Happy 2016!

Hello everyone and happy 2016 to you! I had such high hopes that I would maybe get time to blog a bit during the festive season, but as you can tell from my silence, that didn't happen. Instead, I had a fantastic holiday, celebrating Christmas with family and visiting Frosty's farm and hiking in the berg over New Year and spending some time at Hole in the Wall in the Transkei.

At Mpame in the Transkei.

While all of these things were fantastic, there was something even more exciting that happened the Saturday before our holiday came to an end. Most of you will have heard some version of the story, but here it is for those of you that haven’t.

I started the day off with a trip to Durban with my mum to go and celebrate the baby shower of one of my best friends from school. Since we live so far away from each other, it is always an extra special treat to see her and even more of a treat to see her as a mum-to-be*! While we were catching up, Jen asked me when I thought Frosty and I might be tying the knot and I replied that it was likely to be in the next year or two probably and we weren’t in a rush. With all the chatting and catching up with everyone at the baby shower, the time seemed to fly by and all too soon we started off on our way back home. I was so sad to have to say goodbye, especially since we were leaving before the end of the party, but mum was keen to get going back home and since she had mentioned that she wasn’t feeling so good earlier I didn’t put up too much of a fight.

The entire way home, mum kept on commenting on how she hopes we get back before the bad weather set in, so that I could go birding with Frosty that afternoon. She usually doesn't mind what the weather is like, but that day she was particularly concerned that we get back before the rain. I thought it was a little strange and thought that something must be up.

Now, to put you in the picture, while we had been at Hole in the Wall, the one morning Frosty and I went for an early morning swim with my folks. My dad got out of the water quite quickly after getting in and soon after that I saw Frosty heading out after him. “Ahhh, he’s gone to keep my dad company and be friendly, what a good guy”, I thought. Eventually mum and I returned to the beach and dad then asked me to take a walk back up to the cottage with him. I waited the whole walk for dad to say something profound and deep, as he’d sounded like he wanted to chat with me all by myself. By the time we had reached the cottage, dad still hadn't said anything. I started getting a bit suspicious at this point, as I guessed that if dad hadn't wanted to talk to me about anything, then that must mean that Frosty had wanted to talk to my mum (and dad) about something. I started having a few suspicions about what that something was, but decided to not get too hopeful.

Anyway, mum and I arrived back to Hilton safely and I organised for Frosty to come collect me so that we could go birding. He’d asked me the day before if I’d like to go birding at Hilton College, as there were lots of birds there and I might be able to tick off some new birds on my bird list. I started getting a bit more suspicious at this point, but again decided not to get my hopes up in case it really did turn out to be just a trip to go and see some new birds...

So, off we went to Hilton and Frosty chatted nicely the whole drive there. We had never gone birding at Hilton together before and so he pointed out all the places where he had crashed and where he had gone exploring and where Willie had beat him in a race uphill even though he (Willie) was using only one leg and Frosty was allowed to use both! We (Frosty) decided to go to Beacons lookout point as it was a place that Frosty used to visit often while he was at school and he went birding there quite often. Along with all the stories he told me during the drive, he also mentioned that his grandfather’s ashes had been scattered at Beacons. The entire drive there I was listening, and the important stories all stood out to me (I had heard a few before luckily), but in the back of my mind I was wondering if this was the time that Frosty was going to ask me something important. I decided to just take the afternoon as it came and made up my mind to not be too disappointed if all we ended up doing was going birding. 

View from Beacons Lookout Point

We got to Beacons and were treated to a view of overcast skies, cloudy and moody above Albert Falls Dam. It really was a beautiful sight and after admiring the view, we decided to try and get to the actual beacon - a few minutes and a sighting of a rather mean looking fence later, we decided to rather take a walk along one of the forest paths. We tried really hard to find some birds, but the incoming bad weather had ensured that all the birds were hiding...All this time I was enjoying the birding but also watching Frosty carefully to see if he was acting strangely. He seemed to be sighing every now and then but otherwise he was his usual self, so I still didn't want to get my hopes up that something was up.

After finding a few brave birds who had ventured out into the forest, we turned back and again spent some time standing on top of rocks, looking for birds at the Beacons viewpoint. It was while we were standing, just admiring the view, that Frosty went down on one knee and asked me to marry him and just like that, we were engaged!

As we sat chatting, overlooking the valley and just enjoying being together, I asked Frosty how long he'd been planning this whole thing and who was in on the plan. It turns out that while I was travelling in Rio he used the time to start looking into rings and talking to jewellers and for those few months, the only people other than him that knew his plan were his folks. It turns out my suspicions that Frosty has been asking my folks something at Hole in the Wall also turned out to be correct (my folks and his folks did such a good job at hiding their excitement over that time that I started to second guess myself at that point). 

Anyway, a glass or two of champagne and some snacks later, we made our way back to Hilton where as many of our family as possible had gathered to celebrate our engagement with us, which was just the best end to the day! Frosty and I were both so excited and thankful to have our family join us in celebrating our first evening as an engaged couple and it means so much that we were able to celebrate with them! Thank you family who were able to be there and those who weren't there were missed!

