Monday, October 29, 2007
Turning the Golden Mile Green
Sunday, October 21, 2007
AMA BOKKE BOKKE
Myself and a group of friends went to the rugby party at my flatmate's parent's house in Ballito... there was a sea of green and an amazing atmosphere! We are greeted at the door with a Springbok shooter and that set the tone for the rest of the evening! :)
The celebrations carried on into the early hours of this morning... to see the photos, click on the Picasa Photos Link! :)
AMA BOKKE BOKKE rule the world! :)
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Coming face to face with the sharks of the open sea
Saturday morning arrives and a group of us are off down the coast... the morning started a bit chilly and overcast! We arrive at Blue Wilderness, Rocky Bay and are quickly kitted up with wetsuit, flippers, goggle and snorkel. After a group shot and a short orientation from the lead diver, it as time to hit the beach. The rain started to come down at this point and the sea was looking very rough. We had a pretty rough but exciting 30 minutes boat ride to the dive site where the chum was dropped and within seconds we saw our first shark from the safety of the boat! While staring in disbelief into the open waters... we spotted a Southern Right Whale jumping in the distance! :)
After about 20 minutes of chumming the water, we were surround by sharks, who were breaking the surface is a frantic race to get to the sardines... gulp!!! The lead diver then says, "get in"... what, in there??? I eventually pluck up all my courage and plunge into the depths of the Indian Ocean. Once i got the water out of my goggles and controlled my breathing i realised i was surrounded by sharks, everywhere i looked! The visibility was very poor and the sea very rough which made the experience even more intense. There were Black Tip sharks swimming around us, below us and through us... it was crazy awesome!
After being in the water for about 30 minutes, and floating on the rough surface i started to feel the horrible feeling of sea-sickness and nearly threw up in my snorkel... i an attempt to avoid that and attracting the sharks i made a beeline for the boat so i could throw up from the safety! I remained in the boat for the remainder of the dive unable to get the sickness under control, only to watch as one of our guys received medical attention on his shark bite... yes, shark bite! Well it was more a scratch... but inflicted by a shark no less, there goes the companies 10 year safety record!!! :)
Thankfully, for my sack we headed home on what felt like the longest and roughest boat ride of my life... but fun never-the-less, i never shy away from a roller coaster ride! :) myself and my stomach were very relieved to have my feet firmly planted on sand again.
There are not many words that can describe an experience like that... something you always think is impossible until you're actually there and realise how awesome it is! Yes, i would most definitely do it again... but with motion sickness pills in tow! :)
You can have a look at more photos by clicking on my Picasa Photos link!
Monday, September 03, 2007
The Tanzania Dash through Rasta's eyes
I'd just like to say thank you to Marilyn for putting Rasta's story together!
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Zanzibar and Dar es Salaam hotel rooms
The wiring system in Stonetown
Barry and I walking through the narrow alleys of Stonetown
Ian, Barry and myself in the Slave chambers... excuse my wardrobe, thank you SAA again!
We stayed in Nungwi, on the Northern part of the island at Smiles Beach Cottages. The locals are very friendly and tourism orientated, their favourite phase is "Hakuna Matata" (Swahli for "no worries"), which is very much the attitude in Zanzibar! The typical response from the locals when we answered the question of where are you from was, "Bafana Bafana"... which i found very amusing! Sunsets in Zanzibar are breathtaking and i made sure i didn't miss any of the 3 we were there for.
Our activities on Zanzibar included walks on the amazing beaches, chilling in the sun, a boat ride and snorkelling trip to Mnemba Island (the colours underwater were absolutely amazing... so many different species of fish) and the boys also went scuba diving (which by the sounds of things was also amazing). A large amount of time was spent at one of the many bars along the beach... i can't think of a better way to spend an evening than sipping on a cocktail, under the stars with your toes in the sand!
Mnemba Island is a private island and at $1000 per day we didn't step foot on it!
Unfortunately our 3 days on Zanzibar had to come to an end and it was back on the 16 seater for our return flight to Dar. On our return to the Seacliff Hotel, Ian discovered he has LOST his passport, $1000 and 2 cameras... ouch! One word of advice, not a good idea to loose a passport in a foreign country, especially when we are planning on driving through another 5 countries!!! We had to delay our trip for the next 3 days and camp out at our hotel in Dar for a couple of reasons, the main one being waiting on an emergency passport, but the Land Rover had to have it's power steering fixed (the first of many problems to follow) and John had fallen victim to blood poisioning and needed medical attention. I somehow fell victim to the famous Africa guts and spent the next 3 days in bed watching TV... fun fun fun!
Barry lending a hand in fixing the Landie
At noon on Friday the fantastic news came that we had the passport and we were out of that hotel and on the road to Tanga quicker than we could say Hakuna Matata...
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Leaving on a jetplane
I'm not taking my laptop and my phone probably won't work outside of South Africa but i'll try update the blog whenever i get the opportunity!
hope everyone has a great 4 weeks... i know i will! ;)
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Tanzania Dash Itinerary
31. Ol Doinyo Lengai (Tz)
38. Tete (Moz)
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Meeting Kingsley Holgate
At the back is Ian, Me, John and Richard and sitting is Barry and Kingsley!
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Tanzania Dash
On 15 June 2007 i board a plane to Dar es Salaam... i never thought i'd ever say that! Once i land there i'll be meeting up with a few fellow travellers and we'll be carrying on our 4x4 adventure! So far in our itinerary we plan to spend a few days in Zanzibar, we then carry on up north into Kenya and the Masai Mara to see the migration, then it's back down south and back into Tanzania, through the Serengeti, Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe and after 4 weeks of this incredible journey we'll end up back in South Africa! :)
I'll keep you updated as i know more... as it stands now i have booked my one way ticket to Dar es Salaam and the visa process will be starting soon!
Well this is going on i'm trying to keep focused on studying and working... easier said that done! :)
Monday, February 19, 2007
Summertime
Work is going well... keeping me busy and out of trou... oh who am i kidding, it's seems to be getting me into more trouble than keeping me out but that's what you get for working in a famous bar like Billy's... hehe! :)
For those who don't know, the A1 Grand Prix is hitting the streets of Durban this weekend, which is really exciting for Durban! I've managed to land a job for the main race day on Sunday... should be good fun, hopefully i'll have time to take a few photos!
Otherwise Durbs is it's same old extremely hot self... although February has been kind to us so far. At least i've had the time to work on my tan, looking human again after 4 years of being pale!
Still not 100% sure of what's gonna happen with me in the next couple of months, there are a few options each with their own pros and cons... i'm trying my best to work it out! Right now i'm trying to take one day at a time!
It was my godson, Jack's first bithday on 12th February... i can't believe he's a year old already... my how time flies! Talking of time flying, i've been home for almost 8 months now and it has flown!
And also on the subject on flying... it's Steve first flight today as a commercial pilot! :) i'm very proud of him and i know he'll make a success of this new job!