'Lavender Blue', Eastern Cape - Something For Everyone !

The fresh produce included a wide selection of herbs aswell as organically grown produce like these radishes, above

Last Saturday morning we went to a delightful little place called ‘Lavender Blue’ which is situated on the East coast resorts road, between the towns of Gonubie and Beacon Bay. I had passed it a few times during my last visit to this part of South Africa – it’s one of those places which looks very quaint and inviting from the outside - but never had time to stop, so was pleased to finally get the opportunity to do so last weekend.

‘Lavender Blue’ is a family friendly country venue which sells a lovely selection of homemade ‘crafty’ items and gifts as well as fresh fruit, vegetables and a small selection of unique clothing. Each Saturday morning it has a market selling a huge array of fresh, local produce including cut flowers, cheese, baked treats, fruit and vegetables. It also has a nursery, and a coffee shop/restaurant – the outdoor seating area of which overlooks a small dam with birdlife and a nice children’s play area.

Hearty breakfasts were available - from muffins to omelettes and everything in between ......

It was raining when we were there, so after browsing around the various undercover/inside stalls (and stocking up on some lovely fresh produce for the coming week !) we ate breakfast in an upstairs area set underneath the roof and with a view of the market stalls below.

The self-service breakfast consisted of – amongst other things - a large selection of delicious toasted sandwiches (bacon, fig and brie anyone ?), the ‘Tutti Fruiti’ (farm fresh yogurt, fruit, muesli and honey all delightfully presented in separate bowls so that you could mix it up however you liked !), various omelettes or the ever popular bacon & eggs. They also had a lovely selection of muffins, cakes (the ‘cup cake craze’ has hit South Africa and everyone here seems to be making & selling all manner of cup cakes with every kind of towering topping imaginable !) and pastries – several of which you could buy from the vendors to take home with you, or to take over to eat at the communal trestle tables with a hot beverage of your choice.

We ate our breakfast in the rooftop area which was really quaint - my daughter was rather taken with the 'carpet' up there - which had been painted on to the floor !

A wide selection of tea (herbal, Rooibos, English Breakfast) and coffee (filter, espresso, cappuccino) was available – a ‘help yourself’ tea and coffee station contained large suspended wicker baskets filled with metal tea and coffee mugs and ‘bottomless’ options were also available ….. drink as much as you like (great for tea lovers like me, where one cuppa is never enough !) and hot chocolate for the kids.

A view from the upstairs dining area onto the market stalls below

I’m only sorry that the weather was so miserable (hence no outside photo's) and that we were unable to eat outside and make use of the kiddies play area. But then, I suppose, it’s provided me with a great excuse to go back again, when the weather’s a little brighter !

This particular stall sold a selction of dried fruit and nuts, amongst other things .....

‘Lavender Blue’ is closed on a Monday and it’s opening times for the rest of the week are -: Tuesday to Friday 08h30 to 15h00; Saturday’s from 07h30 to 13h00 and Sunday’s/Public Holidays from 08h30 to 12h30. If you’d like to contact them for clear directions on how to find it, the local number is (043) 732 1172.

Breakfast, anyone ? Fresh flowers on each table added to the country feel of the dining area/restaurant ......

Eastern Cape Scenery ....

Although it's hard being away from my own home and having our little family unit complete, I'm also really enjoying this time spent in South Africa with my parents. They live in a really pretty area with the best of both worlds - seafront in front of them, and country farmlands behind them .... as this photo above shows.

My son is thriving and the struggles in his early days of life seem like a distant memory .... here he is below, having a nap in his pushchair on the deck which overlooks the stretch of beach in front of my parent's home .... bless him ! (Did I tell you how completely smitten I am with this little chap ? After longing and heartbreaks and waiting so long to have him, I still can't believe he's mine !)

I've been enjoying long country walks .... leaving the kids at home with my Mum sometimes and doing 'serious' walks with my Dad (below) .... the other day we walked to a nearby resort and then right along the beach and back again. I am working hard - very hard - to shift the baby weight with both diet and exercise .... so far, so good ! (Hubby is in for a surprise when he see's me again ;)
Some unusual rock formations, below, on the nearby beach of Cintsa (Chintsa) which we visited the other day .... it's a really nice swimming beach (though you won't catch me back in my bikini just yet !)

Cintsa has 2 seaside villages which sit on opposite sides of the Cintsa Lagoon .... Cintsa beach (below) is a peaceful beach that stretches about 17 km's in length and is very popular with holiday makers.

Aside from all the sunny photo's above, we're having quite a bit of overcast, drizzly weather here at the moment so won't be spending much time on the beach this weekend, I don't think. (I'll have to blog next week about what we get up to, instead !)

