Monday 5 October 2009

Here we go! Off to Gaborone...


Setting off for Gaborone, Chelsea was rather worse for wear after a late night out at "Eighties" the night before, saying goodbye to all her chinas!

Jack had his "naughty face" on (obviously planning the "ear pokers" he was about to create...)

Reilly was chilled...

And Cami (complete with red finger nails!) was delighted to finally be embarking on our "road trip" ...

We were happy to say "Goodbye!" to Durban {aka Dirtbin} for a while...

Travelling through "town" is not the prettiest sight...

There's certainly a lot going on...

And, as you'd expect, it's all rather colourful...

The Fruit & Veg business seems to be booming!

Apparently Durban had a "Facelift" some years ago...looks like it could do with another one...

Finally past the worst & heading out...


A cell-phone beacon "disguised" as a tree...{not very convincing if you ask me ;-D}

Obviously "Monkey Puzzle" trees must be indigenous...well what other reason could there be for so many of them all in one place?

The highway to Pietermaritzburg - our roads are very good - with toll gates all the way - we pay to keep them in such good condition.

The Pavillion shoppping Centre on our left - a sign that we are now well & truly heading away from the Indian Ocean & inland into "Darkest Africa" LOL!

We arrive in Jo'burg & Cami promptly orders "Room Service" via the shower-rose...

The other 3 "blob out" with magazines & techno gadgets...

Day 2 & our driver is well rested & ready to roll...

Two pretty girls relax in the back - sharing the ipod headphones...

Someone's looking happy to be on holiday...

Jack mellows out for a wee bit before returning to his "ear-poking"...

Now things are looking decidedly more rural...

Donkeys along the roadside are not an unusual sight.

Houses are fashioned out of sticks, straw, corrugated iron...anything will do really...

Cows "for Africa!" all along the way...

They are really rather cute up close & surprisingly friendly...

We seemed to travel this long, straight, flat road forever & a day {yawn!}

Unfortunately I don't have a strong zoom lens but here are some local kids relaxing in an old wheel-barrow!

Horse/donkey/ox-drawn carts were also often seen ;-D

All the toilets were close to the road & in little shelters away from the "main house" {obviously the "long drop" variety}.

The local "Airtime" {cell-phone credit} shack...

A woman collects sticks for her fire {try clicking on the photos if you want a closer look - they should enlarge}.

Not much changes as far as the scenery goes.

A one-pump fuel stop.

Quite a neat little homestead with a few token goats...

A surprisingly smart looking little phone booth stall {in the middle of nowhere...} Not sure why the attendee is wearing Micky Mouse ears...but then anything is possible in Africa LOL!

People travel long distances on foot in these parts...

Quite a well-to-do home here, complete with chickens.

And their accompanying outside loo...

Another home with a thatched roof & an outbuilding made of wood...pretty much anything goes when raw materials are scarce.

Here we see some currogated iron sheets put to good use - phew - must be hot in there...

Lots of flat roofs - I suppose because of a lack of trusses...but not a great design considering this area experiences extreme temperature changes.

Donkeys...{they always look miserable...} just like Eyeore!

Finally! The border post. We say Goodbye South Africa - Hello Botswana - yes, really, this is it...

In the rainy season you can't use this route unless you have a 4X4, we have had to turn back in the past & reroute because the water floods the bridge. Just around the corner you get the Botswanan side, run out of a series of caravans.

Passing through these villages the speed limit is 40 - 60 kilometres per hour because we all have to share the road ;-D

Anyone need to change Rand for Pula...you could risk it here...or rather wait until you hit Gaborone central, as we did...

Unfortunately we were too weary to hit "Pamelas" for a wardrobe update...

And we all agreed we were not "that hungry" that we had to risk eating at "Delicious Foods" ;-D

The local church operates out of a once dandy looking tent.

Fortunately we could give "Choppies" a miss as all our food was catered for by Granny!

