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South Africa 7th - 21st September 2013

1st August Preliminary Thoughts.

There are five weeks and two days to go until the 'intrepid travellers' meet at Heathrow. Why are travellersalways 'intrepid'? Why not bold, adventurous travellers or in my case more 'trepid' than 'in'? I'm very excitedabout the trip but nervous too and there is still much to do. Meetings and events at Church that need forwardplanning. There are arms to twist and lots of 'pretty pleases' needed to swap duties and fill rotas while I'm away.There is something in the diary for nearly every day.

House to clean and freezer to fill. I've written a list for Sam of everything he has to do and all his commitments.He says he is going to redecorate our bedroom while I'm away so we need to choose and order a new carpet.

Oh yes, and have to find a gift for Jenni's new baby too.

Plus, arranging insurance and lots of Rands and getting to grips with my new camera.

I've borrowed two library books on South Africa. There are so many wonderful places I'd like to see. Far toomany to see in a fortnight and some in the wrong place and others at the wrong time. The penguins are too faraway. The sardine run will have been and gone and the jacarandas don't bloom until October.

Rachel tells me that a meal is served on the aircraft. The only other time I've had a meal in the air was going toMarseilles with Janet in about 1973. That was Janet's first flight, so on that occasion I was the seasoned travel-ler.

7th August.

Graeme has sent an email regarding cars and transport. I think it's in code and I'm tempted to write back and askif there is a prize for the first person to crack it.

I'm pleased to see that a visit to the Pilanesberg Game Reserve is on the cards.

11th August.

Have had a couple of phone conversations with Rachel and Dave this week. Virgin Atlantic is now treating thethree separate flight bookings as one party. We are paying another £60 for seats with extra leg room but Ashleyrecommends it for long haul flights.

R&D are investigating self catering accommodation in Durban for three nights, from the 15th - 18th. Morepractical than a hotel for Gracie. A&K have decided not to come to Durban.

Pilanesberg is a two hour drive from Jo'burg. We're going to have a day trip on the first Wednesday. Otheractivities will be decided when we get there.

24th August.

Everything seems to be coming together. Aviva was rather troublesome about the travel insurance documentsbut they have finally arrived in the post. Aviva insisted that they had, several times, sent a link to enable me toprint the documents. I guess it was the old and ever present problem. Somebody can't spell my name correctly.

David has found accommodation across the road from the beach at Durban. It's a self - catering apartment hotelwith breakfast included. There is a coffee shop and a restaurant next door, should one choose to patronise them.I don't think we have anything quite like it here. According to the room plan on the website there are threebedrooms and a kitchenette. There is no sitting room but one of the bedrooms has a table and chairs in it. I guessthe proprietors thought they would squeeze in as many people as they can and encourage them to go out andspend money by not making them too comfortable.

The freezer is full. The new bedroom carpet has been ordered. I've done as much as I can in advance at Church.I've even measured the suitcase which is well within the specified limits but I think the larger one will be tooheavy. On Tuesday, I shall order my Rands from the Post Office, despite Graeme's advice that I can obtain cashfrom the local ATMs. I don't want to arrive in a strange country with no money. I've been watching the exchangerate for a few days and it doesn't vary much.

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29th August

It's all change on the accommodation front in Durban. Owing to mixed reviews of the Belaire ApartmentsDavid has been looking elsewhere. He has found Spinnaker 184 which charges a similar price but withoutbreakfast. It's a three bedroom, self - catering apartment with two bathrooms, a sitting room and a properkitchen. It has two patios - one overlooking the beach and one overlooking the harbour and inland. It soundsmuch more comfortable than the previous one but, at 18 floors up, I hope the lifts are in working order. Accord-ing to the website, it's next door to the uShaka Marine World, one of Durban's major tourist attractions.

I have picked up my currency from the Post Office. The notes have wildebeest, lions and zebras on one side andsome have Mandela on the other. I don't know of any other countries who put living people, other than mon-archs, on their bank notes.

3rd September

Phone call from David. He hasn't booked the Spinnaker apartment for reasons which are rather unclear, exceptthat photos taken in 2009 show it being in the middle of a building site. Anyway, he is now investigating hotelswhich are part of a chain, not privately owned, so he has a better idea of what the service and facilities are like.With just four days left until departure the lack of accommodation is worrying.

