Max Prison story

                                            Max’s stories                                                   

Today I went to Nelson Mandela’s prison on Robben Island.  He was in prison there for eighteen out of his twenty seven years and he was in a single cell (where only one person is in one cell) but they don’t have a toilet or shower. In the group cell you get toilets and showers in your cell but you can’t even read newspapers or have any contact by phones. They got treated badly and put to hard work at the quarry. By Max.

Continued by Nat...

It was at this quarry many years later when Nelson Mandela returned with many other ex prisoners and silently placed a stone at the side of the quarry to represent peace and freedom. The other men followed his action and also placed a stone beside Mandela’s, finally forming a pyramid of stones. This pile of stones is now heritage listed.

I expected the prison to be dark and scary like the Old Melbourne Gaol but it wasn’t like that at all. In fact the place was peaceful and light and bright. We were lead around by an ex prisoner who spoke quietly and had a sense of stillness about him reminding me of Mandela himself.

Currently Mandela is unwell and the country fears his death is imminent. Many prayer vigils are being held around the country and many messages of support and love are being sent his way via morning television shows. Mandela is locally known as ‘Tata Modiba’, father of the country.

Finally and sadly we have had to abandon our trip to Egypt due to political unrest in the country. We will decide over the next few days how we will rearrange our trip. x

                    

Birds of Prey by Jack

Birds of Prey by Jack

Today, we were all really tired because we were so busy that we didn’t get enough sleep and, we’ve done so many exciting things in South Africa that we are all worn out. So anyway, despite this we went to do more exciting things.

 Out of all the fun stuff that we did, I really enjoyed the Birds of Prey because the birds in the bird show would fly onto your hands but you had to wear a glove so they could land on your hand. The birds that could land on your hand were the Barn Owl and the awesome yellow-beaked kite. When I dropped my hand down it climbed up my arm because they feel safer up higher. When their talons dug into me, it felt like sticks jabbing into me.

 My favourite bird was the Jackal Buzzard because it would fly in really fast and grab its fake rat with a really big impact. When it hit the ground, you heard a thud and it hid its prey and screeched a high pitched squeal.

 The most ridiculous Bird of Prey was the Cape-Griffin Vultures. They fought over a small piece of chicken. One Vulture lost a toe and hobbled with a limp every time it walked around. They were very funny.

 The Black-Winged Kite was very much like the Jackal Buzzard except that it would hover over its prey and lift its wings up so it dropped onto its prey. It missed the target only a few times. It had red eyes and the man from the show called him the little devil.

Dad wanted to hold the Black Eagle so they had to put a helmet on it that blindfolded  it so that the bird calmed down. The Black Eagle has the strongest talons that can break a human arm through a glove and can take down a buffalo. Its wing span is over two metres.

The Secretary Bird uses its feet to kill snakes. It stamps its feet so hard to the head that it kills it. The Secretary bird drinks the poison from the snake so it is immune to that particular snake. If it is attacking a cobra, it will keep on kicking its head until it falls to the ground. The Secretary Bird also stomps its feet in the long grass so any bugs in the area come out.

This is the end of my bird blog but you will hear more from me.  

J

Saturday 29th Jan by Nat x

“Today was the best day of my life!”.  I think this is now the expected catch phrase at the end of each day. Sometimes it’s hard to even remember how each day started by the time we have finished the activities for the day. Today was no different to any other day, I think it was the best day of my life.

We start each day in Cape Town with a buffet breakfast ,telling the boys and ourselves to eat as much as we can so that we can skip lunch and save money. Fortunately we all consume enough calories in one sitting to get us through breakfast, lunch and dinner. Unfortunately, we still eat lunch and dinner. The food is fresh and beautiful and luckily we can drink the water here so we eat lots of fruit and salad ingredients. Sadly, my dream of looking like Angelina Jolie by time I arrive in the Maldives is fading by about half a kilo a day.

By half past eight we were on the road to Table Mountain. The trip only took about 10 minutes by car. From the carpark we loaded onto a Gondola and took a very steep, scary trip to the table top. The views from the top were spectacular as expected. One thing we have noticed here is that there are no queues anywhere for anything. It makes life very easy.

The highlight of the day was our trip out to the Stellenbosch wine region, even though no wine was seen, tasted or purchased.  We went to a winery named ‘Spier’. This is where the Cheetah outreach programme is located. Incredibly for around A$100 / R330 we were able to experience a Cheetah encounter with a mature male cheetah named Joseph. We all patted him and had plenty of photos taken with him. What an unbelievable opportunity. I felt like a ‘Getaway’ reporter.

After another beautiful lunch (yes more food), we then participated in the Eagle/birds of prey encounter. And yes, we touched, held and patted many different birds of prey. I don’t particularly like birds but I found this experience to be quite incredible.

