Ok so sorry for the lack of blog
entries but I have been busy being a glob trotter.
Annnyways so there I was in Jo'burg
with no license and the next 4 weeks in Africa came crashing down
around me. I wasn't going to see Lesotho anymore nor Botswana and
Namibia well that was still kinda on the cards when I thought hey
lets just fly there. Luckily I didn't as I would have been stuck in
Windhoek with nothing to do.
I decided that I will fly down to Port
Elizabeth as I have family down there and I would be able to get
around the place a bit and one of my Uncles had a car down there I
could use in and around the city. Yup all illegal and stuff I know.
Anyways I ended up staying with one of my mums Cousins for a bit and
kinda fell into their routines as we went around town to Gymnastics
and Karate with the kids. These kids are amazing in their sports and
kinda made me feel like the big fat lazy sloth. Which after a while
of thinking I was actually really ok with, I don't like to sweat.
We also went to a park on the edge of
the city called
Kragga Kamma Game Reserve which pretty much is just a
big farm with wild animals walking around the place. I know in
African terms having a game farm pretty much within the city limits
isn't a strange notion but to little old me from tiny old New Zealand
it was kinda like hey you have some Giraffes over there ,oh and that
Cheetah wondering around too. We probably spend about a couple of
hours in this park just driving around and have a snack at the rest
area in the middle of the park. I try and go and see African animals
every time I get to go to the Republic and having been born there it
shouldn't really be a big deal for me. However I love watching all of
them just going about their business as if nothing has changed in
the last 500 years. I still cant decide which African animal is my
favourite. The elephant is very high up on that list so is the
Giraffe and I do like the donkeys in PJ's too.
After spending sometime with my mums
Cousins family I went to stay with my cousin Gideon for the majority
of my remaining time in the Republic. We ended up going to the beach
one day by a Valley near the CBD that I have fond memories of. 'Happy
Valley' and no to my Kiwi counter parts its not the landfill in NZ
this is a magical place of wonder, hopes and dreams. Well it use to
be now your lucky if you don't get raped or so I'm told. However Happy
Valley like the name suggest is in fact a valley with a little stream
running through it. Somewhere back in its history it provided the
settlers with water now you probably get
Gonorrhea from it. The Happy
part in the name refers to the fact that it use to have little
sculptures of all your favourite child hood stories hiding under trees
here and there all along a path. Also from memory you use to be able
to push a button and some of them moved and a speaker told you the
story.
But these days you get a Pumba and half of Timon and some of
the other characters have also been violated in someway. However I
told the touchy man no and went for a wonder down Rapers alley to
relive my child hood.
I also went to visit Van Der Merwe HQ
in Kirkwood and surveyed the happenings there. While in Kirkwood I
went to visit a former Mrs Van and her class room to speak about NZ
and the shakes that we seem to have acquired. I started speaking in
Afrikaans as you do when in a class room in Africa and the kids told
me no you have to speak English and I asked why? It turned out they
wanted to laugh at my accent at which point I reminded them of a
little rugby game they lost. Yes yes I was picking on a bunch of 10
year olds not my proudest moment. After speaking to them and answering
all the their question for about an hour they had to write an essay
on what I have said. I'm just waiting on some copies to be sent to me
and I might post them on here mind you they are all writtin in
Afrikaans though. However I thought it was pretty cool as I have
never been a essay topic.
Well the rest of my time in PE seemed
to have gone really quickly I met some awesome people and had some
fun nights out at my new local bar Manhattans. FYI if your ever in
Port Elizabeth go to Manhattans and order a Manhattan Milkshake, I
named it and it was created at my request for a chocolate drink om
nom nom nom. Oh I also went to Grahamstown to visit the Doctor who I
haven't seen in like 16 years. She is a year younger then me and we
use to play barbies together as kids … and my mum didn't know? But
yeah it was amazing to catch up with old and new faces in the
Republic and I really can't wait to go back.
Oh I also went
and rode on an elephant but I'll blog about that in my next post ….
ciao
I spend about 20min on the elephant and
thinking about it just makes my arse hurt again. They are by no means
a squish animal and their back bone well let me just say this they
have one. After the ride I got to go for a walk with them around the
bush area which was kinda cool walking right next to them. My last
bit with the Elephant was a photo op and feeding them. They made the
Elephant kneel down so I could sit on its leg and in the process I
got molested by an elephant trunk. When I got to feed them I was
placing food into its trunk maybe a hand full or so and the elephant
gave me a look as if to say “Bitch please is that all I'm getting
for lugging your fat ass around the bush” and he wouldn't put the
food into his mouth until I filled his trunk up. I finished my day
there with a beautiful meal in a tent like structure surrounded by
native bush. In the end I think it was well worth the sore arse and
the long drive, next time however I will book a room there and stay
the night.
