Time's up in South Africa

Well having left Port Elizabeth  we picked up the Bazbus which was a hop-on hop-off bus which took us along the garden route to Cape Town over 5 days. The first stop was Storms River Mouth where Obed, the hospitality manager of the Storms River National Park very kindly arranged a lift for us from the drop-off point in the village. Unfortunately that day started with torrential rain, although by the time we got to our little wood cabin it had stopped, so we were able to have a lovely walk along the rocky coastline, spotting some blue duiker and some rock dassies (like rabbits without the ears - Robin says more like giant guinea pigs).

Obed gave us a lift up to the Bazbus the next morning and we continued on to Mossel Bay via stops in Jeffrey's Bay, Plettenburg and other beachside locations. The scenery was stunning in places, e.g. Knysna, George. At Mossel Bay we stayed in a converted railway train, right on the beach. Sounded cool when we read about it but it proved the saying that location is everything, as it had little else to recommend it! Mossel Bay was OK though, a good coastal walk to St Blaize's cave and beyond, and an interesting maritime museum all about Bartholomew Dias, a Portuguese explorer who first landed there. We posted postcards in the oldest post box in SA, which will probably arrive in the UK about the same time we do!

Next stop was Hermanus, we stayed in a really friendly backpacker's hostel, where (Robin will probably not forget ), someone stole his toothpaste! We arrived just at the best time for seeing the Southern Right whales who come to the bay to calve and mate. They didn't disappoint, we saw several both days, just from the shore. Some put on a good display of 'lobtailing' and breaching for us.

The previous week there had been a 'Whale festival' and the place was still busy with people all along the clifftop peering out to sea with binoculars.


Without a telephoto lens this is the best shot we could get of a whale diving! The other notable event which Robin won't forget (also!) was a delicious chicken pie we had for lunch in Annie's. We left Hermanus around 7pm for the 2 hour trip into Cape Town, during which we were treated to a stunning sunset, and some very scary driving. Our driver delivered us safely (and relieved) at our hostel, the Backpack.It doesn't look much from the outside but is very comfortable and is in a great location with views up to Table Mountain and the Lion's head.

While here in Cape Town we've visited the beautiful Kirstenbosch botanical gardens, the Waterfront, (and aquarium, and also taken the boat ride out to Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned). Our guides were both political ex-prisoners. Yesterday we took the cable car up table mountain. The weather was perfect and we had some excellent views over the bay and beyond to the Cape of Good Hope. See the pics below.

 

 

Mandela gold Strelitzia (and Jane)

Crusty old turtle (and Robin, in case of confusion)

On top of Table Mountain (Lion's Head on the left, Robben Island in the background)

Tomorrow we fly to Nairobi, via Jo'burg and Dar Es Salaam. We arrive there Saturday morning and then fly to Kitale to start our volunteer placement on Monday (17th Oct). Who knows what the next 5 weeks will bring? If you have been, thanks for reading ;)

Final 2 weeks at Nomathansanqa

Baby elephant at Addo Elephant Park

Last Saturday 1 Oct we left Nomathansanqa at the end of our placement. Paul asked us if we had a sense of completion and we both answered 'no!'. We have achieved quite a bit, and the teachers will now be able to get much more from the curriculum relevant software in the computer lab. However, our time at the school made us realise just how much more there was to do! On the Tuesday of the last week we installed the school admin software on the clerk's new computer (the old one was stolen just befor we arrived). But they had taken no backup of their data, so although we were able to obtain their most recent data submission to the Education Dept it dated back to May 2010, so they have a huge task getting that info up to date, so if anyoneone else with IT skills wants to volunteer there's a job for you! We can certainly recommend the hospitality and friendliness of everyone at the school.

We were kept busy in our final week doing lots of informal Excel training, as teachers filled in all their assessments and reports. It was a mad hectic week for everyone as it was the end of term on the Friday! Robin and Mrs Sam the technology teacher somehow managed to complete the buggy competition for all 5 Grade 4 classes, something the kids enjoyed very much, and we took an instant photo of each child with their buggy to stick on the evaluation, they loved that!

