Mt Kenya

I’m all mif and depressed now... I don’t like living in a different country anymore... its gonna mean I am always saying goodbye to those I love the most.
My sister and her husband have been and gone... we had an awesome holiday of course. With Mandy around, everyone is guaranteed to have fun. But I miss her terribly!

So, what we got up too:
Well, the morning after Mandy and Collin arrived in Nairobi, we headed off for Mt Kenya. We were climbing the Chogoria route, which is apparently the most scenic.

DAY 1: We had lunch and chatted to our guide in chogoria town before making our way to our first campsite which was at about 3000m above sea level. This was the only hiking we did where we actually carried our own bags. We had porters to carry our bags for the rest of the trip.... which we realised afterwards was a bit unnecessary...our bags weren’t that heavy and the hiking was definitely not strenuous. Besides the 5 porters, there were 2 cooks and our guide, plus us 4 = a big group! In retrospect we should have saved ourselves some money by doing the trip with less support. A challenge we would have all been up for. Oh well!
As soon as night fell it became freezing – so we huddled round our fire, me with ALL my clothes on that I’d bought with me. I realised I had misjudged just how cold it gets!DAY 2: The next day we hiked at a leisurely place up to Lake Ellis where the boys both swam, starkers. Crazy things- it was freezing! Then went on to a very pretty waterfall before making our way to a cave where we would spend the night. The porters (who always took the more direct route) had set up our tent and had a good fire going for us on arrival. Although The Cave itself was pretty dismal - definitely the campsite we enjoyed the least.
Our meals were prepared for us by the 2 cooks and were great. We would have pancakes, eggs, sausages(not me obviously) and cereal and fruit for breakfast. Sarmies, nuts and more fruit for lunch, followed by rice or potatoes and veggies and meat for supper. Followed by more fruit. Hot chocolate, tea and coffee would be bought to us regularly and it was much appreciated with the chilly weather. It was great to not have to do any of our own cooking and cleaning... although with all of us being seasoned campers we wouldn’t have minded!

DAY 3: The next day we did another easy paced, non taxing hike to Lake Michaelson which has to be the most amazing spot on the whole mountain. The beautiful glassy lake is surrounded by dramatic cliffs and is fed from water running off the glacier. Another chance the boys couldn’t resist – so again, they swam starkers in the minus 2000 degree icy water!
The scenery that day was just spectacular. And the birdlife, the fauna and the flora all very interesting throughout the trip. Collin and Mandy were great to have around as they really know their birds and plants.
It rained a lot that afternoon so we were forced to huddle in our tent... which was my large family dome tent, a cheapo I bought at Game 8 years ago that has stood me well. It was not waterproof though so things got a little wet. All part of the fun I guess. We had a dry night thank goodness, although very cold....we were at 3900m after all.
DAY 4: The following morning a helicopter came impressively circling and swooping over us and landed 500m away. Several people then got out and did some fly fishing for a couple of hours before flying off again. The whole episode made Collin super envious- he would have done anything to have had his fishing rod with him. But what a spectacular trip those tourists must have had, flying in to remote destinations and fishing in secluded lakes. WOW!
We hung around at the lake the whole morning while our porters and cooks tried unsuccessfully to catch fish. Their attempts were quite comical really.
The hike to the next spot was steep but not long and we did it in the drizzle.
I had to stay at a hut on a lower level (4200m) because of the altitude, so Benedikt, Collin and Mandy hiked with the guide to a higher spot and camped at 4600m that night – in a snow blizzard! The tent was certainly not snow proof either!
DAY 5: In my sisters words: "The Summit was out of this world. We left Wewies at 4000m and the 3 of us slept at the foot of the peak Lenana 4998m. We slept in a snow blizzard, in the funny tent from Game!! Ha ha it was so funny. I had about 20 layers of clothes on and didnt sleep much. The scenery on the way up was just to die for. Photos will tell all. So when we awoke at 4,30am (I was wide eyed and ready to hike all night!) to summit it was pitch black and our tent was 3 inches deep in snow! It was so exciting. As we summited the sun was glowing orange through the clouds. C and I have never been so high and it was rather breathtaking. A wonderful moment I will NEVER forget. You could see for miles. Incredible.
We were down with Wewies for breakfast at 8am. (C and I got quite sick on the way down, massive headcahes and I vomited a little bit! LOSERS!)"
All in all it was a great experience. It is a beautiful mountain and is relatively untouched by humankind. Apparently Kilimanjaro is a bit more touristy. If we had to do it again we would do it on our own, without a guide or porters or anything - which is permitted on Mt Kenya....not like Kili where you have to have a guide. We were not impressed with our guide. At all!
Apparently we went through 7 different biomes on the way up: rain forest, bamboo forest, normal forest, fynbos type vegetation, a rocky cactus layer, bare volcanic rock moonscape type stuff and lastly the scree. Well those are my guesses to the 7 layers anyway.

