Bridgetown Break

Today we drove down to Bridgetown in the South Western part of the state. The News had rented a holiday house for the week - as seen below, nestled on a hill with a beautiful easterly view over the Blackwood River valley. The area reminds us of a mix between Wales and Inyanga - very beautiful.

Marsupial Fun

Today we visited the Marapana Wildlife Park near Rockingham where we are staying south of Perth, Australia.

Cai loved feeding the animals - a deer (above) and then he got a chance to pat a baby kangaroo (called a joey) in it's mother's pouch - below

Since the friends we are staying with know the owners of the park we got special treatment to visit the koala bears and to get up close to them

Above - a baby holding on to its mother and chewing on a eucalyptus leaf; below - an adult in a typical position in a tree


Above - Cai got to feed the adult; below Jenny holding one of the adults - a female called Crystal who is very cuddly

http://www.marapana.com/

G'day Mate

Today we arrived in Perth, Western Australia after a good flight from Johannesburg although very restless for all of us being that it was overnight but with a 6 hour time change.

We were met at the airport by my old Plumtree friend Tim New who had had to "chuck a sickie" - take a day off work "sick" - to do so ! Reminded me of a book I read many years ago called "Lets Stalk Strine" - an amusing tome about how to talk Australian.

Rugby Fun in Durban

Pete and Gaye are avid rugby fans and have season tickets to the games in Durban. They were able to get some extra tickets for this afternoon's very important Currie Cup match between Durban Sharks and Pretoria Blue Bulls.

Pete bought Cai a Sharks t-shirt so that he would be sure to cheer for the right side ! (Cai thoroughly enjoyed the game)

It was one of the best rugby games any of us had ever watched and closely won by the Sharks to elevate them to the top of the standings

Afterwards we enjoyed the Durban tailgate party which has supposedly been recorded in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest in the world .... with rump steaks fit for a king and cooked to perfection

Gaye and Jenny celebrate the Shark's victory and a reunion after many years !

Pietermaritzburg Visits

Today we drove up to Pietermaritzburg where we caught up with Andrew and Clare Clarkson, who we saw a lot of in Zambia, (left and right below); Clare's sister Karen (second left) and Anne Lowe, Clare's Mum, (second from right)

Jenny and Cai were delighted to see Andrew and Clare's new baby, Leo Keith (second name same as Gordon's - both after Leo's granfather Keith Harvey)

We also caught up with Jenny's step-mother, Bingie (Ingrid) Tanner, who now lives in Maritzburg and who was pleased to hear that she is a (step) great-grand mother !

uShaka Marine World

Today we visited uShaka Marine World the re-vamped Durban aquarium which we used to visit when we were kids

Highlight of the visit was the dolphin show which featured a total of nine dolphins in three separate group perfornaces - quite amazing

For Cai the other highlight was seeing a diver in one of the large tanks feeding the fish and many varieties of rays

Durban Reunions

After 5 months in Zambia we have embarked on a fairly long journey back to Canada visiting family and friends along the way.

First stop is Durban, South Africa where we are staying with Gaye and Peter Goodridge. Gaye and Jenny were at high school together at Eveline and it was through Gaye that Jenny and Gordon met back in 1974 ! Gaye and Peter were at the Eveline reunion in France in April so Jenny had seen them there but Gordon had not seen Gaye since 1988 and never met Peter before ! In the photo below we are celebrating at a Portugese restaurant called Mozambik in Ballito.



We also caught up with Gordon's aunt (Rita's sister), uncle and cousins who also live in Durban and who we had not seen for 20 years ! From left - uncle Pat, Jenny, Cai, cousin Chris and his wife Roseanne, Rita (also visiting), and cousin Marion.