There is not a lot to be said about the new years celebrations of 2008. It was a quite evening with friends at my mum’s house. We had a barbecue and champagne at 12h00.
For the past 8 years Adriaan (my bother) fell asleep while every one was celebrating the New Year. This year he was awake, enjoying champagne and entertaining every one with some firecrackers. It was the first time Jarot saw fireworks.
Happy new year everybody!
Monday, January 07, 2008
Chrismas 2007
December is always filled with Christmas get-togethers, the highlight is of cause Christmas Eve and Christmas day.
Christmas Eve was spend with Helgard’s family. Munda (Helgards’ sister in law) went threw a lot of trouble to make the evening rememberable. The Christmas table was set with a Christmas theme and the food was delicious.
The family members had an agreement that there wouldn’t be presents, but Helgard’s dad was Santa, didn’t listen to anybody and bought the whole family presents, thank you Santa Jerry. The Ross family is a caring family and it was nice to be between people that value their family and Christmas.
On Christmas day the cat was our alarm. He wanted some food so he maaued till Helgard got up; lucky for me I got coffee in bed. While we were drinking coffee Helgard gave me my presents. Helgard knows that I enjoy “bath time”, so I got a nice soft, white bath robe and some rose bath salt. Helgard is a Wii-fan, so he got another remote for his toy. We couldn’t spend too much time in bed, because the church service was at 8 o’clock. The church service was something special and when we sang Silent Night I could feel the love and peace of the day in my heart.
At the Reyenke’s house (my family) the food especially the meat is very important on Christmas day. Adriaan put some lamb and pork in the Weber and my mother did the rest of the cooking in the kitchen. It is always nice to have a little one in the family when it is Christmas because they really enjoy Christmas. Jarrot enjoyed the presents, sweats and swimming pool.
More photos here
Kayak on Klip River
After the excitement we had last time on the Kip river See (Too much of a good thing) It was decided that more time will be spent on scouting out the route to prevent us from spending too much time in the water. Gert and I used Google Earth to measure the distance we wanted to go and this time it came to 15.43 km which is much more respectable for a leisurely Saturday cruse.
We arrived at 9h30 at the launch spot and asked at the neighboring houses if we could leave the cars in their yards. In the mean time Gert phoned and told us they bring along two more guys too and they are on their way to leave one of their cars at the end our river journey. The previous time we saw a caravan park and picked it to be our end point. To Gert's surprise the caravan park was deserted, gates locked and nobody to be seen. A small problem because this is now the planned end point, fortunately he found a friendly guy in the street busy mowing his lawn. Gert struck up a conversation and the guy and he borrowed Gert his gate key. The caravan park is between the river and the back of his property, looks like everyone in the street has a key for accessing the back of their yards.
Eventually we launched and Sybie and Morné joint us on their wave boards. There are a couple of differences to our kayaks. We sit inside, they sit on top. We have a lot of space to pack tents and food and beer, they can bring along an apple and a bottle of water. Their boards are wider than the kayak, so sometimes we crossed obstacles a bit faster. Their boards are on top of the water so they turn much faster than we could. At the end of the day it does not matter for what we did the day.
This was the first time all of us went kayaking after the notorious killer rapid. Too be honest I wasn't in a hurry to go down the first rapid we came across. It looked like nobody wanted to go down the rapid. Eventually all of us made it through.
There was definitely more water in the river, and more tree trunks was in our way, looks like there was a lot of water down the river since the last time we saw it. The water was very muddy and it is better not to think too much of what may be lurking beneath.
Dalené was still trying to come to grips with her engagement ring.
Eventually we came to our deserted caravan park and the last rapid of the day. It was so nice Gert and I just had to do it a couple of times, for the experience….ok both of us wanted a white water picture.
When we tried to get out of the caravan park Gert realized that he left the borrowed key in his car, where he began our trip. Now they had to find a second person willing to borrow his key!
Eventually everything was sorted out with the cars and the equipment and we even had time to braai a nice big fillet steak.
What a day! More photos here
Eventually we launched and Sybie and Morné joint us on their wave boards. There are a couple of differences to our kayaks. We sit inside, they sit on top. We have a lot of space to pack tents and food and beer, they can bring along an apple and a bottle of water. Their boards are wider than the kayak, so sometimes we crossed obstacles a bit faster. Their boards are on top of the water so they turn much faster than we could. At the end of the day it does not matter for what we did the day.
