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Home Sweet Home

Honeys, I'm home!
This will be my last blog for quite a while.. I've been home for over two weeks now and have settled into my new place in Clayton. It's been so much fun to catch up with friends and so great to see the family and Sean again. I've caught up with a few of the other exchangees and am finally not feeling so lost anymore, it's been easier than I thought to slip back into life in Aus.
I had such an amazing time away, as you can probably see over the past 20 posts, but seeing this life from a distance really did allow me to appreciate what I have back here. Loving being home, but the travel bug is still calling me from all other corners of the globe! So much still to be seen..... The Traveller will be sleeping for the time being, until more exciting adventures can 'fill its pages' once again!
Until next time. Here's hoping that's not too far away :) That's all folks!

~Y

Travels- Botswana, Vic Falls, Swaziland, Mozambique

With Megan, one of my new friends from L.A

Ooh.. long time no blog! Not surprisingly, it was quite difficult to find internet while travelling Southern Africa! I've got 27 minutes of internet at OR Tambo airport to fill you in on the last 3 weeks, the most amazing travel adventures and mishaps! Will try to make this quick, and add photos when I get home :)

--Kumuka--Botswana--
The tour I did with Kumuka through Botswana to Vic Falls was so much fun! Travelling with a guide and being driven, we got to see many fantastic things in a very short amount of time and make friends in the process. After my last blog, we drove to Maun which is a town at the start of the Okavango Delta. We stayed a night at a campsite and left 'bright' and early (read DARK, every morning we left before the sun woke up!) to go into the Delta. After a brief but freezing cold truck ride we arrived at the expansive water world that is the world's biggest inland Delta. We were met by a group of guys who were to be our guides and 'polers' for the next 3 days. Our transport was traditional Delta style.. mekoros or dug-out canoes. I shared a mekoro with Ed, the lovely bloke from Aus and we relaxed while we were poled through reeds and past some beautiful scenery. We set up our bush camp by the water and lazed around for a bit, it's too hot to do anything there in the early afternoon. After a few days of straight truck rides, it was so nice to chill out and take in the surroundings. That night we went for a game walk (ie walking through the bush to find aminals!) and saw giraffes and zebras. As lame as it sounds, it really was like something out of the Discovery Channel! But instead, it was just so REAL! We looked at them, they looked at us, we took photos and videos and then both parties were on their merry ways! We were kind of hoping to find something more exciting the next morning, but it's probably best not to come across a lion or rhino or elephant or leopard on foot! That night we told stories with our guides, who were such interesting and approachable people. It was wonderful to learn about how they live and the work that they do. One of them was the first African vegan that I've met! He was a character, a seventh-day adventist who had some interesting conversations with people from our group.. he laughs at evolution 'theory' and does not believe that his education was good for him. Hmmm....

What was once a buffalo

The next day we went on a game walk for a few hours and saw some more zebra and giraffes (yawn.. been there done that!) and LOTS of animal tracks. Even though my group didn't get to see very many animals, I was fascinated by the way our guides could track the animals. It's incredible! We lazed around again at lunch time and then in the afternoon I had a crack at poling! It was difficult but fun.. and to everyone's surprise I didn't fall in!
In the evening we went on a mekoro cruise and saw the sun set over the Delta, it was stunning. On return we played games with the guides and they sang us some local songs, pity we didn't really have much to give back in return but our English songs are CRAP compared to the beautiful harmonies they pulled out of nowhere!

On the Delta

The next morning we were up and back in the mekoros to head back to the camp at Maun. The waters had risen so we had to take a long cut, but considering the environment it didn't even matter (it also didn't matter that our mekoro was taking on water..... eek!).
Argh! 9 mins left! Ok I'm going to rush through the next few weeks and fingers crossed I can fill it in at a later date (no promises though!).
Chobe- we saw a pack of lions hunting a herd of buffalo, which was AWESOME! We didn't see 'the kill' but the hunt was just so cool, and the buffalo were definitely winning! We went on another sunset cruise and saw elephants tusk-fighting, lots of hippos, crocs and pretty birds.
Vic Falls- the most incredible thing I have ever seen. It really is the only thing I can say I have stood before and felt completely in awe of. It was just amazing!

Lions are so incredibly beautiful!

Unfortunately, I was thrown off a horse on a horseback WALKING safari, had a ginormous bruise and possible fractures so the next few days I walked around with my hand bandaged and in a sling. I had to pass on the white water rafting but had a great time watching the others do the bungee, trawling the markets and having quite a few too many bevos on the booze cruise. No biggie though, when I got back to Joburg I found out that nothing was broken so it's all good!

Bloody horse!

---Swaziland--
From Joburg I went to Swaziland, hoping it would be my gateway to Mozambique. After much farting around it turned out not the best way to get there, but I had a great time with the people I met there, had lunch with the locals at the butchery and saw Nana 'The Diva of Swaziland' perform at house on fire. Brilliant!

--Mozambique--
When I EVENTUALLY got to Moz (via Nelspruit, Baz Bus and Greyhound bus) I was wrecked but it was nice anyway. The city of Maputo is interesting, and the people are fascinating. Many don't speak English and the portuguese culture is very much a part of the country.
Argh 1 minute!
Went to Tofo
BEAUTIFUL TROPICAL PARADISE
made awesome friends

Home in a few days
Love to all!!
Yola

Kumuka- Day One

After 10 hours in the big blue bus today, we're now in Bots at camp Itumela. Got a tent to myself, a great tour group of a Brit couple, 2 American girls, a Kiwi mother and son and a nice old bloke from Toora (near home!).
Anyhoo just on here to do my banking, tomorrow we go to Maun, then the next few days will be roughing it in the Okavango Delta followed by Chobe and Vic Falls! Just letting you know I'm in one piece and fereeeeezzziiing! Hot days, cold nights.. weird! So much more confusing than just bloody cold Mebourne weather :p

