Erika & Jared

After having friends and family as guests for the last  3 weeks, we finally had a Saturday to ourselves.  So we started conquering our project list.  After spending a couple of hours installing a ceiling fan for our tenant, Jared helped me come to the realization that it would be more cost effective if I let him work on his computer projects and we pay someone to come in and do our projects for us.

So I will be calling a handyman tomorrow to see when we can get the work on our master bedroom/bathroom going.  I can help when I have the time and we should hopefully move the project along much faster than it has been going.  YEAH!!!

Kudos to Jared, the ceiling fan looks and works great!

I have finally finished posting a very brief outline of our trip to South Africa.  I can’t believe it has taken me so long.

We departed Port Elizabeth, South Africa around noon on the 29th of March and arrived home around noon April 1st.  When you add the time difference, we figured that we spent about 32 hours getting home.  It was worth it.  We had a great time and an amazing experience.

Just before midnight on the 29th, Erika wakes me up to say happy birthday!  She just realized that it was still my birthday while filling out the custom’s forms and realized she had forgot to mention it earlier.  It was funny.

Random thoughts and photos from our trip….

Strange Plumbing

Most of the pluming is on the outside of the house.   Water coming in and water going out.

Giraffes Walk Funny

Armored Truck

Take a look at this armored truck and the commando guard that was patrolling the parking lot.

One of the best food stores in South Africa is Woolworth’s.  This was hard to get used to and didn’t match my memories of the Woolworth’s I remember.  We would compare it to Trader Joe’s.

Roaming Guard

We attended church today in Knysna (pronounced Nizna).  It is a small tourist town on the garden route in the West Cape.  The branch had about 36 people and they were all glad to see us.  About half were English transplants / retirees.  The rest were local from a nearby township.  This combination made for very interesting dynamics.  It was interesting to go to church that was controlled completely by the English.

South African Rest Stop

We had to include the photo on the right.  This is a typical South African rest stop.

We stayed the night in Jeffery Bay.  We found a great place on the beach.  It was one of our less expensive and nicest places.  Two sliding glass doors with an all-beach view.  The moon was almost full and the light was reflecting off the Indian Ocean.  You could see the a row of cargo ships on the horizon.  I counted at least 12 at one point.  I had fun playing with Erika’s camera — taking night shots.

Moon at Jeffery Bay

Sunset in Wildernes, SA

Wildernes is a nice small town along the garden route.  We stayed at a small B&B that was owned by a retired Swiss couple.  They were very friendly and we decided to stay another night.  We were warned about how long it takes to be fed at restaurants in South Africa.  Our longest was in Wildernes at just over two hours from the time of arrival until we finally received the bill.  To make things worse, the food wasn’t good either.  We went were all the locals were going.  Guess I ordered the wrong thing.  I have noticed the local food is pretty bland and has a lot of English and Dutch influence (I know, that is were the people came from).

The Heads

The next day we decided to go see ‘The Heads’.  It is a small canal of the ocean that feeds a large bay.  It was picturesque with waves crashing at the base of the cliffs.  We then went to town for more bottled water.  We found a Shop Right grocery store.  It was packed with people from the local township.  We waited in line to pay for at least a 1/2 hour.  We got back to the car and was reminded of a warning Erika’s parents gave us.  Don’t leave anything visible in the car.  We kept all the valuables in the trunk (or boot) and in the glove box.  Someone broke the side passenger window and took our jackets.  I am sure they are not worth the window they broke.  We spent the next few hours finding the local Avis and swapping out our car.  We heard stories, but didn’t think to hide our jackets.

Car Window

Table Mountain on a clear day.

Table Mountain was covered with the ‘table cloth’ for most of the time we were in Cape Town.  The clouds don’t just sit on top of the mountain, but they pour over the mountain.  It is really cool to see.  We decided to climb the mountain even though it was partly covered.  Luckily, just before we got to the top, the clouds on the Cape side cleared and we took a bunch of pictures.  Couldn’t see the North side.  Would have been nice to see the Twelve Apostles peaks and False Bay.  We ate our sack lunch and rode the cable car down.

