South africa off to the game presurve

I was really sad that all of the diving was over. Gerri and I had rented a car the day before diving and was suppose to be out of our room at breakerview. The owners where really nice and said that we could still use the room to shower and get all the salt off of us. At that point we didn't know where we where staying so we where just going to wing it. We talked to one of the guys that we where diving with named Allen and he had invited us to stay with him with his girl friend. We had lots of drinks and had a good time. We where still really pumped from the baited dive.

We left early that morning for imfolusi/hluhluie national part and where going to stay in the tents there. On the drive there we parked after getting gas, when a van just packed full of kids pulled in beside us. Gerri was inside, but one of the little girls looked at the food in the back seat and almost started crying saying she was hungry. I passed over some buns and things to the kids and it was like a feeding frenzy for them to get some. The kids grabbed at the bags and shoved food in there mouths as fast as they could. It was the saddest thing I have ever seen, I thought of my girls and how lucky they are. One little town we stopped at was really creepy. The death glares where insane. It seemed like everyone was trying to stare us down, Gerri and I just portended not to notice. After we left there was a big sigh of relief, then we got lost trying to get out of the town. We turned the corner of this beautiful little street to monkeys all over the road and in the trees with little wee babies. On the way to the game park we got to one entrance and we told we had to go the other way around. Along the way the radio played loosing my religion by REM and we sang it on the top of our lungs as loud as we could laughing our asses off. Gerri and I kept looking around wholly shit we are in Africa, wow! It was the most amazing feeling ever. When we finally got the the right entrance, there was a big of trouble with rooms booked but we where in the tents. We got in and right away there was animals all over the place. We where of course Japanese tourists, stapping photos left right and center, he he. It got dark fast though and soon we saw hiena's crossing the road. We got the camp site and as we turned to go to the tent there was 2 hiena's crossing in front of us literally feet away from our tent. We laughed very nervously. When we got in the tent soon after, the crickets started going nuts, and I could hear snarls coming from outside...aka lions. Yes Gerri I herd lions starling. We later found out that the bugs do that as a warning sign when predators are around...more nervous laughter.

Baited Dive

We did a dive first thing in the morning to test the waters first. As soon as we got in the water all you could hear was wales and the clicking noises Dolphins made. This was the dive that Gerri almost lost her weight belt. Gerri and I stayed on top of one of the other caves holding on to conserve air (which made a massive difference). I saw a few sea slugs on the reef which was awesome. Gerri was fighting the current, turned and the belt started to come off. We where at under 30 Meters so that if she would have dropped her weight belt Gerri would have shot up to the surface with a ton of different problems all resulting in allot of pain and misery.


Everyone was so excited for the baited dive, weather was getting rougher by the minute but the visibility was still good. Mark set the bait and put the bait barrel into the water, which including fish heads and things, fish oils and other really not so pleasant smelling things. We waited about 20 minutes and Mark snorkeled down to see what kind of shark activity we had. He came up one happy man making the sign of the Tiger shark, exactly what I had come to see. When we first got into the water it was one giant gong show, with everyone everywhere. Shortly after we got into the water the Tiger shark disappeared. Mind you there was 12 bull sharks (Zambezi's) there instead....woooooow! a couple of times I had them swimming right around me and under my feet, it was amazing. Thankfully the Tiger came back and started checking us out. That was when the Tiger came quite close to me, Mark came swimming to try and scare the shark away if need. I wasn't interested in the bull sharks anymore just the Tiger Shark. Ever since I was really young all I wanted to do was swim with a Tiger shark and now was my moment. I stared into the Tigers eye as it swam by me, absolutely amazed. Adrenaline was pumping but not with any kind of fear, more amazement of this beautiful creature. Ya I know that at any moment this animal can take a good bite into me, but the reality is they aren't the blood thirsty creatures everyone makes them out to be. Unfortunately my air was done and I had to go back into the boat. I wanted to cry and scream at the same time. Wow, I just did what? When everyone got back on the boat Roland our skipper and the launch owner asked how it went....I just started hooting and hollering....I think that says it all!

