South Africa Update: "Just when you thought it was safe ..."

That's right, there was no update yesterday as all I got was "Dad shopping, Susan golfing." No, wait, I have that backwards. 

My reply was to go back to sleep.

But today is a different story. Dad and Susan flew from Durban to Cape Town to meet up with long-time friend John Waters and his wife Janis. Hard to believe Dad missed the Rangers/Celtic match this morning — oops, I was supposed to text the score! Anyone know what happened? 

Just kidding. Of course I let him know. Didn't miss much I told him, though it was described as "the game of the century" and "one of the best I'd ever witnessed" by the commentators. That made him happy I'm sure. Way to go Rangers!

So on this, the most stressful part of their trip, they will stay in Muizenberg for three days, just 30 minutes southeast of Cape Town. I checked on the web to see what it might be like and here's what I found: Muizenberg. You'll see in the photos there's a row of very bright, colorful huts. John and Janis own one, but I'm thinking it's not where they'll be staying. This area is a Great White Shark breeding ground! They have round the clock watch from Table Mountain and those 'spotters' sound a signal if any are seen. I hope they have subs when they need to use the loo!

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Jaws Theme Song sound bite  Jaws sound bites

It'll be rough, but I'm sure they'll manage. I feel for them. No, really.

Oh, and take a look at this map ... go straight north and slightly east of the red marker, which is where they are today (toward the top, large type). Now that's a town I would want a t-shirt from! :0)

More to come as they continue to move and text me.

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Hi JoJo!

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South Africa Update: Holy Flying Cockroaches Batman!

I'm going to let Susan tell her story, this is what she messaged me this morning:

"When two inch flying cockroach enters rented cottage, lands on wall, then sprayed by Angela, goes into frenzy, catipultes onto Susan, flicked onto Lindsay — Susan has MAJOR MELTDOWN!!!"

Not sure what to make of the third person style in that, but interesting all the same! ;0)

She continues with :

"Went on sunset game drive. Saw zebra, hyena, baby croc, baby vervet monkeys, owls, impala, nyala, bushbuck, white rhino, hamercop bird. Best yet we saw a family of elephants. They walked down the hillside towards the waterhole. Took 10 minutes to come down. They drank water. Put it in their trunks sprayed the water in the air. There were 7 in all, one being a baby. The bull (Angela says he was a big dude) circled us, faced us, flapped his ears and gave a fake charge. Then went back to his family. Our game warden said he could have squashd us like a tin can.

After we survived the elephants we went to a dinner buffet. Lots of exotic food and veggies. Dad (Dave) looked confused! There was roast pork and Angela had hooked up with the catering manager, Shalen was his name, to take care of Dad. Dad got his pork and was told to take a seat at the table. Out came a woman waitron with a large plate of chips. Next came the chef with a huge bowl of peas. Wowser Dad was pleased! We are heading back to Kloof to have a Braai this evening. A Braai is a BBQ. Yum!

Tidbits:

"Machete is called panga. 

Dikkop translates to thick head — it is a type of bird. 

Umbrellas are mainly used by african women to shield from hot sun and bucketing rain storms — seen both! 

Ya is Afrikaans for yes - pronounced yaw. 

While traveling back to Kloof (there were) many trees with boxes on them. They are not bird houses, they are bat houses. 

In Kloof there arn't any flying cockroaches :-*! 

Note - male wart hogs have large testicles"

I would like to note myself that when I awoke this morning and looked at my phone, there was a message on my screen that said "male warthogs have large testicles." An interesting way to start a Friday to say the least.

Thanks Susan for all the interesting updates!

Photos are from Zoo Atlanta — sorry I didn't get better photos of the warthog's, em, well ...

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Monkeying Around

As I've been getting messages from Susan, I find myself researching some of the places and animals she and Dad have come across on their African adventure. 

Early yesterday she had told me there were monkeys all over Lindsay and Angela's back yard. Knowing that I like monkeys, she was sure to fill me in on this sort of information. I asked what kind they were, the answer was Vervet Monkeys.

So the research started. I came across this BBC video posted on YouTube about alcoholic Vervet Monkeys and just had to give it a look. Yes, you read that right, alcoholic monkeys. These monkeys were transported (along with slaves)  from Africa to the Caribbean islands many moons ago. It's an amazing video ... and very funny too. Makes you think twice about Darwin's theories.

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South Africa Update: On Safari

While I was sleeping, Susan was texting me the following: 

"Yesterday saw new Durban football stadium for World Cup. Has huge arch with train car that goes to top. You can bungee jump from (the) arch.

On the road now going 2 safari. Driving through miles of hills full of sugar cane.

Info blurb: Very little public transport. You see people walking every where. Sometimes we give the women a ride, pull over and ask them if they need a lift. So many African women carry their parcels on their heads. Great balance — men do not do this! Many African women have large breasts and bellies, walk heavy and talk loud. Perfect, I fit right in!"

