in africa with mr jim

How long is it since I wrote in here.

susie — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 21:10:00 GMT

Have been back in Charters Towers for 3 years now I think after spending 2 years in wonderful Tanzania. Have been back 3 times since returning home,last trip in May 2011,this trip taking us to Kenya,Tanzania and Ethiopia what a trip. Ethiopia was a whole new experience for us, a country so diverse,each day was like turning the page of a book nothing was ever the same,the tribes just changed from one region to another, as did the scenery.

Now getting ready for another great adventure that will take us to many, many fascinating destinations,6 months in total.

The last 4 Months

susie — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 18:32:00 GMT

JAMBO ALL,

Well hasn't it been so so long since I wrote in here,and so much has happend in that time.

Where should I begin

Just about settled

susie — Mon, 5 Mar 2007 19:09:00 GMT

Well, we've recieved all our furniture, basically intact. Sue was sweating on the lounge (OK) and Jim the TV (also OK). Only one ornament got broken (a giraffe - sorry Kaylene) which was pretty ironic in the land of giraffes.

Still gradually sorting things out. Have bought a car, but still sorting the details out so hopefully by next week we will be independently mobile. And now have a computer to be able to keep more regularly in contact (and update this journal).

We went to Father John's the other day. He runs a school about 30 k's out of town - very rough road to get there. Had a great day, we looked at one of the craters out there and spoke to a lot of the Masai tribes in the area. When we went to the crater, we came across about 15 kids herding goats (human kids about 3 - 10 years old, goat kids had plenty of new borns). They allowed us to take film of it all and were fascinated to see themselves on the video camera. Sue got them in a group and they started singing for the camera.

Later when it was time to leave the hire car broke down. While we were waiting for help )about 90 minutes away) a lot of Masai women and kids surrounded us and the same thing with the video camera occurred. Luckily we had lollies to give them - one of the ladies invited us to stay at her boma (home) if we didn't get picked up and said she would cook for us. We didn't have to take up the offer, but that would have been an experience. A night in a mud hut.

Father John is starting up a pre-school so Sue will probably go out every now and then to help out and donate materials. They have built everything from the ground up and now have electricity and a water supply - have a beautiful vegetable garden and we had chicken and salad for lunch - very tasty.

As far as the house is concerned we now have 5 people working for us, Mohammed the Gardener, Habedi the night guard, Neema the house girl, and Emma, another house girl who is an amazing cook. The girls work on alternate days. We also have Daniel, a Masai, who works three weeks on and one week off. He lives out the back and trails Sue everywhere when she is walking or going to the Gym, or shopping etc. Once the car is here he will go everywhere with her and look after the car etc. He has a big knife. We also have two permanent guards on the gate, one on days and one on nights - they are supplied by the company. There are enough wild dogs howling in the night to keep most people from our street at night - the Tanzanians don't like dogs and even the Brittany posh Spaniel we have keeps them in their cars until we assure them she is OK. She has become quite a good watch dog. Having said all that it is reasonably safe, you just have to keep your wits about you as there are many street kids etc. There is no welfare in Tanzania so they have to get money any way they can.

Have finally got internet sorted so we can use during the day - it was very slow to start with but a few irate phone calls seems to have done the trick. Power is not too bad at the moment, and we have a 4 KVA generator to keep Jim's beer cold if it goes off.

The big story since I last wrote is the safari we went on to the Serengeti. I hope to have some photos of everything on this site in the next couple of days that will have you all drooling and wanting to get over here. Story below

Friday 23rd - my first big safari - Ngorogoro consevation area. We were five women, three older two younger, and on good looking Tanzanian driver (for those looking for a partner - he wants a woman). That was one of the first things he asked - who was married. Even us older ones he is that desperate.

Anyway Judith, another Aussie, freaked out when she saw what we were going in, but after a few drinks she settled down. Another Aussie from Melbourne came(ex-Doctors wife, long blond hair and looking like we were off out in Melbourne somewhere). She wore the shortest of shortest skirts which Leonard the driver loved. I just dagged along in a pair of black pants and Jim's Aussie rugby shirt.

Our first stop was Gibbs farm in Karatu - we did get lost on the way to this farm and ended up in an orphanage. We had to get a young fella from there to show us the way. The farm is a very old coffee plantation and there are roads going off in all directions. Of course they are all very rough and you just bounce everywhere. The scenery to the farm is beautiful with undulating green hills covered in maize and wheat. Had plant of rain so everything really green. We finally found our way to the old colonial house, at the top of a hill with nice gardens and views. The house was very basic, an old wood heater for hot water and genset for power. The fridge was gas. Each night we had a fire going to warm the house - good to sit in front of with red wine and junk food. Of course there is no TV.

