Patrick got up at 4am on Sunday morning to get to Nottingham Road, the Midlands of-South Africa not Notts to do a half -marathon race. More than 1500 runners doing marathon or half marathon and he came 9th but as usual just missed out on a prize as they only gave one to the first over-40 male and he came second!
Spent the afternoon in Umgeni park, doing the 'Dwarf' walk under canopy of trees next to escarpment then came out on top of valley-side with awesome drop to valley floor! Tried to spot giraffe but couldn't see any. Views were spectacular though. Must post up some photos...

We have arrived in South Africa and it is hot hot hot! Shouldn't have bothered with a jumper let alone a coat as it is 30 degrees celsius here.

Just had a picnic (of banana and bacon sandwiches) with zebra, wildebeast (pronounced vilderbeest cos this is Afrikaa after all) and buck (no idea which ones as yet) at the Umgeni valley park in KwaZulu-Natal. Amazing views across to Howick waterfall and 'informal town' i.e. slum at the back of Howick itself.

Went swimming last night in the warm waters of a nearby dam while Patrick joined the local running club for a 11km run.

Visited Howick prep school this morning with boys and it is fab: fantastic sporting facilities (lots of soccer of course as well as tennis courts, hockey/rugby pitches and a heated outdoor swimming pool), very friendly and the boys will be able to go on an overnight school trip to stay in a Zulu village during their stay at the school. They will have to learn both Zulu and Afrikaans as well as all the usual subjects and we heard the kids African singing practise so if they can do that as well it will be amazing. There are three or four classes per year and they will be in the 'top' class for year four and five respectively.

School starts at 0745!!! so we have to be there at 0730. I can see why because it is soo hot. It finishes at 2pm then there is sport until 3 or 4pm each day.

I've been given a US funding proposal to review for WESSA the environmental charity that our hosts work for as well as a report to edit so that should keep me busy for a while but as school doesn't start till 12th April then we will head off to the mountain kingdom of Lesotho in a couple of days to have more adventures!

The boys have been riding already as there are 3 ponies at the house and there is a menage area albeit with very long grass that the boys can ride 'Chelsea' around in. She is a real pet and the boys are having great fun learning to ride her.

All packed and ready for departure. No sign that flights with BA will be disrupted today so depart as planned at 1750. Getting a lift to the Oxford-LHR airbus with my uncle Ian who has taken a couple of rare days off from work to spend time with his mother (my grandmother) who was 90 yesterday. Ian knows all about LHR terminal 5 as he did the drilling ahead of construction - terminal 5 was an open sewerage works so not a pleasant job!

Talk about leaving important jobs to the last minute - managed to re-negotiate the selling price of the house this morning and got confirmation from estate agent/buyer/solicitor on final price so exchange of contracts will happen while we are airbourne.

Oscar is so excited that he has had to lie down - all snuggled up on the sofa. Alfie is eating a last minute peanut butter sandwich and reading the newspaper - very Patrick-like!

I will take a photo of our luggage: one rucksack each plus a day sack with essentials for the flight. Managed to chuck out boys' football boots and Patrick's fell-running shoes and I am leaving behind my black boots (I can wear trainers instead).

So toodle-ooh and be in touch from South Africa!!!

List getting shorter

Bought 30 litre rucksacs for each of the boys. They love all the pockets. Small enough to go on the plane as hand-luggage and won't be too heavy even when fully packed.

For 5 months, Oscar plans to pack:

yoyo, DSi, pen/paper, recorder, books, headphones to listen to music;

2 pairs trousers and 3 shorts (2 pairs for school), pants, socks, sandals, school shoes, jumpers (one casual and one for school), pjs and 3 t-shirts;

football boots/socks, shin pads/mouth guard, riding boots and jodphurs, swimming togs/goggles, ballet shoes/unitard.

I'm realising that most of our space is going to be taken up with sporting kit! We will have to leave the riding kit, football boots and school clothes behind when we move on to Australia/NZ!

I'm very excited about our trip around the world but I'm sad because I'm going to miss all of my friends. Today, 6th March, I might buy a Nintendo Dsi or xl so I can use it for all the long journeys and if you could comment, which one is better out of Nintendo dsi or an XL?

I am very excited that I will be going around the world soon and that includes: South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Japan. I am especially looking forward to going to school in Howick.

Decided to review the list of 44 things (with sub clauses) to do before we leave. An excerpt:

1. Car - transfer ownership to my sister, tax it (done), check on MOT (done), cancel insurance
2. Leicester house - find a buyer (done), sell it in 3 weeks (fingers crossed)
3. Devon house - pack up everything, clean it, move out on 17 March, get deposit back (!)
4. Travel insurance (done) - getting over being too old for 'backpacker' package!
5. Find an aikido dojo near us in South Africa - no luck yet
6. Internet - set up blog (done), websites for sculpture (under construction) and Placewise Ltd

So this is my first ever blog and all thanks to Louise May who set it up! This blog is going to be a diary of our 5 month trip to South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Japan which starts exactly 3 weeks today - yippee.