South African Adventures in Knysna

Dec 28

Today we left the Mara on a tiny little 12 seater plane. The runway was a dirt strip- it was another pretty cool experience. We flew over the Mara where we were on safari and we could see all the animals which was very cool. We got to Nairobi and we were met by some people from Free the Children. They took us to a market which was absolutely insane. Of course we were the only white people there and we were getting hastled beyond belief. It was quite hilarious actually- everyone wanted to trade Sam for his hat, and this one guy wanted to trade him for his shorts, shirt, hat, and shoes. He could've walked out of there naked with a bunch of African souvenirs! All of the people thought we were all related, as usual, and when Sam said that I was just his friend (and not girlfriend) the guy said, ohhh, may I apply then? It was pretty funny. We decided after that we should just say were all realted. Mr. Shein was an excellent bargainer and came out of that place with some pretty good deals. Near the end some guys started talking to my and Natalie and one of them gave me a silly band as a gift, but I gave it back- just in case. They kept talking to Nat after I left and when we were about to leave we called her over and the guys yelled to us that they would give us cows in return for Natalie. Apparently they even said they would give us elephants and lions- I guess Nat was pretty special. In Kenyan culture, when a man wants to marry a woman he gives cows to the girl's family in return for her- so pretty much this guy wanted to marry Natalie. Very funny. Sam also got a marriage proposal by a 30 year old woman. She first asked how old he was and if he was married and when Mrs. Shein said no of course he's not married, the lady said she'd go for him and she'd even be ready to pay 10,000 shillings for him, which only really ends up being something like 140 bucks. Overall it was a great experience- a little scary at first but in the end we couldn't stop laughing about everything that happened. After the market we went to the mall so dad and Mr. Shein could by some Safari shoes and then we headed to the hotel which was absolutely gorgeous. We all looked a little bit like hobos in our basketball shorts and tshirts (and we all smelled), so we didnt really fit in the how nice the hotel was. We had about an hour to get settled into our rooms and we were off again to a resaurtant for dinner. The restaurant was called The Carnivore. Pretty much all you can eat meat. It was another crazy experience. We were first served soup and little appetizers and then all the meat came with all the different types of sauces for them. There is this little flag on the table standing up, and when you've had enough meat, you're supposed to take the flag down and surrender. The type of meat we ate was the real experience- we had chicken, turkey, lamb, beef, ostrich, ox heart, chicken liver, crocodile, camel and probably some more that I can't remember. But it kept coming and coming. Crocodile was actually probably one of my favorites, and liver was definately the worst thing I've ever eaten. After that we drove back to the hotel to have a very short sleep, as we had to get up at 3:30 in the morning to be at the airport for about 4:30- to be on our way to South Africa!! The trip has felt so long already but we have another half of it to go- and this half is going to be quite a gong show since we have no idea what we are doing. I'm sitting on the plane typing this right now- and since the plane is so empty, all 11 of us have 3 seats to ourselves! It's amazing especially since we all didnt get a lot of sleep and almost everyone is just getting over their sickness. Another long day to go, but South Africa is going to be our second amazing adventure so the long trip will be worth it! After 7 plane rides we'll finally make it to SA!  --Anita


Dec 29

We arrived in George a liitle earlier. We were lucky to get the express flight at 12;30. Hoping to get our rental car sooner and get to our accomodations. NOT! we arrived sooner only to find out that we had to wait for the rental vehicles. One arrived sooner, so Michael (THE KING OF THE BEASTS) and all the lionesses and female cubs went on to Knysna to get groceries and find a laundry service. Bruno and the Shein Lions in training (Zach and Sam)
stayed behind to wait for the next rental car. We call Michael the king of the beasts because the joke from the safari was that in the animal world he would be the male lion. Because the lion sleeps 20 hours a day and makes love for 4 hours. The female hunt the food and he gets to eat first. basically do F all. --- Bruno.  It's cloudy and raining in South Africa but that doesn't affect our spirts, we are all excited to be here.  We can feel the warmth of summer time even though it's raining.  Off we go in our rental car with Michael driving.  The car is standard and Michaels last time driving standard was 20 years ago.  Combined with that and having to drive on the left side of the road it made for a very exciting drive.  With careful directions given by Adele we still managed to make a wrong turn and go into the airport parkade which is not where we wanted to be.  Bruno and the boys were watching us from afar and I'm sure laughing only to find out later they did the same thing.  After the histarics of laughter by all in the car and a few choose words by our daring driver, Michael, we were on our way to Knysna.  They say it takes a day to get used to driving on the left side of the road but Michael did great!  We made it to Knysna and had to ask for directions to Abalone Lodges and who do we meet at the information counter?!?  Almarie, the lady we have been in contact with for the last 5 months about our accomodations.  We checked in, went for groceries, dropped off bags of laundry.  The laundry service is great, you drop off and come back later to pick up clean folded laundry.  You pay the same amount (55 rands, $8CAN) per load if you do it or if they do it.------  Lina  