Protea Banks Dives

The next day we where able to dive. It was cold out and our wet suites where wet...yuck. The night of the election was 2 days prior, and everyone in Africa was celebrating. You could hear go Obama in the streets. Who did we happen to dive with... 2 Republicans, who where very sour about Obama getting into office. Allen a guy we where diving with just kept yelling go Obama,lol, it was really funny. We dove at Protea banks north pinnacles. There where caves and overhangs that we went through, found lots of sharks teeth. There where allot of dangerous fish in there like the lion fish and scorpion fish. This one guy we eventually started calling Blondy went in close for photos, not very smart considering the lion fish can kill you. I went through my air really quickly but at the same time I wanted to see how deep I could go. I went 37 meters...wowza. South Africa is one of the only places in the world that will let you go that deep. The second dive that day was good not as exciting it was in the south pinnacles of protea banks. It was nice diving of course but probably one of my least favorite dives. Gerri and I went to Karen's place for a Braai (barbecue) and we had Grissel which is really thick bacon strips barbecued, and traditional South African sausages, wow was it good.

South Africa 2

I am home now but thought I would update, seeing as I didn't do that much before. The day after the last post, the diving was still delayed. We ended up geting moved from our orriginal room in Breakerview to a bigger one without a beach view. We decided to Hire (rent) a car and we ended up going to a place called Oribi Gorge. One the way there we got lost a few times, almost going to Durban during the first scenic ruite. Oribi Gorge ended up being a beautiful drive up the mountain. Little huts where everywhere. It was crazy to see the people dressed so nice, boys with the backwards hats just like you would see walking the streets of canada, except you would see them crawl out of the clay huts. Homes where either made of clay or brick, mostly brick. On the hills if alot of the homes made of Brick didn't have roofs. When we got to Oribi Gorge we first got something to eat. The inviroment was amzing. We sat on big fluffy couches outside overlooking the forest. After food we drove around and made our way to the big 5 site. There I decided to do the swing jump. The swing there is the largest in the world and is at the top of a water fall 100 meters high. You have to walk down this metal cage ladder then get straped to safety cables. Gerri pushed me forward so I would go first, the brat. When I looked down I though, what the heck am I doing? The man there was very nice, I told him he might have to push me. The count down started then what do you know I felt 2 hands pushing me right off the cliff. There was an outline of a body at the bottom to make matters worse. Wow though it was a crazy feeling falling then being slowly pulled back up. If we had no though of money we would do it again. After we walked around to the table over hang. You can see where we jumped and baboon castle really well. We started walking around when I heard rustling in the bushes, scared me until a deer jumped out and ran away. We got back to the main hut and got a few things from the gift shop.

Ok so our trip here was very very long. The london airport is a bit of a nightmare, and our plane was delayed so we had to run like hell when we got to johansberg. When we got to Durban it was like being on the beach. We caught a shuttle bus to Shelly Beach and the next day started our diving lessons.Karen is our instructor and an amazing person. She's dived all over the world. The first three days where in the pool doing drills. We got into the ocean the boat ride out is very exciting with boat going in all directions. We went to Raggies Cave off of Alawal Shoal, and as soon as we got down there there where tones of sharks everywhere. They are sand tiger sharks and very doppy animals. I was a little nervious but it didn't take long to realize they are as harmless as a fish. We also saw a green turtle which was great. The next dive we had some divers that hadn't dived in a really long time. Hugh was a older man and he got sick on the way out and almost pucked on me, lost a fin and paniced on the way up. all not so nice. The next day we did a deep 30 meter wreck dive. you can get something called narcosis (a.k.a. drunk-osis) which makes you feel like your are drunk underwater. I went down to fast and had some problems with my regulator so I had to come up and then I was ok. The wreck was amazing it was at a place called pruduce which was a ship that went down 100's of years ago. There where these large brittle bass fish that where about twice the size of us. You can't tell from the pictures though. The next dive was my fav. where you don't attatch the bouy line and drift with the current. It was amazing to see all the fish. We saw more sharks, 2 turtles and a hammer head shark.

Today we can't dive because of the weather. It was supose to be at protea banks. Protea is one of the top 5 diving sites in the world. Then as soon as we can we will do the baited dive in search of the tiger sharks.

Africa is such a beautiful place. There are monkeys everywhere on the side of the road. Can't wait to do the safari's.

Luke/Girls/South Africa

Lots has happened it this past while. The girls are great, growing bigger all the time. Sienna talks ALOT, a little chatter box that one. Sanora is doing great in school, top reader of the class I must proudly say. Ya Ya I know it's grade one but I'm still just so proud of her.

