It seems like over a week since we left Blenheim...and it should be except for the fact while sitting on the runway at Woodbourne full of anticipation and excitement the captain informs us that half of the avionics in her, yes her, aircraft are kaput. I had two spare AA batteries and a Swiss Army knife but according to her they were useless. So back home we went and Buddy, surprised as a cat with two tails...he thought that the suitcase packing was indicating a long stint of self confinement, was very pleased to see us. Unfortunately we had to break his wee heart two days in a row and finally left for Perth without further incident last Wednesday. We flew in one of Air NZ's new Dreamliners. I'm not a fan. The seats were as hard as a railway station bench seat and the recline was a very unnoticeable 2cms. Dreamliner? Bad dreams if you managed sleep I reckon. In Perth our hire car had been upgraded and discounted so we had a V6 Commodore for the price of an i20....couldn't complain about that. Our mission was to drive to Margaret River about 3 hours south for a look about, then back to Perth to catch up with some expat kiwi friends. MR was a good getaway and we spent a day cycling around the environs, checked some wine out and as expected Sav Blanc was a totally different flavour from those that we are accustomed to. On the way down we drove through the Karloop area that had been burnt over last year where an entire town was evacuated apart from those that stuck it out and ended up toast...bit sobering. Unfortunately one geocache that we had expected to find was burnt to a cinder and no longer traceable.
Back in Perth we stayed a night with a lady who explained how her husband was a 'fifo'....fly in for 2 weeks and out for a week. Not a very nice lifestyle I thought but a lot of people do that in WA. We had a Sunday roast with a guy who I played rugby with in Rangiora a few years ago...that was a good catch up as we hadn't seen them for longer than I wish to remember.
At 11.00pm we lifted off for Johannesburg and had 4 seats between the two of us so we both had a reasonable sleep and hit the South African soil running...well not so much running as a fast walk perhaps. Slept a wee while then went walking and looking for a geocache or two in the afternoon. Bit scary with so many men just sitting idle in parks and on curbs...just doing nothing. There appears to be an over abundance of labour without too many jobs to do. At the petrol station there are 3 attendants to each bowser so your cars practically gets reborn while it gets fuelled up. I have seriously considered taking up smoking here simply due to the savings that can be made. A pack of 20 is around $3 and almost justifies the habit.
Today, Tuesday, we are off to Soweto on a bus tour and then will prepare for our flight to Maun in Botswana early tomorrow (Wednesday) morning. We were picked up at 2.00pm and headed off through heavy traffic to get to Soweto. A very depressing sort of south west township, making up the name of Soweto. While there is 25% unemployment in Joburg it is 65% in Soweto...and there is no unemployment benefit. There is assistance for families so making babies is productive in more meanings of the word. But...it is still very primitive. Hard to believe as President Zuma is putting the final touches to his 220 million dollar mansion. We saw Nelson Mandela's home as a child, and for him and Winnie when he first came out of jail....a very humble abode. Our driver and guide was a really pleasant young black man who explained that he lived with his wife and 13 year old daughter and 7 year old son in a shanty, 3m X 2.5m.......about the same area as our motorhome. It was one room with no electricity or running water. Quite a sobering afternoon really.
