Elsja Down Under

Bachelorette Memories September 8, 2010

It’s hard to imagine a more perfect way to celebrate my last “single” weekend than the way it was spent. One week before I said “I do”, myself and 9 other girls boarded the Carnival Paradise and set sail on what would be one of the best weekends of my life. First of all, I was completely thrilled that there were even 9 girls who wanted to come with me! I know a cruise to Ensenada isn’t the cheapest of ways to celebrate a bachelorette party, regardless everyone still wanted to come. I had 5 girls from CA and the others flew in from Australia, Hong Kong, Texas and Georgia. How lucky am I?

From the minute we stepped on board, we were having a great time. Shannon and Amanda got there a bit early and decorated the rooms with streamers and champagne. Oh yeah… there were 5 of us sharing this room. Wow we’re good!

My sisters and friends provided me with the typical array of penis themed games and toys (no pictures needed there) and shortly after that we changed into our bathing suits, headed to the pool and ordered our first drinks.  We started the beverage consumption off on a moderate pace but that quickly sped as soon as we met a group of 30+ firemen who were ever so generous with their drink offerings. I’m pretty sure it never stopped after that.

The next 3 days consisted of some incredible fun and CRAZY adventures. I definitely think there were a few highlights and memorable moments that I will share in a brief photo journal for you all.

Papas and Beer. Drinking all day in Ensenada was SO much fun. I think these pictures pretty much sum up the day:

Incredible days of fun in the sun, fancy dinners and nights of burning calories on the dance floor:

In addition to the obvious fun we had there were other “special” moments that I’ll never forget.

• The weekend wouldn’t have been complete without losing my sister Jan a few times (who now has the nickname “Where’s Waldo” or “Jan you F*@$#er!” Luckily when you’re on a boat you can’t lose anyone for too long.
• Shannon tore it up on the dance floor AND the Karaoke stage.
• Unintentional prank calls to random rooms… oops
• Dione cracked us all up with her comment “I may have had a little…” (I’ll leave that one up to the imagination).
• I swear that none of us took part in getting an IV injection to cure a hangover… but I may have witnessed one.  If it weren’t for the fact that I don’t like to go around letting random strangers inject needles in my arm- I would think this was a great idea.
• The free bottle of “wine” (aka vodka masked in a sealed wine bottle) was a lovely addition to our last dinner on the boat. Thanks random guys wherever you are.
• I will forever cherish “the book” of wedding advice that was passed around all weekend to anyone willing to add their tips and suggestions. I think some of those tips may warrant a blog of their own one day.
• Yellow shirt, blue eyes, green shirt, hat tag guy, Patrick, Captain, P footy… you all made our trip so much more memorable!

Overall, it was the best girls weekend you could ever ask for. With 10 girls you would expect a bit of drama and surprisingly there was very little of that going around. I think a girls cruise to Ensenada should become a regular event. Yes, that is a fantastic idea! Who’s with me?

Trips and Lists and Updates July 2, 2010

I’ve finished off a few more of my 101 goals which is great because I’ve just reached the point where I only have 6 months left.

#19: Make a “Things we want to do/buy together” list with Andrew.

We finished this a few weeks ago, but this will obviously be an ongoing work in progress.  I won’t type out EVERYTHING we added but here are just a few of the things we want to do and buy together:

• Go to Kangaroo valley
• Go to the Powerhouse museum
• Go to Cairns for the weekend
• Plan a late honeymoon
• Buy a new couch
• Buy a new bed
• Get our African art framed

#57: Go on 3 spontaneous day/weekend trips with Andrew.

This week I had a totally random opportunity to go to the Gold Coast to help out my cousin’s company. I had planned to go for just one night but then it ended up being two nights and by complete chance, Andrew had the two days off. Since I didn’t have to work the entire time I was there, Andrew came with and we were able to enjoy a nice couple of days. We had a really delicious dinner, we went in the jacuzzi and went for a walk on the beach. It was a little random mid-week getaway, even if it did include a bit of work. This trip rounds out the 3 trips for # 57 on the 101 list. First there was Perth, then snowboarding in Threadbo and finally, Surfer’s Paradise.

