Welcome!

Dear Friends and Family,

On my last day in Newfoundland the aptly named Hurricane Maria was raging through CBS and the winds were high. Ignoring the better judgment of two highly respected female family members, we headed out to Cape Spear to see the waves. Like her namesake, Hurricane M turned out to be more bark than bite and the waves were spectacular but not as huge as we’d expected. Seven hours later I was on the first leg of a trip that would take me to the Eastern Cape of South Africa, and thus I have started this blog to keep you all updated on my travels.

After spending ten hours with the Queen in London, we flew six hours to Dubai and arrived there at 3:00am just in time to laugh at the fact that the only restaurant open in the airport was the Irish Sandwich Bar. I brushed my teeth, took a picture of the strange hole-in-the-floor toilet and got on another plane to Johannesburg. Although this was the longest leg of the trip, I slept for most of it and had to be shaken awake by the flight attendant. It may have been the nerve calming medicine, the moon mist coloured seats, or the fact that I hadn’t been in a bed in about 40 hours. Either way, by the time we hopped on another plane to Port Elizabeth and drove the distance to Grahamstown, I was a zombie with almost no recollection of the past two days. 

The drive from Port Elizabeth to Grahamstown was about an hour and a half, and along the way we saw several animals that were almost too much for me to handle in my sleep-deprived state. The first was a lone ostrich standing on top of a hill, looking like the biggest cowboy in town. The next were several zebras in a field having a great time together, and at this sight it finally sank in to me where in the world I was.

Before driving into the city we stopped on a hill just outside to get a view of our home for the coming months, and I managed to snap at least one decent picture of the town from above. My brain was so fuzzy that the whole day seems like it was a dream, but the main emotions were excitement and happiness at having safely arrived in such a beautiful place.

I haven’t managed to get any good critter pictures yet, but I’ll be sure to post some as soon as I do. Things were pretty busy for my first week with work and general necessities but I should be into a more regular routine soon.

I hope everyone is well and that the weather is behaving.

Jill