Travel – wee little lovelys

Australia 2013 – Perth!

January 25, 2014

At times it felt like our global story would never end regardless of chapters ending. Due to travel agent error our previously arranged flights home required re-booking. No longer stuck to a European route home, we opted for a slightly longer path; one via Australia.

Visiting my Uncle Mike and Aunt Christine in Oz has always been on my personal to-do list. I recall discussing a potential visit with my Mom (Mike’s Sister) as far back as high school -as a post grad course of action. Alas, fate finally set the course.

Our flight from Johannesburg went great and the kids once again proved their traveler-prowess. We departed during an electrical storm so the first 20 minutes of our flight was very bumpy which Deanna did not like at all. We arrived in the early evening into Perth after an eleven hour flight and some extra customs grind. We were greeted with warm temperatures similar to Jo’burg and hugs from Mike & Christine.

We spent our time in Perth on the beach, adventuring around parks, a Christmas festival downtown, the Aquarium etc. We went to a lot of places and got a good feel of the city thanks to Mike driving us around our whole stay. The kids really earned their gills as Mike & Christine are avid divers and their personal pool and passion certainly rubbed off. Incidentally, Rhys is also more comfortable around dogs now too. Seems their dog Mitchy left a great impression as Rhys still mentions/misses him to this day.

Even after a ten day visit, Mike and Christine remained gracious hosts. Normally we’d cut any family related visit to a week at maximum for everyone’s sanity, but we were at a loss for flight times due to Aussie schools being let out for the busy Christmas holidays. Rest assured we escaped with necks narrowly un-wrung and hugs still shared upon departure… all the while unsure when we’d be down-under again.

Visiting Reabold Hill and its view of downtown Perth:First playground visit of many, just a few steps from our door:

Visit to Kings Park:

Perry Lakes played host to a skateboard demo/ reunion with Jimmy’s cousin Michael-David and his family:

Mandatory ‘Roo & Koala photo-op at Caversham Wildlife Park:

Claire has no fear and loves snakes!

Our best family photo ever!… ? Complete with wombat:

Day trip to Fremantle aka Freo:

Playing in the surf was a favorite activity:

“Aqua” aquarium in Hillarys:

Quick visit to downtown Perth’s chaotic Christmas festival:

Saying goodbye is never easy…

Trip to Mauritius – Part 4 of 4 (departure)

October 20, 2013

Parting is such sweet sorrow… or something like that. Our last day on Mauritius came with mixed emotions for sure. On one hand, we felt somewhat done (cooked well done) due to sun exposure, but on the other hand our freshly discovered groove was great and we felt at peace. It’s quite a feat to forget the world’s hectic speed, if only for a little bit.

Aside from getting slightly lost while en-route to the airport; a missed roundabout turn (so many roundabouts on this island), our exit was less chaotic than our entry.

We feel very blessed to have been given this unique opportunity to travel somewhere so nice and facilitating. If you’re ever given the opportunity to travel to Mauritius we surely give it our stamp of approval.

– Jimmy

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This little buddy greeted us on a few mornings. Turns out it’s rare & endangered. A ‘Mauritius Fody’:

Claire really grew her gills this trip, she was a water baby spending so much time in the water:

….and the Oscar for most dramatic performance goes to:

Traffic was especially dense going through Port Louis enroute to the airport:

Having no time for any real skateboarding, I did a G-Turn at the airport just to be able to say I rolled on Mauritius:

Trip to Mauritius – Part 3 of 4 (day 2)

October 18, 2013

Our second full day on Mauritius was a bit more planned and scheduled, or so we thought. We booked a half-day tour of our area of the island knowing full well the kids’ stamina wouldn’t last a full day mission. After a quick breakfast we were off in a slender tour van with our new tour guide friend, Coco.

