Canberra to South Africa … first 2 weeks

19/7/2017

30th June 2017
Katie & I worked for half a day while David continued his recovery from Surgery.
A quick taxi ride to the airport.
A leisurely snack in the business lounge before departure.
Sadly, we said goodbye to a chilly Canberra at 5.10pm.

Sydney was rather warm after the Canberra cold.
Overnight stay at Rydges Airport Hotel.

1st July 2017
Struggle across the road with 7 suitcases, 3 carry on bags and numerous other necessities. Most of the bags contained “stuff” for our home in Marloth Park South Africa.
Check in was quick and we were soon through to the departure area.
Qantas club was next stop. We anticipated a long wait as QF 63 is regularly late leaving Sydney.
Boarding was on time. There was a delay however as the fuel was loaded incorrectly and the plane was front heavy. The human error set departure time back an hour or so.
We arrived in Johannesburg 8 minutes late.
Katie and I were travelling with a post op invalid and he (the invalid) had arranged for porters from the Intercontinental Hotel to meet us in the arrivals hall. They quickly transported our luggage the 68 metres to hotel reception.
We checked in and then went back to the airport to arrange internet and phone airtime and data.
Dinner was room service as we had an early start planned for Sunday.

2nd July 2017
We were collected by a friend at 8am and driven to Rietvlei Nature Reserve. Madeleen is a Ranger at this reserve.
We were on the hunt for the meerkats that were noticeably absent on our previous visit in July 2016. Cheetah were also on the list.
There is an abundance of animals in this reserve.
Lunch was spent with 14 friends from Johannesburg and Pretoria.
Tiredness was descending on us as we were driven back to our hotel.
We ate in the restaurant … surrounded by Americans planning their trips the next day. Some were family groups and others were the “hunters”.

3rd July 2017
Shopping/rest day…don’t forget we have an invalid with us.
We were driven to the Eastgate shopping mall in Bedfordview Johannesburg.
3 hours spent here and we were ready to return to the hotel.
4th July 2017
We were escorted to domestic departures with our ever helpful porters. Excess baggage paid. (A$3.00 per kg). 30 seater SAA airlink jet waiting to carry us to Skukuza airport in Kruger National Park.
Arrived in KNP 11am, collected luggage and car and drove south to Crocodile Bridge gate. This was a 2 1/2 hour drive to Crocodile Bridge. 20 minutes later we are home in Marloth Park on the edge of KNP.