So I am now in an internet cafe in Byron Bay.... surprise, Josie is off shopping with Kylie!? We have visited the boys from Africa in Surfers, dropped in on Linley and spent a couple of days with Kylie and Grant.
Very tough life, but edge ridiculously close to Sydney now...actually arrive tomorrow. No doubt, SNowy will be serving up some waffle about Queensland winning the state of origin. If we are able to drive through the cyclone like storm that is hitting there tonight/tomorrow.
So for now this is the end of the blog.... we are going to be very busy for the next few months trying to get established in Sydney. We need to earn a few bucks as we want to buy a fishing house in weipa, a winter place at the gold coast and a house on the water at Sydney. (we have no chance).
Thanks for reading :)
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Back in Townsville
And then we were in Australia – and I can tell you it felt pretty weird. Everyone has such a strong accent, it looks so different and we are hoping that we are not going to be homesick for the UK...which would be worrying as well as dreadfully embarrassing (eh Jonno!).
It was great to see Mum and Dad again...we had some issues in adapting to being parented after so many months fending for ourselves. We set about buying our 1st car together...a long process that took 3 weeks, and many interesting chats with ‘colourful’ (i.e. full of shite) used car dealers. Long story short, we ended up with a Subaru Outback...and dare I say it, I think we came out in front.
We joined the gym for a month, to try and shift some of the additional holiday kgs ( I thought we were supposed to lose weight?)... at the time of day we go, the gym is full of muscleheads and ‘roid junkies – and this is just the women !!
Amanda and Brett had moved up to Weipa a few weeks beforehand...I have long dreamed of fishing up there...and could not turn down the chance to go up and wet a line. This is despite the fact they are still living in a cupboard and learning to speak a heck of a lot slower. We jumped on a flight, and then we were in a town made up of 2500 people pretty much as far north as you can go in Queensland. We did a pro tour for 2 days and did we catch some fish...and it wasn’t the best conditions!
As usual with the Wass’ we had a brilliant couple of days, and a very close competition where the boys where narrowly out fished by the girls. They flirted with the guide to get extra help and Amanda must have had some Barramundi voodoo doll – as it was ridiculous how many she caught.
I will be sneaking back up that way, making sure I have 24 hour access to a boat, and fishing until my arms fall off.
We are now back in Townsville a little depressed. Finally we can see the end of the holiday and the start of wo... wor... work! Damn, hard to say. So in a week or so we will descend on Snowy and Alyson to mooch while we look for accommodation and jobs. Bugger.Singapore – land of gadgets
We had to get to Singapore to make our return flight...and I persuaded Josie to go a day earlier so I could get my new computer. They have a place their called Sim Lim Square – 6 floors of nerdy heaven. I dragged Josie around for about 5 hours before finally making a purchase. I saved about 500 aussie dollars which is not too bad – it would have been worth paying more just to shop there.
We didn’t do too much else, a bit of shopping for Josie (she is getting addicted) and then it was time for our last airport session. A flight to Brisbane and then a short jump back to Townsville. We even managed to jam everything in the bags, just got under the weight allowance and even got a whole row of seats to ourselves.Langkawi Malaysia
We landed in the Langkawi port after an hour ride on the fastest boat I have ever been on. This thing was a rocket and barely touched the water. Langkawi looked very civilised after Ko Lipe, especially the very posh port packed with expensive yachts. The nice boat man even loaded us all into a bus and dropped us at the tourist beach where we found a cheap backpackers for about 7 quid a night.
We had a few days to kill before Brett, Amanda and co arrived...so we hired a moped and went a touring. We decided to stop into a waterfall, that had no bloody water?! I mean, it was the monsoon, raining every afternoon and this place had a big sign on the road showing the waterfall in its majestic glory. We couldn’t figure when they took this picture – maybe you need to go while it is raining. The trip wasn’t a total waste – Josie got bullied by a monkey who was not happy I was sharing my chips with her.
The food in Langkawi was lovely, gurus at satay (one of our favourites) as well as every restaurant having a “pick your own seafood” smorgasboard. They also did some lovely freshly squeezed juices. One thing I am looking forward too in Australia is no longer smelling open sewers. It really puts you off your dinner and in Langkawi in particular the rain was washing the smell onto the beach – sheesh.
Brett and Amanda arrived, with Mel and Nicko and new baby Liam. The girls immediately took advantage with some savage shopping trips – thankfully leaving us boys behind to amuse ourselves – mainly watching Borat (finally!). We tried to organise a dinner out, but lost each other in traffic and Brett and I spent most of the meal hoping to spot the other driving past.
Josie’s 35th birthday happened – and the day was spent in a shopping frenzy. We then headed out for dinner (we walked this time, so we didn’t lose each other). Mel and Nico put us onto a local who took us to a brilliant restaurant, stunning everything and cheap. They even did a birthday cake and Flaming Lamborghini for Josie – which took her from slightly pissed to ‘fondle the statues’ and made a great photo. The loo in this place was ridiculously posh – so good Brett took the video camera in to film it....at least that was the reason he gave us?
The next day we did some obligatory tourist activities on the cable cars, visiting other waterfalls (that had water) and ended up playing a great boys vs girls game that night that was piss funny! And before we knew it, we needed to get ourselves to the airport and head for Singapore.Sorry for the delay...
... no excuse, just slack. Seemed to lose its urgency now we are back in Oz. But finally decided to finish it off. I am also considering keeping like a family diary going as we go through more of the boring things we need to do in life, but will no doubt find there is not enough time...
Friday, April 27, 2007
Koh Lipe ... life is tough
Ok, I warn you now, this will be a long one. I have plenty of time for a change while we wait for the ferry to take us to Langkawi, Malaysia and also the Wasssssss.
Ko Lipe is lovely, very much like Zanzibar in some ways. Its remote, there are bugger all Farangs (tourists) here, the infrastructure is just basic enough to be comfortable. There are a handful of sand pathways across this little tiny lsand, with beautiful green waters, white beaches and fringed by reef. Rustic bungalows are scattered between bars made from driftwood, and even the best internet cafe in the world. Its right on the beach, with a sand floor and the PCs just up on benches... with the best view of any internet cafe every, fullstop.
The island closes in 3 weeks for the monsoon season, so we are sharing this island with about 20 other backpackers and a handful of thai and Malay holidays... It is bloody hot...but we are yet to find a bit of thailand that isnt. We took a bungalow at one end of the beach, up on stilts with views of the best beach, Pattaya, and its from there we usually watch the evening storms roll in, full of thunder and lightning...and hopefully cooling rain. Power is limited from 6pm to 6am and I can tell you its a killer when that fan swicthes off then and you are left sweltering... A quick swim though, and then a lovely walk down to one of the cafes on the beach.
Of course the place is overrun with dogs and cats, which only makes Josie happy and she will be leaving a few friends behind here. The big black dog and tan puppy that live at our resort, the mum and 6 week old puppies half way up the beach and the 2 dogs that come and sleep next to us while we watch the night movie at the Banana Cafe (and not to forget the cat who occasionally visits). Josie wasnät game to pat the pet Otter of the lady owner... yes, you read that right, pet otter. It even swims with them in the surf....and I WANT ONE. What a cool pet.
We settled down into our new rythym on the island...morning walk, breakfast, swim, walk back along the beach to get books, more swimming, sunbaking. A banana or mango shake and a bit of lunch before repeating in the afternoon. A quick shower and then down to the cafe for the movie, some great thai food and then a walk home a long the beach at night, with the thunderstorms lighting the place up like christmas...
I even went for a couple of dives. Josie bought a lilo...but it needed to be broken in I think...as she could not get on it without getting thrown off for the life of her. I swam off to not be associated with someone so embarrassing...reminded me (and I apologise for the picture) of one of those humping small dogs... hee hee. She is still battling with the lilo, 3 days later !
Well thats about it...now it is time for another country and hopefully more good times....the holiday is nearing finishing, the bank account is battered and brusied and we wish it would never end....
Ko Lipe is lovely, very much like Zanzibar in some ways. Its remote, there are bugger all Farangs (tourists) here, the infrastructure is just basic enough to be comfortable. There are a handful of sand pathways across this little tiny lsand, with beautiful green waters, white beaches and fringed by reef. Rustic bungalows are scattered between bars made from driftwood, and even the best internet cafe in the world. Its right on the beach, with a sand floor and the PCs just up on benches... with the best view of any internet cafe every, fullstop.
The island closes in 3 weeks for the monsoon season, so we are sharing this island with about 20 other backpackers and a handful of thai and Malay holidays... It is bloody hot...but we are yet to find a bit of thailand that isnt. We took a bungalow at one end of the beach, up on stilts with views of the best beach, Pattaya, and its from there we usually watch the evening storms roll in, full of thunder and lightning...and hopefully cooling rain. Power is limited from 6pm to 6am and I can tell you its a killer when that fan swicthes off then and you are left sweltering... A quick swim though, and then a lovely walk down to one of the cafes on the beach.
Of course the place is overrun with dogs and cats, which only makes Josie happy and she will be leaving a few friends behind here. The big black dog and tan puppy that live at our resort, the mum and 6 week old puppies half way up the beach and the 2 dogs that come and sleep next to us while we watch the night movie at the Banana Cafe (and not to forget the cat who occasionally visits). Josie wasnät game to pat the pet Otter of the lady owner... yes, you read that right, pet otter. It even swims with them in the surf....and I WANT ONE. What a cool pet.
We settled down into our new rythym on the island...morning walk, breakfast, swim, walk back along the beach to get books, more swimming, sunbaking. A banana or mango shake and a bit of lunch before repeating in the afternoon. A quick shower and then down to the cafe for the movie, some great thai food and then a walk home a long the beach at night, with the thunderstorms lighting the place up like christmas...
I even went for a couple of dives. Josie bought a lilo...but it needed to be broken in I think...as she could not get on it without getting thrown off for the life of her. I swam off to not be associated with someone so embarrassing...reminded me (and I apologise for the picture) of one of those humping small dogs... hee hee. She is still battling with the lilo, 3 days later !
Well thats about it...now it is time for another country and hopefully more good times....the holiday is nearing finishing, the bank account is battered and brusied and we wish it would never end....
In transit again, aboard the night ferry !
We bought tickets from Koh Toa on the night ferry - leaving at 9pm and arrives at 6am. We were told, yes it had sleeping bunks. Now I don't know what you picture when you hear the term night ferry, but I see a fairly modern catarmaran, with bunks instead of seats on the top deck and maybe some seats downstairs... Gee was I a bit wrong.
This rickety old baot was one of the old style ferrys, from the 80s, you know the ones with the singlular V shaped hull.... we were bundled on board to climb upstairs and find a cabin with a 5 foot ceiling and the floor entirely covered in matresses, with a thin gap down the middle to get to the loo. You basicially lie shoulder to shoulder with everyone, very very cosy indeed. And of course it is about a thousand degrees still and every bloody bed is booked.
Josie, some 30 minutes after taking sea sickness tablets, looks in a bit of shock - but was a bit out of it...in fact the sea was flat as a mill pond - but the tablets at least gave her the benefit of half a nights sleep - much less than me - no part in thanks to the yank next to me, who had a chest infection and spent most of the night coughing inbetween cigarettes ...yep, he was a bright one !!
The trip was surprisingly uneventful - especially given Josie was on board and her luck with boats is not good - maybe the drugs interrupted the disaster signals she normally gives off ? Who knows...
When then entered a dream like, jet lagged state of travel for the next 5 hours while getting on an aircon minbus to head down to trang...where the driver had the bloody car temperature set right between cool and hot - where you kind of sweat in spurts. The 2 kids in the seat behind played "who can make the most high pitched sound" preventing any sleep and causing minor bleeding from the ears....seriously, I hope when Josie and I have kids we are blessed with the selective deafness of you parents out there. Do they give you some kind of special ear plugs or something?
Arriving at Trang, near midday it was a 1000 degrees... someone had smuggled bricks into our backpacks and we were too take to get the ferry out to Ko Mook and return to island life very quickly... We were hurting, and Trang offers too many decisions on where to go... In the end, Josie, blessed with more hours sleep made the call... We head straight to Ko Lipe tomorrow and find a nice airconditioned hotel. Now that is a plan Stan would be proud of !!
So we got room service and bunkered down in the blissful airconditioned room and watched movies and dozed all afternoon and evening. The next morning another bus and ferry would take us to Ko Lipe - one of the least touristy and furtherest south of Thailands islands...
This rickety old baot was one of the old style ferrys, from the 80s, you know the ones with the singlular V shaped hull.... we were bundled on board to climb upstairs and find a cabin with a 5 foot ceiling and the floor entirely covered in matresses, with a thin gap down the middle to get to the loo. You basicially lie shoulder to shoulder with everyone, very very cosy indeed. And of course it is about a thousand degrees still and every bloody bed is booked.
Josie, some 30 minutes after taking sea sickness tablets, looks in a bit of shock - but was a bit out of it...in fact the sea was flat as a mill pond - but the tablets at least gave her the benefit of half a nights sleep - much less than me - no part in thanks to the yank next to me, who had a chest infection and spent most of the night coughing inbetween cigarettes ...yep, he was a bright one !!
The trip was surprisingly uneventful - especially given Josie was on board and her luck with boats is not good - maybe the drugs interrupted the disaster signals she normally gives off ? Who knows...
When then entered a dream like, jet lagged state of travel for the next 5 hours while getting on an aircon minbus to head down to trang...where the driver had the bloody car temperature set right between cool and hot - where you kind of sweat in spurts. The 2 kids in the seat behind played "who can make the most high pitched sound" preventing any sleep and causing minor bleeding from the ears....seriously, I hope when Josie and I have kids we are blessed with the selective deafness of you parents out there. Do they give you some kind of special ear plugs or something?
Arriving at Trang, near midday it was a 1000 degrees... someone had smuggled bricks into our backpacks and we were too take to get the ferry out to Ko Mook and return to island life very quickly... We were hurting, and Trang offers too many decisions on where to go... In the end, Josie, blessed with more hours sleep made the call... We head straight to Ko Lipe tomorrow and find a nice airconditioned hotel. Now that is a plan Stan would be proud of !!
So we got room service and bunkered down in the blissful airconditioned room and watched movies and dozed all afternoon and evening. The next morning another bus and ferry would take us to Ko Lipe - one of the least touristy and furtherest south of Thailands islands...
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Ahh, the tropics with a beach
Well we survived the first train back to bangkok (even though it was 2nd class) and spent the day at the cinema...well it was airconditioned and a great way to kill a lot of time. The certainly know how to do the movies in Bangkok - great seats, cinemas and sound, and the best bit (and I am tipping this for the next big thing) cheese flavoured popcorn - mmm. James and Simon, you might want to pack your stuff and move there now ;)
It was then back on the train for anthoher overnighter, finishing at 4.30am and then killing time until our 7am ferry. The ferry trip was lovely - surprising with Josie and her track record on water !! So we arrive on stunning Kao Tao pretty much jetlagged - and damn it is hot here too ! We were hoping it would be a little cooler. This place is pretty much set up exclusively for tourists and it shows - it lacks some of the authentic thai feel, prices are a little steeper and there are hoards of westerners... as we have arrived 2 days before Songkran (the Thai New Year) that means 3 days of waterfights and partying - except for most of the locals who had to keep working to look after all of us :(
We went crazy and hired another moped - well it was at Josie's urging. Me shitting big bricks again, especially as Koh Tao ahs the highest death rate through driving accidents in Thailand. But seeing as the bike was automatic, and much of the road was paved (between the potholes) we survived in tact...I am not sure but I might even look comfortable on these things now, comfortable and dorky of course - it is a scooter!
All of the bays on this island are lovely, we didn't manage to get around to all of them, but covered more than half. They all have some reef, some of which is actually very nice and with plenty of fish. The water is crystal clear and goes that lovely green colour in the shallow water.
I started my Padi course the next days - I won't bore you with the details, but I wasn't sure how much of a kick I would get out of it - hvaing grown up with snorkeling, reef, water and fish etc... but it was very different being under there and floating about weightless. Very zen... While I was studying away, Josie had established herself on the beach in some style... commandeering some deck chairs, befriending the local dogs and also the passing sales people (curses) ! She immediately got to work on her book and her tan....and I can tell you now, Josie is BROWN ! No bollocks - from a distance, I barely recognise her. But wait, there is more...
We both bought masks and snorkels....and now Josie can not only swim about on the top, she can dive, clear her snorkel and even swim out over 15m deep water. But wait...there is still more ! Yes, Josie is now a swimmer... I have given her the basics on freestyle and she has been doing laps up the beach !! You are probably thinking the same thing I was at this point, Where is the REAL Josie ? I contemplated getting DNA and fingerprinting done - but it seems our little pale Irish flower has become a full on water baby !!
The next day, we hired a sea kayak - and through a little bit of deception on my part, we paddled about 1/3 of the way around the island. Stopping at mango bay for a lovely lunch and the best snorkeling to date, even seeing a baby shark ! We then paddled across to another island off the way for some more swimming, and stopped for a nice milkshake in the heat - before heading back. It was bloody hard work in the end, 2 days later we are still sore from the effort - but it was just the two of us and a great way to see the island.
Our remaining days are spent at a fairly chilled routine...breakfast on the beach, back for a swim, a bit of a read, watch the dogs chasing fish, get a lemon ice tea, head somewhere for a lunch, and then repeat...we then watch the sun set over the water in spectacular fashion, head up for a shower, and then out to dinner (yep, on the beach) watching the fire jugglers, or a movie on a big screen and looking at the stars. Oh yeah - we are doing it tough !!
But now its time for another change - we are heading down to Trang. Supposed to be beautiful, but less touristy, we will let you know...
It was then back on the train for anthoher overnighter, finishing at 4.30am and then killing time until our 7am ferry. The ferry trip was lovely - surprising with Josie and her track record on water !! So we arrive on stunning Kao Tao pretty much jetlagged - and damn it is hot here too ! We were hoping it would be a little cooler. This place is pretty much set up exclusively for tourists and it shows - it lacks some of the authentic thai feel, prices are a little steeper and there are hoards of westerners... as we have arrived 2 days before Songkran (the Thai New Year) that means 3 days of waterfights and partying - except for most of the locals who had to keep working to look after all of us :(
We went crazy and hired another moped - well it was at Josie's urging. Me shitting big bricks again, especially as Koh Tao ahs the highest death rate through driving accidents in Thailand. But seeing as the bike was automatic, and much of the road was paved (between the potholes) we survived in tact...I am not sure but I might even look comfortable on these things now, comfortable and dorky of course - it is a scooter!