7th September

Departure day has arrived. I have packed and repacked several times and I think I've managed to squeeze a quartinto a pint pot.

I have checked in on line and looked at seat 33G on the Airbus plan. It's an aisle seat in the centre block of four,so no view out of the window.

Awake and up early this morning. Checked my email and therewas a message from David saying that we finally have an apart-ment in Durban - 16 Glitter Bay. The exterior shot on the websitelooks like an airport control tower but it seems spacious and wellequipped inside. Time will tell. I'm relieved we have somethingdefinite. I was getting a bit anxious.

We arranged to meet at Heathrow at 5pm. Sam and I arrived at tento five so that wasgood. The rest ofthe family was al-ready there.

I was very im-pressed by the Vir-gin Atlantic systemand everythingwent smoothly.Kerry is evidently asuspicious-lookingcharacter. As wewent through De-partures she was

randomly selected for frisking from top to toe. Val and I werewaved through. We then had more than an hour to wait until ourflight number was shown on the departures so we all spent sometime window shopping in the very exclusive stores. Gate 22 wasannounced dead on time and we were able to board immediately.Virgin Atlantic is evidently more flexible about the amount of cabin baggage one take than the budget airlines.

The supper was quite good - chicken curry with salad, followed by chocolate banoffee mousse. The cabin lightswere turned out early so time dragged for a while. I scrolled through all the films available but I had only heardof one or two of them and none appealed, not even the one called 'Parker'. The screens following the aircraft'sprogress, speed, altitude etc. were far more interesting even though it wasn't working properly.

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Gracie was very good and slept for long periods. The rest of us only dozed. I was reminded of being on nightduty - restless, wakeful patients and the staff creeping around in the dark, trying to be quiet.

Breakfast was served at 6 o'clock. The muffin and yogurt were fine but the 'English' breakfast was inedible. I'mnot sure whether I had scrambled egg or custard.

We landed on time. I had my first glimpse of Africa and there wereGraeme and Ann on the concourse, waiting to meet us.

Sunday, 8thChurch Picnic.

We piled ourselvesand the luggage intothe cars and Graemegave us a runningcommentary as hedrove us out of the

city. Their house in Midrand is about an hour's drive from the air-port.

The area around the airport could have been a modern city any-where but soon wewere seeing plenty of shacks - not exactly slums but houses thatlooked more like garages. A lot of building work had been doneand improvements made to the transport system prior to hostingthe football World Cupa few years ago.

Other signs of povertywere visible. Men sit-ting at road junctionsor walking between thelanes of traffic withjust a few necklaces ora bag of compost tosell.

I noticed a hoarding advertising Omo. I remarked to Graeme that Ihadn't seen Omo in England for years. Apparently, it's the leadingbrand here. Ariel has just arrived but there is trouble between the two brands and Dyechem is profiting as aresult.

We had a couple of hours to rest at G&A's bungalow and then we all went out to their annual church picnic.They attend Urban Life Church which is only 200 metres away as the crow flies. There are four congregationsmeeting at different times and on different sites, totalling 700 - 750 people. Today, about 400 of them werehaving a great time eating, chatting, flying kites, racing go-karts and playing football. Some of the young girlshad made themselves brightly coloured striped skirts in pink, yellow or green to show which team they be-longed to.

Many of the youngsters were dancing quite spontaneously to African house music. It was spectacular - unre-hearsed but completely synchronised.

Graeme showed us around the 75 acre site. I'm afraid I wasn't too impressed by the architecture of the mainbuilding. There was nothing to mark it out as a place of worship. It could have been a conference centre. It's alsothe only church I've come across with its own swimming pool.

Then we spent a lazy afternoon reading and sleeping at the bungalow. Glen, Protea, Jenni, Peter, Andrew andLiz East and Liz's mother came for a braai in the evening. This was conducted in a very civilised manner as themeat was cooked outside on the barbecue, then brought indoors and eaten at the table.

Early to bed tonight. Everyone is tired.

