Gone Fishing.. and Back Again!

I have really been missing blogging. Not only have we had no internet at home, plus a very busy time at work, but, as my title would suggest, we've been away covering Southern Africa with our tyre-prints once more.

Fly-fishing holiday ahead! who cares if the signpost is skew..

After a much too short, but wonderful ten day visit from my long-distance mother, we dashed down to drop her off at the airport in Johannesburg. On the way she was also able to catch up with the grown up grandchildren for a couple of hours before flying back too far over the seas again... sad for us, but that is life...

Here we are, looking out at my favourite elephant waterhole - always the perfect overnight stop on the way down, and a last goodbye to the wilder parts of Africa for my mum.

It was great fun actually, driving around in South Africa during the build up to the World Cup! One couldn't help getting caught up in the atmosphere. On the way home we detoured for a few nights in the trout-fishing haven of Dullstroom - one of our favourite places, and relatively close to home. When I say that, I mean that it is not as far away as most other places on our fishing travel wishlist! I think we did a round trip of about 3500km (about 2175 miles)

The more southerly Winter is fiercer than ours, so I had to pack accordingly. Please note, in this photo I am proudly wearing my warm bamboo yarn hat, which was made specially for me by blog-friend Lori all the way over there in Califorina (loritimes5 blog). thank you Lori!!

I don't fish, but enjoy reading, administering the hip flask, photographing the fish before they go back in, and generally absorbing the beautiful places where fly fishing tends to take place. The little stone cottage up on the hill is where we stayed. Just perfect!

The chilly air in the rolling mountains just demands log fires and lots of sherry, to counteract all that brisk outdoor activity. Cosy little pubs and restaurants in the town also beckoned strongly - it is little wonder that we decided to stay another night, and let our business carry on without us back home!

Fortunately there is always the mobile office while away from home! I think we badly needed a holiday, as we were in a state of utter disorganised chaos for various reasons, but had the greatest time anyway - maybe sometimes it's a good thing to let go of the inner control freak, and let the chaos be...

A few drive-by shots as we drive north on the long road home. Wintry-looking baobab here:

 I restrained myself from uploading the photo of the zebra's rear end disappearing fast out of my photo, so here is the field full of sunflowers which signifies only 100km to go!

Back home, it's been a mad mixture of  trying to open up a new shop with a thousand African setbacks, running the chaotic current shop with same setbacks,  lack of internet at home, and too much tennis and now soccer to watch on TV.  Due to all of the above, I have really cut back on personal time online. I also made a decision to deactivate my Facebook account about 3 months ago, which has been a rather strange experience, having been on it since 2007. Now, we have a temporary connection back at home, and due to the internet drought, I now feel the need to go online and try to read every post written on all my favourite blogs for the last month!

Other aspects of life go on... the cat reconciliation program has resulted in an uneasy truce between  sworn enemies with the odd territorial battle. The bananas mentioned in one of my last blog posts were all eaten, predictably, by those fiendishly clever baboons. A newer, bigger bunch is in now progress, and we are hoping to come up with some sort of strategy to protect them once they start to turn yellow!

Our river is still pretty high, although the water level has dropped significantly. At the golf course Hole number 2  has re-emerged, and the rapids are starting to run white over the rocks again. Herewith a photo of  the now much less submerged palm tree, taken as a measurement. The trunk/stem has emerged quite far out of the water, as you can see by the lovely reflection drawn on the water surface.

Due to the dry winter season, the elephants are very much around the top hilly area of town, and lately we've also been stopping for small groups of impala antelope as they nervously cross the tar road. The town warthogs are still all over the place, and are extremely photogenic as ever! I have to just point you to this blogpost with a few great mug shots of the young hogs outside our office, back in the marula days.

Coming up..school and university holidays in South Africa means visitations from the kids - this time younger stepson and his girlfriend. Always so great to have them around.  The weather has taken a turn towards the very chilly, in honour of the upcoming solstice. We of course are completely unprepared for such coldness, but it warms up beautifully during the day, and the days are generally glorious, I have to say.

Before I make this the longest blogpost I have ever created, I will  leave now and wish everybody reading this a most wonderful weekend, in advance!