SKYDIVING & PARTYING (oh-yeah!)

  It has been a while since the last post.  Plenty has transpired, much adventure was experienced and we even had a bit of fun too ;)

Starting off with our busy skydiving weekend - we started with a good warm up activity: paintball.  Some people were a bit hesitant at first but after the blood started flowing some warriors shone through!

Enjoying a few drinks at half-time (no extra courage needed at this point)

Kruisrivier reserve is situated near Loskop Dam and offered us game drives, furnished accommodation and friendly service at a very good price.

Sunset from one of our houses

Enjoying the best South African sundowner - Amarula cream liqueur

Socialising around our fire that was to cook our delicious lamb potjie

An early morning game drive gave us stunning views of the massive valley's sunrise

Giraffe, Wildebeest, Kudu, Zebra & Foreigners were to be seen ;)

Lookout atop the mountain

We drove through to Witbank on Sunday to relax at the skydiving club with a braai and sunshine.  Of course this relaxation was interrupted by people deciding to jump out of a perfectly sound aeroplane.

The angel that took us up high

A thrill like no other

During the interim period we've had many socials at Friends.  From a casual evening night to a full bodied birthday party, we've been enjoying the warm spring - day & night.

Playing with some long exposure shots

Good music, good beer and good company make for....goodness :)

SA vs Australia 29 September.  This was an introduction to some of the non-rugby playing nationals visiting us.  Some enjoyed it so much that they converted from football!

We had a birthday party of note.  15 hours of partying will generate photos that cannot be shown to your parents or posted on the blog.  Just join the next one and be part of the process ;)

Birthday boy receiving his cake after being thrown into the pool (again)

Rietvlei Nature Reserve & Intro-Night

A pleasant introduction to South Africa and Pretoria for those wanting a nature reserve experience on their doorstep is Rietvlei.  R40 and 20min from Friends one can experience the Rietvlei Dam area's fauna & flora from the comfort of your own car.

An Eland, the largest antelope in SA, decided it would be the first animal to greet us

The VW "Foxy" Chariot with crew

 Smiles in the fresh air, open spaces and winter veld 

All the ladies taking a look at 2 rhinos that were unfortunately not showing us their "good side" for decent photos

 A wild monkey stole a guest's shades and jumped on the wind-shield!

 Where else do you get to game-sail instead of game-drive?

Giving each other a warm welcome to Friends with an Introduction Night.  We shared food, photos and stories of our various backgrounds.

With 12 new guests and more on the way we were all treated to Austrian, Dutch, German, Columbian, Zimbabwean, Swedish, South African and French introductions.

There were a few traditional Dutch games played to give us a better feel of Holland (and to make us look silly, me thinks)

"Jaws"

From time-to-time it's great just to sit in a park with friends from Friends...

...and monkey around

This coming weekend is our September Adventure: Kruisrivier Game Reserve and Witbank Skydive!

Will post some pics soon, but rather come join and take photos yourself - it's an open weekend.

Peace

BIG IMAGE POST - take a look!

We'll start off with some more photos of dinners both at Friends and out on town.  It's always a treat to the pallet and soul!

We've been to a few parties here and there, notably Goldfish in Jhb and regular trips to Park Acoustics in Pta.

 This little one partied harder then our veteran music-show-goers!

Below are a few shots from our first Park Acoustics.

As is tradition - we stayed for the sunset, Voortrekker Monument included!

 Some of the crazies that we call friends and family here ;)

Recently we had an exhibition of Willem Pretorius' work at Friends.  As with most that include free food and drinks - congenial times were had

We're hitting a full day tomorrow including the Boere Mark, Irene Village Market and annual Potjie & Mampoer Festival, so those interested give us a shout :D

Holland vs Germany EURO

On Wednesday the 13th we had a full house of avid football fans enjoying the game (until it was over at least for some) and the occasional pint of Weiss Bier we had on tap.

Till tomorrow's Rugby - keep sporting on

Peace

Vredefort, Parys & Potch

We hit the World Heritage Vredefort Dome on Friday the 25th May.  With plenty of energy most everyone partied the week away in the mountains around a lamb potjie and a White Russian or twelve!

The Saturday we went for a guided tour through the mountains formed by a meteorite's impact and the earth's subsequent rebound - forming the Dome.

After lunch we headed into the quaint riverside town of Parys to go for a long quad-bike tour.  As one can see the expression "eat my dust" in racing was taken up quite literally.  We had loads of fun on the 22km excursion.

After a victory beer we headed off to our next destination: Potchefstroom where we booked into a backpackers.  We enjoyed a lakeside dinner and a few drinks before going out to party in the student town. Lang-arm & Sokkie were the order of the night and the weekend's full schedule started claiming those tired with alluring, warm beds.

The next day saw us head back home but only to drop off our bags and pick-up or picnic baskets for Park Acoustics on Fort Schanskop.  Here everyone ate, listened and slept well (yours truly included).

This sunset finished off our weekend.  We headed home, had supper together and slept....well, those that went out to enjoy cocktails did sleep - but only later then the rest ;)

Until our next adventure (Durban's warm beaches are calling).... peace!