Dec 30

Ok, so today was cave and ostrich day.  We all woke up nice and early to drived to some town name I can't spell..nevermind...it's called Oudtshoorn.  Anyways, it was a very long trip! Mister Bruno even tried to turn onto the wrong side of the highway at one point and the Sheins were following us so closely that they almost hit us! After getting back in the right lane, we were finally able to make it to our destination- a 2.5 hour trip.  We watched a movie, ate lunch, and explored the gift shop while we waited to go on our adventure tour!  The first half of the tour was just an informational part, but the second half was adventure!  Our tour guide's name was John Fred and he was flippin hilarious. Imagne a little gay guy with an accent. So funny.  The caves were so cool.  The first tunnel we got to crawl through.  The second, we had to squeeze through sideways.  It was called the tunnel of love.  The third tunnel was pretty scary.  It was called the chimney.  Zach was the first to go up and pretty much once his body was in, all you could see were his feet and then when his feet were gone it looked like he had completely disappeared. The moms were freaking out because just seeing people go through made absolutely no sense and it was definitely a tight squeeze!  This tunnel was actually really hard to get through.  It was small and actually took a bit of work to get up through.  Once you get through to the other side, you have to slide down to the other side.  It's really slipperly in caves, so Sabrina fell right on her butt when she did it.  Then Sam lent me a hand, but I said I was ok....and  I still fell on my butt!  Anyways, everyone made it through in the end, which was quite a big accomplishment for the mammas.  Our group all then waited in the next chamber to go through the 4th and last tunnel.  For this one you had to crawl on your stomach, then flip on to your back and slide through this really small space...maybe about a foot in hight...so you couldn't see where the bottom was and when your feet were going to touch.  This one was really fun, too. Auntie  Adele and Tay were the funniest because when they came to the other side they just plopped down. All in all, the caves were really fun, especially because we had such a funny tour guide.  He knew most of our names and even called mom Mrs. Canada all the time.  After the caves we made a stop at the Cango Ostrich Farm.  Oh man were we in for some surprises.  We first got to see baby ostriches and I got to hold one as well as a few of us.  They are soo cute!  Then we got to go outside to get some kisses and hugs. Uncle Mike and Dad got an ostrich kiss and anita and natalie got a hug. We got to see an emu...aka the scariest birds ever.  They have feet that look like dinosaur feet. Its gross.  Ostriches only have two toes, by the way.  Anyways, after that we saw a 35 year old ostrich. And after that it was the moment we've all been waiting for.  No words can even describe how funny ostrich riding is.  It is rediculous.  The girls were up first.  They ride with two jockies holding on beside them.  Tay and Sabrina went.  So funny.  Then for the boys was Mister Bruno and Zach. So dad gets on the ostrich and then after the jockies let go (they don't hold on for the boys), dad holds on for dear life and then the ostrich speeds up and dad falls right on his butt!  The crowd went wild! hahhaa it was actually the dumbest looking thing ever.  Then it was Zach...he didn't last as long because the stupid ostrich almost ran him into the fence. (ps their brain is like the size of the teaspoon...they are extremely stupid).  Zach's face was so funny the whole time!  After that a couple of us got a massage from the birds where you hold a bucket of food and they all come around you eating it up!  Then we got a chance to stand on some ostrich eggs, but not really cause all these stupid little kids kept going on like 3 times and their parents werent letting anyone else have a turn.  So...fail.. But did I mention our tour guide was super funny as well!  Mom laughed at this one joke he said that was totally stupid, so I'll just let her tell you herself.  After a successful two toursit attractions we waited like 20 years in the car for the rents to buy some ostrich eggs and then we stopped by the mall on the way home to get a sim card so natalie could later use it all up in one shot no thanks to mister christopher robin.  Anyways, we got home late  again and had pasta and chicken fajitas for le diner. sleepy time and das it! --michelle