Wearily we drove home past all the ‘Townships’ (a.k.a. slums/shanty towns) and took amazing video footage of them as well as some great photos. The segregation between black and white is really evident in Cape Town. Most black working class people live in shacks we wouldn’t house our  animals in. Most white people live in mansions, many three and four stories high, overlooking the ocean, the rest live in apartments overlooking the ocean.

For those of you that know me well, this next paragraph will come as no surprise. The final highlight of my day was finding a laundromat approximately 100metres away from our apartment that will wash and dry a 5kg load of clothes for R45/A$7. I’ve spent many hours handwashing etc. So this will now make my final days in Cape Town the best days of my life.  Nat x

Cracked Lips and Washing by David

Cracked lips and washing

Smile......Yay,Hay! Apparently the catchcry I use every time I take a photo! No one ever knew until I started taking so many....

Well we’ve gone from the wind and dry of Perth to the gale force winds and even drier in Cape Town. Our lips have been smashed and are severely dried and cracking but Nat has been in washing heaven these past days. (although a washing machine instead of the spa in the hotel room would be handy!)

A big thanks to Pete and Janita for a wonderful stay in Perth. Great friends, great food, great city and great time. What an Australia Day: Lamb on the Barbie, a few tunes on the guitar, Cricket in the park, magnificent views over Perth and the Swan river, a 21 gun salute, a few beers, swimming in the backyard pool, a couple of loads of washing, a free fair for the kids with over 50 rides/activities, Esky racing for the Dad’s, a few more beers and a massive fireworks show over the Swan. Great to see you guys, your passion for life, your beautiful family and we hope you continue to enjoy your adventure out West. You always remind us of the quality of friends we seem to have chosen in life and you are always more than welcome to stay anytime with us in Brissie or wherever we end up.

We survived the long haul from Perth to Cape Town. 18 hours in total including an overnight flight and transfers in Johannesburg. The boys have shown amazing resilience and patience so far, no doubt the anticipation and excitement keeping them going. We’ve been lucky travelling off peak with half empty planes and small queues.

A big shout out to Nikki our South African travel agent. Service over and above the call of duty, meeting us at the airport and spending an hour with us going through our itinery, planning trips and offering great tips and travel advice. As a result we have added a few things to do that had otherwise not been planned and what amazing experiences they have been. We have travelled around the Cape Peninsula along amazing rugged coastal and clifftop roads similar to the

Great Ocean Road

. Seen wonderful small fishing villages, taken a seal boat cruise and experienced swimming with a colony of wild Penguins. We also plan to have personal up close encounters with Cheetahs. These have been such unreal experiences for us, they must be out of this world for the boys. Everyday so far they have mentioned they have had the best day of their lives. There is 30 or more to go yet!

Cape Town is a beautiful place. All rugged coastal line and mountains. Wild seas, wild winds, barren and striking mountain surrounds. The people are friendly enough but seem to lack real emotion and passion. Almost resentful and bitter. We have come across dozens of shops, hotel, markets, tours, restaurant, airport personnel and service providers. Whilst the words are welcoming, the body language and expression and emotion is not there. Friendly enough, but no big warm genuine welcoming smiles or enthusiasm. There is a much larger percentage black population than we imagined. I had expected it to be similar to Australia. The majority of South African friends we’ve met in our Australian and New Zealand adventures have been white and the cricket and rugby teams are still largely white. Security hasn’t been an issue so far although we have been extra cautious and on edge thanks to our Springbok friends back home!

With the amazing adventures and experiences this wonderful country has offered so far, we can’t wait to experience the rest.

We are certainly following the major world news. After the Brisbane floods, Nelson Mandela has been ill this week and our planned Sunday Robben Island tour we hope does not hold additional significance. We are also starting to worry a little about Egypt at this point with news of political unrest and rioting happening in Cairo, although it is still a week away before we are due there. Hopefully it settles down. We will be in touch with the Embassy etc before we get there. If you’re reading this Andrew Malon, we will need to get a real update from the ground over there from Intrepid. We’ll be in touch.

Smile...........Yay, hay!

DB.

Max in South Africa

                                           Max’s Stories

Today I saw a beggar on the side of the road and he only had one leg. There was a South African man that was a flight attendant and he was nice to me and he also kept putting up at his thumbs up at me. Today we also arrived at our hotel. One of our flights was 13 hours long and so we got our own television and we could play games on them. South Africa is a cool place to live in.