This was the first time all of us went kayaking after the notorious killer rapid. Too be honest I wasn't in a hurry to go down the first rapid we came across. It looked like nobody wanted to go down the rapid. Eventually all of us made it through.
The next bigger rapid we crossed a tree trunk was placed nearly in the middle of the rapid and Sybie was unfortunate to make contact with it. Ursula was also swimming and bumped her knee again. After fishing everyone out on the riverbank we took a break for a byte. Sybie took quite some time out to recover from his injury while Dalené tried to help.
Dalené was still trying to come to grips with her engagement ring.
Eventually we came to our deserted caravan park and the last rapid of the day. It was so nice Gert and I just had to do it a couple of times, for the experience….ok both of us wanted a white water picture.
When we tried to get out of the caravan park Gert realized that he left the borrowed key in his car, where he began our trip. Now they had to find a second person willing to borrow his key!
Eventually everything was sorted out with the cars and the equipment and we even had time to braai a nice big fillet steak.
What a day! More photos here
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Eventful evening
Usually we invite friends over on Tuesday nights, yesterday was no different. Just as I arrived home Ursula tell me that her brother has broken down in Johannesburg and wants us to come and help him, possibly tow his car home.
At that moment Gert and Dalené also arrives and Gert volunteers to drive with me to Adriaan. Before we leave Gert calls everyone together and tells us that he and Dalené is as of yesterday engaged! Hugs and kisses are exchanged.
Adriaan actually did us a favor not to have to listen to the smallest details of the engagement. The girls are exited and are laughing at least they have something to talk about and Gert and I head off on our rescue mission.
We found Adriaan next to the highway in Jo-berg feeling very sorry for himself. The bolts on the cars left CV joint is miraculously all loose, leaving the drive shaft disconnected from the gearbox.
This brings me to one of my philosophies in life, a mechanic's car is never in working order and as is a engineers PC. I have made a conscious decision not to fiddle with my PC any more. I buy assembled PCs and don’t touch the insides, I used to buy spares and build up my own system but you end up constantly upgrading and tuning the PC.
Well let me put it this way, I saw Adrian's car on jacks not to long ago with CV's being overhauled.
In any case, Adriaan was able to attach the CV to the gearbox again, so we could at least tow the car. We hooked up the kinetic strap and wanted to extend it with another steel cable. After some arguing it was decided not to use the steel cable. I had to move my car forward but couldn’t find the key.
You get that sinking feeling if you see your car is locked and you don’t have the keys in your pocket. In the boot of the Freelander there is a compartment that is opens with the car's keys. A couple of things must go wrong now. The back door can only be opened if the car is unlocked, but if you by accident press the lock button on the remote while you open the compartment, all the doors of the car lock and if you would close the rear door the keys are locked inside the car. Well it happened. The only thing that saved us is that the rear door did not latch completely. We had 15mm play on the top of the glass to look at the keys in the middle of the car's boot floor. Fortunately we found a piece of wire next to the road and used it to hook the keys, …the keys could not be pulled out ans had to be turned it first, turned it, and pulled it out like an expert car thief. We were saved.
Towing Adriaan was quite uneventful we could even pass some of the slower traffic on the highway. We unhooked him as soon as possible to get to the party at our house.
The rescue mission took around two hours and we were back home and celebrating. Kath was cooking and she invited her new love interest to join us. Unfortunately for him we were already a couple of glasses of champagne strong so it was a bit difficult to speak proper English.
Gert an Dalené, congrats with the engagement, good luck, excellent health and a lot of wealth together!
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Christmas party 8 November 2007
Looks like having a Christmas party and inviting friends over for a cookout dinner is becoming a tradition. December is a month filled with social events, so to find a date that suite everybody is difficult; fortunately we were early with our invitations.
We asked the guests to bring salad, starters or pudding and chair to sit outside in the garden since we don’t have a real house yet. Rain started Saturday morning and we hoped that it would clear up by the afternoon, but it rained harder. Looks like we got the 79% of the rain that was for casted.
By the time the guest arrived it was pouring and the party had to move inside, I arranged all the chairs in the house, but I couldn’t see 15 guests sitting in the room. Panic set in!
We moved the TV to the bedroom gave everyone something to drink and all the people started getting to know each other, soon 15 people were talking and laughing together.
For a me as hostess a Christmas party is always nice, because all food is outsourced –and Helgard prepares the meat.
