More Photos....

Well folks ... Christmas is finally upon us .... want to leave you with some shots of the wild and wacky tourists here in Wet SA !!!! O! NO she's not moaning about the bloody weather again .... but at least "there won't be snow in Africa this Christmas"

WISHING YOU ALL A MERRY CHRISTMAS .....FROM AFRICA

The muddy faces after the quad biking....

Neeegel!

The mad dutchman !!!

Nanuschka

Alien Jane === ooops mean Panda Eyes !!!!

Some Holiday shots!!!!

IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER...

After the quad riding !!! or should we say mud sliding !!!

Nan with her new baby - McIan

After a hard days ride...

Look at the colour of those feet .... again after quad riding.

Nice & Clean before we set off.

After a kill....

The White Lions with African Golden Lions

Below: Look at the view

My Favourites ....

A family of Impala a.k.a McDonalds Buck check the M arches on their bums!!!!
The Tourists!!!!!

HARD TO BELIEVE ....

What it's been 12 days since I blogged - how's that for the 12 days of Christmas (PMSL) ... so where do I begin ... at the very beginning I guess !!!

Mum was speechless (first time in her life ...ever) when she got out the car and her friend Bella walked out of June & Irena's ... Irena was shaking from excitement ... Bella ended up crying and mum's first word were "Bloody Nora what the hell are you doing here!!!" After they all eventually calmed down I told mum 'the bad news' she wasn't going up to JHB to visit my brothers ... she was actually relieved cos she hates flying (not relieved that she wasn't seeing the brothers though ... but it's not every day your best friend hops on a plane and travels 6000 miles to see you and she hasn't flown in over 45 years !!!! )

Kelsey & I left the two of them gossiping with a big pot of tea and plenty of fags... we were going to JHB to met dad (Paul) and Jane & Nigel ... they were waiting at the airport for us and off we went on Safari !!!! It was brilliant The Funny Five (as we were aptly named by Nan) in our big white mini van with all the cases... and stuff!!!

J&N had not slept in 2 days and with the heat (yes you read that bit right it was bloody hot in JHB ... not in DBN where we live like!!!) the two of the caught up on 40 winks while the 3 Bells caught up on our gossip around them ... I tried to be the 'professional' guide by pointing out places of interest (once they had woken up) J&N got to experience our 'rush hour' traffic thru Pretoria ... then we were out onto the open road ... along with the odd bit of History here and there ... we eventually arrived at Entabeni (Ben & Nan's place)
(Impala at the main gates...)


And the boys thought I was joking when I told them they were sleeping 'rough' !!! We wanted Nigel to experience safari tru African Style so Ben had organised a tent !!! Paul & Kelsey loved it ... Nigel said nowt !!! But he was a true trooper and didn't complain once ... (I think he enjoyed it) Nan had been rushing about getting everything sorted for our arrival (she is a star!!! a shining one). We ate 'Vetkoek' (a traditional SA dish) with 'buffalo savoury mince (and I mean the meat was really buffalo) Nan & I had decided we wanted J&N to experience as much of Africa as we could organise !!!

We all eventually crashed into bed/tent later that night ... the weather played nicely on the 1st night and day !!! Paul, Kelsey, Jane, Nigel and Russel decided (idiots) that they were going to climb the 'Berg' (mountain) behind Nan's place ... Russel & Kelsey promised us it was an easy climb ... Nan & I knew better so we stayed at home and baked fresh Muffins for breakfast for the climbers when the came down the mountain !!! I have lots & lots of photos to share so please be patient ....
(From the top of the mountain ... yes the boys slept in the blue tent!!!)


(Paul at the top of the mountain)

After the hike and breakfast we set off into town to buy provisions (booze actually) for the weekend, and J&N experienced the time warp of Mokopane ... the nearest town to N&B ...by the time we got back Ben had lit the fire ... we were having the traditional 'Braai' with Buffalo wors too ... (boerewors is a traditional sausage here made with any type of meat) and being on a Game Reserve N&B get to try all types of meat ... needless to say the boys had to get out some of their toys and do a bit of male bonding too .... (Kelsey was loving it all ... I think Nigel did too!!!)

