Nambiti Big 5 Game Reserve with the Campbells, 24-27 January

For our Californian friends Ellie and Steve Campbell’s first African adventure, going on safari was a must. Fortunately, KwaZulu-Natal province has some of the country’s best game reserves for spotting the Big 5* (leopard, lion, rhino, elephant and buffalo), and they’re all a 2.5 to 3 hour drive from our Umhlanga Rocks home.

Hluhluwe-Imfolozi is one we’ve visited occasionally over the years, and possibly the most popular; Phinda perhaps the most high-end; iSimangaliso (previously the St Lucia Wetland Park) is on the Elephant Coast near the Mozambique border; as a child, I went there with my parents.

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Brahman Hills and Verne’s Big Birthday Bash, 17-22 January 2020

Several good hotels and spas are to be found in the green and pleasant Midlands of KwaZulu-Natal. The newest and shiniest of these is Brahman Hills, designed for weddings and conventions but also geared for girly getaways.

A few days after Verne’s Big Birthday Bash* at the Oyster Box Hotel in Umhlanga, sister Dale and our mutual BFF Julie tore me from the bosom of assembled family and friends for a magnificent Midlands Meander  birthday treat. (Click here, here, here, here and here – what, so many? – for posts on previous meanderings.)

(*Scroll down to the end for a whole lot of party photos, if you feel so inclined. Plus a gratuitous video of the author busting a move.)

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Durban Curry Wars, January 2020

Sampling an authentic local curry is a must on the itinerary of any first-time visitor to Durban. With our Californian friends Ellie and Steve due to arrive in a couple of weeks, it behoved us to suss out the best place to take them.

First up, with daughter Wendy as the third member of the judging panel, we drove 20 minutes north from Umhlanga, Durban to the Sea Belle at Desainagar Beach, Tongaat, traditionally an Indian area. Mostly, the place came to mind because my sister Dale – also due to join us soon from London – had mentioned an ardent desire for its famous prawn curry.

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Verne’s Visa Woes, December 2019

Triple visa challenge; one night in an Athens jail; Japie-friendly destinations and a wander down Memory Lane; a toast to travel in 2020

Arriving in my home town of Durban a couple of months ago was not the time to kick back and relax, as Roy sternly reminded me. I had to get cracking on the three visas I required for our 2020 travels: Australia, France and the UK.

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Five Days in Mauritius, 16-21 October

Rhotacism: can you say your r’s properly?; Yo ho ho – get thee to a rummery, go;  The Residence Mauritius

Chamerel Rhumerie, an excellent day out

A rhumerie is of course a place where rum is made. And the reason I wanted to start this post with Chamerel Rhumerie is that it was probably the highlight of our visit to the Indian Ocean island state of Mauritius.

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Arles Interlude, 4-7 October

Romantic Roy retrospective; Le Café La Nuit; Roy does 10,000 Roman steps; the Camargue – white horses, black bulls, grey salt and brass bands

Arles street, October 2019

Retrospective

Way back in the mid-nineties, long before the digital era, Roy and I spent a week in Provence. We flew to Nice, overnighted there in a room above a betting shop, then drove our hired car to Arles.

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Visa Run to Blighty – Part 3: 25 Sept to 1 Oct

The Morrises and The Ivy; friends, family and the three-day Fish Rule; England’s Rose Freehouse; The Real Ship Inn at Sandgate; Eurotunnel to Calais; Beaune again

Tower Bridge, London… look at that sky!

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Visa Run to Blighty – Part 2: Henley-on-Thames, 22-25 September

Mr Piper picks a peck of pretty Pipers; living it up at the Leander; beer with buddies at the Boater’s Bar

It just so happened that Roy and I found ourselves in the south of England on the weekend of the annual Piper Boats get-together at Henley-on-Thames.

Andrea Piper, Simon Piper and Roy

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Captain Granddad and the family in Moissac, 15-16 September

It was an exciting moment all round when our Perth, WA-based son Carl, his wife Carrie and granddaughters Mia (9 going on 29) and Holly (5 and a half) arrived in Moissac to spend a couple of days with Captain Granddad, daughter Wendy and me on the boat.

This was nearing the tail end of the girls’ first trip to Europe, seeing the sights of London and visiting friends and family elsewhere in England, followed by several nights in both Paris and Eurodisney. What an adventure!

At long last… Carl and Captain Dad on board Karanja

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