Insomnia(c)

3am, Friday morning. Can't sleep. Today will be my last day at work this year. I wish I could say that I'm awake because of the excitement of having reached the end of this 'working' year, but truth be known, it is the work that is keeping me awake. Funny how even though things have quietened down now, I'm still worried about the last minute things that need to get done, and anticipating the problems that I need to sort out when I get back to work in January. So wrong!

Anyway, besides work issues, I'm also mentally going through the checklist of things that I need to pack. Camera and battery charger are essentials (oh, and come to think of it, I'd better add cellphone charger to the list - although I'm not sure that there is coverage where we're going). I knew there was a reason I needed to logon and post this message...

What a day!

So the new addition to our family was the “Mongoose” - what you don’t know is that we also acquired a “Schwinn” – my entry level mountain bike complete with entry level components. What I learnt from G about the purchase of any bike is that it’s not about the paintwork or how attractive the bike looks (which, being a woman I thought that was very important) it’s all about the components!! So I am pleased to say that I now own a Schwinn mountain bike with Shimano components.

Now you can’t have a mountain bike without the mountain bike rack and you can’t have a mountain bike rack without a tow-bar. So my little A class was chosen as the vehicle which will be used to transport these two new additions. We have fitted the tow-bar and the mountain bike rack and my car looks quite snazzy now.

Our first mountain biking expedition into Africa was last Friday at the Ezemvelo Nature Reserve. After a long hike with G and his dad, we set off in the mid day heat to try and find the mysterious White Rhino which we were not able to spot from the car. G’s advice to me just before the ride was that should I be charged by a white rhino and her baby or any other wild animal for that matter I was under no circumstance to try and ride away from them but should rather discard by bicycle and run. I was really impressed that he believed I could out run a rhino ;-) thank love.

The dirt road/sand/rocks/incline of the hill seemed a lot harder to ride through than what I had originally expected. The first km was hard, the second even harder and by the fourth km I was finished. Having gearing down from 6 to 5 to 4 to 3 to 2 gear, G seemed to disappear into the horizon and as fast as my legs rotated I could not keep up. It was at this point that I turned my bike around waved goodbye to G and happily free wheeled down the road I had ridden up, heading back to the camping spot. I must admit that there was something quite tranquil about being on my own in the wild, I passed one Wildebeest and a family of warthogs who seemed a lot more scared of me than I was of them. Once safely back at camp I was quite proud of the fact that I had a) found my way home on my own (my sense of direction must be improving), b) not been charged or mauled by any wild animal, c) had ridden 7.9kms according to my odometer.

I loved the day out and will definitely be trying another mountain bike trail in the New Year. My first New Years resolution will be to get my mountain biking body into shape!

One week of work left

We had our annual xmas braai with our dinner club mates last night...Gillian and Pieter, Chris, Murray and Tanya, Anthony and Liezl and Chris' sister Trudy. Dave and Leigh couldn't make it, so we still haven't seen their baby. The whole point of the evening, besides getting together with our mates, was to each buy a R40 gift to exchange. K and I ended up getting a matching coffee mug set - very cool mugs, and a bit of a hangover this morning...great evening though.

There just seems to be so much to do still. We leave for Madagascar in 6 days time, and I still need to get K a xmas present, we need to sort out our forex, have the family over for festive drinks sometime this week, fit in a round of golf one afternoon in the next week still, try and organise a dinner out with Richard, Joanna, Gail, Trevor and the Morgans, pack all our clothes for the holiday, go through for a braai at Neil's folks' place on Friday evening, and then still get all our presents wrapped and ready for Saturday's lunch. Going to be an interesting week this...

The Morgan's are back in town...

Met up with Neil and Mandy on Friday evening. Frank called whilst we were on our way back from eZemvelo, and wanted to know if we were keen to go and see the new Harry Potter. We said we'd hook up with him at Eastgate and get tickets - but 5 minutes later, Neil called. He arrived back from the UK the day before for his sister's wedding. Anyway, we all ended up going out for pizza's and catching up. It was good to see them again. Last time we saw them was at Gail and Trevor's wedding in March - they're both well, and looks like they are keen on moving back to SA sometime soon. Mind you, this is Neil we're talking about - that's what the plan was...oooh, about 18 months ago now. We'll see.

Here's the proof

Just in case you thought I was pulling your leg about seeing Kudu on our hike, here is the proof. They're normally quite difficult to spot, and very shy animals, but we were lucky to spot 9 (i counted 4 bulls and 5 cows) at once. Really special to see these animals...

A day out at eZemvelo

We're nearing Christmas day now, and there are still so many things to do. We're not taking leave this week, and there's still a lot to get done before we leave for Madagascar on Saturday afternoon.