(Kelsey, Ben & Paul)

Before dinner we took a walk to the perimeter fence and saw the rhino's with their baby ... sweet.

Saturday night after the braai ... and lots of alcohol we crashed into bed to be woken by thunder & lightning ... Jane & I were expecting the boys to come running in at any moment ... they didn't ... next morning the told us of the leaks in the tent but the bravely battled it out in the storm ...

Sunday was a busy day we went to visit a 'working' Crocodile Farm ... I mean they breed crocodiles for their skins and their meat. The tour guide told us that Louis Vitton had just taken 4000 skins from them for handbags. Their biggest export was skins for bags ... they supply LV, Gucci, Prada and a few others (can't remember them all) and they also supply meat to the local butchers. (Did you know ... everything on a Crocodile can be used? the money they were talking about!!! Think I'm in the wrong business!!!)AND the owner says his mating pairs can produce for 120 years !!!!

After that we went for an early lunch at 'Spif' a local Chicken restaurant ... it was incredibly hot and I like this restaurant (yup we went there last time I was there) as it has these cool water sprayers around the place and a nice atmosphere and the kids can run around ... Ouma and Oupi (Nan's mum & dad) joined us for lunch ... it was great, but we couldn't stay too long cos Ben had planned a nice surprise for us all ... we stopped off on our way home at the next door neighbours ... where they breed White Lions AND they have 2 Cheetah too !!! I was in my element and J&N loved it too.... They're also supposed to have Buffalo on their reserve, however we didn't manage to find any but had a nice drive through a section of the bush veld. Boy what another fantastic ... however long day !!!! We were all exhausted ... (remember the sun comes up at 4am and Nan don't have curtains ... not like anyone gonna see us eh?)

Sadly Nan could not get time off work ... well she wanted to save her holidays for her visit to me here next week ... I can't wait!!!, so she had to go into work Monday & Tuesday ... but Ben had time off and we had another fun filled day planned for Monday ... Paul has asked Santa for a Quad Bike (don't think he's listening .... Santa I mean) and so as a bit of compensation Ben had organised for us to go on a Quad Ride through a section of the Reserve ... what fun !!! It was wet & muddy ... we rode dangerously like idiots without helmets etc ... but once we found the mud pits we just couldn't avoid them ... and had to keep going back in case we'd got lost (good excuse eh?) We were covered from head to toe in MUD ... it was great, in fact we enjoyed it sooooo much we booked to go again on Tuesday ... either before or after our game drive... When we got home Nan was in and she wanted to go too ....

Monday night we learnt ho to play Strauss Rummy !!! A lot of fighting and giggling went on (I'm sure Ben was making the rules up as he went along - cheat!!!) And of course the more we played the more alcohol was consumed so maybe that's why we couldn't understand the rules !!!! We all went to bed exhausted but satisfied ... the end to another lovely day ...

Tuesday Nan went off to work, Jane & I made pink muffins (best don't ask) with Nicki!!!! The boys had to go out to collect a game drive vehicle !!! The bad news we had no guide we were stuck with Ben (seriously not a problem there in fact best news ever) the good news we got to keep the vehicle overnight (why ... well we managed an evening game drive AND and early morning drive = BONUS) ... we waited till Nan came home and then we all went out Quad Biking ... got covered in yet more mud ... but this time we planned that !!!! We were filthy but had a fantastically brilliant time ... we also saw the White Lions feeding !!! We dashed back home, cleaned up and then we were off out on a game drive...

We saw Blou Wildebeest, Impala, Warthog, Jackals, Lion, Giraffe, Zebra, Water buck, Spring Hare, etc.etc. and lots of birds and generally a great time was had by all ... then Ben told us we could go out on an early morning drive on Wednesday we were thrilled....

I crashed into bed straight after food ... my eyes were on fire thanks to the Quad biking and all the sand the boys kicked into my face trying to be funny!!!!

Wednesday mornings drive was phenomenal ... as we were driving across the plain when the King of the Jungle decided he would just saunter in front of our vehicle ... it was amazing ... especially as we had searched all over for them the day before and only seen the lions in the distance !!! Wow, amazing ,brilliant!!! It was a fitting end to a fantastic 5 days ....