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Monday, 9th Shopping

It's evidently early to bed and early to rise in this establishment,or, maybe, that's a practical response to the climate. I've broughtan alarm clock but I don't think I'll need it. G&A have hens and arooster. He thinks it's time to get up at ten to six.

The scenery is not particularly attractive. It's rocky, scrubby, dryand the grass is like straw. Protea said that they have had a very'bland' winter with no black frosts to kill anything. This area doesnot get rain between April and September. There are, however,lots of palm trees and the church grounds possess several thorntrees of the acacia family, so I did feel that I was really in Africawhen I saw them.

There were no giraffes to eat the leaves in the church grounds butGraeme's neighbours have a life size metal one in their garden. Don't know why but it's an improvement onplaster gnomes.

Today we have been shopping in two different malls, both much like malls anywhere else. Other family mem-bers wanted to buy wedding presents and gifts for Jenni's baby. The first stop was Sandton City which is 'top ofthe range' shopping according to Ann. Then we went on to Greenstone Shopping Centre. This had a Pick'n'Payhypermarket, very similar to a large Asda. The staff are very helpful and wait on you everywhere eg in cafes andpetrol stations. One is also pestered everywhere by people wanting to sell cheap knick - knacks and others whowant to carry your shopping in the hope of a tip.

Ann drove Graeme's Landrover today and David drove her Honda. Instructions include travelling with all thedoors locked, the windows closed and bags out of sight.

After some serious shopping we went to Fournos Bakery at Woodmead for lunch. Well, I say lunch. It wasbetween 2.30 and 3 by then. Ann was keen to be heading home by 3.30 as the traffic is heavy in Kyalami afterthat time.

This evening we've been for a meal at Glen and Protea's home in Sunninghill. They have lived on that site sincethe 1950s. They bought a huge tract of empty land and Glen literally made the bricks and built their first house.Now the land is sold and a number of houses built but all, of course, much more spacious and further apart thanthey would be in England.

Tuesday, 10th Bus tour of Jo'burg and Soweto.

It's 28 degrees today and breezy but the heat is dry so it feelslovely, not too hot. There was some discussion last night overwhat to do today. G&A suggested the Hop On Hop Off bus tourof Jo'burg and Soweto. There was a little resistance to this ideaon safety grounds and also because it could smack of the gentryvisiting the poor to dispense charity. Graeme says that this is notthe case. The towns people want you to go and spend money butvisitors should stay together and not stray from the recognisedtourist areas.

We had to drive toGold Reef City, thesite of one of theearliest gold mines

but now a tourist attraction. One side of the road boasts the Apart-heid Museum, an adventure playground with terrifying rides anda trip underground to the mine. Unfortunately, the playground wasclosed so the Haywards went to the zoo instead.

The rest of us, Val, A&K, Ann and self crossed the road to catchthe minibus for the Soweto tour. The ticket office is in the foyer ofthe huge Casino Hotel, built in a very baronial style. The groundfloor was full of gambling machines, some of which were in useat 10 o'clock on a Tuesday morning. Sadly, there is also a creche

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where children are left for hours while their parents play. So that was an interesting little foray into an unknownworld.

Then we climbed aboard our red minibus with Vincent, our driver and Tony, our guide. The only other passen-ger was an American girl, currently living in Switzerland. She was a journalist adding a few days holiday to an

assignment in S.A.

On the way to Soweto we passed the National Football Stadium,nicknamed 'The Calabash' because of its shape. The first stop forphotos was at the 'Welcome to Soweto' sign at the roadside.

Soweto covers a huge area andis home to a population some-where between 1.4 and 4 millionpeople. 20% are wealthy, 60%have enough for their needs and20% are in poverty. We sawhousing of all sorts to substanti-ate these figures. I saw womendoing their laundry in a plastic

bowl under a standpipe in the street. Some people live in corrugated ironshacks, in litter strewn areas. We wouldn't use these shacks as garden sheds athome. We saw mansions too, including one belonging to the millionaire ownerof the Kaiser Chiefs Football Club in Orlando West. I suppose that does saysomething about his sense of loyalty. There were street traders and marketseverywhere.