All of the bays on this island are lovely, we didn't manage to get around to all of them, but covered more than half. They all have some reef, some of which is actually very nice and with plenty of fish. The water is crystal clear and goes that lovely green colour in the shallow water.
I started my Padi course the next days - I won't bore you with the details, but I wasn't sure how much of a kick I would get out of it - hvaing grown up with snorkeling, reef, water and fish etc... but it was very different being under there and floating about weightless. Very zen... While I was studying away, Josie had established herself on the beach in some style... commandeering some deck chairs, befriending the local dogs and also the passing sales people (curses) ! She immediately got to work on her book and her tan....and I can tell you now, Josie is BROWN ! No bollocks - from a distance, I barely recognise her. But wait, there is more...
We both bought masks and snorkels....and now Josie can not only swim about on the top, she can dive, clear her snorkel and even swim out over 15m deep water. But wait...there is still more ! Yes, Josie is now a swimmer... I have given her the basics on freestyle and she has been doing laps up the beach !! You are probably thinking the same thing I was at this point, Where is the REAL Josie ? I contemplated getting DNA and fingerprinting done - but it seems our little pale Irish flower has become a full on water baby !!
The next day, we hired a sea kayak - and through a little bit of deception on my part, we paddled about 1/3 of the way around the island. Stopping at mango bay for a lovely lunch and the best snorkeling to date, even seeing a baby shark ! We then paddled across to another island off the way for some more swimming, and stopped for a nice milkshake in the heat - before heading back. It was bloody hard work in the end, 2 days later we are still sore from the effort - but it was just the two of us and a great way to see the island.
Our remaining days are spent at a fairly chilled routine...breakfast on the beach, back for a swim, a bit of a read, watch the dogs chasing fish, get a lemon ice tea, head somewhere for a lunch, and then repeat...we then watch the sun set over the water in spectacular fashion, head up for a shower, and then out to dinner (yep, on the beach) watching the fire jugglers, or a movie on a big screen and looking at the stars. Oh yeah - we are doing it tough !!
But now its time for another change - we are heading down to Trang. Supposed to be beautiful, but less touristy, we will let you know...
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Elephants elephants elephants
I read somewhere that the devil has a unique hell for each of us - that putting everyone in a generic pit of fire might just appeal to some people - therefore, I can assume we each have a unique heaven, after all "one man's heaven might be another mans hell"... Soory for all the religious theory, but Josie got to her heaven early and while she is alive! And for me especially that was a good thing, as had Josie found this place before she met me, we would never have met !!
The elephant Nature park, about 1hr north of chiang mai and nestled in the hills and next to a local village, took us in for a week of volunteering (we had to pay of course) but it was worth the money. This place is a real conservation effort, the elephants are not worked (that is, made to trek, paint or play football) - they just get waited on hand and foot by us people. Meanwhile 37 rescued dogs, 28 rescued cats and 3 cows are also pampered...like I said, Josie heaven.
We arrrived with the other load of volunteers, of which there were about 18 all up, included those carrying over from last week. We were allocated our bungalow, made out of bamboo, on stilts with a mossie net and outhouse and shower (also bamboo)....beautifully rustic and authentically thai !
And then, we were put to work...Josie made a great statement, First I got paid to shovel shit, now I am paying to shovel shit - and can those big grey beasties curl them out !!
But before I digress, let me give you a quick rundown on the daily routine
at the park:
Rise and shining at 6.30am, to be at brekkie for 7am. Eat by 7.30 to then start morning chores (these are cleaning up the dung, cleaning out the cats, watering plants, doing the bins, collecting figs etc)...all to be finished by 8am.
At 8am we start our morning project - this is a bigger job, usually requiring everyone and could range from digging the mud pit deeper, to chopping banana trees, bringing bamboo down the river, fencing etc but generally involved hard bloody work - I kid you not! You should see my
hands, they were not ready for this kind of hard yakka !! At 10.30, 2 utes arrived loaded to the eyeballs with the elephants food: bananas, pumpkin, corn (damned corn), pineapples and cucumbers. At this time we needed to work hard and fast - we had 30 hungry elephants at the
decks, 20 (usually lound american) daytrippers ready to feed them and a bloody lot of work to fill each basket with the food cleaned, chopped and prepared! The worst was the corn - we had to chuck (spelling?, I mean peel or husk it) - now that doesn't sound hard, but somedays the ute would turn up with only corn....this took the 20 of us about 1 hour !! Damn corn, I
hate corn....
We then got to help feed the elephants (who could feed themselves) but this is a nice way to interact, providing you stay on the right end of the trunk - as some were either cranky or just a bit on the naughty side (particularly one young boy called Jungle Boy)...
After feeding the elephants, we got fed at 12...and let me tell you, did we get fed !! This was real Thai food - and every lunch (and dinner for that manner) we had about 15 thai dishes to pick from. Unfortunately, the park attracts a fair amount of tree hugging hippes, so there was only 1 meat dish - but to be honest, it was all so good it didn't matter !! After lunch was done it was time to bathe the elephants - yes, you read it right. These elephants are spolit rotten...they get taken down to river with us humans in tow with bucket and brush. Their mahoots get them to laying the river and we then scrub their backs - literally !! Usually at some point, Jungle Boy
and Hope will then run amok and we will all scatter before getting flattened...
After bath time, the 3 baby elephants there (like I said Josie heaven) would then play in the mud pit for 30 mins while we all ooohed and ahhhed as they rolled about in the mud....before 2pm rolled around and we would need to start our afternoon project work, finishing about 5.30pm...enough time to go back to our bungalow, grab a cold shower and get changed for dinner at 6.30.
After another fantastic feed (and a big beer on my part) when those feeling brave dared a thai massage...and these were sensational ! Borderline torture - but for 120 baht (2 quid) you got an hour of massage !! mmmm massage
This usually meant it was about 8.30pm - and time for bed - where we would fall into a deep coma until the alarm went off again at 6.30 in the morning and we would repeat the whole process.
Josie, being a vet nurse, hooked up with the local vet - got to do the rounds, treat elephant wounds and even did an off site visit - yep, happy as a pig in shit !!
Some of the other special highlights we were part of:
And before we knew it, it was time to leave for the islands....very hard to say goodbye.
They do important work and try to get a big message out there. They don't like elephant trekking, the elephants get broken in the most brutal way, and are then overworked, underfed and regularlly hit on the forehead with a sharp metal hook - have a look at www.elephantnaturepark.org If you get a chance in thailand - don't do an elephant ride, come to this place - even for a day trip (where you can feed, wash and walk with the elephants) - you will love it !
Dare I say it, but I think we will be back there for sure...I am sure Josie will make sure of that !!
The elephant Nature park, about 1hr north of chiang mai and nestled in the hills and next to a local village, took us in for a week of volunteering (we had to pay of course) but it was worth the money. This place is a real conservation effort, the elephants are not worked (that is, made to trek, paint or play football) - they just get waited on hand and foot by us people. Meanwhile 37 rescued dogs, 28 rescued cats and 3 cows are also pampered...like I said, Josie heaven.
We arrrived with the other load of volunteers, of which there were about 18 all up, included those carrying over from last week. We were allocated our bungalow, made out of bamboo, on stilts with a mossie net and outhouse and shower (also bamboo)....beautifully rustic and authentically thai !
And then, we were put to work...Josie made a great statement, First I got paid to shovel shit, now I am paying to shovel shit - and can those big grey beasties curl them out !!
But before I digress, let me give you a quick rundown on the daily routine
at the park:
Rise and shining at 6.30am, to be at brekkie for 7am. Eat by 7.30 to then start morning chores (these are cleaning up the dung, cleaning out the cats, watering plants, doing the bins, collecting figs etc)...all to be finished by 8am.
At 8am we start our morning project - this is a bigger job, usually requiring everyone and could range from digging the mud pit deeper, to chopping banana trees, bringing bamboo down the river, fencing etc but generally involved hard bloody work - I kid you not! You should see my
hands, they were not ready for this kind of hard yakka !! At 10.30, 2 utes arrived loaded to the eyeballs with the elephants food: bananas, pumpkin, corn (damned corn), pineapples and cucumbers. At this time we needed to work hard and fast - we had 30 hungry elephants at the
decks, 20 (usually lound american) daytrippers ready to feed them and a bloody lot of work to fill each basket with the food cleaned, chopped and prepared! The worst was the corn - we had to chuck (spelling?, I mean peel or husk it) - now that doesn't sound hard, but somedays the ute would turn up with only corn....this took the 20 of us about 1 hour !! Damn corn, I
hate corn....
We then got to help feed the elephants (who could feed themselves) but this is a nice way to interact, providing you stay on the right end of the trunk - as some were either cranky or just a bit on the naughty side (particularly one young boy called Jungle Boy)...
After feeding the elephants, we got fed at 12...and let me tell you, did we get fed !! This was real Thai food - and every lunch (and dinner for that manner) we had about 15 thai dishes to pick from. Unfortunately, the park attracts a fair amount of tree hugging hippes, so there was only 1 meat dish - but to be honest, it was all so good it didn't matter !! After lunch was done it was time to bathe the elephants - yes, you read it right. These elephants are spolit rotten...they get taken down to river with us humans in tow with bucket and brush. Their mahoots get them to laying the river and we then scrub their backs - literally !! Usually at some point, Jungle Boy
and Hope will then run amok and we will all scatter before getting flattened...
After bath time, the 3 baby elephants there (like I said Josie heaven) would then play in the mud pit for 30 mins while we all ooohed and ahhhed as they rolled about in the mud....before 2pm rolled around and we would need to start our afternoon project work, finishing about 5.30pm...enough time to go back to our bungalow, grab a cold shower and get changed for dinner at 6.30.
After another fantastic feed (and a big beer on my part) when those feeling brave dared a thai massage...and these were sensational ! Borderline torture - but for 120 baht (2 quid) you got an hour of massage !! mmmm massage
This usually meant it was about 8.30pm - and time for bed - where we would fall into a deep coma until the alarm went off again at 6.30 in the morning and we would repeat the whole process.
Josie, being a vet nurse, hooked up with the local vet - got to do the rounds, treat elephant wounds and even did an off site visit - yep, happy as a pig in shit !!
Some of the other special highlights we were part of:
- Josie had to treat a mahout (elephant handler) who had the tip of one finger bitten off by a baby elephant !! His finger did not look pretty - and I bet that baby now has a taste for human blood !
- We all went and rescued a pregnant elephant from a trekking camp down the road, which got chased by Hope back out of the park, but eventually settled in over 3 days and should give birth in the next couple of months.
- I got charged by a big ol' elephant while working with Craig - we shat our pants and ran like the wind (much to the amusement of the mahout). Damn scary I can tell you (one of the elephants in the park is a man killer!) and believe it not, but you cannot hear and elephant sneaking up on you !
- We saw the set of the next Rambo movie, that's right Rambo IV - it was 5 mins down the road !! Go Stallone ! But filming finished the week before we arrived - bugger !
And before we knew it, it was time to leave for the islands....very hard to say goodbye.
They do important work and try to get a big message out there. They don't like elephant trekking, the elephants get broken in the most brutal way, and are then overworked, underfed and regularlly hit on the forehead with a sharp metal hook - have a look at www.elephantnaturepark.org If you get a chance in thailand - don't do an elephant ride, come to this place - even for a day trip (where you can feed, wash and walk with the elephants) - you will love it !
Dare I say it, but I think we will be back there for sure...I am sure Josie will make sure of that !!
Sunday, April 1, 2007
Up north in Chiang Mai
Well the overnight train (1st class in a sleeper - we had too!) was a nice trip....but bugger me if Chiangmai was not as hot, or hotter than Bangkok ! It is also a lot dryer than we expected - we were thinking lush tropical rainforests? Supposedly its a big centre for trekking - but this is me and Josie, do we look like trekkers? For a start, it is too bloody hot. Secondly, the treks are more about the people of the hill tribes - and well, to be honest, Josie and I are not really into that. If it was scenic and crowded with animals, well yes - but people we would not be able to understand living as they have for hundreds of years - just not our cup of tea. Not to mention the horror stories we have heard from Brett and Amanda about the elephant ride that usually goes with those trips. We wanted Josie to be able to work with some elephants, but not ride on them.
So, with elephant volunteering looking decidedly poor - we took a day in our nice air conditioned guesthouse - fairly basic, but at $8US a night - to adjust. It is much cheaper than Africa in Thailand - and if you really wanted to scrimp you could get by probably on $10 US for a couple up here (that is accomodation and all meals, but not beer) !! We were still both struggling for motivation, and formalising plans to head home sooner rather than later.
All we were managing, was cowering in air-con coffee shops and restuarants and then trips to the Night Bazaar shopping. Given the heat, that was knocking us about a fair bit, we decided to move to a guest house with a pool and try a thai cooking course for a day.
And then, well we had one of those good days and got over our lethargy !!
The cooking course was a lot of fun - the food delicious (hey, we cooked it ourselves!) and you can rightly demand a Thai night if you come and stay with us - when we have a home that is. The only negative was our fingers and anything we rubbed stung like crazy for about 4 hours after from chopping the chillies for the red curry paste !! We also found out from one of the fellow cookers, about a really good elephant rescue (which unfortunately was booked fully on the website)...
After heading home for a swim and a kip (hey, we had eaten 6 main courses) we then jumped in a tuk tuk and headed into town. We decided to try the elephant rescue office, to find out what else they had on offer and surprise surprise, a little bit of talking got us in for a week !! Well this is big news obviously - 7 days for working directly with the elephants - has Josie in a bit of a head spin. In fact, her eyes were teary all through dinner with the excitement !!
We then headed to the Friday night Muay Thai Kickboxing. On the way, we had a bit of an accident - our dickhead (excuse the language but he was) of a driver pulled out in front of a moterbike driver...who slammed into us pretty bloody hard and hit the deck like a sack of spuds. And what does our driver do - takes off like a madman, obviously not wanting to get caught. So once we worked out we were not hurt, and hanging on for grim life as this madman sped through the streets getting our tuk up on 2 wheels....I started yelling at him to slow down and stop...of course everytime he says "slow down, yes" and continues to speed along. Well Josie joins in, and we really give it too him to stop. Which he does, refuses to go back and kicks us out - before disappearing into the night.
Josie wants us to head back to see if the poor dude on the bike is ok, so we slog it back through the streets and eventually find him on the side the road. He is alright, a bit banged up and in a bit of shock....we try and explain what happened, but as we couldn't get his taxi number - we are not of much use !!
So we try again, and make it to the kick boxing.... it is not a bad night, capped of with a fight between an Aussie and this giant Welshman. The Aussie ends up battering him convincingly and we head home feeling pretty chuffed with ourselves - just one of those days.
And now, we are starting to feel thailand, and going home early seems a bit rash...I mean, this could be a last holiday for a while !
So now the plan reads thus, 1 week working with elephants in the jungle (going to be hot but Josie will be beyond happy), down to Koh Tao island for a week for me to do my PADI diving and Josie to work at an animal rescue for a week, then down to Krabi for a week, to kayak around the special coastline and fish, a week at the Trang islands, before heading over to Malaysia to have a beer with Brett & Amanda before returning home !!
Well, it sounds like a grand plan...we will see how we feel at the end of the Kao Tao stay for the last few weeks. Next update will be post elephant....where there is a genuine risk I may not be able to drag my wife away !!
So, with elephant volunteering looking decidedly poor - we took a day in our nice air conditioned guesthouse - fairly basic, but at $8US a night - to adjust. It is much cheaper than Africa in Thailand - and if you really wanted to scrimp you could get by probably on $10 US for a couple up here (that is accomodation and all meals, but not beer) !! We were still both struggling for motivation, and formalising plans to head home sooner rather than later.
All we were managing, was cowering in air-con coffee shops and restuarants and then trips to the Night Bazaar shopping. Given the heat, that was knocking us about a fair bit, we decided to move to a guest house with a pool and try a thai cooking course for a day.
And then, well we had one of those good days and got over our lethargy !!
The cooking course was a lot of fun - the food delicious (hey, we cooked it ourselves!) and you can rightly demand a Thai night if you come and stay with us - when we have a home that is. The only negative was our fingers and anything we rubbed stung like crazy for about 4 hours after from chopping the chillies for the red curry paste !! We also found out from one of the fellow cookers, about a really good elephant rescue (which unfortunately was booked fully on the website)...
After heading home for a swim and a kip (hey, we had eaten 6 main courses) we then jumped in a tuk tuk and headed into town. We decided to try the elephant rescue office, to find out what else they had on offer and surprise surprise, a little bit of talking got us in for a week !! Well this is big news obviously - 7 days for working directly with the elephants - has Josie in a bit of a head spin. In fact, her eyes were teary all through dinner with the excitement !!
We then headed to the Friday night Muay Thai Kickboxing. On the way, we had a bit of an accident - our dickhead (excuse the language but he was) of a driver pulled out in front of a moterbike driver...who slammed into us pretty bloody hard and hit the deck like a sack of spuds. And what does our driver do - takes off like a madman, obviously not wanting to get caught. So once we worked out we were not hurt, and hanging on for grim life as this madman sped through the streets getting our tuk up on 2 wheels....I started yelling at him to slow down and stop...of course everytime he says "slow down, yes" and continues to speed along. Well Josie joins in, and we really give it too him to stop. Which he does, refuses to go back and kicks us out - before disappearing into the night.
Josie wants us to head back to see if the poor dude on the bike is ok, so we slog it back through the streets and eventually find him on the side the road. He is alright, a bit banged up and in a bit of shock....we try and explain what happened, but as we couldn't get his taxi number - we are not of much use !!
So we try again, and make it to the kick boxing.... it is not a bad night, capped of with a fight between an Aussie and this giant Welshman. The Aussie ends up battering him convincingly and we head home feeling pretty chuffed with ourselves - just one of those days.
And now, we are starting to feel thailand, and going home early seems a bit rash...I mean, this could be a last holiday for a while !
So now the plan reads thus, 1 week working with elephants in the jungle (going to be hot but Josie will be beyond happy), down to Koh Tao island for a week for me to do my PADI diving and Josie to work at an animal rescue for a week, then down to Krabi for a week, to kayak around the special coastline and fish, a week at the Trang islands, before heading over to Malaysia to have a beer with Brett & Amanda before returning home !!
