4th Dec

Three weeks since last week and still happy here on the farm. (By myself again as it's Saturday which is Rob's weekly TV fix). We had a week in Cape Town staying with Dinny and Chris which was lovely - a bit of beach, coffees, lunches, shopping, visiting friends and talking. But otherwise we've mostly just been here on the farm with Alec and Kjersti and then Dinny and Meg have just been here for a week. But they've all gone now so it's just us and sometimes Richard.

Alec, Kjersti, Celia, Richard, Rob - Braai at the farm

Rob is still working like a Trojan, putting up a ceiling in the kitchen at the moment. But the rest of us have slowed down a bit it seems. The veggie garden is growing by itself now mostly and there are not so many jobs for my limited skills. But Alec, Richard and Rob have put up the gutters now and fixed the hot water systems and drains. Alec and Kjersti have done quite a bit of riding and the rest of us have had a few turns (yes, even me) but the one horse is too naughty for everyone except Kjersti and Richard. So we all just have turns on Graniet who's great.

Just finishing getting dressed

Richard and Rob

Saturday 13th November

The 8 hour drive was very pleasant in our little rental with our delicious padkos. Graaff Reinet was great too. We  met Tank Coetzee who lent us a car and we stayed the night with Charles and Ira Maasdorp (distant relatives), who were all wonderful. Charles and Ira took us to the Valley of Desolation where Charles produced a little picnic basket and glasses of wine. Then we had a walk around Winterhoek which is the farm where my mother grew up. That was amazing - it's now been bought up by the Camdeboo National Park so we saw Koedoe and springbok and stuff. The next day there was a huge table set for breakfast before we drove to Oudtshoorn and then on to Beaufort West.

Charles and Ira at Winterhoek

Charles and Rob at Valley of Desolation

And here we are still a week later with Alec and Kjersti (my nephew and his Norwegian girlfriend). We are living in the old farm house on Richard's farm (about 150 years) where my grandparents lived almost all their lives. It is on the verge of falling down but the roof has now been re-thatched and Alec has managed to install solar powered electricity (with some help from Rob). And now we are just cleaning and doing various fixing jobs which all require a lot of antihistamines for me. But it is lovely here - bit of a problem for Kjersti who has a strong aversion to mice and I think snakes since she came face to face with a cobra the other day while out for a little walk. It stood up in the road in front of her which was pretty scary.

I am sitting here all by myself at the moment as Rob has gone to Charles Koster's farm (neighbour) to watch the rugby, and Alec and Kjersti have gone to Sutherland to fetch 2 horses they are borrowing for a few months. So it is very quiet and peaceful here and nearly time for a little glass of wine while I prepare something delicious for dinner for the workers.

South Africa

Well we have had 5 great days here in Joburg (well I have, Rob was sick for a day or so). We have just been staying with Margaret and Campbell and Andrew, spending time with family. And tonight we are going out for dinner with Jan and Franco Barocas (old uni friends). The big task was to organise to get to Graaff Reinet where someone has kindly offered to lend us a car. So tomorrow we drive down in a rental car, stay the night with Charles and Ira Maasdorp and then drive through to Oudtshoorn on Friday to drop off the rental and then onto the farm in Beaufort West. I think at that point our standard of living is going to change dramatically. Alec and Kjersti are there already doing a major clean up after the re-thatching of the roof. But apparently there is still no power and quite a lot of very old dust.

For those who have been emailing to stay in touch - we will go into town periodically so will be able to collect messages and will try to reply. But the only immediate form of communication we have is the land line.

So no photos today but will try to take some while at the farm.

London from Rob

Well London has turned on spectacular weather for our few days. Clear blue skies, no wind but still cold so one needs to put on extra layers. Had the opportunity to go to the top of NZ House with Corisha where we had amazing views over London and where we could get our bearings. Walked through James Park to Buckingham Palace, then onto Big Ben before navigating the Tube system home. Have really enjoyed catching the double decker buses and trains - only walked in the wrong direction once when coming up to ground level. Took in Les Miserables at the Queens Theatre on Tuesday evening which was awesome. Even made me have goosebumps. And Tracey and Corisha took us to a great Thai place afterwards. Had dinner with Jill's nephew, David on our last night at a little restaurant overlooking the canal, which was great.

Rob and Corisha at top of NZ house

Dinner at the Eagle 

Caught more trains to Bristol on Thursday to see John. Had a typical Pub lunch at The Penny Farthing and caught up on all his news. He has absolutely fallen in love with his new life in Bristol and already talking about extending his time if possible. With his birthday on the 28th and our absence for Xmas we went shopping for new shoes, coats, icebreaker, umbrella etc - all much needed. Went and saw his hall of residence " Wills " which he says is the best in every possible way. We feel very lucky that he is so happy. Luckily Jill has old family friends in Bristol just down the road from Wills, so we stayed 3 nights with them. It was good spending some time with them as well as seeing John. We had a great last lunch at Jenny and Pete's and Arthur and Anna and Lara and Sasha came down from London, and John fitted us in between rugby coaching in the morning and hockey in the afternoon.