Bryan went to Vancouver and Vegas and is recently still in Vancouver. I have missed him alot while he was gone. Bryan and I have if anything grown stronger as time goes on. I'm a very lucky woman to have such a patient man by my side. I'm glad he had fun but I think he could have had even more fun in Vegas if he let himself. Bryan is so dedicated to his family. Bryan has a really hard time being away from his family, and I seem to be his sidekick of some sort.

Unfortunately on the 5th of This month my cousin Luke was hit by a train. Luke and his friend where riding their bikes on the tracks before getting going on foot to explore. The train came and they ran to get their bikes and Luke wasn't so lucky. The service was this past weekend, and from what I hear my family was admiringly strong through the process. His sister Mandy was very close to Luke and I give my heart out to her as I can't imagine what it would be like to loose a sibling. While Gerri-Anne was in Afghanistan I thought about what might happen, but that never even touch on the real thing.

On that note I am very happy that Gerri-Anne is back in Canada. My heart was immediately put at ease of course. Gerri and I leave for South Africa on the 27th of October and I get back on the 15th of November. When I was in grade 3 or 4 I had to do a report on famous landmarks, so I picked Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. I found the people and culture so fascinating I have always wanted to go since.

ciaotic life

Well lots is always happening in our life of chaos. Bryan is officially working on his own now. Bryan is quickly learning that there is no shortage of work for him here. I threw Bryan a welcome to self employment/anniversary suprise party. I only have 4 hours between shifts at the cafe so I spread my preperations out quite a bit, hidding things in the garage. On the night of the party I was working so I Texted Bryan instructions making him go all over the yard and house and finally the garage and told him to look for a black bag. His reply was "the one with all the alcohol in it?" in which I replied "yup, part starts at 7:00" I also brought home all kinds of things from the cafe home.

So the count down is beginning first for Bryan to go to Vagas, then for Gerri to get back to Canada, then for our Africa trip. I'm so excited, and a little nervous. I've never been to a third world country before but as we speek I am doing my research on travel precotions.

Work is going really well. It makes me laugh because on of the owners Tony makes me think of how Dad might run a cafe. It's hard to explain but if you where to meet him you would know why! Everyone in the office went to Italy,so I worked every day so that that the cafe is being taken care of. They really trust me there and I have to say I do a pretty good job at it. I'm can always do better, but the staff listen to me, things get done, and there has been a vase improvment in the structure of the cafe sinse I have got there. I don't know if customers see it, but my bosses do. I have actually gotten lots of comments in the comment jar in refrence to me specifically. Tony (me boss) teases that I paid someone to put them in there...ha what a punk!

Work and the girls

Ok we're finally getting summer here, for this week anyway. I've been working alot so I'm never on the computer much. On the weekends I work 16 hour days, working until 4am most of the time, other nights 8am. I have been doing this for 3 weeks now and I am very quickly wearing thin. I'm going to talk to my boss in the morning about only working at the college once a week. At Baked cafe things are great. They are paying me a great wage, full health benefits, and are going to even pay my phone bill for the ability to have constant contact with me. I'm basically turning into there assistant is probably the best way to think of it. I do most of the admin things and is meeting with the boss tomorrow to take over all the ordering. I'm handling allot of the promotions work as there is going to be live music and art shows being done at the cafe. We have a promotions manager that I will be working with and together we set up the shows and handle any of the extra work. Bryan is quiting Terra Firma at the end of august, and he is very excited about that. I'm excited to as I will be able to relax more when I am work knowing that they are with there daddy.

Sanora and Sienna are getting big fast. Both are having a hard time adjusting to me working so much. Sienna cries allot with me and follows me around everywhere. I try and play with her as much as possible, and I take the girls out alot. I very quickly jumped on the fast track of life, and if I thought my life was busy before it sped up by 10 times. I like it though, I enjoy being busy and I find I am way more on top of things where I am maintaining this kind of life style. I miss my girls tremendously when I am gone but when I am with them I am so much more product with them. Sienna is so talkative know, she says please, thank you, hat, kitty, doggy, mom, dad, more, what's that, and a few more that I can't think right now. I am so in love with my family I tell you. I have the most amazing husband, even if he doesn't think so. My girls are amazing and full of personality. They make me the happiest person alive.