On the Tuesday afternoon was our formal 'farewell' occasion, very much like the welcome with singing, formal speeches and traditional dance by some of the children. Mrs Sam made a very touching speech about how she'd learned from Robin how to make things simple for the kids and to give the children choices and make their learning interactive.

We were also taken by two local nuns (most un-nun-like ladies - in the nicest way!) to visit the computer lab they run in another local township primary school, and a creche and feeding station. in Valencia, a primarily 'coloured' township. Many of the people there have only seasonal work in the local citrus farms, there is huge poverty and high rates of HIV.

On the lighter side, the previous weekend we had a fab stay at the Addo Elephant Park, with three game drives including a night drive. We saw loads of elephants up very close indeed, as well as kudu, eland, leopard tortoises, zebras and hyenas and a herd of buffalo - these last on the night drive.

We were so close to a herd of 50 or so elephants drinking at a waterhole and spraying themselves in muddy water that we were in danger of getting covered in mud ourselves. It was great to watch the elephants playing in the nearby mudhole, pushing and shoving each other and rolling about.

Last Friday we had to say goodbye to Ace and Nombolelo who have made us very welcome and comfortable in their home. As a parting gift we gave Ace a Gordon Ramsay cookery book - he loves cookery programmes on TV. I'm sure Bole will enjoy the results!

The next instalment will be our trip along the garden route to Cape Town - where we are now.

Volunteering, Eastern Cape, South Africa - half way through

We've just come to the end of our second week at the A V Bukani Primary School near Addo in the Sundays River Valley of the Eastern Cape, about 70 km from Port Elizabeth. We were lucky enough to have a couple of days break by the sea in Port Elizabeth (PE), then on the Monday morning, after a briefing, we were driven to the township. Arriving at the school we were greeted by the reception classes, and their teachers, singing and dancing and waving banners they had made to welcome us. (The children here all love to sing). The school has a computer lab with 22 computers, and they make regular use of it. However, the head felt that the teachers could use some help with getting more from them, which is where we come in.

There are 900+ children in the school, aged from 5 to 13 (because if they don't pass their exams at the end of the year they have to repeat the year). One of my (Jane) favourite times is when they do a whole-school assembly as they all sing with enthusiasm and the teachers harmonize, what a sound! The Xhosa language has 3 click sounds (for the letters c, x and q) and I love to hear the mass click sounds from 900+ children together!

The staff have all been very friendly and welcoming. On Tuesday they held a formal welcome to which 3 local councillors also came, and there was a very formal agenda with speeches (including from each of us!) But in between items the teachers got up and did a song, often with actions/dancing! The children also performed some tradtional dancing, accompanied by a large drum.

We have been staying during the week with one of the teachers, Ace, and his wife (I can't spell her name!), they have made us very welcome and we have been comfortable (apart from the lack of running water for 10 days which was awkward for everyone. The school closes at 2pm normally, so it has been a bit frustrating not being able to do do much in the afternoons. However Ace does have a TV with Sky sport, so Robin has been happy!

We have been very busy getting to grips with the software that the children use to practise english and maths, and trying to sort out the database so the teachers can get meaningful reports to aid them in the assessment of the children. Also we taught the teachers to use MS Word to create resources to use in the classroom, this week it will be Excel. Robin had also been teaching some technology classes to Grade 4 (9/10 year olds) with their usual teacher. We spent much of yesterday morning cutting out cardboard wheels - the children are going to make cardboard buggies and race them. Teaching methods in SA still seem to be largely chalk and talk, so the children really enjoyed Robin's interactive classes which for example taught them about levers by using a plank balanced on a brick, one child could lift two children one one end of the plank with one foot on the other end.

We've been spending weekends here in PE, lovely to have a shower and wash my hair! On Friday we were taken to a bar in a local township for an evening with a youth choir and a marimba band, and a delicious meal. (Pic of youth band left, plus US tourists). Next weekend we will visit the elephant park at Addo.