John in front of Science building at Bristol

John ready for formal dinner on a Friday night

The famous Clifton suspension bridge designed by Brunelles

Pete and Jenny, Arthur and Anna and Lara and Sasha

Athens - London

Somehow doing the blog with no photos seems a bit pointless. But I can't just stop so will keep going for now. The Greek night was not too spectacular - not even any spannekopita, and there were just 4 people looking a bit bored with their dance - or maybe they were enjoying themselves but we were a bit uninspired. So by Saturday morning we were quite ready to pack up and spend the morning at Bali Beach which was lovely - but not so easy to get drinnks and lunch as the tavernas pointed out that everything was closing the next day so they were not serving anything other than Toast today.  So Toast it was. And then we drove on to Knossos which was pretty spectacular. We did a little guided tour around the old Palace of Knossos which was about the oldest place we have seen - more than 1000 BC I think I remember!! Then we drove into Heraklion to catch our plane to Athens but squeezed in a Hamburger and chips at Donald's (well that was the English translation - I have been having a great time learning to read Greek but not to understand it).

We were very brave in Athens and decided to catch public transport to our hotel at 8pm on a Saturday night. My knowledge of Greek didn't quite extend to instructions on which underground to take and at which station to change etc. And we didn't find the other Greek passengers very interested in our problems. So when we saw them all getting out the train we just got out too and tried again. We eventually got a train to the Acropolis  and caught a taxi to Syntegma Square which is where we found our wonderful hotel. The next day we found the train station right outside our hotel which we had gone right through. Anyway - we were happy to sleep (slight disturbances of airconditioner pouring out water onto TV in middle of night and loud guests and heat without airconditioner and noisy street). But we are getting used to all those things. And the view from the restaurant on the 10th floor, where we ate breakfast made up for it all. It looked right over the city and the Acropolis and Parthenon - absolutely amazing.

From restaurant

And Sunday was a beautiful day, so we did a guided walking tour of Government House and the Acropolis. The first spectacle was the Changing of the Guards. No camera yet so just some on Rob's i-phone, but that was a great show. There is no doubt that is where John Cleese got his inspiration for his Ministry of Funny Walks. We went back in the afternoon just for another laugh. The whole tour was great and the guide was wonderful with a sense of humour. And it was nice to be walking again after a week in the car. We had a great meal at a little Taverna that night, sitting outside. Then the next day was pouring so we bought our camera, kept checking for emails but to no avail as everyone has gone quiet again. We finally threatened John that we wouldn't pay for his res if he didn't write before we got to London. So it was good to get an update from him on the train from Heathrow to Paddington.

Hard to really capture these weird moves but sure you could google them.

The flight from Athens to London was full, long and bumpy. But London has been lovely so far. Rob's niece, Corisha, met us at Paddington Station to help us find their flat. Then his other niece, Tracey, came home early enough for us to have a drink and pizza at the local pub. It was great to see them and lovely to be staying in a home again. Today we have done lots of talking on the phone and skype and went for a lovely walk along the canal to Islington, before the rain started. Rob managed to fit in a hair cut too. We are hoping to see David (my nephew) tonight and are thinking of trying to book to see Avenue Q. So we will see how we go.

Temple of Zeus at bottom of Acropolis

From Parthenon looking at Odeon where they still hold performances (Pavarotti performed here)

More Crete

No blog for a few days, partly because we get tired of having to come down to the pool to get internet and partly because I am not always inspired to write. Well it is Friday now so we are leaving for Athens tomorrow and then the UK for a week and then Paris and South Africa. The weather in October has definitely been less calm and summery than September. After the one sunny day we had a ghastly Southerly that blew for a couple of days (something worse than a Berg wind in SA or an Easterly in Perth). Then there was some rain and finally today a little bit of clear sky and sun. But we soldiered on and drove all around the West Coast the one day ending at Elafonisi on the South West coast which was absolutely beautiful. There was a howling gale and some amazing kite surfing but we were sorry we couldn't stay longer but didn't want to be negotiating the roads in the dark. We have NEVER been on roads anything like this before - winding and narrow and HIGH - many places I couldn't look out my window at all without breaking into a sweat.

South Coast - bit bleak and windy

Elafonisi

 (Photos don't want to upload?? - will try another time as I am getting frustrated with this now)

Kite surfers

Really lovely village with spectacular views down valley

Then the next day we decided to wind our way to the ancient city of Lappa which was amazing, and then ended up on the South Coast again for a swim at Korakos. I took some beautiful photos of Rob up on the rocks - even one of him diving off the rocks into the sparkling water. But - who know what happened after that as we had no camera by the time we arrived home. Hard to think I would leave it on the beach but also can't imagine when someone could have stolen it. But it is gone which is very sad. The next day we drove all the way back to ask at the little tavernas if anyone had handed it in but they just laughed at the idea, especially as by that time it was pouring and thundering. But one of the tavernas must have felt sorry for us as we had coffee and cake there at no charge.
So that was not good for our moods and we had to negotiate the city police station to file a report. (which of course is in Greek so not sure what the insurance will say about that).
So today we were pleased to see some blue sky and headed off along the North Coast to a beautiful bay called something like Imbrosglias. No beach, just rocks but stunning sitting there in the sun. Then we drove on to a SANDY beach which was a huge luxury here, where we relaxed until we had to fetch the jolly police report.
Tonight we have a special Greek dancing night here in the complex - hope that is fun.

Imbrosgialos

Almiryda - sandy beach was just around the corner

Crete

The sun finally came out today so we drove over to the Southern side of the island. Amazing little windy roads through huge gorges.

We were heading for Plakias but stopped at a little unmarked beach which was fantastic. We had to share it with the sheep and goats. But we had nice sun beds and umbrellas and had a lovely time swimming (Libyan Sea now) and reading our books and trying to improve our tans! Think we still have a way to go.