Starter was seafood munchies and cream cheese with biscuits. For the main course Helgard had 4 chickens in the Weber braai with potatoes and salads. Dessert was ice cream cake and Malva pudding.
Before the party, on Saturday afternoon Helgard got cabin fever and had to go shopping for a Wii game console. After dinner the guys got caught up with the excitement of virtual sport. None of them could believe how tired you get from boxing. Eddie lied on the bed and Nico had a coffee in his hand while playing golf.
By the time everybody was leaving Kath started doing the dishes, she didn’t want to bring a salad but was willing to do the dishes, so everything even doing the dishes was outsourced.
It is nice having to have wonderful friends, thank you all for making the evening memorable and thanks for bring the food.
More photos here
We asked the guests to bring salad, starters or pudding and chair to sit outside in the garden since we don’t have a real house yet. Rain started Saturday morning and we hoped that it would clear up by the afternoon, but it rained harder. Looks like we got the 79% of the rain that was for casted.
By the time the guest arrived it was pouring and the party had to move inside, I arranged all the chairs in the house, but I couldn’t see 15 guests sitting in the room. Panic set in!
We moved the TV to the bedroom gave everyone something to drink and all the people started getting to know each other, soon 15 people were talking and laughing together.
For a me as hostess a Christmas party is always nice, because all food is outsourced –and Helgard prepares the meat.
Starter was seafood munchies and cream cheese with biscuits. For the main course Helgard had 4 chickens in the Weber braai with potatoes and salads. Dessert was ice cream cake and Malva pudding.
Before the party, on Saturday afternoon Helgard got cabin fever and had to go shopping for a Wii game console. After dinner the guys got caught up with the excitement of virtual sport. None of them could believe how tired you get from boxing. Eddie lied on the bed and Nico had a coffee in his hand while playing golf.
It is nice having to have wonderful friends, thank you all for making the evening memorable and thanks for bring the food.
More photos here
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Ine-Marie Birthday Weekend
From 23-26 November we went to a game lodge near Ladysmith in Kwa-Zulu Natal.
View Larger Map
Ine-Marie was celebrating her birthday on the 25th of November with family and friends on her brothers game farm.
The long weekend was highlighted by a lot of bumpy and cold game drives, but it was great. Nature always offers something special and this weekend we saw a lot of game.
The giraffe family came very close to the lodge, so there were a lot of photo opportunities for Helgard.
The 4 rhinos roam between the lodge, river and mountain. We were fortunate to see them every time we went on a game drive.
On the game drive we saw a large herd of Kudu bulls.
Some other game that we saw included reedbucks, waterbucks, impalas, ostrich, blesbucks, warthog, steenbucks, duiker, eland, swartwilde beest, redhartebeest, rheebok, buchbuck
Every evening the table was nicely set for dinner and the food was delicious. Late evening at the camp fire with the sounds of the African bush were very special.
Saturday night we had an impala on the spit. The meat took about 3hours before it was done. Game meat doesn’t have a lot fat and the meat has to be marinade other wise it is very dry.
The campfire stories entertained us. Jerry (Helgard’s dad) mistook quick tan lotion for suntan lotion and walked around the weekend with pumpkin yellow hands and feet.
Johan the farm manager (Ina-Marie’s brother) entertained us with dagga stories of the local people.
It was a memorable weekend and we were happy to share Ina-Marie’s birthday with family and friends.
Ek en die bosvark het langs mekaar op die bank gesit vir ‘n foto geleentheid, klein Johan was die vark se lyf……, lekker lag.
More photos here
View Larger Map
Ine-Marie was celebrating her birthday on the 25th of November with family and friends on her brothers game farm.
The giraffe family came very close to the lodge, so there were a lot of photo opportunities for Helgard.
The 4 rhinos roam between the lodge, river and mountain. We were fortunate to see them every time we went on a game drive.
On the game drive we saw a large herd of Kudu bulls.
Some other game that we saw included reedbucks, waterbucks, impalas, ostrich, blesbucks, warthog, steenbucks, duiker, eland, swartwilde beest, redhartebeest, rheebok, buchbuck
Every evening the table was nicely set for dinner and the food was delicious. Late evening at the camp fire with the sounds of the African bush were very special.
Saturday night we had an impala on the spit. The meat took about 3hours before it was done. Game meat doesn’t have a lot fat and the meat has to be marinade other wise it is very dry.
The campfire stories entertained us. Jerry (Helgard’s dad) mistook quick tan lotion for suntan lotion and walked around the weekend with pumpkin yellow hands and feet.