We're engaged!

The following day we had some more celebrations with family and friends who lived close by and one of the best treats of the day was getting to see my special friend Jen for the second day in a row! Since most of these friends live far away from us, it was again, an extra special time and one that I won't soon forget!

Special families! (Thanks Chezie for putting on your photographer hat!)

The jong-span (thanks mum for getting these pics!).

It's now been 3 weeks since we got engaged and in that time a lot has happened - we got to celebrate with my Cape Town family, work started off with a bang and I've just spent a week in the Czech Republic doing a workshop for a new project, which is really exciting! I have to say that I'm really looking forward to planning a little something to celebrate with our Cape Town contingent, who we haven't had much of a chance to see yet.

It really was the most fantastic way to end off the holiday and so, here's to a new year, a new adventure and a new fiancé - I think 2016 is going to be a good year!

*She and her husband recently welcomed a baby girl into the world, yippee!

Namibia Travels: Wrap Up

For those who have been following me, you'll know that Frosty and I recently went on a camping holiday to Namibia in March. I thought it would be pretty useful to do a quick round up of the various practical aspects on the trip and some useful tips.

So here's my wrap up of our Namibia trip. If you've missed the previous posts, clik on the following links:
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6

Costs: 

• Remember N$1 = R1
• Average Price per Night Camping: +- N$ 100 - 200 per person.
• Other costs: if you're camping in some sort of reserve, you will probably need to pay another N$100 - N$150 for a permit to drive around the reserve.
• Budget on about R1 - R1.50 per km that you'll be travelling.
• When you get to the border, you'll pay around R200/N$200 for road taxes.
• Try to buy and cook your own food, it'll probably work out to about the same that you would normally spend on food for the time period you'll be camping.

Food:

• Breakfasts: Coffee and rusks.
• Lunches: tomatoes, cold meat, butter and ryvitas along with a piece or two of fruit.
• Dinners: Braai, salad/quick fried baby cabbage and potatoes or garlic bread (normal bread with garlic and butter inside).
• Snacks of nuts, chips, leftovers from the previous day.

Other Useful Stuff:

• Documentation (and a file to store it all) that you'll need at the border - this is what we used, but do a bit of research as it may change.
• A pen and some paper - often the border posts won't have pens, and it's much easier if you can whip out your own pen to write with.
• Make sure your spare tyre is pumped up. We were lucky and I only lost a hubcap. But you don't want to be stranded in the middle of Namibia with no spare tyre, as lots of the roads are dirt.
• If you're into your photography, bring along your camera stuff. Namibia is an incredibly photogenic country! Try to limit yourself to one, multi-purpose lens*, because you don't want to be changing lenses in the middle of a sandstorm.
• Take a set of socks for every day that you think you'll be wearing socks, and then add a few extra pairs for luck. Walking around with half the desert in your shoes isn't great.
• Take as little camping stuff as possible when you have to unpack and re-pack every day.
• A little dustpan and brush is useful for keeping your tent relatively clean. And put a brick of soap into your tent when you wrap it up to keep it smelling fresh!

Do you have any tips for when you're camping? I'd love to hear them in the comments below!

* If anyone wants to sponsor me this Tamron lens with a Nikon mount, I would be more than willing to accept!

Namibia Travels: Part 6

Day 9 and 10:
After getting buffeted by wind and spending the entire night thinking that the wind was going to blow us and our tent to Timbuktu, I was super relieved when the alarm went off at 4:45 am, indicating that we could wake up, get dressed and set off to see the sunrise in the desert along with all the other crazy people early birds. 

Sunrise in Sossusvlei - just too beautiful!

Silhouette of tree being held up by Frosty.

This is the grass that all those animals survive on...in the middle of a desert!

The sun getting ready to show her face...

Peeking over the distant mountains

The first rays of sun, sneaking over the ground sand (and grass patches).

We decided to go back to Dune 45 for sunrise. This time we didn't climb the dune, but meandered around in front of it. We eventually made our way to a smaller dune next door that had only Frosty and I on it, instead of the miriad of tourists that were scrambling up Dune 45, looking like an army of little ants patrolling up the edge, one-by-one.

I love the ripples that the sand makes, enhanced by the shadows.
Frosty likes that the ripples are usually straight, but then sometimes
branch out to join with other ripples.

You wouldn't guess it from our shadows, but those dunes are pretty tall!

More ripples in the sand.

Taking pictures of pictures.

Grass and dunes.

Frosty with his coffee (that tasted horrible because of
the off milk that I put in!

Ripples and dunes, I really like this pic and how the ripples disappear into the depths of the sand.

Light and shade.

I think he found an interesting sand grain!

