OUR SOUTH AFRICAN ROAD TRIP - It's Noice @ Knysna

Upon telling our dear friend, Miss Beanie, that we were going on a road trip and that we would be passing through Knysna, she immediately halted all of our accommodation plans and insisted that we stay at "her beach cottage". Initially, we declined having already made reservations, but Miss Beanie does not take "no" for an answer! We were shocked, mesmerised and honoured  when we arrived at Knysna the following day and greeted by Mike who came to give us the keys to "the beach house". Due to circumstances beyond our control, we had been "upgraded" from the cottage to the main house which is situated right on the headlands and overlooking the sea. For privacy, I have not taken many photos of their home to share..except the one below when we arrived. It says it all! C'est magnificent!

There were several courses in the Knysna area that were had booked to play. Firstly, PEZULA. Rated #6 on The Most Scenic Golf Courses. Beautiful fairways, greens and the view out to the
Indian Ocean was breathtaking!

 Second course was PINNACLE POINT rated #3 Most Scenic in SA. Cloudy day did not dampen our spirits. It was a spectacular golf course set along the coastline. Some very difficult shots. I think there are a lot of golf balls on the seabed.

Rock Dassies watching us hit our golf balls into the sea!

 Two wall prints from Mo's Restaurant in Knysna. Pretty much sums us up!

Farewell beautiful Knysna! See you in a few days time!

OUR SOUTH AFRICAN ROAD TRIP - Golfing @ George

With Mr. O's work here coming to an end, we decided to go on a two week road trip stopping and playing at some of South Africa's best golf courses. We are hoping that this would improve our golf! Suffice to say, out golf did not improve dramatically, but we certainly saw some spectacular courses! We stayed in arrange of places from five star to "dives", met incredible people and of course ate and rank the wonderful foods and wines that only South Africa can offer!

Come and enjoy the trip with us!

First, we left Johannesburg mid afternoon to beat the traffic and headed to Bloemfontein, 4-5 hours south. A quick overnight in a hotel, and early pre-dawn departure in the very cold morning. Thank heavens for heated seats in our car, a Lexus. Hence, another reason to decide  to do a road trip.

Day 1 - A nine hour drive to George. We were booked to stay at Manor Lodge and play at the #1 Golf Course in South Africa THE LINKS @ FANCOURT. The accommodation was five star and luxury plus! We decided to refer to ourselves as "Lord Gregory and Lady Diana"! On the day we played, we were only two of four people playing!!!! We should have stayed longer, but we had more courses to play!

THE ADVENTURE ENDS : PART 6 - RHINOS, LIONS & DINNER!

Our friends, Karen and Dud had returned to Johannesburg after a ten day tour along the "Garden Route", touring from CapeTown to Jeffrey's Bay. They had a marvellous time, BUT…. they still had not seen a rhinoceros!! They had seen every other African animal they could possibly see, but not a rhino!  So, I had to make sure they saw one, before they left.

My friend told me about a nature reserve about an hour out of Jozi. I drove the three of us to 

The Rhino and Lion Nature Reserve at Krugersdorp. I thought it was going to be more like a zoo, but no! I had to call upon my newly acquired skills and become "Ranger Di"!

Sables and an Eland

White lions lazing about in the winter sun

Two different male adult lions enjoying the sunshine, too. 

Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve

Cheetahs trying to get out of the wind.

Ahh..the rhino, surrounded by waterbuck and ostriches !

 A farewell dinner at a favourite restaurant, Signature.

Farewell, Karen and Dud!  It has been fantastic having you come and visit us. 

See you back in Australia!

A SPECIAL VISIT

After school today, I was fortunate enough to walk along the streets of downtown Johannesburg from the school to the Central Methodist Church. For Miss Beanie and I to do this, the school/church security guard, Martin, escorted us. I felt so grateful to be able to do this! I was going to meet  Bishop Paul Verryn, who oversees the church of 3000-4000 people on a daily basis, the school where I volunteer and the  accommodation for the refugee families and orphans in Soweto.

 For those of you interested, check out this link. Bishop Paul is a very interesting man who is part of the African history and anti-Apartheid era. There are many articles that you can Google. Try the link below to read about this amazing man!

BISHOP PAUL VERRYN

While I was at the church, I saw first hand where the thousands of people slept during the night! On the floors, steps, benches, church pews, wherever they could find a space. For personal safety reasons, many of the unaccompanied children have been relocated to the accommodation at Soweto.

I went downstairs in the basement area to visit the creche which is called F.L.O.C.

FOR the LOVE OF CHILDREN.

There I got to see all of the babies rugged up and sleeping on this very cold day. I just wanted to hug them all! One precious little pink bundle was not in a sleepy mood and she just babbled away to anyone who would listen!  The children play, sleep and eat downstairs without going into the fresh air or seeing the sunshine.  :0(   But it is the best they can do , with the resources that they have. The teachers and caregivers are there from 6 am - 6:30 pm, caring for these beautiful children whilst their parents are at work, studying, out looking for work,  begging or sadly for a few….doing nothing.

CENTRAL METHODIST CHURCH, JOHANNESBURG

EXAMS, GROUP WORK & REWARDS

When I arrived at school today, the children throughout the school were practising for their exams.  The photo below is how the children usually learn through "chalk and talk". Copy and learn. This was their practice test before the two week block of exams commenced.

 But on this day, I brought something new for them to try…GROUP WORK! I had three "hands on"  activities for them to rotate through. There was no room for them to move around their classroom (which used to be a small room in a house), so I had to exchange the materials at the end of each rotation. The three activities were..

1. Investigating odd and even numbers
2. Writing the numerals and number names
3. Using dice, creating and solving addition sums.

This is my newest best friend, Melekot the  Rasta Man.
He bakes beautiful cakes and muffins for the teachers and students to buy for 5 rand each.
I often buy the big slices of cakes and give to the children who have nothing too eat.

The Grade 3 class  collectively won the "Best Results" on their Afrikaans Test this term. Miss Beanie, their teacher, took them to the new Burger King in downtown Johannesburg. Many of the children (if not all) have never been to a place like this! They were so excited , as was their teacher Mr. Wendy. Miss Beanie said that most of the children took some of their food home to share with their siblings and parents. This is an African way of life "to share with others, whatever you have". None of the children paid for this treat. Big hearted Miss Beanie did ;0) (Plus it encourages other children to do well on their exams next time!)