# 96: Create 3 new goals each in 2009 and 2010.

Done. Check my updated list if you’re interested.

#103: Read 10 more books when I’m finished with the first 10

I have to say… this goal paid off and now reading is a regular part of my life. Prior to this list, I wasn’t a big reader. Now I’ve read over 20 books since I’ve started and I’ll continue to read even without these goals to reach.

To finish of this post I’d just like to point out that this last week I also was able to cross off a few of those nagging wedding tasks that I was dreading. Not too much left to plan now!! How crazy is it to be able to say our wedding is NEXT MONTH!?

Africa Week- Sand Dunes, Part 3 April 14, 2010

You probably thought I was done blogging about sand dunes and climbing and all that. I’m not.

I’ve got ONE more day to talk about. One more sandy, hilly day to write about, then I’m done. Done writing about mountains and hills and sand dunes and pain. But that also means I’ll be done writing about some of the greatest fun I’ve had throughout all my travels.

Our last day in Namibia consisted of getting up after sunrise (hallelujah) and jumping in a safari type vehicle for one last tour. We headed out to Sandwich Harbour on the Skeleton Coast. First a little info on the Skeleton Coast. We wondered where it got that name, but after driving a few kilometers, we quickly could SEE why. There were dead animals and skeletons everywhere. We saw a skeleton of a sea turtle, a seal corpse and craziest of all… HUMAN remains. I know that sounds nuts but there they were, just lying there on the sand.  Our guide explained that they are clearly VERY old from the towns that used to exist under the sand dunes and people just leave them be. Amazing! No, we didn’t get photos of human bones. I think we were all too shocked that we didn’t even think of pulling out the camera.

Anyways, back to the tour… The driver took us on a wild ride over the dunes. There was one point where we came screeching to a halt (if you could actually screech in sand) and within inches of the front of the vehicle, there was a steep drop off. All of us thought we narrowly escaped death. We couldn’t believe that the crazy driver came that close to going over the edge. When we all questioned “what do we do now?” and “where do we go from here” his reply was, “we go down.” WHAT? This guy must be mad!  But then we started down the hill. Granted, we went very slowly- but it was still crazy. The angle was SO steep, it definitely felt like we were on some sort of ride. We tried to get a photo, but the camera just cannot capture the depth and angle and of the dunes. Just look at how massive and amazing they are…

The rest of the day was spent observing nature and our surroundings. Sandwich Bay is home to thousands of flamingos and other birds. There was also a little lake right near the dunes and these massive fish kept jumping out of the water. Our guide told us that they jump to get away from their predators (sharks). It was amazing to think there were sharks in this small lake, but it was true- we even saw one with our own eyes.

Of course it wouldn’t be a day in Namibia without a hike up a massive sand dune. Even though we walked up so many dunes on our trip, they were all so different, its hard to explain. As always, running down the dune was much more fun than walking up!

Namibia wasn’t one of those places you go to sip cocktails and relax. I can honestly say that Namibia was probably the most physically and mentally challenging trip I’ve ever taken. Between waking up most days before the sun and climbing mountains and sand dunes every day- I was exhausted at the end of it all. Luckily we were able to enjoy one last beautiful evening in Namibia enjoying a sunset and a BBQ. I will forever have fond memories of this trip.  The laughter, sweat and tears (yes there were tears) all worked together to help make this a trip of a lifetime.

Africa Week- Sand Dunes, Part 2

Is it just me or is Africa Week lasting much longer than 1 week?

The morning after a day of climbing the dunes in Sossusvlei, we got on the road early to head to Swakopmund. We had to be there by 1:00 or so in order to make our appointment for quad biking and sandboarding. The drive was probably my favorite drive of the trip. There were just so many things to look at and the landscape was different after every hour of driving. We even saw completely wild giraffes. We made a little stop (we had a bit of time) to get out of the car and get closer to the giraffes. (Notice Andrew’s self-defense tools in case any of the nearby springbok decided to attack).

