Drakensberg and Joburg

On the 2nd, Harrison, my Nana and I began the long drive to the Drakensberg! I had woken up that morning, and my face was fairly swollen and sore. We were a bit confused, but didn't really pay too much attention to it. We left at about 9:30, and started the drive! It was about a 5 hour drive to where we were staying, and we stopped for an hour for lunch. So we made it to our hotel at around 5:00. We stayed at a place called the Drakensberg Sun, and it was really nice! We had a small apartment, with 2 bedrooms, a kitchen and lounge. On the first night we just stayed in the apartment and made dinner. It had been a long day! The next day my face was even more swollen! We were all starting to get a bit worried. The resort was holding a braai lunch at the pool that day, so we made our way to the pool. As well as lunch, there was a quiz and bingo on! The pool area had the most beautiful view of the mountains.

It was great to lay by the pool and have the mountains looming in the background.

Although Joburg had been so hot the previous few days, the berg was pretty cold so we didn't actually go swimming. The time came for the quiz and we were determined to win. Our team, 'the killer whales', was very competitive. Unfortunately we didn't come first, but we did win second place!! We won a bottle of wine!

Next was bingo. None of us won anything in that. After an ice cream, we headed back to our room to relax for the rest of the day. Harrison and I planned to go on a hike the next day, so we wanted to get an early night. We woke up bright and early, planning to start our hike at 8 and be back by lunch time. However, my face was at its most swollen and was incredibly sore. Something was definitely wrong. So we had to cancel our hike, and instead we drove 30km to the nearest doctor. The doctor took one look at my face, felt around a bit, and told us what we had kind of expected. I had mumps. I couldn't believe it! Who gets mumps at 19! We figured that I must have picked it up in Zanzibar or something, as it has a 2 week incubation period. The next problem was that Harrison hasn't been immunized against mumps, and not only is it extremely infectious but also very dangerous for men. So another day was spent in our apartment. The next day my Nana made the decision to cut our trip to the berg short, and head home that day. We were all quite disappointed, but understood her worry. It would be better for me to get better at home. Harrison made a little nest/bed for me in the back of the car and I slept most of the way home.

My cousin Ian is currently writing his year 11 exams. He also has never had mumps before, and although he was immunized, so was I. So Harrison and I were put in quarantine in our flat and exiled from the rest of the family. We spent two days in quarantine. We went back to the doctor as my face was still swollen after almost a week, and I got some blood tests done. We got the results back, and the said that they couldn't confidently say that it was actually mumps! Everyone was very confused. They suggested possibly glandular fever. These results released us from quarantine and we were allowed to interact with my family again! On the Saturday we walked to two local craft and book markets that were just down the road. We only got some books. The markets were nice to look at, but didn't have anything we could bring home. We stopped for coffee before we made our way home, and I had a milk tart, lemon meringue hybrid. It was a layer of lemon meringue in between two layers of milk tart and it was delicious!!

For my birthday I had been given tickets to see Sweeney Todd the musical at the Montecasino theatre, and the day was finally here! On Sunday the 8th, Harrison and I ubered to the casino to see the show!

We had amazing seats! We were three rows back from the front, which was just perfect. The show was incredible. The singing was amazing, and the acting was just incredible. I loved it! It was such a good show and I am so glad I got to see it! After the show we went and had sushi for dinner, which was delicious. On Monday I had to have more blood tests to try and determine what was wrong with my face. They did a full blood count this time. These results showed that it could actually be mumps. But were still pretty inconclusive. The doctor however was convinced that it was mumps. We were supposed to be travelling to Durban on Tuesday, but unfortunately had to cancel. It was too risky. We didn't know if Harrison had been infected, and if he started showing symptoms whilst we were away, we would have to fly back early. There was also the risk of us infecting the people we were supposed to stay with, which wasn't fair to them.We tried to fit the trip to Durban into our schedule, but we couldn't find any dates that would work. So we had to just cut it our completely. I was pretty sad about this, as I had really wanted to show Harrison where I grew up, and see my old friends. But as he said, this isn't the last time we will be coming to South Africa so when we do come back we will go to Durban.

By Tuesday my mumps had finally cleared up. It had been a long and painful week, but at last it was finally over! Harrison and I went to Lyndsays work, and we got some more tattoos. And as usual I am totally in love with them.

