New Zealand - South Island - December 2011

Blogging is a bit addictive and after 15 months of telling you all about the world's hot spots, we feel compelled to report on the latest journey through New Zealand and our 3,000km (2,000 mile) drive around the south island.
Just a quick background on the past two months; you should know by now that Marina and I have settled in Sydney, Australia. I've returned to Symantec (MessageLabs division) and Marina starts a new job in a week working for an Australian Internet Service Provider - Exetel. Sydney has been an exciting city to learn and explore and thankfully we have met some fantastic people to throw us in the deep end partying and truly experiencing Sydney life.
When we landed or should I say DIVERTED; the excitement started. No one ever feels comfortable when you go in for a landing and the captain pulls up the plane and doesn't tell you why. After fifteen minutes, he relayed something strange which he later elaborated upon - "Christchurch has had another earthquake”. You should all remember the devastating Earthquake from February 2011 that left almost 200 people dead and leveled Christchurch. Our plane was due to land on December 23rd just 20 minutes after the most recent big one. We were diverted to Wellington, and to my shock, we made it to Christchurch once they reopened the airport, only 3 hours after our arrival time - RESULT!
On the topics of Earthquakes - Christchurch has been having thousands since the big one in February. When one of my customers told me that only 10% of Christchurch remains after the February quake I didn't really believe him - well having walked through the city, this is absolutely true about the city centre - it's GONE! Possibly half of the buildings are now demolished after the damage in February and many of the rest are condemned. There are a few lucky ones standing and even a few doing business. Just walking around the neighborhoods outside the centre, walls of houses are gone, memorials are placed to honor the dead where buildings once stood) and there are signs of the quakes pretty much everywhere you look in the form of rubble and vacant houses and businesses!
On a lighter note - let me tell you about the shire-land of Frodo Baggins! Christchurch has its turmoil, but the south island as a whole has so much going for it. When you come here and see the natural beauty, you can understand why so many Kiwis (New Zealanders) return home after traveling or living abroad. For 2.5 years, they filmed the Lord of Ring's Trilogy in what could be called Mother Nature's finest work! I'll tell you more about the nature and some of the great activities one can partake in.
The local population: New Zealanders are knick-named Kiwis after their national bird which seems like a nice friendly little thing, but unlike their laidback countryman, these birds can be purely evil if you get too close; the scar on my finger can attest to this. Sheep are said to outnumber the people here something like a million to one. I don't know how true this is, but I can tell you that something truly ferocious outnumbers the Sheep a billion to one - Sand Flys! Forget the army, if a country wants to prevent a military invasion, just send in the sand flys. These little things seem to be everywhere and I can tell you this may be why Ghingis Khaan never made it to New Zealand - somewhere along the line, he heard about the sand flys. These little buggers burrow their head in your skin and bite the living bageezzas out of you! Traveler beware!
Our path;
Christchurch > Kaikoura > Blenheim > Picton > Westport > Charleston > Punakaiki > Hokitika > Franz Joseph > Fox Glacier > Queenstown > Wanaka > Te Anau > Milford Sound > Dunedin > Christchurch

December 23rd, Lamb Shanks: Once we had our car, we were on the road and a few hours later in Kaikoura. We arrived just in time to get dinner at our hotel and I can say this was one of the best meals in New Zealand we had - and this is saying a lot! The lamb - possibly the best in my life was so perfectly cooked; as I write, I'm actually considering a drive of 2 hours north just to go dine at the Pier Hotel again!
December 24th, Sperm Whales: Feeling a bit like Captain Ahab; we boarded our vessel to go out in search of Sperm whales - kings of the deep. These whales go down to 3,000 meters (10,000 ft) so they are rarely seen by humans. However, Kaikoura has a deep ocean shelf just a few km or miles offshore so these gentle giants can easily be seen. We spotted four and could quickly tell they were sperm whales by their box faces which carry the oil previously sought after by whalers. They can also be spotted by the blowhole which fires at a 45 degree angle rather than straight up like other whales. We then drove north to Blenheim taking in two wineries and tasting what was some of the finest wine we found in New Zealand. That night we enjoyed a nice Christmas Eve meal; we weren't able to be at home in the US, but I sure wanted to eat like I was!
December 25th, Herzog Winery: For Christmas we exchanged gifts and then went on a pleasant drive around the picture perfect Marlborough Sound. For dinner I had booked us a degustation meal at the Herzog winery which may be the finest winery in New Zealand! They allowed us tastings of pretty much all their wine and pummeled us with possibly a dozen courses of food! What a great night and a lot of fun!

Merry Christmas from the Herzog Winery in Bleheim, Marlborough


December 26th, Dolphins: The next morning we drove further north to Picton and went swimming with Bottlenose dolphins. These are completely wild creatures and they tend to stay in the Marlborough Sound due to the ease of access to food and protection from the larger predators which typically don't enter the Sound. We sailed for about two hours and then found a pod of 40+ dolphins. We parked the boat in front of the oncoming dolphins and then jumped in the water snorkeling above them. Such playful mammals, they would swim by and seem to say, what the heck are you doing here! Later we drove to Westport and went out exploring the big town of maybe 400 people!

A friendly Bottlenose dolphin enjoying the Marlborough Sound


December 27th, Cave Rafting: In the morning we drove south to Charleston where we met our tour guide who would take us to the depths of New Zealand and not only go rafting, but also to learn about the nocturnal locals - the glow worms. If you have ever seen the neon plastic stars that teenagers put on their bedroom ceilings which glow in the dark - very similar. In the cave live these little insects who glow using the strategy of light to attract bugs which are quickly tangled in their webs - pretty cool to see these in complete darkness. We floated on tubes and admired these crazy looking insects covering the cave ceilings. That afternoon on our way to Hokitika, we stopped off at the Punakaiki Pancake Rocks which are amazing rock for mations on the coast. In Hokitika we went out in what is the closest resemblance New Zealand has to an old western (American) town enjoying more of their excellent fare!

