A VISIT TO OSTRICH COUNTRY

We visited Mr. Wonderful's cousin in this part of the country. She sent this same view in a June photo and the ground was covered in snow.

Ostrich farming used to be a big industry here. With the down-turn of the ecomony is isn't so much now. But, people still use the feathers and EAT THE MEAT. Yep, Ostrich steak is not so bad. I kid. I didn't eat.



Sorry, Cousin. I just thought I needed to include you in this post. She was so sweet. She cooked out supper of Hake and Chips (fish and chips). Yummy.

After sight-seeing, we stopped at a local restaurant to eat.





This is what I chose to eat.


This is why I didn't eat it.



Fido came in off the street and stayed by me the whole time we ate.

The menu.





Mr. Wonderful and I posed after lunch.



More later, Peeps! Thanks for reading.

ANOTHER ROAD TRIP

We headed out on another road trip and stopped by the Kimberly Mine. One of the largest diamonds ever mined was found here. The Cullinan Diamond, which is not part of the Crown Jewels in England.

The mine has been filled with water.



I'm crazy about jewelery, and in the museum, under armed guard and in a special locked room, we saw the most beautiful diamonds imaginable. I couldn't take a picture for security reasons.

Africa is known for diamonds, but they are so expensive. One company owns most of the mining operations so they set the price at whatever. I just knew when I got there I would find a souvenir to bring home. NOT. Very expensive.

This is one of the old-time diamond finding machines that sorts the gravel and workers would hand pick the diamonds from the gravel. Actually, I guess they still have to go through the gravel to pick them out.



Mr. Wonderful graciously bought a bucket of gravel and sorted through to find a diamond. (The gravel probably came from the parking lot) Nope. Didn't find one.



Another scenic view.



A vendor selling wares on the street. Many people roam the street carrying merchandise on their heads, especially women. Most women have a baby or small child strapped to their back with a wide band of fabric. I didn't snap that because I felt I would be invading their privacy. (after I had already invaded the privacy of everyone else)



This is one of the MANY new soccer stadiums built for the World Cup.
A stoplight is called a robot in South Africa.



More tomorrow. Have a great day!!

ONE OF MY FAVORITE STOPS

If I had to pick a favorite...I don't think I could do it. The land and people are so vast and varied...I enjoyed it all.

This visit would have to be in the top three.



This is the town!



The gas pump.



Inside shots of the general store.






The post office is on the right of this shot. (above)





These people are wonderful. They are Mr. Wonderful's late wife's sister and brother-in-law. That was a totally uncorrect sentence. Anyway, they welcomed me with love and open arms and I had so much fun! They are hilarious and we laughed the whole weekend. The woman teaches in a local school and the man is a farmer and furniture maker. I love them!




Burgular bars are even more needed on farms, which could be 40 minutes to get to another farm to help the people. The robbers come in truckloads, and the farmers have to be able to lock-down and defend themselves until help arrives.





The guys are waiting for the sun to go down so they can so their favorite thing, braai (cookout).



More about our fun weekend tomorrow! I've much more to show you. Keep reading!

More Pictures of SA

A view of the beautiful valley sorta/kinda close to the hometown of a young Mr. Wonderful. Lots of orchards, vineyards and vegetables grown here.




If you have been following my African adventure, you've probably noticed that I haven't been showing you much of city life. Most of my "adventures" occured in smaller towns or off the usual beaten tourist path.

However, there are those places that are VERY upscale in South Africa. One of the things that shocked me was the affluence of a whole lot of people. I have never seen so many BMW, Mercedes and other European luxury cars on the road. I even saw a Bentley cruise past (probably doing 120 mmph). Drivers go very fast on the long straight roads.

I ate at some restaurants in Cape Town that would be upscale for anywhere in the world. The Victoria and Albert Waterfront at Cape Town has all the shoppping and entertainment one could ever want.

My purpose is to show you a little different part of SA.

This is a very nice house.



This is a small shot of the port in Cape Town. Lots of merchandise and goods go in and out of this location.



Another street view of Cape Town.



In another post I told you about visiting the Parliament, etc. On that same outing, we visited a castle that is now a militiary museum. Mr. Wonderful served in the army for 8 years and this was one of the places his group would have to muster (gather up).