News from the farm in Tanzania is that we've - finally - had some much needed rain ! Justin is looking after everything and all is well with the pets and at the house. My hubby is enjoying his work - but says that it is very, very hot where he is & quite like anything he's ever known before (the heat, that is !) .... and says that he's eating a lot of fried chicken as the cook at the house where he's staying seems quite fond of cooking it. So much, infact, that he's getting quite sick of it ! (Not much of a selection out there in the bush !) I told him to remember that the next time he complains that I'm serving him the same dish too often at home - ha ! His words to me were "I'd give my front teeth for some of your Bolognese sauce or meatballs right now" !

Hope that you're having a great weekend wherever you are in the world as you read this !

Where Am I ?!

Quaint farm houses tucked away behind a hill or two ..........................

Narrow country roads, and skies of deepest blue ..............


Cabbage farms .....

Dairy farms .....................

And game farms, too ..............................

I know where I am. But .........................

do you ?!

Email Problems, Baby Update & Tanzanian Farm News

This photo of my Dad & my daughter was taken a couple of days ago - they're standing on 'our' beach just near my parent's house in the Eastern Cape

Phew, I can say that having 2 children now instead of 1, increases the workload about .... three times ?! Hat's off to all those Mum's (and Dads too, of course !) out there who have more than 2 kids ! (How do you all cope ?!)

The good news is that the baby is doing well and has gained another .300 gm's this week. He is exactly 1 month old today - time has flown ! I am so glad that it is not this time last month, when he was just about to be (unknown at the time) admitted to Neo Natal ICU & we still had that whole 'nightmare time' ahead of us ...... (as they say 'nothing bad lasts forever')

To those of you who've sent me emails (or replied to replies of mine) I'm sorry I haven't received them yet as they have all gone to my home email address on the farm - they're on my computer there and I will read them all, and reply to them, when I get home. At the moment I'm planning on returning sometime around the 20th of July, but as nothing usually goes according to plan here in Africa (!!) that could change.

In the meantime, my husband tells me that things are fine on the farm and that he is keeping busy with the harvesting (and eating lots of beef mince - which I find rather odd, considering that the only beef mince I left in the freezer was for the cats - but I won't ask any questions !)

The staff are apparently all awaiting our return, Justin is quite anxious that we return soon (!) and the gardeners are really missing our daughter who usually follows them around during the day & 'helps' them with raking, watering etc ! Maxie has grown so much in the past 2 months (yes, we've been gone for 2 months - I can't believe it) & I can't wait to see her (and all the other animals) again soon.

I miss Tanzania, I miss the farm and I miss my life there but I know that it is only temporary and that at the moment I'm in the best place I could possibly be for the time being.

I hope to do some more posts soon on the Eastern Cape, so watch this space !

Sand Sculptures on Gonubie Beach ...

Gonubie is a coastal town situated on the Eastern Cape coastline of South Africa, and around 15 minutes drive from my parent's home. It is known for it's lovely, wide and safe (lifeguards are on duty) swimming beach, estuary and the lush vegetation on the surrounding sand dunes. The warm waters of the Indian Ocean are a popular swimming spot for both tourists and residents alike !

On Sunday we took a late afternoon drive out to Gonubie beach, following a delicious Sunday carvery lunch at a nearby resort (my husband was still here with us at the time, and we were celebrating Father's Day - his first as a father of two !) At the main entrance/walkway area to the beach we came across these lovely sand sculptures (the one above of the man lying sunbathing was my favourite !)

The sand sculptures were all done by the same man - an Eastern Cape man who goes by the name 'The Sandman'. He had a small donation box displayed near the sculptures, where you were invited to leave a donation for viewing his work, if you so wished.

I'd never seen sand sculptures before, only photo's in magazines and the like, so really enjoyed seeing these as some of them in particular were very good ! Best of all, here was someone using their talent and initiative to earn a bit of extra money, rather than begging or turning to crime in order to do so, which one - sadly - seems to come across more & more in South Africa these days.

Where On Earth Am I ?!

Here I am - in Queensberry Bay - which is on the Eastern Cape coastline in South Africa ! (I know, a long way from the foothills of Mt. Kilimanjaro where I'm supposed to be right now, but here's why ....... )

I'm with my daughter & son at my parent's new home (they moved in less than 2 weeks ago !) and the photo's above & below show the view of their 'private' beach, which their home backs on to ......

I know, I was all set to return to Tanzania on Friday .... but our son has not been doing too well & after a visit to his Paediatrician late last week, my husband & I decided that it would be in our son's best interest for me to stay on in South Africa for a while, until he is robust and healthier and ready for travel. As you know, once I'm back on the farm I really am in a remote place far from decent medical care should anything go wrong.

