Hey guys,
It's been a while since I last blogged so I think I'll just give you a quick run-through of what I got up to in Africa. It was awesome, by the end I was very sad because most of the group were going on to Capetown while I was going home. I was like 'I wanna go to cape town too!'. But as Blue told me on the last day of the tour, after Andrew's parting words to me were 'Kelly, I'm sorry we never got to have sex', 'Kelly you can't always get what you want.' So I headed back to Melbourne.
But fuck that was a mission and a half. I got delayed in Nairobi over 5 hours and then over 2 hours in Dubai and if you included stopovers it ended up taking me almost 3 days to get home! But I am now back in Melbourne catching up with everyone and starting to apply for a few jobs. So it's been good. Melbourne really is a beautiful city and I think I'm gonna like living here. (Until winter - then it may be a different story)
But back to Africa. The tour was great. The group were all pretty good people. Lots of aussies, kiwi's, irish and english. We went white-water rafting which was awesome and to the serengeti national park and ngorongoro crater. It was so cool, we saw lions and elephants rooting - well not lions rooting elephants, the lion was rooting another lion and the elephant was trying to root every other elephant it could get too. but that was pretty funny. and in the bush camps we seemed to get a different animal in the camps each time.
first it was a fat old pumba roaming around like he owned the place. then the next camp had baboons who came up and stole our carrots. with their beady ugly little eyes, i'm pretty sure they are all evil. and then one night i woke up and there was something grazing right by our tent. i was so sure it was an elephant and all excited i snuck out to have a look. but he heard me and shit himself, and i shit myself and all i could see was this massive shadow jump and nearly land on one of the tents and i was like 'oh crap he's gonna trample someones tent' so i quickly hid back in my tent and woke sara up to tell her there was a crazy elephant right outside the tent. it turns out it was a water buffalo, but still those things are bloody huge and i wouldn't be happy if one landed on my tent.
we did other good stuff like the elephant orphanage where we got to see baby elephants and the giraffe sanctuary and the trekking with the mountain gorilla was fantastic. oh and the diving in zanzibar and the seafood markets in stone town and the meat on a stick was pretty damn good as well.
anyway, writers cramp is setting in. keep in touch kids and for those of you around melbourne i'm sure we'll catch up soon and i'll get to tell you all my holiday stories.
Showing posts with label Africa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Africa. Show all posts
Monday, March 12, 2007
Monday, February 05, 2007
hippos sweat blood and look manky
hey guys,
i made it to the tour after a 2 1/2 hour taxi ride and US$130. but it has been all good since then. we've been to rwanda where we trekked to see the mountain gorillas which was awesome. they are so bloody huge! there was this massive sliver-back in our group and when get got up you were ready to bolt! they were so cute, especially the young ones playing and wrestling.
in rwanda we also went to an orphanage and played with the kids there. they were such cute kids. all orphans due to HIV which is pretty sad. at first it was a bit strange, all the kids came up and were introducing themselves and hugging us. and we all know i'm not exactly the hugging type so that was a bit odd. then they sang us a song, but they all looked bored silly. so then our tour guide said we should sing a song. so we sang hokey pokey and then got them to join in. the kiwis taught them to do the haka which they loved and we taught them to thumb wrestle which they loved. so we all ended up having a good fun time.
crap, i was gonna write more about it, but am running out of internet time, so will do it later.
anyway, am having an awesome time and rwanda and uganda are real nice countries. next we are going to Ginja where we get to go white water rafting and quad biking which should be good fun.
catch yas
i made it to the tour after a 2 1/2 hour taxi ride and US$130. but it has been all good since then. we've been to rwanda where we trekked to see the mountain gorillas which was awesome. they are so bloody huge! there was this massive sliver-back in our group and when get got up you were ready to bolt! they were so cute, especially the young ones playing and wrestling.
in rwanda we also went to an orphanage and played with the kids there. they were such cute kids. all orphans due to HIV which is pretty sad. at first it was a bit strange, all the kids came up and were introducing themselves and hugging us. and we all know i'm not exactly the hugging type so that was a bit odd. then they sang us a song, but they all looked bored silly. so then our tour guide said we should sing a song. so we sang hokey pokey and then got them to join in. the kiwis taught them to do the haka which they loved and we taught them to thumb wrestle which they loved. so we all ended up having a good fun time.
crap, i was gonna write more about it, but am running out of internet time, so will do it later.
anyway, am having an awesome time and rwanda and uganda are real nice countries. next we are going to Ginja where we get to go white water rafting and quad biking which should be good fun.