We then kept on driving which was when we blew out the tire.  We did NOT have time for this. We were already cutting it close if we wanted to make it to our quad biking tour so the guys worked quickly and efficiently to get the tire changed. We pulled into Swakopmund with NO time to spare. We had to eat though so we stopped and grabbed a sandwich that we scarffed down on the way to the quad biking place. Once we arrived, we quickly filled out our forms, put on our helmets and jumped on the bikes. Whew- we did not even have a moment to rest in all the mayhem.

Quad biking on the dunes was unbelievable! It was definitely one of my favorite things of the whole trip. The dunes were breathtaking! We had to stay in a single file line and follow the guide perfectly if we didn’t want to end up dropping off a 90 degree cliff here or there. Our only indication that death could be approaching was that the guide would just raise up his left hand and point to the drop off… after that you better watch out!

The bikes were SUPER fast. At certain points I was pretty freaked out but I just couldn’t slow down or stop because we had to stay in our line. I was forced to keep up but it made it so much more exciting. We actually would ride up the steep sides of dunes as well and I knew that I HAD to keep my speed up then because if I rode up those things going too slow, I’d just tip over. That would be no fun.

It’s REALLY hard to get a sense for how amazing these dunes were just from the pictures. The depth and height of them just doesn’t present well. You really had to be there to appreciate it.

After we were finished on the quad bikes we rushed back to the facility where there was a driver waiting to take us to the sandboarding site. Let’s remember that we had not had one moment’s rest since we woke up at 6:30am (sitting in a car for 5+ hours doesn’t count). We got to the sandboarding site and were greeted with some unpleasant weather. WIND. Massive amounts of horrible wind. Wind plus sand does not equal happiness. Wind plus sand plus trying to carry one of these boards up a giant sand dune… well, that was just brutal.

But coming down? That was SO much fun. If we could just come down over and over this would have been one of my favorite activities. Unfortunately there are no lifts so once you came down you just turned right back around and started walking up the dune, again. Over and over. More climbing. More hills. My legs HATED me by this point of the trip. The girls opted for the lie down boards and the boys mostly used the snowboards, but they did get a chance to ride on ours as well and I think they all thought it was much more fun to lie down. They even had a gun to clock our speed and at one point Andrew got up to 70kph on the lie down board! Pretty insane!

Sandboarding was tons of fun but after a few runs, you just do not have the energy to keep walking up those dunes. Oh and when you’re done, you pretty much have sand coming out of every crevice of your body for a week. Luckily the guides had lots of lovely snacks and cold beers for us to enjoy after all that hard work.  What an amazing day of sandy adventures!

Africa Week- Sand Dunes, Part 1 April 13, 2010

Did I mention that I hate hills? Oh yes, I did in THESE POSTS last week. Well, as if I hadn’t had enough climbing for one trip, Namibia brought us a whole new level of hills…

Sand dunes.

Let me point out that sand dunes are NOT easy to walk up. For every step you take, you slide back half of a step in the loose sand. Some of these can be REALLY steep as well.  Our first experience with dunes was in Sossusvlei- home of the highest sand dunes in the world. These were amazing. We got up before sunrise (I’d like to point out that we did this 5 out of 7 days in our last week in Africa) and drove to the national park  in Sossusvlei. We had to get there at sunrise in order to experience the amazing shadows and colors that occur in the early morning hours. I’d definitely say this part of the trip (specifically this day) allows me to cross off number 42 on my 101 list… Watch the sunrise.