Well, it sounds like a grand plan...we will see how we feel at the end of the Kao Tao stay for the last few weeks. Next update will be post elephant....where there is a genuine risk I may not be able to drag my wife away !!
A shitty farewell & onto Bangkok
The Sth African heavens opened up on the day we left - by Josie and my theory that means Africa is sad to see us go. And unfortunately for me, not the only thing that opened up. I had survived 8 weeks in africa, through some of the most remote corners and happily getting tucked into the local food - and what happens, I get the runs in the most modern town - go figure! Also right before the start of a marathon plane and airport session.... bugger.
Well, not much more needs to be said on airports and flights - you have all been there/done that. We arrived into Bangkok fearing the worst...the guide book paints a pretty sorry picture of the capital with long traffic delays, pollution etc etc. But we didn't find it that bad. Traffic was ok (we have seen worse in London and Sydney) and the same with pollution. We managed to get to our new home in Banglampuu ok - but bugger us, was it hot! 36 degrees of bangkoks humid best (and I am sure that was in the shade)...
Will did the usual touristy things, temples, boat trips, Khao San Road - and ate the delicious food... but to be honest we are very hungover for Africa. Thailand is having trouble inspiring us, and as we cannot go back to Africa - we are thinking of heading back to Oz early. You see Africa and Thailand are both quite similar on their own as a destination - beautiful people, culture and natural beauty - but comapring, Africa just seems to have this 'wildness' and living beat - that makes Thailand look a little paler. But we know it can take a week sometimes to get into travelling - so we decided to make no decisions, and head up to Chang Mai.
Well, not much more needs to be said on airports and flights - you have all been there/done that. We arrived into Bangkok fearing the worst...the guide book paints a pretty sorry picture of the capital with long traffic delays, pollution etc etc. But we didn't find it that bad. Traffic was ok (we have seen worse in London and Sydney) and the same with pollution. We managed to get to our new home in Banglampuu ok - but bugger us, was it hot! 36 degrees of bangkoks humid best (and I am sure that was in the shade)...
Will did the usual touristy things, temples, boat trips, Khao San Road - and ate the delicious food... but to be honest we are very hungover for Africa. Thailand is having trouble inspiring us, and as we cannot go back to Africa - we are thinking of heading back to Oz early. You see Africa and Thailand are both quite similar on their own as a destination - beautiful people, culture and natural beauty - but comapring, Africa just seems to have this 'wildness' and living beat - that makes Thailand look a little paler. But we know it can take a week sometimes to get into travelling - so we decided to make no decisions, and head up to Chang Mai.
Friday, March 30, 2007
Oooh, I forgot JAWS !
Queue the jaws music....
That's right - I swam with the big fishes. Josie (wisely) skipped the trip not wanting to spend all day throwing up. A lot of locals are not happy with shark diving and that this will associate people with dinner - but I figured well, the Sth Africans will need to deal with that. On the boat I heard that they tracked a shark from Sth Africa to Western Australia - it made the journey there and back in something like a week !! Whoops - there went my theory. But I just could not let the opportunity be missed.
At any rate, it was incredible. We must have seen about 10 different white sharks - yes there are that many ! And we were out in that place from the tv, Shark Alley. The sharks were incredibly scared of the boat and people, considering they are the no 1 predator. But hell, are they scary - just heart stopping...For their size, their sheer speed and motion was amazing. I was in the boat and nearly shat myself when a big (well 3.5m) shark went for the bait !! Apparently, they regularly see them up to 6m !
Seeing that black eye underwater, when you are behind a flimsy cage is also a real thrill! We had terrible weather, but the sharkies came to the party. We went for one of the cheaper options - which meant we were just given a mask and had to hold our breath while we watched them. This was made harder by the number of people in the cage and the rough weather....the wind must have been blowing at about 60-80kph ! With the smell of chum (rotten fish and oil) and the motion of the ocean - a few people were adding to the burly.
I actually preferred watching the sharks from the boat - you got to see a bit more and really got an idea of the their size. In the water, you are bobing in the water and listening constantly listening for "down on the bait" from the spotter - you then duck down to see the shark swimming in to investigate the bait about 4 m from the cage. The spotter then pulls the bait in, never actually letting the shark get hold of it, to bring the shark right to the cage. One Saffer tourist on the boat (their equiv of a chav or westy, who kept saying "look et det big snapper") nearly got on the toothy end, as he wasn't paying attention in the cage and was propped out playing with his camera when a big beast of a shark took a last bite at the bait right near the cage! Shared the shite out of him.
There is no way I would surf anywhere in Sth Africa after seeing the sharks...they are just too big !
That's right - I swam with the big fishes. Josie (wisely) skipped the trip not wanting to spend all day throwing up. A lot of locals are not happy with shark diving and that this will associate people with dinner - but I figured well, the Sth Africans will need to deal with that. On the boat I heard that they tracked a shark from Sth Africa to Western Australia - it made the journey there and back in something like a week !! Whoops - there went my theory. But I just could not let the opportunity be missed.
At any rate, it was incredible. We must have seen about 10 different white sharks - yes there are that many ! And we were out in that place from the tv, Shark Alley. The sharks were incredibly scared of the boat and people, considering they are the no 1 predator. But hell, are they scary - just heart stopping...For their size, their sheer speed and motion was amazing. I was in the boat and nearly shat myself when a big (well 3.5m) shark went for the bait !! Apparently, they regularly see them up to 6m !
Seeing that black eye underwater, when you are behind a flimsy cage is also a real thrill! We had terrible weather, but the sharkies came to the party. We went for one of the cheaper options - which meant we were just given a mask and had to hold our breath while we watched them. This was made harder by the number of people in the cage and the rough weather....the wind must have been blowing at about 60-80kph ! With the smell of chum (rotten fish and oil) and the motion of the ocean - a few people were adding to the burly.
I actually preferred watching the sharks from the boat - you got to see a bit more and really got an idea of the their size. In the water, you are bobing in the water and listening constantly listening for "down on the bait" from the spotter - you then duck down to see the shark swimming in to investigate the bait about 4 m from the cage. The spotter then pulls the bait in, never actually letting the shark get hold of it, to bring the shark right to the cage. One Saffer tourist on the boat (their equiv of a chav or westy, who kept saying "look et det big snapper") nearly got on the toothy end, as he wasn't paying attention in the cage and was propped out playing with his camera when a big beast of a shark took a last bite at the bait right near the cage! Shared the shite out of him.
There is no way I would surf anywhere in Sth Africa after seeing the sharks...they are just too big !
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Cape Town & goodbye
Cape Town is just like Sydney - I kid you not. It is a little different. The cold wind blowing off the atlantic (even in the middle of summer)...the big bloody mountain (Table Mountain) growing out of the middle, and the massive slums that fringe the city aside.
The beaches are uncannily similar and the city itself is very modern and thrumming with a nice beat. We did all the touristy things (well we missed a couple) - we climbed the mountain,in a cable car (Josie was under duress), we did a city tour, we drove down to the cape of good hope and also visited the penguin colony (which was better than the seals, less smelly and they are walking comedians, well waddling comedians)...
We also celebrated Paddys Day in cape town - at a bar called....Drumrull please.....the dubliner. That was about as far from an Irish bar as you could get, no guinness, no irish music, prices set up for the special occasion - but of course the paddies crawled out of the woodwork and celebrated in usual green style and "kiss me I'm Irish" badges. We met a fairly rowdy bunch, one was called Mick - go figure hee hee, I gave him shit for that - but his mate wasn't called Paddy alas :(
The next day Josh shaved his head, obviously feeling betrayed that his hair would stand higher with every drink, and we would mock him for it. It was scary and wierd - to be greeted by that 1st thing in the morning makes you wonder if you are still asleep or have been abducted by aliens!
Josie also got gemstones into her blood - and we trekked all across the city to buy either a diamond, a tanzanite or a savourite. In the end, not finding anything - thank the budget - that suited. She did manage to find some lovely necklaces though - on the last day !!
We watched the seals playing in the harbour while shopping on our last night...we were very sad to be leaving Africa. A lovely place, and we saw bugger all really.... I hope we will be back one day, and it will not have lost its rugged charm !
The beaches are uncannily similar and the city itself is very modern and thrumming with a nice beat. We did all the touristy things (well we missed a couple) - we climbed the mountain,in a cable car (Josie was under duress), we did a city tour, we drove down to the cape of good hope and also visited the penguin colony (which was better than the seals, less smelly and they are walking comedians, well waddling comedians)...
We also celebrated Paddys Day in cape town - at a bar called....Drumrull please.....the dubliner. That was about as far from an Irish bar as you could get, no guinness, no irish music, prices set up for the special occasion - but of course the paddies crawled out of the woodwork and celebrated in usual green style and "kiss me I'm Irish" badges. We met a fairly rowdy bunch, one was called Mick - go figure hee hee, I gave him shit for that - but his mate wasn't called Paddy alas :(
The next day Josh shaved his head, obviously feeling betrayed that his hair would stand higher with every drink, and we would mock him for it. It was scary and wierd - to be greeted by that 1st thing in the morning makes you wonder if you are still asleep or have been abducted by aliens!
Josie also got gemstones into her blood - and we trekked all across the city to buy either a diamond, a tanzanite or a savourite. In the end, not finding anything - thank the budget - that suited. She did manage to find some lovely necklaces though - on the last day !!
We watched the seals playing in the harbour while shopping on our last night...we were very sad to be leaving Africa. A lovely place, and we saw bugger all really.... I hope we will be back one day, and it will not have lost its rugged charm !
Driving through the desert
I will rip through this next bit - some time later I might add more bits if we can remember anything interesting we missed.
We were faced with a big drive, basically around the Namib desert, with a night in the middle of before getting around it, at Fish River Canyon. The drive itself was spectacular - it was either mountainous dunes, massive gorges or layered mountains springing from nowhere. Amanda (a geologist) should go to this place - its geology was incredible - even us laymen could tell that. But with no plants and only the wind to expose the old bones of the earth - it is almost like a post mortem of the earth. Not to mention the tonnes of diamonds they pull from the sands and other gemstones and fossils...it really is geo heaven.
The night we spent in a camp in the middle of the dunes, near the Sissoku Vei (I need to check the spelling of that)....a vei, being a river bid. The heat was incredible and we had the option of a 2 hour tour with a bushmen and then a hike up a dune to watch the sunset. Josie rightly chose to remain in the shade by the pool, with laziness incarnate Josh and Dave. Me, coming from townsville could not be daunted with heat (foolishly forgetting 5 years in bloody england)...
The bushmen tour was great - he really new his shit, and he would want to -living out there. He told some great stories - some Josie should have been there to hear, about how a wife should behave.....and I shall summarise for this wisdom is pure GOLD. According to our guide, a wife should be like 3 animals. One - the Oryx, able to defend the home. A wife should be like the Ostrich, able to see a long way to gather foods and check for danger. And lastly a wife should be like a bee - with honeyed lips, because if she nags too much, her man will kick her out and go looking for a woman with sweeter lips. Ladies - these people are eternal, take heed!!
The climb up the dune was a killer - there was no trail...we had to make it ourselves. And whoever was leading would take one step up, only to slide back another half. Add in something near 35 degrees at 6pm and you had some sadistic fitness challenge. But we got there, I felt so sick, nah I shouldn't....but will. You know when you are that exhausted from the heat you feel as though you are going to crap your pants....no? Maybe it is just me then...shrug.
The next day was a run down to the Fish River Canyon - second biggest in the world. To be honest - I didn't go ooh, and ahh like many other places...maybe we were at the wrong spot or time? But we watched the sunset, did a bus moon of another overlander and then headed back to the campsite. Whoops, the other truck was camped next to us. The took it quite poorly - I suppose us getting pissed till late, playing loud music and stealing their chairs did not help the frosty looks we got in the morning?
We then got to the Orange River, jsut after the border with Sth Africa. A lovely camping site, right by a river (with water you could swim in) as well as grass - nice not putting a tent on baked earth all of the time ! This was probably one of the bigger pissups of the tour - with drunkest going to Ben, who provided extra enjoyment with some fine tent rolling in the morning. Special metion should go to Josh, whose hair rose to new heights; Breeny for trying to chat to every woman within 2 miles, and Dan for an excellent drunken rumour of Breeny snogging Miranda.
We then set forth into South Africa, or as we called it Sith Afreeca....to an even better campsite with hot springs. This was our last camping night...and we run up to the flash hotel after dinner and all consumed lovely desserts (with our drinks). Everyone was too tired to sneak back up for a nudey swim at midnight....happy to sit and talk religon and other heavy subjects around the campfire.
And then the next day - finally, and I mean FINALLY after 3 bloody weeks on the road - we arrived in Cape Town - and my wasn't she pretty !
We were faced with a big drive, basically around the Namib desert, with a night in the middle of before getting around it, at Fish River Canyon. The drive itself was spectacular - it was either mountainous dunes, massive gorges or layered mountains springing from nowhere. Amanda (a geologist) should go to this place - its geology was incredible - even us laymen could tell that. But with no plants and only the wind to expose the old bones of the earth - it is almost like a post mortem of the earth. Not to mention the tonnes of diamonds they pull from the sands and other gemstones and fossils...it really is geo heaven.
The night we spent in a camp in the middle of the dunes, near the Sissoku Vei (I need to check the spelling of that)....a vei, being a river bid. The heat was incredible and we had the option of a 2 hour tour with a bushmen and then a hike up a dune to watch the sunset. Josie rightly chose to remain in the shade by the pool, with laziness incarnate Josh and Dave. Me, coming from townsville could not be daunted with heat (foolishly forgetting 5 years in bloody england)...
The bushmen tour was great - he really new his shit, and he would want to -living out there. He told some great stories - some Josie should have been there to hear, about how a wife should behave.....and I shall summarise for this wisdom is pure GOLD. According to our guide, a wife should be like 3 animals. One - the Oryx, able to defend the home. A wife should be like the Ostrich, able to see a long way to gather foods and check for danger. And lastly a wife should be like a bee - with honeyed lips, because if she nags too much, her man will kick her out and go looking for a woman with sweeter lips. Ladies - these people are eternal, take heed!!
The climb up the dune was a killer - there was no trail...we had to make it ourselves. And whoever was leading would take one step up, only to slide back another half. Add in something near 35 degrees at 6pm and you had some sadistic fitness challenge. But we got there, I felt so sick, nah I shouldn't....but will. You know when you are that exhausted from the heat you feel as though you are going to crap your pants....no? Maybe it is just me then...shrug.
The next day was a run down to the Fish River Canyon - second biggest in the world. To be honest - I didn't go ooh, and ahh like many other places...maybe we were at the wrong spot or time? But we watched the sunset, did a bus moon of another overlander and then headed back to the campsite. Whoops, the other truck was camped next to us. The took it quite poorly - I suppose us getting pissed till late, playing loud music and stealing their chairs did not help the frosty looks we got in the morning?
We then got to the Orange River, jsut after the border with Sth Africa. A lovely camping site, right by a river (with water you could swim in) as well as grass - nice not putting a tent on baked earth all of the time ! This was probably one of the bigger pissups of the tour - with drunkest going to Ben, who provided extra enjoyment with some fine tent rolling in the morning. Special metion should go to Josh, whose hair rose to new heights; Breeny for trying to chat to every woman within 2 miles, and Dan for an excellent drunken rumour of Breeny snogging Miranda.
We then set forth into South Africa, or as we called it Sith Afreeca....to an even better campsite with hot springs. This was our last camping night...and we run up to the flash hotel after dinner and all consumed lovely desserts (with our drinks). Everyone was too tired to sneak back up for a nudey swim at midnight....happy to sit and talk religon and other heavy subjects around the campfire.
And then the next day - finally, and I mean FINALLY after 3 bloody weeks on the road - we arrived in Cape Town - and my wasn't she pretty !
Swakopmund - zee little germany
Well driving into Swakopmund was a little weird. This town sits on the top of the Namib Desert (think a bloody lot of big sand dunes)....and can only be described as modern! I guess owing its history to colonialism, german style at that, you get modern tourist town of white people appearing in pretty much a dry and desolate african country. I won't get on my high horse about colonialism now - and not just england are to blame to be fair - but in this case you are left with the adrenalin capital of Namibia, and a town that also does great "things from the bakery" (what is the word? shit, I am not qualified to right this blog) as well as coffee!
All manner of activities are on offer in this place - probably the highest profile is the skydiving, cheap by world standards at about 150 US for a jump from 10,000 feet...and before you sigh and think here they go, into a rant about jumping out of a plane - we were too chicken. Well Josie IS scared of heights to be fair - and I figured, I would prefer to pay more and do it a place that actually knows about safety standards. In fact, I was sitting on the fence for two days - but lacked the peer pressure to dare or force me into it.
So we are in a lovely little modern town on the beach, staying in a nice guest house (josie and I paid for the upgrade here - another of our wise purchases).... Dave, another mad fisho - despite the fact he lives in the Gold Coast - and I decided to give the fishing a try. Again, for non-fishing people (you freaks) you might want to skip ahead until you find a suitable paragraph. So we had an early start (by there standards - hah) at 8.15am - made a little more difficult by a headache and squeamy stomach (yes, a hangover) - but we were there ready and willing to catch some big fish.
Apparently, fishing in Swak. is supposed to be pretty good as this big Antartic currents come rushing up full of plankton and all that stuff. Unfortunately we missed the pelagic season by a month (to chase tuna, mackeral etc) and had to settle for Cob fishing - off the bottom. So we motored out, with 2 others from one of the other overland trucks, Rob and some lady (whose name I forgot)...the seas weren't too bad, a big old swell rolling in, but no chop from any wind.
Also in the boat were 3 others, our 2 white guides and a local (required to do all of the work!!) - so 7 all up, which was fairly crowded as the boat was one of those ocean going 21 foot jobbies...
Fishing started pretty well, first half pilchard down on the ladies hook resulted in a fish, that spoiled the party by getting off, right next to the boat. We got a good look at this Cob, something like a cross between a salmon and a jewfish...(told you non-fishers to skip ahead)...and pretty big two at about 2 feet long.
Well to be honest, this fishing was pretty much like reef fishing. Get a bite, haul these things up from the bottom. The only bit making it enjoyable was poor Dave had narry a bite :) This was especially good as we had agreed all the rules for 1st fish, biggest fish, most fish, smallest fish etc - unfortunately for Dave there was no category for no fish ! The battle was between myself and Rob, who stubbornly would not allow me to out catch him by remaining 1 or 2 fish behind. Our staff on the boat were also fishing - at most times it felt like in competition as we got bugger all help from them- and the young fella was fairly handy, if I must say so myself.
