Lagoon Beach Hotel & Apartments Hermanus

... but the table next to us pulled out a surprise victory at the last minute. That night, as we lay in bed, there was a ruckus in the walls of our room. We were unsure if rats, dussies, or drunk people were causing the noise. All of a sudden, a scary looking cat appeared in a hole in the corner of the wall that we hadn’t noticed before. It then jumped onto Brittany’s bed and tried to sleep with her. This was the first cat that Brittany ...

... was poor so when they shouted for you to go down you only saw the green water until the shark was slamming into the cage! The shear thrill of seeing a huge great white from the boat was intense, being in the water with them was mind blowing. Our hearts were racing but we were too excited to be terrified. It wasn't until you were back on shore that you exhaled a sigh of relief. In total we ...

... for a run along the esplanade that stretches all the way from Camps Bay (and beyond) to the Waterfront shopping complex. The whole route winds around the coast and has amazing views. Still feels a little insecure as not familiar with the environment, but was good to stretch the legs. Monday am Al had another surf...a much more satisfying one this time. We then packed up and dropped the keys back to David. David was away so we met his Father. He is a very friendly ...

... We had a wonderful time tasting many superb wines (including a true French wine tasting) with wonderful food. We were spoilt rotten by the family taking us on beach braai's (bbq's), a river cruise, sundowners on the beach (always starting with a brilliant champagne or cap clasique), an amazing and very special Christmas and new year, dinners at fancy restaurants with brilliant views and always making us feel at home.

... it and shouted 'More! More!' from the rooftops. The rest of us (me) cringed. Tim is now the talk of the hostel. An Irishman asked me: 'is he gay?', before I could confirm he was indeed homosexual, a Brisbane doctor interjected, 'yeah mate, he's camp as Christmas, gay as they come. Jan from Belgium told me'. This might not be strictly true, but I think some questions are being asked of Tim. I'm happy to play along as long as I'm not cast as his gay lover. Ironically ...

... nearly-48-hour-straight binge of packing our west**n life into two small storage crates in a frozen, snowy Denv** fades like a bad dream as well. We're in Africa! Prepared for extreme culture shock, the transition is surprisingly simple. Ev**yone is black, except for the tourists, and once out of tourist land, ev**yone is black, except for us. Remarkably, this simply feels normal, and th**e is no feeling of being surrounded by black people, just surrounded by ...

... my finger, and took a picture. That wasn't quite enough though, so all of us hopped over the masses of kelp that had washed up onto the rocks so we could get our feet into the ocean. The water was quite cold, so we didn't stay long, just long enough to take pictures of each other before heading up to the Cape of Good Hope sign for pictures before heading to Cape Point. We piled back into the rikkie again and ten minutes later, were at the point ...

... off, and the blackened shrubs and grasses were showing the fresh, brilliant verdance of new growth. We spent the night at a homey B & B in Ficksburg, South Africa's cherry capital. During the following morning's walk to take in the town's notable sandstone architecture, we happened upon the local headquarters of an HIV educational outreach program. During our chat with Vicent, the local coordinator, we learned that the local infection rate among the at-risk population is a hard ...

... alarms before retiring for the night, Cape Town has a much more relaxed feel to it. I do not feel as if I am going to be mugged every time I turn around, which was a bit of the feeling in Pretoria. One of the things I found rather surprising is that it is not terribly warm here in the Cape area. It is a place I need both my sweater for warmth and my jacket to break the wind. Maybe it is the humidity; however, it certainly feels cooler than Kamloops does in its ...

... began to be about distracting myself from my truth. I was running on empty. I was spinning my wheels with the emergency brake locked. I will never forget the day that Everything changed. My body, mind and heart had shut down for so long then all in one moment, the dam broke. I sensed that I was in so deep that something drastic had to happen. Nothing I had mattered anymore. Something was very wrong but I realised that if I could not put my finger on the problem, I couldn't change ...