The next day my Aunt, cousin, Harrison and I went to a place called Lifestyle and had afternoon tea with my Nana. I had a delicious lemon meringue pie! It was so horrifically hot, that we all got milkshakes as well. At the Lifestyle place there is a nursery, pet store and all sorts of other things. I went into the pet shop, and found the bunnies, and while the boys looked around I stayed by the bunnies and held one.

I am totally in love with bunnies. They make me so happy. I will probably get one when we get home. Every time I think about them it just makes me so happy. I know it's lame. On Friday, Ian, Harrison and I went out for lunch with my Nana.

We went to a really nice Italian place. I had gnocchi and it was so yum! The food was so good, but the service was pretty bad! We waited and waited to be served, then waited for food, then waited even longer to get the bill. It was more waiting than anything else! But it was nice to chat to Nana and Ian. We were almost home, when we stopped at a yield sign, and THUMP. Someone drove straight into the back of my Nana's car! We got out, and he said he hadn't expected us to stop. At a yield sign. Merging into a main road with on coming traffic. I mean come on! How stupid can you be! Luckily he was insured, so hopefully the insurance will cover the damage cost, which is going to quite high because the damage to the back of the car was pretty bad.

So off we went to the police station to report the accident. My poor Nana was so stressed, and we were all pretty shaken up.

On Tuesday night, Alyson, Lyndsay, Harrison and I went to a moonlight market! We got there at about 8, and it was pretty dead. But we still wandered around looking at all the stores. There was some pretty cool stuff!

Lots of handmade items, such as jewelry, decorations, candles and heaps more. It was a very pretty market too, with fairy lights decorating most of the stalls.

There was a live band playing in the background, which was really nice too. We found a place that was selling cheesecake, and had a slice. It was amazing! One of the best cheesecakes I have ever eaten! Just after 9, it started to pour! We quickly called an uber and by the time we got in the car, it was a full blown storm. We made it home safely.  My aunt Alyson and my cousin Ian are putting together care packages for an old age home in Joburg. They are making up Christmas packages with things like toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, body lotion, sweets and other nice things. I have helped them quite a bit with packing bags and whatnot. I think it's such a nice idea, and am really glad that I got to help out!

Wednesday was a very busy day for me! Alyson has a friend who finished her last cancer treatment today, and is now cancer free! To celebrate this Alyson asked me to bake some cupcakes for them to take to the hospital. So I got baking and made 48 pink cupcakes! The next evening Alyson was having a dinner party at our house with Lyndsay and Ian's other cousins from Australia, and Richards parents. I was asked to make dessert, so I made mini white chocolate and raspberry cheesecakes. They turned out really great, and I was so happy with them. So most of that day was spent baking! Yesterday morning I got up a bit early to decorate the cupcakes. I iced them with white icing, then piped the pink cancer ribbon on top and decorated them with sprinkles and glitter.

This took up most of the morning and start of the afternoon! At 1 Harrison and I left to go to Lyndsays work again. I was getting another tattoo on my leg. Harrison hadn't planned to get anything, but ended up starting on an amazing side piece!! It's a phoenix and it is going to look incredible when it is done.

I also love my new tattoo. It was so sore, but so worth it. I think it is my new favourite.

I think I only am getting one more while we are here, and Harrison will need to finish his side piece.

Today we have just been relaxing at home. The roof of the house and our flat is being redone, so they started that today. It has been very busy with people coming and going all day! Harrison and I took the dogs for a quick walk, which they totally loved. It was adorable! Alyson is having a tea party here for her friend that finished her cancer treatment. It hasn't started yet, but all the decorations are up and it looks amazing. As of tomorrow, we only have one week left of our trip. Then it is time to go home. 8 months done. It is so scary to think about how fast this trip has flown by, It really feels like we just left! It is going to very different going home, and I am both looking forward to it and dreading it. I will write more about leaving when the time gets closer. For now we don't have any more plans, and are just taking it one day at a time. It is going to be hard to leave my beautiful family.