Catch and release - is not language they speak in Swakopmund, and every fish went into the esky. Which started to get uncomfortable after 2 hours with 8 big fish between me and Rob. Angry Dave was getting very stabby, and 'the lady' was seasick and throwing up...with our guides having about 5 big ones in the esky ourselves... Surprisingly, well at least to me, I stopped catching fish....Rob surged ahead, and Angry Dave, became Happy Dave when he nabbed his first one (a good candidate for smallest fish). No, of course I didnot remind of that fact every minute, until he caught a keeper...I am not like that !
Well we went back in with a shiteload of fish about lunch time....you should see how they get the boat out of the water over there - I would bore you with the details but only my Dad is probably interested, and I have it on video for him !!
Bugger, this post will be long. In the afternoon we were off Quadbiking in the sanddunes - and pretty much everyone went from the tour. Which was a good thing, as this was one of the highlights of the trip !! Josie and I had to get automatics having no motorbike experience (I declined to mention the Vespa incident), but luckily I nabbed one of the 250 autos, while Josie got stuck with the 125cc... We split into groups, adventurous (meant to go a little bit faster) and the rest, who were told they could divide into 3 groups based on how comfortable they felt at speed.
I will split this next bit up into 'bradleys tale' and 'josies tale' as the two were different and she is chirruping here in my ear while eating banana cake and drinking tea. So firstly, Josie's tale:
Josie's bunch, and there was a big lot of em - never got to split into 3 groups. I suspect the guides were a little lazy - and their lead rider from one of the tour buses was a 65 yr old woman scared of going to quick. Now you can imagine my little Josie, getting stuck in the slow lane and not being able to overtake....at the first rest stop, Josie and Sarah (fast becoming her partner in crime) went up to the guide to 'explain' the situation. He suggested they move to the front if they wanted to go faster - of course, this they did with Josie and Sarah also dragging Dan up to the front...they set off with Josie leading !
Now poor ol' Jose continued to be frustrated, as her quad bike didn't seem to go as fast as the others, a fact Dan kept highlighting by overtaking with a big dumb grin on his face... she later got bogged in the sand, and ended up last in the group - but you know Josie. Once she was back running she just overtook the lot - so many suspicious looks and tutting :)
Bradley's story - now I thought we would get some help in how to drive these things - but this is Africa. Raw and dangerous. But when you are in a group, you feel compelled to keep up - and our guide just went off. These things rocketed along, enough that you could spin your wheels, do donuts etc - but consider we were shooting up sand dunes like massive banked corners and I am talking about 100 feet into the air !! It was brilliant.... Personally I was on the edge most of the time, frequently getting 2 wheels in the air or seeing death reaching eagerly for me at the top of most dunes.
There were some great spills, Benny - who crashed doing donuts while waiting for the others to catch up, ending up with the bike on him and then got a big lecture too boot. Dave with probably the most spectactuar stack right on the top lip of a dune. He had a bruse on his leg about the size of an A4 piece of paper in all the colours. And lastly, some madman who was the driver of one of the other overland trucks....we all thought he worked for them at first -a s he was mad, and kept overtaking etc. Good ol Karma came through, when he hit a tuft of grass and went head first into a dune (he actually couldn't drive for one day and was on painkillers for the next week driving to cape town).
If you ever get the chance anywhere with sand dunes - do the Quadbikes !!
Our last day was a quiet one - apart from enjoying those things they cook in bakeries and nice coffee we went sandboarding. 2 types available - one like snowboarding, and one where you lay down on a bit of ply wood. We chose the later. It was pretty wild. Josie and I were clocked with a speed gun, I hit 72kph - but it took me 3 goes to get past Josie's then record of 71kph. It's pretty quick for face first on a thin bit of wood. The only down side is the slow, hard and hot walk back up the sand dunes in the Desert heat.
Of course, this only provides a good thirst for the evenings!
We got our fish fillets back and cooked dinner for the truck that night. Bit of lemon, some garlic butter and olive oil - with a fresh salad. Nothing beats fresh fish (of course chicken for Josie).
We also grabbed 3 new travellers for our truck - Jonathan, another pom, a bit older with a bit too say on every topic and 2 Japanese girls (no chance of names here - one was nicknamed Thomo and the other one, was too hard). They would laugh, or heeeeeeeee very high pitched at pretty much everything said - as they had trouble understanding us....but they were both very nice and drank and smoked like pirates - fitted in just fine.
And that was Swakopmund.
All manner of activities are on offer in this place - probably the highest profile is the skydiving, cheap by world standards at about 150 US for a jump from 10,000 feet...and before you sigh and think here they go, into a rant about jumping out of a plane - we were too chicken. Well Josie IS scared of heights to be fair - and I figured, I would prefer to pay more and do it a place that actually knows about safety standards. In fact, I was sitting on the fence for two days - but lacked the peer pressure to dare or force me into it.
So we are in a lovely little modern town on the beach, staying in a nice guest house (josie and I paid for the upgrade here - another of our wise purchases).... Dave, another mad fisho - despite the fact he lives in the Gold Coast - and I decided to give the fishing a try. Again, for non-fishing people (you freaks) you might want to skip ahead until you find a suitable paragraph. So we had an early start (by there standards - hah) at 8.15am - made a little more difficult by a headache and squeamy stomach (yes, a hangover) - but we were there ready and willing to catch some big fish.
Apparently, fishing in Swak. is supposed to be pretty good as this big Antartic currents come rushing up full of plankton and all that stuff. Unfortunately we missed the pelagic season by a month (to chase tuna, mackeral etc) and had to settle for Cob fishing - off the bottom. So we motored out, with 2 others from one of the other overland trucks, Rob and some lady (whose name I forgot)...the seas weren't too bad, a big old swell rolling in, but no chop from any wind.
Also in the boat were 3 others, our 2 white guides and a local (required to do all of the work!!) - so 7 all up, which was fairly crowded as the boat was one of those ocean going 21 foot jobbies...
Fishing started pretty well, first half pilchard down on the ladies hook resulted in a fish, that spoiled the party by getting off, right next to the boat. We got a good look at this Cob, something like a cross between a salmon and a jewfish...(told you non-fishers to skip ahead)...and pretty big two at about 2 feet long.
Well to be honest, this fishing was pretty much like reef fishing. Get a bite, haul these things up from the bottom. The only bit making it enjoyable was poor Dave had narry a bite :) This was especially good as we had agreed all the rules for 1st fish, biggest fish, most fish, smallest fish etc - unfortunately for Dave there was no category for no fish ! The battle was between myself and Rob, who stubbornly would not allow me to out catch him by remaining 1 or 2 fish behind. Our staff on the boat were also fishing - at most times it felt like in competition as we got bugger all help from them- and the young fella was fairly handy, if I must say so myself.
Catch and release - is not language they speak in Swakopmund, and every fish went into the esky. Which started to get uncomfortable after 2 hours with 8 big fish between me and Rob. Angry Dave was getting very stabby, and 'the lady' was seasick and throwing up...with our guides having about 5 big ones in the esky ourselves... Surprisingly, well at least to me, I stopped catching fish....Rob surged ahead, and Angry Dave, became Happy Dave when he nabbed his first one (a good candidate for smallest fish). No, of course I didnot remind of that fact every minute, until he caught a keeper...I am not like that !
Well we went back in with a shiteload of fish about lunch time....you should see how they get the boat out of the water over there - I would bore you with the details but only my Dad is probably interested, and I have it on video for him !!
Bugger, this post will be long. In the afternoon we were off Quadbiking in the sanddunes - and pretty much everyone went from the tour. Which was a good thing, as this was one of the highlights of the trip !! Josie and I had to get automatics having no motorbike experience (I declined to mention the Vespa incident), but luckily I nabbed one of the 250 autos, while Josie got stuck with the 125cc... We split into groups, adventurous (meant to go a little bit faster) and the rest, who were told they could divide into 3 groups based on how comfortable they felt at speed.
I will split this next bit up into 'bradleys tale' and 'josies tale' as the two were different and she is chirruping here in my ear while eating banana cake and drinking tea. So firstly, Josie's tale:
Josie's bunch, and there was a big lot of em - never got to split into 3 groups. I suspect the guides were a little lazy - and their lead rider from one of the tour buses was a 65 yr old woman scared of going to quick. Now you can imagine my little Josie, getting stuck in the slow lane and not being able to overtake....at the first rest stop, Josie and Sarah (fast becoming her partner in crime) went up to the guide to 'explain' the situation. He suggested they move to the front if they wanted to go faster - of course, this they did with Josie and Sarah also dragging Dan up to the front...they set off with Josie leading !
Now poor ol' Jose continued to be frustrated, as her quad bike didn't seem to go as fast as the others, a fact Dan kept highlighting by overtaking with a big dumb grin on his face... she later got bogged in the sand, and ended up last in the group - but you know Josie. Once she was back running she just overtook the lot - so many suspicious looks and tutting :)
Bradley's story - now I thought we would get some help in how to drive these things - but this is Africa. Raw and dangerous. But when you are in a group, you feel compelled to keep up - and our guide just went off. These things rocketed along, enough that you could spin your wheels, do donuts etc - but consider we were shooting up sand dunes like massive banked corners and I am talking about 100 feet into the air !! It was brilliant.... Personally I was on the edge most of the time, frequently getting 2 wheels in the air or seeing death reaching eagerly for me at the top of most dunes.
There were some great spills, Benny - who crashed doing donuts while waiting for the others to catch up, ending up with the bike on him and then got a big lecture too boot. Dave with probably the most spectactuar stack right on the top lip of a dune. He had a bruse on his leg about the size of an A4 piece of paper in all the colours. And lastly, some madman who was the driver of one of the other overland trucks....we all thought he worked for them at first -a s he was mad, and kept overtaking etc. Good ol Karma came through, when he hit a tuft of grass and went head first into a dune (he actually couldn't drive for one day and was on painkillers for the next week driving to cape town).
If you ever get the chance anywhere with sand dunes - do the Quadbikes !!
Our last day was a quiet one - apart from enjoying those things they cook in bakeries and nice coffee we went sandboarding. 2 types available - one like snowboarding, and one where you lay down on a bit of ply wood. We chose the later. It was pretty wild. Josie and I were clocked with a speed gun, I hit 72kph - but it took me 3 goes to get past Josie's then record of 71kph. It's pretty quick for face first on a thin bit of wood. The only down side is the slow, hard and hot walk back up the sand dunes in the Desert heat.
Of course, this only provides a good thirst for the evenings!
We got our fish fillets back and cooked dinner for the truck that night. Bit of lemon, some garlic butter and olive oil - with a fresh salad. Nothing beats fresh fish (of course chicken for Josie).
We also grabbed 3 new travellers for our truck - Jonathan, another pom, a bit older with a bit too say on every topic and 2 Japanese girls (no chance of names here - one was nicknamed Thomo and the other one, was too hard). They would laugh, or heeeeeeeee very high pitched at pretty much everything said - as they had trouble understanding us....but they were both very nice and drank and smoked like pirates - fitted in just fine.
And that was Swakopmund.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Into the Desert
We got a sleep in, till 8am !!! before heading to Spitzkoppe. We bumbled into the truck to head to a seal colony on the coast 1st, before getting the koppe.
The seals were amazing - but they stank like sin!! I don't know how many thousand there were on the beach and in the water - but these things need to wash more and clean house far more often. There were dead pups lying about (apparantly the Jackals and Hyenas come raiding at night) which only added to the smell - but it was nice to watch them playing in the massive Atlantic surf and then waddling on up the beach.
Then we piled back on the truck to head to Spitzkoppe - a big rock in the middle of flat dessert were we were camping under the stars. After a very hard slog to get firewood (you should try finding this in the desert) we went through the usual routine and then settled down to a bottle of Amarula (better than Baileys) and a camp fire chat. After burning all the wood, the discovery that dung burns very well meant we got a few extra hours from the fire.
Despite the tent nearly getting blown over in the ngiht, we got up early and climbed the rock to watch the sunrise - which was stunning - very Ayers Rockish (not that I have been there myself)...before back on the truck for civilisation and Swakupmond!
The seals were amazing - but they stank like sin!! I don't know how many thousand there were on the beach and in the water - but these things need to wash more and clean house far more often. There were dead pups lying about (apparantly the Jackals and Hyenas come raiding at night) which only added to the smell - but it was nice to watch them playing in the massive Atlantic surf and then waddling on up the beach.
Then we piled back on the truck to head to Spitzkoppe - a big rock in the middle of flat dessert were we were camping under the stars. After a very hard slog to get firewood (you should try finding this in the desert) we went through the usual routine and then settled down to a bottle of Amarula (better than Baileys) and a camp fire chat. After burning all the wood, the discovery that dung burns very well meant we got a few extra hours from the fire.
Despite the tent nearly getting blown over in the ngiht, we got up early and climbed the rock to watch the sunrise - which was stunning - very Ayers Rockish (not that I have been there myself)...before back on the truck for civilisation and Swakupmond!
Mr Psycho and Cheetahs
Another early start (sigh), and we were off to Cheetah park. Not sure where, somewhere in the middle of Namibia, and we didn't know much about this place. On the way out of the camp site, must have been 200m down the road we stopped to watch a lion hunting some small food type, I think a Springbok....about 10m from the road.
Unfortunately, she wasn't too successful (much to Dave's disgust - having constantly wanting to see something killed)...and the big herd of springboks saw her, and proceeded to follow her as she walked away in a huff.
After a few fairly ordinary hours driving, we arrived in the cheetah park campsite. No pool, or electricity but a bar - and apparently all profits went to helping the cheetah. Anyway, this bloke and his family have 3 PET cheetahs - yes thats right! And then about another 25 WILD ones in a big park out the back. He saves them from farmers that would otherwise shoot them - and then tries to rehome them in wildlife parks. Now this bloke looks like a dangerous individual - strong Saffer accent, shaved head, big goatee beard - and a stare that makes you want to go wee wee - especially after you make what seemed like a pretty witty remark !
So the 1st part of the tour was off to his house, where these 3 cheetah roam about and basically pick on this small jack russel. You actually get to pet these big scary cats while they purr (well rumble) and the owner makes sure they don't get too hungry/playful !
Next it is into the 2 trucks to see and feed the wild ones.... Now when I say trucks I mean utes, and when I say utes I mean old utes with no back tray and fairly low to the ground. We drive in through a big gate and sure enough, the cheetahs must know it is dinner time... There are about 8 around the truck, quite wary - going in and out of the bushes - kind of like shark cruising, almost seeing to size up the clicking tourists for dinner...now this is a little unsettling as Josie and I are at the back of the ute (with no back tray) and the cheetah need only say lift its head up to be level with our ankles!! So as we watch with our head on swivels as we slowly drive through the scrub more and more cheetahs come from everywhere, until we stop the 2 trucks with about 20 around us.
Then this guide (lunatic) gets out of the truck with 20 WILD cheetahs - oh, and he has a stick. A wee thing about 2 feet long... of course a big ruddy cheetah comes at him all hissing and smashing the ground with its paws - where he raises the sticka and tells the cheetah to (in Saffer accent) "Git owta it"... which to our amazement, the cheetah does?! His brother gets out of the other ute, with an even smaller stick and they walk to the bin (of food) between the utes. Well now the cheetahs start going crazy, running circles around the utes - like sharks in a feeding frenzy....hitting the trays on the way past and jumping between the utes as well.
So then this guide (lunatic) starts chucking lumps of meat, one at a time, to the left - whereby the cheetahs explode into a frenzy to get the meat. The first bit is grabbed by about 5 - who proceed to fight it out, growls, hisses etc - while the remaining lot go into overdrive! An incredible sight - you don't know whether to take photos, or watch the back of the ute in case one gets too impatient. The lumps of meat keep flying, one to the left, one to right and the cheetahs are jumping and taking the meat outta the air, fighting or running off with a lump of donkey to eat it alone. It was STUNNING ! And to be honest, the rawness of it, the lack of safety and the savageness of the cheetahs all combined to make it that good !!
Then it was shakily back to the bar (after feeding some wild cheetah cubs) for a much needed beer. The bar was great too - picture how you would build a bar if you were a bushy lunatic saffer - it had animal heads, elephant ears, trunk and penis (yes that's right), boobs flags and bottle tops. I spent the night playing Killer (a darts game) with him and his brother and Dave and Breeny...where we weren;t too sure what would happen if we beat him !!
A cracking day & night !
Unfortunately, she wasn't too successful (much to Dave's disgust - having constantly wanting to see something killed)...and the big herd of springboks saw her, and proceeded to follow her as she walked away in a huff.
After a few fairly ordinary hours driving, we arrived in the cheetah park campsite. No pool, or electricity but a bar - and apparently all profits went to helping the cheetah. Anyway, this bloke and his family have 3 PET cheetahs - yes thats right! And then about another 25 WILD ones in a big park out the back. He saves them from farmers that would otherwise shoot them - and then tries to rehome them in wildlife parks. Now this bloke looks like a dangerous individual - strong Saffer accent, shaved head, big goatee beard - and a stare that makes you want to go wee wee - especially after you make what seemed like a pretty witty remark !
So the 1st part of the tour was off to his house, where these 3 cheetah roam about and basically pick on this small jack russel. You actually get to pet these big scary cats while they purr (well rumble) and the owner makes sure they don't get too hungry/playful !
Next it is into the 2 trucks to see and feed the wild ones.... Now when I say trucks I mean utes, and when I say utes I mean old utes with no back tray and fairly low to the ground. We drive in through a big gate and sure enough, the cheetahs must know it is dinner time... There are about 8 around the truck, quite wary - going in and out of the bushes - kind of like shark cruising, almost seeing to size up the clicking tourists for dinner...now this is a little unsettling as Josie and I are at the back of the ute (with no back tray) and the cheetah need only say lift its head up to be level with our ankles!! So as we watch with our head on swivels as we slowly drive through the scrub more and more cheetahs come from everywhere, until we stop the 2 trucks with about 20 around us.