Punakaiki Pankcake Rocks on the West Coast


December 28th, Franz Glacier: December has been the driest month on record in New Zealand! How lucky for us as this is a very rainy area! However, this was our one rainy day. We were able to go out and climb up near the Franz Glacier. We had planned to take a trip up on the glacier for a bit of hiking, however the rain called off this excursion.

Avalanche! nope, just the Franz Joseph Glacier


December 29th, Fox Glacier: The next day we drove to Fox and had good weather to visit this glacier. Being able to get closer than Franz allowed, enabled us an excellent view. Later we drove to Queenstown and I could tell this was my kind of town! Lots to do! We had a little wine and then went to play Mini Golf - which Marina set the course record for a Russian, chalking up a humble score of XX (I'm not supposed to say the number, but I can disclose that it would be a decent score if Tiger Woods was playing at Augusta). She even won a prize!

A warm embrace at Fox Glacier


December 30th, Gibbston Valley Wine Tour: Wine tours are always a favourite of mine, not just because you get to taste a lot of excellent wines; in actuality we always tend to find the best wine when we go to wineries on our own; the real reason is, for the PARTY! You always seem to meet fun people on wine tours and end up have more laughs than sips. Just a few interesting facts about wine production in this region. One is the climate - providing a short cold summer typically difficult for grape growing; they just seem to make it work here. The other is for the tree-hugger in you, Organic wine. Due to the low level of humidity, most of New Zealand's wineries can avoid using pesticides. I recommend New Zealand's Pinot Nior and Sauvignon Blanc - these are their claim to fame. Our wine tour not only made us a bit tipsy, but introduced us to a several new friends who we shared a wild and crazy evening with.

December 31st, Concert & Fireworks: Wanaka was our chosen destination for New Years Eve and we started the evening with a fantastic 5 course meal overlooking Lake Wanaka. We joined the festivities for a close up ear splitting performance by several Kiwi bands and of course a thunderous firework display.

Happy New Year from Wanaka!


January 1st, Exploring Te Anau: We drove down to the very south west of New Zealand and set our base as the town of Te Anau in preparation for the next day's adventure to the Milford Sound. Like the previous two; Queenstown and Wanaka, the town is placed on a gorgeous lake. The Kiwis seem to enjoy joking with the Aussies about their endless amounts of fresh water; especially when Australia has water restrictions.

January 2nd, Milford Sound: We drove up early in the morning to the Milford Sound beating the tour buses on the windy roads. We enjoyed a three hour cruise around the Sound which is actually a Fjord, as it was created by glaciers, but incorrectly named many years ago. The Sound, I mean fjord is engulfed by huge one mile high lush green mountains and waterfalls. We spotted multiple pods of Bottlenose and Dusky dolphins. On the way back to Te Anau we tramped up for superb views of the snowy mountains surrounding us. Oh, yes tramped, not sure why I wrote this, but kiwis for some reason don't call it hiking or trekking, oddly enough.

Welcome to New Zealand's beauty!


January 3rd, Kepler Trek: We hadn't budgeted time for what is called the best trek around New Zealand due to the amount of days needed - 4! By now you know when it says 4 days, it doesn't mean 4 days to us… We explored the beginning of the circuit on Jan 1st and tested the time needed for the first short leg. Unable to secure accommodation on the mountain as it's the peak season, we had an difficult, but easy choice - hike it in one day or skip it…. Well, having a tough Russian wife, I can tell you Marina wasn't backing down from this grueling adventure. The course from Car Park to Car Park (Parking lot to my compatriots) is 50km (31 miles) up and down mountains which go to a height of 1500 meters/yards. Forget 4 days, we were going to see if it could be done in a DAY! If you want to picture what we saw, remember Frodo and Sam going over the mountain tops - we had a 360 degree view for hours! By the time we reached the final bit (call it day 4), our legs were growing weak finishing after nearly 13 hours of constant hiking. Needless to say, we felt more pain than accomplishment.

Summer in New Zealand on the Kepler Trek


Tramping like Frodo Baggins


January 4th, Recovering in Dunedin: We made it to the college (University) town by late afternoon and this place was unusually dead - yes, you guessed it, the students were away on summer vacation! We went out for a wee bit of wine and food and had an easy early evening resting our lifeless legs.

January 5th, Larnach Castle: Our exploration of the Otago Peninsula took us to Larnach castle, an unusual structure for New Zealand. Later we made our way to Christchurch. I'll never forget my question to our hotel; "can you recommend a few bars and restaurants"; they replied "There is one here, and one there, oh and a Dominos here". Whilst this person was new to Christchurch, it painted us a quick picture of the new Christchurch. As we walked around we found a few decent eating and drinking establishments, when I say a few, I mean three places in total!

A typical scene in Christchurh


January 6th, Earthquakes: We had 3 earthquakes today! Actually, we may have had more, but we had 3 which shook, the ground and the buildings we occupied. The largest being a 5.0! Starting the day in the Banks Peninsula, we visited the small French settlement of Akaroa. We enjoyed the tiny slice of Europe and then made our way back to Christchurch to explore the city and witness the effect of 2011's earthquakes. We surveyed the remnants of what was once was a city. You would be hard pressed to find so many abandoned plots of land in North St. Louis or Chernobyl for that matter. Virtually the entire city centre is cordoned off. We were able to enter what is dubbed Container City - life emerging from the disaster. At least 50 companies have reestablished their businesses in steel shipping containers (think Maersk). While these are mostly clothing shops, also here are cafes, restaurants and even a Westpac bank! At dinner that night we experienced our second quake (the mildest) which rattled our restaurant shaking the glasses hanging from the bar. While sleeping we had the scariest quake, although this was small on the Richter scale, it was closer to Christchurch and seemed to last minutes. We bolted from our sleep and ran outside - which was probably silly, but as a tourist you just never know. I had never experienced a quake before today and if you haven't either, it's kind of like being on the Crazy House amusement park ride where the ground moves and everything around does as well - very eerie. Thankfully these were minor tremors.
So that is New Zealand from our take - we are now sitting in Wellington airport waiting for our connection back to Sydney. Marina is very happy that after this adventure we have a home to return to!

