Well the 1st time this year anyway! I will expand in a minute.
Our week down at Margate was great. The sun made an appearance most days and
if not all day then at least in the morning allowing a few hours to play in
the surf and the sand. Things did get a bit noisy and busy with the arrival
of several thousand Harley Davidson motorbikes at the end of the week,
Africa Bike Week 2009 apparently, but that was mostly in the centre of town
and we were out of range to hear all the excitement. Well that is apart from
the throb of some of the said thousands of Harleys that whizzed past on the
road out of town every now and then. You might be wondering what all these
hairy bikers would do for 3 nights at the coast. Err, how about drink and
look at bikes, life doesn't get more exciting than that!
Anyway, after our great week in Margate it was back up to Amanzimtoti for
the night before an early start Sunday morning to collect Mufasa, pack, and
head off. Although I am not normally seen out and about at 05h00, especially
on a Sunday, the anticipation of being reunited with Mufasa was enough to
get me out of bed and raring to go. Roy took me to the airport, he was
working, and I was pleased to see that Mufasa was safe and sound and not on
a slow boat to China. He started without blinking and off I went back to
collect Sue, load up all our bits and bobs.
Next up, the long drive back to Joburg. We anticipated about 7 hours, and we
were spot on. We had planned on taking a few nights to get back but with the
arrival of a cold front and the prospect of wet and misty mountains for a
few days we decided that the rest of the Drakensberg Mountains could wait
for another time. The road was pretty busy and boring, and the early start
took its toll. But with a couple of driver changes, yep Sue got behind the
wheel, we arrived safe and sound back at base, Sue's Dad's house
Here we have been for the past week, plotting, and a planning. Have we come
to a firm decision on where from here? The original plan was to return to
base to sort out a few things on Mufasa and get him serviced, big expensive
80000km one, before setting off again for Namibia, Botswana, and Zambia.
However, a few weeks ago I had an idea, yep I did, honest. I have to be out
of SA by 31st of May, visa expires. The plan had been to move my return air
ticket from 31st May to the end of November giving us time for our trip
north and then a couple of months back in SA before hitting the UK end of
year in the winter. Now it occurred to me that a new choice could be go back
to the UK for the summer and then return back to Africa towards the end of
the year for summer here. Best of both worlds, and hopefully a cheaper
option than 3 or 4 months travelling with the lack of savings income we
currently have due to the wonderful Bank of England! We could get our UK
driving licenses changed for the new photo card versions, and also try and
arrange a Spousal Visa for me giving me longer in SA without having to worry
about getting an extension here every time. At the moment we are leaning
towards summer in the UK, but there are a few things we need to enquire
about before we finally decide.
So, for the moment it is limbo time. Try and get my jobs done on Mufasa. We
are waiting for a replacement rear shock as one of them is leaking, free
under warranty. The fridge is also being fixed, hopefully, as it gives you a
shock when plugged into mains electricity. Again under warranty. I have
submitted both of our tax returns online, so we should get a nice lump of
dosh back from the boys at the Revenue soon. With a bit of luck I will get
some photos up of our last 2 months around SA.
So there you go, when we know, you will know. As Fagan sang in Oliver, I am
reviewing the situation!
