We had a very good sleep in the hut last night but both stirred before the alarm. We decided to get an early start by repacking our bag, but we first got up and quietly walked through to the other side of the camp to the toilets. Ev bumped into Tracey who was wide awake. It’s funny how when you know you need to be quiet, you tend to make the most noise. As Ev pulled the handle up to flushed the toilet and the porcelain seat lid slammed down and Ev was surprised the whole village didn’t wake up. We needed light to see what we were packing and we only had our small torches so we hunted for a lit lantern as we turned ours out when we went to bed. Luckily there was one in the hut next to ours. Sorry to the village if they desperately needed it this morning. We had given ourselves plenty of time to pack but the hour went fast. We had to shuffle things so we didn’t need to repack when we got to the Joburg airport. We carted our bags to the truck as the rest of the group also emerged and after settling last nights tab we purchased a wooden spoon as a souvenir of the village then boarded the truck and were away for our day drive to Johannesburg.
The sunrise yet again was spectacular over the mountains as we drove.
Blyde River Canyon
After driving along spectacular scenes we pulled up at Blyde River Canyon and Shawn walked us to the lookout while Johannes boiled water for breakfast. The Canyon was stunning, although hazy, but we could have stayed there for a couple of hours. Shawn pointed out the power station that was on the mountain and the ‘three sisters’. Further around the corner was another beautiful scene of the canyon and a rock that overlooked down to the river. The group had already moved ahead of us and Regi and Jonas were taking it all in behind us at the first lookout. When we moved around the corner we decided to take a group photo and Regi offered her tripod. The breeze was lovely and cool and we both felt like staying in South Africa a little longer.
Johannes came down wondering if one of us had fallen over the edge because we’d taken so long to look around. Breakfast was ready so we went back to the truck and had cereal, rusks, sandwiches with tea and coffee. Soon after breakfast we said farewell to Jo and Amanda who continued their journey from the Canyon. It was very lovely to have spent time with them both. We walked along the 15+ stalls that were on the side of the road at the Canyon and looked for souvenirs. Ev bought a small cow skin drum (that hopefully will pass through customs in the mail) and we hunted for statues of ‘The Big 5’ which we found over a couple of different stalls. We bargained hard and were pleased with the prices we agreed on. We were the last to get back on the truck, but we got our ‘5’.
We were under way again but we still had an esky half full of alcohol, so at about 11am Dan, Greg and Russ got stuck in. It was 6pm somewhere we thought so good enough. Dan finished off Ev’s pina colada’s and channelled his inner Alanis Morrisette as he serenaded ‘Ironic’ to Ev. Pina colada’s will do that to a man. The drive continued for another couple of hours until we were dropped of to Departures at the Joburg airport at 2:30pm. Katie and Greg, and Regie and Jonas were also leaving the tour at the Airport. We had definitely enjoyed our Intrepid tour through Vic Falls to Joburg and highly recommend others to do it as well. We then said farewell to Rus, Deb, Johannes and Shawn who were staying on at the hotel tonight and flying out tomorrow.
Joburg Airport
We found a trolley to put our bags on and headed for the post office to send our souvenirs back to Australia. Mum M they’ll be at your place in 3 weeks. We found an iPhone chord and Dan also bought another day bag (because he didn’t listen to his wife when she told him he’d need to bring the one he purposefully left in Townsville). Anyway, Ev found an electricity plug at the floor in a corner near the food court and sat on the ground behind the luggage trolley while Dan went for a shower in the airport bathroom. Ev went without a shower. Yes, we’re real travellers now. We then had dinner at Whimpy’s again and at 6pm decided to check in for our 8:30pm fight. The line already had half the passengers queuing and we’re pleased we didn’t wait until 7pm when we were thinking of going. We moved 10 steps in 20 minutes. It took so frickin long!! Waiting... waiting... and waiting some more! Finally at 7:20pm we were checked in and walked around to the boarding gate. People were still hanging around so we quickly dashed to a camping store and continued our search on the way for a universal electricity plug but couldn’t find one. We thought we did so pulled out one of our chords to check but weren’t convinced it would take Australian chords. At the same time we noticed people starting to board so we had to quickly leave it. In hindsight we should have got it because we may not find anything in Egypt. Just in case, we’ve kept our South Africa plug. I guess we’ll find out. We raced to the gate to find people had only walked 5m down a ramp. We could have gone back to get the universal plug, but we would have missed our flight. Oh well. Fingers crossed. Here we go on an overnight flight. We’ll get in to Cairo at 6:30am.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dan-ev/collections/
The sunrise yet again was spectacular over the mountains as we drove.