Today first thing in the morning we went to Hout Bay which is a fishing town on the Cape Peninsula. We drove along a spectacular cliff top road called Chapmans Peak Drive. From there we went on a boat ride on very rough water to Seal Island where there were thousands of seals swimming and playing all round the boat. There was also a really cool market where people sold lots of ace African stuff. Next we went to Boulders Beach where there is a colony of penguins. We got really close with wild penguins and we also saw a baby penguin. We stayed at this beach for hours and swum with the penguins and explored all around the rocks and caves. After that we went to a pub called Brass Bells Pub in Kalk Bay and we saw lots of surfers and seals at the pub. As we leaving the pub we saw a boy that was that tried to get money by playing a homemade guitar.

We have finally arrived in South Africa! by Nat x

I think I'm officially a backpacker. I've slept across seats on planes, slept on metal seats in foreign airports and have convinced the family that asking for extra food and water on the plane and then stashing it in your bags is a good thing! All to save a buck!

Yes, we are here, Cape Town, South Africa. Finally. We are all feeling extremely tired and are planning a very early night. My only regret so far is not having my camera handy as we left the airport and drove past suburbs of slums (I don't know what they're called here). We were all quite fascinated. We then came across our first beggar, some poor guy missing limbs, and Max said something about not giving him money as he's pretending to be poor. We had to explain that he couldn't pretend to be missing limbs!

The weather is going to be perfect the whole time we are here and we have planned a lovely few days touring Cape Town. Enough for now, I'm too tired to type anymore. x

Australia Day in Perth by Jack

Today in Perth, we climbed up Jacob's ladder which is a 300 step staircase that rises up a cliff face to a park called King's Park that overlooks Perth City and the Swan River. Up there, people were setting up for the Australia Day celebrations and fireworks later that night. We saw the 21 gun salute performed by the army with cannons. There was a lot of smoke from gun powder and they gave us earplugs because the noise was so loud. They did the 21 gun salute in memory of the fallen soldiers that protected our great country. After that we played a game of cricket. It was QLD V's WA, and you wouldn't believe it, the Victorians won!!!:)

Perth 2011

We have arrived at our first destination - Perth, W.A. (Wait Awhile). It is a beautiful city and moves at a leisurely pace. After Jack and Max successfully landed the plane we headed to the Woods' house, a beautiful tropical oasis on the south side of the river in Kensington. After a day of eating, drinking and chatting we barbied at a gorgeous park on the banks of the river called Bluewater Park in Heathcote. This park overlooks Perth city and is also where the memorial for Heath Ledger is located.
Today we are off to the Australia Day celebrations on the river. Walking distance from the Woods residence. Then tonight we leave for the long haul trip to South Africa.

Jack's Report 24th Jan 2011 Monday

I am very excited. We depart at 8:00am tomorrow. We have been given our spending money for overseas. Dad gave me $20 per country. In South Africa I have 120 Rand. To work out the exchange rate, times $20 by 6. In Egypt I have 100 Pounds.To work out the exchange rate, times $20 by 5. In India I have 800 Rupees. To work out the exchange rate, times $20 by 40. In the Maldives I have 20 American Dollars. I hope to buy souvenirs in each country.

Packed and ready to go

David here, arriving into the new decade (some would say this century) embracing technology and the ability to blog! Well, it's been nearly 8 months in the planning but we are packed and ready to go. We've all been ready and anxious for the last couple of days for our once in a lifetime trip. Firstly, I'm looking forward to catching up with my good mate Pete, Janita and their beautiful family in Perth, although reliving the Pies premiership win will be painful!  A few overdue beers on Australia Day should kick off some amazing memories and unreal adventure. Too many highlights ahead of us to single out one thing I'm most looking forward to, but the Maldives have been on the hit list for over 15 years and will hold a special significance for me. Anyway, you all stay safe and well and we embark with good intentions to keep you all up to date...we'll see how long we can keep it up for. Cheers for now. DB.

Max's Stories thursday 18/1/2011

Today my family is getting our last needle for overseas and the needle is for a brain disease called meningitis.

Max's Stories Wednesday 19/1/2011

Today I am really excited about going overseas to South Africa, Egypt, India and the Maldives.

I'm excited about having my birthday at the Taj Mahal.

Jack's Report 18th January 2011

Hi guys, It's Jack here. It's not long until we leave for Perth. I'm really excited about going to see the Sphinx in Egypt. We have to get lots of needles before we leave. We also have to take these tablets for a really dangerous disease called Maleria that is passed on by mosquitoes. The side effect for that is that you get sunburnt easily. We forgot all about that and we did get sunburnt last week!

We are going on this trip all because of my Dad's Indian friend called Manish. His cousin is getting married and we are going to the wedding in India.The wedding itself goes for a week but we are only going for the two main days. There will be a lot of exotic places to go and I am going to love it. Bye for now.