 

Kruger National Park and Volunteering in JHB

We arose bright and early on the 24^th of October to make our way into the Kruger National Park. This was an exciting day for both Harrison and I. Harrison had never been into the Kruger, and had never seen many African animals in the wild. For me, going into the park brought back many happy memories from my childhood. When I was a kid my family often went into the park together, and had so many wonderful times there. It was so great to share these memories with Harrison, and show him a place that holds such a special place in my heart. I was also excited to see animals, of course. We got into the park by 7:30am, and already the temperature of the day was rising. The first animals we saw were impalas grazing by the side of the road. Harrison was in love. The whole day he begged to take an impala home with us. After a bit more driving we came across a few elephants wandering along. 

This was really exciting for Harrison, as he had never seen an African elephant before! These were the first of many elephant sightings throughout the day. We drove on, and stopped at a bird hide for some tea and to see what we could see. From the hide we saw a warthog playing in the shallows of a dam, 

a crocodile sunning itself on the grass,

a few turtles and a water buck. Once back on the road we were stooped by some buffalo crossing in front of our car. 

They meandered past, taking all the time in the world. We were lucky enough to see a whole huge herd of elephants playing in the dirt and lazing about in the shade. 

Amongst the herd were about 3 baby elephants, one couldn’t have been more than a few days old. It was absolutely tiny! It rolled around in the dust and ran amongst the other elephant’s legs, and when it was time of the herd to move on it grabbed its mum’s tail with its trunk so it didn’t get lost. 

It was the cutest thing. Not long after the elephant sighting, some giraffes crossed the road just in front of our car. Giraffes are such funny looking creatures. They look like they shouldn’t be able to walk properly. 

Before breaking for lunch we stopped at a dam, and saw a whole heap of hippos both lounging around on the shore and splashing in the water.

We stopped at one of the camps in the park to have lunch. The place we had lunch was on a deck overlooking a river that runs through the park. While we were eating lunch we could watch the warthogs playing in the reeds and a buffalo cooling down in the shallows. It was really incredible. The park is so beautiful. After lunch we headed out once more in the hopes of seeing more beautiful animals. We saw more buffalo cooling down in the river, and more elephants cooling down beneath the shade of the trees. 

We drove around for a few more hours, but didn’t see too much more. It was so incredibly hot, that most of the animals were hiding in the grasses or looking for shade to sleep in. We unfortunately didn’t get to see any cats or hyenas or anything like that, but the animals we did see were still amazing. We made it home around 5:30 that night and were absolutely knackered. We had a pizza dinner and went to bed early. The next morning was another early one. We were leaving White River to come back to Joburg, and had to be on the shuttle bus by 6:30am. It was sad to leave my grandpa, but we had had such an amazing time with him. I am once again left feeling so incredibly grateful to have such a wonderful and loving family.

For a few days after coming home from White River we just stayed at home and relaxed. The weather has been ridiculously hot, so the motivation to do anything is very low. On Wednesday and Thursday Harrison, Alyson and I went to volunteer for an organisation called Santa’s Shoe Box. The purpose of this organisation is to give Christmas gifts to children throughout Africa who otherwise would not get one. Overall they distribute 100,000 boxes to children all over Africa. 

To pack a box for a child you need to register online, chose a specific child who you wish to buy for and get a checklist of what needs to be put in the box. The list includes everyday things like clothes, school supplies, toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, candy and a toy. You can also put in other gifts if you wish. What we needed to do was open the boxes that came in and check that they had all of the items on the checklist, and that they were appropriate to the child that the gift was going to. Alyson and I checked boxes,

and Harrison worked in the back making up the big boxes that the little boxes would be shipped in.

It was an incredible experience. It was really amazing to see the kindness and generosity of people. Some of the boxes must have been so expensive to put together. They were beautifully decorated and had beautiful gifts inside. Of course there were some bad boxes, where people just didn’t seem to care, but the good ones outnumbered the bad ones hugely. In the case of the boxes that didn’t have enough items inside, or the items weren’t appropriate, we had to either put more items in or replace the inappropriate items with better ones. There were a whole bunch of extra supplies that had been donated that we were able to choose from when fixing the boxes. Our branch of the shoebox drop off was expected to receive 4000 boxes! It was an amazing experience, I really loved it! I am so glad I got the opportunity to do it.