catch yas
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
i am strong
yes, i made it. right to the top, to the summit of mt kilimanjaro. it was hard work, but my guide kept telling me 'kelly, you are strong' and i was like 'i am, i am strong'. but i have to say, we were also pretty lucky, we had perfect weather. on the night we went to the summit, we set out at midnight and the sky was clear and there was no wind at all. and i got to the summit just as the sun was rising, it was awesome. i was so screwed though. i have never been so exhausted. and it was not all fun and games going up the mountain either, my torch went flat so i was walking in the dark and then i started getting altitude sickness. i had a massive headache and i threw up 4 times. but i was kinda thinking, 'headache, throwing up, i get worse hang overs than this!' actually it brought back memories of when i used to go visit lisa in ballarat and i'd wake up hung over as hell and lisa would say, 'c'mon kelly, let's go. it's only a 3k round trip!' which in lisa terms is at least 3k each way. so thanks stilly, you put me in good practise for climbing the mountain.
small tip for you all. if you're ever hiking and it's sunny and you're wearing shorts, remember to sunscreen the backs of your legs. otherwise 3 words for you 'WORLD OF PAIN'. my god, you don't realise how much you like bending over until it hurts to do it. and try using the dirty old squat toilets when the backs of your legs look like their pretty much cooked.
but all in all, the whole hike was good. i was actually in a group by myself, so was hiking alone with my guide Rashid. but i stayed with the same people in the huts at night. 2 dutch chicks and a canadian guy who were all pretty fun. i learnt some new card games, so i'll have to show them to you when i get home.
my guide was really good. he had just finished a safari guide course so was telling me lots of stuff about all the african animals and the plants on the mountain and all that jazz. he also tried teaching me some basic swahili, but i kept forgetting. the one thing i remember is 'pole-pole' (pronounced pol-lay pol-lay) which means slowly-slowly. He kept telling me on the first couple of days, 'pole-pole kelly, you need to go slow for the altitude changes'. but i naturally march around like i'm on a mission, so that was probably the hardest thing for me to do the first couple of days. on the hike to the summit though it wasn't so hard to go pole-pole. we were going so slow it was like; take a step, count to three, take another step. And i was so tired that i thought my feet wouldn't move anymore, so i started imagining that there were pieces of string tied from rashids shoes to my shoes so that whenever he took a step my feet had to go. that way it felt like he was pulling my along and i wasn't so tired.
oh man, but the way back down was good. it took 7 hours to climb up, but only 2 to go down. on the way up all the slope was frozen, but on the way down it was all thick loose rock and soil and when you step on it, you slid down. so i noticed rashid was just sliding with it, kinda like he was skiing. so i thought i'll have a go at that. it was so fun and easy that despite my tiredness i was like 'rashid, let's race'. so we raced down the mountain until i almost came a cropper and thought maybe it would be best to walk for a bit.
anyway, that was my adventures at mt kili. now i am back in nairobi where i am going to hang out my the pool in my hotel until thursday when i can catch up with my safari. they left without me damn it. because of the fuckup with my flights and all i was a day late and now it's going to be two more days before the truck is in a spot where i can find it easy. but that's ok, hopefully all will be sorted.
small tip for you all. if you're ever hiking and it's sunny and you're wearing shorts, remember to sunscreen the backs of your legs. otherwise 3 words for you 'WORLD OF PAIN'. my god, you don't realise how much you like bending over until it hurts to do it. and try using the dirty old squat toilets when the backs of your legs look like their pretty much cooked.
but all in all, the whole hike was good. i was actually in a group by myself, so was hiking alone with my guide Rashid. but i stayed with the same people in the huts at night. 2 dutch chicks and a canadian guy who were all pretty fun. i learnt some new card games, so i'll have to show them to you when i get home.
my guide was really good. he had just finished a safari guide course so was telling me lots of stuff about all the african animals and the plants on the mountain and all that jazz. he also tried teaching me some basic swahili, but i kept forgetting. the one thing i remember is 'pole-pole' (pronounced pol-lay pol-lay) which means slowly-slowly. He kept telling me on the first couple of days, 'pole-pole kelly, you need to go slow for the altitude changes'. but i naturally march around like i'm on a mission, so that was probably the hardest thing for me to do the first couple of days. on the hike to the summit though it wasn't so hard to go pole-pole. we were going so slow it was like; take a step, count to three, take another step. And i was so tired that i thought my feet wouldn't move anymore, so i started imagining that there were pieces of string tied from rashids shoes to my shoes so that whenever he took a step my feet had to go. that way it felt like he was pulling my along and i wasn't so tired.