Saturday we were up at 6 AM but being us didn't get going until 6:45 and we were supposed to be at the park gates at 7 AM. Of course we were late. Only got lost once on the way out. To get in to the park you are required to pay $30 each + $100 for the car. More park fees if you are going right into the Serengeti. As you can gather safaris are not cheap. If you are going right into the Serengetu you should allow yourself 2-3 nights so you aren't rushing. There is all sorts from your own tents to silver service tent accommodation, to very expensive lodges. These are things I can check out for those of you who are coming this way. Accommodation does need to booked well in advance - there are people coming next month that are finding it hard to get accommodation and safaris now.

Once through the gates you immediately start to climb up through some jungle like vegetation, the roads aren't overly wide with big drop offs over the edge (of course, no security rails). There were some rather large poos on the road (yep, elephant dung). Our first stop was the look out into the Ngorogoro crater - this is where you find all the hippos, rhinos, elephants etc. It's huge and some of the people who had been before said it was the greenest they had seen it. Usually a big dustbowl. We didn't go down in the crater - it's another $100 and you need over 4 hours to do it. The government has just started putting restrictions on the amount of cars going into it, hence the increase in car fees.

Looking down into the crater you feel you are on top of the world, absolutely beautiful. While we were there, the President of Tanzania came along in a cavalcade of vehicles and stopped and had a look. We left before them but they soon caught up, we had to shift off the road. When you travel down onto the plains it is just breath taking - you can see for miles. One of the things that really fascinated me was the Masai walking across the plains with umbrellas. Their blankets are so bright you can see them for miles. Other Masai were tending livestock, from 5 years and up. Anyway, once down on the plains we spotted what we were looking for - the wildebeest. In some herds 2 to 3 hundred, in others just a few. And also big herds of zebras. Now is the time when they all cross the Mara river, after they have calves. We saw a wildebeest that must have been born that day - very wobbly on its legs. And guess what, the baby zebras are more brown than black and white, with quite a few tufts of hair running down their backs. They are really cute.

The gazelles we saw, mainly two types, also just had their babies. They continually swish their tails with stopping.

Our greatest find were leopards. Our driver stopped to talk to another driver who had seen them earlier in the day, so we were able to go and see them. Glad we did, we never would have found them ourselves. We had to go across the plains to find them, they were under the shade of a tree. You couldn't see them at first as the grass was so long. There were 3 fat cats, just lazing around. They must have had a big feed because they just looked at us and seemed to day 'bugger off'. If they stood up they would only take a few steps and flop down on their backs, so consequently the photos we got weren't that good.

We saw 4 elephants, but to see the big herds you need to go right into the Serengeti. We saw plenty of giraffes, they are so bigs - their heads way up in the acacia trees. One thing you need is a good camera with a good lens. A lot of the animals stay away from the road and bolt if you get too close, so a big lens is a must.

If you need to go to the loo it's a squat in front of the car, so I held on all day until we got to a lodge (and had a beer).

The bird life is unreal, with lots of vibrabt colours. Once again you need a good camera and some time to be able to capture them. We saw plenty of vultures, perched up in the tree waiting.

There were some places that were covered in purple flowers. Hopefully they will come out in the photos as they are very pretty.

After we found the leopards, we went off elephant hunting, and then looking for the big cats but couldn't find any.

You have to be out of the park at 6PM, and because we went lion hunting we were 30 minutes late and the gates were shut. Of course, we had to pay money to get out. Our trip back to the gate was done flat out. The old Landrovers motor was running hot by the time we got there, and so was I, being in the front seat.

The following day (Sunday) we travelled back to a lodge for lunch and then stopped at a few places to haggle for souveniers. It was one great weekend that I would recommend to anyone.

In the house

susie — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 18:32:00 GMT

Well we're in the house now. Our furniture is in Dar es Salaam and was supposed to go through customs yesterday. We have adopted a dog (called 'Lady', a pure bred Brittany Spaniel that beats me to the avocados when they fall off the tree next door) and an Irish woman (Mary)in the process - the Irish lady is here doing volunteer work at the orphange and didn't like the hut she was forced to stay in. She's here for a few weeks and we've offered to take more volunteers if required. 4 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms (not counting two more outside) is a bit more than we need. The passionfruit are starting to disappear - there a monkey out there somewhere knocking them off. Haven't seen him yet.

