| .....OUR TRIP EXPERIENCE |
| 12 December 2004 Today we drove north from Aberdeen along the coast to Peterhead which is known in Scotland as the fishing capital or "Blue Tune". St Combs was the next stop. If you click here you can see some photos of St Combs. While driving through the town we stumbled upon a links golf course and decided to brave driving along side it hoping that no wayward balls would come our way. From here we drove to Fraserburgh and stopped for lunch and a look at the lighthouse. After lunch we moved south to Turriff which had magnificant views of the surrounding landscape. Over the last two days we were hoping to see highland cows and managed to spot a few while driving from Turriff. After Turriff we made our way back to Aberdeen. 11 December 2004 - Woops missed a few days!!! Today we went on a day trip from Aberdeen west along the River Dee in search of Castles and scenery. We pasted through Banchory which is a qaint little place on the River Dee. The sign posting here is frustrating as there is no warning of the tourist spots until you are open them. After we missed the castle we were looking for (Drum Castle) we headed on west to Loch Muick which is the Lachnagar Highlands. We walked around the Loch was absorbed the breath taking views and then decided to go back because it was -2 degrees. From here we headed to Braemar which is a small settlement in hilly country. We had lunch at the Fife Arms Hotel and then headed to the Linn of Dee which is a narrow gorge on the river dee.12 December 2004 17 November 2004 - 21 Sunday 2004 We made our way north via bus to York. York is a beautifull city set within the 4km radius castle wall. We stayed at a bed and breakfast and explored the Yorkshire Dales. 15 November 2004 - 17 November 2004 We made our way north to Manchester and meet up with our friend Fizz. We hit the town for a few drinks and ended up in the gay part of town, Michelle enjoyed it but Des and Fizz were stuck against the wall. 12 November 2004 - 14 November 2004 Stayed with a friend James and his girlfriend Beck in Cambridge. Cambridge is a great place for history, site seeing and restuarants. James and Beck took us punting along the river cam....check out the photos....click here Cheers for the stay James and Beck....check out james website. 5 November 2004 - 12 November 2004 Booked in for a week at a backpackers in Earl Court. Apparently this area is known for its Aussies and Kiwis. Spent the week site seeing. 3 November 2004 Arrived in London and booked into the YHA near St Pauls Cathedral. Spen a few days looking at all the sites London Bridge etc. 6 Oct 2004 Today was an amazing day! We were up at about 8am and headed down to the horse stables to saddle up for a game ride. The horses were all ex race horses and very frisky so we were able to get up a fair bit of speed across the reserve surrounding the park. This was the first time Des had ridden but he took to it like a duck to water, pushing his horse in front of all the others causing it to kick out at all of our horses, typical Des :) It was amazing how close we were able to get to the animals in the park, within metres of antelope, zebra and giraffe, the presence of the horses seemed to calm them, we have some awesome photos that we'll try to get on the site when we get some time. 5 Oct 2004 Today was a late start compareed with other days. We experience first hand the workings of the local markets here. We managed to pick up a few nice stone carving pieces. Soap and toothpaste are important commodities over here and we are able to use them for trading at the markets. After the markets we drove to the outskirts of Gweru to Antelop Park about 4 hours drive. It is a magistic place situated on a local river. In the afternoon we walked with three 18 month old lions. This was awesome. You soon appreciate the power that these animals have. We decided to treat ourselves to a little luxery in a River Tent which has its own bathroom !!!. The river tent which is the size of a small army tent pitched over a tiled base over looks the river. 4 Oct 2004 Today we were up again at 5.30am to make it to the Zim boarder before all the traffic started. It still took us 2 hours to get through. The river between South Africa and Zim is the Limpopo River (no mans land). Alot of illegal immagrients try their luck to cross the river only to be meet by crocs. Our first stop in Zim was Masvingo where we set up camp at the base of the Great Zimbabwe Ruins. This was the first civilisation in Zim which is said to have been settled in the 1500 or 1600's. It is a great site with towering stone walls similar to a castle. For dinner our chef cook a traditional african meal called Sudza (spinich and peanut butter), with maze meal and susages. 3 Oct 2004 Today we were up at 5.30am to drive to Mesina - town before the Zim boarder. Most of the day was spent driving, although we were greeted with a pool once we made it to camp. A hotel was next door so we spent a few hours there playing pool with a few of the local people. 2 Oct 2004 Today we drove North to Graskop. On the way we stopped at the local shopping centre at Hazyview. As we need some money we lined up at the ATM with about 35 people in the line. After about half hour of waiting we were about 10 from the front and it broke. Once we made it to our camp ground, we toured north to the Blyde River Canyon, Burkes Luck Potholes and Gods Window. These are great viewing spots of the surrounding landscape. 