4/13/2009: Easter BBQ!

This morning we were all exhausted, so we eased in to a nice breakfast, in preparation for our Easter festivities.



The adults hid Easter eggs and little treats and the kids went on a hunt, which culminated with their receiving Easter baskets...er, paper plates. :D



What better way to spend a BBQ but with beer, balderdash, and built-by-yourself-fire-pit?



Ekki led the invocation, this time in German (I'd been leading them all in English and poor, unpracticed German at times).



The last image of our vacation with the Germans. Ekki with a beautiful Blou-Bull steak! I'm getting choked up just thinking about it...

4/12/2009: Kimberely (Easter Sunday!)

We all attended Easter Sunday mass at St. Mary's church in Kimberely. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to find a Catholic Church - half of the Anglican Churches are listed as "Roman Catholic" in the phonebook, and I only found out that they were Anglican after visiting their web sites and noticing the female priests. That said, I finally found the Catholic Church:







After Mass, we drove to "The Big Hole". An ongoing joke is that this is probably the most uncreative name anyone could have thought up. I mean seriously, no kidding. It's a big hole. Why not call it the "Manmade Wonder" or something?






It's a really big hole, the largest on the planet that was dug entirely by human hands.





The folks at Kimberely have managed to make the most of this scar in the center of their town, building up a historical village around the hole, complete with rock sorting (to find little fake diamonds that you trade in to get toys and junk food):





The historical village - the buildings here were either built here or moved here. I believe most were built at this location, as the town was right next to the Big Hole.

We then made the significant journey back to Joburg and, ultimately, Irene - around six more hours of driving after Kimberely.

4/11/2009: The LONG Road Home

This morning we left Cape Town, preparing for a long trip to Kimberley (yes, the home of the diamonds). The drive reminds me of driving to El Paso down I-10. Long, unforgiving, and NOTHING in between.



The Little Karoo, the Great Karoo, and the Upper Karoo were enjoyed by all.



At the Horseshoe Hotel in Kimberely, we found that the bar served food. Score! (What is it with Germans drinking all the time - here we have sherry, and multiple rounds as well.)

4/10/2009: Cape of Good Hope, Coastal Highway, Pen-goo-eens

Today we went for a drive all around the entire Cape Penninsula (just about). We first went to a bird sanctuary in Cape Town, which was nice but not really notable. We then took off down the Cape, first stopping at an old dry waterfall which scared most of us to death (the walk there was rocky and steep). Beautiful simplicity!




We then drove to Boulder Bay, where hundreds of penguins come to mate and give birth. The German pronunciation of penguin is "pen-goo-een", hence the title. Much discussion involved whether or not we would drive over here to see the penguins, so it warrants two pictures:



There was a cove area where one could swim in the penguin area. The water was frigid Atlantic water (probably 2 degrees Celcius, about 35 degrees Fahrenheit). Ouch. Didn't matter to the kids though, especially with "big, huge, giant, T-Rex" boulders around.



Next we hit the Cape of Good Hope, the southwesternmost point of Africa (and probably the most famous "Cape").



Then we drove back to the hotel down the coast to experience a coastal sunset. Breathtaking.

4/9/2009: Tafelberg and Waterfront, Cape Town

This morning we drove over to the Tafelberg (Table Mountain), probably one of the most famous mountains on the planet. We rode the trolley up to the top...



...where the view was incredible.



The requisite take-a-a-pic-of-ourselves picture!



Unbelievable.



The Waterfront was nice, but was a typical tourist attraction. The men (Adam, Ekki, and Christoph) watched all five kids while the women shopped. This was the price we had to pay to stay an extra night in Cape Town, but it was worth it.

4/8/2009: The Road to Cape Town / Cape Algulhas

We left Wilderness after going for another dip in the Indian Ocean and drove over to Cape Algulhas, the southernmost point of the African continent, and the place where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet. We arrived in the early evening, just before sunset. Sarah parted the oceans!



This is why Afrikaners don't expatriate to other countries:



Stunning.



Untouched rockiness. Can you imagine driving up to this point in a wooden ship 500 years ago, exploring the coast?



We made it to Cape Town late that evening, so no pictures were made, but April snapped this pic of an ocean liner outside our hotel the next morning.

4/7/2009: Wilderness

We rented some rooms from a Bed & Breakfast in Wilderness, which is on the Garden Route. We drove down the N2 from P.E. and arrived in Wilderness in the early afternoon. This place is absolutely stunning - imagine any movie you've ever seen with picturesque beaches and beautiful ocean surrounded by moutains, and you have Wilderness. We spent almost all of our time there on the beach:

The Germans caused quite a sensation with the conservative South Africans by changing out in the open, for all to see:

4/6/2009: Drive to Port Elizabeth

Today we loaded up the vehicles and drove the 13 hours down to Port Elizabeth. On the way, we got to say "this is Africa" quite a few times. There is lots of road work going on at the moment, and some of it involves the road going down to one lane, so they close off one side of traffic while the other side travels the several kilometers, then vise-versa. Here is one of the times we stopped for nearly 10 minutes (notice people milling around):



Ekki and I took full advantage of the opportunity:

We stopped at a couple of travel centers on the way to eat, get petrol, and walk around, and John found some interesting baby animals...

...rats!

4/5/2009: Lion Park and Carnivore!

Today we went to mass at our church (St. John Fischer), then we drove over to the Lion Park so that everyone that missed the lions at Kruger could see some:



After seeing all the nice, beautiful wildlife, we went to Carnivore to eat it!



What a selection!



Gee, you think the guys with the swords get asked to take pictures very often?

We went back to the house and took it easy the rest of the day, as we were venturing down to Port Elizabeth the next morning and would be in the car for a LONG while...

4/4/2009: Croc City and Company

As is customary with visitors, we headed to Croc City this morning to see the crocodile feeding take place. First everyone got to hold a baby croc (if they wanted to):



Then we saw the crocs get fed:



Then we ate croc! Ha HA! Take that!



I went to the bus station in Pretoria to pick up Annie and her coworker, who needed a place to stay the night. We had a good 'ol Texas-sized braai with 'em.



Kristoff did us the honor of cooking for us, and did a mighty fine job! How about that makeshift grill made out of scrap stone? Sweet, huh?

4/3/2009: Leaving Kruger, Rainforest, God's Window, Home

Today the Stehfests and Behnkes went on a guided game drive that started at 5:30 a.m. Yikes. However, it was all worth it when, not five minutes' drive from the camp, we spotted lions laying in the middle of the road. Lions are the holy grail of the Big 5 - you can drive around for a week and not see any, so we were very fortunate.



We managed to see more elephants and a very proud kudu as well:




Our tour guide was quite unfriendly, but at least we got a pic.



We took the rest of the morning very slow, as we were all quite tired. We let the kids play while we had breakfast and packed up to get back on the road to Irene.



Leaving the campground...



...we drove to God's Window, one of the stops on the Panoramic Route. Incredible.



We then hiked up to Rainforest, which has tropical vegetation on top of a mountain.



The views were absolutely breathtaking. That is all of Kruger and part of Mozambique there.



Proof!



After a long drive, we got back home quite late, so we had some light supper and called it a night!