Eating out

Since I have been in South Africa I've noticed the crazy and constant trend people have of wanting to go out to eat. I am embarrassed to admit that I have fallen into that trap and have been eating out more often than eating at home. I know there are loads of reasons why you should not eat out, health and costs being highest on that list, and I am super aware of how unhealthy eating out is and how expensive it becomes when you add up all the drinks that go along with the food. None of that stopped me from eating out 4-5 times a week, until last night.

Last  night was a friend's birthday and to celebrate we all headed to Ile Maurice, a Mauritian restaurant in Umhlanga, just outside Durban. The place has been given raving awards about the excellence of their food so I was looking forward to a great dinner. I am sure most people have sat in a restaurant waiting for the menu, opened it up and felt that sinking feeling when you look at the prices of the food on offer. Well that's how I felt last night. With the starters being as expensive as a main meal is in an average restaurant I didn't have much hope for the mains! After sucking it up and deciding that it was inevitable that this was going to be a costly meal I swallowed that bitter taste in my mouth and decided I would at least enjoy the food.

The food arrived, it was the type of place where they portion the size of the meals in the anticipation that you'll be having a 3 course meal. Food was placed on a massive white plate in the centre with no decoration and seemed to be highlighting the emptiness of the plate of food you're about to pay a huge amount of money for. The food did taste good, I can grant them that but as good as I'd expect any restaurant with a decent reputation to have. It was not at all exceptional and definitely not the ridiculous prices that were being demanded. I ordered the grilled line fish and can honestly say it tasted as good as the line fish I ordered at the local fish and chip shop down the road, and it was a third of the price.

I wonder if it is a situation of the emperors new clothes, if everyone is saying its good, it must be good and no one wants to be the person asking why we are paying such a huge amount of money for food that can be found at a fish and chip shop. Needless to say, it has been this experience that has put me off eating out. A good recipe book (which would cost less than the meal I paid for last night) and an organic food market and these pretentious restaurants can kiss my fantastic homemade food!

A historic day in south africa

Last night marked the end of an era in south africa. One of the greatest men in south african history died last night. After years of battling with lung problems and months of being on life support nelson mandela passed away.

Its hard to find words that encompass everything he has done for the nation. Single handedly he saved a country, he stopped a civil war and preached peace to what could've become a war torn country.

After 27 years spent in prison he was able to walk out he cell, face tens of thousands of people and without a word of anger or retribution, he called for everyone of the country to come together and create a rainbow nation. His words were powerful and for the last 20 years south africa had being trying to fulfil his dreams.

I have just realised that mandela spent more years in prison than he did in the democratic country he created. That's a thought that should be mourned. But mandela's life should be celebrated.

Lets go fly a kite

I just bought a power kite and cannot wait to go fly it! As Durban is having some unseasonably windy weather it is the perfect thing to own! However, since I have bought this kite the wind has failed to rouse itself and I'm not even getting a gentle breeze! What am I to do with a power kite and stagnant air?

In other news I have finally shed my pasty white flesh for a tan that would make coffee jealous on one of the few sunshine days that Durban has given me. This is becoming not so much a summer holiday destination as a monsoon summer.

Travels in south africa

A long trip but so worth it!

Qualifications, squalifications

I've spent the past few days sitting in lectures about mountain guiding and becoming a mountain leader. What a waste of time! The only reason I'm going this is to get a qualification, a piece of paper that says I've studied, in a classroom, everything I've done practically in the field. I fuses I understand the importance of a qualification, ous a test that you do know something about something but at the same time a week long course will never give you what experience can.

I'm sitting in these lectures with a guy who has never done anything like this before and after this course he wants to start a guiding company! Its insane to me that after just over a week he'll legally be allowed to do that! People will place their trust in his abilities and decision making and he has absolutely no experience. I've been doing this for only 3 seasons and sto like to know there is someone out there who has been doing this for 30 years and will advise me properly.

I want to hope he succeeds because its never nice to wish someone failure but I worry what the cost will be of that success.

Sugar cane, wolf whistles and mist!

At the moment I'm traveling through my own country as a tourist. How many people ever do that? I'm always telling my friends where to head off to in south africa but never done these things myself, so now its my turn. Today I drove through part of the eastern cape and I'm camping in morgan's bay on what is know as the wild coast. So far I haven't had time to explore, or even go to the beach but I'll do that in the morning.