1 Oct 2004 Today we toured Kruger National Park. Our entrance to Kruger was from Numbi Gate. Today we saw everything except Lions....damn, hopefully we will get to see some further north (Elephants, White Rino, Giraffs, Antelops, Monkeys, Impalias, Kudu, Hipos etc) It was amazing to see these animals in their natural environment. 30 Sep 2004 Today we started our Overland trip north, first stop being Hazy View on the edge of Kruger National Park. Our guide is a South African girl and we have a Zimbabewian driver and chef. On the truck is three Australians (one from Perth), two Americans a Brit and us. We drove most of the day to Hazyview where we stopped and set up tents. Our chef cooked us a great first meal. 29 Sep 2004 Today we took an open double decker tour bus around Cape Town. We started off at the Waterfront which is similar to Freemantle then toured through the city, up to Table Mountain and then around the bays. The views are magnificient. We then caught our fight from Cape Town back to Jo'berg (1 hour 50mins). When we arrived our transfer drive was no where to be seen. After much heartache we made contact with the Hostel who said the transfer driver was at the airport and will pick us up soon. In true Afican style we waited another hour and a half at a small bakery until he turned up. 28 Sep 2004 Today we started at 7.00am for a brisk stroll down to Cape Town water front. Our friend Dale had managed to get a couple of tickets to Robben Island for a half day trip. Robben Island was a prison from 1650's and the last prisoner left in 1991. We were previleged to be escorted around by a former "Political Prisoner". He took us to Cell Block F which was his cell along with 130 other Political Prisoners. The main political leaders such as Nelson were held in another part of the Prison. Robben Island is an experience not to forget. 27 Sept 2004 This morning we were up at 5am to ensure that we didn't miss our connecting flight to Cape Town, but now we're finally here it was definately worth the hullabaloo (cool word hey) getting here! The Big Blue Backpackers 5 minutes from the Waterfront is a really cool place - a spacious old mansion with a laid back vibe. we met up with Dale and walked down to the waterfront to change some money. The waterfront is a little like Freo for those Perthites, very vibrant and culturally diverse, packed with shops, resturants, pubs and street entertainment. However, a lot of the black African people aren't as friendly as Id expected them to be from reading various books, I keep smiling at everyone but don't seem to get that many back. But as Dale pointed out it would hardly be surprising if they still held a grudge against white people as there has only been a true democracy here for 10 years. Driving to the backpackers from the airport we passed many shanty towns with no sewerage, running water or power, people live in tiny shacks made of tin and anything else they can scavenge that are little bigger than a bathroom, there is so much poverty here and I expect as we head deeper into Africa it will only become worse. After changing money we headed up to the base of Tabletop Mountain in a cab. We had planned to catch the cable car to the top and to walk back down however the line for the car was about a 3 hour wait so we bravely decided to do it the other way around. After we had hiked to the bottom of the Wentworth Falls and back up again in the Blue Mountains Des and I felt we could conquer anything, boy were we in for a surprise! The hike up the mountain took us a gruelling 2 hours and 40 minutes of almost vertical stairs. The walk was 1000 metres straight up and by the last 300 metres we were stopping about every 20 metres to relieve the lactic acid build up in our legs - we're hoping to put some shots of the walk and the view on the site this arvo. Anyway the view from the top was definately worth it as was the sense of achievement of making it to the top. Then after lunch at the top we enjoyed a quick cable car ride to the bottom and returned to the backpackers for a well earned nanna nap. 26 Sept 2004 Today we embarked on our journey. We started from the Central Coast of Sydney at 5:00am to beat the morning traffic of Sdyney. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 10:20am but in true Qantas style we were delayed by 4 hours. First it was the catering, followed closely by the airconditioning then to top things off a wrongly parked truck hindering our path to the run way. We then endured a gruelling 14 hour flight accross to Jo'burg. We land at 8.00pm. Once in Jo'burg we embarked on the arduous task of getting through customs. You soon learn that in Africa there is no sense of urgency in anything they do. Since our flight landed at 8:00pm we had missed our connecting flight through to Cape Town which left at 6:00pm. Qantas put us up in a hotel for the night with 100 other connecting travellers. Again in true Africa style we waited another hour to check in. Finally we were able to put head on pillow at around 11:30pm extremely exhausted from the days events. |
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