Tuesday, 2 October 2012

I've arrived!!!!! 1st/2nd day

After a long wait of about 6 months when I decided to go on a gap year, I am finally HERE!!!!!! in South Africa.
First part of the trip was pretty good, got the plane from Paris to Cairo, was calm, had good movies to watch (screans behind the seat infront) and I got 2 seats to myself.
Stopped off in Cairo and very almost got lost there, the signs seem to be even worse than in France, but luckily a book-in officer took me to where I needed to be and skipped the whole queue. And then I got onto what seemed at the time like a living nightmare. Not the same plane as the first one. It was terrible, really tacky looking and not that clean, looked like it was going to fall apart when we hit some terbulence, Oh and we left about an hour late because one of the crew was really ill. Even had that airplane moment when one of the air hostesses said through the speaker, " Is anyone a doctor?" !!!!! Grrrrrrrr. Anyways they only had TV s on the walls, really bad quality and crap films, the lights kept on switching on and off and the man next to me had chicken wing arms and kept chewing with his mouth open (not forgetting the terrible food!). Slept about an hour.
So I got to Johannesburg late and felt completely lost, asked one of the staff where to go and once he saw how late I was we sprinted to the check -in but didn'nt have enough time to get to an ATM. So Hannah has no money on her at the moment. I got my boots cleaned whilst waiting to board the plane , free luckily, and and then this really annoying beep started well beeping, and it didn't stop for the whole 50 mins!!!!!! Poor ears :(
The plane to Polokwane was teeny, I could easily fit it in my house and was really noisy but was a quick flight.
Was picked up at the airport by Dave (GWC) and Natasha ( a volunteer staying here for 6 months!) with Toni who had stayed in the city over night and Hanne who was on the same flight as me. Went to the shop to stock up on supplies, the place is HUGE!!!! shelves going up to the sealing and you always have to show the receipt as you walk out of the door. It took 3 hours to get to the camp, slept a bit but now got a few bruises on my head cause the roads are really bumpy. Saw lots of cows and goats on the way, and a few antelope but I can't remember which type.
When we got to camp the others were still out building a shelter. Staying in the same room as Natasha (oh yeah she's french and Toni and Hanne are danish), and in less than 20 mins fell asleep for a couple of hours.
Woke up and met Mark (GWC), Katie and Justin (who are both australian!). Talked a bit, played darts then sat down to yummy veggie meal ( luckily Marks a veggie). most people wondered off to bed but I stayed up and had a laugh witgh Katie, Justin and Mark playnig "pool".
Went to bed at about 10 pm and remembered just how nice it is to sleep in a bed. Slept pretty well but my mosquito net fell on me in the middle of the night! 

6 comments:

  1. I remember a Mali air flight like that. compleye with chickens and goats in passenger area. Extra Space by emergency exits are fore storage and back of my seat wouldn't stay up. Happy days. Glad you got there safe and sound.

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  2. Glad you got there ok, though via interesting transport. Have fun!

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  3. Sounds like the fun has already started!

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  4. loved reading this... so what are your duties and what is it like there? apart from the pool table that is... Freezing here in Normandy and very wet so envy you the heat but not the mosquitos:)

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  5. Glad you are OK darling girl, keep up the info please. xxx

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  6. Thanks :)
    So the camp duties involve cleaning all the surfaces in the kitchen after meals, sweeping inside and the patio, brushing the sand , and vehicle check first thing in the morning.Everyone gets a different day and on saturdays we do a big clean up of the camp. x

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