We are halfway through our time here - there is still lots to do! Hope to update this the weekend after next.

last few days in New Zealand

We left you when we'd failed to make it up the Milford Road due to the weather. The next day the weather was better and the road open, so we set off along one of the best drives in the world (allegedly!) The journey went well until  we got to the entrance to the Homer Tunnel, where we left the avalanche safe zone and in this area to our left the wind got up (around us and in us) and threw a load of snow all over the van and the road (I like to think of it as a tiny avalanche), whiting out the van completely and bringing us to an abrupt stop. Once our vision cleared, the road was covered in snow again, and we had to roll back out the way so that a gritter could get by and clear the road so we could move on. A small moment of excitement - it only took a few minutes to get my heart rate back under control.

 Once there however the Sound itself is a beautiful place, we took a boat trip round the Sound, and got to see some fiordland penguins (very rare and shy, apparently). We also saw a beautiful sunset whilst we were there. Luckily the return trip to Te Anau was uneventful, and from there we drove up to Queenstown. This is the adventure capital of New Zealand, and they had taken the brunt of the storms of the previous week. So the temperature was -5 degrees at night and hovering around 0 degrees during the day. Still the electric heater did a very good job of keeping us warm inside Eddy the van.

 So being in the adventure capital we decided to do something adventurous - so we set off up to Bob's Peak, the nearest mountain, using the local gondola lift. Once up there, we then  had a  go on the luge and started off on the beginners track before moving onto the advanced track which was a little steeper and a lot faster - although Jane did have a little go at holding one or two others up as you can see from the picture opposite.

 From Queenstown we made our way across to Mt Cook and spent some time walking through the snow to view the glaciers, including the Hooker and Tasman glaciers. From there we travelled onto Fairlie, the highlight of which was it was the only campsite which had free wi-fi, so we made use of that to check emails and Fulham scores (not good, sadly). From there we made our way to Christchurch, where the local populace are still very much recovering from the effects of the earthquake, and thus there is very little open and to see. Quite a sobering visit really, and makes you realise that whilst the scenery isnt so dramatic, England does have other advantages.

 Leaving Christchurch we made our way to up to Hanmer Springs, where we cheered ourselves up by having a dip in the wonderful thermal springs there, together with some aqua therapy - all in pools ranging in temperature from 30 to 40 degrees centrigrade, sat in the warm bubbles with the snow-capped mountains in the background.

Then it was on to Kaikoura, where we braved the windy weather and choppy seas to go and see some whales - however the deep channel just off the coast where sperm whales feed was obviously low on squid to eat as there weren't many about - and those that were,  spent their time on the bottom eating as opposed to popping up for air. When they did, the boat would chase over to see them, by which time they would disappear back down below. We did eventually get to see one close up, by which time we were quite a long way out and the sea was very lumpy -evidenced by the number of people looking into one of those funny white paper bags, as opposed to at the sperm whale! Anyway apologies for the blurred pic, but the boat was wobbling about a bit when I took it. Still, we returned to shore relieved to have held onto the contents of our stomachs.

 That same day we made our way our back to North Island via the ferry, which was delayed for an hour as a train was derailed in the harbour - not my excuse, and certainly the strangest I've heard for a boat delay! Once back into Wellington we camped on the harbour front motorhome park once again, and were somewhat surprised when someone decided to call into the van at 3.15am in the morning! whether he was lost, a burglar, or just a muppet. From there we made our way up the coast to Whanganui, then onto Ohakune where we met up with some wet weather for the first time really. It was so cloudy we couldn't see the mountains we had come to see.

 As a result we travelled along the Forgotten World Highway out to the west of the North Island to New Plymouth, where we had a wonderful walk along their coastal footpath. The Forgotten World Highway passed through the so-called independent state of Whangamomona - population 25 - they have a biennial festival where they elect a new president (usually an animal) attended by 6000. They will also stamp your passport if you wish.

