New Years at the Dam

Okay so its taken me over two months to put anything up here and thats probably because these days I'm never in one of any number of places for more than 24 hours at a time.

For New Years, we spent three days up at Badgers fiance Cally's parents house, nestled away on a dairy farm about 30km's from Mooi River. The house sits on the shores of a quaint dam and is surrounded by picturesque rolling hills and pine forests.

After being away for so long it was a great opportunity to catch up with everyone in such a relaxed environment. We spent a lot of time flyfishing on the dam, with compulsory beers, and even though I didn't catch a single fish, that was probably the highlight for me. Or maybe it was Andy and I beating Tont and Campo in the best of three pool match up? I don't know, everything was a highlight, the braais, the french cricket, the hackey sack, the 30 seconds, the shooter pool, the braaing but mostly the company.

South America wrapped up...

We've been back in South Africa for a month now and whilst its been busy and great fun it has also given us enough time to sit back and reflect on the last 4.5 years in the UK and particularly the final 2 months in South America.

Whilst 'constructing' the recent blog posts in South America I was often rushed for time and/or hampered by limited resources - a dud machine, painfully slow internet access, faulty USB ports etc etc. So I've had a look through Robyn's pics, which I often aluded to, and here is a small collection of them that I definitely would've published had I not been in such a hurry. Enjoy.

Where it began, Copacabana beach, Rio, complete with hardcore stud in the background

What do you do when the truck breaks down one evening? Find somewhere that sells cold beer.

Caiman in the Pantanal

One of the world's largest storks and emblem of the Pantanal - The Jabiru

The Red-breasted Toucan

The '2008' butterfly at the Iguazu Falls

Stick insect

Amantani Granny and Grandson

'Teething problems' at a Potosi internet cafe

Two Aymara women trying to catch a glimpse of the President of Bolivia doing his rounds in Potosi

Class photo in the Plaza de Armas, Cusco, Peru

Me and a Black-chested Buzzard Eagle in Colca, Peru

The 'Rest of the World' versus England, Puerta Inca, Peru. We lost this one 3-2, but won our first encounter in Brazil 5-4, leaving it one apiece in the series.

A bird flew into our left engine on takeoff forcing an emergency landing and an extra day in Lima.