What a beautiful drive to get down here though. There's a bit of everything, ocean views, mountainous countryside, flat plains, farmland and towns and lovely people everywhere I go.

This morning started with me driving alongside fields of sugarcane and the sweet smell out heated sugar filled my nose as I drove. Sugar fields were replaced with vast open tracts of land, untouched and unspoilt, the occasional dwelling dotted here and there, the only signs of life being the numerous farm animals that lined the freeway edges. I don't understand why the grass next to the road tastes better than the grass in the fields! But then again I'm not a regular grass eater...

The roads were a chaotic mess of upgrades but you gotta love the entrepreneurial skills of south africans, all sorts of things were for sale in the big traffic jams that ensued! In one traffic jam I was watching some school kids that had obviously just been let out. Most were smiling and waving to me but one little boy snacks his lips and let out one of the funniest wolf whistles I've heard! He's gonna grow up to be a player!

Besides some horrendous mist the rest of the trip was uneventful and I'm now safely nestled into my tent ready to read my book!

Cos I'm on my way!

I'm on my way back to switzerland after a short visit to germany again. I do love the germans! Everything they do entertains me endlessly! I've had a pretty uneventful day of driving today.

This morning I stopped off to see the castle that inspired disney's castle but was immediately put off by the hundreds of tourists and immense amount of of tour buses! Then the thought of paying to walk around another castle sold me on betting a post card and moving on! Next on my list for the day was lindau. near the corder of switzerland it seemed a good option so here I am, not sure where I'm going to sleep tonight but not going to worry, a solution will be found. I am parked on a pretty quiet street so I might get away with sleeping there. I might have to after this beer! oh right so now I'm sitting near the harbour doing my favorite thing, watching germans walk past. Sometimes life is good :)

Back to germany

Today I had a fairly eventful trip to germany, mostly because for the first time I changed a car battery, and what an easy process that is! Well it all started out when I tried to start jerry this morning and no success. Figured that after having run the same battery flat 5 times its understandable that the battery may need replacing! Thankfully I have friends who have friends and I was able to get a new battery at a very good rate, friends and family benefits!

So we took said battery home with me, vehemently promising the man who sold me the battery that I knew exactly how to install it, while at the same time googling the dummies guide to auto repairs! Yes, they have a section on how to install a new battery. Mostly it consists of many complicated sentences to tell you black cable then red cable, remove battery, replace with new battery, red cable then black cable. Bam! Done! One more thing to check off in my quest to be awesome! Car batteries today, who knows what tomorrow holds, maybe I'll ve able to fix my stereo!

Croatian national parks

I've always been attracted to national parks, the people who go there are like minded, care about the environment and love seeing what the country has to offer more then filling up a photo album. We visited two national parks in one day, a bit rushed but it was the only way we could fit it all in in the short time we had!

We tried our hand at rock climbing but that didn't go so well, ana had never climbed before so I had to teach her from the beginning. I felt very nervous climbing so we didn't succeed in climbing too much. It just made me want to climb even more though.

Then we traveled to national park where you are surrounded by lakes and various waterfalls. Some of them are really high, and 30m and others a lot lower but wider. The cool thing about this story is that e had every intention of paying for the national park but just never found the ticket office and there was no one at the entrance so we just walked right in, saw the park, caught a boat across the lake when we'd finished and left. We also got to park for free cos we parked at the post office instead of the proper parking! Haha! Traveling is always an adventure!

The water in croatia is unbelievable! Its so crystal clear and even if you can't touch the bottom you can see the bottom.

Oh I almost forgot to mention our moonlight swim. We hadn't yet been into the water and we happened to drive passed a beautiful beach, it seemed to be calling to us so we had to go for a swim! It started out freezing but in the end it was lovely and we really enjoyed the water. Even at night you can see the bottom if the sea.

Croatian control catastrophe

Today we walked around sarajevo in the daylight (and pouring rain) and had a bit of a spending spree, its hard with things are so cheap not to buy everything! I managed to keep purchases down to a new keyring for jerry and a couple of pillow cases made from cotton and silk. So spoilt!

We then went to mostar to join the german tourists in admiring a bridge built around the 15th century but rebuilt in the last decade, so really how old it is I'm not sure! It started pouring with train so we packed up our bags and headed off to see the source of the buna river that runs through bosnia. It was very pretty but still raining so we started chasing the sun and found it back in croatia!