We had a hectic trip back down the last part of the mountain in the car- it had been raining heavily and the bad dirt road was just a mud bath. The 26kms took us 2 hours to do with all the slipping sliding. Then we got stuck for hours in typical Nairobi traffic – a real eye opener for Collin and Mandy. At one stage, Collin asked Benedikt in a very diplomatic way, ‘So what was it on your pre-trip to Nairobi that made you say yes to the position?’! ha ha ha.... I think Collin and Mandy’s romantic view of a beautiful Out of Africa type Kenya was shattered that day!

Party!

So last weekend was a weekend of parties. Silly season is definitely here. Benedikt had his Christmas party at work... which he seemed to enjoy. Although being one of 3 white faces amongst 120 odd staff members meant the music and dancing weren’t quite up his street!
He came home and we immediately went to Eva’s party. Eva is my new Forest Friend. It was very cool of her to invite us as it really was an AMAZING party. Eva and Andrea’s house is really impressive. Its hoooge and has the most spectacular entrance ever.... Big 8m wide doors that open up onto an exquisitely lit terrace with a pool. And behind that more steps that lead down into the garden which borders a forest. And the house looked like it had 100 rooms. The catering was done by an Italian restaurant and they had the smart waiters coming round with silver trays of canapés and champagne etc! There were about 50 people there, from all walks of life and from SO many different countries. We were given a playing card and told to find our partner. And then you had to sit with him or her. So I sat at a table with my Italian partner, 1 South African, another Italian, 1 Swede and a French pilot. My partner was a very interesting guy who worked for UNEP. He’s spent 7 years on a Yemen island where there was NOTHING. His job was to create a Game Reserve while he was there.... amongst loads of other things. Benedikt sat between a Spanish lady and a Costa Rican lady, and a South African guy... whose wife was at my table. We haven’t met many South Africans while we’ve been here... so it was good to chat to them, they were a very cool couple that have been in different african countries every 3 years for the last 20 odd years. The thing that struck us about the evening was that everyone there was of such high calibre... like MDs of big corporates, or head honchos at the UN, or owners of lucrative companies... made us feel like poor small fry. And we’re not poor! I guess we were one of the youngest couples there though.
The next day we went to the German Business Association’s Christmas lunch. It was at a cool pub kinda place, The Rusty Nail. They gave away 50 prizes! So we bought loads of raffle tickets and sat through 47 prizes being giving out before it was our turn to win something. We won a 2 nights accommodation at a hotel at Bahari, about 1 hour north of Mombasa. YESSSS!! What a bonus. We will probably use it in January as it expires in 3 months time.

Then we headed off to a kiddies’ birthday party... our cycling friend, Eric’s daughter was turning 7. It was hectic! Thanks goodness we didn’t have a kid there!

On Sunday Loopy came for her last layover here. She has resigned from Qatar airlines because they suck. So her last flight was to Nairobi- very cool. We took her to Muthaiga Club in the afternoon to meet friends having a swimming party... then we took her back there in the evening for a meal. So she had to like the club!

Uh, have I mentioned that my sis is coming?!!! ONE MORE SLEEP!!! Yippee yippee yay yay.
So I most definitely wont be updating my blog for the next 2 weeks.

Hope you all get very fat over Christmas and very drunk at New Years. We’ll chat again in 2010!



