Author Archive

It’s her birthday…

We have been in the middle of a dramatic shift in spending patterns this past few months. Consciously trying to move away from the pure consumerism that seems to be the western-way. Buying stuff and things that we don’t really need…

We all know the drill; keeping up with the Jones’s is also part of it. Well; the Jones’s can keep their brand new car, and stereo, plasma, ipod, iphone, ipad, imac, idon’t-care…. Read the rest »

I spent a couple of days in the water off the beach at the Catalonia Royal Bavaro resort. Which is pretty normal. I mean what would you do amongst the palm trees and perfect beaches?

And also singularly unremarkable but for the fact that grown men with new toys act like little boys. Determined to test the thing to its fullest capabilities and possibly destruction.
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Good morning!

Yes… once again we’re up before dawn during our holiday… What’s supposed to be a relaxing time to rest and recharge from a long year of hard ‘graft’, feels rather less-so at five a.m., I think to myself, standing in the open-air foyer of the hotel… But it’s about 23 degrees - nice and cool - and the stars in the sky mean it’s going to be a sunny day… Read the rest »

Picture it, day 10 of a tough two weeks in Egypt: tanning, swimming, eating far too much at the buffet, another beer, more sun, more tanning, more swimming… how much of this can you take??!! Time for a snorkel off the coast…  The day starts of with the usual routine - hurry-up and wait…

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The highlight of this year’s trip to Egypt was Cairo!

What an incredibly long and tiring day! But worth every minute of the tortuous journey. We were picked up at the hotel in Sharm el Sheikh at 1:00 am by a small bus (twenty seater) with 15 others. The only problem was that the little truck had no suspension! Combine this glaring oversight from Toyota with roads that are worse than in South Africa and our day was starting off not too well… Read the rest »

This is a photo journal of our visit to the Normandy beaches.

Our first visit to the north of France and having come from Newcastle, the north of England, with all our camping gear onboard, the choice of pitching a tent at one of the (many) camping grounds was easily made… We found a site on the cliffs overlooking Omaha beach. We had a couple of objectives: the American cemetry, the beaches and from there…..

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Sunday morning!

Yep, we’re still in Provénce… This isn’t a dream…

But it’s time to hit the road again…

It’s about 9 am and the beautiful weather of the last couple of days has turned. Dark clouds loom beyond the hills and there’s that smell of rain in the air. Read the rest »

Get this picture in your head…

You’re sitting in Holland with a couple of days off over a long weekend, and an (overdue) appointment in the south of France.

What would YOU do?

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March 2008. It was hot! About 32 degrees and no wind at all. The region we were driving through was dry and dusty. We were on route to Shingwedzi camp and it was around 3 pm. We needed to keep going at a steady pace if we were going to make camp before the gates close…

On the Old Main Road loop there was nobody else on the road. We had spotted a couple of elephants at the waterhole and were baking in the heat. The road was dirt and the shrub quite thick and close. This made spotting quite difficult and the sun was keeping the wildlife in the shade - or so we thought… Read the rest »

The plan was simple. We wanted to see as much of the coastline of South Africa as possible, as we were emigrating to Europe. Having shipped our belongings, we closed the door of the house for the last time and handed over the keys to the new tenants. There was now no turning back and we had three weeks until our flight from Johannesburg International Airport.

Armed with our trusty white VW Golf (no aircon), a handful of maps, a bag of clothes and some cash, we decided to head west. Firstly because we had never been that way to the coast before and also following our instinct to “Go west, young man”… Here follows our diary of the trip. Read the rest »