All Alone Again...

Well, we got rid of the Australians finally!
(Just kidding!!)

Last week was really fun, particularly due to our aussie visitors. Steve & Madonna came to us fresh off their 3-month Euro-trip, so they were pretty beat and I suspect ready just to pack it all in finally and get HOME (to New South Wales)... but oh no, we did our best to delay them and wear them out further.

First we fetched them in Joburg, where we ate really good food, hung out with our common buddy Alan, and proceeded to blow up the engine in his car. Which really wasn't too much of a bother, as it wasn't fatal and for being "blown up" it seems to be rolling along pretty much perfectly at present... so the guys who fixed it must have been pretty good. From there we went on up to Pilanesburg in the North West Provence, for a bit of camping and game spotting IN THE RAIN. That was queer because I have never camped in the rain in africa in my whole time here, ever. Nonetheless I think they enjoyed it and Steve took some great photos. Maybe some of them will even make an appearance here on this blog, when I get a chance.

Next we spent some time here in Botswana. This included taking them around as well as letting them do their own thing (rhino tracking). The best thing about having these guys around was that they were big on the whole "chilling out" thing and were perfectly happy to sit in the sun and take in the view. Actually, Steve was even happy to help Hannes mix concrete and fix our cable trench. Not bad!

Then we went out to the bush for a couple days before they left. Jéan joined us because he's moving to Scotland this month and we wanted to have one last more African hoo-rah together, which turned out to be a lot of fun. Alan came along too, even though he's an old name around these parts by now. I know he was really excited to spend some time with the visitors. Good thing our rig sits 7 adults, and 6 comfortably. Riding with 6 was no problem at all, actually. We got a trailer for the back, and broke in our roof rack.

The camping experience was pretty much standard for the place that we always go... lots of different antelope species (although this was our first time seeing a herd of Eland - the biggest of them all), not to mention they were in full sprint, racing across the veld. This time we actually got a glimpse of lion (which we usually hear, but not see), and the usual giraffe and such. The biggest highlight for me I think was that we saw at least 6 Wild Dogs, within a mere 30 minutes of driving into the park. Really amazing.

Saturday night after our bellies were full of braai meat and beer, the lions came out and did their scary-roaring thing. All night long, in fact. Only this time one to the north of us (who sounded quite close) seemed to be conversing with his friend who was to the west of us, and proceeded to come closer and closer throughout the night. S&M got the roof tent, while the rest of us 4 stuck it out on the ground in macho-mode.

I will try to put some photos up soon. But for now it's time to go to the gym and then home.

Now we have the next month to plan for our Dutch visitors coming at Xmas.... although most of that planning is already done, so I guess we can just use November to relax and enjoy the back stoop and the puppies!