We headed directly to Dune 45 which is one of the easiest dunes to access from the road. There were tons of people there trying to get a glimpse of this amazing wonder. We all decided to walk up the dune. More hills… I wasn’t thrilled; HOWEVER, this wasn’t a mountain- it was a sand dune. It would be totally different and really amazing at the top. I just knew it. Well, I got about halfway up and thought I was going to die. I’m not afraid of heights by any means but I think the combination of my heart pounding, my breath racing and the 45 degree angle drop to my left sent me into a panic. I pretty much freaked out and couldn’t look anywhere but straight down at my feet. I had to walk back down. I sucked. I did have the chance to get pretty high up, but I didn’t really take the time to enjoy it because I was too busy having a mild panic attack. The rest of the group kept climbing to the very top and once they were up there, they were all brave enough to run down the side of the dune. In my anxious state, I was unable to even contemplate joining them on this adventure but now I am sad I didn’t. I was able to calm down on all other dunes and those were quite fun to run and sandboard down (which I’ll post about later).

Here are some amazing photos of our first day at the Sossusvlei dunes.

What we were about to climb:

See the little tiny person at the tippy top in the photo below? I made it to about there before I freaked out and had to walk down. You can’t really tell, but in the back it curves and gets even higher. That’s where the rest of the group made it to. If you look closely at the top left of the dune, you can see some people running down the side.

These photos give you some perspective of how high up we were (and the slope of the dune):

Here are a few of Andrew running down from the very top of Dune 45. It’s pretty much impossible to fall down the dune. You just sink into the sand so it’s completely safe to run down. I was still too wussy to do it on this big one though.

Up next… sandboarding (down MORE dunes)!

Africa Week- Life and Death of a Kudu April 11, 2010

Here is a sweet little kudu drinking from the watering hole by our lodge. She’s just living her life, going about her day. She’s probably cautious of her surroundings to ensure that a lion won’t jump out of the bushes and attack her. Sweet, innocent little kudu.

 Here is another kudu, more specifically-  his leg, dead and braised and slathered in sauce and sitting on Mitchell’s plate.

Here Mr. kudu is entering  Mitchell’s belly.

The kudu is famous! EVERYONE wants a neanderthal photo op with the poor butchered animal.

What did I think about the most ginormous leg of meat EVER? Well, take a guess.

 Seriously… GROSSEST THING EVER!

Africa Week- Soggy Safari April 8, 2010

While in Africa, Andrew and I spent two days on our own up in Namibia near Etosha National Park. Our lodge that we stayed at was BEAUTIFUL. The bathroom was amazing and there was even an outdoor shower on the deck that overlooked the Ongava game park. We were so excited for our safari adventure, we could not wait to see animals.

Our rooms were right on the reserve and animals (lions) sometimes wander around between the rooms and the restaurant so we actually had to have an armed escort back to our room to keep us safe at night. Andrew loved it!

In our bathroom there was a bucket near the shower. The guy who took us to the room let us know that we should use that bucket to save water while we’re waiting for the shower to heat up. There was also a little card near the sink letting us know that Namibia is one of the driest countries in the world, so please conserve water. We got the point… dry country, need to save water.

Then it rained for two days.

Then the animals went into hiding.

Our safari sucked. We arrived on a Wednesday hoping to get in an evening game drive but we were too late. That’s ok, we had all day Thursday and Friday morning to see animals too. But then we woke up Thursday and it was wet. We still tried to go on a drive and we did see a few rhino, but for the most part we just were cold and miserable as the wind and rain pelted our bodies in the open top Safari vehicle. Our guide ended up turning back after an hour. Luckily it dried up that day and we were able to go out again in the afternoon to try to find more animals. We did see a few- but not many. Of the big 5 (lions, elephants, leopards, buffalo and rhino) we only saw a few rhino and 1 lion. Andrew thinks the lion didn’t even count since we saw it in the glow of floodlights drinking from the the man-made watering hole near the lodge. Friday morning was hopeless as well. It had rained even more Thursday night and so there was no point in even bothering with a drive. Instead of driving for animals we drove back to Windhoek to meet up with the rest of the group.

