Eurpoean South African Adventure

Gallery: The Lion Files

judy — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 21:02:00 GMT

Gallery: Week 2 at the reserve

judy — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 20:33:00 GMT

second week on the reserve

judy — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 20:27:00 GMT

Well this week started off with a quiet session of birding along the river with kingfishers and eagles, and the usual trip to the local school. Then it all heated up with lots of work around lions, monitoring their kills - I heard one growling at our gate at 115 am last night and wondered of we were next on the menu.

We were also back with the elephants looking at the complete devastation that they do to the environment as they tear throught the jungle. And then of course there was a trip to the beach and lots of work on building bridges, mending fences and controlling alien vegetation.

I have to jump out of a plane tomorrow. Take care until next week - cheers Judy

Wild life reserve

judy — Sat, 4 Aug 2007 20:48:00 GMT

Hi all - as you can see from the photos - you get an idea of what we have been up to anything from clearing alien vegetation to teaching at a schools and untagging hyena. The guy that has been co-ordinating us has been great and as soon as an event is about to happen suchas the hyena untagging we dash off to help with the darting and spotting. We have frozen our arses off in the beautiful Kariega river and spent a night out under the stars listening to the sounds of wailing jackals. Well time is short and i have limited access to the internet - so take care until the next installment

Cheers

Gallery: Storms River

judy — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 19:30:00 GMT

Storms River Mouth

judy — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 19:23:00 GMT

Well this is the last story for a week as I will be heading bush for a week with the wildlife!! So the last couple of days were spent in the beautiful Tsitsikama national park. The weather has been quite wild and windy, but I still managed to execute a 6km scramble to a waterfall - they don't have delicate walking paths here - just dirty great rocks to scramble over. However I managed to get to the waterfall - which was a real treat as you can see - this fall drops directly into a lagoon overlooking the sea. After my walk the path was obliterated and my fellow travellers didn't manage to make the trip - that is how quickly things change. Then in the afternoon I did a canopy swing - just a tarzan and jane thing I think!! But it was beautiful - the ecology an bio diversity continues to be breath taking.

Table Mt to the coast and inland

judy — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 02:43:00 GMT

So now that I have finally found a way to put titles on my photos there is less need for narrative - and yes Chris even included a few of me!! So climbing Table Mt was fun - did you know that there are more than 320 routes to get up there and they lose multiple tourists each year in the process!! I figured that out as I started to climb...literally..and as I scaled a cliff face without a guide rope I decided that it was time to climb right back down and go up in the cable car instead - no wonder every one was shocked when I said I was making a solo ascent. As I got to the top I met up with my travelling companion Yvonne and we found miles of walking paths and beautiful birds - so plenty to keep us occupied and get us lost before decending to the waterfront for an afternoon of street entertainment -just another Darling Harbour.

I then headed off in my VW chicco (and boy can that baby roll) to Hermanus to see my whales - within an hour a security guard patrolling the cliff walk grabbed me and took me for a brisk walk - and there it was - my Southern right in spitting distance. I then returned to my backpackers - kinda 60s style with a beautiful mural on my bed room wall announcing it to be my love cave!!

So, next day I was on the road again - getting used to the South African driving and overcoming my initial trepidation I cranked the little chico up to 140 kph and headed for the hills!!!

Here in Outdshoorn I have found the bacpackers so friendly and the outdoors so enchanting that I have stayed three nights- and as you can see from the photos did a big MTB descent from Swatberg pass in gale force winds - the 2 English girls with me chose the wrong day to try to learn to ride a bike!! After the third time that the wind threw them off to the edge of the cliff they both decided to take a more graceful descent in the van!!

Well there was the obligatory visit to an ostrich farm (delete emu in any of my photos - force of habit) - any of you guys want me to grab you an ostrich feather duster ?- I am sure your partners would appreciate them one way or another!!

I also went to the Cango caves - which were quite spectacular and a rival for jenolan. I had my own personal guide who took me on the "adventure" tour squeezing through the 27cm love tunnel (due to the hugs n squeezes) up the chimney and through the post box - you get the picture. One American tourist didn't though - back in Jan she refused advice that she should not go down and trapped herself and those that had gone before for 10 hours - go figure!!

Well - that's it for now .....back to the bar!!! On to Tsitsikamma nature reserve tomorrow...

Gallery: Outdshoorn

judy — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 02:18:00 GMT

Ostriches and mountains

Gallery: Table Mt

judy — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 03:08:00 GMT

First Few Days in south africa

judy — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 02:47:00 GMT

Well here I am in Outdshoorn. Ostrich capital of South Africa - can't wait for that Ostrich egg at breakfast - they tell me one ozzie egg is worth 20 hens eggs!! As you would have gathered from the photos the first days were in Cape Town. I met Yvonne as soon a i got off the plane - an English PHD student studying Human rights law - she said she was here for business - but like everyone I meet business trips to SA are always sandwiched between two healthy chunks of fun!! So Yvonne being the perfect street smart, intelligent travelling companion gave me the opportunity to get about Cape town with good company and minus the constant paranoia of you can't go anywhere alone!! We headed off to the cape of good hope with a tour company for a day and as you can see from the pictures we met seals and penguins, cycled through national parks (well rolled down hill) and took a couple of hikes up to the Cape of Good Hope light house which proved to be useless in the old days as it was constantly engulfed by cloud!!

