On Safari

One of Moholoholo's Lions

A lot can happen in the space of a few weeks. Andy and I went down to South Africa to visit my parents six days after we got back from Yorkshire. It was intensely busy ten days or so with them, which is why I haven't posted anything here during our time there. My mum really enjoyed planning a lot of various things for us to do whilst we were there, as it was Andy's first visit to the continent of Africa and we all wanted it to be a memorable visit for him, and for us as a couple.

In this post I'm going to share some of the photos I took whilst we were there and a few things we got up to whilst we were with my parents. My parents live in a wildlife estate and so we had the warthogs visiting on a daily basis. I had a lot of fun photographing the warthogs when they'd come by. They found my camera quite interesting as I'm not sure they quite knew what to make of it and were really curious about it. I really enjoyed using the gift that Andy gave me and practising the suggestions that Andy had given me. He's been teaching me how to become a better photographer. All the photos in this post (save the last one) have been taken with the Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1.

Andy and I flew out of London Gatwick Airport, which is right on Crawley's doorstep (and is less than twenty minutes away by car from where we live). Our journey took us via Kigali, Rwanda, as we were flying Rwandair. When we arrived at OR Tambo Airport, Johannesburg, we were collected by my parents, who had just gotten back from a conference in Cape Town. We then collected my younger brother from Nelspruit and then drove to Hoedspruit. We got to my parents home absolutely exhausted from the travelling.

Stoffel

One of the places we went to was the Moholoholo Rehab Centre just outside Hoedspruit, where wild animals are rehabilitated and then released back into the wild. They also provide homes and welfare for animals that aren't able to be returned back into the wild, like the lion pictured above. Andy had two of the items on his bucket list checked off there. He was able to stroke a cheetah (one of the animal ambassadors that go into schools, with their handlers, advocating what to do animal respect) and one of the bateleurs that live permanently at the centre (this is due to an injury it received which means it can't be released into the wild). We really enjoyed the tour. The guide, Moses (if I remember correctly) was a great narrator and passionate about the animals he and the others took care of. A highlight, for me, was seeing Stoffel again. Stoffel is a honey badger (pictured above). He's quite a character and an incredible escape artist. They've even made documentaries, on YouTube, about his exploits (I've found a short one if you're interested in watching it, just click here. If you're interested in watch any more, just type "Stoffel honey badger" into YouTube's search engine). He's one of the permanent residents at Moholoholo and was here when I last visited the centre somewhere in 2013/2014.

Andy Watching The Elephants

We also spent two nights at a bush camp that's owned by friends of my parents. This bush camp is situated on a beautiful game reserve that has the Big Five (lion, leopard, rhino, elephant and buffalo). Whilst we were there we went on two game drives in the evenings, which was truly incredible, and Andy also went on two bush walks, in the mornings, with one of the rangers (I went on the second walk with him). We were able to see quite a large variety of animals during the bush drives. The elephants, pictured here, were incredibly funny. The matriarch, Beckie, had been raised by the rangers and would rumble a greeting when we met them on the first game drive. When we saw them on the second day, they had gotten a drink at the water reservoir, and then Beckie saw that one of the rangers had brought a group of tourists across this bridge to the viewing platform where Andy and I were standing, so went to greet him. She then led her small herd towards the camp entrance so someone had to go and shut it quickly before she actually came into the camp.

These were some of the highlights of our trip to South Africa. I'll write again soon.

I Got A Job!!!

Just A Random Photo of Ash

I've been living in England about two and a half months now and have been actively looking for work since the beginning of August, when NewDay 2017 ended. It's been a trial of faith and patience, that I can assure you. I'd only had one interview since I'd started looking and after the trial, that particular job came to naught. I went weeks and weeks of handing my CV out and contacting various jobs, whilst not hearing anything back from them, in regards to interviews of if the job had already gone. Then last week everything blew up, so to say. In the space of two days I had three interviews and two trials lined up. One was at the nearby pub and restaurant, the second was at an Italian food bar in Crawley's County Mall, and the third was at a restaurant at one of Gatwick Airport's hotels. I had done an interview at both the pub and the Italian food bar, with a trial at the second. I did a trial at the food bar, but got asked to come back after I get back from South Africa to see if there was still a position for me. Whilst I was doing the trial last week, I received an email from the the pub, The Coaching Halt, asking me to call them and when I did I discovered that I'd got the position. I was thrilled. I then went down with my paperwork for to sort that out before I left for York. I then had to cancel my interview at the restaurant in the hotel up at Gatwick.

I'm hoping to start as soon as I get back from South Africa in a few weeks time. I'm so happy! So thank you for your prayers!

The Last Few Weeks

A Stag in Woburn Abbey Park

A lot has happened since I last wrote. I went up to York for a few days to spend some time with Andy and his brother, both of whom were spending time with their dad and stepmum. We did a lot of walking through the Yorkshire and Bedfordshire countryside. I took my camera (a gift from Andy) with me and so I took loads of photos when I was there. I've created an album on Flickr... if you want to view them, seem them click here. I've also added the photographs I took when we were walking through Whitby and at the Bridestones of Pickering. It was an adventure as we went to places I've never been to before and even though there were disappointments along the way, I learned to deal with these disappointments quietly and quickly. On Friday, the day before we got home, we travelled to the village of Woburn, and went for a walk through the grounds of Woburn Abbey. It was beautiful. That night Ben and Andy stayed in hotel with their dad and stepmum, whilst I stayed in an AirBnB listing in the nearby town. Its my fourth time using AirBnb and I'm full of praise for them. The listing I stayed out was as good as staying in a hotel, but for a fraction of the price. It's almost like staying with friends of friends.

Bournemouth Harbour

I've also met Andy's maternal grandparents. On Saturday 23 September, we went travelled to Bournemouth to spend the day with Andy's grandparents. I've never been to Bournemouth before, since as far as I know, my family never travelled to that part of the country. I really enjoyed walking into town to see the sites and walk about. It's been lovely being able to spend time with various extended family members and I'm also grateful I'm not meeting them all at once over Christmas. I'm also seeing more and more, where different mannerisms of both Andy and his brother, Ben, come from, as we spent a few hours with their paternal grandparents at the end of August.

I'm going to write a separate post about some news I want to share in regards to what's happening on the job front.