Dec 31

So today was new years eve day and when we woke up the sky was all cloudy and gross. But, we had decided to go to the beach...we'd just be the only ones there! So we take a drive to Pletttenbergbaai which was like a half hour drive from our house. When we got to the beach it was still cloudy, but not too chilly. Dad was the first to jump into the ocean and go for a swim. It wasn't the warmest water but after a while you were numb enough to say it was warm. The beach was beautiful I might add. Then after working up some courage Sabrina, Tay, and me all jumped in the water and went body surfing. It was so much fun- until the lifeguard got mad at us and said we weren't allowed to be swimming there since it was out of the designated swimming area (we had no idea there was even a swimming spot). We had been in the water for like 20 minutes already until the guard finally noticed we were in a no swimming zone...bad guard. So we went to the swimming area but it was too crowded to we just left and went back to chill with the family. Zach and Sam built a sand castle and then built a walll around it so that the  water wouldn't take it down...but there was no need for water to destroy it since these 3 little kids just came outta no where and completely stomped on it and killed it. Uncle Mike went up to the kids (who were like 4 and 5 maybe) and just jokingly told them that they should rebuild it. One kid took it pretty seriously so he started to build it up again. Then we watched these 3 kids totallu start to beat eachother up. There was a tiny little one who threw sand at the bigger one and then the bigger one grabbed the little one and pushed him over. It was pretty funny to watch actually...the parents were not really caring about the kids, since they were up at the restaurant just talking and pointing when the  kids did something. Anywyas, at this point the sun came out and it ended up being a beautiful day. We all got burnt because we were not expecting it to be so hot. Zach and Sam then went swimming and body surfing. And then we all had a nice nap on the beach for a few hours- quite a different new years eve day! Then we left the beach and went to the Knysna market for a little bit. It was very pretty- it reminded everyone of granville island and the quay. There were some people in the water playing kayak water polo...or something like that. Pretty cool. We had some hot dogs and ice cream and then went back to our house to get ready for new years eve! The Sheins came to our place and we had dinner and drinks! The adults went on the deck and drank a bunch of beer and like 3 bottles of wine while the kids stayed inside and drank cider and beer (except for Sabrina). We played barn yard first- it was pretty funny. Then after that we played kings cup. After everyone was out of alcohol and it was getting close to midnight, Zach and Sam entertained us for a while by dancing. Then dad and Zach shot gunned a beer. Zach is amazingly good at it! And it was dad's first time so it was hard to compete with Zach finishing his beer in all of 2 seconds. We all just sat around the table listening to music until the finally countdown. Then it was the new year and we all went crazy! we banged on pots and pans and Zach opened the champagne and we all had some. Then we started out dance party and Sam was absolutely hilarious...he had some mad moves! After lots of dancing to DJ Zach's music we decided to call it a night and get a good night sleep for the big day that lay ahead! All in all- fabulous day! --Anita

