South Africa Blog 1. Jo'burg and Soweto 31st Aug and 1st Sept

Days One and Two – Johannesburg, Soweto and Boksburg

Saturday - I arrived at roughly 7am in Jo’burg to 0 degrees Celsius. Tired, with jet lag and with sexy cankles. Got my first stamp in my new passport and picked up and taken to my hotel. Along the way my hotel manager convinced me to do the Apertheid and Soweto tour instead of the Jo’burg tour. In all honesty I think she was trying to save herself money as she had another girl booked that day for that tour. I went with it and glad I did.

I got an hour to shower and relax before heading off. Best way to overcome jet lag is to stay awake all day if you can so this was a good way to do that.

First stop Apertheid Museum. Very eye opening… They had a temporary exhibit on Mandela there. Here are a few pics.

Next stop Soweto. Short for South West Township. This is where Nelson Mandela resided before he went to prison for 27 years and then for 11 days after he left prison. His house has been turned into a museum. This was my favourite museum of the day. Soweto was definitely the kind of place that I have never been to before. Poverty was very evident and people would do anything for a bit of money. There was a contortionist, a rapper, carwashers (that would wash your car while you were in the museum and then charge you when you got out even though you didn’t ask for the car to be washed), and many street venders aiming to make money off the tourists visiting the museum. I bought a couple of small things.

Hopping back into the car we headed to Hector Pieterson Museum. Hector Pieterson was among the first children to be shot and killed at a rally on June 1, 1976. This was an awakening for the people.

At the end of the day we passed Soccer City where the FIFA World Cup was held only a couple of years ago. Its HUGE.

You can bunji jump off the walkway up in the middle there on this power station... crazy... 

These are 'kit' homes. For sale. 

Original piece of furniture in Mandela's house

These boys asked me to take a picture of them... so I did... :) 

Soweto markets

Soccer City

Jo'Burg

Sunday -  After a long sleep, I woke and had brekky and pondered what to do on my free day. Eventually I decided to go for a walk. I walked to the closest mall which was about a 15 min walk. Not a lot was open and I really wanted to buy a zoom lens and a lens shade for my new camera. So I asked how to get to a bigger mall and was instructed to stand on the side of the road and put my hand out spreading my fingers like I was showing the number 5 and that would hail me a taxi that would only cost 6 Rand (about 70cents) to get to East Rand Mall. Sceptical about this I decided to walk and see just how far the mall was as I was told it was on that same road… I got sick of walking after 10 mins. LOL. I asked again at a local petrol station if they could call me a taxi. Instead the petrol attendant asked one of his customers who kindly offered me a lift. (Mum if you are reading this, don’t worry, I did a risk assessment first and decided the risk was low.) The man Patrick and his wife Precious gave me a lift to the mall which was a good 5kms so I’m glad I didn’t walk. I spent the day walking around the mall and making sure I had all the necessary things I needed for the two weeks ahead. I got my lens and saved a good $200. J I went to a flea market and got a few souvenirs and there was entertainment there (which was really bad singers) and I found the culture much like Australia really but still very interesting. I decided to spend the afternoon walking home and I’m so glad I did. On the way I stumbled across a Pet Market. But this was no ordinary pet store. It had a Bird Park attached to it which was free to enter… so enter I did.

It took me a good hour and a half to casually walk home and along the way I discovered that you can buy just about anything at a set of lights or on the side of the road. From sunglasses to furniture to even puppies (which made me quite sad).

It was a great day and being in Africa is gradually becoming real… 

The Animal World

So over the last 12 months my life has changed dramatically. In some ways for the better, in others ways not so much and its been a hectic rollercoaster however I'm doing my best to move forward and remain a positive person. I've decided its time to do some more blogging. 
I'm not even sure who will read these, whether it be my family or just a few of my close friends or a wide selection but I hope that you will find it of interest. 

Before reading/viewing on, I will warn you, there are lots of photos on this particular blog! Lots of photos of awesome animals! Just so you are aware. 

A year and a bit ago I embarked on a new adventure. I undertook a Certificate III in Captive Animals at Ultimo Tafe. I volunteered at Featherdale Wildlife Park during that time and I went on many exciting journeys. Here are a few pics to showcase some of my experiences rather than write all about it, you can view it! 

Feeding a white lioness!