Friday was a pretty good day. It was a public holiday here in SA (Day of Reconcilliation), and K and I decided to get out of town. We went through to a game reserve / farm called eZemvelo - getting up at 5am in the morning, we arrived at around 8am. We met my dad there (he had camped over the night before) and set off on a hike that took us through some spectacular countryside. Some of the game that we saw included Impala, Kudu, Warthogs, Blue Wildebeest, Springbok and Eland. Top picture is on top of the "lookout" rock, with some great views of the surrounding countryside and the Wilge river (pictured below).

We also took our mountain bikes with, and after lunch, took off for some more sight-seeing, in some fiercly hot weather. Needless to say, we didn't cover much distance. K managed about 7km's, and I think that I notched up about 12km before heading back to the camp, and then home again.

A course I'd like to play

Ernie Els has just won the Dunhill Championship event (which forms part of the Sunshine Tour) at Leopard Creek. Mental note to self - have to play at Leopard Creek someday - it looks incredible. Ernie didn't have a great tournament last week at the Nedbank Challenge, so I'm glad that he's back on the scene again.

A little Fisher...

This week saw the birth of Belinda Fisher, first child to our good friends Dave and Leigh Fisher. She was born on Wednesday 7th December. We haven't seen the Fishers yet, but will hopefully catch up with them, and get to meet Belinda at our annual Christmas braai with other good mates, Gillan and Pieter Fourie, and Chris Trehearn, taking place next weekend at the Fourie's house.

Sunshine and water

Had a really good day last Sunday. Started off by getting up nice and early and heading off to Leeukop golf course for a round of golf with a mate of mine. We were paired up with a father and son (Julian and Geoffrey), and had a great round. The weather was perfect (if not a little too hot), and the course is in great condition at the moment. Shot a 91, which I consider pretty decent, considering that I haven't played in about 2 months.

After the golf, it was back home to collect Karen, and go through to the folks place - to celebrate Grant and Stuart's birthday. And after a day on the course, there was nothing better for me, than spending a bit of time in the pool. With dogs barking...swimming...running around wet, and some great food, it was a memorable afternoon. Even got to show Grant how to do a few forward somersaults, whilst he tried to pull off a back somersault or two... :-)

It's a Beautiful Day

It's official : K and I will be going to see my all time favourite band, U2, on the 28th March 2006. Here's how it happened.

Ever since I can remember, I have been a die-hard U2 fan. I have all their albums (except for a few singles CD's), and all the DVD's that I can get my hands on in SA. I've only ever seen them live once - when they first came to SA in 1998. We camped outside computicket for the entire night, and got the first tickets when the systems went online the next morning. The concert was definitely the best that I have ever been to. So when we heard that they would be touring the world at the beginning of this year, we quietly hoped that "the world" would include SA. That wasn't to be. I even resorted to signing up with a local site (wewantu2.co.za) petitioning Bono and the boys to head over to SA. At one stage, K and I considered flying to London for a few days, just to go and see them playing, but when we tried to get tickets in April of 2005, we found out that every single leg of the world wide tour had been sold out. Over 3.4 million tickets sold across the world.

So you can imagine our delight, when I read on the U2.com site, that they would be adding New Zealand and Australia onto the last leg of their tour, and that tickets would go on sale on 5th Dec 2005. And even better, was the fact that it coincided perfectly with our trip to Perth for Angie and Greg's wedding next year. Granted, we'll have to catch a flight to Adelaide to watch them, but we were looking to spend a bit of time in Australia anyway, and what better way to spend a holiday, than with a trip to see what is arguably the worlds most successful rock band.

The pieces have fallen into place perfectly - and a huge thanks to Greg and Ang for organising the tickets.

Bring on the silly season!

So we're into December already, and yet things don't seem to be slowing down at all. If anything, the rush is now on to get things wrapped up (no pun intended) for the year. Workwise, I'm pushing my team to get all of our projects delivered by the 15th of the month, so that we can all take a bit of a break. There are a lot of grumpy people in the office at the moment - I guess everyone is feeling the pressure. Not long now...

Being this time of year, and with the shopping centre's well into the "decorating" spirit, K and I decided to put up our Christmas tree today, and its taken its usual spot in the corner of our lounge. Its only been one day, but we're slowly starting to feel that silly season is upon us- hell yeah! Bring it on is what I say!

Its the mongoose

I've been wanting to get a bicycle for a while now, but have put it off due to the fact that we really don't have much storage space in our place. It would either have to be kept in the spare room, or on the balcony upstairs. Putting in the room would mean that we would not really be able to move in the spare room, as its not the biggest of rooms - and putting it outside on the balcony, would mean lugging it up two sets of stairs each time I used it. Then there was the option of clearing out the space under the stairs - but again, where would I put all that stuff.