On Friday, we did more volunteer work! Richards company (KPMG)

had organised a book drop for disadvantaged schools throughout Johannesburg. So Harrison, Alyson and I went to a school in a township area called Diepsloot to give out books to children from grades 1 – 3. There were about 300 children that we gave books to, and most of them had never owned a book in their lives. We got there and were allocated a class. We got one of the grade 1 classes. We split them up and read our groups a story, and asked them questions and just spoke to them. At one point I asked my group ‘who wants to tell me their name’ and they all jumped up with their hands in the air begging to tell me their names. They were just so excited to have someone paying attention to them, and wanting to know about them. When I sat down to read to them my whole group jumped on me, on my lap, hanging over my shoulders, squeezing as close as they could get to listen to the story.

Once their story was done and we had chatted to them we got them to line up to receive their books. They were so excited, the look of joy on their faces was just priceless. 

Every one of them said thank you once they received their book. They were so polite and happy. When we told them it was their own book, and they could write their names in the covers they were delighted. It was such a humbling experience. These kids have so little, but they have such joy in their hearts and are still so polite and willing to learn. We went into their classroom, and it was the bare minimum. 

The roof was only half built, with beams exposed and wires hanging out. The desks were tiny, and had too many children per desk. Most of the kids we saw didn’t even have shoes. But they were still so happy. It truly just goes to show that you don’t need material items to be happy. It was an amazing experience, and I am so happy that I got the opportunity to do it. I highly suggest doing something like it if you get the chance. It is so rewarding and humbling.

Yesterday was Halloween! We spent the day at home, and then around 2pm Lyndsay came home and picked us up, and we went to her work. Lyndsay is an incredibly talented makeup artist, so she was going to do gore makeup on the people at her work. On a lady called Roxy, she made it look like her throat had been ripped out and made a bullet wound on her forehead. Next she did Harrisons makeup, which was half a Chelsea grin. Which looked like his smile had been cut up his cheek. Once she was done with their makeup, we headed home again to get ready. We were coming back to her work, which was holding a Halloween party at the bar part. We got some pizza before going home, then went to get ready. Lynds was still going to do hers and my makeup, but when we got home we realised we had left her liquid latex at her work! I felt so bad! She had put so much effort into Roxy and Harrison, and then wasn’t able to do her own makeup! And Halloween is her favourite holiday. Luckily she had this other stuff that you put on your skin and it indents and makes it look like scars. But I could tell she was disappointed. Once we were ready we called an Uber and made our way back to Dakota Lee. We had a really fun night! There were bands playing and we met lots of new people. There was one band called Cortina Whiplash, and they were really awesome. Harrison and I left a bit earlier than Lynds because I wasn’t feeling very well. I think it was just a bit too loud for me, and I got such a headache. But I still had a lot of fun! I just love spending time with my beautiful cousin though.

Tomorrow Harrison, Nana and I are driving to the Drakensburg! I am so excited! There is supposed

to be a cold snap, and it might snow. So fingers crossed!    

Zanzibar and White River

Our alarm went off at 3:30am. A truly ungodly hour, yet we had to get up. We had a driver coming to pick us up at 4:15am to take us to the airport, yet again. This time we were off to Zanzibar! Although we were both exhausted, thanks to the unhuman wake up hour, we were also extremely excited. This was something totally new for both of us. Both Harrison and I have never been out of South Africa, and gone into the northern parts of Africa. It was going to be a culture shock for both of us! After (about) a four hour flight we touched down at Zanzibar international airport. We stepped off the plane, and slammed into a wall of heat and humidity. By the time we made it into the airport I was drenched in sweat! The airport was really tiny. We all filed in to get our passports stamped and collect our bags. The airport is so small that they don’t even have baggage carousels, the staff just unloaded your bags by hand and put them in a room for you to come and collect. When we left the airport go meet the shuttle that would take us to our hotel, about 20 different airport staff pounced on us asking to carry our bags and help us. They basically insist, so we reluctantly accepted and walked very close to the guy carrying the bag, keeping a close eye on our bag. Luckily he actually did just want to take the bag to the shuttle, but then promptly asked for a tip. That was the first experience with very pushy people trying to make money. Fortunately our shuttle had air con, as it was quite a long trip to our hotel. We stayed at the Paradise Beach Resort. It was really beautiful! We were greeted with a cold glass of hibiscus juice, which we had never tried before. It was good! We checked in and took our bags to our room. The room was so cute. We had a four poster bed, which had mosquito nets draping off it. 