 On leaving New Plymouh, however it was on to Waitomo, where there are huge quantity of caves in the area and here is a pic of Jane in one of them. The stalagmites (ground) and stalactites (ceiling) were amazing and in one cave you float out of the cave in a little boat in complete darkness, the only light being provided by 50000 glowworms, each emitting 470nanowatts of light (just for the technically minded)

From there it was onto Auckland to meet up with Steve and Julie who had very kindly agreed to put up with us (or put us up I should say). Went out for dinner with them and Olivia and had a lovely meal out. Next day it was out to visit Auckland, parking Steve's car on the 13th floor of the narrowest car park in the city centre! Then, it was a bus tour of the City, and lunch on the waterfront, where we caught a glimpse of the England Rugby Squad, about to go out for a sail on the Americas Cup Yachts - lets hope they are not all at sea in the next few weeks! Meanwhile take a look closely and you will see that someone has very kindly inflated Lewis Moodys life jacket for him! Anyway tomorrow it is off to South Africa where the work starts - so we will update you from there once we've settled in!

New Zealand Update

 Well, we left Richmond having had a look around Nelson, including a look around the ultra modern Catherdral. From there we set off around the Tasman Bay to the Abel Tasman National Park, eventually arriving at Marahau (see picture opposite) We spent a couple of days here, enjoying the sunshine and taking a walk up the Abel Tasman Coastal Track, finishing up at Tinline Bay.

The next day we set off the Nelson Lakes where we were due to spend the night at one of the Department of Conservation campsites - however by the time we had got to the lake it was raining very hard, and this then turned to snow - at which point we changed our plans and moved on - just as fast as our wheels would carry us.

 We drove West to a place called Murchinson and spent the night there - on the campsite was a small petting zoo with some very tame animals - there was an emu, deer, geese and sheep sharing the same enclosure. There was also an extremely hairy pig dressed in black and white colours - so we christened him Fulham. From Murchinson we drove up the Buller Gorge towards Westport. On the way we stopped off to cross  yet another suspension swing bridge - these are becoming a feature of the trip and are very popular in New Zealand. This one crossed the Buller River and allowed us to try our hand at .....

 ...Gold Panning. We were given a demonstration by someone who had clearly done it before, then we were let loose on the river so that we could have a go. Here is Jane wondering if her fortune is about to be made - sadly it wasnt!. However what we did find were a huge amount of sandflies - which produce some very itchy bites. We had already picked up quite a few of these in the Abel Tasman NP so this time we went prepared, but even smothered in repellent they nearly drove us crazy. Anyway after one unsuccessful panning attempt we gave up and continued on our drive to Westport.
  Westport was a quiet place on the West Coast and thus on the Pacific Ocean - a useful overnight stop and a lovely seal colony to visit.

From there we went via Pancake Rocks to the town of Greymouth. Just outside Greymouth we took a walk along a renowned gemstone beach and found .... none!  From Greymouth we went south down the coast to Franz Josef, where we visited the glaciers at FJ and then Foxes Glacier (where supposedly they make the mints)  Heres a pic of Jane stood in front of the FJ Glacier with the piles of moraine on either side of it.  We also popped to Lake Matheson to take some picture postcard type shots of Mts Cook and Tasman reflected in the waters of the lake. Then from there onto Haast - all the time the weather was lovely and sunny if a little cool. On the way we popped onto the Monro Beach Walk to see some rare and very shy Fiordland Penguins - It was a 45 minutes walk to the beach from the van - number of very shy penguins seen on beach - quantity 0! We then turned inland and drove down over the Haast Pass to Wanaka, stopping off to view some wonderful waterfalls on the way, thunder falls and fantail falls.

