TALL TRAVEL TALES

As most of my friends know, I love to talk, but equally most of them won't listen to me and so I have chosen to commit my thoughts to paper, particularly those gleaned when travelling far and away.

Anyone who is remotely interested is invited to visit http://www.dolphinza.com/travel.html the latest one being on my recent trip to Botswana. (The pic is of us on the Chobe River - Moi is in green in the middle on the left.)

Once the silly season is past (did I wish my fellow Bloggers all blessings this festive season?) I will concentrate on where next to take this bod: will it be Sumatra or Cuba perhaps? What I do know is that I will spend the last couple of weeks of any holiday I take lying horizontal on the beaches of Bali. Bye!

THEY'RE TALKIN' TURKEY

On contract from Leeds to Pretoria where Matt is working on a coal mine operation for Eskom and Claire is a civil engineering designer, they chose the West Coast as their holiday destination.
"I've always wanted to cook a Christmas meal in a Weber," says Matt and on what was a perfect day weather wise he did just that. Here they partake of a turducken (a chicken in a duck in a turkey ... or whatever it is that Nataniël calls it) with the traditional trimmings (those on the plate and on their heads!) and Claire reports that, "He can do that again anytime" (although I did wonder if there was any inference in the fact that he received a braai recipe book for Christmas).

HARK, THOSE LITTLE ANGELS SANG

Doug and Julia chose to spend their annual holiday on the West Coast but, he being a thoughtful person and knowing her penchant for animals, booked an overnight at Elandsfontein Game Lodge on the R27 and by so doing they got the best of both worlds: Doug for the sea and Julia for the bushveld.

Every Thursday volunteers work in a soup kitchen in Stompneus Village and by way of recompense the children performed at a carol-singing concert at Shelley Point Hotel on - appropriately - the Day of Reconciliation, some as young as 5 years. Afterwards they were royally treated to the juiciest of hamburgers and the crispiest of chips by the Hotel management and took home gift packs to put under the Christmas tree.

Having driven all the way north to Lambert's Bay to enjoy lunch at the famous Muisbosskerm Open Air Restaurant they still found it in their hearts to hotfoot it back in time to catch the tail-end of the choral refrain.

Generously Doug, whose son suffers from Asperger's Syndrome, made a wholesome contribution to Die Eilandhuis vir Gestremdes and which Jimmy spent on making sure the children under his care will have a brighter and lighter Christmas.
Both these organisations could do with a cash injection and if you feel it in your hearts to do so, please let me know and I'll put you in touch with the right people.