Johan the farm manager (Ina-Marie’s brother) entertained us with dagga stories of the local people.
It was a memorable weekend and we were happy to share Ina-Marie’s birthday with family and friends.
Ek en die bosvark het langs mekaar op die bank gesit vir ‘n foto geleentheid, klein Johan was die vark se lyf……, lekker lag.
More photos here
Zinkwazi Weekend
The celebration of Gert’s birthday at Zinkwasi beach is becoming a yearly institution. This year we stayed at the First House in Zinkwasi beach, this house was built in 1906. The stately house is perched on a hill that overlooks the lagoon and the main beach .
A lot of toys for the boys were taken on holiday. Gert’s Jeep couldn’t get all the toys on the beach, so help from the local boat club's tractor was called in. As seen in the photo it was a lot of fun.
In the end the toys weren’t just for the boys but every body enjoyed them. The guys enjoyed the jet ski’s and the kids enjoyed the kayaks.
It was also Helgard’s first time on a jet ski on the ocean. I cannot speak for him so his fingers are doing the talking………
Let me put it this way, if you can jet ski on a dam, it does not mean you can jet ski on the ocean. The first time Gert and Rudy told me they were exhausted from jet skis on the ocean I thought these guys are just getting old, but believe me the ocean is a different story. Look at these two pictures, If you have done it yourselves you would understand the rush, otherwise I don't think anyone can appreciate it, no matter how hard I try to explain.
One of the days at Zinkwasi was cloudy and windy, so I got every body to say something about the holiday.
More photos here
In the end the toys weren’t just for the boys but every body enjoyed them. The guys enjoyed the jet ski’s and the kids enjoyed the kayaks.
It was also Helgard’s first time on a jet ski on the ocean. I cannot speak for him so his fingers are doing the talking………
Let me put it this way, if you can jet ski on a dam, it does not mean you can jet ski on the ocean. The first time Gert and Rudy told me they were exhausted from jet skis on the ocean I thought these guys are just getting old, but believe me the ocean is a different story. Look at these two pictures, If you have done it yourselves you would understand the rush, otherwise I don't think anyone can appreciate it, no matter how hard I try to explain.
One of the days at Zinkwasi was cloudy and windy, so I got every body to say something about the holiday.
- Rudi couldn’t or didn’t want to say too much, but the word niiiiiiiiiice was coming out of his mouth.
- The house was something special for Charmaine the location of the house is pronominal, but the porch on the second level is freaky.
- Delene was smiling when she said that she had to sit up straight in her bed to sea and appreciate the view.
- Gert didn’t want to say something because he is shy and didn’t feel like talking, but I think he enjoyed the romance that the sea offers.
- Little RJ got a fishing rod so fishing and crab words were coming out of his mouth when I asked him about Zinkwasi.
- Helgard couldn't stop smiling, kayak in the sea followed by a jet ski, made his day.
More photos here
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
Kayak on Vaal river to Groenoewers
Kyaking below the Vaaldam on Saturday 3rd of November
The Vaalriver is one of the borders of Gauteng and the Free State province. The Vaal is mostly wide and flat, unless you are in a rapid, real fun for a "kyaker ". Every season a couple of races are held at the Vaaldam and we started our trip an hour or so after the last guys started. The water level of the Vaal river dependents on the water release of the Vaaldam.
Kayaking is about having a good time, so Gerts' idea of paddling on the Vaaldam after a K1 race sounded like a very good idea. So November the 3rd was kayaking day for Ursula, Helgard, Deléne and Gert. Petro and Abrie joined us with their small rubber duck (inflatable boat). The slues gates were open till 10:00 and we started at 12:00, so the water level was as high as our excitement.
The first 1km was flat and it was easy to carry our kayaks over the first weir. The first major obstacle was the Chute where the whole river is forced into a width of 5 meters. The water makes waves that goes over your head as you paddle through it. After the Chute there were a few small rapids buy mostly open flat water with shallow rocks.
The Visgat rapid made for a memorable day,not because of the enjoyment but because of the pain you would experience the next couple of days.
The Visgat rapid is long and the terrain around it is full of huge boulders that makes portage nearly impossible. Gert was standing on the builders in the middle of the river and showing us the way. Approaching the rapid I saw Helgard's kayak upside down. In the rapid I had to paddle to balance the kayak, everything happened so fast. Towards the end of the rapid the current pushed the kayak to the right, turning me over. It felt like being in a washing machine.
