Clarens is fantastic. With just 450 laid-back artistic (maybe hippyish) residents, double that in transient workers and add thousands of tourists, it is proving to be fun and offering excellent cuisine.
We went for a hike in the Golden Gate National Park in search of the Mushroom Rock (not hard to find as you can see it from anywhere in the universe, it is so immense) and the immense “Echo” gorge. It was formed from exposed limestone from ancient riverbeds more than 200-million years old (they know this because of the dinosaur prints in the exposed sedimentary rocks) that existed 200 million to 180 million years ago. This predates man by a couple of hundred million years – but there is evidence of them, too. In nearby Lesotho, there are the dinosaur prints and cave paintings of early homo sapiens. We haven’t visited there yet!
Brendan:Yesterday we had so much fun. We went on a hike called Echo Ravine. I bet you know why it’s called that. The whole hike we were yelling random things and waitng to hear the echo. I bet that the people at the bottom would think that we were some sort of crazy people. At the the top inside the gorge there was a water fall and we took of our shirts and went under it. Even though it was cold we went in for about 4-5 minutes.
We got down to the car we had a couple of sandwiches and we were off for an other adventure. When we went to the adventure center we were thinking about abseiling. Abseiling is when you repell down the mountain from really high up.After a while we made up our minds that we would go dune-buggying. For saftey reasons the adults had to drive us across the the road so that we don’t crash the buggy. After that the kids got to drive. Even though my dad was helping me drive I was still scared that I would drive off of the road and crash into some barbed-wire. (Joe: The kids drove the very demanding off-road course without incident – they were amazing). In the evening, the boys learned how to play backgammon! Ryan in particular has taken to it with a gambler’s zeal, quickly mastering the “doubling cube’. Brendan has really taken to playing cribbage and has planted his 121 peg more than once. We are all waiting to see a 29. We did see a 24-pointer!
Deb: It was so much fun to see the boys driving. They were just thrilled! What Brendan didn’t mention was that during his first couple of minutes at the wheel (we were in a cow pasture) he drove over some fresh dung and showered Joe who was on that side of the buggy. Joe took it all in stride!
Joe is proving to be an amazing traveller. He surprises me at every turn. His curiosity, especially about the way things work, keeps us all enthralled. He gives the boys long lessons on geology, star formations, mechanics, factory production, etc. – things that I had know idea that he was interested in. He is a natural teacher and loves engaging the boys in learning about their world.
Another surprise. I thought I was social while on ‘the road’, but Joe beats me hands down! He is forever engaging in long chats with locals and travellers alike. He can talk endlessly and is relishing getting to know so many diverse, wonderful people on our travels.
Joe has also been wonderful when the going gets tough (e.g. not knowing why we were being stopped in Egypt by the police and not being able to communicate, rolling with the punches when things don’t go as planned, finding accommodation when our reservation didn’t pan out, etc., nursing me back to health when I’m sick).
The boys have been wonderful. They, too, are curious, social, and up for just about anything. And though they bicker from time to time, they are getting along well and are enjoying each other’s company. They can’t believe their luck re: getting out of school for three months and are appreciating this opportunity greatly. South Africa for the last month has been ‘easy’ travel for them. They will experience more culture shock, no doubt, when we get to Asia (our first stop being India).
After India we will be spending five days in Singapore and then will be off to Thailand and Malaysia for a month. Our plan is then to spend a month in Vietnam and Cambodia before spending a week in Beijing. We are also hoping to fly over to Taiwan at the end of our trip to see our good friends Anita and James Kirk (they have just moved there from Texas). This would be our last stop before flying from Beijing to Toronto, and then onto Ottawa for August 15th. We haven’t made any firm plans for Asia, however, because we’re not sure how it will go with feeding Brendan. So far it hasn’t been too difficult but we’ll have to check out how well the hospitals in Asia will be able to deal with an anaphylactic emergency if need be. We’ll start out as planned but if we feel that feeding Brendan is too risky, we have a back-up plan to possibly head to Australia and New Zealand. We’ll see how it goes!
We went for a hike in the Golden Gate National Park in search of the Mushroom Rock (not hard to find as you can see it from anywhere in the universe, it is so immense) and the immense “Echo” gorge. It was formed from exposed limestone from ancient riverbeds more than 200-million years old (they know this because of the dinosaur prints in the exposed sedimentary rocks) that existed 200 million to 180 million years ago. This predates man by a couple of hundred million years – but there is evidence of them, too. In nearby Lesotho, there are the dinosaur prints and cave paintings of early homo sapiens. We haven’t visited there yet!