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Sarah the Ninja

So last Saturday I did a ladies self defence course. It was a full day of learning how to take baddies down. Not with strength or punches or kicks in crucial areas... but rather by using really soft nudges/tugs on arms/legs/hips/heads in certain ways that throw a person off balance. Its called Triangulation and is very effective. It was a REALLY good and interesting course. I practised on Benedikt and I got him on the ground with 3 fingers and NO force whatsoever! I kinda hope I get to use my new skills one day :-)
On Sunday we went to Nairobi’s Christmas Market. It was most impressive. A huge variety of stalls with cool things. We could have gone mad buying ornaments and furniture etc but we restrained ourselves. We made a rule to not buy any clutter while we’re here as we more than likely will have to downsize when we move to the next country. (Benedikt is even more determined that we go to a first world country next! Which means no slaves and a small apartment.... but at least things will work) So we bought a Kenyan Christmas tree and some quaint xmas decorations and candles and other small things. It was a good outing! Saw lots of KCs (Kenyan Cowboys) and mazungu families.

Today after yoga all the girls stuck around and we had sushi making lessons. So now I am a professional in that too. I am learning so many news skills! We made California rolls with carrots, avo, egg, radishes and cucumber. And little maki. And once the rice was finished we made sea weed veggie wraps :-) Yoga is now finished for the year, I’m really going to miss it but have every intention of practising on my own. I will be able to put my feet behind my head by mid January!


We are now officially members of the ooh-la-la Mathaiga Club. Its an old school colonial country club where you have to go through a whole process before you can become a member. You have to be nominated firstly, then complete a detailed application, then interviewed, then introduced and then finally orientated. What a rigmarole. And to be honest I don’t see what the fuss is about... its just a normal golf clubby kinda place, nothing fancy and to me it looks like the decor needs redoing! But the mazungus here seem to love it. Think maybe they love dressing up to go there and bumping into their snooty friends while sipping on pims or a G & T :-) One of our main reasons to join there is because they have built a new gym there and they have decent squash and tennis courts. Our membership came just in time as our local crappy gym closes down this December. I will be glad to not go to that hole again! So now when you all come to visit us we will take you to the Mathaiga club for drinks or a meal and a stroll around the grounds and you shall have to act all posh and put on a la-dee-da English accent.

I’ve been taking to Mahindi to a nearby Forest 3 times a week lately. I have made 2 friends who I meet up with and all our dogs play together while we walk and chat. Mahindi is in her ELEMENT! It combines her 3 most favourite things: going berserk in a forest, playing with other dogs (well, bothering them) and messing about in all the puddles. Ah, life is good!
Von more veek till my sis comes! We're going to climb Mt Kenya as soon as she arrives too. I carrunt wait!!!





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Winner Wena!

So last weekend we did a race in Tigoni which is a little north of Nairobi, in amongst the beautiful the tea farms. We had helped mark the route the day before and I’d ridden the course a couple of times previously too... so I had a slight advantage...and I won the ladies section, yippee! I won a garmin – cool hey. It was a REALLY REALLY awesome route though, through forests and streams and up and down plenty of hills... with the real highlight being the ‘Bob sled’ run which we did a couple of times – a 3km fast windy single track along a contour line –fun fun fun. Benedikt crashed out in the first 3kms unfortunately.

So I wrote my final german exam on Monday which also meant the last german lesson for the year –yipppppeeeeeeee. It wasn’t such a hard exam... they just bloody well asked me things I hadn’t studied. Grrrr!! I cant tell you (whoever you are) how happy I am to not have german for the next 6 weeks.... its such a drag! I start again on the 11th of January for the next level – A2.

On Tuesday I got bitten by a dog while I was out running with Mahindi. There were 2 dogs in the street and as soon as they saw Mahindi they went for her. While I was trying to separate the 3 dogs the dirty little white sandton sheep bit me hard on my arm. And what a palaver that turned out to be! The very rude, uncooperative African owners of the dog wouldn’t let us see the vaccination books to check if they had had their rabies vaccination, nor would they let us see the dogs again to see if they showed signs of rabies (we took our vet with us for a look). So we sat at the local hospital for 4 hours on Tuesday night waiting for my wound to be examined and for a rabies vaccination.... anyway the dogs are being collected by the city council this week and will be put into a pound for 10days.