Once in Wanaka we took a stroll out to Eely point and had lunch on the lakeside there. The next day we went up Mt irons, quite a steep climb and an even steeper descent. Thereafter we went to Puzzling World, spending an hour in the maze 30 mins to get to all four corners as required by the task, then 30 mins to get back out again - heres a pic of the maze showing the two different levels - we went across the bridge 543 times at least.
Next day it was a long drive South and west to Te Anau, the gateway to Fiordland in the South West corner of NZ. The trip took about 3and a half hours.

we spent a day in Te Anau, walking round the lakeside (just a tiny bit of it!) then visiting the wildlife centre where some very cold birds such as a kaka, kea and takahe were on show - all very rare! By this time the weather had set in and there was a 4 inch snowfall that night. The department of conservation were still declaring the round to Milford Sound open however so we set off, along the snow covered road. About a quarter of the way we stopped to put the snow chains on, (only put on the van as an afterthought!)  and then shortly after that drove off the road onto the verge and spent 10 mins reversing back and forth getting back on the road again! (Jane had her head in her hands at this point and was doing her Private Fraser impression) Still we continued to Knobs Flat, where they announced the road was closed so we came all the way back again. Which is where we are now, waiting to see if the road to anywhere is open, as the road back to Queenstown and Wanaka is also closed due to the heaviest snowfalls in 70-odd years. Where will we go next? - more in our next exciting installment.......

Finally in New Zealand

Well, after a months delay and a long trip via Lisbon, New York and then Los Angeles, we finally made it to Auckland on the 25th of January! One of the days the clock kept going back so much that we were on our feet for 27 hours! Still it did mean i was able to get in two breakfasts and a couple of lunches!
Once we had recovered by staying the night in the Auckland Novotel (50 yards from the front entrance of the airport!) we caught up with our friend Steve who popped over to visit us from his home in Manukau just down the road. The next morning our camper van arrived a following an extremely thorough briefing from the Van owner  - you could tell he had a vested personal interest in the thing - we set off with a bag of oranges from his garden, to the Coromandel peninsula. That first evening we spent in Thames, before continuing to drive around the peninsula via Coromandel itself - lovely quaint town!

 Here is Jane with the van - considerably smaller than the american lumber tub! Instead we have a fuel economy about 4 times better and it actually goes where you point it!.

 Our first stop near Coromandel was the driving creek railway - originally designed to transport clay to the owners pottery; he handbuilt the railway up the hill by himself, evenaually extending it to 3 km in length - absolutely bonkers! Look him up on the internet.

 Then it was onto hot water beach where a hot spring rises on the beach, so you can build your own hot spa - you can see people sat in theirs behind me as i pensively study the surrounding area to avoid having to do too much digging!

 After leaving hot water beach our next night was spent in Rotorua, the central area of hot thermal activity in North Island. As you can see there are plenty of geysers, hot springs and hot mud pools in the area, including the local parks, such as this one!
We then moved onto Lake Taupo, the biggest lake in NZ, actually an old volcano which has filled up with water - rather a lot of it as its about 2400 sq miles in size. Whilst there we took some to time to relax in the hot pool at the campsite and also did some lovely walks along the river to Huka falls and watched the jet boats zoom up and down to the falls.









 Jane also took the opportunity to demonstrate her trampolining skills - see picture opposite! I attempted something similar and nearly broke my neck as having landed the first time the second landing was somewhat uncontrolled! The next day we went onto Napier, and took in a wine tour and tasting - the lady kept expecting me to spit it out, but once again I couldnt bring myself to do it. Luckily Jane had opted to drive that day!

Then it was onto Wellington and a look round the Fabulous Te Pape national museum - you could actually spend a week in there on the interactive displays alone!. Then it was up on the cable car to the top of the hill; Kelburn, with fantastic views all the way to the South Island. That night we spent in the Wellington City Camper van park - ie a harbourside carpark with showers! - Still did the job as we were up early the next day to catch the ferry to Picton on the South Island. the journey through the straits down to the port of Picton was truly beautiful.

Once we arrived in Picton we stopped off along the scenic Queen Charlottes Drive on the way to Nelson where I am writing this. (The library has one hour free internet access - yippee!) anyway that is rapidly coming to an end and so therefore is this  blog, which I will try to keep more up  to date than in Peru. All for now then, back in a week or two.

