Labour and Delivery!!!

okay Carlene - here's the overdue update!
Last week we bought a great Toyota Land cruiser. It's '93, 4.2 diesel and has got lots of useful accessories like a roof rack, a snorkel, bull bars, a deep cycle battery, drawers in the back, diff-locks and other technical things! (Learning fast here!) Will send a picture soon. Today after a second viewing, we agreed to buy a trailer. It's also nearly as old - but has stuff like improved suspension - leaf and gas shock absorbers, and the wheel width is the same as the car - helpful in avoiding potholes!  Next thing is the 4x4 course that we'll try and do. I'm only just beginning to get to a place of wanting to do it, and feeling excited about the coming 10 months! Asher and Ajay will spend a day with a mechanic early this week replacing and adding more accessories. And then - all we need to do is get the 'carnet de passage' for the car and the trailer, (vehicle passport paperwork) - around 10 days or so. It's been intense few weeks, again. Now we've worked out why most people take a year or two to organise a trip of this nature!
We've met LOADS of people. It took three hours for our sa bank to release a cheque for the car, sabotaging our family trip to Robbyn Island off Cape Town. I forgot how frustrating a new country can be. We didn't realise there is a 1% charge for all cash taken out of the bank or that it was the Thank goodness for Guy and Belinda's lovely refuge - thanks guys!
We've been marking time, anxious to get on - trying to enjoy the enforced rest. Not too much to say! We'll try and do a test run for a few days, while waiting for the paper work to come through this week.

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Contraction Pains!

Escaping with a good book and a glass of wine after a day of 'snowboarding' down the sand dunes with the red african sun setting behind our roof top tent seems a long way off! We are still full-on and have spent the last week or more investigating every lead we have for a petrol/diesel, landcruiser/landrover and maybe a trailer (or not)! Every item compared for its pros and cons. Our contacts are beginning to overlap so we know that we are beginning to saturate the Cape Town 4x4 market.  Every trip, the kids rattle around in the back - until neither they nor we can take anymore - and then we split off for a day, giving Ajay a bit more freedom. Asher's been helpful in accompanying Ajay though. It's a bit like birthing a baby - trying to get this car. Even when it comes through, it will need tlc and time to get to know it! Ajay wants to change all the bits, so that we have spare parts at hand. AA are just doing a 3 hour check at this moment, before we buy it. (The mechanic wanted to talk to Ajay 'in person'.) So I'm not even sure if the sale will be aborted and we'll have to start again looking for another! Now I know why cars get given names - any ideas?!!!
 

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This ain't the most creative piece of writing. Ajay and I are too preoccupied with finding a reliable vehicle (and trailer?), and all the extras a family of five need to survive for a trek through Africa. And it's pretty cold here. I guess the peninsular of SA generally attracts a lively wind which literally gives the house and everything around a good shaking. So heading out with a few cubic meters of space for the five of us is somewhat daunting and less than inviting at the moment...! But I looked up HK weather and noticed that it's a hot weather warning, so I'm sure a fresh breeze on your face is an enviable thought. We've met some lovely South Africans, and as different as you can imagine from each other. Some who honestly questioned our sanity as parents, and others who are 'green with envy'. As someone said, the difference between courage and, well ... something else, is the outcome!

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Welcome to Cape Town

Africa - here we come! We are here safely in South Africa. We saw a few whales of the coast of Hermanus - Ajay and the kids have gone to look for more.

The last few weeks have been somewhat intense - although all relative in the grand scheme of life. Anyway, the kids and Ajay are all delighted at touching down and calming down for a while. You can see the pressure is off the kids. The boys and I sat down to play Scrabble last night, and want to play again tonight. I'm amazed!

It still hasn't hit me - I think in hindsight, this has all happened very quickly. From concept to take-off, a mere 10-12 weeks. And Channel 4 only confirmed a little more than 10 days before arriving. So now wonder we're feeling a little shell-shocked!