We have tried plenty of the local reataurants and going out to a trout farm on Sunday. We'll also be shopping for vegetable seedlings sometime over the weekend. Mohammed the gardener is busy planting (Jim thinks it is very good not having to do anything in the garden). He was planting hedging out the front a couple of days ago and dug into the water main - so that was flooding the dirt road in front of our place. They fixed it with a bike tube. They also tried to fix a small leak to the washing machine and ended uo with a huge brick on it to stop the spray when things didn't quite go as they had planned. Had to get a Fundi (tradesman) around to do it in the end. I get on well with the landlord (Mr Leo - sort of half Indian/half Tanzanian) He has a big yellow Mercedes to drive up and down all the dirt roads with huge potholes.

Went to Moshi the other day and bought some goat leather to make inserts for cushions. We have the curtain maker promising to do all sorts of stuff for us. He wants us to be his advertiser. Moshi is about an hours drive away, a bit past Mt Kilimanjaro, just about on the border with Kenya. Passed lots of Masai on the way. They are busy ploughing their fields with bullocks pulling hand ploughs. Planting maize ready for the long wet season.

We are going on safari in a couple of weeks to look at the wilderbeests on the move in the Serengeti. Because we have already had a fair bit of rain they are not on the move yet. Still calving and still plenty of grass around. Where they cross is only about 20 k's from where Jim works.

All the white butterflies are fluttering around like before the onset of the wet season in the Northern Territory. Everybody is predicting a big wet.

We have the Compassionate church across the road so hear churchy stuff every morning (singing). We went to the UN with a friend the other day and did some duty free shopping - stocked up on booze (much to the other mining wives disgust - they don't have the contacts I do).

Daniel the Masai boy came and visited the other day - is supposed to be coming back today for an interview. He has good English and doesn't shut up. He was the guard for my friend Tonee who was here a few years ago.`So far we have two gardeners, a maid, and two gate guards.

We'll update this every couple of weeks and let people know by email when we do.

Sue's too busy

susie — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 00:55:00 GMT

Sue has been too busy socialising and visiting schools and orphanages to wite anything for a few days. She has been to a few restaurants, including one run by an Australain guy on Australia Day.

She has joined a garden club already and met up with some mountaineering girls doing a 'three peaks in three weeks' fundraising climb. One of them was Koshi's (morning show guy) daughter. I told her I hoped she didn't tell her I thought he was a dickhead. She also committed herself to bloody netball again!!!

We'll be moving into the house in the next week or so. Have hired a house girl for a few days a week 'til our stuff gets here (hopefully around 16th Feb). We should be able to get by until then.

Work for me has been hectic as I have also been filling in for the Mine Manager - I haven't signed so much stuff for ages.

Wednesday 24

susie — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 17:56:00 GMT

Hi enerybody,

Jim has gone so i have to try and find my way around this site, of course when he's here he takes over because he's quicker so I'm still trying to work it out.

Guess what I'm going to a garden club meeting on Saturday, I met a friend of a friend last night who lives here and she's a member, her name is Judith and she is about my age yeah old.

The curtains are well and truley on the way $800.00 for I forget how many meters of material.Jim had to do some haggloing over the price I think that's the done thing here.

Anyway must go my time must be up on this computer.

The orphanage

susie — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 17:13:00 GMT

Today we met Lesley, one of the other Barrick Expat wives, down at the hotel coffee shop. Lesley is a Pom with a bubbly personality and a lady who knows her way around town and how to get things done. She arranged the curtain man to come around to the hotel and meet us and then take us to look at material.

This particular adventure eventually started after we had to wait for an hour for the driver. Very pole pole around here (slowly, slowly). Before we could go and look at the material we had to go and see if something of his was fixed, so we travelled way out to these little shops. The shops aren't what we are used to, mostly mud brick and bit of corrugated iron. They are not very wide or high - and are in clusterd, consisting of hairdressers, cafe's, music stores etc. I haven't been game enough to have a good look through them yet.

Next stop was his shop which is a room about the size of a normal bedroom. Stuff chucked everywhere and 2 or 3 (what we would consider) antique Singer sewing machine (treddle type). I'm going to buy one before we eventually leave. What truly amazes me is the roads to these shops. They have potholes about a metre deep everywhere. But, despite the dust and everything, they manage to keep everything clean and bright.