Anyway, I discovered that the guy who lives in the unit below us was moving out, and there is a storeroom next to his unit that would be available to use. That's when the decision was made.

Right, so would it be a road bike, or a mountain bike? In my mind, and being the type of guy who likes to spend time outdoors, and go exploring, I figured a mountain bike was the way to go.

I ended up ordering a Mongoose Tyax Super, 2005 model. Its classified as entry level, but falls into the sport range, which is one up from the leisure range, and one down from the racing range. Its exactly what I need - not too expensive, something that I can use on the road if I want (it has lockable front shocks), as well as on various off-road trails. Its what they call a "hardtail" model, with an 18 inch frame, rapid fire shifters, and Shimano Deore rear derailleur components. I should take delivery of the bike on Monday 5th Dec if all goes according to plan - an early xmas present to myself... :-)

Otter trail - hold thumbs.....

My first memories of the Tsitsikamma National Park was in 1988 on a Standard 4 school tour which took us from Johannesburg along the Garden Route to Cape Town. It was late afternoon as the sun was setting and a massive storm was building up over the sea that we entered the Nature reserve and as we sat on the bus watching the waves crash against the coastline, I remember thinking to myself what a beautiful place this was.

15 years later I entered the National Park again this time with Alan, Kerryn, Lauren, Stuart and G, and all my previous memories of this beautiful place came flooding back. It was just as I remembered. It was round about this time that I was told about the Otter Trail described as follows:

The Otter Trail is a dream come true for any nature lover and a worthwhile experience for all outdoor enthusiasts. It is undoubtedly unique, one of the most beautiful nature trails in any national park. It leads from Storms river rest camp to the Groot River, crossing ravines, skirting bays, weaving through magnificent indigenous forest and fording numerous streams. It hugs the Tsitsikamma coast as close to the pounding surf as possible, but where the cliffs drop too steeply into the sea below, the trail zig zags upwards to an elevation of 200m on the coastal plateau.

Since then I have always wanted to experience this hike. From the information I have received the cost is R525 per person bookings can only be made 11 months in advance however they take in applications 14 months prior to that. Applications get logged and the day the bookings open the system runs a random selection and notifies the applicants who have been able to secure a spot. I'm hoping our application is successful and this time next year we will be gearing up for our big adventure - hold thumbs!!

Living in Africa...

After a fantastic festive season lunch this afternoon with K's friend Sandra, we had to rush to be at the airport by 4:15pm, as I am going down to Cape Town for a budget meeting tomorrow morning. All was on track, until I got to the airport, only to discover that all flights to Cape Town have been delayed - reason being is that there are potholes on the runway. Potholes! I would believe that if we were living in a place like Tanzania, or Kenya - but South Africa!

Anyway, so here I am, sitting at the airport, in the new domestic departures terminals, in a wi-fi enabled hotspot, with my laptop - whilst they fix the potholes in Cape Town! I'm only going to find out at 6pm, whether they have fixed them to the extent that they can land a plane on the runway - if not, well, there goes that budget meeting tomorrow.

Yup - only in Africa...

Blogging...? Blogs...?

Given the fact that I have sent a mail to most of our friends and family, notifying them of this blog, I thought it appropriate to explain exactly what a blog is. For those of you that already know, skip this post, and scroll down to the next.

So, what exactly is a blog then? Well, I guess the best way to describe it, would be to say that it is a form of personal online journal. It is derived from the term "weblog" - which is essentially a diary of posts, in reverse chronological order. The term "weblog" soon morphed into "we blog", describing the process of "posting" thoughts and messages onto a personal message board. A blog typically consists of text and hyperlinks, and may or may not include images and video. For more about blogging, take a look here.

K and I thought that we'd create this personal space, where we could post regular thoughts and messages about what we're up to. We all live such a fast-paced life, that communicating with friends and family on a regular basis is quite difficult sometimes. We promise to post regular text and image updates, and hope that these will give you a sense of what is happening in our lives. We encourage you to post comments on the site, and let us know what's happening in your lives too. We're not completely abandoning traditional means of communication of course, but merely opening up another channel.

Look forward to hearing from you soon.

K and G.

Robbie who...?

Now I'm not the biggest Robbie Williams fan ever, but K certainly has an appreciation for his...uh...showmanship, so when Richard asked whether we were keen to go and watch him in April 2006, at Loftus Stadium in Pretoria, we decided that it would be a good idea. Until we saw the queues for tickets that is. The tickets went on sale yesterday morning, and rumour has it that the die-hard fans had camped overnight to be first in line when the systems came online. I recall doing a similiar thing back in 1997, for the 21 March 1998 U2 concert at the Jhb Stadium, but Robbie Williams - I don't think so.