~Y

Farewell MSA

Today I’m leaving on my amazing African adventures! It’s so excited... but scary at the same time! I know that Monash will still be here, the people will still be here and South Africa will still be here, but even if I come back (which I will!) they won’t ever exist like this again. It’s just so weird to think that life as I have known it here is ending, and that from now on it will all be a memory. Lucky I’ve got over 6000 photos to help with that! (Yes, I said six thousand!!)
Tonight I’m meeting the rest of my tour group, and staying at a hostel in the Eastern suburbs, where I’ll leave on my tour at 7.30am tomorrow morning. Then we’ll be in Bots tomorrow night. I’m not sure whether or not my Bots sim card will work, cos it’s been so long since I last used it, but I’ll be back in South Africa on the 28th with my regular phone number (in the box to the left.. to the left!). After that I’ll be in and out of reception as I go to Swaziland, Mozambique and St Lucia. There should be email at most places though. Feel free to message or email me, I'll get back to you as soon as I can, it's not like I'll be completely away from civilisation!

Excited, nervous, happy, sad, weird.. argh! Mixed emotions! Only a few hours to go, better go pack!

~Y

The last few weeks!

As they would say in South Africa, these last few weeks have been HECTIC. Although we had a nice weekend seeing the sights of Joburg (Newtown, Museum Africa, a play called Nothing But the Truth, SA Breweries, Chinatown), there has been minimal travelling and fun-having, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel!! Today I booked my tour for after my one exam (the 18th), and I'm VERY EXCITED!!!

These are my proposed plans for my final southern African travels... (the last two weeks are flexible, as I'll be travelling with a backpacker's bus that leaves on a regular basis)

JUNE
19-20 Pack! Everything needs to be out of my room & in a suitcase somewhere...
21-27 Kumuka Overland Tour AF8, from Joburg to Vic Falls via the Okavango Delta and Chobe National Park
28 Livingstone, Zambia and flight back to Joburg
29 Baz Bus to Swaziland
30- Shuttle bus into Mozambique
JULY
-10 Moz, St Lucia, Durban (with Baz Bus, maybe Coffee Bay if I have time!)
11 Durban
12 Baz Bus to Joburg via Drakensberg (I'll just see a final glimpse!)
13 My last day at Monash!
14 Leave JHB Airport at 22:15 for Perth
15-18 Perth
18 Home! Back in Melbourne at 21:00 AEDT!!!!!

Time really has flown and it's crazy to think that it's less than two months before I'll be back home but I am looking forward to it. Travelling has been and will be amazing, but home is definitely where my heart is! Missing y'all terribly...

~Y

Durban Part 2

So I wrote this earlier and just held back to give a bit of a break between stories for added effect... now, where were we? Oh yes, day two of our Vuk Africa tour...........

We woke up on Friday morning to a beautiful sunrise over the Valley of 1000 Hills, where KwaNyuswa is situated. It’s soooo pretty there! Honestly, just rolling hills for miles with houses and huts dotted all over them. We had a (surprising) cheese and polony toasted sandwiches with Rooibos (South African no caffeine tea) for breakfast. Polony, as I learnt from google when I got home, is like ‘baloney’ in the US, and is basically just a bright pink sandwich meat that is really popular here. It’s good, just hard to ignore the fact it’s pink!! After brekky, and thanking Sibongile with beanies and Australian pencils (care of Elsa), Siyanda took us to meet the local medicine woman, the Sangoma. She showed us the tools of her trade: various potions, powders, bits of plants and incense (read burning twigs!!). It was really interesting to ‘talk’ (through Siyanda speaking in Zulu) to her about what she does, what it means to the community and how it works in with Western medicine. It was a shame to miss out on private readings, but she was busy healing someone else so fair enough! The next stop was to meet some local women who make jewellery out of beads, which were so beautiful we nearly bought the place out! I’ve seen plenty of beaded jewellery here in South Africa, but their stuff was just so nice! The end of our tour was at ‘the rock’, where Katie drove us on the top of a mountain. It has stunning views into the hills, with Inanda Dam and also looks down to some of the houses of KwaNyuswa. I’m so glad we did that tour with Vuk Africa, it was just so interesting and something I would not have the chance to experience anywhere else while here.

On Friday afternoon, Elsa and I went back into Durban to see the beach one last time before we went back to Joburg. We swam in the beautifully warm Indian Ocean... it’s amazing, how warm it really is, even in April!! The waves were massive right next to the shore too (big dumpers!), so it was a really different experience to the beaches I’m used to at home. It was SO nice though, and I’ll probably be in Durban again when I travel after exams too. We went back to have dinner at Katie’s but had an early night after being tired out from the tour!

On Saturday morning, Elsa & Katie had a meeting and I stayed at Valley Trust, the place where we were staying. This place was fascinating as well, I’m still not exactly sure what it is, but there were kids running around and there were various clinics (like a ‘regular’ doctor’s clinic and a HIV clinic). It’s not normally a place for public accommodation, but Katie and other volunteers I have met have stayed there too. It was nice and quiet, and I was glad to have a lazy morning to catch up with Sean and write in my diary.

Once Elsa got back, we picked up Samke (Katie’s friend) and Siyanda (our tour guide), and went for a picnic at Inanda Dam. We played Snap and ate chicken sandwiches (which we were a bit iffy about, after the tour!) by the water. It was a nice afternoon, and great to hang out with the others outside of the tour situation. That night, Katie took us for dinner at Samke’s house. She lives with her grandma, brother, sister and sister’s daughter. Samke’s parents live in Durban, and her grandma feeds and houses all of her grandchildren on her pension. It’s obviously a really difficult situation for everyone, and Katie has been helping Samke to find a part-time job to help her grandma out. Their house was very modest, a lot less extravagant than the house we had stayed at on our tour. They were such lovely people, and it was nice of them to have us there even though we were absolute strangers. We had what you might call an ‘interesting’ spinach dish, predominately spinach and salt (and salt and salt). We ate our meals as best we could and were so grateful for them, especially as Samke’s grandma told us that their spinach crop was running out (maybe even a ground roots example of climate change?). The meal would have been a real gesture to us as guests and friends of Katie, who does a lot for them. In saying this, I probably won’t be eating salty spinach for a little while to come...