We’ve vowed to go back to Africa in the next 3-4 years to do a proper safari. Here are a just few of the best pictures we took:

Africa Week- Wine Tasting April 7, 2010

While in Africa, I got to check off number 43 from my 101 list- “go wine tasting again.” Kimbo planned an awesome day for us in the Stellenbosch and Franschhoek regions of South Africa (about a 45 minute drive from Cape Town). There’s not too much to say about wine tasting other than it was beautiful, delicious and we all got a tad boozy. It was quite a unique experience though, a bit different than most of my wine tasting adventures in the past. We hired a guy (and a friend) to drive us around in his taxi van all day so none of us would have to drive. You would not believe how cheap it is to hire a driver for a day in Cape Town!! Evidently though, drving 9 foreigners around all day is a tiring job.

The first winery we went to had AMAZING views and gave us lovely hummus with our wine.

The 2nd winery allowed you to pick the different types of wines you wanted to try- which was quite nice since we could sample many more varieties than we would normally be able to. Next we had a picnic lunch at one of the wineries and they brought out these big baskets of breads, cheeses, salads, pastries, dips and sweets. All the food was delicious and I absolutely stuffed myself.

We headed to one more winery after lunch but I was too full to even try anything. Finally we headed to one last place. It wasn’t exactly a winery, it was more like a really large outdoor restaurant/bar. It had the coolest atmosphere and we got some African face painting done and we each had a cocktail. Unfortunately we didn’t have much time to spend here because we only had our drivers until 7, so we packed up our things and headed off to dinner (which I STILL was not hungry for).

I’d definitely say that was one of the best wine tasting experiences I’ve ever had!

Africa Week – What Not to Do April 6, 2010

When you’re driving through a Namibian desert that looks like THIS:

This is what you DON’T want to happen:

Unfortunately for us… this  clearly DID happen.

Fortunately for us we had a spare… and three boys who know how to change a tire.

I’m pretty sure we were all silently praying during the next 1.5 hours of driving on desert gravel road that it wouldn’t happen again. Luckily, it didn’t- and hey, it wouldn’t be a true road trip without a few hiccups along the way, right!

Africa Week- Swimming with Sharks April 5, 2010

When the suggestion was made that we go shark diving on our African holiday, I never once hesitated because of fear. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to spend the money, but I never felt afraid. Maybe watching Jaws in pre-school when I was 4 had some positive long term affect on me after all. I decided to give it a go and I was sure that once I was on that boat, fear would finally appear.

So while in Cape Town, Andrew, Stu, Mitchell, Sara and I headed out before sunrise to make it to Gansbaai (Shark Alley). We loaded up on a home cooked breakfast and then headed out to the boat. My shark fear still hadn’t appeared… to this point my biggest fear was not of the blood-thirsty, man-eating great whites, oh no- I was MUCH more afraid of the icy cold water (10-15c, 50-59f) I was about to jump into. I figured the shark fear would come once I was in the water.

How it works is they basically attach a cage to the side of the boat and it floats at the top of the water (as you can see in the photo). We suit up in thick wetsuits and hoods and then up to 6 people can jump in the cage at one time.  On our boat we had 2 groups of 5 so we had a bit more space. You just simply float at the top until the guides spot a shark and then they’ll yell at you to go down. You hold your breath and pull yourself under the water to watch the sharks swim by.

The other group (the Swedes) went first and we were SO glad they did. They spent about 30 minutes in the freezing cold water with hardly as much as a fish swimming by. The sharks finally started to appear and that’s when the guides had them switch and our group jumped in to the water.

My fear of sharks still never materialized.

We saw a few great whites swim around our cage but nothing too exciting happened at first. After awhile some of us got out of the water because we were getting cold and a few of the other group jumped back in. Still nothing dramatic happened. Finally, that group all got too cold and Stu and I decided we wanted to jump back in. It was just the two of us but that is when the action started!! Finally some sharks started attacking the bait! I tried to get video but it was a bit hard to concentrate on my camera when there was a huge death machine swimming inches away from my face. I think you can get the point from the videos below though. I’ve chosen not to embed them in the blog because they are too small when you do that and you really need to watch these in a bigger window. Notice how close my hands are to the outside of the cage in the first video.

Sharks Video 1

Please excuse my foul mouth in the next video. Evidently when a great white is swimming directly at me, profanities just come spilling out.