ROTFL!

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South Africa Update: Sugar Coast

Umhlanga (which Susan says is "pronounced umm shlon ga - no lie!"), meaning place of reeds in Zulu, is a resort town just north of Durban in an area known as the Sugar Coast ... y'know, for those who don't know this already. This is where our intrepid explorers swam in the "warm blue/green and gorgeous" Indian Ocean today. 

Other tidbits of information from South Africa, via Susan:

• Wait staff at restaurants are waitrons. 
• Geckos are good in the house, they eat insects. 
• African women sit with their legs strait out and bend from their hips not their knees. 

This has been your South Africa Update. ;0)

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South Africa Update: Rump Strips

Word today is that Dad has lost his mind. He has been eating and drinking things far from his usual meat, potatoes and beer. Who knows how long this might last. Next thing we'll hear is that he loves pasta, cheese and garlic (actually, he does like garlic, he just doesn't know it). Susan messaged me that she and Dad were eating something called "biltong" and drinking orange, mango and pawpaw juice. What I'm wondering is what else might be in that juice. 

According to Wikipedia:

"Biltong is a kind of cured meat that originated in South Africa. Many different types of meat are used to produce it, ranging from beef through game meats to fillets of ostrich from commercial farms. It is typically made from raw fillets of meat cut into strips following the grain of the muscle, or flat pieces sliced across the grain. It is similar to beef jerky in that they are both spiced, dried meats, but differ in their typical ingredients, taste and production process. The word biltong is from the Dutch bil ("rump") and tong ("strip" or "tongue")."

Mmmm, yum. <Blech>

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South Africa Update: Baboons in the House

Susan messaged me in the very wee hours last night (for me 3 am, 10 am for her) — they had stayed in the mountains overnight on their way to Kloof and had an early morning visitor in the form of a hungry baboon. Said baboon apparently stole some stole bread then proceeded to eat it while sitting on a rock just outside a window while the amazed humans watched as they ate their own breakfast.

The alleged thief then slid of the rock ... not sure what happened to him/her next as that was it for the story — except for a weird lesson in afrikaans vocabulary which then followed:

"Mooi = pretty or attractive"

I will keep that in mind Susan. Thanks.

Then I was told that baboons with "big prominent red arses are female." Which, of course, has to be true. Mother nature is a wicked woman.

Till next time. This has been your South African Update.

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From the Land of the Long White Cloud

More photos swiped from Karen's Facebook album (thanks cousin!).

Here's Karen with her mum, sister-in-law Kelly, and the visiting Gordon and Sarah. And one of poor Thorvin who apparently broke his elbow going backwards on a scooter at school. He doesn't seem all that upset about it though, and according to his grandmum Linda, he's already planning new tricks on his skateboard!

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Out of the Snow and into the Heat

Well, I've had a few text messages from Susan and it seems that she and Dad (Dave/Davie) have survived the 17-18 hour trip to South Africa. Apparently they stopped in Dakar late Saturday night (US east coast time) to refuel ... the plane and, hopefully, the passengers.

The plan was to spend the (last) night in Johannesburg with Lindsay and his son Dave. Today they'll travel south to Lindsay and Angela's home in Kloof, just outside Durban. 

Today's temperature in Kloof is 82 degrees, with a "real feel" of 91 — a  far cry from the "real feel" of 30 in Swedesboro, NJ .

Will keep you posted.

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Big Mack in the hizzouse

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Mack.3gp (408 KB)

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Snow daze

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Only in the North ... So You Think

Okay, so we didn't get the feet of snow that some of you in New Jersey/Pennsylvania have gotten, but 3-4 inches is pretty significant for this part of the country — and maybe more crippling. The south just doesn't do snow like the north. For instance, there are no salt shacks to fill the trucks to spread and melt the icy roads. And yesterday I had to school co-workers on how to scrape the windshields of their cars with credit cards (no one here has a scraper in their car!). Our newspaper wasn't even delivered today! (Yet, my co-workers will still have to go into work today — boy did I pick the right Saturday to ask off or what?!)

As for Chris and I, we did what all northern-born-and-bred folks do: lived life as normal despite the white stuff. Well, except for running around taking photos all night and morning, but I do that anyway. Here's a couple. For more, go to skyeandraine.com.

Also, check out my photoblog.

Slainte.

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Glad I live in Atlanta now!

From the looks of the north, it's been a heck of a winter so far. Here's what Susan just sent me:

From: Susan Milne

Sent: Tue, February 9, 2010 1:04:22 PM
Subject: FW: Snow pix

Pictures from last weekend’s snow fall – and another foot or more predicted for tonight into tomorrow night!  

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