Photos of Rex's 70th

Rex is pleased with his surprise!

Say "cheese"!

The magnificent man in his flying machine!

Lunch at the Westcliff!

Justin's Dad's 70th!

'Tis the time for turning 70 it appears..................Justin's Dad, Rex, also turned 70 on April 24th but we couldn't actually get down to South Africa right then.
We flew down on Sunday 7th May and stayed at The Melrose Arch Hotel (www.africanpridehotels.com/melrosearch) where we stayed on Justin's 40th. We decided to treat ourselves to three nights there as it's so cool! (plus I got a great rate through my prokard -
www.prokard.co.za - worth getting and paying R300 for if you want even one night there plus you get discounts at loads of protea hotels and with Budget car rental!
So, on the Monday we picked up Rex & Prue and took Rex on a little magical mystery tour!
All he knew was that we were going to Rand Airport so he was pretty nonplussed!
Justin had arranged for Rex to be taken up in an old Boeing Stearman Biplane and he was absolutely thrilled when we told him! (Prue was actually a bit fed-up that she wasn't going too!)
He had a de-briefing, was kitted out in flight overalls, biggles helmet, the whole toot and up he went!!!
He had a great time, flew the plane himself a bit and experienced some 'mid-air acrobatics', all of which he thoroughly enjoyed!
After all the excitement we moved on to the Westcliff Hotel for a 'posh lunch'! www.westcliff.co.za
They have fantastic views from La Belle Terrasse!
So, it was a great success and we met up again the next day for lunch at Hyde Park before Justin & I headed off to The Drakensberg Mountains and Rex & Prue headed off to Plettenburg Bay!
We stayed in Gallery Suite at Acorn Cottages in the central 'berg area www.acornsinchampagne.co.za for just four nights and we had an excellent little holiday!
The view from our verandah was amazing, the weather was beautiful during the day and we went on two really long hikes. It got freezing as soon as the sun went down so we had to have strict planning in place: Get back from hike, light braai, shower, put on all warm clothes including thermals, light fire inside, eat on verandah, go inside as sun drops, close doors and sit as close to fire as possible! It was lovely and cosy and we just really enjoyed ourselves.
In addition we visited Baz, Justin's great friend who owns Thokozisa and went round for dinner to his & Tracy's house where we had a great evening!
We felt as if we'd been away a lot longer than we actually were - that's the amazing power of the 'berg - or any mountain I suppose.
We ended up at The Indaba Hotel for our last night in Jo'burg itself - near Fourways Mall - for last minute shopping - www.indabahotel.co.za - we find it a very handy hotel for the Fourways area and although it's large and geared for conferences it's very efficient on the whole, food's good, rooms are pretty nice - we had a room with a verandah by the dam and the grounds are large so you can really have a wander around.
We spent our last night at the airport at Southern Sun Garden Court (the old Holiday Inn Garden Court) and flew back home on Tuesday 16th May to our babies!

Rick

Ha! Did I get you worried there Rick?!!!! You're thinking, "whaaaat? An article about me? Oh no!"
Do not be afraid! There is nothing to fear! Trust me.....................................
So, what about Rick then? Oh yeah, I was just going to say that Rick was over in Zambia with Mel over Easter for about a week (they also indulged at Siankaba!) and we ended up round at Mel's for dinner, with Michelle too (Donald was fishing I think?), a couple of nights before he went back to the States.
We had a lovely meal prepared by Mel & Rick and downed plenty of vino (of course!) and had a great evening with good company!
Rick, thanks for the absolutely lovely photo book you gave us on America, it's really lovely and only serves to whet our appetite all the more for a future trip!
And while we're on the subject of Rick, we hope Mel arrives safely in the States (any minute now presumably?) and that you guys have a brilliant time together! We'll be thinking of you!
And don't worry Mel, if anything shocking happens in Eastenders I'll blog it for you!
There, I told you there was nothing to worry about Rick!

Some photos of Dad's 70th

The start of the adventure - on the boat crossing to Siankaba!

Justin & Linzi having sundowners during mokoro trip!

Mum & Dad on sundowner cruise!

Enjoying!

Dad's 70th - 30th March 2006

Well, my dear Dad turned 70 on 3oth March this year so Mum & Dad came out to us for a nice long visit.

Mum & I came up with a nice trip as a surpise for Dad: A two day drive, with an overnight at the Chisamba Safari Lodge, to Livingstone. Two nights at the Islands of Siankaba http://siankaba.net/ followed by a night at the Royal Livingstone Hotel then two days drive back, overnighting at the same lodge again.

We had a wonderful time, the best of all being Siankaba - we would recommend it to anyone as the place to go for absolute relaxation. The setting is superb, amazing views, delicious food, excellent staff, extremely tasteful decor in the tented chalets and the view from your bed in the morning is one that you will not easily forget.................the river flowing past your verandah.......sights and sounds of Africa right under your nose - nothing better!

We truly felt that we'd been on a much longer break, that's how brilliant it was!

In addition to the trip we also hooked up with the indomitable twosome "Pat & Amy" who were staying with Mel! We saw them round at Donald & Michelle's where Michelle aka 'superwoman' dished up enormous platters of finger snacks and the like for a great crowd of us! Also again when superwoman dished up a three courser for us all so we were spoiled well and truly!

Other than that we all just lazed around an awful lot, went out for plenty of meals - always nice - and did lots of planning for Mum & Dad's new apartment that they should be moving into soon!

All in all a very relaxing time and very enjoyable.

We also did research into caravan parks for Mum & Dad as they also planned to buy a caravan so that they can spend some time there when the weather's nice.

we settled on www.dogandduck.co.uk it's lovely apparently - as I type they are living there in their new caravan until their apartment's finished!!! They moved in last Friday.

Well, I'm struggling to type anything that makes any sense as there's this woman in England called Julie Haywood who won't stop messaging me!!!!!!! I obviously have to reply each time so my blog is suffering..........