Then this guide (lunatic) gets out of the truck with 20 WILD cheetahs - oh, and he has a stick. A wee thing about 2 feet long... of course a big ruddy cheetah comes at him all hissing and smashing the ground with its paws - where he raises the sticka and tells the cheetah to (in Saffer accent) "Git owta it"... which to our amazement, the cheetah does?! His brother gets out of the other ute, with an even smaller stick and they walk to the bin (of food) between the utes. Well now the cheetahs start going crazy, running circles around the utes - like sharks in a feeding frenzy....hitting the trays on the way past and jumping between the utes as well.
So then this guide (lunatic) starts chucking lumps of meat, one at a time, to the left - whereby the cheetahs explode into a frenzy to get the meat. The first bit is grabbed by about 5 - who proceed to fight it out, growls, hisses etc - while the remaining lot go into overdrive! An incredible sight - you don't know whether to take photos, or watch the back of the ute in case one gets too impatient. The lumps of meat keep flying, one to the left, one to right and the cheetahs are jumping and taking the meat outta the air, fighting or running off with a lump of donkey to eat it alone. It was STUNNING ! And to be honest, the rawness of it, the lack of safety and the savageness of the cheetahs all combined to make it that good !!
Then it was shakily back to the bar (after feeding some wild cheetah cubs) for a much needed beer. The bar was great too - picture how you would build a bar if you were a bushy lunatic saffer - it had animal heads, elephant ears, trunk and penis (yes that's right), boobs flags and bottle tops. I spent the night playing Killer (a darts game) with him and his brother and Dave and Breeny...where we weren;t too sure what would happen if we beat him !!
A cracking day & night !
A day in the life of an overlander
Most days on the road were very similar in terms of the routine, and you would be surprised just how good you get at the robotics of it...shamefully enough Josie and I even had a trick or two to make it happen quicker...
So the first thing you need to do is get your ass out of bed. Now this is probably the most challenging, given the hangovers and time of the morning we repeatedly needed to arise in. You needed to have your tent and backpacks packed before you sat down to breakfast - to enable the 'dogsbodies' (people assigned to load the truck) enough time to eat and get the truck packed. Mithungu, our local cook, would be up 30mins before the rest of us getting the food ready..
In team Rudduck, Josie would sort out the inside of the tent, into backpacks - and I would go off and get some tea ready (you know what Josie can be like!)... by then I needed to put the tent away, which of course goes into a bag one size too small for the tent - while Josie starts into the breakfast. Surprisingly (now don't scoff at this) but Josie and I were usually the 1st ones up and had to wake up a few others - which is always sadistically enjoyable.
So, by the time I had the tent away and returned to the fire - we would eat our brekky. If we were lucky we would be treated to watching Ben & Josh putting the tent away still pissed - involving some quality swearing, a good tumble or two - and a tent rolled up that looked more like it had exploded :)
Once brekky was done, we all have to wash our own plates and cups and then flap then dry (in Africa this doesn't take long). The team on "Pot Wash" - would then need to wash anything that Mithungu had cooked with - while the dogsbodies loaded the truck... The rest of us would drag ourselves onto the truck - and usually try and grab the good spots. The good spots were few and far between - basically anywhere where you could manage a kip. Josh, usually was spralled on the floor with Ben or Kate or Dan (until he got travel sick)...
The truck would take off and most people would sleep, or spend their time trying to. We usually got a pee break about 2 hours after leaving...at which time our bladders were the size of baloons - and the funny bit about this was watching the girls try to find a tree to hide behind - something very difficult in Africa (especially Namibia) - good to be a man ;)
Around 12ish - we would stop for some of those lovely Paloney sandwiches....we would all pile of the truck. "Food prep" team would need to chop the salady stuff, bread etc while the rest would get out the camping chairs and look for shade. We would then stuff these (forgettable) sandwiches in our mouths, grab a drink and a quick slash. Pot wash would then clean up and back on the truck. Usually taking no more than 30 mins - which is not bad to prepare, eat and clean for 25 people!!
We would then normally arrive at camp an hour or two later - where we learnt it was a race to find a camp site...I think I said it before, but proximity to toilets, under shade and away from the snorers was the aim...not always easy. Once the tent was up, Food Prep Team would starting preparing dinner - while everyone else went to the pool and bar (if we were lucky with the camp site)...back for dinner about 6pm. Potwash would clean up, everything would go back on the truck - and back to the bar we would all go.
Stumble home at stupid o'clock...and then repeat.
Of course the fact we had 20 odd people makes this pretty interesting - not to mention the stunning landscapes of Africa that seem to change per hour on the road. It is a great way to travel some difficult areas, meet a few people and have a beer and a laugh.
So the first thing you need to do is get your ass out of bed. Now this is probably the most challenging, given the hangovers and time of the morning we repeatedly needed to arise in. You needed to have your tent and backpacks packed before you sat down to breakfast - to enable the 'dogsbodies' (people assigned to load the truck) enough time to eat and get the truck packed. Mithungu, our local cook, would be up 30mins before the rest of us getting the food ready..
In team Rudduck, Josie would sort out the inside of the tent, into backpacks - and I would go off and get some tea ready (you know what Josie can be like!)... by then I needed to put the tent away, which of course goes into a bag one size too small for the tent - while Josie starts into the breakfast. Surprisingly (now don't scoff at this) but Josie and I were usually the 1st ones up and had to wake up a few others - which is always sadistically enjoyable.
So, by the time I had the tent away and returned to the fire - we would eat our brekky. If we were lucky we would be treated to watching Ben & Josh putting the tent away still pissed - involving some quality swearing, a good tumble or two - and a tent rolled up that looked more like it had exploded :)
Once brekky was done, we all have to wash our own plates and cups and then flap then dry (in Africa this doesn't take long). The team on "Pot Wash" - would then need to wash anything that Mithungu had cooked with - while the dogsbodies loaded the truck... The rest of us would drag ourselves onto the truck - and usually try and grab the good spots. The good spots were few and far between - basically anywhere where you could manage a kip. Josh, usually was spralled on the floor with Ben or Kate or Dan (until he got travel sick)...
The truck would take off and most people would sleep, or spend their time trying to. We usually got a pee break about 2 hours after leaving...at which time our bladders were the size of baloons - and the funny bit about this was watching the girls try to find a tree to hide behind - something very difficult in Africa (especially Namibia) - good to be a man ;)
Around 12ish - we would stop for some of those lovely Paloney sandwiches....we would all pile of the truck. "Food prep" team would need to chop the salady stuff, bread etc while the rest would get out the camping chairs and look for shade. We would then stuff these (forgettable) sandwiches in our mouths, grab a drink and a quick slash. Pot wash would then clean up and back on the truck. Usually taking no more than 30 mins - which is not bad to prepare, eat and clean for 25 people!!
We would then normally arrive at camp an hour or two later - where we learnt it was a race to find a camp site...I think I said it before, but proximity to toilets, under shade and away from the snorers was the aim...not always easy. Once the tent was up, Food Prep Team would starting preparing dinner - while everyone else went to the pool and bar (if we were lucky with the camp site)...back for dinner about 6pm. Potwash would clean up, everything would go back on the truck - and back to the bar we would all go.
Stumble home at stupid o'clock...and then repeat.
Of course the fact we had 20 odd people makes this pretty interesting - not to mention the stunning landscapes of Africa that seem to change per hour on the road. It is a great way to travel some difficult areas, meet a few people and have a beer and a laugh.
Monday, March 19, 2007
Etosha National Park
Not sure what time we got up exactly...but I can tell you it was early !! We had to drive to Etosha national Park - so another big drive made up of the usual, lunch stop at 12pm for more of the famous Paloney sandwiches...famous for their motony and blandness, not for anything good. Seriously we ate these every day, for 3 weeks - variation was adding tomato sauce, or chilli sauce, or not adding onion !
Anyway, the campsite at Etosha was nice, right in the national park with a big fence around it. Two weeks ago 2 lions got in during the night and had to been chased off by rangers - no doubt scaring the hell out of all the campers.... They also had game viewing from the campsite at night, with a watering hold set up with flood lights... unfortunately we didn't see anything except one stork :( so we went to the bar :)
That night jackals ran amok in the campsite, and anything left on the crowd was dragged about the place - Josie confronting 5 of them on her nightly pee.
The next day was a full day game drive through the middle of the park. What a contrasts to the Serengeti - this place was dry, and rocky with little grass and trees. This was the dry season here - with the massive Etosha Pan basically a desert. We saw a pride of lions with a kill, cubs, males and with Jackals fighting over the bones. Along with the other animals you always see, I call the 'food' animals. We arrived in a similar campsite that night - with a better viewing hole and were treated to Rhinos (a mother and her baby) coming down to the watering hole to drink. One of those moments with its own kind of magic !!
Anyway, the campsite at Etosha was nice, right in the national park with a big fence around it. Two weeks ago 2 lions got in during the night and had to been chased off by rangers - no doubt scaring the hell out of all the campers.... They also had game viewing from the campsite at night, with a watering hold set up with flood lights... unfortunately we didn't see anything except one stork :( so we went to the bar :)
That night jackals ran amok in the campsite, and anything left on the crowd was dragged about the place - Josie confronting 5 of them on her nightly pee.
The next day was a full day game drive through the middle of the park. What a contrasts to the Serengeti - this place was dry, and rocky with little grass and trees. This was the dry season here - with the massive Etosha Pan basically a desert. We saw a pride of lions with a kill, cubs, males and with Jackals fighting over the bones. Along with the other animals you always see, I call the 'food' animals. We arrived in a similar campsite that night - with a better viewing hole and were treated to Rhinos (a mother and her baby) coming down to the watering hole to drink. One of those moments with its own kind of magic !!
Finally a sleep in !!
Well, thats what we call a start at 7am !! It was bliss to get up in the daylight for once ! We headed back out of the delta and back to the campsite in Maun - where a big party ensured as we were all clean and we could buy COLD drinks, we ahd birthdays to celebrate and farewell the americans leaving us, and making more space in the truck for the rest of us. Poor Dave was the worst for wear, and Josie and I had to carry him back to his tent...where we dumped him in with Andy hoping he would not throw up on him...
Funnily enough, we had to get up at 5am the next day (someone was going to get stabbed if these early starts keep happening)...and headed down to Rundu, crossing the Namibian border. Again the African heavens opened - thankfully this time during a big drive!! And when we arrived at our campsite we were able to upgrade from a tent to a double room....and I can tell you this was money well spent. As we had our own hot shower and didn't need to pitch a tent in the pissing rain.
The barman at this place was a laugh...self titled "Mr Alcohol"... he drank half the bar himself, forgot orders, refused to let people pay their tab....and had one of the most infectious laughs you will ever see. How much money he loses for the owner is scary - but he is definitely one of the characters we met on our travels.
Funnily enough, we had to get up at 5am the next day (someone was going to get stabbed if these early starts keep happening)...and headed down to Rundu, crossing the Namibian border. Again the African heavens opened - thankfully this time during a big drive!! And when we arrived at our campsite we were able to upgrade from a tent to a double room....and I can tell you this was money well spent. As we had our own hot shower and didn't need to pitch a tent in the pissing rain.
The barman at this place was a laugh...self titled "Mr Alcohol"... he drank half the bar himself, forgot orders, refused to let people pay their tab....and had one of the most infectious laughs you will ever see. How much money he loses for the owner is scary - but he is definitely one of the characters we met on our travels.
Okavango Delta and Mukoro canoes
We woke for another bloody early start - to head to our next excursion. This was three days 'real' camping in the Okavango Delta national park. Us and all our gear needed to be taken up the river in these bloody tiny canoes (Mukoro's)....I must admit I thought they would be bigger. About as wide as your ass, 3 meters long, and hand carved from some tree - with Josie and I and all our gear and our poler (Bee)....we had about 1 inch of clearance off the water to the edge of the this thing.
He then whisked us easily 2 hours though this narrow waterway in the reeds - with the water never more than a meter deep. It was an amzing trip - seemingly effortless (although he did get a good sweat up) and it was bloody hot. We were well baked by 2 hours of full force African sun...
We made camp on a small hump of land that packed on to some arid plains. The water in the delta was drinkable - but you wouldn't think it. It was clear, but barely flowed and it was not really a river, more a path cut through the reeds so the locals could fish and move about. Not sure if they have Bilharzia there or not - our guide says no, but doctors tests in 2 months should prove the truth. So it was bloody hot, so we were able to pole these Mukoros over to a little swimming hole to escape the heat !! Poling these things was not very easy at all - but Josie and I made it safe and dry after 20mins to travel only 40m - only to jump in and get wet:)
We then had a 2 hour game walk in the afternoon - which was amazing, even though there were no animals - there were plenty of tracks and you really felt miles from anywhere. The next morning - surprise surprise - we got up at the crack before dawn - to go on another game walk. This one went for 5 hours. We saw loads of animals, elephants, hippos, zeebra, etc and seeing them on foot is very different from the safety of the car. We needed to be aware of wind direction etc to make sure none of them took exception to our presence. The last hour was unbearable in the heat - it must have been near 40 and our guide was determined to walk us into the dirt....
But we survivied (just) for more swimming and lunch. I even managed to go out with one of the locals fishing....they catch hundreds of tiny perch like fish that can't be fun to clean and scale as they are about 10-15cm long. The men get around this problem by getting the women to do this work !! This is a good strategy I will try myself - but don't like my chances with Josie :(
Our last evening was spent around the camp fire - with the locals singing and dancing - and us trying to...we were more successful at getting pissed !! Aussies just cannot sing.
He then whisked us easily 2 hours though this narrow waterway in the reeds - with the water never more than a meter deep. It was an amzing trip - seemingly effortless (although he did get a good sweat up) and it was bloody hot. We were well baked by 2 hours of full force African sun...
We made camp on a small hump of land that packed on to some arid plains. The water in the delta was drinkable - but you wouldn't think it. It was clear, but barely flowed and it was not really a river, more a path cut through the reeds so the locals could fish and move about. Not sure if they have Bilharzia there or not - our guide says no, but doctors tests in 2 months should prove the truth. So it was bloody hot, so we were able to pole these Mukoros over to a little swimming hole to escape the heat !! Poling these things was not very easy at all - but Josie and I made it safe and dry after 20mins to travel only 40m - only to jump in and get wet:)
We then had a 2 hour game walk in the afternoon - which was amazing, even though there were no animals - there were plenty of tracks and you really felt miles from anywhere. The next morning - surprise surprise - we got up at the crack before dawn - to go on another game walk. This one went for 5 hours. We saw loads of animals, elephants, hippos, zeebra, etc and seeing them on foot is very different from the safety of the car. We needed to be aware of wind direction etc to make sure none of them took exception to our presence. The last hour was unbearable in the heat - it must have been near 40 and our guide was determined to walk us into the dirt....
But we survivied (just) for more swimming and lunch. I even managed to go out with one of the locals fishing....they catch hundreds of tiny perch like fish that can't be fun to clean and scale as they are about 10-15cm long. The men get around this problem by getting the women to do this work !! This is a good strategy I will try myself - but don't like my chances with Josie :(
Our last evening was spent around the camp fire - with the locals singing and dancing - and us trying to...we were more successful at getting pissed !! Aussies just cannot sing.
Sunshine and early starts
Well the sun would have greeted us in the morning - had we got up at a respectable hour !! I mean 5 am is just crazy - we had to wade knee deep through the flood waters to get to breakfast in the dark (due to the river swollen even more)...scoffed our food and headed onto the truck.
Morale was surprising good, given the rain, general wetness and shitty game drive the day before - and the first blooms of romance started as Dan (the bright red pommy DJ)drunkingly snogged little Frenchy the night before. She was straight onto him on the truck as we got underway - much to our amusement.
The drive was long, but broken by seeing quite a few elephants by the road - which made Josie's trip more enjoyable. She also was not getting motionsick - thank heavens as that could have made for a miserable trip indeed! We even found some 500 card players and this helps pass the time - and Josie got the chance to try out her new skills against decent players.... I think we lost the first 2 games, the second one was only narrowly though !
Arriving into camp after a nearly full day drive we went about the usual routine of race to find the best tent site - needs to be away from lights, the camp Snorers (Josh and Cyrus) and in the shade. It can be hard to get all three !! Josh's snoring is nothing short of spectacular - quite frightening in the middle of the night when you need to pee, but probably why we were not attacked by any animals.
Morale was surprising good, given the rain, general wetness and shitty game drive the day before - and the first blooms of romance started as Dan (the bright red pommy DJ)drunkingly snogged little Frenchy the night before. She was straight onto him on the truck as we got underway - much to our amusement.
The drive was long, but broken by seeing quite a few elephants by the road - which made Josie's trip more enjoyable. She also was not getting motionsick - thank heavens as that could have made for a miserable trip indeed! We even found some 500 card players and this helps pass the time - and Josie got the chance to try out her new skills against decent players.... I think we lost the first 2 games, the second one was only narrowly though !
Arriving into camp after a nearly full day drive we went about the usual routine of race to find the best tent site - needs to be away from lights, the camp Snorers (Josh and Cyrus) and in the shade. It can be hard to get all three !! Josh's snoring is nothing short of spectacular - quite frightening in the middle of the night when you need to pee, but probably why we were not attacked by any animals.
Life on the road
Well the truck (or bus as we called it) was set up for about 28 people and I think there were 18 of us to start - and the good news was we were losing 4 of them about 5 days later - and we were losing the americans (and canadian).
The truck was comfortable enough, but having been in england for 5 years I will have my minor gripes now. Seats didn't recline, no airconditioning, esky was too small - and thats about it.
Our first drive was a very reasonable 3 hours to get to the camp by the Hwange national Park. We setup our first real camp, scoffed down lunch and then headed to the pool in the camp site. The pool was a wildlife park in itself - full of wonderful insects that preceeded to bite us....so we left pretty quick !! The river we were based on was in flood and the waters had risen about a third over the camp site. So with no pool and no activites until 6am tomorrow we did what you do on these overland trips - drink. We were entertained by Hippos noises from the river - and a lot of alcholol - which is ridiculously cheap here :)
As happens, the hours blurred and we stumbled back to the tent at Stupid oclock. Some short hours later the rain started - and did it rain. We had not put our fly sheet on the tent, but were safe under a tree and only getting marginally wet. The alarm went off not much later for our safari drive as the rain started to stop...
..we feasted on one of 3 breakfasts - eggs on toast (the others being french toast and backed beans on toast). Still in the pitch darkness we left. Now you need to picture this right : 20 people piling onto a safari truck in the dark with a leaking canvas roof, and all of us a little wet as well as hungover.