There were flowers and flowers petals on the bed, it was adorable. And the best thing, it had air conditioning! We left our bags in the room and made our way to lunch. For meals at the hotel, there was a big buffet. They had food for you to dish up yourself, and then food that they could cook for you how you wanted it. For lunch they had pasta, fried rice, and fish on the grill, salads, soups, fruit, vegies and dessert. The food was always delicious. We were both totally exhausted from the early start and the day of travel, so we had a nap in the air con. Once refreshed we got up and made use of the pool bar! We got a drink and sat by the pool, and then wandered around exploring for a bit. 

That night for dinner they had a traditional Swahili dinner. I think it was my favourite dinner that we had! There were all sorts of traditional food to try.     

The next day was spent relaxing. We had breakfast, and sat by the pool, went swimming, had lunch, went to the bar, sat by the pool, sat by the beach, had dinner. There was a lot of eating during those 4 days. One of my favourite parts of the hotel was the bar that was out on the water. There was a pier out to a little open thatch roofed building, where there was a bar and comfy chairs.

It was a great spot to watch the sunset. 

After dinner some of the staff put on a traditional dance show which was really cool to watch! Zanzibar is a malaria area, which was a bit scary for me. But we put on mosquito repellent religiously, and didn’t seem to get bitten at all. The next day, we booked to go on a walking tour of the old town, called Stone Town. I was particularly excited to see the town. We were the only ones going on the tour that day, and it was a bit scary getting into a taxi with a man that doesn’t speak good English, you don’t know where you are going and the roads are totally chaotic. We just had to hope that he was actually taking us into the town, and not off into the forest somewhere to murder us, or that we didn’t die on the roads. Our worries were unnecessary, and we arrived unharmed in Stone Town. Our guide first took us to the place were salves were bought and sold in Zanzibar. He took us into the basement of the building and showed us where they were made to live. It was horrific to see. The rooms they lived in were tiny and smelly. The next stop on the tour was my favourite. We stopped at the local markets. First we saw the fish market. 

I didn’t really enjoy this one. It was gross! It smelt of death. They had the fish on these concrete slabs in a medium sized room. There was no ice to keep them cool, and most of them were covered in flies. It was yuck, but it was an experience! I have never seen anything like it! Next we moved onto the fruit market. There were rows upon rows of stalls of all sorts of different fruit! Fruit I had never even heard of! It was incredible! 

Next was the spice market. The spice and fruit markets were set up together under a series of tarps. The stalls were made of cardboard and tin. Our guide took us to one spice stall and we were able to smell all the spices local to the area. 

They smelled so amazing, I just wanted to buy them all. It was very dark and dirty in this part of the market, and it was packed with people. But I just loved it. It was something I had never experienced in my life, but to these people it was an everyday thing. I felt that there was so much energy in the little space of market. There were so many new smells and sounds. It was incredible. 

After the markets the guide took us through the streets of Stone Town. They were absolutely tiny and filthy, but they had such character. He showed us the elaborately decorated doors that Zanzibar is so well known for. We learnt that the doors with circular tops were Indian doors, and the square ones were Arabic. 

We spent a long time just wandering around the streets. Thank goodness we had a guide with us, otherwise we would have gotten totally lost! We walked down to the waterfront, which had incredible blue waters.

We also got to see the house that Freddie Mercury from Queen, grew up in! 

We had walked for a few hours and it was extremely hot, so although I wanted to see more of the town, the end of the tour came as a relief. I also loved driving through Zanzibar to get to the hotel. It was so fascinating to watch the local people get on with their everyday lives, and see the mud houses and children playing in the streets. It is just so vastly different to anything I am used to, or have experienced before. I loved it.

The beach at our hotel was a little disappointing. It was a tidal beach, which meant that every day it went out in the morning and didn’t come back until late afternoon. And when there was no water it was just thick, smelly mud. So we had hoped to lounge by the beach, but during the day you really couldn’t do that because it was too smelly, and there was no water. Even when the water was there, it wasn’t very appealing. However, that didn’t really matter! There was an awesome pool, and we still had an amazing time! The next day was once again just spent relaxing. There were two adorable little monkeys living at the hotel, that were tame and people were allowed to touch! They were so cheeky!

