Bec & Simon

Salzburg, Austria

bec-simon — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 08:35:00 GMT

After all our travel last year and our trips during our time in Munich this year, we decided that we should start seeing a few places a little closer to 'home'. So, one random weekend we woke up and decided to go to Salzburg for the day. Bit spoilt aren't we...'Sunday, nice weather, what shall we do?' 'Let's go to Austria'!.....It's a pretty good life!

We took the train to Salzburg from Munich, which was great. It's only a couple of hours from here on the train, so it is perfect for a day trip. Salzburg is a very pretty town, especially when it is such a beautiful day as what we had. We pretty much spent the day wandering around the city. Of course we visited all the sights from the Sound of Music, and Simon amazed the tourists with his rendition of 'Climb Every Mountain'. We drank lots of coffee and I sampled some fantastic ApfelStrudel.

For once, no travel issues or other crazy stories to tell about. For once, everything went as planned, and we had a really nice, relaxing day! Thank you Austria.

Photos: Salzburg, Austria

bec-simon — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 06:47:00 GMT

Verona and Venice, Italy

bec-simon — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 23:49:00 GMT

While Mum and Sarah were here in the Summer we had an adventure filled, four day, flying visit into Italy to see Verona and Venice. I had planned to have a European driving license in time for the trip, but naturally it didn't arrive in time, and so we went by train instead...and the adventures began!

On the Friday that we left, Mum came to work with me for the day (which was great!). We left with plenty of time to catch the tram into Hauptbahnhof (central station) to meet Sarah and Webby to catch our train to Verona. However, due to some pain in the ass teenagers and a very angry tram driver, it did not exactly go to plan. About two stops after we jumped on the tram, about 20 teenagers, dripping wet and wearing only their swimming gear, and so, obviously without a ticket, got on the tram. In the summer here kids jump in the Isar in the English Garden and float downstream, then get out, catch the tram back to the start and do it again. Obviously, this pisses of the tram drivers, and ours threw a massive tantrum and refused to move until the kids got off. I couldn't understand exactly what they said in reply, but it can't have been good, because the tram driver ended up calling the police. So Mum and I jumped off the tram (me in a bit of a panic by this stage that we would miss our train) and grabbed a taxi the rest of the way. We arrived with only minutes to spare, and boarded the train just in time.

We had just calmed down and were beginning to enjoy the ride, when an announcement came over saying that due to strikes in Italy, the train would only go as far as the Italian border and we could make our own way from there. Needless to say, we weren't particularly thrilled with the idea of being dumped at some random little town on the border of Austria and Italy, with no clue where we were, and no transportation. From the general 'pissed off' attitude of the Germans and Italians on the train, I don't think they were terribly pleased by the idea either. Luckily when we arrived at the border town (Brenner), the train guys had decided it might be a good idea to provide us with buses the rest of the way (genius!). This actually turned out quite well for us, since we still arrived pretty much on time, and the scenery along the road we took was absolutely incredible. Driving through mountain passes, and across deep valleys with lots of castles to look at. It was pretty impressive.

Verona itself was nice. Lots of nice little cafes, good gelato, and lots to see. It still has much of it's town wall and has a great arena in the centre (not quite the colosseum, but still worth a look!). We climbed the tower(by elevator!), checked out Juliet's balcony and visited the piazza's and churches. So, worth a visit, but I think I still prefer the little towns, that are a bit more authentic and not quite so packed with tourists.

Mum and Sarah and I took the train from Verona across to Venice, while Webby went back to Munich - someone needed to work to fund our travels! I absolutely loved Venice. It was actually almost exactly as I had imagined it and seen it in movies and on tv. But to see it in person was really fantastic. Mum and I (Sarah was not feeling so great) spent a lot of time just wandering around the canals and along the little alleys, and of course shopping, and we may have stopped for a gelato or two along the way! It was really nice for me to spend so much time with Mum and Sarah!

Of course, on the way back to Munich, the railway shenanigans continued. Our train was five hours late, and then when it finally did depart, we had no airconditioning for about the first hour, which, on that day, was a big deal. It was really bloody hot in that train! We were pretty glad to be home again by the time we got back!

Please note: Anyone planning a visit - I now have my European driving license and can offer lovely chauffer driven trips around Bavaria and surrounds!