I cooked my first edible vegetarian lasagne last night! And even had guests over who ate it and are still alive! I’m getting better and better at cooking, I’m experimenting with all sorts of veggie dishes. Cooking is actually quite fun! I leave Benedikt to sort his meat side of things out.

Only 2 weeks till my sister comes here! YIPPEEE YIPPEEE YAY YAY. Gonna be such a fun holiday.


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Swellendam celebrations

So on Thursday the 19th of November Benedikt and I flew down to Swellendam... and believe it or not we managed to get our 2 big bike bags, 3 luggage bags, 4 wheels and ourselves into a golf chico for the 2 hour drive from George to Swellendam... I couldn’t stop laughing at Benedikt who was squashed up like a dwarf against the steering wheel :-)))
We LOVE going to Swellendam. Its just so peaceful and beautiful and my parents always spoil us rotten in their lovely home. So immediately we had a big lunch, followed by a nap and then a ride. And that evening we celebrated my dad’s one year anniversary since his triple by pass. His health and general energy levels are just SOOoooooo much better since the op. So good times for him.
The next morning we went for another ride....fighting the wind. Then the four of us drove the route of the 200km race that we were doing the following day. My parents were the support crew for my girls team and they wanted to prepare themselves!
Then we went to registration, then to Benedikt’s team meeting where we also collected my sister and then to my teams’ meeting. 2 VERY different sessions! Us girls were so organised and thourough compared to his casual group.
So the next day myself and the 11 other girls set off at 6:20am in the 200km team event, the Double Century. We immediately had a technical problem as one girl broke her chain...it was not a good start. We lost our first girl soon afterwards, I think the hills were a bit too much for her. Then we all got into a good rhythm after that and quickly went through the first support zone where mum and dad fed and watered us. Mandy lasted until 105kms which was a really good effort from her.... she is the least cyclisty out of all of us. Then we had our next casualty at about 120kms – Nikki had to pullover to vomit poor girl! The rule of the race is that a minimum of 6 have to finish... so it was fine to lose a couple along the way, we started with a full team. Nolly and Carmen were the next to go, they lasted until 150kms or so. I had a real dip around the the 165km mark I think from downing 2 litres of water at the stop and eating a whole bar at once.... but managed to hang in and actually felt really strong in the end. Jenny almost made it... but just wasn’t having a good day and dropped off. So then we were 6 left for the last 30kms which was fine, we all felt ok-ish. We got a puncture but it didn’t take long to fix. So Linda (from Zim), Sharon, Juantia (my second favourite riding buddy ever!), Karlien, Kobie and myself were the final six in our Survivor race! NOT that we were trying to kick the others out I promise!
We didn’t do as well as we hoped – we finished 4th overall amongst the ladies teams. Last year we finished second. But it was a really really good fun day on our bikes. There is something so special about riding on a girls team like that. I think because we are all used to riding with men all the time. And because we were so thankful, motivating and boosting towards each other. Eg whenever 2 girls peeled off from the front, every other girl would thank them as they moved to the back! Quite funny and corny really compared to some of the grumpy, rude mens teams we heard about.
My mum and dad were the best support team EVER! They ran circles around us catering to our every need at all the designated stops... and they picked up all the stray girls and looked after them so well too. I think they really enjoyed being involved too.
That evening we had a visit from my teammates before heading off to Benedikts’ team braai. Sean and Ron came with us as they were staying with mum and dad that night too... I think we all had a good laugh hearing all the stories and sharing all the scary team fights that went on.

The next day we went for a little 40km ride just to spin our legs. Even Mandy made it! Wow! And miraculously none of our bums were sore! Sean and Ron headed off for the airport and Benedikt, Mandy and I headed for the wine farms. What a session that turned out to be! Van Lovern bought us entire bottles of whatever we wanted to taste.... so taste we did! And as we’d finished all 26 bottles, friends arrived, so we had to start all over again. We then headed to Robertson for some more tasting and then to a farm stall for lunch. I cannot remember the lunch very well ;-)

That evening my family celebrated Christmas. Collin, my sisters husband, (I love saying that) was missing though. And so were Mark and Nic. But we spoke nonsense to Mark, who is in Afghanistan maintaining world peace, on skype for ages. And we had a great family Christmas – lots of food, lots of beautiful singing and lots of presents!
We met up with another school friend of mine, Lauren Collier, at the George airport before our flight to Johannesburg and then Nairobi.
What a fantastic holiday. I miss Sowf Efrika!!!