Zanzibar is definitely somewhere I would love to go back to when we have some more money. There is just so much we didn’t get the opportunity to see because we couldn’t afford it, or we couldn’t get to it. It is such an interesting and beautiful country. Too quickly, the time came for us to leave. We made our way back to the airport, and were very impressed with how quick we got through check in and security. For such a small airport, they are very well organised with check ins and whatnot. The flight back was slightly shorter than the flight there, and we made it back to Joburg safe and sound. We went out for drinks that night with Lyndsay at a place called Hell’s Kitchen. It was a really cool place! There were lots of people and it had a buzzing vibe.

Harrison, Lyndsay and I have seem to come down with a stomach bug! The two days after getting back from Zanzibar we were all quite ill. It was not fun! Luckily we are on the mend, but not quite 100%.

On Tuesday, Harrison and I were woken up to be told that Alyson’s dog Rosie, had had what they thought was a stroke. We had to get up and say our goodbyes, because they thought they were going to have to put her down. It was so sad. Rosie was such a sweet, old dog. But she was very old, and so being put to sleep was probably the best thing for her. She was in a lot of pain with arthritis, and it looked like she had indeed had a stroke. It was her time to go. We had only known her for a few months, and it was still so sad to see her go, so I can’t imagine how sad it would have been for my family. But she is in a better place now, and not hurting anymore.

Later that day, Harrison and I got on a shuttle to a place called White River, which is where my grandpa lives! I was so excited to see him! We got there during the evening and had dinner with my papa. My papa loves the guitar, and has an electric guitar at his house. Harrison was super happy about this, as he also loves guitar and hasn’t had the opportunity to play since we left! So within the first hour of being there, the guitar had been pulled out and he was strumming away happily. 

It was very cute. Our first proper day with him was yesterday, and we went on a drive called the panorama route. It is a beautiful drive through the mountains with lots of things to stop and see along the way. First we stopped at Mac Mac pools, where natural pools have formed in the rocks. It was beautiful! I just wanted to jump into the pools, they looked so inviting! And we would have, but we hadn’t thought to bring costumes, and it was quite cold. The next stop was just up the road, Mac Mac Falls. As the name suggests, it is a very large waterfall. On the walk to the waterfall we found a little kitten in the bushes! It was so cute, and just wanted to be patted. We think it must have belong to one of the ladies running stalls at the start of the walk. We finally made it to the waterfall, and it was incredible! It was huge and very powerful. The stream of water coming off the falls and hitting the water below created a rainbow of colours in the mist coming off. It was so beautiful. We jumped back into the car and had a bit of a further drive, to a place called God’s Window. It is a viewpoint on top of a mountain with absolutely incredible views of the valleys. Everything in this area is so green, it is so beautiful. We looked around at some of the art and kitschy stalls around there and then headed off again.

The next stop was lunch! We stopped at a place called Harrie’s Pancakes, which is a famous pancake restaurant. They had all sorts of different pancake flavours, it was amazing! Harrison ordered a pancake filled with milktart, my papa had one filled with bacon and cheese, and I had one filled with chocolate chips, banana and peanut butter! They were so delicious. 

Possibly the best pancakes I’ve eaten. Papa also ordered a pancake filled with lemon meringue which was delicious as well. After lunch we looked at the shops around the restaurant and then headed home. Today we went to a place called Nelspruit. We went to a shopping centre there to look around, and papa needed a haircut. We had been in there all of 20 minutes, when they started evacuating everyone for a security drill! Poor papa had to stop halfway through a haircut! It was very annoying. They said that the drill would go on for up to an hour, so we just left the centre. We also went to visit one of my dad’s cousins. He wasn’t actually there but we got to meet his wife who is a very good artist. We chatted and got to see some of her art and her studio. It was nice! We had lunch at a pub and grill at Nelspruit. I had calamari and chips. It wasn’t very nice. We spent the rest of the day at home, me personally writing my blog posts. Tomorrow we are going into the Kruger National Park! Both Harrison and I are very excited! Hopefully we see lots of animals!