The moment of excitement that day was when we went ot a reserve for lunch. Baboons are really ferocious here in their quest for food. Before we had our lunch the guide was seen doing a 100m dash to chase off mischevious monkeys with stones and then he sat vigil with a sling shot whilst we ate. Can't say that another couple received the same level of security - they hopped out of their car with a small chil and food remaining inside with the door open - the waiting baboon didn't need a second chance - it was in like flyn - the poor parents stirred into a whirl wind of panic to retrieve their child. And groan of the day goes to a young American girl who, on seeing an ostrich walking along the road at the beach said - now I know I ma not in Kansas anymore - enough to make even her fellow country folk groan!!

The bar at the backpackers with its log fire and good food, and crappy wine sold by the bucket started to create problems for me when I met the beautiful young, but wicked, multi-lingual Hayley (calm down guys - way too young for any of you!!!) But not too young for my suave French man who I met on the plane - let the match making begin!!) Anyway - Hayley became a force for evil when we got into a bucket of wine drinking competition and caused me great difficulty in trying to navigate my way through the meter wide corridor in a straight line!! Hayley was yet another one on a shonky business trip!! English but living in Germany she and her colleague spent more time tripping around Cape Town than Jo burg where there is a definite pattern!!

Ayway Table Mt photos and tales of my trip from Hermanus (Whale watching capital to here) to follow. However, for now the host at the back pack has told me off for getting square eyes and told me I need ot be in the bar instead!! So take care all....look forward to more adventures soon

Gallery: Cape town

judy — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 04:24:00 GMT

Au revoir France

judy — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 03:05:00 GMT

The final climb in the TdF Alps stages over we decided to do a bit of our own climbing as you can see from the photos. Whilst usually I would not feature in my own photos on this occassion I felt I needed proof as the climb up Madelene was a beaut - 400m to 2000m in 26 km and still breathing on the way up!! The descent was interesting - glad it wasn't wet as there are no guard rails to deter skill-less cyclists like moi descending to their doom - and in fact on the way up I delicately crossed the mid line into the path of an oncoming vehicle and came within inches of the edges - those french cars are way too quiet??

It was tres sad to leave the Alps and the great team. Thoroughly recommend these guys - Alpcycles.com for cycling in the Alps. SO long as you can come to terms with a voracious hill climber, a woman who cooks like an angel whilst never sleeping and drinking all the men under the table; and a man who sneaks home with his cross dressing dog each night (yes we all would if only we could!!)

So back for a brief sojourn in London (4 hours plus 2 on the tarmac - but still have luggage - quite a bonus I understand when emerging from Heathrow)- and surprise, surprise - it rained!! I was entertained all night by a French man who educated me on his MBA whilst explianing the finer points of champagne and French vs British deserts (not sure that was worth a nights sleep). Then touched down in Cape Town to yes... more rain...

Well...I think that tommorrow will be penguines and cape of good hope...

Cheers for now

Gallery: Col de la Madelene

judy — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 02:56:00 GMT

Gallery: moretour de france

judy — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 18:31:00 GMT

more on the tdf

judy — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 17:23:00 GMT

We have now visited two of the stages and the sun has been fierce - all the ozzies suffering from the unaccustomed extended exposure to the sun whilst our hardy hosts comfortably position themselves in the full glare of the sun and pose for erst while reporters as we await the caravan to come through and throw out all sorts of useful trinkets - well trinkets anyway - perhaps I can bring them home for next years trivia night. You really haven't lived if you have not claimed a large green hand from one of floats, to wack the on coming cyclists on the bum - well suited to me as you can imagine!!

We have been doing one of the climbs that the tour riders will be doing each day at breath taking speed - as I am sure you can imagine!! Today was Joe's turn to accompany up to the top of the col de Colombier. Poor old Joe arrived via every possible plane diversion and arrived with absolutely no luggage whatsoever and no bike - courtesy of British Airways!! But no he was not riding naked.

Well photos to follow!! A day of gentle hill climbing today with no tour commitments!!

The French Alps

judy — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 17:45:00 GMT

Here in God's own country - second only to Canberra (of course). The weather has turned beautiful and you need to check out the photos in my photo gallery to understand quite how breath taking this place is - even if it is full of poms!! Any attempts to speak French are quickly thwared as everyone speaks English.

