling like  “stunned mullet”.

Why? Shortly after arriving in New Zealand we heard our daughter Justine had been diagnosed with cancer, initially presumed to be ovarian, but currently regarded as a rare type of cancer in the pelvic region that has yet to be accurately determined.  Consequently, Westfield Farm in Tetney is where we want to be at present…

Regarding our wonderful trip - the best we can do to satisfy the curiosity of our readers is to provide a brief overview of all the things we have seen and the places we have been to thrown together with a few photographs as evidence! We apologise, especially as Lea, the primary author of our blog, is otherwise occupied. 

Our minds are no longer looking back but trying to come to grips with what the future may hold.

      

South Africa (20 Sept – 30 October)

Things got off to a bad start in South Africa when after drawing some cash (rand) from an ATM at the airport in East London we were taken for a ride by two cunning, ever so pleasant African gentlemen, who insisted that we must cancel our transaction before they could use the ATM themselves. “Cancelling our transaction” was their way of saying “let us show you by giving us your card”! A scam we found so confusing on arrival in our former homeland that we promptly had to cancel our ANZ credit card before our trip was hardly off the ground!

Our destination was the small coastal settlement of Haga Haga, an hour north of East London, where Lea’s niece Talya was to marry Bryan, the youngest son of Mike and Diana Nicolay. Needless to say, like most weddings and gatherings of family members, it was an event that did not pass without its fair share of drama (including atrocious weather on the day of the wedding itself and Mike Nicolay being bitten by a dog); fun (barbeques galore; walks along the coast; a men’s golf day; bachelor and hen’s parties...); delays in erecting the marquee and the frantic preparations that followed … nevertheless Talya and Bryan’s wedding turned out to be another of those unforgettable affairs that will live on in the minds of all those that attended.

After the wedding we flew north to our old stamping grounds in KwaZulu Natal. With so many friends we rotated from one to the other as a “pass the parcel”. Our thanks go out to them all for their hospitality, the entertainment they provided for us and their continued friendship …

….. Raymond and George-Anne Rogers (in Maidstone); JG and Lynne Osterberg (Mt Edgecombe); Horse and Sue Davies and John and Maureen Pattrick (Hilton); Chris and Hilary Thorne (Howick); Coralie and Hilary Squires (Westville); John and Kate van Rooyen with Lea’s godson Jono (in Westville); Pete and Ruth Smith (in Glen Anil); Alison and Bob Cassells (Berea); Mike and Bronwyn Brett and Andy and Lorraine Tribe (Westville). We caught up with Kit Veitch, Lou and Geoff Pullen, Dallas and Rose Reed, Roddy Ward, Mike Boulle and Tony de Freitas too. 

……  Shan Charter (in Durban North, where we had the added pleasure of seeing our Gee family. The Charter Clan gathered on our last night before Saxon returned to Perth with our grand-daughters Talia and Erin.

A Spurwing Goose arrived for afternoon tea in Dallas and Rose Reed’s garden with its beautiful view of the Hawaan forest and the sea.  

Lea spent a very happy afternoon with her Northlands Primary teaching colleagues…

A remarkable highlight was definitely playing mum and dad to young cranes… Henry (Horse) Davies took us to see the Crane Foundation’s Sanctuary outside Nottingham Road where, dressed in crane suits we had the privilege of taking young Wattled Cranes for a walk.

The Thornes took us to see the unusual memorial to Nelson Mandela outside Howick; Mike and Bronwyn took us up to the Underberg for a weekend in the Drakensberg and while in Durban we enjoyed the lovely gardens, Zimbabwean sculptures and lunch at ‘Makaranga’ (in Kloof) and the newly reconstructed, but poorly planned, beachfront.

Needless to say we were spoilt rotten wherever we stayed. Leading the nomadic life that we do the joy of returning to a place like KwaZulu Natal is thanks to our many friends who provide us with that warmth and meaning of friendship. Come the end of October it was time to move on; flying across the Atlantic Ocean and see what South America had to offer.  

Watch this space!