20 Oct - Bronkhorstspruit to Talamati Camp

By morning the power was back on but still a bit cloudy.  Had a filling breakfast then on the way east on the N4.  Stopped at Witbank for shopping.   At Belfast we turned North and travelled through Lydenburg then over the Abel Erasmus Pass into the Lowveld.

 Round the top of the Blyde River Canyon the east towards Orpen Gate.

We signed in at Orpen gate and started the gambling - each person states what they think the first animal will be after the gate.  Each time an animal wins, it is crossed off the potential picks for the rest of the gambling.  Who won the first day ??

We drove from Orpen Gate, to Orpen Camp and this was the first animal we saw, right next to the road ! Unconcernedly munching without a care.

From Orpen Camp only a few minutes to Tamboti Camp.

 Here we have a two bed and a four beds safari tents. Each tent has beds, a fan and wardrobe.  On the deck a fridge in a cage, tables and chairs.  In the cage was the fridge and some shelves to protect our stuff from monkeys and baboons.

Got the fire going, then after eating we were visited by this genet.

What a tail !!!

This is another strange animal spotted in the tree.

19 Oct - Sydney to Bronkhorstspruit

A long day today - both in time and distance !

Took the shuttle bus to the international terminal and went through the standard procedures.  No hitches.  Some people were selected to go through the body scanner and AP was shown how it works.  No one had their bag searched nor their body.  


Our plane was waiting for us.

AP and D had 'nice' seats at the back of the plane while AR, C, and T were in the middle closer to the front. 

We joined the queue of planes and spent the first half our of our flight taxi-ing to the runway.  We could see the smoke from the fires from the air.

Uneventful flight, boring movies.  This was a 14hr flight so one does run out of entertainment.  

AP and D had booked a vegetarian meal so we got fed first - good one.





Coming over the coast to South Africa there were the usual little clouds and when we got close to JHB we really hit weather.  







The pilot warned us that it would be a bit rough - and one child who had been fractious all through the flight was wooping with fun over each bump !  Five minutes from landing and suddenly the numbers jumped and the pilot powered up and we did another circle of the airport in the clouds with the lightning zapping past.  The pilot told us later that a plane had been still on the runway.  



Into the airport and passed quickly and uneventfully through the paperwork.  We were about to pass through the exit when C asked 'where is customs?' - that was it !!

Off to Avis to collect hire car - our Hyundai H1 had been chaged to a VW Transporter a big but perfectly good van.  Set out from the airport, north then east to Bronkhorstspruit.  There is lightning flashing on both sides of us and it is rather dark.  We wondered why there was so much quartz gravel on and at the side of the road - then realised that it was hail.  A massive hail storm had passed through, leaving piles thick enough to be snow.  

Arrived at Bronkhorstspruit - no power, so we struggled to navigate with no streetlights but found our BnB who had a massive generator running.  Light dinner and off to bed.  Although it was about 9pm at this time, our bodies, partly on Australian time, thought it was about 4 in the morning !

18th of October, Orange to Sydney

It is summer and the fires have started, unfortunately the fires were burning between Orange and Sydney.  First we heard that the railway line was closed and we would take a bus instead - then the road was closed too.  So we quickly had to find an alternative to get to Sydney.

Ran around and borrowed a Nissan Patrol; squeezed in and started on the alternative route - via Goulburn.  Luckily we had only gone as far as Borenore when we heard that the road was open again.  A U-turn and back onto the Great Western Highway and off to Sydney through the still smoking Blue Mountains.  

We arrived at Formule one earlier than we would have by train !

F1 - dull and functional as expected, but such noisy aircon.  Had a double room and a family room - bunks and a double bed.  Convenient as very close to the domestic terminal.