Our bikes arrived on my first evening - the van in the picture has already parted company with 14 of the bikes - Igor and John arrived from Italy to deliver the bikes and were great company for the first evening before they departed for Spain avec the rest of the bikes. The next day- I mounted my trusty Cannondale with triple - what a delight - Ade and Dave - who are Alp tours.com - (along with the long suffering Shelly) took me for a beautiful ride up some gentle inclines to Courchevel - they have been rather merciful - despites Dave's reputation as a down hill MTBer - having made an attempt on his own life hurling himself 40ft down a precipice just before my arrival. So along with Tilley the terrier- who has a remarkable resemblance to her owner, we have been a very happy little family - I have rather enjoyed the synergy - they work and I play !! Seems to work for me.

Well the rest of the guests arrive today and we head off to stage 7 for TdF tommorrow...

Gallery: Tour de France

judy — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 04:08:00 GMT

Stage 1

UK - wet wet wet adventures

judy — Mon, 9 Jul 2007 23:37:00 GMT

Just over 12 days in UK now and it has rained for nine of them - the weather has been so wet that when the latest terrorist attempts were foiled the mayor of London is quoted as saying that he is more concerned about the rain detering tourists than the terrorist aversion!!

However rain did stop on time for all of the London part of the tour de France and the Wimbledon final. London was like one big carnival that weekend. Hyde Park was crammed full of happy people and it was much easier to watch the prologue on one of the big screens knowing that Stu Ogrady had taken a tumble only meters away - we could see the action on the screen and hear the live action in the background.

The next day we watched the caravan, for stage one, come past our flat window and then we pottered along the road to watch the race come through. On the way we encountered Marcel Marceau's naughty twin brother, a French market, pubs blairing dixie land jazz and lots of very happy - perhaps alcohol induced happy!! people. The riders came through with lightning speed and i barely had time to lift my camera...and then it was all over.

Well not all over - a leisurely picnic in Greenwhich park with yet another bottle of wine - I think I am becoming french on that count!! and then we pottered around the streets and watched the street theatre - all in French (yep we were still in UK!!) and then finished off watching Robbie do us proud on the big screen, finally capping the day off watching Fedderer take out his 5th Wimbledon title. Then back to Sussex where more wine awaited....

Today looked like it was going to be glorious - so I hired a MTB and took a ride up to the Downs (if you get my drift) - very pretty - ocean on one side, beautiful fields on the others and rain clouds rolled in overhead to give me a serious drenching.

So subject to all things going according to plan - here endeth the UK chapter and on to Geneva in the morning.....

Singapore sling to frankenfurter

judy — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 22:28:00 GMT

Well Singapore was a brief layover with a trip out to the SPCA(Singaporean version of rspca) to put a beautiful new brass plaque by the tree planted to commemorate my sister ruth. The tree now has its own space in a little running yard for the doggies who can leave their special gifts on it each day (esp the boys !!). The local Singporeans who have worked at the spca since heaven knows when dashed out to lend a hand with shovels and picks - they were so keen and helpful, telling tales of how my sister asked them to cram themselves into tiny little cages so that she could take photos for art work to deter inhumane treatment of animals. Then my friend Shareen and I did some seriously hard shopping and bargaining to get my new ultra zoom camera. We finally stumbled on John the salesman who thought he was a comedian and that pretty well took up a good chunk of the arvo!! Ah - before i forget - trick for young players - if u do buy a camera in singa and they tell you can claim the tax back at the airport ask for a special stamp on your receipt to say that - without it the tax chappies at the airport are not interested- i found out the hard way - only 5% but better in my pocket!!

Well that was the excitement in Singapore - I had a 2 hr layover in Frankfurt - run with military precision - as only the German's know how. On the Fft -Heathrow flight BA put on the best inflight entertainment for me (fully interactive)- he was such a cute hunk that they seated me next to I had to show him my new camera and ask him to teach me how to use it (the camera is of course completely idiot proof - but he fell for it!!)

London and rain....what can one expect.....

Rainy Day in Canberra

judy — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 12:18:00 GMT

Well here I am - the first hurdle of having a taxi actually arrive was easily overcome (courtesy of Silver service cabs) we even made it to the airport in record time - and the driver was so excited he forgot to levy me the $11 booking fee!! However ensconsed in the sanctuary of the Qantas club the incessant rain in "drought struck" Canberra has stopped all flights into and out of Canberra!!! Beaut - so this is turning out to be Judy's not so epic journey!! Still optimistic that I will take off on time to get me to the Qantas club bar at Sydney international for a few liquid sleeping pills before take off for destination number one - Singapore - we do need to get our priorities right here!

So Nelson Mandela's 741 page "Long walk to Freedom" on my right and Dale the overly loud share trader on my left (so loud he even types loudly) I sit with eager anticipation of the two months ahead.....

Don't miss the next installment of this epic journey....:-)