Las Vegas to Los Angeles

 We are currently stuck in Santiago, Chile (because our flight to New Zealand last night was cancelled, thanks Qantas!) We hope to be able to fly out on Saturday night; in the meantime we are usimg the opportunity to catch up on the blog. The pic on the left shows the inflatable globe at Death Valley, 282 feet below sea level.

The temp. was 37 degrees at Death Valley, rather a change from Yellowstone! We scuttled out of the van to look at the "must see" sites, then back to the airconditioned cab.

At the lowest point is a dried up salt lake, the light reflecting off it is dazzling. Signs tell you not to walk past the end of the boardwalk, but of course everyone does. There were a surprising number of tourists there, in the back of beyond.

I (Jane) was quite glad to get out of there really, it was SO hot! The next stop was Lake Isabella. I drove from -282 feet to nearly 5,000 feet then down to nearly 2,000 feet on winding roads which were quite scary. Robin amused himself by watching the inflatable globe inflate and deflate again.

Our next overnight stop was Lake Isabella, a pretty location, however I got thoroughly bitten by mosquitos (why do they always go for me?) and did not sleep well. Next day a long drive to Yosemite. I had always wanted to see the giant sequoia trees there, after seeing a photo of a car driving through a tunnel in the base of one in National Geographic magazine when I was a child. That actual tree is no longer standing but there is one you can walk through, so I was not disappointed.

We camped at Wawona campground next to the river, and had a camp fire which Robin was very proud of! Next morning I insisted in a paddle in the river before we set off for the Valley. The view as you come out of the tunnel into the valley is stunning, and we had plenty of time to admire it as we were held up by roadworks!

Bridal Veil falls was great, it should have one of those signs up like at Thorpe Park, "You WILL get wet!", we did. Refreshing as it was a very hot day. 

The pic on the right is the view as you enter the valley.

Yosemite was beautiful, probably the prettiest of the National Parks we visited. Then we had another long drive to San Francisco. The road into the city itself was atrocious, so many potholes we were afraid the rattly old RV would finally fall apart. Coming into the city over the bay bridge there were 6 lanes either side and we were not entirely sure of our directions so it was a bit hairy to say the least. However we found the Candlestick Park RV park without too much difficulty in the end, it is right next to San Francisco's 49'ers stadium. It was expensive but the good point was a shuttle minibus into the city. We enjoyed our two days in SF,

one day we hired bikes and cycled along the seafront and over the Golden Gate bridge to Sausalito, then got the ferry back via Tiberon past Alcatraz and Angel Island. Once we handed the bikes in we had a Ghiradelli special, a chocolate-covered wafer bowl witha hot fudge sundae. We also got a free cable car ride up the hill (as the car was going to the garage) that made Robin's day as you can imagine!

The cable cars were fun, we had seats on the outside while some passengers hung on standing up. Our driver was doing a rap with the bell, something about "hold on tight, you have a bad driver and worse brakes!"

From San Francisco we set off to take Route 1 to Los Angeles. We drove through the 17-mile drive and saw Pebble Beach, near Monterey (very exclusive). Unfortunately at Carmel we discovered that the road had fallen into the sea at Big Sur, so we had to take a long detour, and made an unplanned stop at Avila Beach instead of Los Osos which had been recommended to us. We rejoined the coast road and stopped at Point Dume where we saw a pair of dolphins.

Then on to the Dockweiler RV park, our last night's stop in the RV. A soulless place right next to the airport, not quite what we'd expected, but it was convenient for finding the cruise America office the next morning where we handed back the van.

In LA we stayed one night at the Days' Inn on sunset strip. We weren't impressed by Hollywood, but we did find a very jolly Laundromat with an internet PC, and some chatty local residents. The next day we walked to the Farmers market, an ambitious undertaking when we realised the tourist map we had did not do justice to the distances involved, luckily we got a bus back. We also sampled a world famous Pinks hot dog (all hotdogs seem to be world famous!) That evening we successfully negotiated public transport (and saved a fortune) to the airport for our flight to Lima via San Salvador.

The next blog entry will, we hope, catch up with our travels in Peru.