Well, you will all know that I returned to the UK for less than a week following my round-the-world-trip. Well, I needed that time to recover from jetlag, boy was it bad! Between sleeping, and watching Prison Break series 2 (man, it's good!), Rob and I managed to pack our bags for South Africa. Yeah, I know I couldn't really afford to go on holiday, but I just wanted to extend my galavanting for just that little bit longer...and I was dying to see friends and family again. I was last in South Africa a year ago for 2 months during which time I was a bridesmaid at Kelly's wedding, Emma came out from the UK for a visit, and Melissa and I celebrated our 30th birthday. Unfortunately, I had not set up this website to share those fantastic times with you all, but here are a few snippets from this last trip (and some photos too).

Cape Town

We arrived in Cape Town on the weekend of the Argus which is one of the biggest cycle events in the world with 40 000 people competing, including Tour de France competitors, so you can imagine how the ciy was pumping. We spent 3 glorious days there with family, spending a fair bit of time driving along the coastline to see the different sights/areas. We spent a short time on Camp's Bay beach and stuck our toes in the water - I can tell you that the sea is very chilly over on that side. There was also a trip into Stellenbosch to sample a few wines on the wine route and watch a friend play soccer. Stellenbosch town itself is very pretty - no wonder students choose to study at Stellenbosch University! We had a big family BBQ (or braai as we like to call it) and spent some money at the casino. I'm no longer a fan of Blackjack considering the rest of the table resented me playing (I'm not a team player when it comes to Blackjack) so now I'm a fan of Stud Poker. Yes, it seems I have a gambling addiction since my trip to Vegas... we actually frequented 5 casinos while we were in South Africa.

A must for every visit to Cape Town is a trip up Table Mountain. Its a flat-topped mountain about 1700m high. Its well known for its shape because certain weather conditions cause the clouds to shift over the mountain and it looks as if a table is being covered with a table cloth. You take a cable car to the top, unless you're Jason Kirk and then you hike to the top (but I can tell you some sections look really daunting, or at least they did from the cable car :-) We spent 3 hours on the top of the mountain walking along the different tracks and enjoying the 360 degree view of Cape Town, also peering across to Cape Point where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet. We forgot to put suncream on and Rob had some serious peeling action going on the top of his head for a few days after.

Durban

Durban is my home town so we spent about 8 days there with friends and family. In general the weather was kind to us because it can be very humid and some days you just drip with sweat, but we seem to have just missed that heat wave. Instead, while we were there, we had one major lightning storm, and 2 days later huge swells along the entire coastline. Apparently the alignment of the sun, moon and earth (lunar eclipse??) caused a huge pull on the ocean and we saw 8m high waves at the beach which came onto the walkways and caused destruction to seaside restaurants etc. It was amazing to watch and the crowds gathered in the droves but this did prevent us from sun-bathing because the beaches were closed for 2 days.

There were various outings with the family, Shannon's wedding and a game's night with friends. Kim kindly gave us 2 luxurious nights at Teremok Lodge (5 star) as well as tickets to the Barnyard Theatre (supper theatre) where we enjoyed pizza while singing along to Elvis - everybody loves a bit of Elvis! We spent an hour or so at Sibaya Casino, visited Suncoast Casino, spent a day at uShaka Marine World (Aquarium and water slides) and a morning watching African dancing at PheZulu. It was a very busy time with breakfast here with one friend, lunch there with another and dinner somewhere else with the next person. On holiday, all one tends to do is eat.

Johannesburg

Melissa (my sister) lives in Johannesburg so we spent a few nights there too. We went to watch a Pro 20 cricket match the first evening we were there and I must say it was fun. I knew nothing about the game before that and one of her friends kindly taught us the rules. It was also only about 3 hours long so I remained interested for the entire duration - maybe soon I can move onto a one day game (it'll be a while yet before I watch a test match). We also caught up with Amanda (an ex-work colleague) and we sat up until the wee hours drinking wine and catching up on old times.

We spent a few hours at Cub World just outside the city where we got to 'play' with 3 month old lion cubs. you are able to walk into the cage with the cubs and touch them and have photos taken and they are so cute. However, once they reach 6 months old they become very strong and would only be allowed to be handled by their trainers. We also fed the giraffes and giggled the whole time we were doing this because they have very long tongues and a lot of saliva in their mouths so it's a very sticky and messy experience. Oh, and they can be very greedy! We also drove 2.5 hours to Pilansberg National Park where we spent 2 nights in an executive tent chilling and getting away from the city. We spent time in the swimming pool, playing games and event ook a trip to Sun City Casino. However, the highlight would have to be driving around the park and checking out the animals... that's why you go to South Africa of course. Unfortunately, the area has been suffering from drought and so about 40% of the park was actually burnt suffering from recent fires. It was sad to see but the park guide (on the night drive) told us that this is also very natural in the wild and that this is important to the ecosystem.  Anyway, of the 'big 5', we saw lions, elephants and rhinos but we did not get to see any cheetahs or buffalo. We got to see most of the animals close up including the above as well as babboons, hyenas, wildebeest, zebra, giraffes, mongeese, hippos, various buck and some birds. On the night drive we did have a once in a lifetime opportunity to watch (visibility was poor in the dark) 2 lionnesses stalk some wildebeest and zebras. They pounced on a baby zebra which founght with all its might, but in the end, it just could not win. We also came across a smaller cat called a Serval which the park guide had only spotted 3 times in 3 years so we were rather lucky.

Anyway, our time in South Africa was far too short, but I had to get back to the UK to job-hunt and Rob is extremely busy at work. So, it's back to reality unfortunately, but it's got to be done. It's time my galavanting ended and I started earning money. So this is it for my blog, I hope you've all enjoyed it. Just think, instead of reading about my escapades, hopefully we can all be sharing moments together soon as I hope to catch up with a lot of you over the next few months.