Our first week.

Hi everyone!!

So this is gonna be our first proper post on our blogger site!!!

Well its the end of our first week and we feel great that we have another 21 WEEKS to go!!!

(although im sure they will wizz by!)

So, what have we been up to? Well our first stop

was in cape town, we arrived and went straight out to go up table mountain. The weather was

great and the view amazing. We thought it might be a good idea to walk down, back to the cable car station.... (i say we... i really mean "I".... this is Will writing this by the way... hence the bad grammer...) this took slightly longer than expected!.... (and we were feeling the pain of our adventure for the next 3 days). Just enough time for a bath in the hotel room before dinner

Next morning for a quick walk down to the beach

to see the 12 apostles... (sticky out bits of the back of table mountain) then a one and a half hour drive to Gans Bai... to go swimming....... with Great White Sharks!!!....

They are really quite big...... and snappy....

We end up in a cage that sits alongside the boat, with 7 other guys, with our wet suit on. A guy then shouts "On The Right!!" you then stick your head under the water, watch the massive fish swim by (dead eyes looking straight at you...)... once that one has passed by, you pop back up, just in time to catch your breath before "On The Left!" and you go under again. This was quite amazing.

After a couple of goes in the cage, I decide the best view was probably at the other end of the cage where the guy was luring the sharks in with the bait. I have a little word and we are back in at the other end of the cage.

No sooner are we in when my theory was proved right when a large shark manages to grabs some bait and swims STRAIGHT into the cage 6 inches away from MY FACE!!!.... it then gets more interested in the cage than the bait and starts to bite and thrash around, biting the cage and bursting the floats (which, incidentally are on the INSIDE of the cage!!!!....) with its massive jaws!.... some time later...... after it has thrashed free, I remember that i do need to breath air and come to the surface to see lorraine (and everyone else for that matter shouting and whooping for joy..... I pity the person using my wet suit after me.....

Next morning we are off to Namibia.... quick flight to Windhoek. we dont hang about, pick up the 4x4 camper and were off to our first campsite in time for sunset.

We get up early (4:30) and head off for our hot

air balloon ride across the sossusvlei dessert..... or so we thought.... our very exiting new campervan had a flat battery.... (turns out you can't leave the electric fridge on all night after all!)....

fortunately, one of the other campers was awake and we managed to get a jump start. We managed to do the 45 minute journey in a terrifying 20 mins but just managed to get there only 2 mins late!

Up we go for a slightly cloudy view of the desert, but the experience was fab! We landed to be greeted by our champagne breakfast waiting for us, set up in the morning sun.

Once back in our camper we go for a look round

"dead vlei", a patch of the dune desert which has the most amazing dead trees, apparently more than 500 years old.

Next day, we are up at dawn, off to hike up dune

45.... and then run back down again.

We then head off on a 3 hr drive to camp in the middle of nowhere, in Namib Naukluft Park..... or so we thought! the camper van packs up on a secluded view point 500 yard from the main GRAVEL road to swakopmund. It appears to be

the petrol pump..... we are not going anywhere! We are at least 2hrs in all directions from the nearest town.... completely cut off from civilisation.... only one car an hour passing by on the dusty road..... I didn't panic...... much.

However, the wonders of modern technology...... The mobile has RECEPTION!!!..... ( we still can't

quite get our head round this.... we are literally nowhere!!... it doesn't work in central london half the time!!!) Within hours we have the van on the back of a pickup and we are on our way to get it

fixed in swakop. Pity we missed out on the camping trip but that's only a small hickup. The only complaint is the car hire people put us up in the crappiest backpacker lodge in town... shaln't bore you with the details.... but it was grim.

Next day, we are off at first light (just to get out of there!!) and

go for a spot of sand boarding in the dunes.

We get back to the hostel to pick up the car and immediately leave to check into our pre booked hotel...... only the car packs up again after 500 yards.... turns out they thought it best not to replace the petrol pump?????...... they come and collect the car and drop us at the hotel.

This morning we get up at first light to go on a Dune Safari, we see the Little 5 critters (among others) who live in the dunes. Dancing spiders, geckos, chameleons and snakes, really ace!!

Right then, we are off to bed as we are going in the morning to Etosha national park to do our first Big safari!!!! Lorraine is looking forward to seeing the zebra and elephants.

So we will catch up in a week or so i guess!

hope everyone is well back home!!

Smiles

Will and Loz