Ben, Nan thank you soooo much for organising a week to remember and for being such fantastic people ... I love you both .... very much !!!!

Twice in 1 day !!!

Well just a quickie ... to remind you all I'm going to be internetlessness again for the next 5 days ... we're off to the BUSH again and well there's just soooo much to see and do and not enough time to BLOG!!! (LOL)

No seriously - no internet out there ... makes it all the more peaceful ...

Kelsey & I fly to JHB tomorrow after Year End assembly,(and we get final school report tomorrow, talk about leaving it to the last minute !!!) we meet up with Paul, Jane & Nigel and we all 'trek' up to the reserve (Ben & Nan's place a.k.a Entabeni).

Mum thinks she's going to visit my brother Kevin BUT she does'nt know it yet BUT her friend Bella from the UK flew in today with Paul, and June & I collected her from the airport tonight ... mum who has packed her suitcase like me and is under the impression she is going to JHB is in for a BIG surprise ... Please keep it a secret for her till after 11am our time !!! (you know who I'm talking toooooo!!!) OH I hope she enjoys her surprise !!! (I'll let you know what happened next installment :->) and I'm sure I'll have plenty of other news for you too...

28.5!!!

That's the number of hours we been without electricity in the last 48hrs !!!!!

Tuesday was the typical African Summers Day - stinking hot, muggy and not a breath of air (no complaints there then eh?) Then 5pm the sky darkened and the torrential rain, thunder and lightning struck and I mean literally !!! There was a loud bang towards the top end of the estate and by 6pm we were plunged into darkness !!! (funny how we were just about to start making the tea, and I had actually gone mad and decided to bake some Cinnamon Biscuits !!! experimenting for Christmas, and mum had JUST put the kettle on for a cuppa!!!)

Needless to say we packed everything away ... put on our coats and went out for food ... well we know how slow the electricity department are at fixing things here!!! (understatement of the year!!! It's going to be VERY interesting next year 2010 World Cup Soccer and the incompetence of the services here !!! wonder if FIFA will want a refund PMSL)

We came home after our supper ... knew there was no point in rushing cos it was still pouring with rain and there was no way the electricity would be fixed so soon... so we were all in bed fast asleep by 8.30pm !!!

Usually you get woken about 2am when the electricity is restored and the gate alarm goes off ... this didn't happen we woke up as usual Wednesday morning and STILL no power !!! Wow this had to be a bad one !!! Seems it was ... the lightning blew up a sub-station and half the cables out of the ground !!!

T.G. for Wimpy - stocked mum up with her tea for the morning as I had to go to the Year 6&7 Prize Giving Assembly ... the heat had gone out of the air so it was much cooler ... and I'm told more tolerable than the assembly the day before ... The ceremony was lovely ... the kids did a couple of music ensembles etc ... very nice ... no Carol Singing which meant it didn't feel like Christmas but hey !!! The kids were all very proud of their achievements ... it is so nice to see them being recognised for all their hard work.

Of course when I got home we still had no electricity ... so darn it off out to lunch and more tea for mum (tough life but someones' gotta do it !!!) BUT when we got back at 4pm and there was still NO Power this was getting a bit much !!! (no we don't have such a civilised society that we can claim from the electricity department for the loss of food etc... due to their incompetence, I'm so glad I didn't have too much in the freezer ... well no point stocking up for Christmas just yet as we are going away from Friday for a week!!!)

I phoned June to find out if they had power and thankfully they did, so mum, Kelsey and I packed our dinner in a bag, as well as the cinnamon cookie mix and we spent the evening with June & Irena ... ate dinner together and baked Christmas Cookies ( That's what friends are for eh?) We left their house at 9.30pm and on our drive home which is less than 10mins !!! we hit another THUNDER STORM ... you'd swear it had never rained in a month ... meanwhile it's never stopped and we got home to yet again total darkness .... FINALLY at 10.30pm the electricity came back on = 28.5 hours later ... ONLY IN AFRICA

Well Paul just sent me a text message he and mum's surprise visitor have arrived safely at JHB airport ... I'll tell you more about mum's surprise visitor later ... OOOOO it's sooo exciting !!!!

