Chandler's Overseas

We have some exciting news.... Jen is 14 weeks pregnant! See below an ultrasound of the baby at 12 weeks. A benefit of the healthcare system here is that an ultrasound is performed monthly. You can therefore continually monitor and see your baby develop! 'hi-5' from Baby Chandler! We are both extremely excited and can't wait for June to arrive!

Pete is loving the digital SLR, especially due to the enhanced features that enable him to take photo's like the below... The moon from Wendywood , Johannesburg The highveld is a high plateau region of South Africa which experiences summer rainfall with substantial afternoon thunderstorms in November, December and January. The thunder and lightning never fails to impress, especially as the roar of the thunder cracks directly above you! During November to January the average monthly rainfall is 115mm, whilst this reduces to 5mm from June to August. Pete took the below photo's from our house during a typical thunderstorm using a long exposure setting on the camera. The impressive highveld lightning

Jen's domestic side has appeared this December through some Christmas baking. Much to Pete's delight she made both mince pies & a Christmas cake. Pastry making is now perfected! In lieu of spending Christmas in a Muslim country (Jordan) we are having an early Christmas dinner tonight with some expat friends, complete with a full roast and egg custard. Yum! The final product, batch 1 of many!

In an effort to commence work on our summer tans and to reminisce our similar trip 1 year ago( http://chandlersoverseas.blogspot.com/2007/10/bollito-beach-weekend.html ), it was decided by us expats ( Soph , Dabbo , Chris, Nix, Rob and Keithy ) that a weekend by the coast was a must. Southbroom , 1hr south of Durban, was the chosen location and Chris took care of organising the accommodation in 2 houses with views of the ocean. We all flew down on the Friday night (bar Chris, unfortunately he and Nix missed their flights so ended up driving down late on Friday night!) excited that the weekend had begun. Beach time called on Saturday morning so we settled ourselves comfortably on the beach for a couple of hours. Soph & Jen enjoyed the sun whilst the boys run amok (as only they do when at the beach)! Unfortunately the South Coast was hit by terrible storms a couple of months earlier resulting in murky beach water. Still, it was nice to breath in the fresh ocean air. Southbroom is ...

Within 3 days of saying goodbye to Ian and Julie, we had new visitors... Andy & Mel! They managed to squeeze in 4 days in RSA on the way home from their European holiday so we ensured they had the maximum African experience as time would permit. Friday was dinner at the African themed Moyo's, including local African entertainment, tribal face painting (unfortunately mandatory for all foreigners!), and African cuisine... Then we whisked them away for a weekend of game and camping at Pilansberg. Unfortunately they brought the winter weather with them from Europe (ha) so experienced intermittant showers for most of Saturday, however we were still lucky to see 2 female lions roaming through the savannah. Sunday was more game viewing prior to the return drive to JHB via Pretoria and a quiet night that we all needed at home. It was great seeing Andy & Mel again and we loved showing them a tiny morcel of Africa! Mmmm.... Don Pedro's at the Bull Run

About a month ago we moved to Esprit Estate, Wendywood . It was a long awaited move as the house was still being constructed a couple of months ago when we committed to the lease. But needless to say, it has been worth it. Although we have had to give up the pool and bar of our old house in Pine Slopes we have both benefited hugely from the dramatically decreased daily commuting time. Pete down from 35-45 mins (12km) to 3.5-4.5mins (2.5km) one way and Jen saving up to 1hr sitting in traffic each day. We tried our hardest to live in the 'burbs'.... but have only proved that it is not for us! With three bedrooms and three and a half bathrooms, and a lap pool, tennis court, cafe and running track (shared with rest of complex) we are looking forward to hosting many visitors! There are around 120 townhouses- almost all identical. Very Truman show like! Our backyard The ridiculously large master bedroom!

Well… we’ve had what feels like a very busy month, spent with the following: We moved houses a fortnight ago and have had builders coming & going all week trying to finalise small issues; Pete’s parents arrived so we have resumed being tour guides; The townhouse next door was broken into during the night a week ago (4th night we had spent in the new complex). Thankfully the owners were not too badly injured, however the incident felt a bit too close to home. Unfortunately it was Pete’s parents first night in South Africa so has not given the country a good first impression for them! (It should be noted that the owners had not yet installed an alarm system which would have potentially mitigated the incident – we do have one!); Spent a weekend camping at Pilansberg with the Chandlers seeing excellent game; & Last weekend we flew to Port Elizabeth and spent a few days driving the garden route, and then spent a relaxing night in Franschhoek. Ian and Julie leave on Monday after spen...