The next stop was at the OrlandoTwin Towers. These are two oldcooling towers from a disusedpower station. Staff from a local hospital had realised that pollu-tion from the power station was causing respiratory and other medi-cal problems and hadthem closed down.They are now coveredin brightly colouredmurals, have a bridgerunning between themat the top and this isnow, allegedly, thehighest bungee jump

in the southern hemisphere. Fortunately, it was closed today so no-body had to try it out.

We saw the memorial to the uprising of 16th June 1976 and housesbelonging to Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu. These are in thesame street - the only street in the world to have produced two Nobel Peace Prize winners. There was an

authentic craft market behind the memorial but definitely gearedto the tourists, not the locals. Couldn't get anywhere near the doorof Mandela's house which is open to the public. It was heavingwith school parties and other visitors. Tutu's house is private. Allwe could see was a high wall with a plaque on it.

Then we saw yet an-other football stadiumin this sports madcountry. I thought theKaiser Chiefs were aband but evidentlythey are a soccer teamas well.

This afternoon we toured Jo'burg, sitting on the top deck of theopen topped bus. There is not a lot to say about it. Apart from thestreet traders everywhere it is much like any other city. Its claim to

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fame is that is the world's largest city not to be built anywhere near water. It has no major river or lakes. It existspurely because of the gold mines. There are golden coloured spoil heaps all over the place but a technique hasnow been found to extract the remaining ore and the rest is being reburied in the interests of aesthetics and toprevent sink holes forming.

Wednesday, 11th Pilanesberg

We've been to the Pilanesberg Game Reserve today. Graeme knocked onmy door at 4.50am. We were up forty minutes before the cockerel thismorning. We watched the sun rise andit was full daylight within twenty min-utes. It's a two hour drive to the northwest, partly through the platinummining district. There were flocks ofguinea fowl by the side of the roadand a road sign I'm glad we don't needat home - Hijack Hotspot.

We arrived at about 8am and Ashleyimmediately saw a few zebras. I said'Well spotted', to which Ann instantlyreplied 'No, striped.'

We went to the Bakubung Game Lodge for breakfast with warthogs passing on the other side of the fence anda large flock of white ibis on an island in a pond. The cheeky, yellow weaver birds came very close, hoping for

crumbs and evendrank from the milkjug on the next ta-ble.

Then, on throughthe gate into the re-serve proper.Graeme droveslowly along th erough tracks andwe saw all sorts ofmammals - impala,springbok, kudu,rhinos [at a dis-

tance] blue wildebeest, with their blue tails, giraffes and elephants. In total we must have seen about fortyelephants including young calves and a couple of 'naughty schoolboys'. The undoubted highlight of the day wasspending time in a hide by the Mankwe Dam waterhole. A herd of 17 elephants came to drink, cool down andplay. They stayed about half an hour before lumbering away right past the hide. The mother of the youngest calfwas very protective and didn't want any of the other ani-

mals to touch it. The two 'schoolboys' bringing up the rearwere bumping each other, touching trunks and nearly got left behind. That magical half hour was alone worththe air fare.

We took our picnic lunch up to Fish Eagle Lookout but the only predators to be seen were the coach party oftourists enjoying their braai.

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Early afternoon wassiesta time so therewas little to be seenexcept a pair of os-triches. The male ispredominantly black,the female brown. Wesaw other birds toowith beautiful plum-age but couldn't iden-tify many of them.

Back to Bakubung fora cup of tea before

heading for home. This time there were three vervet monkeys in the garden. We returned by a slightly differentroute. This part of the north west is a farming area with cattle and goats roaming free but it seems to be verypoor. The mines were visible in the distance but there were still many enormous lorries from the mines on theroads.

We stopped for fuel onthe way home. Thepetrol pump attend-ants are on strike butcasual labour has beenbrought in to man thepumps. I can't see thathappening in England.

Had a meal at Jenniand Pete's thisevening. I can't getused to this all dive in and help yourself way of doing things but Isuppose I would in time.

Thursday 12th Travelling

Off to Howick near Pietermaritzburg today but the first stop was at theDyechem factory for a brief tour. It's a modern building, only erected in2005, with splendid views of the surrounding countryside but I'm afraid Icannot summon up much interest in the detergent production process.

