new plan

I have a plan forming in my head, don't know how to do it but at least it is a start. i remember seeing signs for woodlands for sale in the uk and so i had a look on the website and you can buy a patch of woodland for about 20 grand just like this one. however i dont know how much land an acre really is.

now you may ack what could i do with a peice of woodland somewhere in the uk, but this is where it gets interesting, what i wanto do is restore back to a certain year in history (therby only allowing indiginous species to grow and the possible reintroduction of extinct specis) and turn it in to some sot of forest presevation scheme hopfully it could generate a bit of tourist income from that but the key to it would be the charity that i would have to set up along side it, i would get all the local schools involved and encorage them to use the forest as grounds for any of there progects (as long as they fit in with the aims of the forest) they could be history project reseaching history of the local area or environmental, or anything else the school could want to do. universitys and youth groups may want to get involved to, but i want to run it along the lines of a eco/safari park.

on its own i dont think it is going to be profitable but i may be able to get some grants to set it up and help run the centre. but there is also many possibilities for other things to be set up. like i would have to set up a cafe for the tourists but i could also try and find a plot of land with a rockface or an old church and build a climbing wall, if land permits open a small campsite or backpackers, and if it has lake or river access i could set up a whole load of venture on that. if it is in scotland i could buy a minibus and do distillery tours and whiskey tastings.

• how big is an acre?
• can i get land near by to live on?
• Can i get any grants?

needs some more thought but what do you think?, oh and doese any one want to donate 19 grand to a deserving charity.

Politics wines and mountains

One of the things that is a must do whilst in cape town is table mountain, so we did it, straight up Pleterklip Gorge a steep by well marked trail which takes roughly 2 hours of course I could of ran up it much quicker but. Hung around on the top for a while and was befriended by these bizarre looking rodent like creatures which are apparently distant cousins of the elephant.

the afternoon was spent casually ambling around District 6 one of the areas in which there was forced clearings in cape town during apartheid, went to quite an interesting museum but not as informative as the apartheid museum in Jo'burg. Far more impressive still was the trip we made to Roben Island where you get a tour around the prison by an ex political prison, ours was a guy who used to work in the intelligence sector of the ANC gathering information and finding safe houses for the gun runners. Quite a moving experience.

have I already told you about the penguins , I think I have if not they where really cool.

time had came for use to drop our hire car back to the depot which is just as well as the rest of the day was spent sampling life in the vineyards of Stellenboch, I can now personally recommend simonsig wines and can add wine tasting to my very long list of talents, al be it at the cost of mornings.

So we moved from Jefferrys bay early the next morning (getting up at 5 am) in order to hit the road before any potential storms.the journey was however very tame, well except for the tortoise and baboons in the middle of the road. got to cape town for about 1pm headed dtraight for the waterfront got lost and ran out of petrol. Quickly got back on track though and got to my uncle maurices house in south field.
after settling in we headed on to the Nelsons Eye for a steak (thanks Mauaice) and when i say steak i mean Steak and a half Big Fat Juciy steak the best i have ever tasted (better even than the Bryn Trych) but evidently filling.
Cat arrived early the next morning so off we went and got her took her straight to the waterfront and i got lost. looked around the town and checked out cow parade. then the maratime mueseum and back to Marices for a swim in his hand made Pool.
Christmas eve Eve was all about the casino, which evidently was the bigest i have ever seen they had whole streets and cinimas and theaters and lots of restarunts, i was in share ore of the place and so found my way to the gambnling floor and played a bit of roulete and i don't think i lost a bet came away 500 rand up. everyone else wasn't so lucky so i had to get the cocktails in.

Christmas day was cool got some presents from the girls and from alex cheers. and then went out for christmas lunch before hiting the beach on christmas day (I'm So Cool).

currently boxing day and so we went off to find the penguins in simons Town. The story goes that in 1980 this coloney of Jackass Penguins having got fed up on life in a cold uninhabited island and made there home bolders beach Cape town they where proptlky renamed Africain Penguins and get to go swiming with thousands of humans every day. the humans don't seem to mind though and are quite curious creatures. still nobody knows how long they plan to stay for, and i certainly did'nt think i would get to see penguins on this trip.

thanks Maurice, and Janice for letting us stay we have had a great timne so far.