After watching the sun come up, we headed back to the end of the road and caught one of the 4x4 shuttles who took us a little bit further into the desert and dunes. We got dropped off at a car park, in the middle of the desert, full of 4x4 vehicles, so at least we knew we were in the right place. We seemed to have missed the memo that we were meant to hike all the way into the dunes with a minute bottle of water in our hands to keep us hydrated, which was what the majority of our fellow tourists seemed to be doing. After spending a bit of time walking around and people watching, we caught a shuttle back to the (non 4x4) car park and eventually camp-site. 

We found this beetle burrowing it's way into the cool sand.

Early morning selfies

Those little black speckles at the top of the dune - they're people!

Woohoo - some of the people who braved the early morning
hike up the dune running down once the sun had risen!

Tree and sand in the middle of no-where

Some dried mud - who would have thought that something so dry and cracked could
be so pretty?

Life in the middle of the desert.

Exploring the dunes before breakfast.

Before setting off in the morning, I had tried to do the camping-thing and make us some coffee savour while the sun rose, but somehow the milk inside one of our milk cartons had gone bad and so we ended up pouring our coffee to the ground and making some more when we got back to the camp site. After a second, successfully made cup of coffee and some rusks for breakfast, we started off on our loooong drive all the way to Hobas.

We found some giraffes on our drive to Hobas

These guys were a bit shorter than the giraffes we're used to
seeing - I guess shorter food makes for smaller animals.

Lunch at Canyon Roadhouse

Take some time to take a wonder and admire all the old cars they have lying around

For those of you who follow me on Instagram - here's the colour version :)

We were originally aiming to spend 2 nights in Ai-Ais, to avoid having to put up and take down the tent again, but after close on 8 hours of driving and a delicious lunch at the Canyon Roadhouse we decided that it would be better to just stay at the Hobas Camp Site one night, save ourselves an extra hour of driving and then go through to Ai-Ais the next day. So after finishing off a leisurely lunch, we only had to drive a few km to get to Hobas Camp Site. After checking in we went straight to the viewpoint of the Canyon (which is close to the start of the Fish River hike) and had a quiet sundowners before setting up camp.

Panoramic pic taken by Frosty of the Canyon

Fish River Canyon at sunset - beautiful!

The moon and clouds on our way home were also just too spectacular - always look behind you when admiring a view, you might find a view just as good in the other direction!

More sunset pics - I was astounded that the viewpoint was so deserted, but definitely
not complaining.

Say cheese!

The next day were got up and went to have our breakfast of coffee and rusks at the Canyon Viewpoint. We did a bit of exploring and found the starting place for the Fish River hike, as well as another viewpoint that you would ideally want a 4x4 to get to. Luckily my little Ford is a wannabe 4x4 and Frosty is a somewhat crazy farm boy! We managed to bump our way across a rather scary road without too much of an incident. 

We found these padlocks locked onto the chain at the start of the Fish River walk.
Just a tiny chain, held up by two poles and a scarily steep climb to get to the
bottom of the canyon - hopefully one day we'll get a chance to do this walk.

Playing around with black and white pictures of the canyon.

Spiky red plant that we found while exploring one of the other
view points in the morning.

Another black and white view of a different part of the canyon

The one thing we had fun doing at the Hobas Camp Site when we got back from our breakfast, was a bit of birdwatching. We had a lovely time stalking the birds with our bino's and my camera, trying not to spill our second cup of coffee for the morning. All too soon, it was time to say goodbye to Hobas and set off for Ai-Ais.

When we arrived at Ai-Ais I let Frosty do some of the unpacking while I stalked off to get pics
of some of the many Swallow-tailed Bee-eaters in the camp site. I think this was probably my
sharpest shot, but I think the ones below are more interesting.

I caught this little guy (or gal) in action and after a bit of editing, I'm pretty chuffed with the
final result!

It was only an hour's drive this time, which was a bonus, probably our shortest day in the car. Even so, I napped for half our trip there and only woken up a few km before the entrance! I have to say, I was a little disappointed with Ai-Ais in terms of the cleanliness of the place. Our camp site was messy, with glass on the floor and there were little piles of rubbish spotted around the entire resort. That being said, the buildings/flats looked pretty nice and I think they would have had a lovely view! When we found the hot spring that is in the middle of the resort, Frosty popped his finger in it and verified that the temperature was very warm. We couldn't swim in the actual hot spring, but we went and spent some of our afternoon in the pool, which was lovely and warm and I could feel all my travel-worn muscles instantly loosening up! It brought out the water baby in me, I could have happily spent all night in that water just soaking up the warmth! Instead we wandered down to the river and had a lovely time watching the sky be painted like a watercolour painting, turning from blue to purple-orange-pink as the sun went down. Not a bad way to end off our trip at all!

If you look carefully, you'll see what was on the menu for the bee-eaters' dinner!

I had a good model in this birdy.
This pic of it all puffed up was just too cute!

If you read the sign at the back, you'll see why there is
a big fence around the actual hot spring!

Taking a stroll down the river for sundowners and some final bird watching.

The colours of the sky as the sun went down were really incredible, I don't think these pics
do it enough justice.

Final rays before darkness fell.

If you'd like to read about the rest of the trip, click on the links to read and see photos from Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5.