A few of my favourite things...

Oh! boy what a weekend ... Sunshine, Christmas Shopping and putting up the Christmas decorations ... these are a few of my favourite things ...

Yes you read right ... shock horror ... we have seen the light!!! The sun shone yesterday for a few hours ... the washing machine was working it's ass off, of course ... bugger the lie in, and the fact it's Sunday but if the sun is shining on Sunday the machine goes on ...

And Saturday I spent the day with Aunty J Christmas shopping ... apart from the crowds and the queues we had a great time !!! Of course blew the budget ... like we even had one to start off with eh?

Only 4 more days of school and Only 4 sleeps till we see Paul, J&N and visit Nan !!!! Whoopee... Getting excited now ... in fact far too excited to waste time sleeping !!!!

A major question answered...

OK! now I know why the folks here don't do Christmas Cards !!!

I went to the post office today to post my 54 cards !!!! It is going to cost me R18.00 per card that's £1.50 per card to post to UK/USA etc. ... I don't want to buy shares in the damned place ... and I wouldn't mind so much if the postal service actually worked here !!!

So those of you who moan about the Royal Mail ... be grateful at least IT WORKS !!!! and it doesn't cost you a second mortgage to post your Christmas Cards ...

But don't fear I have made a plan ... I have called upon 1 of Santa's little helpers !!!! I put all the cards in a large padded envelope and posted it via parcel post to My Little Elf Friend and I have asked Paul to get a batch of UK postage stamps to her and then very sweetly asked her (well I will ask her after I've finished writing this post) to pop the cards in the post to you all ... I would have asked Paul but he'll be here by the time the parcel arrives UK. Trust me this way it works out cheaper but even more so for me cos Paul has to buy the UK stamps (PMSL!!!:-)

Not a lot else to report ... it's still raining ... chucked it down last night!!! Our garden is flooded again and the next door neighbour said she'd found a turtle (from the pond on the estate) wading it's way through her garden this morning !!! Even the animals are confused ... (OH by the way we live on the other side of the estate to the pond!!!)

Prayers

You know in some countries they say prayers for rain ... well do you think those folks could try praying a little harder cos it seems the rain has got stuck just over KZN again !!! And honestly we really don't need it so I'd gladly package it up for you and send it on ...

We have had rain since Sunday and I mean NON-STOP!!!

So if any of you folks out there know of any prayers for SUN please can you forward them to me ... I know the Indians Rain Dance ... any ideas how to Sun Dance ???

We are now calling for very desperate measures !!! I have visitors arriving in 8 days time ... coming to AFRICA where it's supposed to be hot !!! Whoever wrote that book needs shooting !!! What am I going to do with visitors when it's pissing down with rain all the time ??? There's only SO much shopping one can do !!! (That's the only places that's dry at the moment - the shopping malls)

Some good news though - finally the part that my car needed to get it fixed has found it's way to the garage !!!! So today I am car-less again and hopefully it gets fixed and then I can get out and about ... I mean I have places to go... people to see before the kids break up from school.

So far I've had a tough social week ... breakfast on Monday with 1 group of ladies ... breakfast yesterday with The Mum's Committee, good job I have this wonderful figure I'm looking after... (PMSL) ... and next week the kids finish school at 12h20 everyday so we have a really short week ahead of us ...

This weekend I want to get the house decorated for Christmas ... that's going to be fun ... I'll probably blow myself up trying to connect the damned lights ... that's usually Paul's job ... I'm trying to persuade Kelsey to help but he just gives me that 'you are joking , MUM look !!!

Talking of Christmas I have finally finished writing all my Christmas Cards ... now just to get them to the post office ... they probably won't get to the rest of the world before Christmas now ... but hey! at least I tried !!! No-one here seems to exchange Christmas Cards ... going to have to change that next year when I get the workshops up and running ... I mean I love Christmas and I love making Christmas Cards and all things Christmassy !!!(Boy got my work cut out for me eh? I love a challenge, well that's when I'm not Princess Procrastination of course)

Ok! Waffling again time to go ... ;-0