Monday, 11th August - Impodimo Lodge, Madikwe Game Reserve.

Our trip to Madikwe  Game Reserve yesterday took about 4.5 hours. We had a lovely lady, Martie, who drove us and explained things along the way. Went through some townships with very small iron huts, and others with more solid and substantial homes. Dry dirt everywhere, a few places had hens and goats, not many had gardens. There were many folk out walking along the sides of the road, or waiting on a bus. It was a pleasant temperature for us of 20 degrees, though for our driver it was cold.

On arrival at the park, around 2pm, Martie drove us the long way so we could see some of the wildlife. There were elephants crossing the road, and some zebra. We arrived at Impodimo Lodge at 2.30, and were shown to our chalet. Just outside our room were elephants bathing in the waterhole! It is an unfenced lodge, so we are not allowed to go to or leave our chalets at night without an armed guard, in case we encounter any wildlife along the way.

At 3pm we met at the pool for High Tea. Then we went on a game drive, with Tyrone our guide and Sam our tracker. Travelled in an open land rover, with a couple from Australia, so there were 6 guests and two staff in total. We saw lions resting after a kill - parked just a few metres away to sit and watch them! There were zebra, jackals, a large buffalo, hyena, steenbuck, warthogs, impala, and many other species of wildlife. We stopped and had a wine and nibbles in a clearing along the way. As it got dark we saw a few nocturnal animals. The temperature dropped the sun disappeared but we had hats, jackets and a rug to keep us warm.

Upon returning to the Lodge around 8pm we gathered in a courtyard for dinner. It was lovely and cosy, with open fires in a bush-like setting. We had a delicious three course meal, and then it was time to be escorted back to our room.

We are in a lovely chalet, which had a small fire burning and hot-water bottles in the bed. There is a bath with a view over the waterhole, and both an inside and outside shower. It was very quiet during the night, though I did hear something nibbling/gnawing - discovered in the morning that there had been a mouse in my bag eating a muesli bar. There were others out on the seat it could have had without going through my bag!

A wake up call came at 6.30 so we got up and dressed and met at the lodge at 6.45 for a hot drink and muffin, before heading back to the vehicle for the early morning game drive. Sam had placed a hot water bottle and rug on our seats, so it was lovely and cosy.

The first big animal we saw was a white rhinoceros. We were able to get within a few metres of this great beast, which continued peacefully grazing alongside of us. So we spent quite a while watching it. It was an amazing experience. The other animals we saw close up included giraffes and elephants. There was a very young elephant which was playing with its mother - the mother was lying down and the baby was climbing on her.

We also spotted quite a number of birds, some beautifully coloured ones and others like quail and guinea-fowl. A drongo also showed itself.

On return to the Lodge  it was time for brunch. We sat poolside for a continental breakfast, and enjoyed the atmosphere. There is a bit of wind today, and it is cloudy, so a bit cooler than yesterday.

This blog is being composed while sitting on the deck overlooking the waterhole. Have watched an elephant bathing, and some impala come by. Quite a number of birds are able to be seen and heard.

It is the dry season so very dusty and brown everywhere. Makes for easier animal spotting than in the summer when the grass and trees are green.
We meet again at 3 for High Tea before heading out again for our dusk game drive. We have requested Tyrone to make sure we see a black rhino and a hippo tonight!

Off to Africa

We had a long trip, leaving a wet, cold Wellington at 6.45 am for Sydney. The flight was late landing due to fog in Sydney, and we spent time circling in a holding pattern, desperately hoping we did not have to go to Brisbane to refuel as that would mean problems with our connecting flight.  However the pilot landed us safely and we transferred to our next flight which was late anyway.  Once on board we were told we would be waiting for up to an hour for people on other delayed flights! So finally departed Sydney just over two hours late.
It was a smooth 14&1/2 hour flight to Johannesburg. We landed around 6.40pm and cleared immigration and customs - no forms to fill out or anything, just a passport stamp. Easy directions to our hotel shuttle and we were driven about 5 mins to the hotel. So did not see much of the area in the dark.
Lovely hotel, and once showered and refreshed we went down to dinner. Very nice buffet meal. After that it was time to try and sleep. Had a few hours of sleep - 10 hours behind NZ so we would normally have been awake at the time we were trying to sleep. It was/is certainly nice and quiet, even though we can see the airport runway from our window.
We are looking out to see if we can see Amy and Jeromé arriving as they are due to arrive now.
Have just had a call to say our shuttle is waiting to take us to the game park, so are setting off on our adventure!