Photos: Verona and Venice, Italy

bec-simon — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 03:03:00 GMT

Spring/Summer in Munich, 2010

bec-simon — Fri, 14 May 2010 19:41:00 GMT

Spring and Summer in Munich this year were very busy and lots of fun. Finally we were able to leave the house without fifteen layers of clothing, and we really made the most of it. Simon was in heaven with the Soccer (sorry, 'football' if you are European) World Cup. Every beer garden in the city was set up with huge screens so that the Bavarians would not have to go without beer while watching the event. So we spent a lot of time with friends in beer gardens watching football. It was really an incredible atmosphere. Especially seeing as all of the people we were watching the games with were from different countries, and obviously wanting their own team to win. Simon and I (stupidly) decided to watch Australias first game (against Germany of course) with some friends at the Muffathalle. We suited up in our Australian soccer shirts (thanks Anne!) and tattoos and headed along only to discover we were the only Australians (as far as we could see!) in a hall filled with a good thousand socced-mad Germans. Simon of course didn't help matters, by expressing his fairly negative views of the umpires decisions, as loudly as possible. Fortunately for us, Germans aren't very aggressive people and were actually quite impressed by Simon's enthusiasm, and even joined in a few rounds of 'Aussie, Aussie, Aussie'. Unfortunately for us, Australia got their butts kicked and we were forced to endure a very lonely walk of shame back to our place.

But the highlight of the summer, for me, was having Mum and Sarah come to visit. They spent three weeks in Europe and spent a good part of that time here with us. We travelled into Italy together (but that is another journal entry), showed them around Munich and introduced them to our favourite beer halls and beer gardens. Mum suprised us all, by jumping right on the Bavarian bandwagon and downing several mass of Radler (beer and lemon). Looking forward to more visits from mine and Simon's families (and anyone else that cares to experience the greatest city in Europe!) in 2011!

Photos: Spring/Summer in Munich, 2010

bec-simon — Fri, 14 May 2010 19:22:00 GMT

Riva del Garda, Italy

bec-simon — Mon, 5 Apr 2010 22:55:00 GMT

Our first winter this year in Germany was tough. A lot of fun, but tough. So towards the end of winter some friends and I decided it was time for a holiday. We hired a car and drove down to Riva on Lake Garda in Italy for a weekend. Poor Simon was working too hard, and missed out on this one, but I am sure it'll come back around and I'll be the one stuck here working while he goes off travelling without me!

We left from work on Friday night. Luckily three out of the four of us all work at the same school, so Isabel picked up the car, then picked us all up from school. This would have been a huge time saver, except we then had to go via Dachau so that Julie could pick up her massive bag (and I do not exaggerate - I have never seen anyone pack so much for two nights away!) from her house. So we ended up not hitting the road until about 6pm.

The drive down to Lake Garda (or Gardasee as the Germans call it) is really incredible. Even though we were on the motorway almost the whole way, the road took us down through Bavaria, Austria and then into Sud Tirol (Northern Italy). It goes straight through the Alps and there are an incredible number of castles along the way. The trip itself was a pretty big highlight, until our Navman got us completely lost in Sud Tirol. Luckily, there are villages every five minutes in Europe, so we stopped to ask at a little local bar for directions. This was a fairly interesting experience, three German speakers and one English speaker, trying to get accurate directions from three (slightly drunk) Italian speakers. But we made it to Riva around midnight and eventually found our hotel (a Bavarian wirtschaft - leave it to Bavarians, to seek out the only Bavarian hotel to stay in while in Italy!)

We spent the next two days wandering around Riva, drinking a lot of coffee and eating some really excellent pizza and pasta. Riva is a very beautiful little town. It is right on the edge of Garda Lake and is surrounded on all sides by mountains. Lots of old buildings, little winding alleys filled with cafes and restaurants, and excellent, excellent food!

On Sunday we left Riva fairly early so that we could stop in Innsbruck (Austria) for lunch on the way home. Innsbruck is fairly impressive because it is in a valley surrounded by some incredibly high mountains. It also has a nice old town in the city centre, but to be perfectly honest, I think Munich is much nicer. (My Bavarian friends should be pretty happy with that!)

Photos: Riva del Garda, Italy

bec-simon — Mon, 5 Apr 2010 22:16:00 GMT

Photos: Winter in Munich, 2010

bec-simon — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 12:18:00 GMT

January to March, 2010

Winter in Munich, 2010

bec-simon — Tue, 9 Feb 2010 05:06:00 GMT

Bit late with this journal update and I'm sure everyone knows most of this, but I'm going to tell you all about it anyway and you can just skip through the boring bits!