While Coco was nice enough, his pre-rehearsed dialogue didn’t prove flexible to spontaneous banter (and I’m a chatter). Veering off course to a tourist shop rather than to a legitimate “sight” made us cringe and I knew then our adventure would need to be altered. After awkward viewing of a model boat store with factory onsite (yes, still kinda’ neat) I politely mentioned our desire to change course. Cultural enlightenment would have to wait.

It seems my plea wasn’t completely necessary to voice as the kids got groggy/pale as we drove higher into the mountains. The winding roads, altitude and increasing humidity was getting to all of us. Coco couldn’t deny our wavering stoke so he agreed to drop us of at the Pamplemouse Gardens (which was set to be our tour-climax). We opted to head back to the resort after wandering the gardens, much to our relief. Our afternoon and evening slid nicely from hasty forced tourism to a relaxed pace on our own terms and speed.

– Jimmy

British colonialists said that if Mauritians ever achieved independence this mighty boulder will fall. As you can see it remains atop the mountain in spite of this claim:

Root structures like this provided a nesting locale for the Dodo bird. Extinct partially due to this easy accessibility for their prey:

Trip to Mauritius – Part 2 of 4 (day 1)

October 17, 2013

Waking up with a major travel day completed is a great thing. Waking up to an all-inclusive sunny resort on someone else’s dime with nothing but time to spare? Now that’s marvellous! The kids were amped to explore and play and so were we.

After a breakfast buffet feast we decided to attack the beach. Thankfully Deanna’s soya allergy was dutifully noted by the chef/kitchen earlier so there was no concern there. We were basking in the sun with full bellies and big smiles in no time. I sneaked away to explore some free cabana drinks and catch up on skateboard magazine reading while Dee kept a safe eye on the kids from the comfort of her lounge chair. Some people say it takes time to find your groove whilst resort living; seems we found ours really quickly!

After some proper static sand stationing we opted to partake in a glass bottomed boat tour of the shoreline. Unfortunately the reef in our area wasn’t touted as the best and it wasn’t. This said, it was neat for the kids to observe the undersea on their terms… so comfortable in fact that both kids fell asleep mid-trip and we set them up to slumber on some loungers post ride. As the sun set we had nothing more to do except reflect upon our great first day, enjoying our pace slightly above that of a snail 😉

– Jimmy

Rhys’ definition of “seize the day”:

Trip to Mauritius – Part 1 of 4 (Arrival)

October 16, 2013

Mauritius is an island in the Indian Ocean that’s 2000km from the southeast coast of Africa. It’s mainly French-speaking, home of the extinct Dodo bird, malaria free and it’s where we recently visited.

When we were first offered a family relocation to South Africa we had a lot to consider. At that time one of the less burdening variables was the potential to travel to Mauritius. Seeing as it’s close (4 hour flight) it was a good fit for recharging our immigration status as it’s a non-bordering country (required).

We flew out of Johannesburg on an early flight. We almost missed it due to passport control as my validating stamps differed from Jimmy and the kids’ (due to my constant travel) and we had to literally run to the boarding gate. Envision a movie scene where someone spastically runs to their plane in a panic; that was us!

After a mostly uneventful flight (the best kind), we hopped in our rental car and Jimmy drove us to Le Meridien Ile Maurice located on the island’s west coast. After an hours drive we checked in at the resort, found our room, indulged in a buffet dinner and generally got acquainted with our new home for the next few days. While we were all exhausted, excitement remained as the next day would be our first full day in tropical paradise!

Southeast Gauteng Trip – Part 4 of 4 (Sterkfontein Caves)

October 3, 2013

In 1992, my family & I spent Christmas in Texas and New Mexico. During that trip we visited the Carlsbad caverns in New Mexico. The caves were gigantic and amazing to wander around in! Ever since that family trip I’ve loved exploring caves. Perhaps this early exposure led me to be a geologist in some sort of way…

The last destination on our long weekend trip was to the highly anticipated Sterkfontein Caves. They’re world-acclaimed as many fossils have been discovered in them. First discovered in 1896 by an Italian miner, they endured 40 years of mining activity before scientists started more serious archeological excavations in 1936.