Witnessing a lion get a root canal!

Playing with small clawed otters!

Hanging with dingoes!

Feeding red pandas! 

It's certainly been an amazing experience working with animals and following a new dream. At Featherdale I was able to have many more hands on experiences such as holding koalas, holding snakes, feeding ghost bats, and much much more, however I'm not allowed to post photos of that so I will honour Featherdale by not doing so. If you would like to see photos I'm happy to show you in person. :) But here are some photos I took as a member of the public at Featherdale that I can share. 

Though Featherdale has sadly ended, I have started a new journey at Taronga at the Bird Show. I am thoroughly loving it there. Behind the scenes of the bird show I get to release birds and hopefully soon catch them when they return after their performance. I love it! I get to work with a wide variety of birds, from the common pigeon to wedge-tail eagles, to black breasted buzzards and major mitchell cockatoos. 

So I will leave you at that with a rough idea of what the last year has been in regards to chasing a dream to work with animals... next stop is Africa! That's right, I head to South Africa in just 12 days and I hope to post something every couple of days. So keep an eye out! 

It's a new year... :)

Day 3 of the new year and I thought it's been a while since I wrote a bit of a blog so here we go...


Christmas and New Years was fun as always. Quality time with my family and James' family and chilling out relaxing. Christmas day was busy and filled with lots of presents and loads of food. James' parents put on a feast for us including chilli crab, scallops and prawns and then we headed to Mum and Dad's for present opening time and dinner with the fam and Cheleski's. Here are a couple of pics...

After Christmas we had a relaxing boxing day and went shopping and then to the movies as a triple date with Davannah (David and Savannah) and Jatoria (Jay and Victoria) and Josh was our chaperone. We saw the Adventures of Tin Tin. Headed back to James' parents place for dinner then home as whilst I had a great holiday, my little baby Leo is missing and I've been feeling very anxious about leaving home and being away in case he comes home. I'm doing all I can to find him, even going to a Pet Search company so I'm hoping they have more luck than I do. 

On the 27th James and I tried to do some relaxing after searching some more for Leo. So we hit the shops and spent up with the sales. Then had a quiet night at home watching movies. 

28th we celebrated Jenna's birthday by going to the Picasso exhibit at the Art Gallery and then lunch in the park. Was a lovely day and beautiful weather. 

Then back to the coast for the Amazing Rubie Race! All the partners teamed up and Brendon was our host. We raced from the Event cinemas to the train station to Video Ezy, to the beach, to Berkeley Church, to Maccas, to Aunty Margaret's work and to the Chinese Takeaway. We collected photos, receipts, answered trivia questions and played pictionary in the sand. Had an absolute blast. Huge thankyou to Erin and Rowan for their help and a very huge thankyou to Brendon for organising it (along with his assistant Laraine) we all had such a fun time and guess what?! Jamison won!!

The next day we relaxed again with a late morning, a game of Settlers (Which I won! My first victory in years!) and some beach time with Brendon and Laraine and Daniel and Lucy. We flew a kite and chilled out with some hamburgers and chips and enjoyed the day.  

The 30th was spent doing some more shopping but mainly for a few big things like Nespresso coffee machines and popcorn machines. James and I then headed to Forster. Arriving later than expected. Even still we played some cards with Mum and Dad and then got some rest for the next adventurous day.

31st we headed out on the boat with Mum and Dad. We saw dolphins in the crystal clear water and cruised around the lakes. It was a very relaxing day. We stopped off for hamburgers at Tuncurry and then cruised around a bit longer. Brendon, Laraine, Daniel, Amber, Sinny, Bridget, Toby and Michelle all arrived in the afternoon and they took the boat for a while then. Jay and Vic arrived about 7pm and we stopped and watched the Mariners draw to God Coast. Then it was time to celebrate New Year's Eve. Heading into Forster we watched the 9pm fireworks then came back to the cabin for some sparkers and poppers and cards and fun times! And at the stroke of midnight we all wished each other a happy New Year and wished Dad a happy Birthday!

Here are some happy snaps from New Year's Day... and Dad's birthday.

I'm not one to make New Year resolutions but I do make goals. And 2012 is going to be the best yet. With my first play opening in March that will kick start the acting goals, and it's all downhill from there. Stay tuned for more blogging throughout the year!