Dinosaur Footprints

Okay I may be one of the only people who get excited about this (and some of my geo friends).  We were on the way back from Waterburg NP and decided to find the dino tracks.  It was pretty easy to find - well we had a map, a rough idea and there are not a lot or roads!  I think there was a small entrance fee.

 

 

 

We are sitting above the smaller prints

made by a two foot chicken lizard. 

Someone was not impressed.

 

 

Looks like Big Birds footprints!

Reminds me I still have these boots, just need to glue the sole back on.

 

 

Yep getting a bit keen to go back. 

http://www.namibian.org/travel/natural/dinosaur-footprints.html

http://www.dinosaurstracks-guestfarm.com/dinosaurstracks-eng.html

Etosha

  Be still my heart, I feel like I am living in Nat Geo World!

 

 

The gates to a whole new world....

 

I will never forget as we drove through Anderson Gate and had signed in, John turned to me and said "Right where are the animals", and as I turned I could see a kudu buck standing off to my side, springbok and then just ahead was a lone giraffe.  It was so fast and amazing neither of us grabbed the camera, to show our age, it was just before the digital camera phase.

 

 

The first camp isn't far from the gate and called Okaukuejo.  This was some of the accommodation, it was basic but more than adequate.  It was self catering with a brai area outside that we made use of.  All the camps have had major overhauls and look even better.

 

http://www.nwr.com.na/okaukuejo_camp.html

 

Since we were here to see wildlife.....here it is

 

 

Yep this girl has a belly full of paws.

 

Out on the pan.

 

How cool to see so many different animals.  The guide book was so well written you could not miss them.

How lucky were we to see a heard of elephants on their way to the waterhole.

 

If you look closely you might see a tiny bubba tucked under its mumma. 

 

 

 

About to settle in for sundowners and game viewing at Halali Camp.

 

 

After a few nights we moved to Halali, the camp in the middle.  It was smaller and had less facilities, however the game viewing overlooking the waterhole was said to be special.  As you arrived at the camp, a huge elephant skull sans tusks greeted you.

 

 

There is that sunset.

 

 

 

 

Here is some current info on the park http://www.etoshanationalpark.org/

 

 

 



Keeping Track

While we hate the fact Big Bean has to go away there is some consolation in the form of airline and hotel points.  We had never been big collectors of hotel points until about two years ago.  Points for air travel, well that was always a given even after loosing several hundred thousand points when Ansett collapsed. 

I have been using a program called Awardwallet to manage the points.  It allows you to add different users (good for us) and see the points values for each person and program on the one screen.  It also lets you see the expiry details of the points. 

This is the website www.awardwallet.com

So the upside is that we have enough to do a couple of trips for all of us.  Now to do some serious planning!

Some day we will go back......

One of those things on the bucket list, is to go back to Namibia and show the kids where we spent a year of our life.  It has been over 13 years and I wonder how much has changed in a country so young.  It was only a decade since independence when we arrived and massive changes were occurring.  Having said that it was a safe and peaceful nation, except for the Capri vi which we didn't get a chance to explore.  In the next 2-3 years we hope to go over.  The kids are old enough now to go and I think they would really love the experience.

The first thing we saw after arriving in Walvis Bay (which use to be part of South Africa) was this....

 

Yep, even we could work that out!

 

Actually they are warning signs as sand can get blown across the road.  During a bad sand storm we saw cars that had their paint blasted off.

 

Swakopmund was a very pretty town on the coast.  It reflected its German past in the styles of buildings, restaurants, shops and German was still quite widely spoken.  Actually I would often get spoken to in German when I entered a shop, but JB didn't?????  It was all very colonial.  The Swakop River runs out to the Atlantic Ocean although it was mostly dry, we did see it flood the first weekend we were there.  It only took 2 inches of rain to do it.

 

 

The Swokopmund Lighthouse over looked the Mole and near the lighthouse was a restaurant by the same name, where we drank many G&Ts, couldn't risk getting malaria!  They also made a great mussel pot, filled with cheesy hots mussels and rice.  Yum.

 

 

 

I wonder how long we should go for.....  This time there are a few extra places we want to visit.  Maybe I should get out the travel planner and see what a budget looks like.



The Real Part 2

sorry Mum! 

John got back on time to put up some Chrstmas lights, which looks rather pretty.  The kids think they are great and we will have to get some more, I have my eyes on a few that will be on super sale on Boxing Day.  It does look better when its dark but I haven't taken that photo yet!


We have our first tropical plums on this year!!! Don't think they will be very big as it has been too dry, the peaches are smaller than lst year but quite plentiful.  Tasted great!  Not a lot of apples on either :-(

 

Bella got her first nose bleed, dont ask!

 

Haydens birthday cake.

Christmas Newsletter Part 2

See Mum, I did a Part 2.......

A Modern Twist on the Annual Christmas Letter

or as we all know, Tracey was slack this year and didn't get around to it!

Well its been a year since we started the blog to record our adventures.  It hardly seems like it and we can say its been an amazing year for us.  We have really enjoyed it and have grown as a family.  John arrived home about a week and a half ago, just in time for the end of year activities for school and Christmas.  We were all very excited to see him at the airport but it was very funny to see the goose down jacket and snow boots he was caring.  He went from -25 to +35m which wasn't too bad as it has been so dry here. 

 

Yep i travelled back with the three kids by myself, crazy but we wanted to get the kids settled back into school over here and were not keen on starting another winter over there.  With the kids moving up a grade, we would not have access to the school bus as we lived too close (by about 200m) to the school and walking to school in the snow is not fun at -17, trust me we did it a few times, poor Bella did it more as she had to walk down and back!  However i have to say, they were bloody awesome!  Business class travel does help, but Rhys pushed a whole trolley around the airport, customs and immigration were very kind and we were through and over to the transfer desk in no time.  Then a nice dude from Virgin went and got a bus and drove us over to the domestic terminal early.  i am pretty sure he was allowed to take the bus for a spin and he seemed to know what he was doing.  Although he did almost drive off the road when Rhys saw the Australian flag and proceeded to stand up and sing Advance Australia Fair, I just about fell out of my seat laughing!  It gets better when we landed in Mackay he got off the plane and threw his arms in the air and did a little celebratory dance, then (I told you it gets better) he kissed the car when he saw it!

 

The kids are all in school next year!  Bella did a preprep program at Pindi school and also was able to join the ekindy pilot this year.  She loved it and has made some new friends and reacquainted herself with old ones (as you do when you are 4) Before anyone asks, yes I will know what to do with myself!  When we got back the kids didn't suffer any jet lag and were back at school within a few days.  You should have seen the welcome back, only thing missing was ticker tape.  It was great! 

They have really enjoyed the remainder of the school year and were rather happy to put on the end of year concert.  Rhys has since admitted the idea of Aussie Jingle Bells is silly and he is not dancing Gangman for anyone!  He is however happy to sing about wanting a hippopotamus for Christmas......go figure????

 

 

 

 

Hayden (second from the left) and Rhys (in the red socks with no shoes on!), gettting their swimming awards.

 Hayden getting his Prep graduation certificate while being kept inline by Ms Green, he was doing silly hand gestures.......boys!

John as been rather impressed with my efforts while he was away, and so he should be.  I have become way to familiar with solar and wind power systems, water and all sorts of stuff, that I could have done without, he can have it all back.  I will however retain lawn moving rights, for the ride on, that thing is serious fun! 

 

Lots of work her next year but it will all be worth it.  This is the block we bought late last year.   It is rather dry and we are all doing rain dances at the moment.  So thats the end of part 1, I may add a part 2 or I may not......