up, up and away (paarl, south africa)

Jim and I got married about 10 months ago, last June.

For a wedding gift, a bunch of awesome friends pooled together and got us a hot air balloon ride in our new home, South Africa.

Weather finally cooperated last weekend, and we got to head up for our big day. It was amazing! We helped blow up the balloon, then took off just as the sun was beginning to rise above the mountains to the east. My favorite part was floating up into the sky - it was everything you've ever imagined it to be.

We drifted along smoothly, taking photos and enjoying every minute. The sun rose higher, lighting up the fields below us.  We admired the mountains in every direction - we could even see Table Mountain, 50 miles back to the west.

Everything was going swimmingly. We floated past a herd of wildebeest on a small nature reserve, and then I started to notice that we were drifting much lower. Much lower. Udo, our fearless leader (a German man who had been flying in Paarl since the early 1990s) announced that the wind was picking up dangerously, and we'd have to cut the flight a bit short. Some trees reared up ahead, bending in the breeze (it really was just a breeze). Udo had us get into "landing position": squatting on the floor of the basket, wedged against each other, with Jim at the back and me holding a handle at the front. I peered through the wicker watching the ground go past us. It really did feel like we were moving quite fast.

Ka-thunk! Float. Ka-thunkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk! And we're on our backs.

We had safely landed in a dirt field. This was the "fast landing" we had been briefed on. When the wind picks up, often the balloon flyer needs to land the balloon by dragging the basket, behind the balloon, on its side through the dirt. That friction slows the balloon down and it finally comes to a stop, rests on the ground, and the air begins deflating from it.

We got to recount the excitement over a delicious breakfast and a glass of champagne. Some sort of tradition to do with French peasants and dragons and identifying aliens. 

Thanks for a beautiful memory, Seattle friends!! You guys are the best.

Enjoy the photos!

incredible elephant sighting from game drive four (morning) (balule nature reserve)

This was arguably the best elephant sighting - until later this day. But truly, this was something incredible.

We were driving through the bush early in the morning, just about at sunrise. We suddenly heard some upset elephants. Shrieking, hooting, and grunting - and not far away. Our driver Kjell and guide Sipho turned around and started toward it. We spotted a group of maybe 8 elephants. But that was just the beginning.

Elephants on the move! Our camera was still set to a long exposure from the night before.

These few continued on their tramp through the bush, munching on grass, leaves and branches. But we could still hear more elephants. We drove around in a loop toward where it looked like these elephants were heading, and saw an amazing sight. Two large herds of elephants had met in the bush, and were in various arguments sorting out babies and who should go with whom. We were in the midst of nearly 60 elephants, all busy going about their morning of eating, walking, dousing themselves and their babies with dust, and shrieking at one another once in a while. It was a beautiful moment to be a part of! Enjoy the plethora of photos we took.

game drive three (evening) with beautiful elephants (balule nature reserve)

First zebra sighting of the trip! These guys were tough to find in the dense undergrowth.

A vulture perched high in a tree.

First glimpse of another elephant! 

game drive two and bush walk (balule nature reserve, kruger national park)

Our second game drive, the following morning, wasn't quite the showstopper that the first was, but we got to see some more beautiful elephants, and snap a few pictures of leaping impala. We spotted this jackal first thing, and then were scared nearly out of our seats by a big golden orb spider that latched on to the car's roof and hung around for about half an hour. 

Later in the day we went on a bush walk with Sipho, who spoke about the various uses that Shangaan, his people, had for plants and animals in the bush. The most interesting was the role of the marula tree, which is used to interlope with ancestors. Jim had an excellent spot during the walk: a Mozambiquan Spitting Cobra, up in a dead tree, hunting for small rodents or getting some sun. 

game drive one (balule nature reserve, kruger national park)

Game drive number one got us up close to action nearly immediately out of our lodge. We came across a young bull elephant, and then a "memory" of females drinking at a water hole. 

Then we rushed off to catch a glimpse of two black rhinos gallivanting around. 

A short while later, we were astounded to see a female lion and her cubs. The dark night made for few pictures.

Our week on "safari" was off to a great start - and it got even better!

The orange stripe on his ear is likely mud that has rubbed off from rubbing on a tree.

Elephant tail!

Checking us out. He was about 8-10 feet away at the closest point.

scenic route (blyde river canyon, south africa)

We have been blog delinquents! March was a busy month: Jennifer went back to the States for a wedding (congrats to the newlyweds Mr. and Mrs. Coscino!) and a Minneapolis visit, and Jim ran a science fair, an Eco Day, and exams for his students before "fall" break.

Jennifer's parents Tim and Karen came to visit for the last two weeks of March. We spent a few days in Cape Town together, and then toured the winelands of the Western Cape for a weekend before heading north to Johannesburg and driving to Kruger National Park. Here are some shots from the stunning end of our drive: the Panorama Route and Blyde River Canyon.

We'll post photos from our first game drive today too.

Mac Mac Falls on the way to the Blyde River Canyon.