About 30 mins later we arrived at the Chobe national park (supposedly home to 30,000 elephants) as the sun was coming up - well, trying to come up - but hidden by the dense layers of black clouds !! Our very fat white Sth African guide kept us waiting another 15 mins while all the other cars went by and then off we went.
We stopped by some other cars to be informed by our knowledgeable guide there was a leopard over there behind the green tree.... That was about as specific as "hey, you with the hair"... So we sat there for another 15 mins while our guide come out with other classics as "you should be able to see it, I am too low in the cabin and have no binoculars"... He then moved on to his best material - and I quote " the black guides have very good eyesight - that's one thing they have better than us"....which was greeted with severe suppressed giggles from us - this guy was just like on of the Sth african bad guys from the movies..... what a muppet !
The heavens then proceeded to open with vigour - and we became 20 drenched, cold, hungover tourists trying to look at the animals behind the green trees! I mean it was bucketing down, the animals where hiding from the rain and the breeze blowing through the truck as we drove along felt right from the Antartic. We then mutineed and told him to drive us back to camp - we had enough!
But the bad was counted by the good only a red shower can bring and a change into dry clothes !! And the rain continued to fall, and the river continued to rise... our sunset cruise along the river this afternoon was not looking too good. But after confirming the boat was covered, the roof did not leak and we could take our esky - half of the tour gamely headed out in the rain to thr river.
And glad we were we did !! The rain stopped as we stepped abroad the boat, the drinks in the esky were cold and plentiful and the animals were very willing. Hippos galore, Elephants drinking, crocs etc etc... So we returned to camp pleasantly dry on the outside and wet on the inside !! Returning to the camp bar (I think I will be typing BAR alot in this blog) we had some locals do some excellent african dancing and singing...
The truck was comfortable enough, but having been in england for 5 years I will have my minor gripes now. Seats didn't recline, no airconditioning, esky was too small - and thats about it.
Our first drive was a very reasonable 3 hours to get to the camp by the Hwange national Park. We setup our first real camp, scoffed down lunch and then headed to the pool in the camp site. The pool was a wildlife park in itself - full of wonderful insects that preceeded to bite us....so we left pretty quick !! The river we were based on was in flood and the waters had risen about a third over the camp site. So with no pool and no activites until 6am tomorrow we did what you do on these overland trips - drink. We were entertained by Hippos noises from the river - and a lot of alcholol - which is ridiculously cheap here :)
As happens, the hours blurred and we stumbled back to the tent at Stupid oclock. Some short hours later the rain started - and did it rain. We had not put our fly sheet on the tent, but were safe under a tree and only getting marginally wet. The alarm went off not much later for our safari drive as the rain started to stop...
..we feasted on one of 3 breakfasts - eggs on toast (the others being french toast and backed beans on toast). Still in the pitch darkness we left. Now you need to picture this right : 20 people piling onto a safari truck in the dark with a leaking canvas roof, and all of us a little wet as well as hungover.
About 30 mins later we arrived at the Chobe national park (supposedly home to 30,000 elephants) as the sun was coming up - well, trying to come up - but hidden by the dense layers of black clouds !! Our very fat white Sth African guide kept us waiting another 15 mins while all the other cars went by and then off we went.
We stopped by some other cars to be informed by our knowledgeable guide there was a leopard over there behind the green tree.... That was about as specific as "hey, you with the hair"... So we sat there for another 15 mins while our guide come out with other classics as "you should be able to see it, I am too low in the cabin and have no binoculars"... He then moved on to his best material - and I quote " the black guides have very good eyesight - that's one thing they have better than us"....which was greeted with severe suppressed giggles from us - this guy was just like on of the Sth african bad guys from the movies..... what a muppet !
The heavens then proceeded to open with vigour - and we became 20 drenched, cold, hungover tourists trying to look at the animals behind the green trees! I mean it was bucketing down, the animals where hiding from the rain and the breeze blowing through the truck as we drove along felt right from the Antartic. We then mutineed and told him to drive us back to camp - we had enough!
But the bad was counted by the good only a red shower can bring and a change into dry clothes !! And the rain continued to fall, and the river continued to rise... our sunset cruise along the river this afternoon was not looking too good. But after confirming the boat was covered, the roof did not leak and we could take our esky - half of the tour gamely headed out in the rain to thr river.
And glad we were we did !! The rain stopped as we stepped abroad the boat, the drinks in the esky were cold and plentiful and the animals were very willing. Hippos galore, Elephants drinking, crocs etc etc... So we returned to camp pleasantly dry on the outside and wet on the inside !! Returning to the camp bar (I think I will be typing BAR alot in this blog) we had some locals do some excellent african dancing and singing...
Walking with Lions and travelling with clowns
Well the next morning we were up bright and early to walk with the lions...yes, you read that right - you can actually go on a stroll with 2 young lions, no cages, whips or guns involved !! This group is breeding them, and rehoming them and using the tourist dollars from the walk to help fund it. We had 2 brothers about 18 months old who were quite frisky.
It was amazing to actually sit with them, pat them and not get eaten. They were pretty bloody cocky too - pretty much ignoring us (tasteless?) humans and acting like kings of the jungle. We were hoping one Austrian tourist who simply did not listen to instructions would get eaten - but alas Karma was not such a severe mistress today.
We then headed back to our lodge to go down to the dreaded pre-departure meeting - where we would meet our fellow overlanders - with great fear that it would be like a big brother crowd, or a bunch of 21 yr olds ...
I will try and give you our first impressions of the crew - as after 3 weeks we have a slighty different take...
Lizzie - was the guide. Young, 23 and a bloody Paddy ! She also had the most severe case of mosquito bites ever recorded, was recovering from Malaria, and had a bit of her face rotting off where some bug she squashed released its goo that apparently causes that... so she has some issues to say the least.
Marty - we met Marty as he was staying at the Tokkie lodge with us...fresh from Sth America, Marty was an Aussie, suffering severe flu and with the most disgusting toenails you could picture. Marty was young, and Josie and I quickly realised in need of a mother to travel with - seemingly unable to perform simple functions the rest of us take for granted !
The boys - Dave, Josh, Ben, Andy and Dan - 4 aussies and a pom travelling together. All around 30, except for Andy who is 40ish - typical aussies. Dan was bright red from being over zealous in the UK on a sunbed before travelling - Josh was also neon pink, having underestimated the effects of Doxy (malaria pills) and the African sun. Dave liked his food and Andy didn't really say much - the quiet one of the group. And you could see these lot would be the class clowns.
This will take too long, so the rest quickly: Sarah - a loud Kiwi girl, Chris - a canadian eh, Paul a californian who sounded like the Dude from the Big Lebowski, Steph and Jenny - 2 american sisters, Nat & Laurie : a couple(aussie/kiwi) who have been travelling for 6 months, Kate - a young quiet aussie girl, Mirande - a loud aussie girl, Marine (x2) - two french girls, later named big Frenchy and little Frenchy.
So it was predominantly and aussie crowd with a few foreigners thrown in. We all then went down for a swim and a bite too eat. To be honest, first impressions were good - they seemed like an alright bunch. Several of them had also been travelling on the bus for 5 weeks beforehand - having come down from Nairobi/Uganda...so they were well used to the truck.
So Monday, we all piled down - stuffed our backpacks in the truck and hit the road...
It was amazing to actually sit with them, pat them and not get eaten. They were pretty bloody cocky too - pretty much ignoring us (tasteless?) humans and acting like kings of the jungle. We were hoping one Austrian tourist who simply did not listen to instructions would get eaten - but alas Karma was not such a severe mistress today.
We then headed back to our lodge to go down to the dreaded pre-departure meeting - where we would meet our fellow overlanders - with great fear that it would be like a big brother crowd, or a bunch of 21 yr olds ...
I will try and give you our first impressions of the crew - as after 3 weeks we have a slighty different take...
Lizzie - was the guide. Young, 23 and a bloody Paddy ! She also had the most severe case of mosquito bites ever recorded, was recovering from Malaria, and had a bit of her face rotting off where some bug she squashed released its goo that apparently causes that... so she has some issues to say the least.
Marty - we met Marty as he was staying at the Tokkie lodge with us...fresh from Sth America, Marty was an Aussie, suffering severe flu and with the most disgusting toenails you could picture. Marty was young, and Josie and I quickly realised in need of a mother to travel with - seemingly unable to perform simple functions the rest of us take for granted !
The boys - Dave, Josh, Ben, Andy and Dan - 4 aussies and a pom travelling together. All around 30, except for Andy who is 40ish - typical aussies. Dan was bright red from being over zealous in the UK on a sunbed before travelling - Josh was also neon pink, having underestimated the effects of Doxy (malaria pills) and the African sun. Dave liked his food and Andy didn't really say much - the quiet one of the group. And you could see these lot would be the class clowns.
This will take too long, so the rest quickly: Sarah - a loud Kiwi girl, Chris - a canadian eh, Paul a californian who sounded like the Dude from the Big Lebowski, Steph and Jenny - 2 american sisters, Nat & Laurie : a couple(aussie/kiwi) who have been travelling for 6 months, Kate - a young quiet aussie girl, Mirande - a loud aussie girl, Marine (x2) - two french girls, later named big Frenchy and little Frenchy.
So it was predominantly and aussie crowd with a few foreigners thrown in. We all then went down for a swim and a bite too eat. To be honest, first impressions were good - they seemed like an alright bunch. Several of them had also been travelling on the bus for 5 weeks beforehand - having come down from Nairobi/Uganda...so they were well used to the truck.
So Monday, we all piled down - stuffed our backpacks in the truck and hit the road...
Crossing over
We are about to head over to the other side (Zimbabwe and town of Vic Falls) and also leave behind our solo (well couple) travelling and join the Overland herds for 3 weeks. So we didn't do a great deal of much...we lounged by the pool, and wandered down to the markets to buy 2 duvets. Why 2 duvets? Well, we have no sleeping mats and need them for the overland camping - and of course they don't bloody well sell them over here :(
We also had a strange surprise - running into Dave Cutts and Cathy in Livingstone. For those not in the know, Dave was my old Director at Orange, one of the few people who had left the company and returned more times that me :) Dave and Cathy were about to undertake the reverse of our trip (but I must say in considerably more style)...
So the next day we bid a sad farewell to the JollyBoys Backpackers - which was a cracking place to stay for anyone thinking of heading out the way... We crossed the border (a bridge across the Zambezi) with no dramas - other than the heat of the walk. We even stopped for 20 mins to watch some nutters throw themselves off the bungi jump on the bridge !! We then got ripped off by the cabbie on the Zim side for a fare to our lodge - something that was far more common on the Zim side than anywhere else we travelled.
For those not in the know, Zimbabwe is in a wee bit of trouble financially - and the Vic Falls tourist town is suffering - therefore the locals try to rip you off any way they can. You need to get cash out in Vic Falls but the exchange rate officially is 250 to 1 (as the goverment likes to control this rate).... but there exists an 'unofficial' exchange rate of 5000 to 1 - which is more real. If you got cash out at the official rate and then bought a sandwich at a pub it would cost you $25 .... using the real rate makes this $1.25 !! Dodgy indeed.
So the afternoon had Josie pretty excited as we were off on an Elephant walk - where you get to ride the elephants and feed them !! Well we were kept waiting by these other tourists - who happened to be French - only an hour late and didn't bother to apologise when they turned up. But this is typically French :) - however, it looks as though Karma sorted them out as they paid on credit card for the Elephant ride in Zim dollars - so the official rate :) Oh Karma, how I love thee.
So, Josie - pretty bloody angry at been kept from her Elephants by some damn Frenchies - was overjoyed to get on the back of her own elephant, I also got one to myself with our beloved frenchies sharing behind us - Karma continued to deliver, with my elephant farting like a wind generater all through the walk right in their faces, and then their elephant blasting muddy water all over them - joy, oh joy :) I must remember not to celebrate karma too much as she can be fickle and this can count against me.
So Josie went home pretty bloody happy - all things considered ;)
We also had a strange surprise - running into Dave Cutts and Cathy in Livingstone. For those not in the know, Dave was my old Director at Orange, one of the few people who had left the company and returned more times that me :) Dave and Cathy were about to undertake the reverse of our trip (but I must say in considerably more style)...
So the next day we bid a sad farewell to the JollyBoys Backpackers - which was a cracking place to stay for anyone thinking of heading out the way... We crossed the border (a bridge across the Zambezi) with no dramas - other than the heat of the walk. We even stopped for 20 mins to watch some nutters throw themselves off the bungi jump on the bridge !! We then got ripped off by the cabbie on the Zim side for a fare to our lodge - something that was far more common on the Zim side than anywhere else we travelled.
For those not in the know, Zimbabwe is in a wee bit of trouble financially - and the Vic Falls tourist town is suffering - therefore the locals try to rip you off any way they can. You need to get cash out in Vic Falls but the exchange rate officially is 250 to 1 (as the goverment likes to control this rate).... but there exists an 'unofficial' exchange rate of 5000 to 1 - which is more real. If you got cash out at the official rate and then bought a sandwich at a pub it would cost you $25 .... using the real rate makes this $1.25 !! Dodgy indeed.
So the afternoon had Josie pretty excited as we were off on an Elephant walk - where you get to ride the elephants and feed them !! Well we were kept waiting by these other tourists - who happened to be French - only an hour late and didn't bother to apologise when they turned up. But this is typically French :) - however, it looks as though Karma sorted them out as they paid on credit card for the Elephant ride in Zim dollars - so the official rate :) Oh Karma, how I love thee.
So, Josie - pretty bloody angry at been kept from her Elephants by some damn Frenchies - was overjoyed to get on the back of her own elephant, I also got one to myself with our beloved frenchies sharing behind us - Karma continued to deliver, with my elephant farting like a wind generater all through the walk right in their faces, and then their elephant blasting muddy water all over them - joy, oh joy :) I must remember not to celebrate karma too much as she can be fickle and this can count against me.
So Josie went home pretty bloody happy - all things considered ;)
A bloody lot to catch up on...
Well this blog thing seemed like a good idea at the time....but after being unable to get some quality internet time for the last 3 weeks it looks as though we have a lot to catch you up on !!
So I am now perched in an Internet cafe in the largest shopping centre in Cape Town...Josie is armed with her card and is off shopping (gulp!) and I need to get through three weeks of travelling in about 2 hours ! So here goes...
So I am now perched in an Internet cafe in the largest shopping centre in Cape Town...Josie is armed with her card and is off shopping (gulp!) and I need to get through three weeks of travelling in about 2 hours ! So here goes...
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
No updates
sorry for the lack of updates - getting hold of the time and the internet has been next to impossible....we are now 1 week into our overland trip. having a cracking time, currently just left Etosha national park in Namibia and heading today to a cheetah park for a bit of a cuddle...one big long blog update will probably come in 5 days when we hit civilisation again...
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Wednesday, February 21, 2007
The falls themselves
It has taking us a good 4 days to finally get to the main attraction... Well, what a bloody lot of water and a big racket on the ears... seriously, I am not going to try and paint a picture of the falls - look it up on the net. But I tell you the "smoke that thunders" is impressive...no wonder it is one of the 7th natural wonders of the world.
The mist that comes up must rise a good 100 feet, and turns into rain. And not London rain (drizzlely stuff) but a full on tropical downpoor! You need a rain coat to avoid getting drenched to the bone, and even then the mist coming up seems to get in underneath anyway. The paths and lookouts are refreshingly unsafe - many not even having a railing! Good ol' raw Africa just delivers it big beautiful and rough around the edges.
We then took a walk down to the boiling pot - which is basically the first 90 degree bend after the falls where all the water boils in a big whirlpool. A fair old walk down it was too in the heat of the African sun. Now on the way back was when the drama started - we experienced first hand the violent muggings we were trying to avoid.
This other lot of tourists (not sure of their origin) got mugged by a baboon. He took there bag containing crisps, smokes and camera. Mind you, Josie and I have been sat in the middle of this pack for about 30 minutes before the tourists arrived - and I can only think the baboons recognised in me an alpha male, not to be messed with ! So, they fannied about while the baboon opened the crisps and started eating them up the hill a bit. He then opened the ciggies and stuffed about 10 in his mouth. But he was not happy, either with the brand or the fact he didn't have a lighter!?
Yours truly, then took up a big stick (always speak softly but carry one) and scared off the criminal mastermind to return the camera to the helpless tourists. Movie rights are patent pending.
We then ran into our first snake - which would no doubt have given my dad the heebeejeebies...not sure what make and model it was, I don't like not knowing what is venomous - but took the aussie rule that it probably would kill you if it got a bite in. So we have a couple of photos...
I am getting tired so will keep the last bit brutally short and lacking in colour....we then wandered to another resort (at the falls) with Zebra and Velvet monkeys all about the place - had a quick beer and headed for the curio shops to haggle for wooden stuff the bloody aussie inspectors probably won't let us in with anyway.
Damn the locals can haggle too - put the negotiation skills course I did to shame. But I think I did ok - less than a third of the asking price. But took about 30 mins each negotiation - you know it won't be easy when they offer you a stool to talk price :)
But Josie is now the parent of more animals and we now need to figure how to get the buggers home....
The mist that comes up must rise a good 100 feet, and turns into rain. And not London rain (drizzlely stuff) but a full on tropical downpoor! You need a rain coat to avoid getting drenched to the bone, and even then the mist coming up seems to get in underneath anyway. The paths and lookouts are refreshingly unsafe - many not even having a railing! Good ol' raw Africa just delivers it big beautiful and rough around the edges.
We then took a walk down to the boiling pot - which is basically the first 90 degree bend after the falls where all the water boils in a big whirlpool. A fair old walk down it was too in the heat of the African sun. Now on the way back was when the drama started - we experienced first hand the violent muggings we were trying to avoid.
This other lot of tourists (not sure of their origin) got mugged by a baboon. He took there bag containing crisps, smokes and camera. Mind you, Josie and I have been sat in the middle of this pack for about 30 minutes before the tourists arrived - and I can only think the baboons recognised in me an alpha male, not to be messed with ! So, they fannied about while the baboon opened the crisps and started eating them up the hill a bit. He then opened the ciggies and stuffed about 10 in his mouth. But he was not happy, either with the brand or the fact he didn't have a lighter!?
Yours truly, then took up a big stick (always speak softly but carry one) and scared off the criminal mastermind to return the camera to the helpless tourists. Movie rights are patent pending.
We then ran into our first snake - which would no doubt have given my dad the heebeejeebies...not sure what make and model it was, I don't like not knowing what is venomous - but took the aussie rule that it probably would kill you if it got a bite in. So we have a couple of photos...