Perseverance - Container City in Christchurch


Until next time,
Dan & Marina

Week 64 - South Africa

Blast off!

Whale Watching

Creation Winery tour

Penguin Colony in Simons Town

Baby Ostriches on the Cape of Good Hope

Bird's eye view from Table Mountain

Table Mountain from the waterfront

The end of such a spectacular trip! I have feelings of satisfaction, accomplishment, and longing for more adventure. We could easily keep going and wish we have more time, but life and work are calling. However the adventure will not stop here.

Before I give too much away, let me tell you about our final week in the incredible country of South Africa. In total we drove 3500km (over 2000 miles)! We never did get pulled over by the police, but I hear from South Africans the phrase is "Can I make a donation to your children's education".

The country is plagued by 43% unemployment, which does not make it the safest of the countries we have visited. However, all-in-all, Southern Africa has been such a pleasant surprise. Several people were asking me prior to the trip about the safety and dangers, but I had felt very comfortable in Africa. Tourists seem to have far less problems in Southern Africa than say for example South America.

Our final path on the African continent: Hermanus > Stellenbosch > Cape Town

Just as I was writing you last time and telling you about the strong winds and the lack of whales; our luck took an interesting turn! Whales were everywhere; on the land, in trees, even one in the pub. Well not exactly, but hey, we saw a lot of whales! From the shore, I saw over 20 whale breechs (this is when the whale jumps out of the water creating a huge splash, in an attempt to remove the white callosities.

Sunday - Whale cruise: Our two Swedish friends had persuaded us to join them on the 0900 cruise for whale watching and wow am I glad I joined them. Picture this, only 10 tourists on the boat, only our boat, 8 whales. Now, it wasn't just 8 whales, it was 8 whales MATING! Unlike the life long faithful penguins who we saw later in the day; whales are a bit more bizarre so the party was 7 males and one female. We watched these beasts for more than an hour just a few feet from our boat! Later we went to South Africa's largest penguin colony.

Monday - Stellenbosch Wine tour: Most of our self arranged wine tours were more interesting where we were able to talk with the wine maker and enjoy things on our own schedule, but this trip was pure fun. We went to four wineries that day and with a large group of fun people. Not only did we sample fine Stellenbosch wines, but also excellent cheeses they make in the area.

Tuesday - Franshoek: With not a lot on the agenda today, we went to the lovely town of Franshoek literally meaning "French Corner" due to the Hugonouts who moved there from France to escape religious persecution. Now you all know why the wine is so exceptionally good in Stellenbosch. We enjoyed a nice meal in town and then enjoyed a few wineries later in the day. That night we met up with our Swedish friends Chris and Freida and went to enjoy the amenities of a University town.

Wednesday - Cape of Good Hope: Along with our new friend Aaron from the Stellenbosch pub crawl, we headed towards Cape Town and first visited the Cape of Good Hope, again seeing several whales, although, they just don't get boring! We visited another colony of penguins and then drove down to Cape for hiking around the peninsula. There we ran into several surprising guests, firstly a hungry group of baboons and also a group of ostriches. What was so special about he ostiches was the young babies they had with them. We were able to walk very close to look at them without the mother attacking us.

Thursday - Table Mountain: The climb up table mountain was a lot of fun. Unfortunately the views from the top were not as special. The clouds had rolled in just as we were climbing hiding its views of the city. We relaxed having a coffee after our 1000 meter (yard) climb and later we enjoyed the fruits of our labor seeing the city nestled on the coast. You may wonder about African cuisine, but we have just found a very delectable one. We enjoyed Ethiopian food for our first time that night. If you have the chance, I'd highly recommend it - delicious curries and a facinating way to eat them - with the table cloth!

Friday - Boks Rubgy: If your not aware, the Rugby world cup is happening right now, but in New Zealand. Nonetheless, support in South Africa for their Springboks is superb! We went out to the pub at 9am on Friday and cheered on the local team watching them win a deserved, but tight victory to Samoa. We visited a few museums this day, the best being the Slave Museum. That night we were escorted out by a friend of a friend in London. Chris a Cape Towner took us out for a good late night causing a wee bit of a hangover the next day.

Saturday - Two Oceans Aquarium: After seeing England win a close rugby match with Scotland we headed towards the waterfront. On the way we gatecrashed a tour of a diamond shop where they gave us free champagne and showed us diamonds. Marina being the perfect wife, was not putty in their hands and resisted any of the sparkling temptations. We then watched a game of kayak basketball which was a strange, but simple concept. Needing an easy tourist activity, we visited the Two Oceans Aquarium. Appropriately named due to the area where the Pacific and the Atlantic meet. Their display of 5 ragged tooth sharks gave us a reminder of how fun our diving trip in Umkomaas was! We found a concert later where we enjoyed two fresh tuna steak sandwiches. That night, we had our very last dinner of the trip - the highlight was Kudu steak, Springbok steak (a type of deer), ostrich, and crocodile - yummy!

Sunday - Robben Island: Our last day was the most culturally enlightening - a trip to Robben Island where Nelson Mandela and President Zuma were both incarcerated. The trip showed the true hearse realities of Apartheid and what people when pushed will do to stand up for themselves. Mandela's cell where he spent 18 years was roughly 2 meters by 2.5 meters. There was not a toilet and the bed was a small mattress on the ground.

So this is the end of our crazy tour! We are now in London and will be heading to Russia on Thursday and staying there for a week. Then back to London on the 13th and we will be only staying for a few days before moving to our new home - Australia!

Thanks for reading our blog and if you have enjoyed our weekly updates, feel free to drop me a line and let me know what you think.

All the best,

Dan and Marina

Week 63 - South Africa

World's Highest Bungy!!!!

ComparetheMeerkat.com

Cheetah spotting

A tired Lemur

The birds

Simples!

Ostrich Riding

Now that's a Great White!!!

The view from the cage (less than 1 meter/yard away)


hallo, ho gon dit?
What did you expect English in South Africa? Well, it seemed everyone spoke English last time I was here, but definitely not the case. Dutch, I mean Afrikaans is the most widely spoken language in South Africa. Essentially a very old version of Dutch with an African twist.