Before leaving for Joburg on Sunday morning, we visited the Sunday school that Katie and her housemates run in KwaNyuswa. The kids were absolutely gorgeous, and as much as it bothers me how very very Christian it was (to the point where in Australia it would be considered indoctrination), it was good to see the kids being so keen and learning to read in the process. We made them some polony sandwiches and soon were on our way back up the freeway to Gauteng province. After a few obstacles along the way, a map being thrown out the window and low petrol scare (BUT I PROMISE I AM FINE!), I was back in Room 205, Block D, Monash South Africa. It was a bit painful being back in ‘the cage’, but I had comfort in the fact that I was totally wrecked from an amazing two weeks away!

Durban & KwaNyuswa.. WARNING: EPIC BLOG AWAITS!

Hi guys! Sorry there has been such a lack of blogging, I’d like to use study or travel as some kind of an excuse, but there really hasn’t been enough of either of those to justify it!

I wanted to write about Durban & KwaNyusa, but it’s such a long time ago now, so we’ll have to see how that goes. The past few weeks have been rather monotonous really, I have had the odd assignment due and a few dinners & drinks out, but nothing to write home about (literally!!). I don’t want to whinge too much, because I am having a fabulous time here, but all of us Aussies have really got to a point where we’ve had enough of the substandard education we’re getting here. Not to rain on Monash’s parade, but the quality of teaching here is very disappointing by Monash standards, and is probably not so good for the uni’s rep anywhere. As I’ve told a few people in the past weeks, I pine for Monash Clayton! And that’s saying something!! Anyhoo, we are making plans to see a few people about it, because I don’t think anyone with authority really knows how terrible the classes, organisation, marking and general academia are. I could rant for hours, but that’s not the most important thing! Psh.. who needs uni! I’m in Africa!!

After we got back from Cape Town (very early Saturday morning) I had a dreadful cold, and spent a few hours (read DAYS) moping around bed, watching Gossip Girl and such. But, Elsa and I had bigger plans! Never mind the cold, we decided to take an impromptu trip to Durban!! Elsa hired out a car and by Tuesday we were off again! The weather was rather shite, and I didn’t sound the best, but it was a rather enjoyable 7 hours to the coast. That night, we stayed at Tekweni Backpackers, known to be the party hostel of Durban, but the only one that seemed semi-ok and had space for us. It turned out to be a pretty great place, especially when I ignored my state of unwellness! We played a bit of pool (Elsa kicked some very arrogant guys’ arses!) and I got an early night to rest up for the big days ahead...

Wednesday we went to uShaka Marine World, to the aquarium! It was actually a really cool aquarium, the people who worked there walked around with us and told us things about the fishes and the ‘dangerous animals’.. and we saw a dolphin show! I would normally have been so opposed to the idea of making dolphins do crazy flips and things, but I just have so much more respect for them now!! I hope it’s not that bad to drop my morals on them being in captivity but they are just such amazing creatures and it was fascinating! That afternoon we went for a bit of a wander down the beachfront, had fish and chips by the Quiksilver Pro surf comp (never mind they were also at lunch :p ) and then went to meet Katie. Trying to cut a very long story very short, Katie is an Australian friend of a friend of Elsa’s who is volunteering in KwaNyuswa, which is 45 mins from Durban. By chance, Elsa became pretty involved in what Katie is doing, ‘Vuk Africa Tours’, so we had to meet her for coffee and a bit of business.

The South African elections were on this day, and the massive hype about them had made us a bit worried about what state the country would be in because of it. There were lots of people with banners on the streets and voting booths spotted around, but nothing that interfered with our day. It was more just interesting to see how politically ‘aware’ the people here are. I use ‘’ because I’ve learnt that people care A LOT about politics here, but that does not mean they really know all that much about what really goes on. KwaZulu-Natal, where Durban is the capital, the people are predominantly ANC voters, and not to get too much into very shifty politics, it is the history that the ANC play on that keeps them so popular. They have been here since South Africa broke free from Apartheid, and for this reason in particular, they have almost total support among the KZN voters. Never mind that their leader was up for corruption charges before the election, and has much worse things next to his name. The ANC won the election by almost 2/3 votes, and Zuma was sworn in last weekend with all three wives by his side. I hold my tongue!