I am getting tired so will keep the last bit brutally short and lacking in colour....we then wandered to another resort (at the falls) with Zebra and Velvet monkeys all about the place - had a quick beer and headed for the curio shops to haggle for wooden stuff the bloody aussie inspectors probably won't let us in with anyway.
Damn the locals can haggle too - put the negotiation skills course I did to shame. But I think I did ok - less than a third of the asking price. But took about 30 mins each negotiation - you know it won't be easy when they offer you a stool to talk price :)
But Josie is now the parent of more animals and we now need to figure how to get the buggers home....
The falls themselves
It has taking us a good 4 days to finally get to the main attraction... Well, what a bloody lot of water and a big racket on the ears... seriously, I am not going to try and paint a picture of the falls - look it up on the net. But I tell you the "smoke that thunders" is impressive...no wonder it is one of the 7th natural wonders of the world.
The mist that comes up must rise a good 100 feet, and turns into rain. And not London rain (drizzlely stuff) but a full on tropical downpoor! You need a rain coat to avoid getting drenched to the bone, and even then the mist coming up seems to get in underneath anyway. The paths and lookouts are refreshingly unsafe - many not even having a railing! Good ol' raw Africa just delivers it big beautiful and rough around the edges.
We then took a walk down to the boiling pot - which is basically the first 90 degree bend after the falls where all the water boils in a big whirlpool. A fair old walk down it was too in the heat of the African sun. Now on the way back was when the drama started - we experienced first hand the violent muggings we were trying to avoid.
This other lot of tourists (not sure of their origin) got mugged by a baboon. He took there bag containing crisps, smokes and camera. Mind you, Josie and I have been sat in the middle of this pack for about 30 minutes before the tourists arrived - and I can only think the baboons recognised in me an alpha male, not to be messed with ! So, they fannied about while the baboon opened the crisps and started eating them up the hill a bit. He then opened the ciggies and stuffed about 10 in his mouth. But he was not happy, either with the brand or the fact he didn't have a lighter!?
Yours truly, then took up a big stick (always speak softly but carry one) and scared off the criminal mastermind to return the camera to the helpless tourists. Movie rights are patent pending.
We then ran into our first snake - which would no doubt have given my dad the heebeejeebies...not sure what make and model it was, I don't like not knowing what is venomous - but took the aussie rule that it probably would kill you if it got a bite in. So we have a couple of photos...
I am getting tired so will keep the last bit brutally short and lacking in colour....we then wandered to another resort (at the falls) with Zebra and Velvet monkeys all about the place - had a quick beer and headed for the curio shops to haggle for wooden stuff the bloody aussie inspectors probably won't let us in with anyway.
Damn the locals can haggle too - put the negotiation skills course I did to shame. But I think I did ok - less than a third of the asking price. But took about 30 mins each negotiation - you know it won't be easy when they offer you a stool to talk price :)
But Josie is now the parent of more animals and we now need to figure how to get the buggers home....
The mist that comes up must rise a good 100 feet, and turns into rain. And not London rain (drizzlely stuff) but a full on tropical downpoor! You need a rain coat to avoid getting drenched to the bone, and even then the mist coming up seems to get in underneath anyway. The paths and lookouts are refreshingly unsafe - many not even having a railing! Good ol' raw Africa just delivers it big beautiful and rough around the edges.
We then took a walk down to the boiling pot - which is basically the first 90 degree bend after the falls where all the water boils in a big whirlpool. A fair old walk down it was too in the heat of the African sun. Now on the way back was when the drama started - we experienced first hand the violent muggings we were trying to avoid.
This other lot of tourists (not sure of their origin) got mugged by a baboon. He took there bag containing crisps, smokes and camera. Mind you, Josie and I have been sat in the middle of this pack for about 30 minutes before the tourists arrived - and I can only think the baboons recognised in me an alpha male, not to be messed with ! So, they fannied about while the baboon opened the crisps and started eating them up the hill a bit. He then opened the ciggies and stuffed about 10 in his mouth. But he was not happy, either with the brand or the fact he didn't have a lighter!?
Yours truly, then took up a big stick (always speak softly but carry one) and scared off the criminal mastermind to return the camera to the helpless tourists. Movie rights are patent pending.
We then ran into our first snake - which would no doubt have given my dad the heebeejeebies...not sure what make and model it was, I don't like not knowing what is venomous - but took the aussie rule that it probably would kill you if it got a bite in. So we have a couple of photos...
I am getting tired so will keep the last bit brutally short and lacking in colour....we then wandered to another resort (at the falls) with Zebra and Velvet monkeys all about the place - had a quick beer and headed for the curio shops to haggle for wooden stuff the bloody aussie inspectors probably won't let us in with anyway.
Damn the locals can haggle too - put the negotiation skills course I did to shame. But I think I did ok - less than a third of the asking price. But took about 30 mins each negotiation - you know it won't be easy when they offer you a stool to talk price :)
But Josie is now the parent of more animals and we now need to figure how to get the buggers home....
Choking the chicken
I know what you are thinking - I am going to drop the level a little to low for a "G" rating. If you are not thinking that, commend yourself for rising above the meaning of gutter slang. But this post is about life in the backpackers where are staying.
We are staying in a 1 room bungalow style hut - we share our bathroom, but have a fan and a mozzie net. It is costing us $25 a night, (12 quid for you brits, or 30 aussie bucks). And as we are getting the 7th night free, that gets even cheaper.
We share a bathroom and bogger, which are probably a bit too far away to be fair - but are always spotless and smelling good - no mean feat all things considered. We can get brekky for about 2.50 US and dinner for 6 bucks. A beer (Mosi is the local drop) costs 1.50 or so and is very tasty - so far better than Killi, Tusker and Castle. The drinks are also served icy cold form the bar - for those in the know, this makes Bradley a happy boy!
At 4.30am, 5.30am and 6am this bloody franking cockeril next door blasts out like some kind of alarm clock for the dead. In case you are wondering, sunrise is about 6.30am - so what the pluck is wrong with this chicken. Now I am not too clued up with the local laws here - but Josie and I are plotting to go halves in a murder charge....at the moment we are still not in agreement over the method. Josie wants to wring its neck (being hippy-ish and wanting least painful) whereas I would like the most painful and damaging death possible for this chicken who is obviously mad. Damn chicken. We have 2 more nights (and therefore mornings here) - that bloody chicken is playing with fire and walking a very fine line. Stay tuned, and be ready with some bail money if we need you....
We are staying in a 1 room bungalow style hut - we share our bathroom, but have a fan and a mozzie net. It is costing us $25 a night, (12 quid for you brits, or 30 aussie bucks). And as we are getting the 7th night free, that gets even cheaper.
We share a bathroom and bogger, which are probably a bit too far away to be fair - but are always spotless and smelling good - no mean feat all things considered. We can get brekky for about 2.50 US and dinner for 6 bucks. A beer (Mosi is the local drop) costs 1.50 or so and is very tasty - so far better than Killi, Tusker and Castle. The drinks are also served icy cold form the bar - for those in the know, this makes Bradley a happy boy!
At 4.30am, 5.30am and 6am this bloody franking cockeril next door blasts out like some kind of alarm clock for the dead. In case you are wondering, sunrise is about 6.30am - so what the pluck is wrong with this chicken. Now I am not too clued up with the local laws here - but Josie and I are plotting to go halves in a murder charge....at the moment we are still not in agreement over the method. Josie wants to wring its neck (being hippy-ish and wanting least painful) whereas I would like the most painful and damaging death possible for this chicken who is obviously mad. Damn chicken. We have 2 more nights (and therefore mornings here) - that bloody chicken is playing with fire and walking a very fine line. Stay tuned, and be ready with some bail money if we need you....
Heliwopter
Well I am starting to fall behind in these posts, there is not much time left in the day after the lounging, eating and drinking are all accounted for.
Somehow I talked Josie into another foolish activity for someone scared of heights - thats right, a helicopter ride over Vic Falls. Now the plus side for Josie was we decided NOT to do microlights - she was considering these but thought they were more like glider planes. She was so relieved when she saw what a microlight was, she just skipped onto the helicopter without a thought - whoops.
Now these choppers are the little ones - what my Dad refers to as Hueys, from 'Nam. The can actually seat 4, and are nearly all glass to provide good views - and what good views indeed. But no point in me trying to describe it as a picture and 100o words blah blah blah. However, what was interesting (and by that I mean funny after the event) was Josies white knuckled grip of the seat and almost the pilot at one point when we were banking! She is a brave little trooper and we are probably lucky she didn't have a panic attack, go mental and take us all down in flames.
But hey, what a ride and view. We also met a group of guys planning an expedition from the sea to the source of the Zambezi - kind of like Livingstone - to make a documentary. They are ols hands, having done the Amazon, Mee Kong (spelling) and some others probably only Sam would be able to tell you there names. Great guys and bloody lucky to be doing that for a living - they even gave us some great tips for Thailand and Chang Mia... and also Laos "the land of a million elephants" - you can bet Josie's ears pricked up when she heard that !
Well enough for this update, I have 2 more to catch up on...
Somehow I talked Josie into another foolish activity for someone scared of heights - thats right, a helicopter ride over Vic Falls. Now the plus side for Josie was we decided NOT to do microlights - she was considering these but thought they were more like glider planes. She was so relieved when she saw what a microlight was, she just skipped onto the helicopter without a thought - whoops.
Now these choppers are the little ones - what my Dad refers to as Hueys, from 'Nam. The can actually seat 4, and are nearly all glass to provide good views - and what good views indeed. But no point in me trying to describe it as a picture and 100o words blah blah blah. However, what was interesting (and by that I mean funny after the event) was Josies white knuckled grip of the seat and almost the pilot at one point when we were banking! She is a brave little trooper and we are probably lucky she didn't have a panic attack, go mental and take us all down in flames.
But hey, what a ride and view. We also met a group of guys planning an expedition from the sea to the source of the Zambezi - kind of like Livingstone - to make a documentary. They are ols hands, having done the Amazon, Mee Kong (spelling) and some others probably only Sam would be able to tell you there names. Great guys and bloody lucky to be doing that for a living - they even gave us some great tips for Thailand and Chang Mia... and also Laos "the land of a million elephants" - you can bet Josie's ears pricked up when she heard that !
Well enough for this update, I have 2 more to catch up on...
Monday, February 19, 2007
Here Tiger Tiger Tiger
What's that you say, there are no tigers in Africa? But you would be wrong, they have the best kind - they have Tiger Fish! And Josie and I are back from a mornings fishing on the mighty Zambezi ! And we have wrestled with the mighty Tigers - and came out about even...
...with all the water, and based on input from others I was worried we wouldn't even catch a fish - let along a tiger. The day started early (as all good fishing adventures should - 6.30am) with a 30 minute drive and then we were on the water. Only about 10 mins up the river and our lines were wet.
For those of you who are not into fishing, or have never fished this might be quite a boring read... but I am addicted, and Josie is only marginally less enthusiastic. So where was I, oh ,yeah - the 1st spot. We were drift fishing with dead baits....now I have never been keen on this type of fishing, normally only resulting in lots of snags and frustration - but Ralph was the boss. Now the 1st hour we didn't really get the jist of the whole technique - which meant no fish. But then, it all started to happen.
Unfortunately, Josie got the 1st fish - which is bad news when it is just the two of us and one has bragging rights - but it was a wee catfish, barely out of kindegarden. So first blood, but not too much harm done. I immediately levelled the tally with a catty of my own, but if Josie's was from kindy, this one was maybe grade 3 or 4... So we moved, bad spot now Ralph says, the catfish will all arrive. So we move over to the other side of the river.
make sure you have the right picture in your head here - it is a cracking day, narry a cloud, the swollen river is rushing past, hippos are grunting in the background, and we are in a lovely decked out fishing tinny, with an esky full of cold drinks. So we mosy over to the trees on the other side and start getting the hang of how to fish. And it must be about 15 mins before Josie lets of a holler - and sure enough it is a TIGER! How can you tell, we the bugger jumps like a barra or queenfish and fights like, err well a tiger. But the fish gets lucky and throws the hook at the side of the boat.
So of course, I am not too polite when fishing and lob my bait right in where Josies was....and.....nothing. Josie gets a new bait and plop...and....SMASH ! Another bloody one. Dancing on the water, the drag screaming....and this one she got safely into the boat. Now I was in trouble. She was taking the piss big time and even Ralph was joining in ! So I gritted my teeth and kept at it. Sure enough, I got lucky - but my tiger was a kitten, still in nappys. SO this actually made it worse - the ribbing went up another level !! Bastards.
However, I then managed to get onto another 1, slightly bigger and start winning some pride back. But Josie, jammy as only a Paddy can be, managed to bring in another 2. We lost some BIG ones - which was exciting....but had a cracking day. I am keen to go out again, the fishing bug is biting like the mossies are biting Josie ! But we will see - a lot to do and so little money ;)
...with all the water, and based on input from others I was worried we wouldn't even catch a fish - let along a tiger. The day started early (as all good fishing adventures should - 6.30am) with a 30 minute drive and then we were on the water. Only about 10 mins up the river and our lines were wet.
For those of you who are not into fishing, or have never fished this might be quite a boring read... but I am addicted, and Josie is only marginally less enthusiastic. So where was I, oh ,yeah - the 1st spot. We were drift fishing with dead baits....now I have never been keen on this type of fishing, normally only resulting in lots of snags and frustration - but Ralph was the boss. Now the 1st hour we didn't really get the jist of the whole technique - which meant no fish. But then, it all started to happen.
Unfortunately, Josie got the 1st fish - which is bad news when it is just the two of us and one has bragging rights - but it was a wee catfish, barely out of kindegarden. So first blood, but not too much harm done. I immediately levelled the tally with a catty of my own, but if Josie's was from kindy, this one was maybe grade 3 or 4... So we moved, bad spot now Ralph says, the catfish will all arrive. So we move over to the other side of the river.
make sure you have the right picture in your head here - it is a cracking day, narry a cloud, the swollen river is rushing past, hippos are grunting in the background, and we are in a lovely decked out fishing tinny, with an esky full of cold drinks. So we mosy over to the trees on the other side and start getting the hang of how to fish. And it must be about 15 mins before Josie lets of a holler - and sure enough it is a TIGER! How can you tell, we the bugger jumps like a barra or queenfish and fights like, err well a tiger. But the fish gets lucky and throws the hook at the side of the boat.
So of course, I am not too polite when fishing and lob my bait right in where Josies was....and.....nothing. Josie gets a new bait and plop...and....SMASH ! Another bloody one. Dancing on the water, the drag screaming....and this one she got safely into the boat. Now I was in trouble. She was taking the piss big time and even Ralph was joining in ! So I gritted my teeth and kept at it. Sure enough, I got lucky - but my tiger was a kitten, still in nappys. SO this actually made it worse - the ribbing went up another level !! Bastards.
However, I then managed to get onto another 1, slightly bigger and start winning some pride back. But Josie, jammy as only a Paddy can be, managed to bring in another 2. We lost some BIG ones - which was exciting....but had a cracking day. I am keen to go out again, the fishing bug is biting like the mossies are biting Josie ! But we will see - a lot to do and so little money ;)
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Dr Livingstone I presume
Well, another bus trip - this one running pretty well to Africa time. We
are now safely (and very comfortably) holed up in a backpackers in
Livingstone. Finally a decent place (run by an aussie - coincidence?)...
are now safely (and very comfortably) holed up in a backpackers in
Livingstone. Finally a decent place (run by an aussie - coincidence?)...
...and it looks like there goes the budget !! Damn there some things we can
do here...Jet boating, canoesing, fishing, rafting, microlight flights over
the falls, elephant back safari, walking with lions - need I go on, ok then
- booze cruises, 5 star brekkie at the base of the falls, bungie jumping,
horseback riding... so we are trying to balance time and money and get all
the good stuff in! It also likes like all that rain will be useful - as it
means the falls (and the rapids will be booming) - yee har :)
So we are here for a week, and then we will cross over the the 'other' side,
Vic Falls...but for now, a leisurely stroll through town, and then it is
back to the pool to get reacquainted with our navels.
_________________________________________________________________
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Thursday, February 15, 2007
The big Choo Choo trip
Hi Ho again folks....well we are not where we were, but we are where we planned to be. We jumped abroad the Tazara train at 4pm on Tuesday to head somewhere not in Dar - as we had enough of this city.
Visa - check, tickets - check : we had to book all 4 sleepers of a cabin (as we were mixed sex) costing us a small fortune (well a 100 quid) - as I quickly compared to UK train prices was actually a bargain for 46 hours of x-country travelling. Mind you, the locals queuing behind in the ticket office did find this madness and crowded around very close, either to see if we would doing something else daft, or to try and get some of our cash...
But at 3.50pm it was all abroad and off we went. And let me tell you, after about 1min30s I was a train convert - you can stick your buses and planes as there is no better public transport than a train... I guess it has a certain ambience that all the others lack, with the rythmic motion and the landscape blurring past - plus the fact you can move about like a human, rather than a sardine. Not to mention the loo's don't block up, as well, they are a hole onto the tracks, but more on that later. And also this train was old school - big ass deisel engine, must of been about 30 carriages and windows wide open for you to hang out of...
To be honest, Josie and I were a bit like kids on a school trip, somewhere good. We were done to death with Dar, the heat, and our noisy backpackers...and looking forward to going somewhere interesting - and having our own private sleeper carriage to get there. The train here still has some novelty factor for the local kids too - as they all rush out to watch it go past and wave - much more acceptable than those blokes who loiter at the end of the UK platforms 'trainspotting'...
Josie felt close to royalty and started to perfect her wave to the kids... as we moved out of town we realised the other good thing about the train is all you get to see, especially when it is going through national parks! At about 6.30 we started seeing the first signs of wildlife - baboons, followed by gazelles and then loads of giraffes - but our excitement was short lived as the sun went down and our little LED tourch failed to light up the wilderness at night :( We strongly suspect the trip the other way would have you in the National Parks in daylight.
Not much longer into the trip, Josie started her exercise routine. In all, she must have clocked up about 2km in distance over the journey which is not bad when you expect to be sitting in a train carriage. However, Africa and its wonderful surprises brought on Josie's first case of 'the runs'... and let me tell you, the loo in the train was no place to be spending that amount of time.