Back to a sad topic from our previous blog - HIV/AIDS. I mentioned that a major is the lack of guidance from parents, teachers and the government. You may think that was a bold comment, but even South African President Zuma said that you can avoid catching HIV by taking a shower! The Health Minister said that by eating onions and beetroot you can avoid catching the disease - AND we wonder why Africa is plagued by this disease.

Having been to quite a few countries on this trip, I can say South Africa is one of the world's best destinations for adventure sports - just wait until you read below at what we have been up to. If you think Las Vegas has a lot of activities, a little town in South Africa can sometimes have more!

Post Apartheid: Unfortunately racism is still rife in South African society. As apartheid ended in the 1980's, blacks have trouble moving on and many whites still have pre-apartheid mentalities. Just to elaborate on how bad the situation was; mixed marriages were prohibited, interracial sex banned, and every individual was classified by race; actually this is still the case by the National Insurance or Social Security Numbers having certain numbers based on skin color. During Apartheid, based on race, South Africa had separate buses, beaches, toilets, schools and blacks were forced to live in specific areas of the country (which was only 14% of the land area for 80% of South Africa's population) and blacks were not allowed to travel without written permission. I have trouble imagining Apartheid was only a few decades ago!

Back to smiley topics - you would NOT believe what we have been up to! This past week seems to be some kind of MessageLabs Presidents club trip!

Our route: Storms River > Plettenberg Bay > Oudtshoorn > Mossel Bay > Cape Agulhas > Hermanus

Sunday - World's Tallest Bungy: Well, this is South Africa and what else could you expect. Connecting a huge 216 meter (713ft) gorge connecting the SA states of Eastern Cape and Western Cape is a bridge. Not just any bridge, this bridge hosts the world's tallest bungy! Marina was a bit sensible so for you in Russia don't worry, but I couldn't pass this up. Walking down the catwalk seeing straight down into the gorge wasn't scary; watching someone else step up and jump, not too nerve-wracking; although, once you get to the edge, knowing you HAVE to jump and looking down 216 meters - well its enough to make your feet heavy and stomach light! The jump was exhilarating, with a free-fall of what seemed to be 3 seconds! The view down the gorge led directly to the ocean so the upside down view was magical. That night we celebrated partying with a few others who jumped having a Brai (BBQ) in the rain, but on top of the world!

Monday - Cat Sanctuary: On the way to Plettenberg Bay where we stayed for two nights, we stopped off at several places. Only in South Africa do you just happen to see a picture of a Cheetah, pull off to check it out and its phenomenal. We would have driven a day for most of these activities this week, but in SA its all so close. The Tenikwa Cat Sanctuary was so fun! Firstly we saw meerkats for the first time in Africa, but the highlight was the cats. We had Servals (often called Mini Cheetahs)and Caracals (Lynx) rubbing against our legs. Servals are the second fastest land mammal in the world, after its bigger brother Che. The real highlight was Che, the cheetahs - we sat next to a six month old and then met the big brothers, two three year old males that we could stand next to and all but touch - no cages! Our next stop was MonkeyLand - a monkey sanctuary which we walked through seeing many types of monkeys including Lemurs from Madagascar. The last stop of the day was Birds of Eden; a huge aviary right out of Jurassic Park hosting some of the most amazing birds I have ever seen.

Tuesday - Deep Sea Fishing: We were fortunate enough to find our own boat and captain to take us out fishing for the morning. They really talked it up and soon we understood why. There were a few areas which we had bites the entire time our bait was in the water. There must have been a lot of small fish as often it was hard to hook anything, but on the six occasions we did, we pulled up very nice keepers. The fish were all Red Romans (similar to Red Snapper) so excellent eating. I was happy to have caught the biggest one and the fish pictured was 4kg (9lbs). They cleaned the fish for us while we had lunch and a beer and that night we enjoyed our fish on the Brai. Nothing tastes better than eating your own catch.

Wednesday - Ostrich Riding: Oudtshoorn claims to be the ostrich capital of the world. I'm not sure if they are, but there sure are a lot of ostrich farms. One novelty which is a bit cruel, but a must for tourists is riding ostriches. They put a bag over its head, I hopped on, held the wings (no saddle or handles) and as they pulled the bag off he went nuts running all around the area. Eventually you fall of, but we certain beat 7 seconds! Marina summed up the courage and jumped onto one herself after forcing the workers to promise to catch her. We went to the Cango caves later and walked around by ourselves after sneaking off the tour and explored a bit on our own. That night, still having ostrich on the brain, cooked up ostrich sausages and ostrich burgers.

Thursday - Ostrich Omelets: A funny thing about the guesthouses in Oudtshoorn; they all provide free ostrich egg for breakfast (as much as you want, but you need to cook it). An ostich egg, which by the way is so hard a person can stand on it - yes I did this and it didn't break, but back to the point - it holds about 18 eggs. We didn't use it all, but made ourselves monstrous omelets. We then drove to Mossel Bay and had a nice walk down the coast to burn off the ostrich.

Friday - Great White Cage Diving: Every since I saw this on television 10 years ago, I always knew I wanted to dive with Great White Sharks. South Africa is the premier destination for this. The diving is all done through a cage and they use chum and huge fish heads to attract the Great Whites. Now the time had come, we cruised to seal island and all the six tourists on board jumped into the cage with the first sighting of a Great White. Marina was the first in the cage and there we waited in 17 degree C. water (62F). After 15 minutes they came in waves and we had Great Whites in our face trying to eat that huge head of Tuna. The huge jaws filled row after row with razor sharp teeth were only 6 inches from my face. The sharks were not scary, however, we both agreed the water temp was the scariest part.

Saturday - Southern Tip of Africa: This morning we drove to the Southern most point of Africa. There we relaxed and hiked to the top of the lighthouse for a birds eye view of the area. Now we are in the quaint village of Hermanus. Normally you can see wales just from the beach, which we hope to do tomorrow, but the winds are strong so the wales are hiding.

Next, we are heading to the winelands of Stellenbosch!

For our next blog we will be letting you in on a little secret of what's happening next month - VERY VERY exciting stuff!