The local "high tech" photo studio {not too sure about the lighting in there...}

And our friendly road mates...the cows...they really need to learn some hand-signals...

Many trees just like this...complete with birds' nests...featured along our journey.

That's it people...that is what an African road trip is all about. Hope you enjoyed the ride! Come back tomorrow to see what we got up to while we were there ;-D


10 comments:

Michelle Ramsay said...

Stunning photos Helen and I love the way you did your story. Look forward to the next episode.

tania said...

Thanks for sharing helen, I had a good time laughing!! your descriptions are so funny;) LUVE the boutique, can just imagine the girls going "nuts" about the fashion in there. . .

topkatnz said...

Very interesting.LOL

Diana said...

You're da bomb! (American saying for you're great; not sure if you have that saying over in SA) I loved reading all your comments on everything I posted while you were away. You are a good bloggy friend :)
I think I've figured out a system for my albums... I'm going to blog about it, actually. But I'm also going to look for Ali's post.
E.K. has commented before. Almost every time I leave her a message that I've scraplifted her layout she comments about it. She always says the same thing! I think it's her pat response. LOL. That's ok. I think it's very cool of her to do that. She is one of my favourite celebrity scrappers. Did you see on her blog that she has a book coming out? I am so excited about it. That's actually going to be in my album plan... .
I'm tilting photos on about half my layouts these days! Not by design, it just feels right.
Since I have no ambitions to go professional with my scrapbooking, I don't think I'll ever suffer that type of burnout.
B.H. is very much working on a solo career. She had a post on her blog the other day asking people how many kits they would buy if she put out a Project 365 type kit and she got over 2000 responses!
I definitely need to get more sleep. Ugh. But got to keep up at least a bit with my scrapbooking -- I need it to feel like myself, mom of newborn babes or not!

Vicki said...

How cool is all that. Look forward to the next lot. LOL

Jenny said...

Am I nostalgic? No, just wish I could have a bit of that Highveld smell especially just before the rain oh and some bird songs too.

Carol B said...

well portrayed!
LOL@ the MickeyMouse ears!
and the fact that cell phones are 'everywhere' hey.
I always marvel at how happy these rural people look, without all the 'luxuries' we can't do without!
Eek! Durbs looks BAD! I recently had someone email some Durban pics from 'days gone by'.....the mind boggles at the 'progress'?
So glad you travelled safely!

Shayne said...

Had i not been resident in the Eastern Cape I would have been amazed to have seen what 'africa' looks like - but these are the sights i see daily en route to EL, PE etc. It's quite amazing.

Great that you documented the small things.

Looking forward to part 2.

Lynette Jacobs said...

Looks like you loved your holiday!

Great photo post...amazing how Durbs looks more backward than the rural areas...don't you think?

Ella Swan said...

Well that post certainly amused us here at home...actually I took those photos mainly for the purpose of enlightening my overseas blog buddies & visitors but am now glad I have a record of it myself & can see them all in a little mini-album called "Travelling through Africa" or something like that...Yup Durbs looks like a dump but that is the worst of it...the northern suburbs are completely (okay maybe not completely - we still have the graffiti) different. LS thanks for the mega comment LOL! Yup I have heard the "Your da bomb!" expression...thanks for sayin' ;-D My 2 younger kids are obsessed with Disney Channel so I get all the Americanisms from them. I have just received my CK for November (very unusual for it to arrive so early BTW) but see EK's book advertised in there. I really want it to. her pages are always very cute & fun & Ali's can get a bit tedious...although they are always cool. If you don't get caught up in the whole "industry" nonsense then you will be fine, but the competitive streak in a lot of people can be to their detriment. Just do the best you can - that's what I do. That post of BH's was the bain of my life because I kept receiving e mail notifications of all the comments!!! I went back & deleted my comment but they just kept on coming...thankfully they seem to be drying up now LOL!!! I was just the same as you with my babies actually. I was determined to retain my identity so had to burn the candle at both ends. Somehow we survive ;-D