Sharks Video 2

After seeing all the action that was occurring (you could watch it all from above on the top of the boat which is why you can hear cheering and screaming in the 2nd video) a few others jumped back in the cage so most all of us were exposed to the thrill and exhilaration of getting up-close and personal with these massive creatures.

I still won’t say I was scared of the sharks. The experience definitely got my adrenaline pumping but I wouldn’t call it fear. Honestly, it was probably one of the coolest things I did while in Africa. More cool things will be posted about soon!

Africa Week- Climbing Mountains, Part 2 April 4, 2010

Two days later the group decided they wanted to hike up Table Mountain. I had NO desire to climb up THAT mountain. Lion’s Head was enough for me so I said I would take the cable car up to to the top to meet them. Kimbo really tried to talk me into it but after Lion’s head I knew I would probably die if I tried hiking Table Mountain (3,563 feet), especially in the heat. Luckily she decided at the last minute that she’d come with me with me so us girls rode up the steep cable car while the boys hiked in the sun.

By the time we waited in line for the cable car and the boys hiked up, we actually all reached the top at the same time (it took 53 minutes to be exact). Once we were all together again, we took a little stroll to another side of the mountain to enjoy the view.

Maybe Lion’s head isn’t so big after all when you look at it from up here…

Next up… SHARKS! And later, even more climbing. Stay tuned!

Africa Week- Climbing Mountains, Part 1 April 3, 2010

One of the things I hate doing most in life is climbing up hills and mountains. I’ve only really come to discover this after moving to Sydney where I have been forced to walk up hills to get anywhere. Orange County is SO flat in comparison. Africa was the perfect place to challenge myself in the hill department!

The first few days in Cape Town were written off as relaxation days filled with lunch near the beach, dinners, BBQs and short drives around town. Jet lag hit me pretty hard and I felt pretty crap for about 2-3 days so I’m REALLY glad we didn’t have anything too strenuous planned at the beginning of our trip. Once I was feeling better and we were trying to figure out what to do for the day, I suggested that we climb Lion’s Head.

I really don’t know why I suggested this, seeing as how I hate climbing things- but I knew it would be great once we were up at the top. Little did I know that this would be only the beginning of a trip full of LOTS and LOTS of climbing.

It took us about 45 minutes to get to the top and another hour to get back down. I know you can make it up there much quicker than that- but I’m a bit of a wuss so we had to take a few breaks for me to catch my breath. In the end, it was really tough but I made it. I’m proud I did it and the view from the top was amazing- but I can’t say I’d like to do it again.

You can just tell how much fun I had climbing to the top…

Africa Week- Our Arrival April 2, 2010

So we’re finally back in Sydney after 3 awesome weeks in Africa. I had NO internet connection on my computer the entire time we were there so I was limited to using our friends’ net. I didn’t want to eat up all their bandwidth by posting too many blogs and photos so unfortunately everyone has had to wait for any real details on our trip.  That just means that now I’ll have lots and lots to blog about for the next week or so.

We’ll call it Africa Week here at Elsja.com.

So to start off Africa Week- I’ll post Andrew’s blog that was actually written 3 weeks ago. Enjoy.

Day 1 – 13^th March.

The beginning. After dropping our house keys off with Paul and VK, the drive to the airport was uneventful. I dropped Elsja off at the international terminal and then parked back in my staff parking at the domestic before catching the transfer bus back across to the international terminal airside. On check-in they told us there were only two business class seats available and we were the first to get them! Bonus. I guess there are perks to being a captain and booking a high priority trip. This is definitely one of the major things I will miss when I leave Qantaslink.

Customs and security was pretty standard except that Elsja screwed up her outgoing documentation, refilled it out and after tearing up the ‘wrong’ one, realized she’s accidentally torn up the good one. This was discovered after lining up however, which resulted in her having to going back to fill it out for a third time. So we ended up being split up which out worked anyway as I had some phone calls to make before boarding. They never give us our boarding passes on standby until about 30-40 minutes before departure so it’s always a bit of a rush through customs and security. This is good in a way as we never have to wait around to board. We got the upstairs cabin for the flight which is always better. More personalised service (at least it feels that way) and it’s usually quieter.

