Ladakh Blue

The trees and grasses of Africa

2010-04-20T12:42:00.000-07:00

It's no secret that I'm a complete gardening fanatic, so the pictures below should come as no surprise. I adored being there in the late summer where the grasses where at their peak and the way they caught the light was incredible, especially at sunset. Unfortunately I couldn't capture it on camera.

Kruger National Park

Drakensberg

Kruger National Park - Sweni Wilderness Trail

2010-04-18T10:38:00.000-07:00

We spent six nights in the Kruger National Park. Three of those were at the Sweni Wilderness Camp. This was an amazing experience because there are just eight people and the two rangers. In the morning we were woken up before dawn to start our walk as soon as the sun came up. The morning walk lasted about 4 hours and the sunset afternoon walk around 2 hours. I loved the walks. You have no vehicle noise. You get to see the plants close up and sometimes the animals are more relaxed.

Our home at Sweni Camp for 3 nights. There is a balcony at the back.

Our home at night. There was no electricity so we had the charm and romance of paraffin lanterns.

The other members of the group. The two rangers always walked in the front.

Kruger National Park - Elephants

2010-04-17T10:20:00.000-07:00

One afternoon in the Kruger we had the best time watching three different herds of elephants coming to drink.

The herd walking in front of us.

Kruger National Park

2010-04-15T11:14:00.000-07:00

I adored my time here. Nothing could have prepared me for the size of the park.

Our first 'camp' was Olifants. We had a rondavel which had the kitchen outside in the balcony area that overlooked the river. Brilliant layout because you get to be outside whilst you cook and get the views.

Our view of Olifants River from our rondavel.

Our kitchen and our wee friend in the kitchen.

One morning I booked to go on the morning mountain bike adventure. Loved it, for the same reason as the Sweni Wilderness Trail - that you have no noise. We were very lucky to see a couple of rhinos on the other side of the river from where we were watching the hippos.

Our ranger and the vehicle that got us to the starting point.

Animals that we saw during out time at Kruger.

Swaziland

2010-04-06T03:49:00.000-07:00

Swaziland is a perfectly formed little kingdom. We spent a wonderful afternoon walking in the Malolotga National Park and Nav outdid himself by booking us into Phophonyane Lodge. See link below for photos:
CLICK HERE for Phophonyane Lodge

CLICK HERE for Nav's Facbook site photos

On the way out of Swaziland we stopped by Coral Stephens handweaving studio. I treated myself to a couple of blankets as a reminder of our time in Swaziland. Here is her website:
CLICK HERE for Coral Stephens Handweaving

Malolotja National Park

Cool table and chairs at the Malolotja National Park

Lesotho

2010-03-30T08:11:00.000-07:00

I loved being in Lesotho. In many ways it reminded me of provinces in northern India - Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh. The people were incredibly friendly and the sky was the most gorgeous blue (when it wasn't overcast!).We did a lot of walking and then had a stunning drive through the mountains to get back to South Africa.

CLICK HERE for photos posted on Nav's Facebook site

This was the road in and out of the Malealea Lodge where we stayed.
Click on this link to see more photos on the lodge website:
CLICK HERE for Malealea Lodge

The scenery of Lesotho as we drove.

On the gorge walk.

The rewarding swim at the end!

Stu and Tash's Wedding

2010-03-28T06:11:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, 28 February 2010 Stu and Tash got married in the Drakensberg, South Africa. The wedding was the perfect ending to a brilliant week that we spent in the Drakensberg. We had the pleasure of meeting both Stu and Tash's family and had great weather (apart from the odd afternoon thunder storm).

The Drakensberg region is stunning. Photos don't do it justice as they don't capture how epic the landscape is.

It was the incredible setting for the wedding, as I hope the photos below show.

For more photos see Nav's link:

CLICK HERE for more photos

The church (complete with white roses over the entrance)

Inside the church

The beautiful bride and mother (and a very proud groom).

Mandy - Tash's sister and my new style icon!

The green dress gets another outing.

One of the many stunning waterfalls that we saw.

On a gorge walk.

Our accommodation during the wedding. Inkosana Lodge.

Click on the following link to see photos of the lodge:
CLICK HERE for Inkosana Lodge

The rondavels.

The view from our rondavel door.

Margaret River

2010-03-11T22:53:00.000-08:00

After the wedding we caught a flight to Perth to spend a few days in the Margaret River region of Western Australia. It is similar to Central Otago in two ways: (a) it is a place that I have always wanted to visit and (b) it has a number of wineries. Hooray!

The scenery was stunning. I love Australian native plants especially the Eucalyptus trees (gum trees).

We hired a 4x4 vehicle with the tent on top to have a trial run (or as Nav referred to it as the 'Beta Test'*) before our African leg of the trip. It did indeed prove to be testing. Fridge decided to work on its own timetable, bolt loose on our tent and tent poles missing from Neil and Lenka's tent. The positives outweighed the few hiccups with visits to local wineries, version farms, olive oil shops and stunning beaches to swim in. To top it all off, huge epic skies that had beautiful cloud patterns.

It wasn't a hard life - a couple of wine tastings a day, swim in the Indian Ocean, fresh venison, and again (for me at least) more tonkings in the board game.

Below are some of my favourite photos that hopefully will give you an idea of what we saw.

* ah...the terminology from working days lives on!

A driveway to a vineyard. The longest was 2.8km!

The beaches

Lenka, Neil and Nav

Our camping set up

Neil and Lenka's Wedding

2010-03-07T18:55:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, 7th of March, Nav and I had the joy of being guests at Neil and Lenka's wedding at Silos Estate, Berry, Australia. The wedding was 7 years to the day from when they first met in London.

It was a stunning wedding with great weather, food, wine, and people.

Below are some pictures of the wedding. Other photo's can be found by clicking here:
More wedding photos

Roz, Rob and wee Harry

Neil, Lenka, Alice (Lenka's sister) and Tobias (Alice's wee man)

The gentlemen

The ladies

The vineyard

Central Otago

2010-03-01T21:34:00.001-08:00

Central Otago, in the South Island of New Zealand, is a place that I have always wanted to visit. We spent a week there visiting wineries and walking through the old gold mining areas. The roads were amazing.

Foxton Beach

2010-03-01T18:47:00.001-08:00

At Foxton Beach.

Nav, Mummy Cooper, Jeni (my sister) and Ben (Jeni's boyfriend)

Martinborough

2010-02-27T23:39:00.000-08:00

Martinborough, in the lower North Island, is another wine making region of New Zealand (yes, there is a pattern to my New Zealand holiday).

Vanya, my friend, lives here having recently moved back home from London. We stayed at her parents house for a night. They grow pinot noir vines. We had the pleasure of enjoying a bottle of their own wine.