See you next time,

Dan and Marina

Week 62 - Lesotho and South Africa

Lion love

Did anyone see a turtle?

Sand Tiger Shark (aka Raggies) approx 3 meters (10 feet)

Crusin Africa!

A Lesotho village

Botsoela Waterfall

Peacocks mating

Kudus fighting

Juvenile elephants playing in the water

Domala!

This past week has been so full of interesting experiences that it could easily have been a month for us; not to mention, having travelled 1800km (1100 miles) in our rental car. As we are in South Africa for the next two weeks, I'll tell you a bit about Lesotho. Lesotho unfortunately does not have much to offer. Yes it is one of Africa's smallest countries and has the least to do from what we have seen, however and this is a big HOWEVER; the scenery is possibly the best in Southern Africa! Lesotho is a mountainous country staying above 1000 meters (3300 feet) allowing stunning views. We attempted to see almost every place in our guidebook for Lesotho and on most occassions, left saying you must be kidding. The towns, while dumpy, which we are fine with, do not really offer anything to a tourist. The way to enjoy Lesotho is to experience its nature!

As mentioned for Swaziland, the houses and agriculture is far more developed than in the other countries we have visited north of here. The farms we have seen in the countryside are all very small and run by a family. The families do not need to buy the land to build a house or farm, however, submit a request to the village chief who would typically approve it. They grow corn, wheat, potatoe, beatroot, cabbage, and squash. Most will use cattle to till the fields, however some will rent tractors. The chief will teach the new farmers about agricultural techniques.

As a result, the people of rural Lesotho, seem better off than most we have seen. The huts they have, will often be made of brick, sometimes have tin roofs, and also have windows. The huts in the poor villages for example in Malawi would not have these luxuries, using reeds for a roof over the mudhut. Another surprising thing about Lesotho's villages are they seemed much more clean than other places in Africa, and the Malealea villages were completely void of trash.

Our path: Durban > Clarens (SA) > Lesotho (everywhere) > Addo

Sunday - Brai Party: Durban is a great city - such a fun time and we were very happy to be back in the first world enjoying the amenities of life! We stayed just off of Florida Street, possibly the coolest area in Durban. That night, the hostel organised us a Brai - which is Afrikaans (one of South Africa's languages) for BBQ. We just needed to buy our meat, so we walked up Florida Road and bought nice steaks and had an excellent feast that night, partying with a heap of South Africans.

Monday - Bunny Chow: Monday was our tour around Durban. After visiting the Lesotho embassy working on how to get Marina a visa, we headed to the Indian area and enjoyed a local Durban Indian speciality - called Bunny chow. I've never seen this anywhere before, including India, but its delicious - essentially Curry in a loaf of bread. I bought the half loaf thinking I was hungry. This was a HALF loaf of bread, with chicken curry dumped in it! Oh how delicious this concept was - but all too filling. I had trouble walking later, but thankfully as we walked about 20km (13 miles) that day, I felt better! Our tour took us around City Hall, to the Ushaka marine area where we saw the spider and reptile enclosure, we also walked to Durban's new stadium and had a tour even getting to walk down to the field! As we walked along the beach going to Ushaka - we saw several humpback whales surfacing in the distance! Amazing!

Tuesday - Lion Park: We rented a car for the first time on our entire trip and the first stop was the lion park, only just north of Durban and well worth the one hour drive for the sole reason; you get to sit in your car, alone, with 11 lions! They are not wild, being in an enclosure, but they are just as likely to eat you as a wild one and we were within touching distance! The lions were very playful and two even mated! A few times we had to drive off as they came close to my window which was half opened for pictures. Later we drove to Umkomas and partied with our dive master - Chucky who was the exact replica of St. Louis' Scott Nevins!

Wednesday - Raggies Cave: A top 10 dive site of the world! We left our hotel room to a hard rain and dark grey clouds - not perfect diving weather, but hey, its what is under the water that counts. Due to the current and dumb luck, the visibility was substantially better then the day before - at around 12 meters or 40 feet. We had two dives and the second was the real deal. We dove with Ragged tooth sharks (called raggies) or also known as Sand Tiger sharks. These things whilst timid and not aggressive are MEAN (looking) with a capital M E A N! Most were about 3 meters (10 feet) and the teeth are all protruding so you see these huge shark teeth as it swims right for you, only a few feet away! Such an amazing time! We even made it to the boat with all our fingers, toes, hands and feet! During the dive we also saw turtles, cat sharks, and eels.

Thursdays - Lesotho's Highlands: We started from Clarens very early and by 08:30 we were crossing successfully into Lesotho. Our aim was to drive to the east and hire a 4x4 and guide to take us to this famous mountain pass - Sani. After two hours of driving, the road became horrendous - we continued on the gravel road for some 45km (30 miles) and even after it was one continuous pothole, we thought our 1.6 litre Kia could handle it - as this was the middle of nowhere, no phone signal, no people, well no civilisation for 45+ kilometers (30 miles), my mind wandered back to the time in Iceland with Kyri, Gabi and Matt where we were stuck next to the glacier. TIA - This is Africa! So not the best idea on where to get stuck or have two flat tires! So we decided to turn back - which is and was very painful for Marina and I, but in retrospect, a smart decision. Nonetheless, we crossed several passes over 3,000 meters (10,000ft) which I'm sure were close to as magical as the Sani pass. Our first stop in Lesotho was to see rock paintings and walked around a few huts showing the ways of life in Lesotho's villages. Our next stop was to see dinosaur footprints in a very rural area. We were able to see what we looked to be T-Rex footprints in stone - however cut the visit short for safety reasons. The rest of the day we went to the places in our guidebook, each time thinking, you must be kidding me. These places were all in towns, which as we now know, is just pointless in Lesotho. Thankfully and being slightly nervous with the night coming, we made it to the Malealea Lodge in a gorgeous countryside area.

