Chandler's Overseas

With yet another public holiday on Monday for Pete, we decided to escape the bustling city and developed coastline and head inland to the Karoo for the long weekend. The Karoo is vast semi-desert stretching across the South African plateau inland from the Cape coast. Graaff-Reinet is considered the ‘jewel of the Karoo’, and is a 2.5hr drive north of PE therefore we decided to base ourselves there. Graaff-Reinet is nestled in a bend of the Sundays River surrounded by the imposing peaks and mountains of the Sneeuberg Range. The town has an interesting mix of Cape Dutch architecture, classic flat-roofed Karoo cottages and Victorian terraces. Whilst appearing quite run-down and short of cash, the town did have a nice relaxed feel to it. We chose to camp at Urquhart Park, north of town. Jen figured that she would be just as comfortable (or uncomfortable!) camping at 32 ½ weeks pregnant as staying in a B&B (and turned out to be right!). We went to the recommended Kliphuis restaurant for ...

On Easter Monday we were some of the few Aussies (literally) to attend the one day international cricket match at St George's oval in PE between Australia & South Africa. We sat in what felt like the equivalent of bay 13 at the MCG, so were fully immersed in the packed crowd and associated drama! The atmosphere in the stadium was electric with a brass band leading chants most overs. Towards the end of the match a group of locals congregated in one part of the stand and sung to cheer on the Saffa's-a spectacular sound! Although disappointing that we lost, it was so fun to be able to cheer on the Aussie's in our temporary home town. The infamous brass band that plays at all one day matches at George's Oval, PE. "GO AUSTRALIA"... there was less than 10 Australian flags in the crowd. Kate, Max & Caroline A sleeping Max at the cricket!

Pete, Caroline & Kate at the PE foreshore From last Thursday we have had a bit of a reality check. Pete’s sister (Kate), 21 month old nephew (Max), and friend (Caroline) arrived. They had arrived after holidaying in England so the warmer and slightly humid weather of Port Elizabeth was a welcome change. After a day to relax and acclimatise, we whisked them off to Addo Elephant Game Reserve so that Max and Caroline could experience their first wild African game. Caroline was so excited at spotting her first flightless dung beetle we had to literally hold her down to prevent her from jumping out of the car. Next hilarious episode was her response to elephants... continual screaming and yelling with excitement! Max seemed to favour the kudu’s, yelling out their name and pointing whenever we saw them. We stayed for a couple of nights in a forest cabin which had a great braai area and nice pool enabling Jen to use her flotation device, and Pete to play with Max. We saw 4 of the big five...

This weekend was welcomed by drinks at Barney's, a pub on the foreshore overlooking Algoa Bay, with Kiren & Phillipe. Saturday was a day of relaxation with some shopping, afternoon drinks at the wharf and a swim to cool down. Jen's mouth was salivating as the boys drank ice cold beer and ate delicious looking sushi & oysters at the wharf... not long to go now! We woke up early on Sunday and cycled to watch the Ironman competition which PE was hosting. It is an international event so many professionals were competing. We soon discovered how insanely fit they are. After a swim of 3.8km in the ocean, a ride of 180km (no drafting allowed) and then a marathon of 42.2km, it was a wonder they could still move at the end. We cycled to various stages around the course to get the best vantage points and to cheer the competitors on. Unfortunately no Australians were competing though. The winner finished in a time of 8hrs 15min- incredible! Pete turned into the unofficial ironman M...