My sister B pointed out that I have not updated my blog in a while, so having been suitably reprimanded, I will update it now.
Things have been rather hectic the last few weeks, hence my blog being neglected. The week prior to the Easter vac at DUT was fraught with tension, as the student union were conducting riots which became increasing more violent with rock throwing, intimidation, marching and singing by students who were in turn chased by police with rubber bullets, tear gas and a water cannon.
Oh well, just another day in SA. The rioting resulted in the campus being closed until the 6 April.
In the meantime, I had made a decision to resign from my job as a Clinical Tutor at DUT to take up a permanent job as a radiographer once again. I was due to start on 6 April only, and since I finished up at DUT on 26 March, HTB and I did our usual road trip thing.
We duly departed on Saturday the 27 April for the Drakensberg. We camped at Mahai camp for one night. On the Sunday morning we did a nice easy hike and returned to pack up camp after lunch time to head off to out next stop.
Our next stop was Secunda in Mpumalanga. Now I have only been to Secunda a few times, and the only reason I go there is to visit family (no offence to said family). HTB has bad memories of Secunda as the last time we went there were involved in a minor car accident resulting in HTB and my father sustaining sternum fractures. The car was a right off – much to HTB’s eventual delight, as it was a shitty little golf, and he has since upgraded to a Subaru Forester!!
Anyway, I am now digressing. We were on our way to say goodbye to Sister B and her husband as they were leaving for the UK, probably for good. We arrived at Secunda in the dark, we were able to navigate with the aid of the garmin and the Sasol smokestacks and flames, and it looked like Dante’s inferno and smelt like a petrol refinery. Well, that is because it is one very large petrol refinery.
We arrived in one piece, caught up on all the news and gossip etc...Had a nice supper with some wine of course, thereafter we retired to bed. The next morning after a scrummy breakfast, we said our goodbyes and set off for our next destination: Badplaas.
We arrived in Badplaas and set up camp. HTB got a fire going to braai some chicken kebabs and potatoes, while I drank wine and made a salad. The campsite was full of families for the holidays, including a group of 5 teenage boys who were camping without adult supervision.
These little darlings proceeded to run around singing a song that went something like this:
“We are boys and we do what we like. We smoke till we are high. Drink till we are drunk. And if you don’t like it you can f**k off and die” Charming!! After supper, we retired to out tent. HTB was already asleep, I was about to drift off, when I heard to adolescent male voices giggling next to out tent, then a huge bang! The little darlings had let off a huge firecracker next to out tent. HTB, who did national service, woke up in a total daze thinking he had gone back in time and that gunshots had been fired. I must confess I though the same. HTB then asks me to go investigate. I politely declined and reminded him, that since he is the man, he must get up and go investigate. This he does rather begrudgingly, however the perpetrators have long since run off.
The next morning, the 5 teenage boys looked like likely suspects. Now, for those of you that don’t know, HTB is a university lecturer, and has many years experience as a schoolmaster. Once a schoolmaster, always a schoolmaster. He ambles down to the boys who are loitering by their camp, and informs them he is investigating into the firecracker issue. He takes down their names, which the campsite is registered under, the camp site number, etc… They all deny setting off the firecracker. HTB then tells them that the whole campsite overheard their song, including families with small children, and asks them if they would please like to repeat the song. They all look very embarrassed, and I can barely keep a straight face. He finds out which school they go to and promises that he will call their headmaster and report their behavior. About half an hour later, 3 of the 5 boys approach us to apologise for singing the song, they tell us that they are good kids, and they just got out of hand and shake HTB’s hand. They deny all knowledge of the fire cracker (2 of the boys did not apologies – so we suspect them – they were also suspected by the security guards) we part on good terms and all is forgiven.
After all that fiasco we head of to swim in all the pools, and take a turn on the super tube. That was fun, and I want to have another go, but HTB is chicken because he is too big (100KG) and nearly went over the edge of the super tube slide!! Once we have tried all the pools – we pack up and head of to our next stop: Hoedspruit
Friends of HTB live and teach at a private school in the bush in Hoedspruit. We are impressed with the Limpopo province. It is well run, clean, orderly, has good roads, no litter and polite taxi drivers. Our friends stay in their own home on the school site, and we have free accommodation in the now vacant school hostel accommodation. We spend the next day exploring Hoedspruit. HTB wants to drive to see the air force base – but we are not allowed in – even after he tells the guard he is an ex national service airman – he is still not allowed in.
We then head off to the Cheetah sanctuary and another sanctuary called Moholoholo. This was a real treat. We got close to cheetahs, a leopard, lion and wild dog. They had just got a baby rhino that was so adorable. We saw honey badgers and numerous birds of prey, the best being a bateleur called Jealous who insisted on having his head scratched. HTB took hundreds of photos.
The next day, on route to our next destination, we drove through the Kruger national park. This is the first time that I have been to Kruger and we were lucky enough to see a leopard sunning himself on the rocks next to a river. We spent most of the day driving through Kruger, after which we headed off to meet our friends in Waterval-Boven. This was a nightmare drive. The rain was coming down in buckets and we were driving in pitch dark the road to our destination in Waterval-boven had turned into a muddy quagmire. HTB had to exercise all his 4 by 4 driving skills as the car slid all over the place.
We managed to arrive at the camp site in one piece, and pitched the tent in the rain rather speedily. HTB expressed his wish for some supper – I was not interested and hopped into my sleeping bag and crashed, leaving HTB to sort him out. The next morning it was still raining and we struck camp.
On the next leg of our journey we discovered that the car was acting up, we limped slowly to Ermelo. We took the car to supaquick who confirmed that our wheel alignment was really bad due to the mud that was stuck to our tires. We had to replace 3 of the tires. We found a nice B and B for the night which was quite luxurious after camping in the rain and mud. We each had a long soak in the bath which was heaven, since I had not bathed for the last 24 hours!!
The next morning we took the car to have a final wheel balancing. We took a leisurely drive through northern Natal to our final destination at Lotheni. We arrived in time to set up camp just as the sun was setting, which was beautiful to watch.
While we in the process of setting up camp, it was a bit chilly, so HTB put on his rain jacket. We continued setting up camp, and while doing so realized we kept getting a whiff of cat pee, HTB exclaimed that It must be a serval, however, I realized what the real problem was. I told HTB to smell his jacket, which was reeking of cat pee – and we know exactly who the guilty party was. Our darling Kitty!
For some reason dear kitty loves to pee pee on HTB’s clothes, never mine. HTB promptly removed his jacket along with some choice expletives while I was rolling around on the ground laughing my head off.
We spent 2 nights at Lotheni, leaving on the Sunday, as we were both due back at work on the Tuesday. We planned to have at least a day at home before going to work as I was starting a new job on the Tuesday.
So all in all it was a very good Easter and holiday away.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
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