Friday - Pony Trek: You should know me very well by now after reading this blog and firmly know I would not take a PONY ride! Well, I admit - I did, and liked it! Well it was kind of a Pony ride. If you have noticed, Pony has a capital P; why you may ask. Well the most common horse in Lesotho is the Pony breed; smaller than a normal horse, but bigger than a Mongolian horse. This Friday morning Marina and I went for our horse ride heading to the Botsoela waterfall. These horses must have been the best thus far of our trip; very obedient and fast when we wanted. Such a joy compared to the insane Colombian horses we had last May. The Malealea valley area is gorgeous and the ride provided our eyes with such colorful and mountainous scenes. The recently plowed red soil added to the spectacular views. Later in the day we arranged a walking trek through a nearby gorge and learned a lot about the Sotho people from our local guide. He was very proud of his grandfather who had lived to what he thinks is 92. Whilst this number may not be accurate by 15 or 20 years (birthdays were never kept back then in much of Africa and still is not even kept today sometimes); nonetheless, this is amazing and I think also shows how the Sotho people of Lesotho or at least in this region are living well. That night locals came to our guesthouse to play music. The instruments were interesting and inventive. They made guitars from wood with a large can on the end for a percussion. The drum was a barrel with rubber on the top and the drummer used pieces of tire for the drum sticks! They were very creative and a lot of fun to watch.

Saturday - Addo Elephant Park: We had a long long drive yesterday - the middle of Lesotho, far down a gravel road - driving to southern South Africa! Just look at Google maps! We made it to Addo Elephant park by 1:30 - maybe a land speed record! haha, just kidding mom! Addo Elephant National Park, just outside Port Elizabeth is outstanding. Armed with our own car and lots of independence, we were on our own with the animals. This park, whilst not as densely populated with big cats like the Serengeti or Kruger, was spectacular. A few of the scenes: 23 elephants by a lake, several play fighting in the water for a good hour, two young elephants charging each other, 3 lions sleeping, 2 lions on the prowl looking for dinner; a puff-adder snake crossing the road (one of the deadliest in Africa), hartebeests, zebras, kudus fighting, warthogs, and as we were leaving, worried about only having 1/8th a tank of gas, the sun bearing down on the windshield making it hard to see; a water buffalo walked from the shadow of a tree right in front of our car! I can say it was a near miss - I heard later that if you kill one with your car (I would be more worried about it killing us) you have a 450,000 Rand fine; the rate is 7 Rand to $1 so you can work it out - ouch. Thankfully we found a gas station and our guesthouse and relaxed after a long long day!

So what is next in South Africa; Storms river, Plettenberg Bay, and Knysna.

Until next time,

Dan and Marina

Week 61 Mozambique & Swaziland

The Humpbacks of Mozambique

"Our" Whale Shark!

Maputo City Hall

Me and the warthogs

A grumpy local

Como Esta!

We have covered a lot of ground in the past week and we have much to talk about.

Mozambique a country who has just emerged a few decades ago from more than 10 years of civil war and completely ravaged by the Portuguese like the excellent tenants they were, destroyed everything before leaving. Despite the odds Mozambique seems to be doing very well and not caught up in the past. During the turbulent times, Mozambique had a brief liaison with communism - which we can still see remnants of. Some of the people we have met, older of course, had studies in the Soviet Union and could speak Russian. Also, some streets in Maputo have Russian names.

A few things about the place, one cashews are a major export and easily bought on the street from vendors. Large bags approx 400gr are only $4 - not bad huh! Mozambique, like its neighboring countries, are big on recycling glass. The bottles are always returned for the deposit.

One crazy thing we have found throughout our travels in Africa is the women are by far the hardest workers in Africa! Followed by the children unfortunately.

Our path since we last spoke; Vilankulo > Tofo > Maputo > Swaziland

Sunday - Mozambique seafood: We arrived in Tofo by around 2ish and booked our diving for the time here. Tofo is a tiny little village, not even a town and is kind of a hippy hangout. The place is very chilled and has excellent seafood. We indulged every lunch and dinner in fish and calamari! The best thing to accompany the good food here is Laurentina beer - the best beer in Africa so far!

Monday - Humpback whales: We went for a dive in the morning, but that wasn't the highlight of the day, despite being a pretty decent dive. The cruise out back and forth was full of humpback whales. Also on Wednesday we saw numerous humpbacks, sometimes a mother with calf swimming by our boat. There must have been hundreds around. Later in the day I even saw one from the beach. You would have to be lucky to see them breach, which we saw twice, but mostly they would just swim along the top or come up for air. This was our first time seeing whales! If you haven't yet, you absolutely must see these magical beasts!

Tuesday - Relaxing on the beach: Tofo's beach is huge, reminding me of Venice Beach in California, more than 100 yards (meters) before you reach the water. We spent the day, soaking sun and swimming in the reasonable sized waves.

Wednesday - WHALE SHARK: Wednesday was all about diving and snorkeling! We went for two dives, but the best was yet to come after we surfaced and headed back. One of the dives, Manta Reef is a top 30 dive sight in the world and we were spectators to a huge display of marine life, although no mantas. On the two dives, we saw lobsters, giant turtles, a grouper bigger than me, huge moray eels, puffer fish, and a crocodile fish. The real treasure was the boat ride back to shore when we spotted a whale shark. If you aren't familiar with this fish; besides being the biggest fish in the world, they are very docile and do not eat people! They don't even eat fish - mostly plankton. When we spotted it, all us divers jumped out of the boat with our snorkels and swam along with it. I'm sure it could go faster, but I could easily swim to the front of it from the back. This 7 meter (24 foot) beast was as big as a bus and so graceful, unlike Nepali buses. We have been wanting to see one for many years and finally our wish had been granted! The whale shark is kind of a Mecca of divers and its something most want to see sometime in their life!

Thursday - Vladimir Lenine Street: We took a 4am bus to Maputo, Mozambique's capital, with all kinds of drama from hippies misplacing bags, but eventually arrived to the city to face horrible gridlock. What the bus driver didn't know, is it wasn't going to move. We bailed on the bus when we got close enough to walk, leaving the other tourists and locals to wait. What we saw soon was a bicycle race going down Vladimir Lenine street (yes, they spell it Lenine - haha). The race was part of the African Nations Sporting event. We spent the remainder of the day sightseeing, visiting their 110 year old colonial train station (a standing remnant of the Portuguese), the fort, and a metal house used by the governor. As far as African cities go, Maputo is a very nice one with lots of outdoor cafes.