Gracie is getting to know me.She sat with me to look at herbooks for quite a while andallowed me to put her socksand shoes on. Later on, in thecar, she started saying 'Eeaa'which I think is Sheila. That's

certainly an improvement on Auntie Lala which is what Kerry hasbeing trying to teach her to say.

We travelled on theN3, the main roadfrom Jo'burg to Dur-ban. It's a good roadbut notorious for its constant heavy goods traffic. Many of thetrucks tow trailers the same length as the truck.The scenery is un-interesting - barren, desolate and mostly flat but with some low,flat topped hills. It's cattle farming country but I think the land istoo poor for intensive farming.

We stopped for lunch at Harrismith, at the start of the DrakensbergMountains. We crossed the mountains via the Van Reenan Pass,one of only three passes and one the few features of interest on theroute. The pass was discovered by a Voortrekker scout and it prob-

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ably took the first settlers a week to negotiate it. The ox wagonshad to be dismantled and carried piece by piece.

Old Halliwell Country Inn, originally a wagon workshop, is in aremote location in the mountains and set in the only lush vegeta-tion I've seen so far. There are monkeys here and lemon and or-ange trees in the garden. The inn has an air of faded grandeurabout it and anenormous blackdog with a longmuzzle whichGracie insists is abear.

My room has a splendid view of the Karkloof Valley on one sideand citrus fruit trees on the other.

This evening wewent to a braai atWayne's house inPMB to meet himand his family. Annand Fi have been discussing all week, on and off, what food Annshould bring. Seems odd to me that guests are asked to supplythe chief ingredients of the meal. Wayne wasn't there when wearrived as he had gone to fetch Tony from the airport but he seemsa very pleasantyoung man. Someof his family arelarger than lifecharacters. His sis-

ter told me I had 'such an English accent'. What did she expect?

David has nowtaken over drivingthe automaticLandrover andmanaging verywell. After we leftthe motorway, toreturn to the hotelwe travelled up narrow, twisty lanes through intermittent patchesof fog and with flashes of blue lightning in the distance. We didn'tsee any other vehicles.

It's cold tonight. The room is freezing and the sheets feel slightlydamp despite the hot water bottle but the forecast promises 31degrees tomorrow.

Friday 13th Lazy Day

As I write there are monkeys running over the roof. It's been aleisurely day today. We lingered over breakfast until 10am, enjoy-ing the view and watching the butterflies. There are Red Admiralsbut also some with brown and purple wings.

We drove out to the Karkloof Falls, as far as we could go in thecar and then walked along the path beside the River Umlengi whichhas dark green water. We are up in the mountains here and thescenery is more attractive but there is a lot of forestry plantationfor the logging industry.

Then we drove on to Howick Falls which one views from acrossthe river. This is quite a touristy spot. There are three informationboards describing the geology of the gorge and listing by name all

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those who have died at the falls either by accident or suicide. Bi-zarre! Equally bizarre but in a silly way is that the cistern andtoilet lids in the ladies had frilly covers.

Arrived back at Old Halliwell just as the wedding rehearsal fin-ished at 3 o'clock. We were invited to have a cup of tea on theveranda and after a while most people drifted away. Those of usremaining sat by the pool for a while but it's cold and grey. I havethe radiator on in the bedroom and I'm going to put the hot waterbottle in again.

Tonight, it's the family dinner to mark Fiona's last night as a singlegirl. It seemed to go well in the laid back manner that is customaryhere. I felt rather overdressed in my dress and pashmina. Most

other people were in jeans. Tony was in shorts and flip flops. Ashley read a limerick poem that he had com-posed about Wayne and Fi. I had no idea he possessed such a talent.

I think I've offended Peter. He asked me what I thought of South African food and I told him that there seemedto be little variety and it would be very hard to be a vegetarian here. He said I'd had a skewed view of theircuisine but the dishes he went on to describe all seemed to be meat based.

Saturday, 14th Wedding Day

Awake early with monkeys scampering over the corrugated ironroof at 6.40. Leaned out of bed to put the radiator on 7.30.