Blyde River Canyon
After driving along spectacular scenes we pulled up at Blyde River Canyon and Shawn walked us to the lookout while Johannes boiled water for breakfast. The Canyon was stunning, although hazy, but we could have stayed there for a couple of hours. Shawn pointed out the power station that was on the mountain and the ‘three sisters’. Further around the corner was another beautiful scene of the canyon and a rock that overlooked down to the river. The group had already moved ahead of us and Regi and Jonas were taking it all in behind us at the first lookout. When we moved around the corner we decided to take a group photo and Regi offered her tripod. The breeze was lovely and cool and we both felt like staying in South Africa a little longer.
 |
| Blyde River Canyon |
Johannes came down wondering if one of us had fallen over the edge because we’d taken so long to look around. Breakfast was ready so we went back to the truck and had cereal, rusks, sandwiches with tea and coffee. Soon after breakfast we said farewell to Jo and Amanda who continued their journey from the Canyon. It was very lovely to have spent time with them both. We walked along the 15+ stalls that were on the side of the road at the Canyon and looked for souvenirs. Ev bought a small cow skin drum (that hopefully will pass through customs in the mail) and we hunted for statues of ‘The Big 5’ which we found over a couple of different stalls. We bargained hard and were pleased with the prices we agreed on. We were the last to get back on the truck, but we got our ‘5’.
We were under way again but we still had an esky half full of alcohol, so at about 11am Dan, Greg and Russ got stuck in. It was 6pm somewhere we thought so good enough. Dan finished off Ev’s pina colada’s and channelled his inner Alanis Morrisette as he serenaded ‘Ironic’ to Ev. Pina colada’s will do that to a man. The drive continued for another couple of hours until we were dropped of to Departures at the Joburg airport at 2:30pm. Katie and Greg, and Regie and Jonas were also leaving the tour at the Airport. We had definitely enjoyed our Intrepid tour through Vic Falls to Joburg and highly recommend others to do it as well. We then said farewell to Rus, Deb, Johannes and Shawn who were staying on at the hotel tonight and flying out tomorrow.
Joburg Airport
We found a trolley to put our bags on and headed for the post office to send our souvenirs back to Australia. Mum M they’ll be at your place in 3 weeks. We found an iPhone chord and Dan also bought another day bag (because he didn’t listen to his wife when she told him he’d need to bring the one he purposefully left in Townsville). Anyway, Ev found an electricity plug at the floor in a corner near the food court and sat on the ground behind the luggage trolley while Dan went for a shower in the airport bathroom. Ev went without a shower. Yes, we’re real travellers now. We then had dinner at Whimpy’s again and at 6pm decided to check in for our 8:30pm fight. The line already had half the passengers queuing and we’re pleased we didn’t wait until 7pm when we were thinking of going. We moved 10 steps in 20 minutes. It took so frickin long!! Waiting... waiting... and waiting some more! Finally at 7:20pm we were checked in and walked around to the boarding gate. People were still hanging around so we quickly dashed to a camping store and continued our search on the way for a universal electricity plug but couldn’t find one. We thought we did so pulled out one of our chords to check but weren’t convinced it would take Australian chords. At the same time we noticed people starting to board so we had to quickly leave it. In hindsight we should have got it because we may not find anything in Egypt. Just in case, we’ve kept our South Africa plug. I guess we’ll find out. We raced to the gate to find people had only walked 5m down a ramp. We could have gone back to get the universal plug, but we would have missed our flight. Oh well. Fingers crossed. Here we go on an overnight flight. We’ll get in to Cairo at 6:30am.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dan-ev/collections/
1 comment:
Beeaauutiful photos Ev!
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