oh man, but the way back down was good. it took 7 hours to climb up, but only 2 to go down. on the way up all the slope was frozen, but on the way down it was all thick loose rock and soil and when you step on it, you slid down. so i noticed rashid was just sliding with it, kinda like he was skiing. so i thought i'll have a go at that. it was so fun and easy that despite my tiredness i was like 'rashid, let's race'. so we raced down the mountain until i almost came a cropper and thought maybe it would be best to walk for a bit.
anyway, that was my adventures at mt kili. now i am back in nairobi where i am going to hang out my the pool in my hotel until thursday when i can catch up with my safari. they left without me damn it. because of the fuckup with my flights and all i was a day late and now it's going to be two more days before the truck is in a spot where i can find it easy. but that's ok, hopefully all will be sorted.
fuck you lastminute.com
hey guys, gals and misfits,
as it turns out, i shouldn't have made that joke about missing my flight again. i arrived nice and early to fly to nairobi only to discover i'd been fucked over by the people as lastminute.com. i had requested 2 months earlier that they change my paper ticket to and e-ticket as i was not going to have anywhere for them to send a ticket. they said, yeah it's all sorted for you. i get to the airport, there's no e-ticket. i ring last minute, who were so totally unhelpful. i cracked the shits and went and talked to the emirates help desk who said they couldn't do anything because it was last minutes problem. it turns out last minute had sent out my tickets to my old address and let some random person sign for and take my tickets. however, this random was good enough to get in contact with last minute and tell them about it and they made a note of it with my details and then forgot to let me know about it. so then there was nothing they could do and it cost me over 1000 pounds to new tickets. not happy.
anyway, i still got to nairobi, but arrived a day late. so now i have done the kili trek, but have missed the start of the safari and will not be able to catch up with them for 3 more days. what a fucking shambles!
but the kili trek was great. i am so tired now. i got back a couple of hours ago. crap, am running out of internet time. will tell you all about it later.
as it turns out, i shouldn't have made that joke about missing my flight again. i arrived nice and early to fly to nairobi only to discover i'd been fucked over by the people as lastminute.com. i had requested 2 months earlier that they change my paper ticket to and e-ticket as i was not going to have anywhere for them to send a ticket. they said, yeah it's all sorted for you. i get to the airport, there's no e-ticket. i ring last minute, who were so totally unhelpful. i cracked the shits and went and talked to the emirates help desk who said they couldn't do anything because it was last minutes problem. it turns out last minute had sent out my tickets to my old address and let some random person sign for and take my tickets. however, this random was good enough to get in contact with last minute and tell them about it and they made a note of it with my details and then forgot to let me know about it. so then there was nothing they could do and it cost me over 1000 pounds to new tickets. not happy.
anyway, i still got to nairobi, but arrived a day late. so now i have done the kili trek, but have missed the start of the safari and will not be able to catch up with them for 3 more days. what a fucking shambles!
but the kili trek was great. i am so tired now. i got back a couple of hours ago. crap, am running out of internet time. will tell you all about it later.
Sunday, January 14, 2007
off to safari-land
Tomorrow!! Already, off to Africa for safari and to climb mt kili and see mountain gorillas. Yay. 5 weeks and I will be back home. That's if I don't sleep in and miss my flight again! I can't believe my big long holidays are already nearly over. It's terrible. But that's ok, I'll just have to start planning my next trip. I've got some big plans for this year and it does involve a fair amount of holidaying.
So I fly out to Nairobi tomorrow and then spend a week trying to climb up a fucking big hill know as Mt Kilimanjaro. I really hope I make it as I am so ultra unfit at the moment. The lovely Rikki-Lee had a crack at it last month and went up to 5000 metres, so hopefully I'll get that far so she can't lay too much shit on me.
Then a 4 week safari that ends in Zanzibar so I will get to do some diving which will be great. I can't wait to see the mountain gorillas, it's going to be so cool. And hippos, and rhinos, and elephants. Ohh, better recharge my camera batteries before I forget.
Catch ya all later.
So I fly out to Nairobi tomorrow and then spend a week trying to climb up a fucking big hill know as Mt Kilimanjaro. I really hope I make it as I am so ultra unfit at the moment. The lovely Rikki-Lee had a crack at it last month and went up to 5000 metres, so hopefully I'll get that far so she can't lay too much shit on me.
Then a 4 week safari that ends in Zanzibar so I will get to do some diving which will be great. I can't wait to see the mountain gorillas, it's going to be so cool. And hippos, and rhinos, and elephants. Ohh, better recharge my camera batteries before I forget.
Catch ya all later.
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