Spent a lazy morningstrolling around thegrounds taking photosand then went intoHowick with Davidand Val. Given thethird degree by Davidwho was asking ques-tions about Graemeand the family fromyears ago that Icouldn't answer. Ate apicnic lunch in the gar-den.

10pm. The main event that I came for is now over, except for theyoung and energetic who are still dancing.

The wedding waslovely, not entirely dif-ferent from a British one. The chapel is quite plain but there is awindow behind the communion table and outside there is an at-tractive waterfall cum cascade affair running down a wall.

Wayne had three bestmen. Fi had three ma-trons of honour, two ofwhom are great withchild, all dressed inlong pillar box reddresses. They entered

the church first, in single file, followed by Fi and Graeme. The bridelooked beautiful in a dress with spaghetti straps, low cut at frontand back, decorated with leaves and flowers in silver, metallic em-broidery and with a short train.

The worship music was lively as one would expect in this country.The minister spoke well and briefly. G&A made everyone laugh.When asked 'Who gives this woman', they both stood up, said in unison, 'We do' and sat down again.

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The ceremony was followed by refreshments around the pool, inthe summer house and in the gardens. We had bunny chow, smallloaves of bread, hollowed out and filled with curry. I gather this isbecause Wayne's nickname is Bunny. The happy couple cut theircake, a creamy confection of chocolate and strawberries.

Various activities had been organised - golf, bowls, dressing upfor photos. Also, everybody was invited to dip a finger in paintand make a fingerprint on the outline of a tree, to look like leaves.It looked good when it was finished.

Everyone ad-journed to the re-ception hall be-tween 5 and 5.30. We all turned up early to get out of the wind.The seating arrangements were very sensible. Friends and fami-lies had been put together, so you didn't have to make polite con-versation to strangers you would probably never meet again. I satbetween Graeme and Ashley, my two little brothers.

There was a musician moving around the room, playing his tenorsax at each table. Gracie was wide-eyed and loved it. The foodwas very enjoyable but much the same as I've been eating allweek. My one week's experience has not convinced me that Pe-ter is right.

I felt very lonely and homesick when the dancing started. Stayed a while, then Val and I went to babysit Gracieand sit by the log fire in their room until it was time to go and wave Fi and Wayne off.

Sunday, 15th Mandela and Umhlanga

I feel better this morning and didn't hear the monkeys until 7.50. I saw one scampering across the field andanother clutching a lemon which it had picked from the tree on one side of the building, running over the roof,climbing a tree on the other side and eating it there. Yvonne, Ann's aunt, says they must be Anglicans becausethey go to church early.

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I've had four meals in the O.H. dining room. All of them have been accompanied by the same recorded tape orCD of 1960s British pop music - Cliff, The Beatles, Dusty etc. This is my era and my type of music but it's hightime the management expanded its collection.

On the way to Durbanwe visited the NelsonMandela Capture SiteSculpture. This waserected to mark thesite where he was ar-rested while posing asa chauffeur. They areblack, vertical metalpoles which sway inthe breeze, with othershaped pieces of metalattached so that whenviewed from a certain

spot Mandela's profile is revealed. Seen from anywhere else, it's a jumble.

Then it was back in the car for the hour's drive to Durban, travelling the 10Km downhill to bypass PMB sittingin its bowl. The less than delightful N3 had far fewer lorries on it today, being Sunday.

So now we are staying at Apartment 16, 66 Lagoon Drive,Umhlanga, pronounced Umshlanga, a little bit north of Durban.It's a spacious apartment right by the beach. We can see and hearthe Indian Ocean from every room and it's a mind blowing thoughtthat there is nothingbut sea between hereand Western Australia.There are 17 ships an-chored out at sea wait-ing to get into the har-bour.

There is a gas barbe-cue on the balcony but one of the numerous house rules forbidslighting barbecues on the balcony. We are not allowed to turn thetelevision off as the humidity causes a malfunction. I find having

the telly on perma-nently, even on mute,very irritating. I thinkDavid, the sports fan, probably enjoys it.