Yay, another border! This time we were asked to open the van so it could be inspected, they asked if we were carrying any weapons over the border then asked if we had any drugs! Well they barely searched the van but instead flirted with ana! Grr I'm beginning to hate officials in all capacities!

however the border experienced was completely recovered by the beauty that is croatia. Its a country built on tourism and that shows! Tonight we've found a big empty parking lot with a view of the sea and moon and we're camping out here. Tomorrow we hope for great weather again! weather man o be kind!

Bosnian border beasts

I'm now into the second day of my baltic tour and its had some ups and downs! We left slovenia yesterday for sarajevo in bosnia. Its a long, 7 hour drive through croatia and into bosnia.

Of all my traveling experiences I'm beginning to hate border patrol the most! It was no problem leaving slovenia our getting into croatia but as soon as we hit bosnia all the trouble started! We were held up at the border for not having the insurance green card with me and forced to pay a ridiculous amount of money for 3 days of insurance. You may not enter without buying this crazy insurance, be wanted people going to bosnia! Its also dreadful because it immediately makes you wonder what they expect to happen to your car while you're in their country! Then while I was waiting for my friend to arrive back from passport control a obviously bored border controller came over and demanded I open the van for him to search and proceeded to point to my bicycle and ask me what it was... Naturally I looked at him like he was an idiot and told him it was a bike. Thankfully ana came back at that point and chat to him probably saving a lot of drama and annoyance. When traveling in the balkans, take a slovenian with you, they're great! And they definitely compensate for your lack of speaking any other language but english!

We arrived under the cover of darkness safely to sarajevo and negotiated the roads (sometimes the same road many times over) until we found ana's friends house. After that things were smooth sailing. We had a lovely meal of burek which is a bosnian pie cooked in a black pan under coals. We followed that with a few beers and a really good night sleep!

Being a camp counsellor

For the last few weeks I've been working as a programme coordinator at camp and focussing on all the paperwork and making sure that everything runs smoothly. This week I have been given a break and I'm working as a camp counsellor again! Its amazing what a difference it makes working in a position of power and responsibility and then going on to a position where you have the least amount of work to do and the least amount of responsibility, life suddenly looks rosy and sparkly again. As the saying goes, a change is as good as a holiday!! I feel like I'm on holiday right now and really just have a week to enjoy hanging out with 12 9 year olds who just want to have fun and enjoy being in the mountains.

These are my reasons to become a camp counsellor, if any of you out there are considering a slack off career for a few months.
1. you get to hang out with kids and show them how to have fun
2. you get paid to do that
3. being around children who find joy in the smallest things helps put life in perspective. There is still delight in slugs and worms!
4. you get to experience the joy of teaching children the fun and important things in life, like building a fire and surviving the mountain monsters
5. children still have imaginations, so we can have them too, without being considered weird
6. if you wake up and decide to wear your underwear on the outside of your clothes, no one will even think that is odd, its camp
7. no group of people drink as well as camp counsellors (unless maybe ski instructors...)

I have one more week of being a grown up kid before I go on holiday and am forced to mingle with the regular people who have no idea why most of my wardrobe is multicoloured and absolutely none of it matches! But its ok, its only a few months then I can join the best real world again!

Camp life

So I'm back at camp, my posts are less frequent and probably a lot shorter because of this. It just means that I'm having a great time playing around with kids! This last week I've had to climb around in trees with some 13 year olds, making sure they are having a good time! I think I can manage that!

We had our staff orientation last week which involved all of us going on a beautiful hike together and enjoying the warm sunshine that Switzerland (sometimes) has to offer. Next week I'll be dealing with a group of 20 14 year olds going on a 3 day expedition! Bring it on! Hiking and camping at a lake, what could go wrong? I have to tempt fate, its in my nature. I have taken a slight step up in the world and will actually be leading this group of kids so all their problems become my problems. Putting it out into the universe that I'd really appreciate no problems!

Much to my delight I've also been asked to lead another group that arrives the following week! How I'm meant to organise that while up in the mountains is a bit of a mystery to me but never fear, I will conquer this challenge too!

I leave you with a picture of my job...

Annecy adoration

Today I had the great fortune of visiting three french town of annecy. I mainly ended up there cos I needed to be out the house for a day and with a lack of better things to do, decided a short trip to france, where fuel is cheaper, is obviously the best option.

I'm extremely glad I could come up with nothing else to do because I've now found a dream holiday destination a mere hour and a half away by car (faster, but more expensive on the toll roads).

