I have done little of what I planned to do these past few days, but much more than I imagined at the same time. Starting back from where I left you all last time was in Cape Town with a group of friends, less than were in George, but still a few friends. We had a great time going through the amazing wine region that surrounds Cape Town by enjoying a few of their best wineries and some amazing restaurants! I felt like anyone I talked to had just found “the best restaurant with the best food.” It was a constant theme through the time there, just amazing food! While in Cape Town we drove down and around Cape Point where we saw stunning views, hundreds of penguins on the beach and watched the Indian Ocean join the Atlantic Ocean.
On my last day in Cape Town two friends and I had the opportunity to take a helicopter ride through the mountains surrounding Cape Town & down a portion of the Cape Peninsula. It was such a great experience! I had never been in a helicopter before, so let alone the amazing views I got a great ride. My friend Terry was quite entertained introducing the two of us to the world of helicopter rides as he had been on many of them in the past.
Over my few days in Cape Town, one by one each of my friends left and headed back to where they are from and back to their jobs. At the end it was just my friend Bridgette who is working across Africa and myself. We met up with one of her friends our last night there, and once again had good food. The next day we each separately made our way to Johannesburg and than up to Pretoria, a suburb about 40 minutes north of Johannesburg.
That night I met up with Ben, a friend of mine who had just moved to Pretoria a couple weeks before. We met up with a few of his new friends at a pub for drinks and dinner. That night at the pub led me down some interesting paths for the next day and a half I would have never guessed would have happened. One of his friends runs an ice hockey program. After dinner we went over to watch, but somehow, and I am still not sure how, I ended up playing ice hockey that night with a bunch of the people in the program. This was quite hilarious as I was wearing a skirt and had not been on ice skates for many years! I know I have played street hockey, but I am hazy on weather I have ever really played ice hockey before that night. So the first odd thing that happened from meeting up with these guys at the pub for dinner was that I played ice hockey in a skirt in Africa.
One of the other guys there at dinner I found out does the same job I do, structural engineering and actually works for the company I worked for in Brisbane. He is actually working on a team that is helping some engineers in Sydney working on some Australian projects. He mentioned that they were really struggling with some of the Australian practices that were different than South Africa's. I made a comment about how it is actually quite easy once you know the few tricks of the trade and next thing I know I landed myself a job as a consultant the next day teaching the guys in his office those tricks of the trade. It was all so hilarious, I had plans to drive across the country to Kruger the next day, but instead I booked tickets to fly across instead of driving and spent the day in the office working. It was good to get back into a bit of engineering after not working for a few months and I am fairly sure I helped those guys out. I can only imagine what the guys back in my old Brisbane office are going to think when they get messages from the guys in Pretoria saying I was in the office helping them out. So basically from one visit to the pub I ended up playing ice hockey and working as a consultant in South Africa.
With a good days work behind me last night I did what I have done so much of in the past few weeks and I went out to dinner with my new found friends in Pretoria. It has come to the point that after all of this eating out and drinking amazing wine I am going to have to change some habits here quickly! I am starting to feel like a huge blob! Previous to arriving in South Africa I had done a good job of eating healthy food & staying relatively active. I am on my way to Kruger National Park where I will be driving through the park myself on a self-safari. Apparently you are only allowed to get out of your vehicle at very specific locations, so the active new habits may need to hold off until next week. But the eating out and drinking habits are starting once I get off this flight where they just gave me potato chips and chocolate for breakfast!
~Laugh & Love Life~