After a late lunch we went for a walk and a paddle in the sea. Thewaves are big and powerful and the water is cold as it is earlyspring. There are few people about but a few hardy souls wereswimming.

A simple meal this evening - pizza , beans and a naartje. The bakedbeans here are different. The sauce is oily rather than tomato fla-voured.

Monday, 16th On the Beach

Woke up early, at 6.30ish, to the sound of the ocean and the sunalready high in the sky, but it's very windy. There are people on thebeach, walking, jogging, paddling, swimming, surfing and some be-ing knocked over by the strength of the waves.

We took a leisurely stroll along the path between all the holiday ac-commodation and the beach as far as the pier and the lighthouse. Westopped for coffee at La Spiaggia, a very different establishment fromthe one of the same name in King Street, Hammersmith.

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While Gracie slept in the pushchair, David and I continued upthe slope to the shops to get a few essentials. Some of the chainstores here have obvious British equivalents.

Pick'n'Pay = Asda Woolworths = M&S Simply Food Clicks =Boots

We spent a couple of hours on the beach this afternoon. Rachelswam briefly but the currents and the undertow were too strongeven for her. Gracie had a wonderful time playing on the sand.Then we adjourned to the apartment's pool for a few minuteswhen all the beachside buildings started casting too much shade.

I'm very consciousof living behind bars andlocked doors all the time. Toaccess the flat one has tounlock an iron gate. Thefront door which has twolocks and a handle is imme-diately behind it and re-quires three hands to ma-nipulate it. G& A's arrange-ments in Midrand are simi-lar but less obtrusive. Whatis a little concerning is thatthere are no smoke detec-tors and only one exit door in the apartment.

Went out to dinner at Paddy's market, otherwise known as Spurs. It seems to be part of a chain here in S.A., instyle somewhere between a Wimpy and a Beefeater. It's geared for children and has indoor and outdoor playareas. The multiple televisions, mercifully on mute, were showing four different channels. However, the hakeand chips and the waffle with chocolate sauce were very good.

The wind drops completely after dark but the now 20 or so ships are still anchored out at sea.

Tuesday 17th uShaka Marine World

I'm writing this at 5pm, sitting on the balcony. It's hazy now buthas been brilliantly hot and sunny all day. At the moment there arecanoeists as well as swimmers and surfers doing battle with thewaves.

Today, we've been to uShaka Marine World which is half an hour'sdrive away in Durban proper. The part of the city we saw is badlyrun down and in need of regeneration. Unfortunately, I wasn't ableto take a photo of Hitchins Street which I saw from the car.

The marine world is described as the largest aquarium in Africa.On first sight it appeared tacky and too commercialised but it im-proved on closer inspection.

On arrival, you walk through the Village Mall - a row of giftshops, clothes shops, restaurants etc. Then there are go-karts andbicycles for children to ride before you go through to the aquariumwhich is mainly built into an old cargo ship.

We watched a 30 minute dolphin show, with the commentaryplacing the emphasis on conservation as well as entertainment.There were a few seals and some African / Jackass penguins butthey were all rather indolent as it was midday. There was a classof children at the penguin enclosure listening to a talk in Zulu.

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The aquarium tankswere vast, containingsharks, rays and amultitude of tropicalfish. We watched thesharks being fed by adiver who is loweredinto the tank in acage. He held out alarge 'lollipop' andeach fish had it touchit with its nose beforebeing fed with a largechunk of fish. Some-how, this way, thestaff can monitor exactly how much each individual fish eats. Whena piece of fish was accidentally dropped the smaller fish tore itapart and devoured it within seconds.

A little later, the smaller fish in a different tank were fed. Thesame diver appeared but this time swimming freely and distribut-ing his largesse from abox and a bag, some-times hand feeding thefish.

The diver could see usas well as we could seehim and he waved to

Gracie several times. She is a big hit wherever she goes and theAfricans love her blonde hair, blue eyes and rosy cheeks. The staffeverywhere are polite and eager to help but the service in restau-rants and cafes is slow and then they whip your plate away themoment you've finished eating. There is no self - service here. Thereare many people, often from Zimbabwe or Malawi, so desperate forwork that they take unpaid posts and rely on tips.

Wednesday, 18th Travelling Again

Spent most of the day in the car returning to Jo'burg, a six hour drive. Rachel drove in the morning and Dave inthe afternoon. I think I have earned my keep by trying to keep Gracie entertained with Pooh Bear, Piglet, LittleRed Riding Hood and various books. There seemed to be more road tolls going back this way. Graeme pays by

card so we didn't really notice them last Thursday. Today we hadto find the cash. There is an extraordinary difference in the prices,varying from R8.50 to R52.

We stopped for lunch at Harrismith again and ate under a tree fullof weaver bird nests.

Arrived back at G&A's to a wonderful savoury aroma. We ate ourevening meal sitting out on the 'top deck'. It was warm and still.The swallows were building nests under the eaves, a nightjar wascalling and a bullfrogwas croaking in thelily pond.

Thursday, 19th More Shopping

We went on another shopping expedition this morning as the familywanted to buy gifts to take home. On Jen's recommendation wewent to The Zone at Rosebank, about 30 minutes drive away. Anndescribed it as 'larny' which I gather means 'posh'.

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To access the placewe drove up a rampthrough a buildingsite to the car park.We were then di-rected to a parkingplace by a middleaged man on asegway. Above thewestern style mall isa traditional Africancraft market sellingvarious trinkets -masks, beaded jew-ellery, cutlery,wooden animals,brightly colouredfabrics as well assports shirts andbaseball caps.When Ann in-spected the pur-chases later shethought that mostwere genuine butthat the jewellerywas probably Chi-nese.

It was an interesting experience but a little intimidating. The stallholders see foreign visitors and immediately approach you. 'Comehere, Ma'am, I give you a good deal'. 'I will give you a gift withyour purchase, Ma'am.' The customers are expected to haggle butit's not easy when you are totally unused to it. Graeme said youshould start by offering 60% of the asking price but you have to begood at mental arithmetic to do that.

This afternoon Ann gave us a tour of the seven and a half acreestate here and told us about the plants in her garden. I picked upa piece of jacaranda wood which is strangely light, like balsa.

The evening was again spent on the veranda with the inevitablebraai. I have, though, discovered an appetising way of serving spin-ach - cut up finely in a white sauce.

Friday, 20th Final Day

At 9am we went to visit Jenni at the Babies Home she runs on thechurch premises. They care for a maximum of 15 babies up to theage of five and try to find adoptive families for them. Children whoaren't adopted are transferred to other homes where the care is not

so good. There are only twocare giving staff on 12 hourshifts from 6 to 6, plus volun-teers. There are some toys in theplayroom but the whole placeseemed very sparsely equippedcompared to the U.K.

We went for a final meal out at lunchtime to say thank you to Graeme andAnn. Went to Papachino's, a huge Italian restaurant geared to children. Ithas two playgrounds staffed by childminders. I noticed that the female staff,all Zimbabwean, wore hairnets. For safety and hygiene reasons? Or tradi-tional ones?

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Drove back to Tambotie Road with Graeme at the wheel of Wayne's car. There's a warm, dry wind blowingwhich means rain apparently.

We left for the airport at 4.15pm. On the way I saw a street vendor selling toilet rolls!

Procedures seem to be as relaxed at the airport as they are everywhere else. No nonsense about carrying liquidsin transparent plastic bags. There was a delay of 15 - 20 minutes while we were standing in the queue to gothrough the bag check. The staff suddenly downed tools and disappeared. I've no idea why.

Virgin Atlantic was as efficient on the return journey as they had been on the outward flight. Val and I wereinvited to board with R. D & G so that was good.

Saturday, 21st Final Entry

Back home at last. Flying overnight is an overrated pastime but the screen showing our route etc. was workingproperly this time. We had to go through the first-class area with its comfortable couches and footrests to

disembark. I couldfancy travelling in thatstyle.

The reception commit-tee was waiting atHeathrow. Kerry hadreceived a text fromGraeme saying that it'sraining in Jo'burg. Itwas drizzling inHitchin too so for onceI've had a holiday withbetter weather than athome.

The best sight of the fortnight's holiday? No question. Sam standing in the Arrivals Hall.