Surfing, Safari and hobiton

So the flying Rhino (where we stayed when i last posted) turned out to be just as strange as i had originally thought there where only about five other people staying and they where all sat up have five independent conversations but each of them showed any concern that what they where talking about had nothing to do with what any one else was talking about.
so from there on to Coffee bay one of the surfing capitals of SA where i learnt to surf, well learnt how to pretend to look cool on the beach and carry a surf board, the actuall surfing proved a tad trickier, but i did manage to get myself standing a couple of times.
from here on to cinsta private game reserve and the inkwekwaisi camp which was one of the most amazing places i have ever stayed. managed to see rhinos lions giraffes and all for a low budget price an absolute amazing bargin. still untill i manage to get any photos up here its stunning beuty wont be as appreasiated.

from here we moved on to a very rainy Hogsback and the naighboring Hobbiton which supposedly was the inspiration for the Hobbit. its not suprising as it was once again an amazing place, managed to fit in some scrambling up a waterfall, and then a horse ride this morning.

Then we hit the road for another surfing capital, Jefferys bay, but then the heavens absolutely opend and everything is now flooded here so no shops where open and the surfing did'nt seem as enticing.

still off to cape town tommorrow to stay at my uncles for christmas.

moving swiftly on

The plan for durban is a very quick stop long enough for us to organise a hire car and dash off down the south coast this we manage with only a minimal detour to the shops. Ended up with an Opel Corsa and then Drove off to Angle rock the very next evening. Stayed in a surfer paradise bacpackers and i went off for acouple of dives whilst the girls atempted to learn to dive all be it with little sucsess.
for me the two dives where very different from my previous dives which where on compact reefs at angle rock there was a very large reef but the fish where more dpread out, it was a busier dive site as well and so it did'nt have the same personal feal to swiming with fish, however there was a very large (but harmless) Guitar Shark and a Equally large Leatherback turtle which at first i managed to confuse with an eagle Ray.
finished diving and had to dash straight off to The flying rhino, which is where i am currently writing this post and i have finally managed to catch up with myself, but i don't acctuall have a clue where here acctually is ????

i also seam to be discovering a suprising number of bruises but don't recall where they have come from ????

oh and we have a mobile phone so if you wan't the number drop me an e-mail.
lorna i would have already e-mailed it to you but i don't know the number off the top of my head.

Zululand

Just wrote this poste once and the computer crashed so Either it will be very cohearant or fail dismally.

On from swaziland we moved in to the traditionall heartland of South Africa, Zululand. First stop St Lucia National Park for a bit of FREE hippo spoting and Surf Shop spending. Both V Cool.
But with time drawing in till christmas and being on the wrong side of africa there is no time for hanging about and we moved on swiftly to Eshowe and Zululand Backpaskers where we lucked out as it had just been taken over by a very keen dutch couple who where equally keen to go and get an understanding of all the local sights and they where more than happy for us to tag along. so now having been cultured up we moved on to Durban.

Swaziland

After mozembique We moved on to Swaziland, and stayed in a national park, swazi is a really nice place really laid back. Got to see loads of animals such as impalla Zebera and wart hogs just wandering arround the backpackers.
people are very friendly there and we where trying to get a minibus taxi back to the hostel but because the driver wasn't going the entire route he took us 90% of the way but refused any form of payment other than a bananna, then a moment latter a lady pulled over and offered us a lift the rest of the way, all in all really nice.

the next went on a little walk around a lake and where admireing some birds and nests when suddenly there was a big huge crocadile on the path just behind us.

