The second coming of the Ancient of Days

My dad last visited us about eight years ago when he spent two weeks with us in Lesotho. His second visit has just finished, and he was here for the last three weeks to see what we do and check up on us!

We got him out flying a few times...


And had to dress him up once to make him look official!

We got out a few times on the mountain bike...


and a mate of mine took him fishing.


We also spent a day in the Kruger Park and saw a shed load of animals, including more Rhino than you could shake a stick at.


We also got a pic of a lion from about two feet away.


On the day before he left we went to Blyde River Canyon


Not being one to sit still for long, in his spare time he decided to wash our planes, dig our garden and paint our house - which did need doing.


In return Cathy made sure he went back looking smart...


Other than that he met most of our friends, came to our church and took us out for lots of meals.

Good old dad!

Back in Black

Just in case you think life here is all play and no work, this is just to let you know that last week ended up being quite busy.

Paul did two last minute flights to Mozambique. The request for the one was very late in the afternoon and he ended up coming back in the dark. There was no moon and in that part of Moz there are no towns, so just like AC/DC he spent two hours coming 'Back in Black'. Very black as it happens so the only notable view untill the aproach lights at the end, was of the cockpit.

Paul

Top ten finish in local race!

As winter recedes into the distant chilly past, the weekend race calendar starts to fill up with opportunities to test your mettle against other like minded exponents and of course, oneself.

Being able to get out for a ride in the morning for an hour before work, and even sneak in an hour after work in the light has helped, and in one of the first races recently Paul was able to record a top ten finish.

Jostling for position at the start.

Sounds impressive but the race in question was a low key triathlon - so low key in fact that only six people bothered to enter the 'big' race (800m swim, 20km bike and 5km run).

The agony of the low key triathlon runner.

Despite being joint last at the end of the swim, Paul battled hard on the bike, and managed to hold his position on the run, to narrowly finish fourth.

He commented after wards that all his training in the bath didn't seem to have paid off, and the fact that it was only a 100m walking commute to work each day likely hampered his preparation for the run.

Durbs

Last Thursday we went down to Durban to see Matthew and his girlfriend Annie for the weekend.

It was a long drive (8 hrs) but then getting to most places in SA involve a long drive.

We did a few toiuristy things including going to a Sharks v Cheetahs rugby match.

During which Cathy had a hard time concealing her excitement!

We went to uShaka, a big aquarium near the harbour.
Here's Cathy getting up close, but fortunatley not too personal with a hammer head shark.

We saw Matthew's new car - a GSM Flamingo, and one of only 128 ever made.

Then it was a long drive back home again on the Monday.

Paul and Cathy