So after our 12 month holiday and all of our amazing, crazy adventures, Simon and I decided that we hadn't had enough fun yet and weren't quite ready to go back to the real world. Conveniently I was offered a job teaching in the kindergarten of a bilingual school in Munich, so after a flying visit back home for Christmas (not anywhere near long enough!), we packed up again (i.e. threw our three changes of clothes back into our backpacks) and flew back to Germany in time for me to start work at the start of January.

Looking back,it probably wasn't one of our smartest moves - jumping on a plane to Munich without a place to stay, a job for Simon, working visas or residence permits - actually, when I say it like that, it sounds bloody stupid! Fortunately though it has all worked out really well. Our friend Joergfried saved the day and let us crash on his couch for the first part of our stay while we found an apartment. I LOVE my job - the kids are great and I love the people I work with. Simon was able to walk back into his soccer data analyst job and visas and residence permits were suprisingly easy. Yet again I had to jump through all the hoops, while Simon just waltzed in, smiled and asked for a visa and they fell all over themselves to get him one!

Munich is very beautiful in winter. Cold, really freaking cold, but beautiful. Even in winter here, the people are always outside, skating, skiing, walking and of course drinking beer (or gluwine in the winter). The snow was a bit of a treat for us, I don't think either of us have ever seen so much snow! Although the novelty did wear off eventually - I don't think Australians are very well equipped to handle freezing temperatures for any significant length of time!

We had a couple of exciting things during the winter to keep us going (because living in Munich is so tough!). Simon's friends, Tim and Nai, came to visit which was great. Four of us crammed into a one room 35 square meter apartment was a real adventure, but lots of fun! And Simon and I skipped the country for a few weeks to head home for my sister Sarah's wedding. It was an awesome day, and I cried like an absolute baby (sobbing and all - pretty embarrassing!). It was fantastic to spend a little bit more time with our families, since we didn't get much time at Christmas, and have a little break from the cold and snow.

So we survived our first winter in Munich, and still are absolutely in love with the city! Looking forward to lots of visits in the summer from family and friends, so everyone start planning!

Yogyakarta, Indonesia

bec-simon — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 03:22:00 GMT

Back in Indonesia for about the 5th time but it has been 10 years since I was last in Yogyakarta, things have changed a fair bit in the last decade too.

The city is still mess of people living on top of each other and its definitely not a clean place but it has improved a lot since my last visit. The first thing you notice about the roads is the amount of motorcycles but the thing is that they're all new! Plus the cars that are driving around are all really nice. Maybe its the increased tourism but the people living in Yogyakarta today are doing a hell of a lot better than a decade ago.

Theres still plenty of places around to eat for ridiculously cheap though, Bec and I ate a few times at a place called Kepala Sapi (Cow's Head) for about $1.50 each including a bottle of Coke each. Even the more touristy places only charge about $3 a meal, which was great for us because we were literally down to our last dollars (or Euro's, depending on the bank account).

We spent a lot of days strolling up and down Marlioboro street looking through the markets. The street is completely different to what I remember, its so much more touristy now and PACKED with market stalls to the point where it clogs up the footpath and you can't get through. However its a lot more laid back now as the market sellers don't harass the tourists anywhere near as much...I like that change. We did a fair bit of shopping, I think mostly because it was nice to be able to afford to buy things again.

Us toursits, or more correctly the white tourists, still get charged a premium to do anything in the city. For the bus out to Borobudur we pay 20,000 rupiah each ($2.50AUD) non-white tourists pay about 10,000 and locals pay 3,000. Same thing goes for food and in the markets, theres a local price and a tourist price but no matter how good of a bargainer you are you never get the local prices, the sellers would rather let you walk away. Not a huge issue considering its still really cheap but it gets a bit frustrating at times being treated differently.

Bec was really excited to talk some Indonesian with some locals although that was a little trickier than first thought because nearly everyone just want to sell you something or is running a scam so it wasn't easy to find someone who would just chat, although when we got to talking to the locals they were very lovely people. Bec's Indonesian is still pretty good which was good for chatting but also for making sure we didn't get ripped off too much. The local people get really excited to see tourists and we found that the biggest hurdle to get over trying to have a conversation was a lot of them get too embarrassed.