Now I apoligse now if toilet humour is not your thing, as it is mine and you should have expected to read something shitty (pun intended) in this blog at least 5 times. I am unable to comment on my own situation lest I incur the wrath of Karma. I will say I wish I was sharing the cabin with Simon and Brett who could have fully appreciated how Africa was affecting me ;)
But poor Josie, on the bright side, was she was expecting this and had planned to use the 'experience' to counter the over indulgence at Xmas - which is quite a cunning plan although a little extreme for my tastes.
Overall though - the trip was a cracker. They served us meals for about 50p, we stared out the window at the stunning landscapes and played some 500. This is travelling !
We ended up where we supposed to only 6 hours late. Not bad for Africa time...and being late on the train is 'easy time'...kind of like in the movies about criminals, you know, the opposite of 'hard time'. In a train, getting delayed is almost pleasant. And no major events, well none that we could understand. There was a great deal of shouting last night at 2am...and today 2 men handcuffed were escorted off the train under machine gun supervision - but this is not newsworthy here in Africa.
I now must confess some startling news - I have something nice to say about an American [not like one yankee in Dar who was followed into the resturant by her cab driver - when she said "I thought you said FREE! No lady, most cabbies charge, in this case 3 (thousand shillings)!!] ...
But anyway, back to this nice american (Not every day you hear that now is it)... well this young bloke on the bus, helped out by changing some US dollars for me (at the right rate), recommended the backpackers we are in now, and sorted a taxi for us form the chaos that greets you at the bus terminal. Not only that, but he is in the peace Corp and has been working in Zambia for 2 years helping the locals improve sustenance farming... Bugger must have been no more than 21y.o. too - makes you think maybe the world isn't go to pot that quickly!?
Another local also split a cab and sorted us onto the right bus - these bloody Zambians are a friendly lot I can tell you.
So tonight we cool our heels in Lusaka (the capital), tomorrow either we high tail it to Livingstone, or sneak away for 3 days fishing on the Zambezi for Tiger fish - it all depends on how flooded the river is and if it is worth the time and cost to sneak away. Either way, things are on the up again now we have left Dar (he says recklessly)...
Visa - check, tickets - check : we had to book all 4 sleepers of a cabin (as we were mixed sex) costing us a small fortune (well a 100 quid) - as I quickly compared to UK train prices was actually a bargain for 46 hours of x-country travelling. Mind you, the locals queuing behind in the ticket office did find this madness and crowded around very close, either to see if we would doing something else daft, or to try and get some of our cash...
But at 3.50pm it was all abroad and off we went. And let me tell you, after about 1min30s I was a train convert - you can stick your buses and planes as there is no better public transport than a train... I guess it has a certain ambience that all the others lack, with the rythmic motion and the landscape blurring past - plus the fact you can move about like a human, rather than a sardine. Not to mention the loo's don't block up, as well, they are a hole onto the tracks, but more on that later. And also this train was old school - big ass deisel engine, must of been about 30 carriages and windows wide open for you to hang out of...
To be honest, Josie and I were a bit like kids on a school trip, somewhere good. We were done to death with Dar, the heat, and our noisy backpackers...and looking forward to going somewhere interesting - and having our own private sleeper carriage to get there. The train here still has some novelty factor for the local kids too - as they all rush out to watch it go past and wave - much more acceptable than those blokes who loiter at the end of the UK platforms 'trainspotting'...
Josie felt close to royalty and started to perfect her wave to the kids... as we moved out of town we realised the other good thing about the train is all you get to see, especially when it is going through national parks! At about 6.30 we started seeing the first signs of wildlife - baboons, followed by gazelles and then loads of giraffes - but our excitement was short lived as the sun went down and our little LED tourch failed to light up the wilderness at night :( We strongly suspect the trip the other way would have you in the National Parks in daylight.
Not much longer into the trip, Josie started her exercise routine. In all, she must have clocked up about 2km in distance over the journey which is not bad when you expect to be sitting in a train carriage. However, Africa and its wonderful surprises brought on Josie's first case of 'the runs'... and let me tell you, the loo in the train was no place to be spending that amount of time.
Now I apoligse now if toilet humour is not your thing, as it is mine and you should have expected to read something shitty (pun intended) in this blog at least 5 times. I am unable to comment on my own situation lest I incur the wrath of Karma. I will say I wish I was sharing the cabin with Simon and Brett who could have fully appreciated how Africa was affecting me ;)
But poor Josie, on the bright side, was she was expecting this and had planned to use the 'experience' to counter the over indulgence at Xmas - which is quite a cunning plan although a little extreme for my tastes.
Overall though - the trip was a cracker. They served us meals for about 50p, we stared out the window at the stunning landscapes and played some 500. This is travelling !
We ended up where we supposed to only 6 hours late. Not bad for Africa time...and being late on the train is 'easy time'...kind of like in the movies about criminals, you know, the opposite of 'hard time'. In a train, getting delayed is almost pleasant. And no major events, well none that we could understand. There was a great deal of shouting last night at 2am...and today 2 men handcuffed were escorted off the train under machine gun supervision - but this is not newsworthy here in Africa.
I now must confess some startling news - I have something nice to say about an American [not like one yankee in Dar who was followed into the resturant by her cab driver - when she said "I thought you said FREE! No lady, most cabbies charge, in this case 3 (thousand shillings)!!] ...
But anyway, back to this nice american (Not every day you hear that now is it)... well this young bloke on the bus, helped out by changing some US dollars for me (at the right rate), recommended the backpackers we are in now, and sorted a taxi for us form the chaos that greets you at the bus terminal. Not only that, but he is in the peace Corp and has been working in Zambia for 2 years helping the locals improve sustenance farming... Bugger must have been no more than 21y.o. too - makes you think maybe the world isn't go to pot that quickly!?
Another local also split a cab and sorted us onto the right bus - these bloody Zambians are a friendly lot I can tell you.
So tonight we cool our heels in Lusaka (the capital), tomorrow either we high tail it to Livingstone, or sneak away for 3 days fishing on the Zambezi for Tiger fish - it all depends on how flooded the river is and if it is worth the time and cost to sneak away. Either way, things are on the up again now we have left Dar (he says recklessly)...
Monday, February 12, 2007
Hot n Sweaty
Just thought we would keep you in the loop for the good as with the bad. Africa is a big place and travelling is not what you would call fun. "Africa time" is actually later than both French and Spanish time - and generally a whole lot sweatier. I could try and describe the smell from the bus toilet after a 10hour trip (supposed to be 8)... but some things are beyond words.
Also, the feeling of 33 degress in the afternoon when you are not on a beach with a suitably cold beverage....is decidedly stickly.
Next on our great travel plans is a 40hr train trip across Tanzania and into Zambia... we shudder to think about what could happen on this trip.
Will be in touch again from Livingstone....as in Dr Livingstone I presume....proabably in another 4 days.....travelling gods of africa willing!
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Friday, February 9, 2007
The Big 5 and the little thousands...
We have been out in the boonies as we say...to be a little more specific, we have spent a day at Lake Manyara, 3 days in the Serengeti and 2 days in Ngorongoro Crater....and it was absolutely bloody brilliant - we kid you not.
Now I could try and go all poetic, or maybe a little David Attenbrough with some prose trying to describe the wild side of Africa - but I won't bother. It wouldn't do it justice, and I would just sound like a tit. But I will give you a few of our highlights from the last 6 days....
Firstly, it started in luxury (and continued that way) - but hey, it is our honeymoon and we really splashed out on this. It was 5 star lodges all the way, and just the 2 of us with our guide in a 7 seater modified landcruiser... oh yeah baby ! Safari done properly ;)
As I said, day 1 was lake manyara, and to be honest we weren't *really* sure what to expect... so we checked in at the gate, put the roof up in our ride and headed into the wild. Well, it must have been about 1min 30s before a massive group of baboons decided to cross the road in front of us... (not a bad start we were thinking - is this normal)...with one of the cheeky buggers trying to hitch a ride. After a frenzy of photographic activity from the lovely Mrs Rudduck we decided to continue on.
Now, surely it was no more than 4 mins later (and we passed some other animals but forgot) when we were in the middle of a bloody great herd of elephants !! And I am sure I don't need to tell you, Josie was happier than a pig in sh*t, in fact I am pretty sure there was a tear in the eye (but hey Africa and dust maybe?). The rest of the time passed in a bit of a blur...it was animals everywhere, and not like little specs off in the distance either...in fact, we were probably closer than seeing them at the zoo !! probably the last highlight was a male and female lion perched up a tree (nearly above the car) doing what we discovered lions do best - a lot of bugger all, and snoozing.
So, We thinks to self this Safari thing is pretty special huh, and this is day 1...but will the Monkey Whizz Voodoo come back to bite us...
....as your intrepid explorers brave the conditions (hey the road was bumpy and there was no aircon) as we decended onto the plains to be surrounded by herds of migrating 'food type animals' (not be confused with 'eating type animals')... it is stunning stuff, the kind of sight that stirs the soul, we kid you not.
So we drove about 4 hours to the central serengeti...now the problem with this, was the migration was in the southern serengeti... so the longer we drove, the less animals we saw. We then found out from our Guide (Daniel), that the muppet in the UK didn't know his arse from his elbow in booking our accommodation. I starting preparing myself to get all irate and stroppy at the thought of 3 days without seeing any animals - when out popped a cheetah in front of us (maybe 30ft) from the long grass - and jumped across the flooded stream....oh, yeah - flooded stream.
I must admit when we orgainised this we didnt think rain would be a problem...you see Small rains were supposed to fall in Nov/Dec and then big rains in Mar/Apr. Well, the little rains turned into big rains and haven't stopped since November (much like at home in Townsville). This means everything was brilliantly green and the grass was long - making it harder to see everything but giraffes and elephants.
So, anyway the appearance of the cheetah - yet again, furious camera activity - had it been a hunting safari think Rambo III with the minigun ! (we will be able to cure insominia with the number of photos we have). Well it was a like a ray of sunshine...a really fluke chance sighting given the length of the grass, and all to ourselves...we then saw another long list of animals as we made our way to the lodge...
Day 3 we decided to see what we could see in the green grass and spent the day buzzing about the roads... again we got lucky (although I suspect everyone sees a hell of a lot) and managed to catch a quick chase by 4 lions of a antelope (or Warthog as both were legging it) that was unsuccessful...and so the 4 lions climbed a bloody big tree for a sleep (surprise surprise). We then mosied over to the 'hippo pool' to watch the 16 of them do much the same as the lions, with some occassional bickering over postion in the pool. Don't get us wrong, that is not all we saw, but we would bore you to death listing all the animals, and blah blah. In fact, my fingers are starting to get sore already and I have not done these days justice (and thankfully you might say) will shorten the telling of the rest.
The next day brought a cunning change of plan - by driving back to the migration itself ...no flies on us ! And what a day (perhaps the best) which started with 2 cheetahs on a hill surrounded by zebra, antelope etc. Well now the zebra were a bit noisy, making their zeebra noises and going forward and back towards the cheetah (kind of like young lads geeing each other up for mischief)...well then, one (brave) zeebra went the cheetahs, and quickly followed by another 3...and the chase was on!! Thats right, in reverse ! These 4 zeebra giving the 2 cheetahs a lot of whoopass...in fact the 2 cheetahs bought a very hasty retreat to the horizon. Well, the zebras obviously very fired up then ran 0ver and give 3 hyenas a good kicking too !! Daniel had never seen that before :) herbivorse 2 carnivores 0
...numerous other less exciting sightings before we came across 3 full grown male lions, you guessed it, lounging ! Damn these big boys are a little scary up close, despite being holed up in our trusty vehicle....puts the hair up on the back of your neck !
Skipping ahead to our last day (yesterday as I write this and Josie starts looking bored after 1 hour in the kiosk) and we were into the Ngorongoro Crater (for the 2nd time, the 1st time was good but very muddy and we got bogged). But this day we got up before the other lazy tourists and must have been 3rd car into the crater.
We found a pride of 2 males and 3 female lions right on the road....but this time instead of lounging - the females were a little frisky and there was some naughty business going on! In fact, one of the lioness' got a serve 3 times in the 45mins we were watching them! The male (doing all the shagging) even scent marked our truck - he was obviously aware of my manly presence and threat to his title of 'king of the jungle' - my guide advised I didn't respond by pissing back... hmmpf, obvioulsy not an alpha male !!
The day continues with amazing sight after amazing sight, probably the best being another hunt from a single lioness after a baby wilderbeast (in a herd). With Josie egging the baby on, and me cheering for the lion...unfortunately the lion lost (not really surprising giving the amount of lazing they do, lions could use some fitness training)...
So I will stop there...we are back now in Arusha, amongst the noise, no longer staying in luxury and trying hard to deal with reality... sigh. Not sure yet where we go tomorrow, we only know we want to go back to where we were!
if you get a chance, do a safari! Bloody brilliant and not easily forgotten...
I asked Josie for a quote, but she needs a wee....maybe in the next post !
Now I could try and go all poetic, or maybe a little David Attenbrough with some prose trying to describe the wild side of Africa - but I won't bother. It wouldn't do it justice, and I would just sound like a tit. But I will give you a few of our highlights from the last 6 days....
Firstly, it started in luxury (and continued that way) - but hey, it is our honeymoon and we really splashed out on this. It was 5 star lodges all the way, and just the 2 of us with our guide in a 7 seater modified landcruiser... oh yeah baby ! Safari done properly ;)
As I said, day 1 was lake manyara, and to be honest we weren't *really* sure what to expect... so we checked in at the gate, put the roof up in our ride and headed into the wild. Well, it must have been about 1min 30s before a massive group of baboons decided to cross the road in front of us... (not a bad start we were thinking - is this normal)...with one of the cheeky buggers trying to hitch a ride. After a frenzy of photographic activity from the lovely Mrs Rudduck we decided to continue on.
Now, surely it was no more than 4 mins later (and we passed some other animals but forgot) when we were in the middle of a bloody great herd of elephants !! And I am sure I don't need to tell you, Josie was happier than a pig in sh*t, in fact I am pretty sure there was a tear in the eye (but hey Africa and dust maybe?). The rest of the time passed in a bit of a blur...it was animals everywhere, and not like little specs off in the distance either...in fact, we were probably closer than seeing them at the zoo !! probably the last highlight was a male and female lion perched up a tree (nearly above the car) doing what we discovered lions do best - a lot of bugger all, and snoozing.
So, We thinks to self this Safari thing is pretty special huh, and this is day 1...but will the Monkey Whizz Voodoo come back to bite us...
So we drove about 4 hours to the central serengeti...now the problem with this, was the migration was in the southern serengeti... so the longer we drove, the less animals we saw. We then found out from our Guide (Daniel), that the muppet in the UK didn't know his arse from his elbow in booking our accommodation. I starting preparing myself to get all irate and stroppy at the thought of 3 days without seeing any animals - when out popped a cheetah in front of us (maybe 30ft) from the long grass - and jumped across the flooded stream....oh, yeah - flooded stream.
I must admit when we orgainised this we didnt think rain would be a problem...you see Small rains were supposed to fall in Nov/Dec and then big rains in Mar/Apr. Well, the little rains turned into big rains and haven't stopped since November (much like at home in Townsville). This means everything was brilliantly green and the grass was long - making it harder to see everything but giraffes and elephants.
So, anyway the appearance of the cheetah - yet again, furious camera activity - had it been a hunting safari think Rambo III with the minigun ! (we will be able to cure insominia with the number of photos we have). Well it was a like a ray of sunshine...a really fluke chance sighting given the length of the grass, and all to ourselves...we then saw another long list of animals as we made our way to the lodge...
Day 3 we decided to see what we could see in the green grass and spent the day buzzing about the roads... again we got lucky (although I suspect everyone sees a hell of a lot) and managed to catch a quick chase by 4 lions of a antelope (or Warthog as both were legging it) that was unsuccessful...and so the 4 lions climbed a bloody big tree for a sleep (surprise surprise). We then mosied over to the 'hippo pool' to watch the 16 of them do much the same as the lions, with some occassional bickering over postion in the pool. Don't get us wrong, that is not all we saw, but we would bore you to death listing all the animals, and blah blah. In fact, my fingers are starting to get sore already and I have not done these days justice (and thankfully you might say) will shorten the telling of the rest.
The next day brought a cunning change of plan - by driving back to the migration itself ...no flies on us ! And what a day (perhaps the best) which started with 2 cheetahs on a hill surrounded by zebra, antelope etc. Well now the zebra were a bit noisy, making their zeebra noises and going forward and back towards the cheetah (kind of like young lads geeing each other up for mischief)...well then, one (brave) zeebra went the cheetahs, and quickly followed by another 3...and the chase was on!! Thats right, in reverse ! These 4 zeebra giving the 2 cheetahs a lot of whoopass...in fact the 2 cheetahs bought a very hasty retreat to the horizon. Well, the zebras obviously very fired up then ran 0ver and give 3 hyenas a good kicking too !! Daniel had never seen that before :) herbivorse 2 carnivores 0
...numerous other less exciting sightings before we came across 3 full grown male lions, you guessed it, lounging ! Damn these big boys are a little scary up close, despite being holed up in our trusty vehicle....puts the hair up on the back of your neck !
Skipping ahead to our last day (yesterday as I write this and Josie starts looking bored after 1 hour in the kiosk) and we were into the Ngorongoro Crater (for the 2nd time, the 1st time was good but very muddy and we got bogged). But this day we got up before the other lazy tourists and must have been 3rd car into the crater.
We found a pride of 2 males and 3 female lions right on the road....but this time instead of lounging - the females were a little frisky and there was some naughty business going on! In fact, one of the lioness' got a serve 3 times in the 45mins we were watching them! The male (doing all the shagging) even scent marked our truck - he was obviously aware of my manly presence and threat to his title of 'king of the jungle' - my guide advised I didn't respond by pissing back... hmmpf, obvioulsy not an alpha male !!
The day continues with amazing sight after amazing sight, probably the best being another hunt from a single lioness after a baby wilderbeast (in a herd). With Josie egging the baby on, and me cheering for the lion...unfortunately the lion lost (not really surprising giving the amount of lazing they do, lions could use some fitness training)...
So I will stop there...we are back now in Arusha, amongst the noise, no longer staying in luxury and trying hard to deal with reality... sigh. Not sure yet where we go tomorrow, we only know we want to go back to where we were!
if you get a chance, do a safari! Bloody brilliant and not easily forgotten...
I asked Josie for a quote, but she needs a wee....maybe in the next post !
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