Jenny'S Bed And Breakfast Melmoth

... then! Our accomodation is two double bunks in a tiny room with whitewashed brick walls.. Just imagine a cell from the series Porridge and you'll get the idea! Clean and basically comfy and it had a power point so I couldn't complain...
Our next destination was Rocky Road in a place called The Crags in Natures Valley... we drove for about an hour or so and finally managed to find it down a little bumpy track with private residence... On arrival ...

... the apron made of goat skin that women wore while pregnant and then the belts they wore after giving birth to help them regain their figure.

After the museum we walked back into town to get some groceries. Like the previous day the town was very busy and the three food shops were just hectic. We went to all three shops in search of the makings of dinner and found it difficult. It is near impossible to buy chicken fillets here (in South Africa). Its rare to find fresh vegetables such as ...

... White Rhino from the brink of extinction.

Today the reserve has over 1600 white rhino in the reserve and has relocated hundreds of these magnificent animals to game reserves around the world. As you can see from the photo we took a tour of the captive center, they take animals from the wild and sell them to other parks. The cost of a while rino is about $260,000 less shipping and handling!

... perhaps back in Brussels, or maybe a short term piece of work in the UK. So that just leaves me to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I will do a few more updates of the blog here and there but it'll be more or less idling along until the end of Jan beginning of February when I'll probably put the blog to bed. But who knows, maybe this is something that will continue... Love, Martin

... hostel is a collection of rondavels (round-houses) which are crazily decorated to match the eccentricity of the permanent residents. The owner, Brad, and ex-cop and self-proclaimed white Zulu, showed up later with Mark and his Indian girlfriend Latoya in tow. I naively assume that since these people of different races live and work together, that they must get on. Wrong. Within minutes Faith and Brad are arguing about politics, apartheid and ...

... that we ended up staying three days and going on one morning walk and one sunset drive. On the morning walk we saw baboons, wildebeest, waterbuck, hippos and crocodiles. The hippos were particularly interesting. These were the first hippos seen on this trip that were moving around (all others were under water or sleeping). These hippos ...

... a pizza. We had some good red wine and went home content but sad it was our last night. We had such a great time with Venessa and Mark. It was really relaxing being at their house and great to catch up with them again. We think they should move to Aus/NZ now or at least visit us there- hint hint guys...

Venessa and Mark have a cleaning lady (as do all South Africans) called Mavis. She spends 1 day mowing the lawns and the next day cleaning the house inside. She has a cheerful personality, is well- built, has a BIG smile, speaks zulu and always has bare feet. She covers her skin with mud to protect her from the sun. She can lift sofas with ease and likes jam sandwiches. Mavis was a legend!

Our flight out of Durban was at 14h50 and we spent the final morning with our families. We started out early and met Dirk and Sandy at The Deck restaurant along the beach-front for breakfast. Being Easter Sunday there was a hive ...

... can't be beaten. We were up at 5:30am today and were at Haslemere Dam by 7am. Craig's brother's girlfriend has a ski-boat. What a way to spend a day! Fantastic. There is a lot of Game at the dams now and we saw, impala, zebra and Wilderbeest. We are leaving for the Drakensburg Mountains tomorrow for four nights. We are staying in a timeshare called Castle Burn. All in all we are having a great time here catching up with friends and family!