Chandler's Overseas

Pete on his latest toy motivated by le Tour de France! A 5am rise is too early for us for cycling, so Pete relented and finally resorted to a wind trainer. Go Cadel!

Our friend Paul Burger had too tempting an offer on Thursday night. His parents had access to their timeshare house in a resort at Hazyview (bordering Kruger NP) and there was an empty bedroom- were we keen? Paul even offered to drive seeing he was competing in a 155km bike race on Saturday in the region! We ventured east along the N4 after a typical Friday afternoon of work and made some last minute plans for the weekends activities. An early 6's collection beckoned on Saturday morning for a private game drive through Kruger. Seeing we have done a fair bit of game viewing to date, we weren't too concerned in relation to the game we saw. Well ... within 5 minutes of entering the park we stumbled across a cheetah posing gracefully on top of a rock mounded sign. With the sun rising behind the cheetah it was an amazing sight. Then with in minutes came across a pride of 4 lionesses and 2 lions who were looking for a kill. We witnessed a lioness attempting to hunt and mawl a lon...

After spending the last few weekends in Johannesburg, our country roots got the better of us so we escaped to Clarens in the Free State for the weekend. As always seems to happen in SA, expect the unexpected and be flexible. We arrived in Clarens in time for dinner so headed to Clementines, the reputed best place to eat. We ended up sharing dinner with an elderly local South African couple. The restaurant was 'fully booked'.... not sure why there was at least 10 free tables when we arrived and for the remainder of evening! Anyway, it was a yummy meal and interesting to chat to the locals and hear their perspective on life. They were so intrigued to hear about our lives to date & why we were in South Africa. Of course they had family & friends in Australia and were keen to establish if we knew them! Pete organised some last minute accommodation was booked at the Clarens Golf and Trout Estate. Whilst Clarens is not a booming country town, it certainly is a popular we...

This weekend we indulged in some African culture with Jen's workmates by seeing the production of African Footprint . African Footprint tells the vibrant and diverse history of South Africa through music & dance. The African drum, saxophone and pennywhistle meld Afro- and Euro-centric music and dance. All of the dancers consistently awed us by their fitness and were unbelievably toned and fit, and with the males in the opening scene sporting costumes of only loin cloth and a g-string over their genitalia... the audience (well at least the females) were captivated! In 1999, a producer recruited a group of young people from the dusty streets of Soweto. From hundreds of hopefuls, 30 young aspiring performers were chosen. The next year was taken up with vocal classes and intensive dance instruction which, for most, was their first opportunity to enter the world of professional theater. Seemingly going nowhere, the long hours of rehearsal were rewarded when, on December 31st 1999,...

If the whole of South Africa were a single village, with only 100 inhabitants, the infrastructure in the village would be as follows: 76 homes have electricity; 70 have a television; 68 have tap water in the house or in the yard; 30 have a motor vehicle; 17 have a land-line telephone in working order; 80 own, rent or use a cellphone; 41 have a savings account; 36 have an ATM card; Their earning capacity would be: 42 are employed (full-time or part-time); 26 are unemployed and looking for employment opportunities; 49 are poor (the total household income a month is below R2,499); 4 earn incomes of R300,000 a year or higher; 14 earn incomes of R100,000 a year or higher; 25 year incomes of R50,000 a year or higher; 32 have a matric ; and 8 have a university or technikon degree. They spend their money as follows: R21 out of every R100 on food; R17 out of every R100 on housing and municipal services; R4 out of every R100 on clothing and footware ; and R9 out of every R100 on income tax. (n...

On numerous trips to Pilansberg Game reserve we have passed the Magaliesberg Range and wondered what the view would be like from the top. The Magaliesberg Range forms a division between the the high-veld in the south and the lower lying flat semi-arid bush-veld in the north. One section of the mountain range overlooks Hartebeesport Dam, a popular weekender for the residents of Gauteng . Chris & Nix did some investigating and found a hiking trail which we embarked on one Saturday and which took us to the top of the Range.

Hiking seems to be the latest craze in South Africa so hiking it was over the long weekend. I suppose it seems logical considering the close proximity that we are to Mt Kilimanjaro... After spending Saturday night with some local South African's (we were the only expats for once!) at Paul's birthday braai & bonfire, we headed to Suikerbosrand on Sunday with our weekend companions of Soph , Ga and Tim. It was a typical highveld winters day. Warm & sunny during the day (24c), however freezing after dark. We set up camp and immediately settled into some ciders and played French cricket enjoying the rays of the warm sun. Definitely a perk of living in Johannesburg! We made a delicious potkjie for dinner and had some fun times around the camp fire. The temperature continued to plummet eventually forcing us to bed. When we woke in the morning the car was recording -2c! Ouch.... sooo cold but luckily our sleeping bags are good. We hiked within the nature reserve amongs...