Another of the many waterfalls on the way to the canyon; this one was called the Berlin Falls.

river camping, wyn tasting (bonnievale, south africa)

Jim and I had another stellar weekend, this time in Bonnievale, one of the small towns in the Robertson valley about two and a half hours outside of Cape Town. The valley is full of wine and citrus farms, and ringed with a few pretty mountain ranges, including the Langeberg. We drove up Friday afternoon, and after fighting traffic, battling with wind to set up a tent, and a slow start to our fire-building, we really felt we deserved a drink!

We enjoyed wine tasting on Saturday at some beautiful family-run wine farms, including one that has been making incredible chardonnays since the 17th century. We also got to make our own bubbly! "Methode Cap Classique," or MCC, is the regional term South African winemakers have come up with to identify bottle-fermented sparkling wine made in South Africa - what "champagne" is to the Champagne region of france, "Methode Cap Classique" is to South African wine makers. At one winery, we got to finish the last step of a bottle of MCC: pop off the cap top which has sealed the second fermentation, watch the frozen tip of the bottle fly out, put in some sugar to help the final fermentation (and give it more bubbles), cork it, and package it. Very fun! We also managed to swim a couple of times during the hot day.

Sunday morning we went for a beautiful hike. We got a late start, so I was a little cranky out in the hot sun, but Jim enjoyed looking at some unique geological features - an inclusion from a partial volcanic eruption, and quartzite and sandstone in the rocks. The views were pretty too.

We camped here, next to the river. A beautiful peaceful setting complete with rope swings for getting in the water!

De Wetshof winery, a family-owned vineyard that has been making wine since the 17th century. There were cannons on either side of this building, modeled after designs by Thiebault (a famous French architect who built the family's Cape Town house), from we guessed the 18th century. They looked well-used too!

The winemaker, Philip Jonker, models how they get yeast sediment out of fermenting sparkling wine. Turn the bottles slowly (over months) a little at a time, until the sediment collects in the cap. Then put the bottle upside-down in a chemical solution that freezes the liquid. Then....

rock pools at beaverlac (porterville, south africa)

Last weekend, we headed up camping to a place called Beaverlac. This citrus-farm-turned-campsite had stunning scenery and really beautiful rock pools for swimming. It happened to be ridiculously hot all weekend, so we swam a lot, sweated a lot, ate a lot, and sat in the shade with cold beers.

We went with our friends Candida and Euen (Candida teaches 5th grade at Jim's school), Patrick (who teaches 4th grade), and Candida's friends, Tracey and Lewellen. Tracey and Lewellen are Afrikaaners, and they taught us a thing or two about braiing and making potjie (pronounced "por-ki-ey," sort of) - a delicious lamb stew. We each were asked to bring up some wood for making fires to cook over - but not just any wood. Candida wrote to us: "If each of you can try to bring chairs and a bag of wood...but wood has to be rooikrans or kameldooring (or something like that) as Afrikaaners are very particular about their braaing wood and Euan and I have brought a fire starter pack once which did not go down well!"

The rooikrans I bought at the local supermarket, unfortunately, was wet and Jim spent a hot hour trying to get a fire going with it. We'll do better next time!

Fields along the road.

Sunset as we drive up the mountain pass to get to the campsite.

Jim slaves over a hot fire to cook our morning bacon!

Looking out over the valley and citrus groves on our way to a rock pool.

suikerbossie circuit hike (cape town)

A few weeks ago, we took advantage of a beautiful day and hiked up to Jonas Peak. The route ran along a trail just above some non-native pines to beautiful views over Hout Bay. Then it turned up a deep kloof (ravine) covered with native yellowood trees, which we climbed up for about an hour over giant boulders and even up a small waterfall. The trees were beautiful, and the ravine narrowed as we got closer to the top with steep rock walls on either side.

We popped out on top of the ravine at a grassy saddle with a few marshy areas to walk through. We walked across the top toward the Twelve Apostles and an overlook of Camp's Bay, and then turned south to walk along the mountain's edge and look down at Londudno, another beach which we were directly above. We took a short detour to peak Jonas Peak for 360 degree views of the ocean, the bays, and the mountains. Then we started to descend through an incredibly steep ravine on the ocean-side with beautiful views of the water the whole way down. The trail was crafty and in great shape, so it made quick work of what looked, at first glance, like a challenging route.

I now enjoy pointing out the kloofs we climbed every time we drive past on our way to Hout Bay or the beach!

Camps Bay, Clifton, and Lion's Head.

Landudno below us.

family vacation (cape town)

Just after returning from Namibia, the Petoskey's descended on Cape Town for a visit! We had an awesome two weeks with Betsy, Bill, Cassie & Craig, complete with beaches, wine tastings, lots of card-playing, and a few big seafood meals.

Here are a few photos that I took during the visit.

Our makeshift Christmas tree!

Wine tasting at Groot Constantia

Day at the beach: preparing to bury Cassie.

Looking good!

We took the crew to a Saturday market and ate yummy food; this was a giant batch of paella (it was delicious).

More wine tasting at Eagle's Nest.