We left Maropeng in the morning and made our way through vast farmlands to Sterkfontein. The visitor centre was very nice yet sadly the first thing you see is their gift store. This is not such a welcome sight when you have kids. Claire had a hard time with us saying no to a new stuffy so we bartered a purchase in trade for no-fuss during our hour long underground tour. Yes, sometimes you have to erm, ‘cave’ if you want to get things done as a parent.

I figured we would walk into the side of a mountain to get started but no, we entered by way of the earth down a very long & steep staircase, ducking at times to proceed. In fact, the entrance isn’t visible at a distance as it blends into the grassland so well. It was intriguing and the kids were amazing on the tour. I thought for sure they would be scared as it was dark and we had to crawl through few a few sections, but no. It was a hot day and the caves were a cool 18C which was soothing for us heat sensitive Canadians. After our unique tour through the dolomitic limestone depths we climbed out of the earth, squinting much of the walk back to the visitor centre.

After buying the promised stuffed animals (a giraffe and a hippo) we made our way back to our cooked car. Onwards back to Johannesburg.

We had a great little trip that provided us with plenty of memories and photos. Perhaps one of the kids will find future inspiration as I did with my geo work.

Southeast Gauteng Trip – Part 3 of 4 (Maropeng – Cradle of Humankind)

October 1, 2013

With a drive time of one hour, our next destination of Maropeng was a breeze. The Cradle of Humankind was located right beside the boutique hotel we booked which was convenient. Upon arrival we noticed the turmoil of a large concert area being set up. Turns out it was a free concert the following day in honour of Heritage Day in South Africa. Sidestepping the descending swarms of people, we quickly made plans to get our visit to the Maropeng exhibition completed on this arrival day rather than fighting any chaotic crowd the next day.

Maropeng was very pretty and the surrounding grassy fields reminded us of the Canadian prairies during summertime. As I enjoyed the breeze and the kids slept with car doors open, Jimmy the Sherpa graciously unloaded our parked car. As it turns out, the hotel was pretty fancy and not really set up for kids as they had touted. They did provide an extra mattress that fit on the floor though and the kids enjoyed jumping from our generous bed to it.

The Maropeng exhibition wasn’t quite as scientific as we thought and rather it was set as part theme park/ part exhibition. We started our visit with a boat ride through air, water, fire, and earth (very fun for the kids!) then we walked through the exhibition centre which introduces major themes, such as evolution, the formation of fossils, extinction, DNA, and the birth of the Earth and the Cradle of Humankind.

We walked outside the centre in the warm sun and found a playground which was taken over by African teenagers. They performed a bunch of dances which were fun to watch. Rhys liked the dancing but thought they were too loud 😉 After tiring ourselves out we headed back to the hotel for a drink on the patio while the kids put their feet in the freezing cold pool. The view was fantastic!

After a nice bath for the kids and further fun jumping off the bed, it was time for slumber. All in all it was a nice visit to Maropeng. The next morning we planned to visit the Sterkfontein Caves then onwards to home….

Rhys is a HUGE fan of dinosaurs!:

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Southeast Gauteng Trip – Part 2 of 4 (Harties Cableway)

September 29, 2013

Offering panoramic views from the top of the Magaliesberg Mountains, Harties Cableway was our next destination. Thankfully, the somewhat overcast weather burned-off lending us hope and excitement for the views to come.

After a nail-biting ascent (Deanna) we reached the top of the mountain. We walked around finding a pizza joint -always a favourite (Jimmy) and a well placed playground got some mileage (Claire & Rhys). It’s safe to say that the playground may own the best view of any playground anywhere!

Having spent an hour at the peak running amuck, getting sun baked and snapping photos we felt spent. We then made our descent to start our drive to the more educational Southeast region of Gauteng Province.

Jimmy channeling his inner Fabio:

Tired monkeys enroute to our next destination: