We landed an hour early on Monday morning at Johannesburg Airport feeling pretty good. The airport was really new and impressive. The atmosphere was really festive as there were a lot of World Cup spectators arriving wearing supporter shirts, hats and blowing vuvuzelas. After collecting our bags, we walked to the domestic terminal. We caught our flight to Port Elizabeth (PE) and met Lester and Toosie (Keith's second cousin) at the airport. We went back to their home for lunch before going for a drive around PE to see the beaches and some historic buildings, like the town hall and the pyramid dedicated to Lady Elizabeth Donkin. We saw hadeda ibises outside their home, the library, the university where Lester teaches and the pretty gorge where the river enters the sea. It was windy and a lot colder than we expected!
We woke to a cold rainy Tuesday morning in PE. After breakfast Toosie dropped us off at Walmer Park shopping centre where we bought biltong and drywors for Keith, undies for Suzie, warm clothing and wine. We caught a taxi (clapped out minibus used by the local coloureds and blacks) back to Lester and Toosie's. We helped Toosie prepare vegetables to have with Karoo lamb for dinner followed by apple crumble Toosie style. We drank the two bottles of wine that we bought – a cab sav and a pinotage. Glen and Hilary (Toosie's cousin) joined us and we had a great night only getting to bed after midnight.
On Wednesday, we went for a drive to the beach (Sardinia Bay). At the beach there were some huge sand dunes which had covered over the road and a car park so we had to park the car. We climbed up the dunes for a walk and while we were there, we saw a couple of guys wearing wetsuits carrying large bags. As we watched they unpacked large canvas sails and boards. They started pumping up what looked like a rib on one side of the sail. It turned out that they were kite surfers and were taking advantage of the wind. We watched them for a while and took a few photos and then rushed back to the car to get out of the cold wind.
The next morning, we woke up to a lovely warm sunny day which was a wonderful change from the last two days. After breakfast Toosie dropped us off at St George's Park. We walked through the park past a memorial to the fallen in the Anglo-Boer, Transkei, Basutholand and Bechuanaland wars. We walked behind the Fan stadium past some little food stalls and some reed and lily filled ponds. We talked to some mounted police who had been involved in transporting dolphins from PE to Ocean Park in Hong Kong. Then we went to meet Toosie who dropped us off on the promenade at the beach. We had a lovely walk along the promenade past a little craft market where there were some wonderful painted ostrich eggs, wood carvings, stone carvings, carved ivory tusks, wooden masks, copper masks, bead and wire sculptures, paintings, cushion covers, placemats and jewellery. One of the most unusual pieces was a mask made from a tortoise shell. An hour later, Lester picked us up and we went back to the house for lunch. Tibby (Keith's aunt) arrived just as we finished lunch and joined us for dessert. We said our goodbyes to Lester and Toosie and then headed for Grahamstown with Tibby. On the way we drove past a couple of game farms and we saw a lovely giraffe. On the way into Grahamstown, Tibby drove us past the Settlers' Monument to a vantage point from which we could see the whole of Grahamstown and Rhodes University. At Tibby and Geoff's rambling 1902 house we were greeted enthusiastically by Hector the bull mastiff and Pippin the dachshund.
We spent Friday morning in Grahamstown where we saw some magnificent buildings, confirmed our car hire at Avis and went to Pick n Pay where we bought some supplies to take to Kenton on Sea. Geoff returned from work after lunch and after he packed his case we all jumped in the combi for the forty minute drive to their house at Kenton on Sea. On the way we saw zebra, impala, wildebeest, blesbok, giraffe, ostriches and vervet monkeys. We arrived at Geoff & Tibby's beautiful house Windwoods, which had a panoramic view of the beach with a separate little "flat" containing a bedroom and a small toilet, bathroom and washstand for us. We went for a walk with the dogs along the coast overlooking rock pools.
Our alarm went off at 6.30 am on Saturday morning and we got up, showered and closed up our backpacks. We closed up our little flat and joined Tibby and Geoff in their kitchen for a cup of tea and a rusk. Then we said goodbye to the sad dogs and headed off to Addo Elephant Park. An hour later, we arrived at Nanaga Farm Stall where we stopped for a hearty breakfast. We saw quite a bit of game on the way to Addo – monkeys, eland, kudu, hartebeest and zebras. At Addo we saw grazing kudu and warthog, a jackal feeding on the carcass of a small antelope and various groups of elephants. One group of elephants had a very small baby in tow which they were protecting. We saw another elephant uprooting shrubs to eat the roots. We went back to the main entrance and reception area and had a look at the souvenir shop and a display which included the stuffed head of Hapoor (a large bad tempered bull elephant). After a late lunch in the picnic area, Geoff drove us to The Colonial B&B just outside Addo town. We were each given a lovely bedroom with a large sitting room and bathroom.
On Sunday morning we had a fantastic breakfast at the Colonial B & B, then we drove back to Kenton in beautiful weather to drop off our gear before heading out to Stanley's restaurant with views over the Kariega River to join Buzz, Marion, Bruce, Pippa, Angus and Caro for lunch. We had a wonderful lunch washed down with Chocolate Block (Shiraz, Grenache, Cab Sauv, Cinsaut, Viognier) red wine. We got some shots of a couple of Crowned Hornbills and headed off to Buzz Bowker's (related to Keith through his great grandmother) home for liqueurs including a memorable Irish Mist. We drove back to Windwoods and went for a walk on the beach with the dogs.
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