The flight was pretty much the same as any long haul flight – you try to fill your time as much as possible until after the meal service before getting bored enough to sleep. This involved me watching one movie (Law Abiding Citizen), reading some of my book (Bill Bryson’s “A short history of nearly everything”) and going through two newspapers. I’ve gotta say, for the first time I wasn’t too impressed with the food on Qantas business. This is probably also due to the fact that they ran out of the options we wanted on both occasions when they got around to serving us. We’re staff so the full paying passengers get served first with their choice and we basically get what’s left. Not usually too bad because they generally over cater anyway. This time though I missed out on the options labeled “healthy” at both lunch and dinner. I guess people are just being healthier in general these days. Sucks for me. The toasted sandwich I ordered mid-flight sucked the big one too. When I say “I’ll have all (8) ingredients minus the mustard and cheese please”, that’s pretty much what I mean. So when it comes with a dab of olive tapenade and a few dodgy pieces of salami, it’s not very impressive. The posh butler type waiter/flight attendant didn’t seem too impressed that we were asking him to make us toasted paninis either. I still haven’t figured out why you are generally treated worse whilst travelling as staff. Don’t they travel as staff too sometimes?

After all that I only ended up getting about one and half hours of sleep anyway. I filled the rest of trip watching documentaries on evolution, Neil Armstrong, Charles Darwin and the financials of the porn industry and how pretty much every organization in the world (including the Catholic Church, much to my delight) supports it. Touché.

We arrived in Johannesburg on time at 3:30pm (12:30am Sydney time) and went through “customs”. What a joke. The chick who stamped our passports barely even looked at us. No questions. No paperwork to fill out. Nothing. We grabbed our bags off the rack, walked through a sparsely staffed sterile area and suddenly we were in South Africa. The first thing I noticed was how unprofessional the airport staff are – customs, security and airline staff. They were flirting with each other, leaning against walls – even standing there eating chips out of a giant bag. The first chick I went up to ask for help was on her mobile. Did she say anything? Even wave a hand? No. Just a big, dumb blank stare as she kept talking and giggling with someone who was obviously known personally. What a moron. We walked away.

Our next flight wasn’t for nearly three hours but we went and tried to check in anyway as we were on standby again and it’s always best to just get your foot in the door. At first they seemed pretty positive about us getting on but then he told us it was overbooked! This didn’t make a lot of sense but they told us to come back and see them at 5:30pm and they’d let us know. It hit me at this point that we hadn’t even thought about a ‘Plan B’ in case we didn’t get on this flight. This is very unlike me so  I thought about it and realised that it was because when I’d called the night before to check our baggage allowance, the chick told me that the flight was pretty empty and we’d be fine. So I didn’t give it another thought. Idiot. ALWAYS have a ‘Plan B’. Suddenly the thought of having to not only go to a hotel, but also to figure out which one, where it was, how much, how to get there, bla bla bla – was not very appealing.  In the end though, we got on and they ended up giving us business class too which was great! I guess what they probably meant initially (and why they were being so coy), was that they knew there were seats in business class but were trying to see if they could squeeze us into economy before upgrading us. You had nothing to fear Check-in-Chick, we didn’t eat a damn thing anyway.

Countless teas, three coffees, one diet coke and some nuts later, we arrived in Cape Town. Stu and Kimbo’s smiling faces were there waiting for us as we trudged off (Elsja’s 15kg carry-on strapped to my back) and it was just great to see them. We chatted on the way home but it kinda felt like I was drunk. By that point we’d been awake for nearly twenty four hours and obviously travelling during that time (a fourteen hour flight followed by a three hour wait then another two hour flight) really doesn’t help. We arrived at Kimbo and Stu’s place and after a tour I can really see how much we get ripped off in Sydney. It comes fully furnished, includes panoramic water views, all bills AND a maid. What an amazing…um, condo? Apartment? I actually don’t know.