It took us until the last few days to make it out to Prambanan and Borobudur temples. They are both amazing places, right up there with some of the temples in Egypt or the ruins along the Inka trail. Prambanan is a series of Hindu temples each dedicated to a different god, it got badly damaged in the 2006 earthquake but hopefully they are able to restore it. While there we were intercepted by a local girl who asked if she could talk with us to practice her english, obviously we had no problem with that but after a few hours of her following us reading us stories from her book to us it got a bit tiring, lovely girl though I think her name was Mae.

At Borobudur, Bec was pretty blown away by the size and detail of the temple. I've been there before but I am still very impressed with it. About seven levels and around each one the carvings tell a story about life. Again, we were the centre of attention for most of the Indonesians there, for some reason they all wanted to take photos or even sneaky video of us while we weren't looking. We got stopped to pose with people about 5 times. We couldn't quite figure it out but just smiled and went along with it.

We've just finished our final pack and we're ready to leave Indonesia because...We're going home! Well for a little while anyway.

Photos: Yogyakarta

bec-simon — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 02:38:00 GMT

Hong Kong, Hong Kong

bec-simon — Wed, 9 Dec 2009 00:01:00 GMT

Not the fondest memories of Hong Kong to be had. Actually we really don't have anything against the city itself just got a few bad memories from there that are clouding our opinion on the place.

For starters the flight into Hong Kong was fairly horrific. We got turbulance for pretty much the entire 12 hours of the flight from Johannesburg which wasn't too bad but we hit some extreme stuff somewhere over the Bay of Bengal which made the plane drop violently three times. People and objects got thrown around the cabin. Two cabin staff got injured and had to sit out the rest of the flight.

Anyway we got there and found ourselves a hotel. It was in Chungking Mansion, a famous old building in central Hong Kong that is mostly dodgey markets and food shops. We had to fight through the local scammers trying to tell us that our hotel was closed or it was too dirty and their hotel was clean but we found our way. The hotel was basic to say the least but it was clean, cheap and right in the heart of the city.

We didn't know much about Hong Kong so we kind of wandered around for the first few days taking in the sights and sounds of the place. First impressions were that it was really ridiculously busy, I don't know how people live like that. Just crossing the street was dangerous because you could get trampled by the 300 people coming from the other direction. Fun for a holiday but having to deal with that every day might drive me insane I think.

We found some odd sights. From turtle soup stores to brides lining up outside the bridal registry waiting their turn. Everyone in the city has a camera on them and is constantly taking photos of pointless shit, photos of walls and footpaths. We didn't understand it.

After three days of not much more than strolling around looking for Chinese restaurants (which for some reason are super hard to find) and hopping from coffee shop to coffee shop along Victoria Harbour we headed to the airport to fly out to India. Unfortunately we didn't get anywhere. We were told that we couldn't go to India because we didn't have pre-arranged visas but we were lead to believe that we got them on arrival! So we got on the phone to the Indian visa department who said they could have us the visas by close of business the next day. Good result we figured since we'd only lose two days there so we paid to move our flights back two days then took the bus back into the city to the visa department. However now they were telling us it would be at least 5 working days to get the visas and even then we weren't guaranteed them. We begged and pleaded to speed it up but they were having none of it, really annoying! Bec was getting a little emotional so we made the decision to go have another coffee and work something else out. We decided on scrapping India altogether because by the time the visas got through we wouldn't have enough time to see India properly and we wouldn't be able to get our flight organised because we didn't know when they were going to be ready.

After the India issues we decided to book ourselves into a nice room and relax for a bit. We ended up in this amazing and massive skyscraper hotel on the 60th floor! We had view way out over the harbour (through the smog) to Hong Kong island. We took the few days there as relax time and re-routing our travels time. We ended up switching our flights to Yogyakarta in Indonesia which really excited Bec because she'd been carrying on a bit about wanting to practice her Indonesian again before she loses it.

So with that out of the way we had a few more days in Hong Kong to do what the locals do...hang out in shopping malls! I think you can traverse the entire city by inter-connecting shopping malls. We didn't go out into the light of day for the final few days in Hong Kong because there was no need to, and at time it was hard to find an exit.

Well we left Hong Kong headed to Indonesia with some bad memories but not so much of the city, just what happened there and getting there. Truth is the city is fine, wouldn't recommend going there but wouldn't tell anybody to stay away, just as long as you like crowds!

