A short the drive down the N2 is the lovely private game farm of Botlierskop. Accommodation is in gorgeous tents with four poster beds, large marble bath and outdoor showers. One night here is just not enough to make the most of the tents, spa and other facilities.
It was here that we managed to see some of the animals and big five that we had not seen at Addo. Rhino, Lion, Zebra, Black Impala, Giraffe and Eland!
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Glentana Beach
On our way back down the coast we had a night to spare and so we stopped off at Glentana Beach. I had seen it mentioned in the movie about Hansie Cronje and as it was a good stopping point for the night we decided to rest there, and I am so pleased we did. This place has a beautiful, pristine, 8km long beach and it is quiet and safe. So safe that we sat on the beach until well after sunset.
We stayed at Aan Melkhout Guesthouse and the owners attention to detail is amazing!
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Knysna Elephant Park
This is possibly the BEST experience you will have in South Africa. An upclose and personal elephant encounter.
Boytjie has spent the morning riding on Namib in the rain! He thinks it is the best part of the holiday!
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Don't fall off the edge!
We decided to leave Cape Town a day early to travel to the southern most point on the African continent, Cape Agulhas! There is a village, a stunning light house and a rocky outcrop into the ocean. It is also the point where the Indian and Atlantic oceans meet.
It is rugged and wild! On the way home we saw one of the most amazing sunsets we had seen on the trip so far.
The Cape Agulhas Lighthouse
Another perfect day in Africa.
Groote Schuur Hospital
It was so nice to pace the polished halls of Groote Schuur hospital once again!
We had come to South Africa with 48kg of beanies and baby clothes that were to be distributed amongst four specific areas of need. Months earlier D had had clear instructions from God that we were to take beanies to Africa! I have to admit I thought she was mad.. but the beanies started arriving and with a few weeks to go before our departure date we had a mountain of beanies and free excess baggage to get all the beanies as far as Johannesburg. In Johannesburg we missed our connection to Cape Town and were upgraded to businesss class, which gave us excess baggage allowance. So God provided us with free beanie transport all the way to Cape Town! This would have cost us about R6000 or $1000 AUS! In Cape Town we only had one hurdle left.. how to fit 102kg of luggage into the mediumm sized hire car we had booked? There is no way 4 people and 102kg of luggage fit into a Chev! Again God stepped in.. the hire car company upgraded us, free of charge, to a 7 seater for the night! So at midnight, after 30 hours of travel, we arrived at our base in Cape Town.
A small selection of the knitting we brought to RSA.
Our reason for coming to Groote Schuur was to deliver some of the beanies and baby items to two wards there. Firstly we met Doctor Roux who works with HIV positive patients and has set up a project within the Kidz Positive Organisation called called Positive Beading. This project employs Moms to do beadwork which is then sold to earn them a living. Please take time to look at their website!
http://www.kidzpositive.org/beads/index.php
A few of the ladies working on the Positive Beadwork Project.
Dr Roux told us about the project and showed us examples of their beautiful work. He also took us around the wards where we were able to deliver a very special blanket to a very special boy! Dr Roux was also asked to take a number of the baby items with him to the Eastern Cape where some communities are in deperate need!
After saying goodbye we headed to the Special Care Baby Unit or SCBU in med speak. We had over a 100 beanies and booties to deliver here for the prem babies. This unit uses over 90 beanies, vests and booties a month! The beanies are vital as these little children, some born as young as 25 weeks gestation / 5 months into the pregnancy, loose much of their body heat through their heads.
It was so encouraging to be told that the staff regularly get together to pray for the well being of their patients and they have seen miraculous turn arounds in some patients prognosis as a result!
A patient ready for home. Look how his beanie has shrunk!
So after our tour of the unit we prayed together with the ward sister and took our leave. What an amazing day!
We had come to South Africa with 48kg of beanies and baby clothes that were to be distributed amongst four specific areas of need. Months earlier D had had clear instructions from God that we were to take beanies to Africa! I have to admit I thought she was mad.. but the beanies started arriving and with a few weeks to go before our departure date we had a mountain of beanies and free excess baggage to get all the beanies as far as Johannesburg. In Johannesburg we missed our connection to Cape Town and were upgraded to businesss class, which gave us excess baggage allowance. So God provided us with free beanie transport all the way to Cape Town! This would have cost us about R6000 or $1000 AUS! In Cape Town we only had one hurdle left.. how to fit 102kg of luggage into the mediumm sized hire car we had booked? There is no way 4 people and 102kg of luggage fit into a Chev! Again God stepped in.. the hire car company upgraded us, free of charge, to a 7 seater for the night! So at midnight, after 30 hours of travel, we arrived at our base in Cape Town.
A small selection of the knitting we brought to RSA.
