Isabella, Wemukelekile, South Africa

karla Posted Feb 21, 2009, 10:00 am	Im so glad my mom found me a host in South Africa. Im already on my way there, I cant wait to arrive!!
MrsC Posted Apr 20, 2009, 10:01 pm	Olá Mãe! I arrived in Joanesburgo a week ago and I have sat around doing nothing, nothing at all! I am staying with Fi and she has been so busy working lately - typing medical reports. She has headphones on her ears listening to doctors talking so I can't even talk to her... very boring! The first time she paid us any attention was on Easter. She took us ouside so we could find Easter eggs that the Easter bunny hid... I found lots! I haven't tasted any pink beer yet or seen any wild animals but she said she would see what she could do about that. I may have to raid Barbie's cupboard and find something a little warmer to wear - it is Autumn now and the evenings are getting quiet cold..... I'll let you know how my travels are going soon. Beijinhos! Isabella.
MrsC Posted Jul 13, 2009, 10:18 pm	At last! We get to go somewhere! We drove through the city centre on the highway... It's very early in the morning and it is still a bit hazy. We have left Gauteng Province and have entered the Free State. Everyone always thinks of the Free State as a very flat part of the country. But it isn't really. There are some very pretty mountains. You can just see them in the distance… We are in a town called Parys...not quite Paris, you pronounce is Pa - race. We drove through the town till we ended up on a dirt road.... Interesting! A world heritage site...wonder what this is all about then? Apparently, 2020 million years ago (even Fi wasn't born then!) an asteroid, that was 10km (6 miles) in diameter, hit the earth at a speed of 30 000km/h (18641 mph). It left a scar of the surface of the earth 300km (186miles) wide! That scar is called the Vredefort Dome because it is dome shaped. It is currently described as the oldest and largest impact structure in the world. It can be seen quite clearly from space and if you look for it in Google Earth you can see it quite nicely too. We stopped here. We may still have been in the Free State or the North West Province or maybe on the border between the two! We weren't here for an archaeological excursion...though we did have a look at a few fossils and interesting bits and pieces... ...we were here to FISH! Oh yuk… I don’t want to fish….. Hmm… they have every magic fishing potion you can think of! After all that fishing ( I didn’t fish – I left it to the boys) it was time for a cup of tea! ...maybe I’ll work on my tan! Maybe if they try down this end they might actually catch something! This is the famous Vaal River.  In the 'old days' Gauteng Province was called The Transvaal which means 'across the Vaal'. Well, they never did catch anything except for an old shoe! I thought that only happened in the movies.... After a long day of lazing around in the sun and eating to much, we signed the guest book and headed back for the bright lights of Jo'burg.
MrsC Posted Jul 21, 2009, 7:42 pm	As anyone who lives in Johannesburg will tell you, one of the best things about Johannesburg is the weather.... It never gets too hot in summer (lies, lies I tell you!) and in winter it NEVER rains... the sky is blue, blue, blue and it isn't really that cold. LIES, LIES and MORE LIES!!!! ...and this is only June, I can't wait for July when winter REALLY kicks in!
MrsC Posted Jul 21, 2009, 8:14 pm	The children broke up for mid term break today. One of them brought a little guest home for the week. Because it was RAINING again when we left school, his cage got a little wet and it smelled a bit bad so we cleaned it up....WOW! This is quite a lot of housing for someone so small...and quite a lot of washing and drying for me! Right, better get some shavings in this.... I wonder if she would mind if I stayed in her house for a bit? I am sure I'd fit... She even has a built in gym...hah hah hah... This is quite a puzzle...I need a bit of help putting this all together... Let me do a final check and make sure it's all dry and cosy in here. It's a bit tricky getting through this tunnel! All ready...where is she? QT! QT! Come on out and see your house! She has quite a stack of food for such a small hamster! She hides it all away and gets VERY cross when her cage is cleaned out and her stash goes missing. Isn't she cute? Hmmm... Maybe that's why they call her QT! The first thing she did when she got back in her cage was hunt for her stash of seeds. She was decidedly upset when she couldn't find any! Instead of counting to ten she went for a jog... once she had calmed down she set about hiding her seeds and rearranging her nesting material. Funny little thing!
MrsC Posted Jul 21, 2009, 8:41 pm	Fi's friend, Amanda, had an overnight stay in the Pilansberg National Park. She stayed at the Kwa Maritane Lodge and took me with her. It was pretty cold so we didn't really see many animals. We did see giraffe though! Can you see him? There, far in the distance... How about now, can you see him yet? I looked and looked... but I couldn't see anything else. I had a friend help me look... but we just fell about laughing because we saw nothing... We heard someone else laughing at us...how rude! All the laughing gave this impala a fright! After a while of driving around and not seeing anything, we decided to head home and found an obstacle in our path...
MrsC Posted Jul 21, 2009, 9:16 pm	Today we met some friends at a place called 'Wemukelekile' - no, I can't say it either, but it means 'welcome' in Zulu. Fi says you pronounce it: weh - moo - keh - lee - kee - leh...whatever, my tongue is not dextrous enough to pronounce that! It is a strange place. There is a five star restaurant, a coffee shop, a nursery, a children's play area and a farmyard all in one! And there are loads of carved stone statues all about like this one... We found a very vain peacock in the farmyard section. He started strutting his stuff as soon as he saw the camera! Not many flowers about at this time of the year, it is the middle of winter, but the pansies were in full bloom and made a nice splash of colour. See, they match my skirt! The aloes are quite a pretty sight too though these are past their prime. We stopped for breakfast and warmed up with some hot chocolate, but after a quick turn round the play area we went home because it was so cold with an icy wind...3°C! I really wasn't dressed warmly enough....

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