Photos: Hong Kong

bec-simon — Tue, 8 Dec 2009 20:33:00 GMT

Chobe to Hwange

bec-simon — Thu, 3 Dec 2009 01:09:00 GMT

The whole truck fiasco had a happy ending for us. Not only did we get to keep Linda, Francis (also a driver/tour guide), and their truck for the rest of our tour, ATC felt so bad about the whole thing, that they gave us all a free overnight stay inside Chobe National Park (which was a very expensive optional activity). Before heading into the national park to take advantage of our freebie, we spent a night camped out on the Chobe River. In the evening Simon and I went for a walk with our guide and a couple of others along the river bank to go hippo hunting. We almost literally ran into a hippor and her babies and had to back off very quickly. Apparently hippos are incredibly dangerous and kill people all the time - a charcteristic not at all conveyed in books like 'There's a Hippopotamus on my Roof Eating Cake'!

We went on a morning cruise along the Chobe River and where we saw loads of hippos, crocodiles and a massive herd of elephants playing around in the water! We followed this up with game driving and our overnight campout in Chobe. We saw more lions, antelope, baboons, buffalo, giraffes, jackals, hippos and about a gazillion elephants (yes a gazillion - I counted). We were in an open air jeep-like vehicle, which was awesome, the elephants walked right up close to the trucks! Simon was a little shattered, though because we never saw a leopard to make up the Big 5, although, we were told that they aren't seen very often.

Then finally, without any more truck shenanigans, we made it to Victoria Falls! We finished our tour the following day, but spent the next few days camping and hanging out with the tour group and eating at Vic Falls best restaurants - the Chicken Inn, the Pizza Inn and the Creamy Inn! Simon and I checked out the Falls, which were very beautiful and very impressive, especially considering that the water is actaully low at the moment. I can only imagine what it's like during high season! The rest of our time was spent relaxing at the bar, swimming and shopping at the local markets.

After we said goodbye to our tour group (which was kind of sad, we got pretty close after three weeks stuck with each other!), Simon and I, and Geir, another guy from our tour went on a three day tour into Zimbabwe. We stayed in Hwange National Park and did a fair bit of game driving, and we finally spotted our leopard!!! I'm glad we did too, they're pretty impressive creatures! We also visited the painted dog sanctuary and a local school and community. I really enjoyed the visit to the school and the community. It was a bit of an eye opener.

Photos: Chobe to Hwange

bec-simon — Wed, 2 Dec 2009 03:47:00 GMT

Spitzkoppe to Okavango Delta

bec-simon — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:31:00 GMT

We bounced on our rented bus (our tour truck never got fixed) to Spitzkoppe. Spitzkoppe is a series of rocky outcroppings surrounded by completely flat desert. We didn't spend a lot of time there, mostly due to delays caused by our ongoing truck saga!

After yet another epic day of driving, we rolled into Cheetah park in time for a quick afternoon swim, a walk with the cheetahs and to participate in feeding time (not as the meal though!). Cheetah Park was a great place to visit for us, because I think the likelihood of seeing any cheetahs in the wild is pretty slim. At the park we actually walked around with two (and a half...a cub) 'tame' cheetahs. It was pretty scary at first, because they are pretty vicious looking cats, but the walked along with us pretty calmly and let us pet them. Simon's highlight for the day was seeing a little jack russell take on a cheetah cub and come out unscathed. We all piled into the back of a couple of utes to go out and feed the 'semi-tame' cheetahs - although, after watching them at feeding time, I'd like to debate the 'tame' part!

The following day was kind of a blur for me, because I got sick, although out of a 342 days travelling, I think only getting sick once isn't too bad (touch wood - we still have two weeks of eating, drinking and travelling in India to survive yet). That evening we arrived in Etosha National Park (in a new borrowed tour truck) and finally spotted some big game! We spent that afternoon and the entire next day game driving in the park and saw a ridiculous amount of wildlife. We spotted zebra, giraffes, lots of different types of antelope, hyenas, jackals, lions and lion cubs, white rhinos and heaps of elephants. It was an incredible day!