Jan 1

So today we all woke up feeling pretty great and pretty nerrvous for the days events- today was monkeyland, zip lining, and...wait for it...bungy jumping day! So we had a nice little sleep in and were on our way to moneyland. We got there and started the tour. We saw lots of cute little monkeys swinging through the trees. It was pretty cool. There was only one ape in the forest and they called it micheal jackson cuz he's black but wants to be white. He was a white ape and it was so cool to see him swing through the trees. The other monkeys just climbed the trees and hung by their tails but this one was actually jumping through the trees like they were monkey bars. Oh ya, when we first got there we were under a caged area and there was this black monkey that looked like a tiny gorilla right above our heads. We all thought it was so cool so we started to make some noise and then he yellled at us. Apparently when people scream or get excited it makes monkeys mad and they yell and make loud noises. There was also the third longest suspension bridge that we went over and when we were crossing it there were little monkeys walking beside us. It was pretty cool to see all the different kinds of monkeys. Anyways, after monkeyland we drove for about 45 minutes to the zip line place. That was also pretty nice and the sun ended up coming out for us and it was super hot. We were all sweating like crazy. So we got all geared up in our equipment- helmets and gloves and all that jazz. The guides pretty much just gave us a 2 minute run down of what to do and then they just said to watch and learn. So we didn't really have too much instruction. other than just go- we had to control out breaking but luckily there was green pads at the end just in case you didn't break enough. The very first one I didn't really break and I hit the mat. But it was ok cuz it was pretty squishy. There were 8 zip lines that we went down. They all crossed back and forth across the river. The river was very pretty other than the fact that the water looked like coca cola. There were some waterfallls and lots of vegatation. It was very nice. The first 3 zip lines were just the practice ones and then we entered the speed zone. The zip lines were so fast and since we were controlling our breaking there were emergency breaks that the guide used just in case we sucked at breaking. Most of us sucked at it, but by the end we all got pretty good and didn't need the green mat to fall onto. The longest zip line we did was 211 meters or something. It was pretty fast. Aftrer the zip lining we weent to our final event of the day- bungy jumping. We had all day to think about it and freak out...everyone seemed to just not think about it at all, right up until zip lining was done. We finished zip lining around 2:45 and got to the bungy jumping place just after 3. We were scheduled to be there by 4 and jump at 5. Only 7 of us were signed up- Uncle Mike, dad, Zach, Sam, Tay, Mich, and me. So when we got there we looked at the bridge and it was the most intense thing I havr ever seen. You jump off from rigt under the bridge into he valley. OH- did I mention it is the largest bungy in the world? It is pretty ridiculous. 216 metres. Just looking at it from a far away distance it intense. So the 7 of us signed in, got our weight, jump numbers, and time written on our hands. We got our harness and we were all starting to freak out a little bit. Mom was completely white and pale with fear. Before we signed in, we were just waiting in the car and mom came in because she had looked at this bridge. She was begging us not to jump. She was actually giving us the worst pep talk ever. She said "Bruno, thisa could be the end" . It was pretty funny actually. We told her if she could convince the Sheins not to do it then we wouldn't do it either, so she ran over to their car and started begging them. But it didn't work. So anyways, back to getting harnessed- we just got it put on us nice and loose before we took the walk to the bridge. We ended up waiting around for such a long time. Mom was actuallly more nervous than any of the jumpers...she looked like she was going to puke or have a heartattack at any moment. Finally we all went in a group and took the walk to the bridge. There were 18 people in our group and we were the last time slot of the day. We got a very breif instruction of how to jump off the bridge, but nothing to extreme- I still didn't really know what I was supposed to do. We left the moms, and Sabrina and Nat to do the watching. Mom said she wasn't going to watch and just wait in the car for our safe return but she ended up watching. So we finally take the walk to the bungy area. We had to go on this catwalk built directly beneath the bridge, so you can see the bottom because the floor of the catwalk was made of metal but it had holes in it so that was so scary just looking down and seeing how far it was. We could touch bridge- we were right under it. When we finally got off the catwalk we were at the bungy zone. It was in the middle of the bridge right beneath where cars drive over. It was actually like a club there becasue the music was blasting and beating- minus the fact that it was light out, no one was dancing- just freaking out, and we were in the middle of a bridge. It was quite an experience. Everyone was swearing and freaking out this point. We were all wondering whose idea this was and why we were doing this. It was unbelievably high. So  we got there just after 5 and had to wait for our turn to take the plunge. First called up to go from the 7 of us was Uncle Mike. He was sitting on the bench ready to get strapped up and was swearing over and over again. Once they strap you in they take you to the edge and count down from 5 and then you just jump. It is the most intimidating sight. When we watched people go we just got more and more nervous. We danced a little bit to losen ourselves up but really we were all freaking out like crazy. After Uncle Mike came back and told us how awesome it was I think we all felt a little bit better. There was this one lady who wouldn't go but then the people working there finally convinced and she went. When she came back up she said it was the most terrifying thing ever and that none of us should do it. We were all like, great...we have our own problems here! But we decided to go anyways. The next of the group to go was Sam, and he was freaking out big time. He was probably the least nervous looking when we were going there but the most nervous when jumping. After Sam was Tay, then Zach- he was also shaking. The I went after Zach. The feeling is absolutely indescribable. It wass like time was going so slowly and all I was thinking in my head was HOLY SHIT. But I couldn't say anything cuz my eyes were just bulging out of myface and the air was coming at me so fast. It was a crazy feeling until the bungy chord kicks in. Pretty much, I did not think about it at all- once they counted down, I just jumped- I think that's what everyone did. Anyways, after me was dad- he said he was scared shitless. Everyone was. The last to go was Michelle- she was the second last of the day! Everyone thought it was so awesome and we were all so happy we kicked off the year like this! When we walked back across the bridge (the catwalk is actually way scarier than the jump so walking back we were all still freaking out) but when we got back mom gave us a huge hug and kiss- we probably took 15 years off her life. At this point it was about 6:30- we got home about 8:30- went to a pizza place cuz we were starving. None of us really ate before we jumped becasue we were afraid of puking. Anywyas, we ate then went back home- only to find a rose, champagne and orange juice with a note. It was from chris! How he sent us mamosas and a rose for Nat, I have no idea. He's superman! We were all so surprised! It was a fantastic first day of the year! --anita