On our way up Table Mountain

Then we started down the Garden Route.  We had the adventure of looking for, and finding, the most southern tip of the African continent.  The road took us through the country side with very few residents and well-kept dirt roads.  I was surprised, even in the sticks the roads were well marked with big directional signs.  That was very helpful seeing we only had the vague map included in our tour book.

On top of Table Mountain

Southern Most Tip of the African Continent

Cape Point

Here are some pictures from our trip out to the Cape Point.  We drove, what some call, the Cape Loop.  We visited the Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope.  We stopped to look at a colony of Jackass Penguins that recently started nesting in a small town.  We also had great views of the Atlantic.   More on this trip later….

New Lighthouse

Jackass Penguins

On the Cape Loop

Atlantic on the Cape Loop

St. Mary's Episcopal Church

Jared’s great grandfather Samuel Martin emigrated to Cape Town South Africa in the late 1800’s.  We set out to find some landmarks recorded in my great grandfather’s journal.  It was quite an adventure looking for landmarks over 115 years old.

We found the church Samuel and Clair were married in (St. Mary’s Anglican Church in Woodstock).  The approximate location of were they lived (22 Wiliam Street, Woodstock.  Now it is a parking lot for the Woodstock Police Station).

Mission Hall

This is what Samuel called the second Mission Hall.  It is where the early Cape Town saints met. It is a good sized building very close to where Sam and Clara lived.  This building is still being used as a church.

Found Aunt Clara's Grave

Found the cemetery were Aunt Claire was buried. That cemetery is so big, you can see it from the top of Table Mountain.  We went to the office to ask for help with the plat numbers, but the guy just looked at us as if we were crazy.  Thank goodness we got good directions from my Dad’s cousin, Kraig Beckstrand.

Mowbray Chapel

We also found the church in Mowbray.  This land was the site of the mission home when Samuel was the South African mission president.

Zip Line

Today we decided to take a side trip to Tsitsikamma Canopy Tour, the longest zip-line in South Africa.  The tour consisted of 10 different zip-lines, the longest of which was 100 meters (Approximately 300 yards).  The total distance is 1 kilometer (0.6 mile).  The zip-lines were 30 meters above the rain forest floor, good thing we are not too afraid of heights. It took about 3 hours and we truly enjoyed the adrenalin rush.

Here’s the link to their website:  http://www.stormsriver.com/tsitsikamma_canopy_tour

Heading South toward Durban we stopping in Richards Bay.  This area has lots of tree farms to support a very large paper mill in Richards bay.  The deciduous trees are very skinny and tall.

Spices for sale at Victoria's Market.

Durban is a very large city with lots of Indian influence.  We went to Victoria Market, in a way, it was kind of like Pike’s Place in Seattle, a major tourist trap.  They sell spices in big bins.  The entire market place smells like an Indian restaurant.

Can you see the crocodiles?

We spend the next three days in St. Lucia, a small resort community on the beach and near three game reserves.  We went to a park and watched the hippopotamus graze and the crocodile open their mouths.  We went shopping (an activity that would be repeated several times throughout our trip).  After a late lunch we got to go to the beach and wade in the Indian Ocean where Erika put on quite a show.

The next day we made it into Hluhluwe and Maphelana Game Reserves.  It was a fun day of watching for any possible animals, especially the big five (lion, cheetah, elephant, rhinoceros and buffalo (not to be confused with the bison we have in the states).  We saw both the White (or Wide) and Black Rhinoceros, Elephant, Giraffe, Wildebeest, Zebra, Monkeys, Baboons, Kudu, Nyala, Impala, and a Warthog family.  I am sure we are leaving something out.  It was a long day of trying to see who could find the best animals first.  I think Erika won.