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South Africa
  • Josh Lintern
  • Natasha Nel
jun. – jul. 2018

South Africa

Josh and Natasha's trip to Cape Town, Pretoria and more Leia mais
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  • Inicio da viagem
    24 de junho de 2018
    South Africa

    Departing Perth for Johanasburg.

    24 de junho de 2018, Austrália ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    We have arrived at T1 international. William jnr and Sonnette were nice enough to bring us and see us off. We arrived extra early to check in as we wanted to get seats together, when I tried the online check in the website was crashing. Natasha is already in holiday mode and is buying clothes already. A new pair of ugg boots to add to her collection.

    The flight the Johannesburg is the first leg of our flights. We will be switching in Johannesburg to a domestic flight to cape town. We only have 2hours from landing to collect bags, walk to the domestic terminal and check-in again for the next flight.    Leia mais

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  • South Africa

    Safely arrived in Johannesburg OR Rambo

    25 de junho de 2018, África do Sul ⋅ 🌙 4 °C

    We have now arrived in Johannesburg. Even though we boarded the flight early we were delayed waiting for 1 passenger to board. After 10minutes late our departure time they advised that the passenger was not boarding and they had to remove his luggage. We ended up taking off about 30mins late. This had us worried as we only less then 2hrs in Johannesburg to clear immigration, collect bags and check in for next flight to cape town. Thankfully we were fast to get off the plane and do everything and managed to get to our next flight in a record 40minutes.
    Next stop is cape town then driving to our accommodation in The Strand (about 35min drive)    Leia mais

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  • South Africa

    We have arrived!

    25 de junho de 2018, África do Sul ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    After 13hours in the air and approximately 4 hours on airport grounds all together. We have finally made it to the strand in Cape Town. My bum is sore and Josh is very tired. After we got off the plane at Capetown international airport we headed to Avis to collect our car, what an event.... after 3 attempt of making our reservation payment we finally got everything sorted and the keys to our car. Weather wise it's not as cold as we thought. The drive to the strand was pleasant we saw some cattle being herded and a old boat in the middle of a grass field. Right now we are just unpacking and chilling, gathering necessary energy to go do the food shopping.Leia mais

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  • South Africa

    Day 1 in Capetown

    26 de junho de 2018, África do Sul ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    So we arrived safe and unpacked into our accommodation. Capetown is currently in draught so we have to do all we can to save water, this means washing out of a bucket of water instead of showering and only flushing for number 2s.
    We went to somerset mall to buy stuff for the unit and also stopped at Ocean Basket for lunch. It was a very nice seafood lunch which put us into a food coma (to add to the jetlag).
    Got back to the unit and had a nap, still full for lunch we skipped dinner and both went to be early.

    This morning we were awake early but stayed in warm beds not brave enough to face the cold 3c outside.
    We are currently at Wimpy's for breakfast/brunch and much needed coffee.

    This afternoon we are heading to northern Cape Town to visit Ouma Iza (Natasha's grandmother)    Leia mais

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  • South Africa

    Day 2-3 in Cape town

    27 de junho de 2018, África do Sul ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    Yesterday we drove to Durbanville to visit my ouma Iza. We had some tea and cake and met her lovely carer Katie who is doing such a lovely job caring for my ouma. As we headed back to the apartment we stopped at Bikini beach were I picked up some shells and we just strolled along the beach. Heading back we got some take out Italian food and watched a movie back at the apartment.

    Today we went ziplining in the mountains with Cape Canopy tours. It was about 45 minutes drive into the mountains and it was very wet and cold. By the time we arrived the rain had stopped but it was still very cold. The tour was great! Our guides, Noah and DC made it very entertaining. It is well worth checking out if you are in the area. The views from the mountain were incredible. I discovered the name of my favourite mountain to be "Someset snowy mountain"

    Tomorrow we are seeing Ouma Iza again in the morning before heading to Table Mountain. Fingers crossed the weather holds out for us.    Leia mais

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  • South Africa
    Ouma Iza

    Table mountain

    28 de junho de 2018, África do Sul ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C

    This morning we woke up to frost on the windows and over the car. A cool 3C. We set off in the morning to visit Ouma Iza again and showed her some photos from home. We then headed to Table Mountain. Google Maps sent us driving through the heart of the city which was not my idea of fun.....

    Table mountain was amazing, very very cold, but amazing. We were lucky that it was a clear day and no low clouds which meant we had great views over all of Cape Town. They also sold some interesting canned foods (check the photos).