We flew to Port Elizabeth (‘PE’) on Friday evening and experienced exceptional hospitality from Kiren & Phillipe, some of Pete’s friends from work. Kiren cooked us a delicious meal, which was a perfect starter to our short break- Thanks Kiren ! On Saturday morning the boys headed off to Pete’s work site (Port of Ngqura ) to see the progress and get a better understanding of the project. We then commenced the road trip west across the garden route, a picturesque coastal line from Plettenberg Bay to Mossel Bay. Walskipper had been recommended to us for lunch and it did not disappoint. It was literally a rustic shack on the beach with the beach sand as the floor. We had a delicious seafood lunch at the restaurant which was less than 10m from the ocean. The coast along the garden route reminded me a lot of the Victorian coastline. It was very rugged and windy at times with tall cliffs which would then contrast with km’s of sandy beaches where sheltered lagoons and estuaries meet t...

Our first go at video!

After much deliberation we decided to visit Namibia for a short break. We felt we had covered enough game, and it was time to see some varied countryside & ‘normality’ that we had heard Namibia boasted. Namibia was colonised by Germany at the end of the nineteenth century. Evidence of this colonisation is witnessed through the architecture and language still spoken in most corners of the country. Windhoek, the capital of Namibia, felt like a regional city from Australia and emitted a good vibe. We soon headed south for one hour on a luxurious tar road, before exiting to what became the ‘normal’ surface for a road, gravel. We were not to see another tar road for 3 days! The landscape was constantly changing, with each pass we crossed. At one pass, Spreetshoogte Pass, we actually felt as though we could have been on the moon. The surrounding valley pan was incredibly dry, arid and barren with a few imposing rocky mountains adding contrast. There was no evidence of human life or inte...

Well… where to begin. It has been one year since our arrival to new jobs, a new country, new city & new continent. Although a pathetic cliché, where has the time gone! The year has been filled with contrasts, excitement, frustration, learning and contentment. When we first landed at the airport in early October 2007, we weren’t sure what the next 2 years would hold for us. We weren’t even sure whether we would make it to our new home safely from the airport (mostly due to the constant barrage of comments and concerns we received from friends and family in Australia prior to our departure). As is the way with all travel, work or play, go with the flow and bring yourself to give people a chance, ignore your constant scepticism and a good result is usually achieved. This has been a common theme throughout our Stay so far and has got us to see and experience more of South Africa than most South African’s! It has to be mentioned that it is not only our attitude but Pete’s expat wage tha...

As per a previous blog entry (December 2007), Pete is part of the team getting the Port of Ngqura into its first phase of operation. On Wednesday the fist ship arrived in the Port; a big occasion considering construction has been going for nearly 6 years. This ship is large however it seems to look like a toy at the dock that will eventually be capable of fitting 2 Panamax container ships!!

Last Sunday we had our first Aussie visitor in a while. Nelson arrived for a three night stay to unwind in preparation for Phil's & his long awaited holiday to Europe. Nelson was determined to just relax, read and cook for the days he was here which included making as many spring rolls as would fit into our freezer! In preparation we bought wrappers, mince, cabbage and carrot. Feeling slightly guilty we went to work in the morning and let Nelson loose in the kitchen. The result was 100 (exactly, according to Nelson) beautiful spring rolls! Whilst he didn't mind making 100 spring rolls, he did complain about the size of our grater... Nelson grated 1kg of carrots using this grater! We also enjoyed Nelsons Chicken & pork Adobo (a Philippino specialty dish). Thankyou Nelson... come back anytime!

We recently bought a digital SLR camera, so the invitation from Paul & Heather to join them and Hennie & Dalian for a weekend of camping at Pilansberg Game Reserve was perfect in timing. After a hectic week at work for both of us (many TIFA moments...!) we were so thankful to be leaving town for a weekend away. Without drawing attention to reckless & irresponsible driving, the drive there had us both amused. As were travelling along a very long & straight road in the desert, we ended up behind a police van. Pete was presented with a dilemma. He was already driving at 145km/hr (speed limit of 100km/h however everyone speeds on this road), should he pass or remain behind the police van (which was also driving at 145km/hr). The police van subsequently proceeded to pull into the emergency lane to indicate that Pete should pass. Truth or temptation? Thankfully the police van soon turned off so Pete didn't have to make a decision! Crazy that police are travelling that f...