Last weekend was another junk trip and also my birthday. That’s why no blog – recovering from one and celebrating the other.

This weekend has been completely different. Mr Shallot has been participating in various sporting activities for most of the time (Individual Time Trial, practice for the mixed doubles work tennis game and today he’s at a work running event where I’ve just been told he’s come second in the seniors category. He’d be happy about the placing but probably not so happy being called a ‘senior’).

Anyway, this has meant that I’ve had quite a bit of time to catch up on some reading, doing my team’s budget and finalising our trip to South Africa. Did I mention we fly out this Thursday? Yes, we have had our flights upgraded to business class with points too. At this stage, I’m looking more forward to the flight rather than the rest of the trip but I figure that should all be mapped out otherwise we’ll land and I’ll just be looking forward to another flight with the bit in between being a bit of a blur.

Mr Shallot’s only criteria was that he must see some animals. So, we’re going to do a two night stay in a safari. They’re calling it a tent but the online photos make it look more like a luxury hotel with canvas sides. It even has a toilet inside so I don’t really think this is camping. It looks like camping that my dad could do which is to say that it seems fairly five star. I’ll report back once I’ve seen this for myself – everyone knows not to believe everything they read on the electronic interweb.

We’ll also be going to a cheetah rehabilitation centre where bizarrely, they also look after tiger cubs. I’ve looked into this as tigers aren’t known for hanging out in Africa (given my point about re not believing everything) and it is true. I’ve known people who have seen them.

If that isn’t enough animals already, we’ll also be going to Addo Elephant Park.

There’s also long lost relatives to see, though it’s more likely we’ll be the lost ones. To avoid this, we’ll hire a car with GPS. At least they drive on the same side of the road as we’re use to so we won’t have the additional challenge that we experienced in Italy.

The plan so far is to land in Johannesburg and fly out to Cape Town where we’ll stay for a few nights and try to fit in as much as we possibly can without rushing. I’m aware of the contradiction and not surprisingly, I have a plan for this too. I’ve discovered the Red Explorer Bus which seems to be the same kind of concept as the one in Sydney. We’ll do this on our first day while we’re beginning to recover from jet lag and then we’ll know where things are and what we would like to see more of. This is all good in theory.

At the end of the Cape Town part, we’ll hire a car and drive the Garden Route to Port Elizabeth. On the way, we’ll be stopping off to see the Cango Caves (I did a project on South Africa in Year 6 which featured these so I figure I should see them) and the Cheetah Rehab Centre and whatever else takes our fancy along the way.

We’re spending a bit of time in PE (many SA towns seem to be reduced to acronyms) as there’s some relatives there and it’s a good base to Addo and the safari. Our family is hosting a braai for us too – more about this after we’ve done it.

So, it’s unlikely that I’ll post anything for the next two weeks as I’m not taking a laptop this trip. I’m experimenting with how light I can travel as I read about a guy doing 12 countries in six weeks and he’s only taking what he’s wearing and anything he can fit in his pockets.

Yes, he does wash.

* Thanks again to Madonna for this one. Doesn’t anyone else do holiday songs?