After Etosha the aim was to make it to the Rainbow River Lodge an hour past Rundu, to camp along a river full of crocs and hippos. But the truck debacle continues, and we made it to about 30kms out of Rundu, when I next truck gave up leaving us stranded on the side of the road. This breakdown was a lot worse though, because it wasn't fixable and to call in another truck could take days. Basically, we'd miss out on a massive chunk of our trip. After a few hours hanging out on the roadside, entertaining the locals, a tour truck from a different company pulled up to see what was up. Linda, the driver/tour guide, (who we love and will always be grateful to) rescued us! We piled into her truck - it was a pretty tight squeeze, people sharing seats, bags piled on top and around us - but we didn't care, we were so happy to be moving, and, ATC (our tour company), forked out for beers and wine, to make up for our troubles!

We spent the next three days camping out in the Okavango Delta. We were poled out there in Mokoros (traditional dugout canoes, complete with traditional leaks too!). Simon and some of the other boys, decided they needed to have a go at Mokoro poling while we were out there, which was pretty entertaining. Simon, to my disgust, got the hang of it far too quickly and didn't even fall out once! We spent most of our time in the Delta trekking around in small groups with a local guide tracking wildlife. For a place that is pretty much untouched by humans and supposedly packed with wildlife, we saw suprisingly little wildlife! Although it was a nice experience seeing things on foot instead of through a window. Simon was pretty stoked that we saw a black mamba (although, I wouldn't have been shattered not to ave spotted a deadly snake!). On our last night in the Delta the polers and guides sang and danced for us, which I loved, they have such amazing voices!

Photos: Spitzkoppe to Okavango Delta

bec-simon — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:13:00 GMT

Cape Town to Swakopmund

bec-simon — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 02:53:00 GMT

Our 21 day over land tour began in Capetown... on a freezing, rainy day. Perhaps I'm a little ignorant, but when I think Africa, I think hot and sunny! It didn't last too long though. We spent our first night of the trip at a winery in the Cederberg region, where the first optional extra of the tour was a wine tasting session, which Simon and I enthusiastically joined in. By the time we reached Orange River on our second day, the rain had stopped and the sun was out, and (after assurances from superguide Mat that the river was entirely hippo and croc free) we even went for a swim.

After crossing the border to Namibia we headed out to Fish River canyon to watch the sunset. Mat decided he'd take people out on a night walk to go hunting for spiders and scorpians and other creepy crawlies. Needless to say, I passed, I didn't feel the need to go out actively seeking things that creep me out.

After a quick stop for supplies we stayed at a campsite just past Bethanie. We hiked up a big hill to see the view which was very cool. From the top you could see the road, straight and flat in either direction, our campsite over the road, and that was it. There was nothing else for as far as we could see.

The following day, halfway between Bethanie and Sossuvlei, in Middle of Nowhere, Namibia, our tour truck shit itself and died at a teeny tiny truck stop. We waited for six hours (luckily the shop sold ice creams and cool drinks) while Mat and Nick (our driver) figured out that it couldn't be fixed, the part it needed would have to be flown from Capetown, and what the hell would we do in the mean time! Evetually they decided we'd camp there for the night. Syd and Gen found a local lady who would sell us beers out of her house (I don't think this was exactly a legal transaction) and after a few beers and some Extreme Snap, it turned out to be a pretty good night. A truck was sent out during the night to pick us up and take us the rest of the way to Swakopmund.

The next day we drove to Swakopmund via Sossuvlei (a huge desert area covered in sand dunes). We trekked up the famous Dune 45 where Simon, along with a few other sports fans, competed in what Mat very enthuiastically calls, Super Dune 45 Super Dune Race 45. Basically people race madly down the side of the Dune and first to the bottom wins. It's pretty entertaining actually, because running down a sand dune is pretty awkward and you're guaranteed a few good stacks! Simon, of course, won the title of Super Dune 45 Super Dune Race 45 World Champion.

Swakopmund is a little tourist town on the West Coast, Namibia's Ocean Grove. It was a pretty cool little town, lots of tourist souvenir shops and restaurants. We were there for three nights, I think mainly for people to do optional activities like sandboarding and skydiving. Since neither of us felt compelled to throw ourselves out of a plane, we spent a day sea-kayaking with the sea lions instead. It was absolutely incredible. We saw flamingoes and jackals (on the way out there obviously, as far as I know jackals live on land). Simon and I were in a double kayak, which suited me since steering was a little beyond my level of coordination. The sea lions swam along behind and beside us as we paddled and when we stopped they came and grabbed onto our paddles and we scratched there bellies. We also saw some dolphins but the sea lions were the definite highlight, they were so playful!

Photos: Cape Town to Swakopmund

bec-simon — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:01:00 GMT