Now, surprise surprise, the curtain shops sure aren't like ours. Once again they are tucked away everywhere and the material is often very different to what we have at home. Our house will be very african looking, with animals etc on most patterns. The material costs around 4000 Tsh a meter (about $4).

My highlight for the day was meeting two ladies who run an orphanage just out of town, one is Italian and the other German. Jim and I went to out to look at the orphanage with them (via even bigger potholes!!).The orphanage can only take up to 15 kids at present. They currently have 13 between zero and five years old. ANd yes, I met my first rubbish tip baby, he was so tiny. He had been put in a bag and thrown out soon after birth. After talking to the ladies we discovered there are about 5-6 women involved in the management of the orphanage, they are Italian, Canadian, American, German, and English. They are presently in the process of building a new, bigger, orphanage a little further out of town. They are USD 10,000 short of funds but are starting anyway. So, to all of you out there, get your thinking caps on to source sponsorship etc. I'm sure we can come up with an official letter to start generating some interest. Another thing they are desperately short of is disposable nappies. Tonee, do you think you can start chasing up nappy manufacturers. We might be able to get them in the container that Jim's Dad and his mate are organising. Other things they will need are arts and crafts stuff, toys, books etc - all things required for 0-5 year olds. There will be older kids when the bigger facility is built. My first volunteer day will be sometime this week. Jim reckons it's about time I got a job. Getting too fat in the hotel.

Today we plan to have a look at a few things, get the curtains finalised, and interview a recommended house girl. We have also got a king size bed sorted. Lesley was selling one, much easier than having one made. We have two other coming anyway, whenever our container gets here.

Remember, all you that want to donate (but are alway worried about whether your donations are getting there) put your thinking caps on. I'm here now and can certainly ensure all donated goods get to where they can do the most. I'll be hassling you (and your husband's) in the near future.

Sat 20 Jan

susie — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 17:24:00 GMT

Early in the day we got Sue's phone cards sorted out although still having difficulty loading them in.

On the way back fom CelTel there was a group of African religious dancers putting on a show (making a film) in the central town roundabout. They were all dressed in shirt and tie and were very good. We have photos, but they'd packed up by the time we could get to the video camera.

We went on a bit of a pub crawl today. We started at a newish lodge one of the locals had built and had a couple of Tusker beers there. This lodge is a typical african type motel. We then venture further down the road and had a really nice lunch at an Ethiopian restaurant. Jim had fried lamb in a little heated pot (a bit like chinese mongolian lamb) and Sue had fried spicy fish that was very nice.

They had a bird there that could talk in Swahili but he was a bit hard to get on camera. He'd stop every time the video camera was pointed at him.

We then went and watched a wedding - they might have up to 50 weddings over the space of 3-4 hours in the middle of one of the roundabouts just out of the city centre. They have bands on the back of utes driving around and they are all dressed in their best gear - a lot of singing and dancing involved. Even when the wedding is going on the gardeners are still chipping away at the weeds.

After that we went to Le Jacaranda (Continental Cuisine) which is in quite a nice setting and had another beer there (Sue has a soda water). AFter that we had to go to obligatory nursery and check out the plants and clay pots. The nursery's are just set up on the side of the road, loads and loads of plants. If you did that at home they'd all get knocked off.

After that we got ripped off for a bunch of bananas (too lazy to haggle) so had to pay a whole ONE DOLLAR for a kilo bunch.

We were supposed to go to an Indian restaurant last night but were full and tired so didn't go.

We had another look at the house yesterday and will have to start getting organised. It is only one or two blocks from the city centre and pretty close to most food and beverage outlets.

Of course last night we had the news about Drew being involved in a car accident and ending up in Townsville hospital. He is OK but has some damage to one ear that will require surgery. We will get a better idea later on. It is good to know that communications aren't bad, as Joss let us know as soon as she found out and we were able to get on the phone to the hospital and other kids etc very easily

In Arusha

susie — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 20:24:00 GMT

Have arrived in Arusha and staying at the hotel for now, and probably for the next couple of weeks. Bye that time I'll be sick of hotel food.
Have checked the house out and met the neighbours. Apart from the crass lights the house is fine.
Went to a chinese restaurant the other night - quite different from the chinese restaurants at home. The ceiling was made from billowing sheets.
The food was fine though, and plenty of it.
Jim arrived in town yesterday and we will slowly (pole pole) get ourselves organised. I have a phone number for an orphanage I can contact to go and do some volunteer work at

still in charters

susie — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 14:43:00 GMT

running around stressing out over nothing.