Tales from South Africa

I got here, to Port Elizabeth, eventually. It was a long 24+ hours of flying and waiting for flights in various airports. But the sun has been shining and it's been great to be back.

It was touch and go though as about 10 minutes before I left my house for the airport I had a phone call from one of the people who check my mother's house. My mother had fallen in the night and was refusing to go to the hospital or the GP. I'm very sorry to say that I phoned my brother and let him handle it all. I needed to be away and she was ok, if a bit shaken. I heard later that she was fine and just a bit sore. Not the best start to my get away from it all trip.

So... South Africa:

On Saturday morning I had to get up at 5 to get to the Secret Sunrise event that Tracy had booked for me to attend. It was a fun hour of meditation, dancing and visualisation with approximately 99 other people. We wore headsets so no one passing could hear what was being said, which must've looked pretty odd for those passing by. And we did indeed get some very strange looks. It was fun though. Tracy (who didn't want to attend as she doesn't like crowds) took her dog, Senge, for a walk and came back to pick me up. Apparently some people passing were asking her if it was a religious thing! No it wasn't!!

Senge

After that though, it was time for me to collapse. I hadn't quite realised how much the traveling had taken out of me, so I spent the day in recovery and felt great when I got up on Sunday morning.

Sunday morning was another early start. This time it was for a walk along the Indian Ocean. It was supposed to be for a couple of hours, but Tracy's lovely friend Mel and her 2 girls, Holly and Claire came along too. Claire (who's 11) declared, after about 45 minutes, that she'd had enough. We sat for a while and then headed back. And then, sadly, Tracy was taken ill for the rest of the day, so I sat by the pool and read my book and ate good food and that was that.

Mel, Claire, Holly (with Jason) and me walking on the beach by the Indian Ocean

Yesterday Tracy was still not 100%, so I had another laid back day floating in the pool, sunning myself, going for a short walk and generally having some downtime, which was great.

Today Tracy is back to normal. It was something she ate she thinks. We have some shopping to do and getting ourselves together before tomorrow... the 'big day' when I turn 65 and go zip wiring on the longest double zip wire in Africa, canoeing and swinging at Addo Adrenalin Rush, which is Tracy's birthday present to me. For her 40th in 2015 we went skydiving, so in some ways this will small potatoes... but I'll let you know!