Although I went in the height of summer the crowds of people were not enough to spoil the charm of this town. In fact they added to it. The lake of annecy was a hub of activity with people paddle boarding, sailing, paddle boating and swimming. It really looked like a scene off a summer time post card. And here I thought all of those were posed! One of the advantages of working during high season its that you get holidays while everyone else is working and all great places seem private holiday resorts. However in this case annecy felt alive with tourists and its one of the few times I've been to france and met friendly french! it might be that I'm understanding the language a bit better so I know what people are saying to me, instead of being the ignorant english. And after cycling through annecy I understand why the french get so annoyed with the english.

If someone were to stop in the middle of the cycle path without warning (and that person was not under the age of 10) it is guaranteed that the next thing out of their mouth will be in english and the next thing out of everyone else's mouth will be putain! Why do the english insist on arriving on holiday and then proceeding to be absolutely obnoxious. They're not generally obnoxious in england so what changes as they cross the channel?

I'm getting distracted, this post is about annecy. Not only does annecy have an incredibly clear blue lake as its main attraction but its also at the foothills of the alps making climbing and hiking definite musts. I have not done either there so cannot give first hand experience but c' mon, its the alps and they never disappoint!

There is so much to rave about and share but I'm just going to whet your appetite and leave you with the photos! Enjoy.

Being productive

Today was very productive and surprisingly cheap. I built a new drawer for jerry and it went very well so I'm off to but more materials tomorrow to continue my productive-ness. This is the first bit of diy I've done on my van and its a great feeling of accomplishment! I also learned how to make cord from nettle stems, rather simple but very useful to learn. More details of both to follow tomorrow!

Sedentary lifestyles 06/08/2013

I've been back in civilisation for the last few days and its been very uneventful. Its always nice visiting family again and eating good food but I find myself yearning for the road again. I'm gonna have to start syphoning gas from cars to afford all my travel desires! I should google that, I do feel like some cars don't have locked petrol tanks and if I borrow a little from everyone then no harm done... Of course I'd have to buy a jerry can! At the moment I'm enjoying being next to the lake in nyon on a perfect summer day! And its lovely watching so many people all here enjoying the sunshine too! Lovers, families, pensioners, house wives, business folk and even the unemployed who drunk beer while everyone else drinks water and teas! Wouldn't my mom be proud! Haha! The beach here is very nice, there is a grassy area that backs onto the lake and there are trees too which makes it easy to spend the day here. There is also this old man here who looks like he's here every day, he lies on a deck chair in a speedo that looks too small for him, then winds it up so it pulls up his butt to give him the least amount of covered area as is possible. There is much that I can handle, each to their own, but those extra few inches of tanned skin would look so much better white if it spared the world the sight of that tightly pulled speedo.

My final italian mountain pass 04/08/2013

Today was pretty uneventful, mostly driving but I did manage to find a place to swim! I'm sleeping next to a dam tonight with a few other campers in an open lot which seems to have been procured by free sleepers. I am finally clean after being able to swim! There was a crazy storm about 30 minutes ago which has now cleared to a lovely sunset, my last sunset on the road for a while. Now that I'm heading back to society I'm a bit sad. Life on the road can be lonely but its beautiful and full of surprises. You never know where you're gonna end up!

Free time! 03/08/2013

Its now evening and my quiet little spot has now 3 campers in it which makes me feel a little safer but thankful for my peaceful quiet night last night. My hair has been getting to me being so dirty so today I spread dish soap (the only soap I have) through my hair and then poured my water bottle over it to rinse it out. My hair looks so much better now and doesn't stick up any more when I run my fingers through it! I hiked up the other side of this mornings peak, also just over 3000m but didn't meet any lovely italian men with spiked coffee. I did have a lovely nap in the sun though

Grappa coffee anyone? 02/08/2013

I'm sitting at a beautiful view point, at just over 3000m which I hiked up with a crazy italian man who only speaks italian and who I couldn't understand at all! Then when we got to the top he gave me grappa spiked coffee and told me a whole lot of other things in italian that I couldn't understand. What a great country!

The best things in life are free 01/08/2013

Its amazing to me that right now I'm lying in my van looking out over an incredible view, I'm almost the only person on the mountain and this is all free! I had the most hair raising trip up here along extremely narrow roads, in my van but it was completely worth it! I wish everyone could see and appreciate this. There would be a lot more happy people in the world if this was the case. Wow! So beautiful out here!