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SA Trip - Jhb and Pretoria shenanigans

Wow, returning to SA felt like I’d been transported to the future! I couldn’t believe the difference when I arrived. The smart, renovated Jhb airport is SOoooooooooo futuristic compared to Nairobi’s little brown hole. And the roads! Wow, SA’s road quality is good. Even with all the roadworks. And the driving! People are so courteous in SA. It took me a while to remember there are rules there and that I should let people in ;-)
I stayed with Leanne and Lynton my first night. And the gorgeous little 16month old Holly who doesn’t stop talking....She is a really clever and busy little girl. She even learnt to say my name while I was there! Leanne, who is a long time friend from primary school, high school and uni, and I all chatted nonstop all evening catching up on the last 6 months that we’ve been away. It was really cool to see her again, and I look forward to her visit next year with her mini family.... ahem.
I went for a little ride the next morning scouting the route out for the race the next day, before heading off to the 94.7 expo where I met up with my sis. The expo was good, I saw loadsa cycling buddies there, and scored lotsa free stuff! Then we headed off the Nolly and Don’s house for the afternoon and night. Nolene is my FAVOURITE riding partner ever and just the nicest girl ever. She looked after us so well and again, us 3 girlies chatted nonstop, catching up on every little thing. We even discussed our cooking habits! Don was actually lucky he had to work.
Then the 94.7 arrived. I didn’t feel nervous for some reason. And was very proudly sporting my new SA Champs jersey.
The race started ok... I got into the leading break with 8 other girls which happened while going through the joburg CBD after the highway stretch. Then my saddle started tipping back! Every bump I went over it tipped back slightly more. So by the last 20kms I had to stand the entire time. It killed my legs! I tried to knock it back down but it wouldn’t move. And if I stopped I would lose the group so I kept going. Anyway they dropped me in the last 6kms on those tough little climbs, and I finished a miserable 4th. Grrrr. How annoying! But I’m so over it.
Then I went to Vicky’s for her 34th birthday party that Sunday afternoon. The whole purpose of my trip to SA. Of course. She had a really cool group of people there and I was immediately plied with wine so needless to say I had a ball. I giggled with Jason the basin, gossiped with Aunty Jill and Mrs B, had a laugh with Em and Darren and marvelled at the almost -2-year-old Bryceeeee, Vicky’s and Len’s son. He is just so handsome and cute and lovable. My friends have bred well! I stayed the night and the next morning Vicks and I took Bryceeeeeeee to school and then went shopping. South Africa has AMAZING shops. WAY way way better than here, obviously, but also better than Germany. Benedikt doesn’t agree with that, but then I guess its what you’re used to.
Then I headed off the Pretoria to my sis and her husband, Collin. Its SO weird to call him that! We went to a great spinning class before indulging in more wine and lots of chatting. Then on Tuesday it was Operation Clothes Shopping. I needed to stock up as I wouldn’t be able to shop until our next overseas holiday which is miles away....poor me :-(
It was a VERY successful day I must say. Like I said, shopping in SA is the BOMB.
The 3 of us went for a divine Indian meal that evening after doing a yoga class ala Mandy. She is busy doing her teachers training course so practised on us for a bit. She is going to be Wynberg’s BEST YOGA TEACHER EVER thats for sure :-)
We all also went on two VERY cool trail runs while there. Mandy and Colon have some great nature reserves on their doorstep.
Next up was the airport and picking Benny Boo Boo up. We spent the day doing some errands, visiting some friends and some more shopping. My poor credit card...Benedikt doesn't deal in rands anymore :-(
Then it was dinner with our long lost Bedfordview cycling buddies and sleep over at Seanie Warnies house.

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Sowf Efrika here I come....

So I'm off to SA for 12 days... to do the 94.7 cycle race (95kms) in johannesburg and the Double Century (200kms) race in Swellendam a week later. But primarily to see my friends and family. YIPEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! I've missed everyone loads so I'm really quite excited for this trip.
And I know you are all gonna miss my blogging loads but you'll have to live without me for a bit.
Later Losers

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