After being washed out the kayaks were recovered and emptied, we also had to gather our thoughts before we could go on.
The rest was smooth sailing. After opening the first beer and the campsite we all started trading stories of our wounds and scares. I thinkGert wins the prize for the best scare of the day.
The Vaalriver is one of the borders of Gauteng and the Free State province. The Vaal is mostly wide and flat, unless you are in a rapid, real fun for a "kyaker ". Every season a couple of races are held at the Vaaldam and we started our trip an hour or so after the last guys started. The water level of the Vaal river dependents on the water release of the Vaaldam.
Kayaking is about having a good time, so Gerts' idea of paddling on the Vaaldam after a K1 race sounded like a very good idea. So November the 3rd was kayaking day for Ursula, Helgard, Deléne and Gert. Petro and Abrie joined us with their small rubber duck (inflatable boat). The slues gates were open till 10:00 and we started at 12:00, so the water level was as high as our excitement.
The first 1km was flat and it was easy to carry our kayaks over the first weir. The first major obstacle was the Chute where the whole river is forced into a width of 5 meters. The water makes waves that goes over your head as you paddle through it. After the Chute there were a few small rapids buy mostly open flat water with shallow rocks.
The Visgat rapid made for a memorable day,not because of the enjoyment but because of the pain you would experience the next couple of days.
The Visgat rapid is long and the terrain around it is full of huge boulders that makes portage nearly impossible. Gert was standing on the builders in the middle of the river and showing us the way. Approaching the rapid I saw Helgard's kayak upside down. In the rapid I had to paddle to balance the kayak, everything happened so fast. Towards the end of the rapid the current pushed the kayak to the right, turning me over. It felt like being in a washing machine.
After being washed out the kayaks were recovered and emptied, we also had to gather our thoughts before we could go on.
The rest was smooth sailing. After opening the first beer and the campsite we all started trading stories of our wounds and scares. I thinkGert wins the prize for the best scare of the day.
Sylvia’s B-day PARTY – 2 November2007
Sylvia had a party at Cofi in Brooklyn, we went along with a couple of friends for dinner on Friday night. Sylvia looked very nice and her hair was done in a funky way.
Cofi is a very up market bar/restaurant and probably one of the better places I visited this year in South Africa. Guys and girls came dressed to impress and I must say it was difficult not to look around a bit.
The music was a bit too loud to talk to everyone at our table but fortunately I ended up next to Ronel a professional photographer. Well it is always interesting to talk to someone that knows there stuff. See for yourself on her website
More photos here
Cofi is a very up market bar/restaurant and probably one of the better places I visited this year in South Africa. Guys and girls came dressed to impress and I must say it was difficult not to look around a bit.
The music was a bit too loud to talk to everyone at our table but fortunately I ended up next to Ronel a professional photographer. Well it is always interesting to talk to someone that knows there stuff. See for yourself on her website
More photos here
Jetski on Roodeplaatdam – 1 November 2007
When your phone is ringing at 7:45 in the morning with Gert's name on the screen you now that something social is going to happen later the day. Lateness and business made that I couldn’t pick up the phone, but by 11 o’clock Rudi had phoned to inform me that it is a Roodeplaat Dam day.
Just before 4 o’clock the cooler bag was packed and Helgard and I were on our way to the dam. To do something outside the daily routine always makes for a memorable day. The afternoon and evening was spent on with “braaivlies” and jet ski’s and a lot of aughts. Dalene had her first spin on a jet ski.
What made the evening special is when I used my senses.
The fire made its own cracking noises; friends were laughing and enjoying each other’s company. The croaking of frogs and the sound of crickets can be heard in the background. The water on the dam was “smooth” and one could see the reflection of the moon on the dam. I could smell the damp of the rain; walking bear foot in the dam with pebbles and stones under my feet, made me realized that I was living life again.
Just before 4 o’clock the cooler bag was packed and Helgard and I were on our way to the dam. To do something outside the daily routine always makes for a memorable day. The afternoon and evening was spent on with “braaivlies” and jet ski’s and a lot of aughts. Dalene had her first spin on a jet ski.
The fire made its own cracking noises; friends were laughing and enjoying each other’s company. The croaking of frogs and the sound of crickets can be heard in the background. The water on the dam was “smooth” and one could see the reflection of the moon on the dam. I could smell the damp of the rain; walking bear foot in the dam with pebbles and stones under my feet, made me realized that I was living life again.
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