Day three we left Tekweni with the hope of going to the Victoria Street Markets before meeting Katie again but got massively lost and decided to just find her instead. It wasn’t a dangerous kind of getting lost (parental watchdogs!), just stupid and we saw a fair bit of Durban freeway. Today we were doing a Vuk Africa Tour (I shall explain the story behind Vuk another time). It started at Light Providers, a community centre in KwaNyuswa, where we met our fantastic tour guide Siyanda. The tours are really informal, and so we just had a bit of a chat about the place and wandered down to the local butchers for lunch. It was funny, we bought the meat inside the butcher and they just have a braai (bbq) going outside that we just put out meat straight on. We were a bit iffy about eating off the chopping board that had previously had the raw meat on it but in the name of African experience we went for it. And my tummy was ok! Now, I don’t want to sound any ‘–ist’ in what I say next, but I really have to share the most fascinating thing I learnt on this day. There are albinos.. like, black albinos. Forgive me if this is a well-known fact but Elsa and I were shocked and amazed, it’s just something we had never even known exists. In this community of only very black Zulu people.. a little girl was born very, very white. She had white hair, but fuzzy like the rest of her family, and her features were more like a Zulu than like ours. Katie told us there are quite a few of them in the community, absolutely fascinating! There are just so many questions I could ask about that, but this post is getting massive and I’ve hardly even started! If only essays were this easy to write! 1000 words and counting! The next part of our day was quite entertaining too- we went to get a chicken for dinner. Not just any old chicken though, a LIVE one! We went to an old lady’s house and got to choose the juiciest looking chicken for us to eat for tea. We carried it back to Life Providers in the kombi, IN A PLASTIC BAG, squirming and all! We left Chicky at the centre and visited the orpahanage next door. It was so sad, the ‘mother’ of the place was really sick, and they hadn’t rationed their month’s food properly, so the kids hadn’t eaten all day. Siyanda told us that Vuk Africa supports them when they get in situations like that, but it wasn’t right for us to be there as observers like that so we left soon after. We watched choir practice at Life Providers, man they have amazing voices! The kids were playing soccer in the courtyard (naturals!), some hanging through the windows and standing outside just to listen and it was just fantastic, being in that environment, such life and warmth emanating from the place!

That night we got to spend the night in a Zulu family household. Our granny’s name was Sibongile, and her granddaughter was Amahle (said Ar-marsh-lee), and they lived in a relatively small but homely hut. Amahle goes to an English school in Hillcrest, so her English was pretty much spot on, and we played and sat watching a (godawful American trash) movie with her before and after dinner. Granny made a delicious coleslaw, beans, steam-bread and CHICKEN! Yes, the chicken we had carried a few hours earlier alive. Siyanda wanted it to be part of our experience to kill the chicken ourselves, but I didn’t think I’d be all that proud to say ‘Hey guess what everyone? I killed a chicken and ate it!’, as Jamie’s-Kitchen-respect-your-food it might be. Elsa was off chicken for a bit after actually watching Siyanda do the deed, but I stand by Jamie telling me on the TV last year that it should just encourage me to buy free range (especially instead of the disgusting bagged chicken you can buy here!). Dinner was delicious though, and I really want to learn to make steam bread, it was so good!! Elsa and I had such a nice and welcoming stay with Sibongile and Amahle, we had a comfortable bed to sleep in and it was actually a lot more than we expected. To be honest, this family was probably a lot better off than many in the community, and I would have survived on the floor, but it was really nice.

Ok, I think I have to stop writing this blog immediately, and finish another time; otherwise you will be over it very quickly! There are still two more days to go!! The next instalment will come soon....

Cape Town

I'm going to apologise in advance for not putting up a blog of Cape Town immediately. Although I'd like to, Elsa and I have decided to go to Durban tomorrow until Monday, and I have an mini assignment to whip up tonight so you're going to have to wait! Hope y'all had a wonderful Easter break and didn't eat too much chocolate.....

---------------------------------------------

30/4: I'm going to attempt to delve into the depths of my memory to finally tell you about Cape Town.. finally..

We left at some hideous hour of the morning on Easter Sunday (3.30ish) for the airport, and our flight down south was smooth and I slept basically the whole time. I think the trick to sleeping on aeroplanes is just have the worst and shortest sleep beforehand so all you can do is sleep!!
After dropping our stuff off at Long Street Backpackers, we headed down to the Cape Town Waterfront to check out the sights. It was still morning, so we had fish & chips for lunch by the quay and had a bit of a wander around. Cape Town is so pretty! I just can't explain how much nicer it is than Joburg! It's kind of like Sydney, and Joburg is like.. Geelong- if it wasn't by the bay?!! Our hostel made us dinner tonight and we just relaxed to talking to other travellers before retiring to bed at 8:30!! Lame I know...

Kath & I by the waterfront

On Monday we did some major souvenir shopping and boy, did I shop. The stuff there was just so cool and I couldn't help myself... though it took me a while to get used to bartering. After a few hours, I got used to just being abrupt and saying 'no, thankyou' and walking away from annoying salespeople. That didn't stop me spending bazillions of rand and buying everything that jumped out at me! That afternoon we went to Robben Island, which is where Nelson Mandela and many other political prisoners were kept during the fight for Apartheid. Some pretty amazing people were there at some point, and it was just fascinating to think what discussions would have gone on. Our guide told us about the many ways they hid notes to eachother.. like cutting a slit in a tennis ball.. clever! Monday night we ate at 'Mama Africa', which serves 'game meat' ie African animals! I shared a game platter with Larissa, and made sure I wrote down the tastes in my diary for those of you who would immediately ask if everything tastes like chicken. The answer is no, by the way! Kudu and Springbok were my favourites: kind of like beef, but Kudu was probably like venison if I knew what that tasted like and Springbok was lighter like Kangaroo. Ostrich is really tough, and you're supposed to eat it rare but because we ordered medium, it wasn't that great, but I guess was like a really tough beef, or sandwich steak when the folks cook it to Kim & Scott's liking!! And finally, crocodile was a funny one. It had a fine texture like fish, but actually tasted like chicken. Trust me :)

Nelson Mandela's cell

Tuesday morning I woke up with bites, which was not very nice. At the time we thought it must have been bed bugs, but with a bit of google research, I'm pretty sure they were flea bites. And the hostel had cats, so it would make sense. In the morning, Lily, Ruth and I went up Table Mountain. We didnt hike it cos we're lazy, but took the cable car instead which was pretty cool. The view from up there was stunning, it basically looms over the whole city. And its flat on top, hence the name! In the arvo, the three of us plus Kath & Larissa went to Kalk Bay. It's supposed to be a hippy beach town, and it was nice to see beach but the hippy part was a bit of a let down. We saw just one hippy shop (the kind Mum would enjoy!) and the rest was basically antique shops. It was nevertheless cool to look at old photographs that people had left, and second hand books. They have that wonderful musty old smell! Fish & chips again, but this time we tried 'snoek', which is the local fish. It was MASSIVE and full of bones, but tasty anyway. Think I'll stick with my flake! Tonight we slept in a cloud of Aerogard :(