He also wanted to show me one of the gazillion shopping malls in the city. It was massive. One floor is underground and another three on top of that. All the stores had tenants and the merchandise...wow! Anything you could imagine. This place was so huge we had to ask how to get out. The mall was surrounded on three sides by parking garages 4-5 stories tall. They all looked the same. We could not remember how to get to our parking space and we asked about 10 different people how to get out of the mall. We got 10 different answers and none of them were correct. We wandered in there for 2 hours, trying different exits, before we found our car. Whew!

After that, we decided the city was not for us.
Another city view with a "taxi" full of people.


The taxi was coming from these communities, which are "shanty-towns" and they are huge and there are alot of them across the country.





Thanks for reading today! The animals are coming....

Road Trip to the West Coast (of South Africa)

Some of the photos I am taking are hard to see without clicking on them to enlarge them. Zoom lens did not work this whole trip.



This is a hotel at the mouth of a river and the Atlantic Ocean on the West Coast of South Africa. As I indicated, we drove from coast to coast and top to bottom. This was just a "find a place and stop for the night".



A fishing boat that goes out on the Atlantic every morning.



Mr. Wonderful carrying the luggage.



The room.

We ate at this restaurant. Mr. Wonderful wanted to try some local fish...Dole or Sole or something like that. It was good.



This is NOT what I ate. This is a fish drying rack for a local delicacy. Not for me.

There's alot more to come. Animals...scenery...I'm trying to (drag) I mean ENTEND the posts so my Peeps can have a sense of my adventure.

I love ya! Thanks for reading.

Trees, Shrubs and Stuff

This photo is for Queen B and The Princess. It actually is not the best specimen but by the time I thought to take a picture it was the closest one.

The city put up a "fake tree" that is, a tall pole with fake branches, so it would blend in the the environment. The only problem is the fake tree is at least 20 feet taller than any tree in the whole town.

This tree is exactly like the fake one, although this particular one is on the shorter side. It just amused me. Okay. I continue on.

Has anyone wondered why I am taking shots from inside the car? There are signs on the side of the road that used to say "High Crime Area. Don't stop your car". In getting ready for the World Cup, the changed the signs to "High Car Wreck Area", as to not to scare the visitors.

There are many carjackings in towns (at stoplights) and on long stretches of highway. Unless Mr. Wonderful was assured of the area, I snapped from the car.
If we did have to stop at a gas station or potty stop, one of us always had to stay with the car.


Just a teaser with the elephant. I was actually just showing another tree!

Bad photo of a palm tree.






Mr. Wonderful drove about 4 hours to show me this one tree. I have always seen pictures of a Baobab Tree but I was really wanting to see a living one. This tree is about 125 years old and there was really no way to get the whole thing in one shot. It is massive.

I know, I know. BORING. But just one more. Driving down the road we saw a sign that said "Big Tree". I couldn't imagine one larger than the Baobab so we pulled off to check it out.


This is the national flower of South Africa. Isn't it beautiful!

More to come. Thanks for reading.

More Cape Town Trivia

We stayed in Cape Town for a couple of days. I don't have alot of photos to show you because I just hate to carry a camera with me always. I was frustrated because my zoom wouldn't work, plus I just like to experience in the moment.



A street shot.

We went downtown to see the Houses of Parliament and the glorious park across the street. I saw my first and only squirrel there! We have squirrels in abundance here, but baboons are much more plentiful in South Africa.

They are on the side of the road, at roadside parks and scenic stops. They love to mess with you and snatch purses or any snacks you might leave unattended. I really wanted a baboon or monkey encounter, as I had been led to believe I would see them everywhere. Nope. Nada. Zilch.

The shots I did get are very hard to see.

Another thing that was a little unusual for me. Many Europeans traveling (and there are MANY) rent rooms from people and stay in homes instead of motels or hotels.

We stayed in a house with a family that rented 5 bedrooms to tourists, each with a private bath.

The bedroom. No airconditioning.





Burgular bars outside our back windows. Hmmm.



The front gate of our guesthouse with the killer watchdogs. Everyone has guard dogs.


The house across the street had a Great Dane.



The other end of the driveway. Space is a premium.



Second floor patio. Notice how close all the houses are.



The very small "yard".



Sorry about the pooper scooper, but I wanted to give you a view of the swimming pool.



A view from the house at sunset looking out toward the Atlantic/Indian Ocean combo.
The water is very cold here and the beach is not good for swimming. But, it is still beautiful.

Just on the horizon you see a thin stretch of land that is Robbin Island. This is
the jail location of Nelson Mandela during part of his 27 years in prison.