Zimbabwe

Well, what can I say - we've had an awesome time. Ever since we arrived we've been looked after and pampered by Soph (and Beks when he's been around). We spent our first day in Vic Falls, where we visited the falls and got soaked by the spray. We then had a sunset (aka booze) cruise and spotted numerous hippos, the first of many game sightings. On the second day, we headed out to Somalisa, Soph and Beks' camp in Hwange national park. It is really amazing, in the middle of the bush with no electricity, water or the other luxuries of life, they've created a 5-star tented camp, complete with large teak beds, white fluffy bath robes and an outdoor bathroom with flushing toilets, from which we could observe the elephants in camp as we showered in the morning. The main area is just as spectacular, with a luxury colonial theme (cigars anyone?), and we spent many a night around the campfire. They even have a swimming pool! Needless to say we were totally spoilt.

But nomatter how great the camp is, the real highlight of Hwange is the game. What amazed Nick and I was the concentration of game in the park. We would drive for hours and every few minutes we'd see something, from elephants, rhino, giraffe, wildebeast, wild dogs, various types of antelope (impala, sable, oryx, kudu, steenbock and others), warthogs, zebra, brightly coloured birds, hyena, jackals, and lions (although much to my frustration only Nick saw the lions!). Nick went to Hwange 3 times and I went twice, and on two of the nights we had drinks overlooking a waterhole filled with herds of elephants at sunset. It was spectacular.

We went to two other camps during our time in Africa, Amalinda which is just out of Bulawayo, and Linyanti which is Soph and Beks' new camp in Botswana. Linyanti is also spectacular. It wasn't quite finished when we went there, but it will be just as luxurious as Somalisa. All the tents overlook an amazing plain - what was once a huge river bed. The scenery is really breathtaking - the kind of scenery you expect in africa - incredibly dramatic wide open spaces. Needless to say the sunsets were amazing, particularly when we had a herd of more than 100 buffalo between us and the setting sun. Again, the camp is surrounded by large amounts of wildlife, which didn't thrill us too much when the soft sand prevented us from towing in a 3-tonne trailor (full of the furniture for the camp) and we spent 1.5 hours in the bush at midnight trying to get the trailor to move. We weren't to move too far from the car just in case lions, leopards or other animals were nearby! But I can't rave enough about Linyanti, which is saying something given that it took us 19 hours to drive there from Bulawayo (I am definitely flying in next time!), we stayed 1 day and spent the whole of the next day driving back. We had our first traditional african meal of sadsa and nyama out in Botswana, and our first bush shower, complete with an audience of baboons!

Amalinda was also a very special camp, which I'm sure Nick will describe in his entry.

We spent the rest of our time in Zimbabwe in Bulawayo. While Soph worked, we wandered the streets, visited the art gallery, read books, cooked breakfast slept etc. We met a number of Soph and Beks' friends, one of whom (Steve) showed us his taxidermy shop, complete will a full sized stuffed giraffe! With Steve and Susie we also ate wildebeast and kudo, both of which were very nice!

Anyway, we had an amazing time, and I'm sure I've left so much out, but those are the highlights. We'll definitely be going back!

Leaving News

Hi all,

Well the sun is finally shining here in London and I'm still studying for exams - typical! And with the World Cup beginning, London is coming alive - I've never seen so many St George flags!

I finish exams on Wednesday, and that means we're going home. We leave London on the 25th of June (in two weeks!), and arrive in Adelaide on the 16th of July, and Sydney on the 27th. In between, we're heading to France for some wine tasting in Burgundy (with a detour to Germany to catch up with Louise and York) and then to Zimbabwe to see Soph and Beks!

We're pretty sad about leaving London (well, me more than Nick). We've had an amazing couple of years here, and have made some great friends. While we'll miss being able to duck to the continent, we are looking forward to being back in Sydney.

Laura xx

A mediterranean feast 

Leaving the Island

A Island Harbour 

The Old Town Harbour 

Our favourite fish restaurant 

The Old Town 

The cliff-top bar 

The Harbour 

The Lake District

Last Thursday, along with Beni and Stef, we left the polluted, busy streets of London for the green hills of Britain's premier walking destination - the Lake District. For the first time since arriving in the UK, we hired a car and hit the English roads. This proved not to be that smart an idea. As trains sauntered past, we got stuck in a traffic jam. It took us 4 hours to travel around 400kms, then another 4 hours to travel the next 50. Let's just say that it wasn't the best driving experience of my life!

Nevertheless, after a good 11-12 hours of travel, we finally arrived at Glenridding, a quaint little, ex-mining village in the northern Lakes. We stayed at the Helvellyn youth hostel, at the base of the 3rd highest mountain in the Lakes District. We spent the next three days walking up and down mountains. On Friday, we started off slowly with a 2 hour walk past a waterfall, and then tackled Helvellyn in the afternoon. It was a surprisingly hard walk. Following a pretty constant climb, we then had to climb up jagged rocks (along a ridge with relatively steep drops either side) and snow to the 3000ft summit. The views up there, however, were amazing.

Battling sore muscles, we tackled our second hill/mountain on Saturday. While this walk wasn't as challenging, it was much longer, and we were exhausted by the end. And when Nick professed the need to work in the late afternoon, us girls went into the touristy part of the Lake District in search of the traditional english afternoon tea of scones, jam and cream!

Sunday we headed west to visit my aunt, uncle and cousins in another small town. After another stiff climb, we settled into the comforts of their flat for a traditional Sunday roast. For interested family members, Trish and Pete are doing well. Pete managed most of the walk, and, although he gets a little tired, looks well.

So all in all, we had a wonderful weekend, coming home with much stronger muscles (I can't get Nick to stop going on about his calves!) and a healthy take on life. Actually, despite all our travelling over the past year or so, we found that there is nothing more relaxing than getting out into the countryside and doing some physical exercise. Blue mountains here we come!

A typical view of the Lake District 

Helvellyn - our destination 

Nick and Stef half way up, with the hard climb to come. 

Us at 3000ft 

Another view 

A stone circle.. 

Us, Stef, Beni, Trish, Pete and Jess 

Gate into the old city 

The central square 

Typical street scene 

And another 

Gate at Auschwitz I

Fences

Front of Auschwitz-Birkenau

View from the watch tower

The other end of the tracks - gives you an idea of the scale..

Bath

Well, a couple of weekends ago we dragged ourselves out of bed on Saturday morning and headed off to the Georgian splendour of Bath. This was my second time in Bath, but it was Nick's first, and hence we took the tourist route: Royal Crescent, the Roman Baths, and the Abbey. It was a truly english day, we lunched in a pub, drinking real ale, we had devonshire tea, and we capped off the day watching rugby, where else but in a pub! We also explored an out of the way "arty" area of Bath, full of antique shops and galleries. Note that I took control of the camera for the day, so you can judge which of us is the better photographer!

Other than that, we've been living a reasonably quiet life. We made dinner for 6 friends last Saturday, which needless to say was a strain on both the space and crockery limitations of our apartment! But we did drink some "interesting" wine which I'm sure Nick will elaborate on more fully. And today, for the first time I've seen this winter, it snowed! Although it was a mixture of snow and rain, which is less than pleasant! We just can't wait for the weather to get better really. Bring on the Aussie summer!

Picturesque Bath