Our reason for coming to Groote Schuur was to deliver some of the beanies and baby items to two wards there. Firstly we met Doctor Roux who works with HIV positive patients and has set up a project within the Kidz Positive Organisation called called Positive Beading. This project employs Moms to do beadwork which is then sold to earn them a living. Please take time to look at their website!
http://www.kidzpositive.org/beads/index.php
A few of the ladies working on the Positive Beadwork Project.
Dr Roux told us about the project and showed us examples of their beautiful work. He also took us around the wards where we were able to deliver a very special blanket to a very special boy! Dr Roux was also asked to take a number of the baby items with him to the Eastern Cape where some communities are in deperate need!
After saying goodbye we headed to the Special Care Baby Unit or SCBU in med speak. We had over a 100 beanies and booties to deliver here for the prem babies. This unit uses over 90 beanies, vests and booties a month! The beanies are vital as these little children, some born as young as 25 weeks gestation / 5 months into the pregnancy, loose much of their body heat through their heads.
It was so encouraging to be told that the staff regularly get together to pray for the well being of their patients and they have seen miraculous turn arounds in some patients prognosis as a result!
A patient ready for home. Look how his beanie has shrunk!
So after our tour of the unit we prayed together with the ward sister and took our leave. What an amazing day!
Khayelitsha
Growing up in South Africa, I never believed I would ever set foot into a township let alone find myself doing dishes in a home in Khayelitsha but this trip I have found myself doing exactly that! It was an amazing experience.
We intially went in to Khayelitsha to deliver some of the donations we had brought to South Africa. We were blessed to have Otto, the new minister at my old church, as our guide. He took us to the home of a lady who cares for children who are disabed in some way. Back in Australia these children would be placed at one of the many schools adapted speciafically for children with special needs but in Cape Town facilities for these children are almost non existant! There are two special needs school in Cape Town but both of these only take children who are 'high functioning', the type of children that in Australia would be intergrated into main stream schools! In South Africa if you have addititional requirements there is no-where for you to go and many of these township children are kept locked in their shacks with no carer while their parents go to work. What other option is there when you are barely living on the breadline! Disability is truly invisable in South African culture.
So bless Patience, she cares for as many of these children as she can while their parents are at work and sees to it that the children get to their appointments at the Red Cross Children's Hosiptal.
Two of the children in Patience's care.
After our visit with Patience we visited a lady who had recently lost her brother. Titi had been a school teacher before she retired and unlike the thousands of shacks that blanket the landscape Titi lives in the type of house you would find in any middle class suburb. I never imagined Khayelitsha had brick homes! Anyway, we had a lovely tea there and while the girls were chatting I went and washed up. It was almost that in those few hours I had a revalation. Much of what I had been taught at school under the National Party Government had been false and like so many white South Africans I was living under false assumptions and fear of things that had happened decades ago.
On the way home we stopped at Langa (another predominantly black suburb) for vetkoek! Vetkoek is kind of like a doughnut with no filling and these were some of the best I had ever had! Who would have imagined.....
We intially went in to Khayelitsha to deliver some of the donations we had brought to South Africa. We were blessed to have Otto, the new minister at my old church, as our guide. He took us to the home of a lady who cares for children who are disabed in some way. Back in Australia these children would be placed at one of the many schools adapted speciafically for children with special needs but in Cape Town facilities for these children are almost non existant! There are two special needs school in Cape Town but both of these only take children who are 'high functioning', the type of children that in Australia would be intergrated into main stream schools! In South Africa if you have addititional requirements there is no-where for you to go and many of these township children are kept locked in their shacks with no carer while their parents go to work. What other option is there when you are barely living on the breadline! Disability is truly invisable in South African culture.
So bless Patience, she cares for as many of these children as she can while their parents are at work and sees to it that the children get to their appointments at the Red Cross Children's Hosiptal.
Two of the children in Patience's care.
After our visit with Patience we visited a lady who had recently lost her brother. Titi had been a school teacher before she retired and unlike the thousands of shacks that blanket the landscape Titi lives in the type of house you would find in any middle class suburb. I never imagined Khayelitsha had brick homes! Anyway, we had a lovely tea there and while the girls were chatting I went and washed up. It was almost that in those few hours I had a revalation. Much of what I had been taught at school under the National Party Government had been false and like so many white South Africans I was living under false assumptions and fear of things that had happened decades ago.
On the way home we stopped at Langa (another predominantly black suburb) for vetkoek! Vetkoek is kind of like a doughnut with no filling and these were some of the best I had ever had! Who would have imagined.....
Groot Constantia
On Sunday after church we headed off to Groot Constantia for lunch at Jonkershuis. We had a stunning meal under the oak trees. After lunch we walked around the museum and headed up to the marble bath. More later....
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
On the road again
Hi Everyone
Well, the bags are packed and we are going to hit the road in the next little while. So keep an eye on the blog as we will be updating it as and when we are able.
Enjoy the journey with us!
Well, the bags are packed and we are going to hit the road in the next little while. So keep an eye on the blog as we will be updating it as and when we are able.
Enjoy the journey with us!
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