The view from Table Mountain

Here my diary writing ceases, so I'll just do what I can to remember. On Wednesday Lily, Ruth and I went to Stellenbosch, South Africa's major wine growing region, and did a wine tour. It was so much fun and I actually found myself appreciating wine for once! Why do we drink such cheap crap at home?? Oh right, cos it's cheap... but wine is reeeeally cheap here. We were at some of the best wineries in South Africa and the bottles were around the R50-70 mark (around 10 dollars!). I wouldn't spend more than 20 rand on a bottle (..of goon!) at the supermarket here! We made some friends throughout the day too, and went to dinner as a big group and out at night. It was a really good day, just frollicking about in the sunshine!!

"Nosing" a fruity white

Thursday we had a look at another market in Stellenbosch and then rejoined the others back in Cape Town. We caught the train, and I can't believe how good it felt to be able to use public transport again! We wouldn't dare here in Joburg. We had Mexican and margaritas for dinner, and crashed relatively early again at our new hostel Cat and Moose. No bed bugs there, just mozzies! Think I had over 10 bites by the end of this week..

On our last day in Cape Town we thought we had better go to a museam, so we went to District Six. It's all about how the locals were shifted out of their homes when the white people decided they were on 'their land', and explains why the settlements in Cape Town are further out of town- in comparison to Joburg where the centre is the more dangerous area. We had cheese rolls in the Company Gardens for lunch and did a little more souveniring. Our last night was already upon us and we were completely buggered from the whole week, went out for some drinks but Elsa, Lily, Ruth and I had another early start coming. We were back at Monash before 11am on Saturday. I had come down with some disgusting cold and spent the rest of that day lying in bed and watching Gossip Girl!! It was a fabulous week though, and I absolutely ADORE Cape Town. As much as I love it here at Monash, it would be a much more glamorous and comfortable stay if I was staying in Cape Town! Sooooo beautiful!!!!!!!!

Sunset over the ocean

~Y

Happy Easter!

Hope everyone's having a wonderful break, we are off to Cape Town tomorrow (at 4am!!) until next Saturday.. bye for now :)

~Y

I don't like cricket-ah.. oh no..

Yesterday we went to the 2nd MTN One-Day International in Centurion (bout 40 mins away), South Africa vs Australia. It wasn't an especially good day for our Aussie boys, but was a fantastic day for us! It was just some of the Australian girls and our driver/friend Chippy, I know I'm not one to normally go to sporting events but I am proud to say I watched at least half an hour of the game, and could understand that the score meant we were doing terribly from the start!

It was funny being minority supporters, always a good source of entertainment for the South Africans and a fun way to make friends! We met a few Aussies, and lots of South Africans happy to rub in the score not that it really bothered us, not being the most competitive people around. People were happy to come up and talk to us about that they'd been to Australia, or knew someone who was there, or whose cousin's best friend's neighbour was thinking of going.....
But now I have to get back into study, got two assignments and a test this week, and my brain just doesn't want to get into gear. Probably a good idea to get off my blog now! Adios!

I believe that's a lot!

PS. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM! ~Y

Botswana

After two crammed days of uni when we got back from the Drakensberg, on Thursday we were off again to Bots. Our friend Alex was taking us to his house in Gaborone and camping for a night. It was pretty crazy, having 10 Aussies plus our Dutch friend Tamar plus Alex all squished into two cars! It was about a 5 hour trip up, and I have to admit we got a bit car-o-phobic, especially those of us who had only just got back from an intensive weekend together.

Sunrise from atop the 4wd

When we got to Alex’s house, his mum was so surprised to see that most of us were girls! Apparently Alex had warned them that there were 11 people coming over, but failed to mention that 9 were female! They were so welcoming though, and we all found a place to sleep in various rooms and on various floors.

Me in my nest

Friday morning we were up at 5 to drive up to Khutse Game Reserve, where we camping that night. They had borrowed a four-wheel drive off a friend, and have one of their own, so there was a bit more space this time. Because we had Fred (Alex’s dad) as well, one of us had to sit in the back of the car, and of course I put my hand up! It was a nice spot to have a snooze after getting up so early...

Giraffe & springbok

That day we saw heaps of ‘bok’ (springbok, steenbok, gemsbok), some kudu, mini squirrels (which we swore were meerkats at the time and would make a much cooler story!!), a jackal (wild dog), vultures AND GIRAFFES!!!! That was most definitely the highlight! We had been looking for lions, giraffes or elephants and had pretty much given up until Lily just casually said “Hey, is that a giraffe?”... exciting!! That night we camped in tents at our campsite in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (cool huh?!), a bit nervous about the sign in the drop dunny warning not to leave food in tents in case jackals or HYENAS came around! But other than a freak half hour thunderstorm, everything was fine and the next morning we woke up to see the sunrise from on top of the 4wd. I even had a go at the wheel, which was exciting enough until we came across some other cars and had to go off road.. into the long grass like real four-wheel driving should be!! The others thought it was pretty funny, me being pretty small and at the wheel of the monster going through the grass!

Sunset over the Kalahari

Saturday night we went out to a bar in Gaborone, but got home pretty early because the new President there has laid down some pretty crazy laws about alcohol not being served after midnight! Bottle shops have to close at 7!!! SEVEN!!

