Chandler's Overseas

Harrison in the cute hat knitted by Doolie Bathtime in the kitchen sink during an overnight stay in Nieu Bethesda

Pete took Friday off work so our road trip of the Karoo started on Friday morning. We somehow managed to squeeze 5 people into the Audi, including pram and bassinet for Harrison! We stayed at Mountain Zebra National Park on Friday night, a reserve established as a sanctuary for the endangered mountain zebra. The reserve is positioned in a natural amphitheatre of the Bankberg Mountains. Whilst the land is quite arid and dry, the scenery and views as you drove around the reserve were incredibly picturesque. Highlights of the game viewing were the Mountain Zebra, an adult & baby Rhino, numerous ground squirrels and the black wildebeests. Harrison's first game sighting was an ostrich- he preferred to sleep for the majority of the time! On Saturday after a morning game drive, we proceeded west to the tiny isolated village of Nieu Bethesda. It is accessible only on dirt roads and is nestled in a narrow fertile valley of the Sneeuberg Range. It is a cute little village with traditiona...

Harrison has been even more spoilt with attention since the arrival of Eeyore and Doolie last Thursday. They are visiting us for 2 1/2 weeks. We had a quiet weekend in Port Elizabeth enabling Ian and Julie to recover from jet lag and get into relaxation mode for their seaside holiday! Doolie reading a puppet book to Harrison (he is in his new bouncer- thanks K,M,T&A!) Bath time with Dad and being eagerly looked on by Eeyore & Doolie Harrison captivated by Eeyore

Smiles are a plenty now from Harrison & constantly melt our hearts... too cute! 9 1/2 weeks

Both boys engrossed with sport on the TV!

Upper Tyume Falls Woman's Day was celebrated on 9 August 2009 resulting in a long weekend on Monday, so with a description of "magical Hogsback ... eco -destination par excellence" in the Lonely Planet, how could we not visit? Hogsback is a tiny eco -friendly, tree hugging town located in the Amathole Mountains at 1300m. The town is nestled within the mountains with stunning views of the surrounding forested valleys. The town bears it's name from the peaks of 3 hills which boast 'bristles' known in geological circles as a ' hogsback '- refer to photo below. Our lodgings was in a brand new self-catering chalet at the Arminel Hotel which was ideal seeing we are now +1! Unfortunately we were 2 weeks too late to see the town covered in snow, however we still enjoyed the coziness of our chalet and quaintness of the small town. We went for short walks to Madonna & Child Falls and Upper Tyume Falls which were both pretty, although they seemed to le...