The Big Apple - 19 September

View over Central Park from Michelle's rooftop. 

Spending the last few days of our extended break in New York staying with Liz's sister Michelle.

The weather has been just beautiful. We walked the length of Central Park this morning for some exercise. Caught a bus up to 110th Street and walked back to  56th through the park. Then went downtown by subway to check out some cycling shops. Now sitting in the Australian Bar on 38th Street waiting to watch the last race of the Americas Cup. We hope this will be the last race.

Off to a musical tonight- Avenue Q, and went to the Apollo theatre last night with Michelle and a friend.

Portland, Maine

Did what people on holiday are supposed to do and spent the morning in bed watching a movie! Beats riding a bicycle! Then off to town - but it poured with rain all afternoon. So we wiled away the hours in the Museum of Art. Good collection of Impressionists including the obligatory Renoir, Monet etc. Also a great collection of Winslow Homers war art.

Tomorrow we head to Boston.

Update from Portland, Maine, USA. 12th September

Since our last post we have travelled across a lot of Canadian highway! 
We drove from Quebec City to Fredericton on 7th September, following the route John cycled. There we stayed for two nights with Angela, one of John's new cycling friends. We had a lovely time with Angela. Went out for dinner with a couple of her friends, and on the Sunday we went to the local art gallery. It did rain on the Sunday morning for a while.  
On Monday 9th we drove to Halifax in Nova Scotia. It was a long day of driving on 4 lane highway. In Halifax we stayed with Karen, a friend from our previous cycling trips. On 10th we drove into the centre of Halifax, and spent a few hours walking around the Citadel. This was built as a fortress mid 1700s to protect Halifax. Fortunately Halifax has never been attacked! 
Yesterday (11th) we drove to Saint John in New Brunswick.  It was very misty much of the way, so we did not get to see the beautiful coastline around the Bay of Fundy. 
Today we drove to Portland in Maine, USA. It was 475 kilometres. The day started out fine, but ended with driving (Liz) through a thunderstorm in heavy rain for the last 200 ks. We were on the main highway, which had woods along both sides of the highway. 
Our trip was through the towns and cities of St Stephens, St Andrews, St George and St David. 
No sooner had we arrived at our hotel there was another almighty thunder and lightening episode, with extremely heavy rain. 
We are staying here for two nights, then travelling to Boston. Tomorrow we will visit the Art Gallery and other attractions here. 

John and friends in Saint John

Montreal to Quebec. Thursday 5th September.

Today we left Montreal and drove to Quebec City where we are staying 2 nights in a hotel in the old part of the city. We drove most of the way on the eastern shore of the St Lawrence seaway on route 132 which is alongside the seaway. This is not the main highway but a secondary road. The speed limit was about 90kph so the 400 km took us till about 3.30pm to cover.

The road travels through many villages, some quite pretty. It's a tourist route called the Route of the Navigators - a reference to the early seafarers along the St Lawrence.

We stopped for lunch at a bakery in one of the villages.

The hotel we are in is the Champlain and has no view but is quite central to the old city.

Montreal, 3rd September

Liz and I are now on our friends' farm about 50km outside Montreal in Quebec. We met Murray and Marilyn on our cycling trip in Europe in 2008 and have been here before in the winter a couple of years ago. Their house is beside a river and is surrounded by trees. All very quiet and a great place to relax. They have friends coming over for dinner this evening; we met them on New Year's Eve 2009.

The previous two nights were spent on Gull Lake near Minden about 150km north east of Toronto. We were staying with Barbara Reid who is mayor of the local shire and was celebrating her birthday with her 7 brothers and sisters and spouses......yes a very social couple of days. She has a dock beside her cottage and a power boat with a 90 horse motor. So we spent a great deal of time swimming and sampling wine! John even tried water skiing.

I was presented with a Canadian cap, flag and tee shirt to congratulate me for cycling across Canada, and was bestowed with the title Captain Canada.

Tomorrow we will go to into Montreal.