EMAIL from Jo

its been a while........just arrived in swaziland, been in mozambique where there is absolutley nointernet, but is the most beautiful place......so me and miri spent about 3/4 days in the ophanage inblantyre, malawihelping out. it was a real experience, a nurse just shoved a tiny weeniebaby into my arms and told me to feed him. so i fed my first ever baby, itsnot as hard as i thought. we had an absolutely amazing time and would loveto go back - it is a little upsetting but well worthwhile.we then flew to jo'burg and met dug. bought a new rucksack and some clothes,thankfully. i officially no longer smell and have some bellongings again!!!then spent 2 days pretty much between my dorm bed and the toilet, with somedisgraceful bug type illness - i'll let you use your imaginations, and i'llsay no more about it. suffice to say i saw little of jo'burg!! miri camedown with it aswell and dug nursed us very well.....the first day feeling ok, i popped a couple of immodium (wonderessstuff....) and we jumped on a bus (luxery compared to what we're used to)and crossed into mozambique - to the capital, maputo. from there we met aguy, john, who was catching a bus the next day to tofo, up the coas. so wehijacked his plan and traveled with him. tofo is a tiny little place on thecoast, with amazing views and the best seafood you could wish for......yumyumits the type of place you can get trapped in. easily. and we met quite a fewpeople who have! dug signed up for a dive course, and before we knew whatwas happening, me and miri were wearing very attractive wetsuits and doningscuba gear ourselves...........we did our first sea dive the next day, and i was blown away. my ears weretotally fine and i wasnt scared at all. the fish are like summit out ofdisney - huge and funny shapes and colours!!!added a few dives to the end of the course and all three of us are now'advanced open water divers' - get us........ i want to describe everything
manta rays (huge great things) while swimming around. unbeliable. got an ear infection on last few days, but hasnt stopped the last week being absolutely the best. met nice people, chilled, learned to dive and pretty much had soooooo much fun. theres nothing like chilling, watching the sun setting over the sea with a cold beer, hey???? so, whats the weather like at home at the moment????????? anyway, hope everyone is well, and i'll catch up properly with you when get to SA when much cheaper to email etc. take care,
jo

Mozembique

So once jo and Miri recovered we set about getting visas for mozembique which turned out to be a gargantuan task first we had to go to the embassy, get the forms and wait, then go to the bank to pay for the visas only to find we didn't have enough and the cash machine wouldn't take mastercard, and as my passport was still at the embassy i had to go back there and wait to get my passport back, go back to the bank and wait go back to the embasy and wait. 5 hours latter and we had managed to give our passports to the embassy and where told to come back in two hours, which i did only to wait for another two hours when they realised they did'nt have my passport queue another half hour wait and finally we all ready to rock'n'roll.

The Next Day we hit the road to Mapoto and got there in good time before the day after heading to Tofo. a beutiful little beach with some of the best dive sites in the world just minutes off the coast line. after the obligitory playing on the beach and in the waves i enquired about diving and decided that i would do my initial open water diver course, miri and jo where easily convinced and so we had a really cool 4 days diving on the shallow reefs. Evidently there was a deep reef with manta ray on it but we would have to do the first of the advanced dives in order to do this one more dive turned in to two and then in to the entire advanced open water and so we pretty much dived for 10 days solid. had a great time though and during this time i officially became unemployed but hey i wasn't too bothered.

Mantas are incredable as are whale sharks especially when your snorkeling and look down to see this 4 ft wide mouth coming up at you.

Jorneys, Lions and soweto

Well the tring to catch up thing doesnt seem to be wroking by writing daily updates so i am just going to try and write as much as i can in this update and take it from there. highlights in this post include Soweto, Zimbabwe and being savaged by a lion.

last time i posted i belive i was just about to get on a marthon bus jorney fropm lilongwe all the way to johanesburg, which i managed even the the 27 hour bus ride took me through 4 countries, and i didn't have a visa for mozembique, (somthing that you need especially so close to there election time) but i managed to bluff my way accross that border and then on to Zim Where i got riped off at the crossing $50 usd for a transit visa to go through a country by night and not even step foot on the ground. any way we finally arrive in Joburg at which point a travelling preacher decided that it was now time to say a prayer for a safe jouney.

Jo'Burg was cool though whilst i was there on my own i managed to take in a tour of Soweto, and the hector peterson memorial (First Casuallty of the Schools Boycot aged 13 yrs) my guide has lived in soweto all his life and after a while i found out that on the same day hector had died he was one block away, his age ? 13! it was really quite moving, as was the apartide meuseum. latter on though i decided to go for a little more light harted entertainment and go for a visit to the lion park (And Reasearch center) got really close to some real lions and then after the tour they have some lion cubs in an enclosure where you can go and stroke them, so we did really cool, (althought i have to say the Warthog was a lot friendlier) at one point i was standing up when i noticed one of the cubs staring up at me with a cheakey grin then take a run up and leap at my shoulder taking a bite at me, my imeadiate reaction was to punch the little bugger off my shoulder, no harm done though to either the lion or myself.

Re stocked bought myself a new camera and jop bought some new camping gear then both jo and Mirium fell ill with mistery food poisoning and so we got leayed up a few days whilst they recovered.

shall up date you some more shortley and appologies for the spelling.