Swaziland, one of Africa's smallest and least populous nations is an interesting one! King Mswati the 3rd now has 9 wives, previously he had 12, but 3 have since divorced him! They actually divorced him, if you can imagine that. No instances of guillotine use in case my English readers are wondering!

The country appears to be more modern than we have seen in the previous African countries. They have decent roads and nicer housing in the villages, but like the other Southern African countries, there are a multitude of social problems; schools without teachers, mismanagement, misappropriation of funds and poor healthcare. 26% of Swazi's are reported to have AIDS; however only a small amount is done to educate the population. We have seen a few billboards, but most parents, teachers and government officials are clueless on even how to protect themselves, much less than to advise young people.

One of the impressive feats of Swazi is its agriculture production. Nowhere in Southern Africa have we seen such organised crop fields; which many contain sugarcane, corn and wheat.

Friday - Hello Swaziland: We had a nice relaxed minibus trip to the boarder and to my surprise, it was quiet, clean and didn't have people wondering around. Normally you will have touts, food sellers, moneychangers, taxis, and general chaos. Strangely, there was none of this; such a great start for Swaziland. We arrived at our hostel which was in a gorgeous valley and well equiped with a pool, bar, and very comfortable lodging (spa bathtub); however, no people. We spent the day trying to organise our time in Swaziland and what we could do without a car - this is not as easy as you might think. After we had our game plan, we enjoyed a few drinks, had dinner and relaxed, chatting with the owner and resident hippy.

Saturday - Mlilwane Walking Safari: Yesterday's safari was an incredible and unique one. Swaziland isn't really well known for its game parks, but what we really enjoyed about Mlilwane was we could just walk around on our own and get as close to the animals as we wanted - well, often the animals didn't like this. We walked up within 10-15 feet (2-3 meters) from huge crocodiles; our first we have seen in Africa surprisingly. We closely approached many warthogs, zebras, gazelles, and wildebeests. Having the freedom to walk around was incredible.

What's next; we are now in Durban, South Africa and are hoping to arrange a trip to Lesotho.

See you next time,

Dan and Marina

Week 60 - Malawi & Mozambique

Top of Sapwita! (Translation in Tumbuka - Don't go there)

Enjoying Mt Mulanje Park

Mozambique's transport option #1

yes, I know we look funny!

Vilankulo's receding tide

Bon Dia!

Malawi, yes I failed to talk about it before in greater detail due to pressing time to get to our base on Mt Mulanje. So hear is your weekly earful;

Malawi is THE country in South Africa which everyone wishes they had more time for. The place is full of fun and friendly people and the place is endearing. I would personally say this is a TOP African destination! The country has "good" sights, but the real highlight is the people.

Malawi is not all perfect; this is one of the poorest African countries! However, they take pride in their country being a peaceful nation and not being caught up in wars like their neighbors.

We met several westerners working in hospitals here telling us the truth behind the curtain and let me say; you don't want to be in a Malawian hospital. The main ailments in the country are AIDS, TB, and Malaria. Just like in most of Southern Africa's countries, the AIDS rate is much higher than reported as they will often tick TB as the cause of death, but really its AIDS and they just contracted TB in the late stages. Life Expectancy in this part of Africa is shocking - 40 years! I can tell you honestly, in the past month I can count the amount of old people we have seen - ON ONE HAND! When I say old, 45+! That is very old for Africa!

Our path: Mt. Mulanje > Mocuba (Mozambique) > Vilankulo

Monday - Pine to Cedar: We started our hike with Fin our friend from Sydney and had hired a porter and a guide. The day before we stocked up on our food rations and alcohol for the 3 days hiking. One initiate of the parks department was to cut down the pine forest and replant cedar trees, quite the site I can tell you - and very nice to smell! We hiked all day to get to the Chisepo hut and there we cooked our own food - soup and spaghetti and admired the stunning views of valley below.

Tuesday - Sapwita Peak (3,002 meters or 10,000ft): This was our summit day and we started early as it would be a long day. The climb I can honestly say was the hardest of our entire trip. This can't compare exactly to climbing Kili at 5,890 meters, but the sheer difficulty of climbing what seemed to be vertical rock faces, not exactly vertical, but tough and this was climbing, not trekking or hiking! We reached the top a bit before noon, and had much satisfaction as we relaxed enjoying the scenery! We descended back to the Chispeo hut and had lunch then hiking for several hours through varying landscapes eventually ending in a new cedar forest! The cabin we stayed in was void of tourists so we enjoyed the place to ourselves trying some Malawian brandy - not to bad all things considered.

Wednesday - 18 wheels a truckin: We had a laugh in the morning seeing the ravens eating the remains of our very spicy rice dinner - they had about as much trouble with it as Marina the time I took her to Sri Lanka! Haha. By 1pm we were down the mountain and on our way, having said goodbye to Fin, bound for Mozambique. I knew this would be a journey, but hadn't realised how epic it would be! We had nearly 1000km or 600 miles to go and in Mozambique, that is seriously far! Our journey this day started with a taxi, then minibus to the boarder. From there, we took a bycycle about 5km or 3 miles to the town. From there we waited for 90 minutes and as the evening was approaching we had to hitch-hike to get to the next town. This wasn't as scary as it seems as we jumped in an 18 wheeler truck or lorry joined by about 10 women carrying babies. We travelled for about 7 hours down this dirt road, yes, not even a paved road and reached our destination - Mocuba around midnight.