Anyway, after spending most of the morning at the shops with K, I decided that I would give the tickets one last stab, provided there were no more than 10 people in the queue. Luckily for the rest of the gang that I was buying tickets for (Richard, Simona, Joanna, Nicole and K) there were only 6 people in the queue, and I managed to get some. They must have been some of the last tickets on sale, as we heard that no less than 1 hour later, the entire event had sold out.

I guess he'll put on a great show...with maybe one or two songs that I'll appreciate. We'll see...

IM Chat is cool, but voice is better...

Since having ADSL installed a month or two back, our lives have changed somewhat. I was warned by colleagues from work - "once you get ADSL, there is no turning back". Anyway, it has made the world of difference to the way we work now - as we're always "connected". If you've ever used MSN, the benefits of being online all the time, especially from home, are quite nice as we have quite a few friends and family members overseas, and the easiest form of communication is via MSN messenger. Take last weekend for example, both K and I were chatting to her dad, who lives in Perth, on two separate laptops. Or the regular chats that I have with Gary (who lives and works in China), our mutual friend and best man at our wedding. Like I said, IM (Instant Messenger) chat is pretty cool, but with an ADSL connection now, we thought we'd give Skype a try. Skype is an application, not too dissimiliar to MSN, that allows you to setup a list of contacts, and then make voice calls to the contacts, using the internet to carry the call. What's better of course, is that its all free. Ok, you do obviously pay for your ADSL every month, but that's a fixed cost now, whether we make use of it or not. Cutting a long story short, we called Gary yesterday and had a 20 minute conversation with him - with surprisingly good quality sound. Every now and then, there was a bit of a break in the speech, but it was simply buffered, and not distored as a cellphone call can become when out of range. We also put a call through to our mate Ronald Tweedie, who lives in Chester in the UK - again, great quality voice conversation, that cost us nothing. Now the trick is to convince K's folks to get a broadband connection at home :-)

Trip Down under

Angie and Greg's big day is planned for the 24th of March 06. G and I need to sit down and plan the dates we intend taking leave for the trip - do we go the week before the wedding and spend the time with the folks or do we go a few days before the wedding and spend the time after the wedding with the folks? Do we stay in Perth the whole two weeks or do we do a bit of traveling - if so where? Decisions, decisions, decisions. I think step one will be to start making enquiries to establish the cost of the flight.

Recommended read

This is the book that I have just finished reading - highly recommended. K bought this book for my last birthday, but I've only recently had the time to get around to reading it. Some good lessons to be learnt.

Hiking the hills of Suikerbosrand

So with all the stresses of work, and the rushed lives that we live, we decided to take some time out and go and do a hike in the Suikerbosrand Nature reserve, south of Jhb. K and I decided that we'd give the 10km route a go - why not - the 17km sounded too long, and the 1 hour walk was just too short. Well, about 2 hours into the hike, and out of breath, we wondered how good an idea that was. It actually turned out to be perfect though - we managed the 10km in just over 3 hours - which I estimated would take at least 4-5 hours at one stage. It was great to get out into the hills, and work the lungs a bit. The vegetation was still pretty dry, with patches of green grass starting to sprout, but mostly dry and dusty. We enjoyed the walk so much, that we decided to do it again this past weekend, with a good mate of ours - Frankie. This time, we opted for the shorter, 1 hour route - where we got to spot a lone Eland, grazing in the hills. The walk was pleasant, and the vegetation was definitely a lot greener - given the recent rains. After completing the walk we then found a good spot under some trees, to just park off and enjoy a cold savannah. All in all, another great afternoon in the hills. We're hoping to find some other great hikes and trails in the Gauteng area, and get out at least once a month. Will keep you posted.

Christmas round the corner

With Christmas fast approaching I find myself wondering how on earth I'm going to get through all the shopping and planning for our holiday to Madagascar. I had all good intentions from the beginning of August to go out and purchase all the pressies - we now just over a month away from the 25th and number of pressies under the belt - zero.

The Wilson's - Down Under!

And just to confirm how impressive Google Earth really is, we decided to try and find K's folks' place, on the 4th fairway of the Joondalup Resort, in Perth. And here it is...

Our place, from space.

Speaking of homes, this is our place as seen from space, using Google Earth.

House Hunting

Its not that we're unhappy in our townhouse at the moment, but we're desperately looking for something with a bit of a garden. We've been in our current place for almost 4 years now, and we absolutely love it, but are craving some extra space, and a patch of grass. Problem is that everything we look at, in the area that we're currently in, is way too expensive. We like the area though - so have decided to take our time and try and find something that is a little more reasonably priced than what we've currently seen - even if it does take a while. We're quietly optimistic that the right place will come along soon enough.