Hartbeespoort Dam

On Sunday we were planning on going straight home, but Alex decided to take us back via Pretoria (the main capital city of South Africa) where his girlfriend lives. We saw Hartbeespoort Dam, probably one of the coolest dams around and had dinner out before retiring back at uni. It was a long weekend, and some of us were nearly ready to strangle each other, but all in all it was fantastic!! Finally I have seen some wildlife and that’s 3 countries now, hooray!!

The gang

~Y

Oh my golly gosh.. says Yola!! FAMOUS!

Hi everyone, I'm really sorry, I know I've been lazy as since I got back from Bots, but I just had to share this with you. Someone from Monash Abroad approached us a few weeks ago to write a bit about what we've been up to here, so that some lady could write a piece about the exchange! Little did we know that they would basically take everything and quote me as having said it, and put it on the Monash South Africa home page!! Haha!! We're such nerds! Or at least I am....

http://www.monash.ac.za/news/2009/study-abroad-students.html

Aaaawesome......

Bots for the weekend.. back Sunday again

All packed and ready for our little weekend getaway to Botswana, 10 aussies, Tamar the dutchie and Alex, our host. We will be staying at his house in Gaborone tonight, camping at Khutse Game Reserve on Friday and then back to Gaborone to go out in town Saturday night!
More fun stories and hopefully exciting photos to come, thinking of you all jealous at home :p

~Y

Insert Lesotho blog here!

Sorry for being so lazy.. the second half of the Drakensberg bloggy goodness is still coming!!

The incredible Drakensberg!!

Hello everyone! So you thought I'd be away for the weekend.. you thought wrong! Of course I'm away, but this is the 21st century and there is internet everywhere so I thought I'd write a blog before I forget today's amazing adventures!! I'm currently at Ampitheatre backpackers in the Northern Drakensberg, which is an awesome hostel with the works (bar.. jacuzzi.. amazing views..) and aside from the odd cockroach or two is fabulous! We got here yesterday evening after a pretty shitty rainy day of 6ish hours driving (not that I drove :p) and found this place we'd booked for two days in the foothills of one the most incredible mountain ranges around. The Drakensberg are rugged but naturally beautiful and just fascinating to look atwith their jagged edges and strangely flat peaks. After some bevs at the bar last night we made friends with a couple of german guys and decided to go on a hike with them today, the 'Gorge Walk' into the Ampitheatre.

Ruth, me, Elsa, Vince & Lily with Royal Natal National Park behind us

Elsa and I stunned at the view into the ampitheatre

The weather was perfect on the hike up (3 hours each way) and the views stunning! I can't even begin to describe how great it really was! In search of Tugela Falls (apparently the 2nd biggest waterfall in the world) we clambered over boulders, climbed a rope ladder up a cliff face and climbed between rocks only to find the falls were hidden by mist. It didn't matter though, we were so proud of ourselves for getting so far and it turned out the mist was actually rain so we headed back. It was a real mother nature experience trudging back to the car for 3 hours with the sky grey and thundering and lightning around us (no Mum, I made sure not to stand in an open space with my hands in the air!!). AMAZING!!

Very proud of ourselves (with Lily)

Now it's just relaxing time in the TV lounge upstairs at the hostel with our new friends, completely buggered from today, my knees are absolutely hating me!! Tomorrow we are going into Lesotho with an organised trip our backpackers does, and after that we don't really know.. we'll just see how we go... there are plenty of things to do around here!!

~Y

Away til Sunday

This weekend, Elsa, Lily, Ruth, Vince & I have made plans to go to the beautiful Drakensberg ranges and Lesotho (the small landlocked country within South Africa). We will be staying at backpackers, but are hiring a car so won’t actually be ‘backpacking’, and will be away Wednesday midday until Sunday afternoon. Very excited & looking forward to telling you all the stories! And yes, I will be careful and stay safe- ‘harm minimisation’!!!

~Y

Soweto

I know, long time no blog.. well here is a nice fat essay style blog to keep you occupied!!

Last Tuesday (make that Tuesday 24) Monash Abroad took us to Soweto, as you might have seen in the photos on Facebook. The history-rich but poverty-ridden suburb of central Jo’burg is an amazing place, very sad and thought-provoking. It's a place of beautiful people with the most tragic stories- the heart of South Africa's history.

A man playing the South African national anthem with his nose!

We drove into town in a mini bus of just the Australians and Stephanie (who is a German girl that we have befriended who lived in Soweto when she was 17 and whose boyfriend lives around there). As you can imagine, we immediately felt out of place, staring out of our safe little bubble into those completely different lives. Such tourists! It felt a bit wrong to just look, but it would probably happen often considering the history of the place. The pro-vice chancellor international at Monash here, Simon Adams, is an Aussie and has a pretty cool past being part of the ANC in their struggle against apartheid. Our guide Ayunda (spelling.. unsure..) is a friend (“comrade”) of his from back in his ANC days and was a child during the Soweto uprising in 1976. I’ll try to give you a brief history lesson so that the rest makes sense... (don’t quote me, this is more the world according to Yola!!)

So a few hundred years ago, the Dutch came over to South Africa in hordes and like the British in Australia, became the wealthy class and were not particularly nice to the local people. They were known as Afrikaners. Things were pretty bad, especially when the National Party came into power in 1948 and introduced apartheid. As you can imagine, it was pretty grim. Things really kicked off in Soweto on the 16th of June 1976 when the Afrikaners decided that they were going to make Afrikaans the official teaching language in schools. To put that into perspective, there are 11 official languages in South Africa, and only about 13% are first-language Afrikaans even now. So obviously the school children (not to mention the majority of everyone else) hated this because until then the official school language was English (there are heaps of African languages here so they can't use just one) and to make all subjects taught in a language that no one speaks was ridiculous! So on June 16 the school students in Soweto organised a peaceful rally against the use of Afrikaans in schools. Then -this bit is a bit different depending on whose story you believe but it’s pretty obvious who was in the wrong- the police ‘felt unsafe’ and shots were fired into the crowd OF CHILDREN. People scattered, kids started throwing stones and the police got out of control and killed quite a few people 'in defence'. One fourteen year old boy (Hector Pieterson) died on this day, and there is a very famous photo of him being carried down the street which has become symbolic of that tragic day and the apartheid struggle. As terrible as the uprising and deaths obviously were, when the world heard about what had happened they got behind the South African people (not the Afrikaners) and from then on things started to change for the better. It was obviously a really slow and tough process and wasn't until the 90s that real positive change occurred. Victory was felt in 1994 when Nelson Mandela became president and finally the majority won their right to be heard.

