Rotary GSE to South Africa 2009

 

I'm writing from the Johannesburg airport---the wifi isn't free, but at least it's not terribly expensive. We still won't be home for another 30 hours or so, so  I'm having a cappuccino in hopes that there will be some good movies on the plane. Last night we spent back in Cape Town, but before that we were a few days in Oudtshoorn for the Rotary District Conference. It was nice to see a lot of the people that we had met along the way.

We went to the Kango Wildlife Park in Oudtshoorn and saw lots of animals, including this pygmy hippo. He wasn't very interested in us.

We had to give a presentation at the conference, and we wanted it to reflect our experiences over the past month. So we all got out our laptops and selected our top photos to put into our slide show.

Here's Jenny eating a "4 x 4," which was an enormous kebab with springbok, kudu, ostrich, and crocodile.

Here's some of the lovely scenery we saw on the drive from Oudtshoorn back to Cape Town.

I'll see you back in Tucson!

 
Fun stuff 04/28/2009
 

Our Rotary hosts have been taking good care of us these past few days. They've made sure that we've seen some of the best parts of their country.

On Saturday, we went wine tasting at Delta wine farm. They had some great stuff, and we were disappointed to learn that shipping to the U.S. wasn't an option. They also had a great museum detailing the history of the area, going back to the Stone Age.

On Sunday, we went to Spier, a farm and wildlife refuge. They take in cheetahs (and other animals) who have been injured or orphaned. Barb and I participated in the "cheetah encounter," which allowed us to spend some time petting Joseph, the cheetah.  Apparently, Joseph has starred in some film with Patrick Swayze. I thought he looked familiar.

On Monday we drove to Hermanus, where we'll be spending a few days. The photo above is from the cliff walk along the ocean. We have a free day today, which has been a much needed break. We've been walking around and eating all day. It's been very nice not to have a schedule.

A word to the homies: It's much more fun from this side of the blog when you all post comments!

 
Heldeberg Basin 04/24/2009
 

We arrived in the Heldeberg Basin a couple of days ago, and we've been having a great time.

One of the first things we saw was a game of bowls. It appears to be a lot like bocci ball, only you must wear white.

The golf estate where Barb and I are being hosted by Lynette and Koos has a lot of birds, including the guinea fowl that I'm feeding above.

Today was another vocational day, and I visited the International English School. They do TEFL training here, and also offer ESL courses for foreigners, many of whom are Korean. These students pay tuition, but there are free classes in the afternoon that are available to people living locally who need English language instruction.

Barb and I took a walk on the beach this afternoon. The water is very cold, but as we go further east and it transitions from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean, it should get warmer.