Brendan:Yesterday we had so much fun. We went on a hike called Echo Ravine. I bet you know why it’s called that. The whole hike we were yelling random things and waitng to hear the echo. I bet that the people at the bottom would think that we were some sort of crazy people. At the the top inside the gorge there was a water fall and we took of our shirts and went under it. Even though it was cold we went in for about 4-5 minutes.
We got down to the car we had a couple of sandwiches and we were off for an other adventure. When we went to the adventure center we were thinking about abseiling. Abseiling is when you repell down the mountain from really high up.After a while we made up our minds that we would go dune-buggying. For saftey reasons the adults had to drive us across the the road so that we don’t crash the buggy. After that the kids got to drive. Even though my dad was helping me drive I was still scared that I would drive off of the road and crash into some barbed-wire. (Joe: The kids drove the very demanding off-road course without incident – they were amazing). In the evening, the boys learned how to play backgammon! Ryan in particular has taken to it with a gambler’s zeal, quickly mastering the “doubling cube’. Brendan has really taken to playing cribbage and has planted his 121 peg more than once. We are all waiting to see a 29. We did see a 24-pointer!
Deb: It was so much fun to see the boys driving. They were just thrilled! What Brendan didn’t mention was that during his first couple of minutes at the wheel (we were in a cow pasture) he drove over some fresh dung and showered Joe who was on that side of the buggy. Joe took it all in stride!
Joe is proving to be an amazing traveller. He surprises me at every turn. His curiosity, especially about the way things work, keeps us all enthralled. He gives the boys long lessons on geology, star formations, mechanics, factory production, etc. – things that I had know idea that he was interested in. He is a natural teacher and loves engaging the boys in learning about their world.
Another surprise. I thought I was social while on ‘the road’, but Joe beats me hands down! He is forever engaging in long chats with locals and travellers alike. He can talk endlessly and is relishing getting to know so many diverse, wonderful people on our travels.
Joe has also been wonderful when the going gets tough (e.g. not knowing why we were being stopped in Egypt by the police and not being able to communicate, rolling with the punches when things don’t go as planned, finding accommodation when our reservation didn’t pan out, etc., nursing me back to health when I’m sick).
The boys have been wonderful. They, too, are curious, social, and up for just about anything. And though they bicker from time to time, they are getting along well and are enjoying each other’s company. They can’t believe their luck re: getting out of school for three months and are appreciating this opportunity greatly. South Africa for the last month has been ‘easy’ travel for them. They will experience more culture shock, no doubt, when we get to Asia (our first stop being India).
After India we will be spending five days in Singapore and then will be off to Thailand and Malaysia for a month. Our plan is then to spend a month in Vietnam and Cambodia before spending a week in Beijing. We are also hoping to fly over to Taiwan at the end of our trip to see our good friends Anita and James Kirk (they have just moved there from Texas). This would be our last stop before flying from Beijing to Toronto, and then onto Ottawa for August 15th. We haven’t made any firm plans for Asia, however, because we’re not sure how it will go with feeding Brendan. So far it hasn’t been too difficult but we’ll have to check out how well the hospitals in Asia will be able to deal with an anaphylactic emergency if need be. We’ll start out as planned but if we feel that feeding Brendan is too risky, we have a back-up plan to possibly head to Australia and New Zealand. We’ll see how it goes!
WHOA - HEY GUYS. I've just caught up with you all after a few days planning my own "trek"... and it looks like you all are doing great. Totally intersting to read your daily blogs cause it's like picking up a good book. I now have a glass of French wine, German cheese and and apple (I imagine it to be U.S.) Sat down and am reading your saga. Amazing. Just in case you do go to Australia, you have relatives in Queensland. Especially you Brendan...It's my brother-in-law, Brendan McDaid. I have details if you want (phone, email, address, etc.) Brendan is Tony's brother from London who lived with us in Calgary (and Toronto) for a while back when. Missed your call on my cell (as well as on Mats phone. My stupid line is giving much trouble at the moment with static, no dial tone, etc.)
ReplyDeleteKaren & I are planning a trip by train to Vancouver in June - 4 days out, 4 there and return by train. I'll fly to T.O. June 4 to hook up with VIARAIL with her. Interesting also but not as wild and adventurous.
Love you guys, keep up the fun. I'm only at April 28th and need to catch up so - LATER. Love and best hugs and wishes. Love, Judie & Mats & the Cats