One of the first things we did notice was the wind. Oh, how windy. The suburb of Camps Bay snuggles nicely between the Atlantic Ocean and a small mountain range made up of Table Moutain and The Twelve Apostles. These two topographical features bring out the best of a combination in Katabatic/Adiabatic winds and the sea breeze. The result? A howling gale all night long. Not too disruptive to Elsja and I though. We sleep with ear plugs.

After our quick tour of the pad, Stu kindly busted out the local beer and cider with a cheeky bourbon thrown in for old times sake. We shot the shit for a couple more hours before turning the lights out at 11:00pm (8:00am Sydney time).  It was great to get to bed. There is always the fear of getting stranded when you’re travelling on standby so it’s a huge relief when things works out.

Quite a successful day all in all. The sun is just rising on Day Two now after my 4:45am wake up. What a view, what a pad. Hopefully what a city.

Cape Town March 21, 2010

Don’t get excited- I’m not actually going to post any really interesting details or photos from our trip so far. I just want to drop in and say I’m still alive over here. The internet doesn’t work on my computer so I’ve been borrowing our friends’ internet which doesn’t allow me to spend much time blogging. Andrew even wrote a big ol’ blog about our journey over but we can’t post it because it’s saved on my desktop. Oh well. 

Here’s just a quick snipit to let you know what we’ve been doing:

• We climbed Lion’s head
• Andrew climbed Table Mountain with Stu. I took the cable car up because I was way too wussy to climb up after doing lion’s head.
• We’ve had some amazing lunches and dinners- the food has been quite good
• We visited Robben Island
• We had a big, boozy night out on Friday
• Today we went wine tasting at some amazingly beautiful wineries
• Tuesday we are going shark diving
• Wednesday Andrew and I head off to Namibia for our 2 day safari and Kimbo, Stu, Mitchell and Sarah will join us there on Friday!

The best part of all is that we’ve been able to visit some great friends and relax in such a beautiful city. We return to Sydney on April 2nd. I’ll post more details and photos then.

A Brand New Journey March 11, 2010

In case you have forgotten, I’d like to mention one more time that I’m going to AFRICA on Saturday. I’m really getting excited now. One more full day of work and then we’re off.

I was telling Val yesterday that this trip seems really strange. In the last 4 years I’ve flown from LA to Sydney and back again probably 12 or 13 times. I know the flight well. I know the exact desk I need to go to for check-in. I know the gate I fly out of- it’s always gate 8 or 9. I know all about the extra security procedures at gate 8 and 9. I know the exact length of the flights. I know how many movies I can watch. I know that if I try to start a movie right when they are serving breakfast, I won’t get to watch the entire thing because the entertainment system will shut down before it ends. I know the usual flight numbers I might have (QF 12, QF 8, etc.) I know that my flight will always leave around 11 or 1 (or possibly 3 depending on daylight savings). I can estimate the weight of my heavy bags and even when they are CRAMMED full, I know they will still be under the maximum weight. I know I will usually arrive around 6:30 or 8:30 am in LA. I can calculate the time zone difference in 1.2 seconds.

Like I said… I KNOW THE FLIGHTS WELL!

I know NOTHING about our flight to South Africa and it’s a weird feeling. All I am aware of is that we leave around 10:30am. I have no idea how long the flight is. I don’t know when we arrive. I don’t know exactly how many hours behind they are. I am basically putting all my faith and trust in Andrew to tell me where to go and when to be there. It’s such a strange feeling to be flying on a long international flight that is heading AWAY from LA. It’s strange and very exciting at the same time.

In two days I will show up to the airport and board our plane at a different gate.  I will fly over the Indian Ocean for the first time. I will be stepping onto a new continent, one my toes have never touched. I will explore two new countries. I will see wild mammals, great white sharks and beautiful scenery. I will climb mountains and ride boards on sand dunes. It will be a brand new journey full of first-time experiences and adventures and I can’t wait!