Nelson Mandela's home in Vilakazi Street, now a museum

Freedom Square

So, back to our day trip... Ayunda was there on the 16th of June, and it was just incredible to know we had him showing us around places that are not only part of South Africa’s history but that were quite personal for him too. They took us to Nelson Mandela’s house in Orlando West (in the same street Desmond Tutu lived) and to the Hector Pieterson memorial where you can see where the children marched. Nearby is Freedom Square, which is where the Freedom Charter was written and signed in 1955 and also where Simon explained that he and his comrades had met (it used to be woods) to plan their movements. Ayunda showed us the church that people sheltered in during the uprising, which has a gallery and messages of peace on the walls upstairs. We had lunch at Wandie’s, which makes traditional meals and was deeelicious! After lunch, we went back to Orlando to go inside the Hector Pieterson museum, which was sad but I’m really glad I went there even just to understand the place a little better.

Regina Mundi church, a safe haven during the uprising

To bring it back home, it made me realise how little we have recognised our Australian aboriginal past. There are so many similarities between the histories of the two countries in terms of the treatment of their black people. Obviously, the scale here is much larger with the majority still not being white, but I think it’s that that bothers me most- the way this is a major part of South Africa’s history that they are not proud of, but have recognised, whereas we are still very much in denial. You don’t see museums and monuments up all over the place in Australia in recognition of the tragedies that happened there. There’s something to think about for a bit!
It was a really fascinating day, heavy at times but definitely something that has to be seen. I feel so enriched to have learnt a bit more of the history of this country, and even from just a day can see why some people have the opinions they do today. For someone who didn’t really like history as a subject at school all that much, South Africa is turning me around!!

~Y

Internet

Many apologies if you have tried to Skype or Facebook chat me lately, but our internet here has decided to be basically non-existent during weekdays. In the middle of the night and on Sundays it is bearable but on any other day it is nearly impossible to even check my Monash email which is internal as well! Even making my blog is having difficulties, so I hope this message gets out ok. Have got some blogs on the go, so keep a look out for some new ones soon, when I can actually get them up with photos! Sorry for the wait. If you see me going online and offline a lot, it is just Skype trying to work and failing.. I will be on when I can be!
~Y

Monash South Africa

The view from the library, picturesque isn't it?

.. is actually very much a Monash campus. Within the walls of the uni (which isn't actually allowed to be called a 'uni' here, possibly because it's not South African, I'm not sure) you would be forgiven for forgetting that you are in Africa. I know that South Africa is very Western and we are clearly not living in Third World conditions, but it's still a shock that things aren't that different. Obviously, the people look a bit different, but even then the general feeling on res is pretty much the same as at halls. The same idea of a dodgy little room to yourself, the hideous r'n'b and house music (argh!!!!), a bit of drinking and a general feeling of laziness and not doing very much. But don't get me wrong, like Howitt, I love the atmosphere here and the fact that friends are not far away. We have been taking it in turns to cook and had dinner and bevs on eachothers balconies. It's quite nice. The campus is beautiful! Mostly because it is a lot newer than Clayton, and makes the Menzies building look absolutely hideous! Oh wait, Menzies actually is hideous! MSA is getting a bit too big for its boots though, and the ginormous Res 6 that I am in was only just built a bit over a year ago, and there is still a lot of building going on, as you can see in the left of the picture above.

Until yesterday, I hadn't got out of the campus other than to go to the mall and was feeling like there wasn't much point being here. But we went to the botanical gardens and saw a waterfall and some tortoises which was really cool! My first sign of wildlife!

Toitle! We also saw some mating :p

Elsa and I in front of Witpoortjie Falls

at Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens

At Monash, it would be nice if things were a bit different, and to be honest I did feel a bit ripped off when I first got here! Where is Africa?? It is still an experience in itself though, especially when it comes to the politics of the students here. We sometimes have to drive past the settlement (a crowded block of land with dilapidated shacks and people with the most terrible stories- the slums) when we go places from uni. It's such a stark contrast to the lives of those who I live with, Africa's elite. Monash is the most expensive university in the continent for local students, and the students here are all unbelievably rich. One of the Zim students who is really nice but has slightly iffy views on some things has 6 cars! Another that I met gets more pocket money per month than most of you could expect in a year's work (and yes, I mean my parents too!). The least wealthy students are some of those from Botswana, who have to get sponsorship and actually good grades to come, but other than that there are only 15% South African students and the others come from wealthy African families.

What I've gathered from talking to students from Zim & Bots (get up with the lingo guys!) is that many of the families the students come from have gained from the corrupt governments of surrounding countries. Not to be too specific, Zimbabwe is totally messed up, and their money is basically so worthless that they have even created trillion dollar bills! It's such a joke that people are selling them on ebay to people who just want to see one! Ignoring that fact, there are definitely ways to gain from the dire situation there. It's absolutely fascinating to hear inside stories of people from there, and what doesn't get out because of the media. Ten generals or something all went 'missing' (read that word with suspicion) recently because of dodgy relations. In saying this, I should now not plan on entering that country (not that I planned to anyway!) for safety reasons. Much like the guys I was talking to about it, who don't want to go shouting out anti-gov things for fear they won't be allowed back home. Apparently there are students here who would be sponsored by the government to study and in turn have to report things like that back to Zim. Crazy huh? For those of you who just a panic about the internet and the fact that anyone could be reading this: there's no need to worry about my safety in South Africa, but I wouldn't want to try my luck there, not that I would anyway. Obviously I have a lot more to learn about politics and the like, but it's still super interesting to listen to the conversations and arguments here, and definitely broaden my perspective on things. I would actually be really interested to know what many of the students here think their reasons are for coming here and if they just paid their way in. It certainly wouldn't surprise me.

