News on John

I have not had a lot of communication with John, but that that I have had has been good.

 

He met up with some awsome sounding people on his very first night out.  He met with a family who lives here at Sheffield Beach. Far from being alone, they invited him to stay in their holiday home very close to where he was headed for night 2 - which he did for 2 nights.  He is pulling Richard's boat, but the boat trailer was not really built for rougher roads and gave quite a lot of trouble.  Locals rallied round and have fixed it so that it should not break again.

 

From there, he carried on "alone", but met really friendly people at every stop, and so became quite a socialiser.  He had an awsome sounding dive with Mantas.  I am sure we will get more detail when he comes back.

 

He met up with Richard and his son, Warrick (and his son's girlfriend) on Saturday 10th May.  From there they have driven up to the Rovuma river - the border between Mozambique and Tanzania.  I gathered that the roads in the north are REALLY bad.  There has been a lot of rain, and they are almost impassable.  Anyway, they got there on Friday 16 May and have been waiting for the conditions to be right for King to cross.

 

I gather he met with Kingsley Holgate yesterday, and that King's plans are to stay in the north for about 10-14 days.  Again I am sure that I will get more information once they are in an area where there is OK cellphone signal.

 

He is sounding very happy indeed.

 

I will send another posting when I have more info to share.  Till then, keep well

Dad's Mozambique Trip Log 1

Well Dad is on his way. He left yesterday morning around 8am, after quite a nice send-off party laid on by Nandos. I gather his trip went well - he went via Swaziland for a change. He spend last night just north of Maputo at the same place that they stayed last year.

Last night he met up with a family from Sheffield (here in Ballito). They obviously got chatting and when they heard where Dad was headed offered that he stay with them in a house they have very close to where Dad was to spend tonight. Wonderful.

This morning he collected 5 bales of mosquito nets, put them into the boat he is trailing and they all set off. They got to very close to where he was going when the boat trailer broke under the weight of the added bales of mosquito nets. He was lucky - he found a chap who is going to weld it together again this evening.

He says he is in "God's Heaven". He was sounding very excited and, even though he had had a bit of a hicup, things are obviously good. He is to spend the next 3 days diving in much the same area, so there is time to get trailer fixed and also to enjoy himself.

Will keep you posted as I get more info.

Adi - Vaal Weekend

A couple of weekends ago Magda and I decided to take our neighbours and their kids to the Vaal for the weekend. The bonus was that they had a boat....finally!!! I really wondered if I still has those skiing abilities....well, the pics speak for themselves....

Mike / Ticks

Hi there all Wellsies... (who secretly wish they could be Baker's!)

I hope everyone is happy and well. 

Love to all of you, you're often in my thoughts, though apologies if not in my correspondence.

We are going strong in the northern hemisphere... the 'we' happily expanded by having all the Bakers in one place - Mom/Sis has also come over to see what life is like without 'load-shedding' and 'showering zumas'.  A big, brave move and I'm holding thumbs it works out okay.  Dad struggles with his health but, on a strict diet of cigarettes and wine, I'm sure he'll pull through.  Here's a pic of the three of us in swinging camden:

I've been doing a fair amount of travelling since I arrived (skiing in the alps, scuba in the canaries, rugger/festival in edinburgh, working in warsaw), with a whole lot more planned for the summer (running with the bulls, sailing in croatia and hopefully swimming in blondes in sweden). 

Other bits, I have bought a house, which is quite exciting though nerve-wracking in the current market.  It was too beautiful to pass up... the garden leads onto a park.

I definitely miss home though, somehow vacuum-packed biltong and rain-sodden braais don't compensate.  Happily, I'm back for three weeks from Thursday, to drink sundowners with a real sunset... I can't wait!

Maggie - First Painting!

Below is a pic of my first ever Oil Painting, called "Proteas", done during my time of "in between jobs"...hope it isn't going to be the last one. Thanks to Marge for being my art teacher!

Adi - Paintings

Popsie, mainly for you who said you hadn't seen my paintings, the first two are copies of original artists...

Here's me and the updated third painting...I'm calling this one finished now.

Marj - learning about the Blog!

Got Markus sitting next to me trying with great patience ,to show me how to use this great website, thanks... quite fun! Don't know if I'll get here on my own again, but check out my art on http://marjlee.deviantart.com/ in the meantime, and let me know what you think!

On the left, is my latest!