    On the way home from table mountain we stopped at Somerset mall to go watch Incredibles 2 which we wanted to see before we left but did not get to do. It was a great movie! We are currently having dinner at Spur (a popular steakhouse chain)    Leia mais

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  • South Africa

    More rain.

    30 de junho de 2018, África do Sul ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    Yesterday was cold and very wet.
    We took this opportunity to sleep in and stay inside with the heater on. The day max got to 9C.
    When the rain slowed down in the evening we went to somerset mall to get some groceries and explore more shops. One shop I enjoyed was a hunting and airsoft (air powered rifles and BB guns) shop which had many toys I would have loved (most of which are illegal in Australia).
    Today's weather unfortunately is not much better. We did some domestic duties around the house, cleaning and washing before Natasha's Dad (Charl) arrives.    Leia mais

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  • South Africa

    Charl has arrived

    2 de julho de 2018, África do Sul ⋅ 🌧 8 °C

    Charl arrived safely on Saturday night at about 8pm.
    Sunday morning we returned our hire car to the airport and from there we went to pick up aunty Suzette and then out for a lovely lunch at a near by winery called Diemersdal Farm. We then dropped Suzette at the airport before heading to Ouma Iza.
    In the morning we found an electric throw blanket which we had been looking for for a long time to give Ouma Iza as she was really feeling the cold.

    Today we are off to surprise visit some friends and then I'm not sure what the plan is after that. I will let you know when I do    Leia mais

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  • South Africa

    Surprising Raymond & Jodine

    2 de julho de 2018, África do Sul ⋅ ⛅ 4 °C

    This morning we went to Somerset mall to surprise two of my friends Raymond and Jodine. We organized for dad to meet them at the Spur restuarant. After having some coffee and breakfast Raymond and Jodine joined us for a drive to Stellenbosch and Franschhoek where we checked out the Franschhoek motor museum. We then went to the Station restaurant where we had some lunch and sampled some craft beer. We had a walk through the town before heading back to the car. It was quite a chilli afternoon with a mere 9C. There was a fair bit of snow on the mountains. When we reached the car we saw a R5 shop (like a $2 shop) we all waddled through, Josh found a BB gun and decided to buy it. Clearly he misses his guns but I think he will be looking forward to his hunt coming up as we will be heading to the farm after a few more day in the Cape.Leia mais

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  • South Africa

    More sight seeing.

    4 de julho de 2018, África do Sul ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    Yesterday we slept in until 9.30ish (by "we" I mean "I", the others were up early still) and then we headed out to Wellington, a small town about an hours drive away. Wellington is known for their leather works. We visited a popular leather factory called 'redemption leather' where Charl got a few things and Natasha and I both got a pair of sandals. On the way back we stopped in to see ouma Iza again and check up to see how our electric blanket was going. The blanket was a great success, she said it works great.
    But in bigger news, I found iced coffee!! It's not as good Masters but it's better then nothing.

    Today we got up early and drove into Capetown city to do the hop on and off Red bus tour. The tour is on a red double decker bus which drives all around the city, surrounding tourist attractions and along the west coast. It makes for a great day out and you learn lots with the onboard commentary. We stopped at the botanical gardens which was huge! It sits at the foot of the mountains with many streams running through. We had lunch there before getting back on the bus to complete the circuit. We are now heading back to see ouma for perhaps the last time this trip and then back into the waterfront to go on the Ferris wheel at sunset or when dark to see the city lights.    Leia mais

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  • South Africa

    Betty's bay

    5 de julho de 2018, África do Sul ⋅ 🌙 14 °C

    Today we packed up the apartment in the Strand and loaded everything into the ute. It was a tight squeeze to fit everything in but we managed. Natasha and I met with Jodine for waffles after we packed our bags while Charl attended a meeting.
    We left the Strand around 12.30 heading south east along to coast. We were lucky enough to spot a whale as we drove along the coast, it is currently breeding season but this was the first we have seen.

    Betty's bay is known for a penguin sanctuary which occupies an old whaling port which no longer stands. There is many penguins out today which was nice to see. It is very windy here but that is because we are right on the beach front (with penguins on our door step).

    We are staying in a very nice holiday house owned by one of Charl's work colleagues. It is a beautiful big house. We had a braai (wood BBQ) for dinner of lamb chops, boerewors (beef sausages) and toasted sandwiches with salad and mash potatoes.    Leia mais

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  • South Africa

    On the road

    8 de julho de 2018, África do Sul ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C

    Yesterday we left Betty's bay to head towards Natasha's Aunty's farm in Orania, near Hopetown. We stopped last night at a large town called Beauford West which is about half way to the farm, about 560kms from Betty's bay.
    We stopped at a few places along the way, a famous wine and brandy tasting (Barrydale distillery). Then Diesel and Cream Cafe for lunch. This place was cool, step up as old dinner style with lots of old signs, motorcycles and cars, fuel pumps and vending machines.
    The road from lunch to Beaufort West was through the mountains. Huge cut outs through the rock for the road, it dwarfed the car and made us feel very small. The road then opened up to the Small Karoo.
    Karoo is SA type of desert, not much out here apart from sand, rock and small shrubs.

    Today we were up early to hit the road. We want to arrive around lunch time. We won't be stopping much today    Leia mais

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  • South Africa

    Farm stay

    11 de julho de 2018, África do Sul ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C

    We arrived safely in Orania on Sunday afternoon. Orania is quite unique in the fact it only has white people living there. A few blacks and coloured people live near by and help work on the farms but they rarely come into town.

    The farm we stayed on is owned by Natasha's aunty Esmien, uncle Dissie and cousin Derius. The farm produces many different grains including corn, maze, alfalfa, and soy and is about 600 hectares. They have been working the farm since 1987 but built the large homestead in 2000.
    They had many "toys" there including multiple John Deer tracks and harvesters of different sizes, bikes, 4x4 camper vans and Utes.
    Whilst we were staying here we got to go out and see how the harvested the corn and plowed the land for the next crop.

    They also own a 200hectare game park with a nice cottage on it which we went to on Monday and I went out for a hunt with Charl and Dissie but unfortunately the rain came in and the animals were all in hiding. So we returned to the cottage and had a nice fire going and just enjoyed the afternoon.
    Tuesday Derius took Charl and myself out again but on the main farm this time and I was able to shoot my first springbok. Charl and I took the springbok to the local butcher who cut it up into steaks, chops and roasts for us.
    Meanwhile Natasha was having a girls day with Esmien in town and came to meet us while we waited for the meat to be ready.

    Last night we started packing up as we needed to hit the road early to make the 9hr drive to Pretoria. This morning we were up before 7 to finish packing and load into the car. We said our goodbyes and departed the house at 8:30.    Leia mais

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  • South Africa

    Arrived in Pretoria

    13 de julho de 2018, África do Sul ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    After an early start andlong drive from the farm on Wednesday we arrived to Charl's place in Pretoria around 4:30pm and quickly unpacked the car before heading to Aunty Suzette's daughters 30th birthday (no time for a shower or change of clothes mind you). Natasha and I were both tired after the long day so we did not stay long.

    Thursday we we finished unpacking stuff from the car and then Charl took us out to show us around Pretoria. We visited Hartbeestoop and went up the cable car to the top which showed great views over the Dam and surrounding suburbs. We then went to Jasmyn to the big markets and book shop which are in inside an old Dutch windmill. It was much like Fremantle markets but much cheaper.

    Today we are doing a big clean up for the weekend when we are hosting many friends and family for lunch for Natasha to see and catch up.    Leia mais

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  • South Africa

    Party house

    15 de julho de 2018, África do Sul ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    Wow, hosting 2 parties in someone else's house is hard work.

    Yesterday we had some of Natasha school friends for a braai (I thought it was lunch but we did not start cooking until after 4pm.....). It was great to meet Natasha's school friends may of which she had not seen in over 5 years. We ended up staying up very late sitting around the fire chatting.

    This morning Natasha was up early cooking for today's lunch with some more family. We had a wonderful afternoon meeting family eating and drinking.    Leia mais

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  • South Africa

    Exploring Pretoria

    18 de julho de 2018, África do Sul ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    This week Charl had to return to work meanwhile we were given the keys to Ariza's old car to go exploring.

    After sleeping in on Monday we went to a local gun accessory shop to find a holster for one of my guns. They did not have any in stock but had some on order arriving today. We then headed off to visit one of Natasha's old teachers which she was very close to, Ouma Tinnie. Natasha had a great catch up with her over coffee and many photo albums. By 4pm we were getting very hungry as we had not had lunch yet so we detoured to a large shopping center called Kolonnade where we had fish and chips for lunch before walking around all the shops. On the way home we drove past Natasha old house and where she used to work. Unfortunately it was dark now so it was hard to see everything.

    Tuesday we were up early as we had booked into a safari tour and close encounter with cub lions and a Cheetah. We also got to feed giraffes which was cool.
    After the safari we drove a short way to visit Natasha's step sister Nadia who had a stone factory and she showed us all around and explained the making process. Tuesday night we met with Nadia and her brother William for dinner at a great Italian restaurant near home.

    Today Natasha took one of the dogs to the vet as she had a wound on her back leg that was infected. While I was sleeping and doing some washing.
    When they returned we went to get lunch at a near by tea garden before heading to pick up my new holster.    Leia mais

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  • South Africa

    Sun City and Pilanesberg

    21 de julho de 2018, África do Sul ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    Yesterday we pack up our bags and headed north west to a holiday park called Dikololo which we are staying at for the weekend. It is a holiday club type of place with lots of little units in the bush. It is about 1 and a half hours drive from Pretoria. We are staying in a little 6 sleeper unit with Charl and Suzette.

    Today Natasha and I took a drive to Sun City which is a large casino resort (much bigger than Crown) on the edge of Pilanesberg national park, located about 1 and a half hours further west of where we are staying in Dikololo. We had a walk around the casino and hotel before getting lunch. After lunch we headed back to the car to take a self drive tour through the national park.

    The park is much smaller than Kruger national park but has all the same animals. Straight inside the gate, next to the road was a herd of about 40 Rooibok impala. They did not seem at all fussed about the car or us taking photos. We had a great time driving around the bumpy dirt road of the park seeing many animal including rhinos, Wilder beast, hippos, zebra, meerkats and various types of other Boks. I was very impressed with the little Suzuki Jimny we were driving. It looks the bumps well and was easy to drive. I did feel for many of the other small cars out there like the Getz's and i10s as well as the many nice BMWs, Mercedes and Lexus sports coupes that were getting beaten by the rocks and dirt.
    All up we did about 350kms of driving today of which half was on dirt track and the rest on potholed roads. But I'm sure we could have spent many more hour driving around the park. We only got back to our accommodation after 7pm in time for dinner.    Leia mais

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  • South Africa

    Drawing to a close

    24 de julho de 2018, África do Sul ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    Wow the month has gone so fast and has been so full. After a wonderful time at Dikololo over the weekend.
    On the way back to Pretoria we stopped in to see Nadia at her factory. Then stopped home to unload the car before going to meet Charl at his work.
    Charl took us to Menlyn Shopping Centre to see if we could find a replacement sweater for Natasha as the dogs decided to eat one of hers. Unfortunately we had no luck finding one 😢
    For dinner Ouma Rina invited us over for soup so Natasha and I headed there after the shopping whilst Charl come home.

    Today we took Luna back to the vet for a checkup of the wound on her foot. Vet said it is healing well but needs more time. Natasha also went for a hair cut while I finished off packing my bags and doing the washing.

    In the evening we took a drive to a butcher shop called Kings Meat Deli that have game meats, as well as normal meats, where I got some steaks and fillets of Eland, Kudu, Ostrich and blesbok which we cooked over a coal braai. The different meats tasted great!
    Some of the other meats were cut into huge portions. You can get small, medium, large, Xlarge or MAN SIZE! Check out the 1.1kg T-bone below for only $13.20. The meat prices here were very good.    Leia mais

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  • South Africa

    Home

    26 de julho de 2018, Austrália ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    After 31 days we are home.
    We met Charl at his work yesterday in the afternoon after saying good bye to Suzette and a few other family and friends. Traffic from Pretoria to the airport was very heavy to we had planned to leave pretty around 4:30pm but the good byes made us a little late. Nevertheless we meet it to the airport at 6:30pm with plenty of time to check in and get a little dinner with Charl before heading to our gate.

    The flight was almost full but we were seated right t the back of the plane and there was a few empty seats around us. The flight was not delayed and we took off on time (around 9:15pm). With strong tail winds we made it back to Perth about 20mins early landing just after 1200. Natasha was able to get a little sleep on the flight but I was not so by the time we landed I had been awake for over 24hrs and was feeling it too.

    Both our parents were at the airport waiting for us. No issues getting through customs and immigration so it was nice and fast.

    Over all the trip was great. We saw and did many great things and I met lots of Natasha's extended family and friends. Now we just have to adjust out of holiday mood back into normal life.    Leia mais

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    Final da viagem
    26 de julho de 2018