My room, a bit dingy but still nicer than halls

That's me for today! This actually became quite a long post with the photos in between, and I have many more things I would like to tell you about how it is here, but we shall have to wait for next time. It'll all come out in the wash eventually. On Monday and Tuesday, Monash Abroad have organised for all of us Aussies to meet some of the staff here and go to Soweto. Finally something cultural! Looking forward to it :)

~Y

TIA: This Is Africa

Finally, connection to civilisation! I know, the youth these days and their World Wide Web.. but what would we do without it?!?? It is has been a bit of an experience settling in, and with the good old Beatles spurring me on, I will try to recount my first days in South Africa. It will be a long one but push on! They will not all be like this!

Thursday in a nutshell- 3am start, dreaded goodbyes, airports, take offs, flights and landings.
I felt that I had done this so many times, just never alone- which made me both anxious and excited at the same time. My fruit juice on my Melb-Syd Qanatas flight had the same use by date as my trip (18 July 09) which I thought a wonderful coincidence! We were over half an hour late into Sydney, but I'd left heaps of time there for duty free and customs business so there was no need to stress, although I did a bit anyway! If you're reading this, you know me! From Sydney, it was a 14 hour Qantas flight to Jo'burg. Other than the entertainment system being a bit on the blink it was a fairly good flight. I was sitting next to a guy called Brent (read Brint) from New Zealand who grew up in South Africa but his family used to live in Zimbabwe and his mum is Irish. Think that's messed up? You should have heard his accent!!! At Jo'burg I had the most lazy customs search I have ever seen, and was greeted by a guy with a Monash South Africa sign. He said he had been there since 10am (it was now 4pm) and often just hangs around waiting for students to arrive and calls the drivers. As we sat for quite a while, seemingly for no reason, he offered me a used padlock which I thought a bit suss and even though he seemed upset when I didn't trust him, I thought it best to pass on it. Weird I know, but eventually a driver turned up and some other students who needed driving back so it was ok. By the time we finally got to the uni through the peak hour traffic, I was a zombie and ready to go to bed. I had to go to some meeting about rules (don't ask me what the rules are, that was a bit of a blur!) and then there were ginormous issues about finding me a room. At times it seems like noone here is in charge- driver calls someone, RA shows up, RA calls someone, someone shows up with no key.. etc etc. It was frustrating, but I've come to learn that that's just how it is here. Sitting around, standing around, what's the hurry? TIA: this is Africa, and you should never expect anything to happen immediately. The local speakers even have just now meaning 'soon/in the next little while' and now now meaning 'very soon'. I found my room with no pillow, sheets or blanket but by 11pm I had some bedding (some 3 hours or so later). Zzzzz..

On Friday I met Will, an Aussie who came on exchange at the start of last year and loves it so much he has come back twice.. he doesn't ever want to leave and considers himself South African! He was great help though, and with another of this year's Aussies took me to get some shopping. We went to Woolworths, which is like the place to get swanky gourmet foods, and Pick'n'Pay for your regular bits and bots. The shops are uncannily like in Australia, down to the Kellogg's Corn Flakes, Curves Gym on the corner. Everything in the shops here has a plastic container. There is so much packaging that it is hard to imagine how we manage to recycle so much at home. But they also haven't heard of recycling here, not even at the uni. And the only reason you pay for plastic bags here is because they need to pay the wages of the extra person who stands at the end of the checkout to fill them!! That night we had a 'braai' (not 'bry') and to cut a long story short- jetlagged, cooking in the dark for 2 hours on hardly hot coals, meat red and so decided to just go to bed.. hungry, but bed! Zzzz...

Saturday I woke up at 4am a little hungry, and polished off a tin of pringles, yum! Found out that the library was closed, apparently just this weekend, not the one before or the next, just the one I needed it on. No reason, they just didn't feel like opening. Fair enough.
That night we went to a place called Montecasino, which is an incredibly tacky casino with restuarants and novelty stores. The place is Italian themed to the finest detail, to the point that you come to appreciate how imaginative they've been! It was a bit creepy to realise when eating 'outdoors' that it wasn't real- we were under the pretend night sky with a pretend river running alongside us when outside it was hot and still daytime! Must be a complete head spin for the gamblers though, not knowing where they are or what time it is. I had a fantastic night drinking cocktails and eating good food with Kath & Larissa, two Aussies who have been here two weeks already. We were loving the fact that it cost us under $30 AUD for 2 cocktails, 2 ciders and a big dinner!!!!

Sunday and Monday involved a bit more shopping and the arrival of a few more from Clayton. There are now 9 of us here, but 5 have gone to Durban for the week. It's on the coast and would have been awesome, but us others needed some time to settle in and will have time to do great stuff later!! The list of places to go has already exceeded the time we have though! Lucky it looks like I only have uni on Mondays and Tuesdays for now :) :)

I'm still yet to get a security pass and do anything of any real cultural significance, but it will happen. Hopefully in the next few days we will take a trip to the Apartheid Museum and Soweto, and eventually all that needs to be done will be. We just have to remember this is Africa, and here they run on a totally different schedule- or no schedule. And I'm getting used to it... TIA.

~Y