Anyway - we're well and happy. Will walk, eat, sleep, talk and plan over the next 2 or 3 weeks. Keep in touch!

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You know when an opportunity kind of lands in your lap and all you have to do is say Yes? But that Yes means venturing out on completely unchartered territory.  Does the boat get pushed out, or does it remain in the secure harbor. Well, … here we are less than two weeks away from a journey into Africa and beyond, an overland journey back to UK from Cape to Cairo and onto UK. Half of me thinks … WHAT are we doing??? .... and the other half just gleeful!! The trouble is this venture has presented us with another pile of open doors. We'd like to connect the communities in Africa with resources from 'the west'. Remind me – how long is that piece of string?

 

 

 

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Why, oh why!

To move from one sphere to another is exhausting! I didn’t realize the amount of energy required to release ourselves from our secure place of abode and reestablish an entirely new way of life.

That said – we’re nearing the end of the process.  And secretly, I’m delighted at the excuse to leave behind what has become a very full life, and at times, difficult to maintain effectively. Not to say that now and again I’m not having mini panic attacks – wondering if we’re doing the right thing; thinking of how better we could spend this money; are we being responsible giving the kids such an alternative life style; academia? I mean, like anyone else, deep down I actually want to fit into normal society!

But it’s not so much about leaving a full and interesting life behind – it’s more about running with opportunities, finding an open door and taking initiative. It’s a chance, for a while, to live more intensely, more creatively as a family, to our own rythym, our own tune. We want to consolidate what we have and who we are. I’m hoping we’ll have time to marinate as individuals within our family context, creating memories and experiences that will shape us for a life time. We’re taking a family sabbatical! 

What would you do if you had a year 'out'?

3 and a half weeks before we arrive in SA!

Yesterday we booked flights. Vaccinations done. Int. driving licence sorted. The big item - the house - is still to sort out. Trying hard not to get worried. This w/e we'll open it up to potential tenants, not just buyers. 

We're still working hard trying to obtain sponsors. BUT good news - Relocasia, our moving company have offered to deliver two huge boxes of equipment to Namibia! So next on the to-do list is to approach companies and individuals to help full it - pens, pencils, note books, kids' reading books, any sports equipment, asprins.

We've read some beautiful accounts on line. For instance one lady in Namibia started Saturday soccer and ended up with 500 kids coming and forming their own teams every week.

Still trying to get a photo of all five of us - obviously not that easy a task.

Test

This is directly from my email 

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We have got pre-trip nerves, for sure! Half the time I can't sleep because I'm trying to work this idea through (still) - the rest of the time I can't sleep because I'm so excited!

Apparently there's a problem with Aj's driving license. I don't want to drive all the way through Africa - so I hope it's not too big. Will phone mum in uk tonight to follow that up

We are the Pindorias.

We are planning on coming back to UK – via Africa. We are starting at Cape Town and ending in Britain. We are hoping to visit Botswana, Zimabwe, Kenya, Turkey, Greece, Italy, France and Germany because of its food!

 

We moved to Hong Kong 8 years ago. We love it. What a great way to experience something different as a family. Obviously the wonder-lust has not worn off yet. I am hoping that it will in the next few years though.

At the moment we are still planning and researching our trip back.

Waterfall adventure 1

Heavy dark skies, thunder and lightening, and cold (24c) in Hong Kong - so 'we' decided to take a little waterfall walk, up a little river. I should have remembered a little walk with Ajay an a day such a this, ment anything but.

Three hours later, thankfully, we all arrived back in one piece - having scrambled up rocks and through swollen rivers, having climbed and climbed through 80 degree inclines pulling ourselves up from one sapling to the next, against rain and wind, with little riverlets running down the sapling trunks, paddling through woodland paths full of running water, forcing our way through invisible nets of cobwebs...

The photos just don't show it! But we loved it.

Just beware, if you should happen to be offered 'a little walk' from a certain someone!