Thursday - Leaping on buses: We left our hotel in Mocuba at 04:30 ready to catch the 05:00 bus. Unfortunately for us, the hotel staff were idiots and there was no bus; or at least that's what we were told when we got there. So....we sat on a minibus for four hours before it left. Now this bus wasn't going the full way, just 1/3rd, but it was progress. As we arrived to Caia; we were pleasantly surprised to see a minibus ready to leave for the next 1/3rd and promptly boarded it. However, Marina was very clever to spot a big bus, 15 minutes later, before our minibus was just ready to leave so I checked and it was bound for Maputo, the one which would take us the full way!!! She ran to hold the bus and our seats on it and I leapt up on the minibus to get our bags off the roof causing the 100+ people around to stare in amazement at this crazy white man! After a bit of an effort untying the bags, I had them down and in the next bus. Dripping full of sweat I was able to relax and appreciate this saved us one day of travel! From hitch-hiking with the truck driver and this quick thinking change, we saved two days!!!!! That night we reached the junction (only 10 miles or 16km) from Vilankulo where we stayed appreciating our hard efforts and knowing we were only a quick ride from our destination in the morning.

Friday - Mercado Central: We checked into our hotel just across the street from the beach and promptly went to enjoy the sun and tropical Indian ocean! You may know or have to imagine how nice it is to relax on the beach after a taxi,minibus,bicycle,18 wheeler,minibus,bus, and truck! Such a journey - I would say it was epic and especially doing this in about 36 hours!!!! That night we went to the mercado central - much to Marina's protest as it seemed a bit dodgy and was night - but this turned out to be a gem. Many of the locals eat here and the standard practice is to pick out your fish in the market and then take them to a stall who will cook it for your, and serve rice, salad, beer, etc - the cooking charge is $2!!! We aimed to buy 2 medium sized fish, it turned out that that the 50 Met (also $2) was for the pile of fish. So we walked away with 4 medium sized fish for $2! That meal was hearty and oh so good!

Saturday - Disappearing Sea: The next day we had a very similar repeat with the market and beach. One amazing thing about Vilankulo, possibly during this time in the moon's calendar is the tide. The tide recedes miles and miles (km and km, just doesn't sound right) and it almost surely looked like we could have walked all the way to the island a few miles away, although I'm sure we would have died trying!

Whats next? We are now in Tofo which I will tell you all about, and let me add so far there is A LOT to tell!!! After this, we are off to Maputo.

Ciao,

Dan and Marina

Week 59 - Malawi

The REAL way to carry vegetables

Cape Maclear's impressive sunset

Enjoying a drink

Malawi village shop

Moni!

We have really been enjoying the country often called the friendliest in Africa! As friendly as Malawians have been, I think Zimbabweans and Zambians are also up there.

Our path: Blantyre > Cape Maclear > Liwonde > Mulanje

Tuesday - Boarder hassles: This Tuesday we were crossing into Mozambique and leaving again after a few hours as this is the direct route for our bus to Blantyre, Malawi. I was mostly worried about this as we have had a crazy time with their visa process and often try to extort crazy amounts of money (The Moz embassy in Harare wanted $200 for us just to cross for a few hours), luckily this was smooth and the price was reasonable. The real concern came as we arrived to the Malawi boarder and they didn't like Marina's visa as it didn't have an official stamp from London. They told us we couldn't go in, but after about 30 minutes, yes the bus was waiting) we were allowed in, even without a bribe, which I thought would surely be necessary! That night the Malawi Carslburg beer tasted oh so good!

Wednesday - 25 people in the back of a pickup: Getting to Lake Malawi was a real task, but it was worth it when we saw Cape Maclear and the gorgeous setting. One part of our trip was rather interesting as we hopped in the back of a pickup truck (Ford Ranger size) along with 23 other people including a few children and babies. Not the safest, but certainly interesting to see how the locals travel. Malawians have been so friendly and on occasions like this, they really look after you as a tourist.

Thursday - Scuba diving in Freshwater: We had never been in freshwater for a diver, other than the cave dive in Mystery Island that was 50% freshwater and 50% salt water. I wasn't expecting much, but these low expectations were overly exceeded. We had a good 10 meters (yards) visibility which is great for a lake. We were able to go in a sunken boat at about 28 meters (yards) deep. The second dive was the real treasure; we met a mouth breeder fish. We came upon about 20 minnows and one big fish as long as your arm (no hand) which was guarding the minnows and attacking other predators to scare them away. This happened for a good 5 minutes and then one fish was successful and took an unfortunate minnow. The mother, who could have won an award for her care, took all the remaining minnows in her mouth to protect them and there they stayed until we left. I couldn't believe these finger sized minnows even fit!

Friday - Kayaking Lake Malawi: After sleeping in for the first time in over a week, we had an early lunch and went kayaking on Lake Malawi. Normally in Africa we have been getting up at 6 or 7am so this was a real joy. Lake Malawi is roughly 20% of Malawi's total size, so a pretty big lake. We rowed a few thousand meters (yards) to an uninhabited island to soak up the sun and swim. We also snorkeled seeing more of Malawi's fish varieties. Later we took on the task of rowing around the whole island which was more of a wildlife adventure seeing dozens of fish eagles perched on trees and flying around.

Saturday - Jeep Safari: Yesterday's highlight was Bushman's Baobab hostel and its amenities. Really a safari lodge built for backpakers. We met up with two of our friends Eve and Fin who we traveled to Malawi with. The safari was excellent taking us through Liwonde National Park - the most famous park in Malawi. There we saw many elephants who were quite shy, and such big animals, who would have thought. We spied on numerous groups of gazelles, Sables, Kudu and Waterbucks. Also running around were the eerie looking Warthogs. Baboons had a big presence and were often running around or lounging up to who knows what. That night we had a big party around a campfire enjoying Malawi's local spirits. Carlsburg has a brewery down here and brews several types of excellent beer which I've never seen in Europe.

Sunday - Canoe Safari: This morning we went out in a tiny canoe with our new friend James and paddled (well, we were paddled by a guide) past hippos only 30 feet (10 meters) away. We watched large herds containing dozens of elephants enjoying the water on the river and scratching trees as they like so much. The bird life at 7am on a tributary of the Zambezi river is phenomenal; a true bird spotters paradise. We started our one truck & 3 minibus journey around 10am this morning and have now arrived at Mulanje.

What's next for us; we are going to climb Mt Mulanje, Malawi's tallest peak and then we are off to Mozambique.

All the best,

Dan and Marina