Simondium's Country Lodge Paarl

... of the house.

We eventually left, although they didnt want us to go, and I had a really nice time, it changed my mind about them and I think a good tour shows you them in the right light. These people are doing the best they can, because of the apartheid they are there and now cant afford to leave, but there was a really friendly community atmosphere, and I didnt feel bad taking pictures as they were taking picture of me!

... during bad weather. This gets really problematic because by missing doses, it gives the TB a chance to mutate and become resistant to the drungs. When a person misses too many doses (or if they have contacted TB for a 2nd time) then they have to receive a different course of medication, which includes two months of a daily injection and 8 months of the pills. Talk about a long, intense treatment plan! Anyway, I only stayed in the TB room for an hour or so ...

... nother smile. I know this sounds * bit confusing, but it is the perfect ex*mple of wh*t h*ppened *fter we wrote the l*st blog : First we went b*ck to school, unfortun*tely, with lower expect*tions, *nd second we met our "Adventure Pl*nner", but I'll st*rt with school first. The situ*tion definitely got to us... this downw*rd spir*l, this tendency to be me*n, this *d*pt*tion of wh*t w*s "right". In the end we broke it down m*them*tic*lly *nd the common denomin*tor in the entire equ ...

... than just presents) we wanted to celebrate Christmas in a very special way "A Nederburg Christmas" We have set up a donation page connected to our Travel Pod website. We are planning on celebrating a Nederburg Christmas with the students. Now we know that it is impossible to give every student a Christmas present... though we would love to... we wanted to open up the possibility to anyone who may want to have the opportunity to help bring a touch of the Christmas spirit to ...

... S. carryon restrictions for liquids we couldn't bring any back.  After the tasting, we continued on, stopping in Franschhoek, a delightful little town, to browse the shops and enjoy a terrific lunch of soup, sandwiches and wine, at Traumerei Coffee Shop & Restaurant.  After lunch, we toured Stellenbosch, which is a university town with an traditionally Afrikaans university, including a brief stop at the Oom Samie se Winkel (Uncle Sam's Shop) general store, which sells anything ...

... our bags and possessions. But then we started trying to talk to them. They speak little to no English, but many speak Afrikaans and some of the volunteers are taking Afrikaans course. We know the basics. But there are things that language doesn't hinder. We were showing them handshakes and other games. We took pictures (OMG, they love cameras... that could entertain them for years) and shared our water and food with them. It was the first time I got to really communicate with the ...

... the ledge without help this time, eager to get started. I had my camera with me, I hadn't left it with Emma, although I had left her my bag before skipping off with a "Bye Mummy". I was able to get some pictures of me going over the edge, taken by Chib, the third guy, who hadn't been there when I went down this morning. This time I took longer, savouring it more. When I got to the overhang, I decided that I would like to look out over the bay, so I swung round before I let myself ...

... in the water. As we rounded the Sentinel again however and came into the bay the sea grew calm. We saw tiny box jelly-fish around the boat. Neil added them to the list of strange animals he's seen while here in South Africa. It was a beautiful day, not too hot but with golden sun beaming down, taking the whole experience to another level, because things look so much more beautiful and feel so much more enjoyable when it is a warm summer's day ( although it is acutally Autum here ...

... like little boxes. My room is bigger than most of their houses. Our tour guide told us that the families there are still there from when they were forced out of their homes back in the 1600s. The kids walked around on the dirty streets in their bare feet. Their grocery store was just a tiny little shack on the corner. The truly amazing thing is that even though these people didn't have very much, the kids and the people are seriously the happiest people I have ever met. The kids were ...

... Brandon pushed me off.

The surreal feeling of falling is all I remember. I didn't like it. Luckily it didn't last for very long. Finally I stopped swinging and found myself still semi-screaming and gasping for breath. Then came the slow winch back up to the top. I quite liked that bit. I got a very different view of the waterfall from there and all around me was lush natural beauty. Finally I was back at the top of the fall. As Brandon released me from the swing rope I felt it ...