We were fortunate enough to be able to spend Christmas 2013 in South Africa! We spent the time leading up to Christmas, as well as Christmas day, with Barramie, Sharon and Bryan & Gail and then on Boxing Day we went to a Chelsea Football game at Stamford Bridge and then left for SA the day after.
We spent about a week in Brakpan, a suburb of Johannesburg which is the capital city. Lloyd's family is from Brakpan and we were busy visiting new people all the time since he has 16 aunts & uncles and around 26+ first cousins!
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| Brakpan family - just a 'small' gathering! |
While we were in Joburg we also went to some animal parks and got to some real-live African animals.
The lion park was really spectacular, we saw so many different lions and were able to get really close to get some fantastic pictures.
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| We even saw this guy chewing on a big bone |
We were able to drive our cars through the lion park but we had to keep our windows up at all times. Luckily we were able to roll down the window for just a minute, to take some awesome pictures. A bit risky but I think it was worth it!
After several days in Brakpan we hopped a flight down to George, an area west of Cape Town on what's known as the Garden Route. The Garden Route is beautiful and boasts beautiful beachy coastlines, lakes, lush hills and vegetation, almost a rainforest-like climate. Lloyd's cousin Theresa lives in George and was a great hostess for us all weekend. We went to all sorts of fun places and saw the true beauty of the Garden Route!
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Climbing around the rocks near Mossel Bai
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| Fritz, Tess, Theresa, Estelle, Lawrence, Lloyd |
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| The winds off the coast are often called a 'Gentleman's wind' because they blow up the girls skirts! |
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| Dassie - a small lil' rodent native to South Africa |
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| Game night at Mario & Theresa's |
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| Family dinner in Grootbrak |
Theresa lives in a beach house right near the beach and were able to wake up early around dawn and go for a walk and take pictures in the pretty morning light
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| A beach we stopped at on our way to Tstisikama Forest |
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| Lloyd jump |
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| Jen jump |
On our last night in SA we had dinner at a beachside restaurant hostel with the family and were able to see a gorgeous sunset. It was such a treat to see the sun dip into the ocean, hopefully people who live there know how lucky they are to be able to see it regularly!
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| Last dinner in George |
SA was amazing and we can't wait to see the family again in March 2015!
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