So, on Friday morning we caught an early flight out of Johannesburg to East London, and my husband stayed with us for the weekend, leaving for Tanzania yesterday as he had to get back to work/the farm. It was so sad to say goodbye to him .... we hate having to split our little family up and stay away from Tanzania for longer, too .... but at this stage our son is the littlest & most neediest member of the family, and we have to put him first.

Our son was 'failing to thrive' & actually losing weight due to feeding problems, which was pretty scary as he is already so tiny (2,5 kg's). I do avoid publishing my personal opinions on the blog, but should just mention that I am very pro breastfeeding and despite the fact that after successfully breastfeeding my first born until she was almost 2 years old, breastfeeding my son has been another story altogether and despite the whole so-called world wide change to promote breastfeeding over formula feeding ('breast is best'), I have met with much resistance here from Doctors, Paediatricians, Nursing Staff & the like and it seems like everyone is trying to get me to formula feed but I am happy to say that I have resisted and persevered with the breastfeeding and that our son has now gained .300 gm's in 4 days and is back on track again ! With his health problems since birth, and trials ahead of us in his future, I know that breastfeeding is the best for him, and have now proved that he is thriving and getting stronger by the day ...... thank goodness !

Anyway, we are looking at staying on for at least a month. By which time our son will hopefully be much stronger, bigger and healthier. My husband is back on the farm & all the animals are fine, all the staff are sad that we are not there with him but understand that it is best for us to return once our son is stronger.

The bonus for me is that I get to spend more time with my parents, our daughter gets to spend a month on the beach (!!) - her school is almost ready to break up for the long school holidays and I have continued to homeschool her here in South Africa with my Mum's help - and I get to rest as much as I can with my parents helping out with the kids.

So, this is where I am now ..... and I do hope to be blogging more regularly now on the sights and surroundings of the beautiful Eastern Cape, plus a few recipes using locally found ingredients, too .... so I'll be able to share a little unexpected part of Africa with you all, too !

I also just wanted to say THANK YOU to all the people following this blog as I see over the weekend I've had a total of just over 100 followers join - I soon hope to visit all the new follower's blogs, and catch up with the old, aswell as tackle my overflowing inbox - thanks so much to everyone for the emails and messages of support, if I could I would reach right out through your computer screen & give you all a great big (((hug))) !!!!!

More to follow .... thanks so much to everyone for being so patient as I have kept you all waiting for an update on my movements !

Getting Ready To Return Home .....

The photo above shows the garden which we've had since we moved here in early May - a far cry from my 3,5 acre farm garden, but a garden nevertheless !
The photo above shows our veranda ..... no views of Mt Meru or Mt Kilimanjaro from here !

We've made friends with many cats who live in this residential complex. I'm pleased to say that every cat I've encountered since being here has been fit, fat and healthy - unlike the stray cats in Tanzania. South African cats seem like giants compared to ours back at home ! The cat above is called Sneeu (which means 'Snow' in the local Afrikaans language) ... he reminds me of our Toby, although he's a much bigger version of him !

So, the packing has began. Along with the final shopping and dashing around to get everything organised in time for our flight home on Friday morning. We'll be travelling through 3 different African countries and airports, changing 'planes & hopefully arriving back in Tanzania late Friday night. I'll let you all know once we're home safe & sound .... if you don't hear from me one last time before we leave South Africa ..... I'll see how the time goes - inbetween packing, shopping, nappy changes and breastfeeding !

'The Meat Company' Restaurant at Monte Casino, Johannesburg

Last Saturday, my husband, daughter & I met my parents for lunch at the well known restaurant 'The Meat Company', which is situated at the Monte Casino complex (which I wrote a blog post about during a previous visit to South Africa last year, which you can read over here). The restaurant, as you can tell by it's name, is known for the various cuts of top quality meat which it serves (along with seafood !) The photo above shows the interior of the upper dining level - which is reached via a staircase of wine !
The photo above shows the exterior of the restaurant, as it is inside an enclosed 'fake' Italian styled village, it is permanently 'night time' here !

As seen in the above photo, the view from the upper dining area of the restaurant allows you to look down on the 'village streets' below !

The staircase leading from the lower to the upper dining levels, is made up of thousands of bottles of wine. It was a pretty steep, spiral staircase to negotiate for me at almost 9 months pregnant, but as I said to my family - I had to take photo's of it from the top, for all my blog readers to see !

The restaurant is a popular local & international celebrity hangout apparently, and each time a celebrity eats there they are asked to autograph a dinner plate & write a message on the plate - the plates are then displayed around the restaurant (you can make some out amongst the wine bottles in the photo above). Some of the plates I saw had been signed by both local & international Sports teams/athletes, actors and actresses, TV presenters, 'Big Brother' contestants, musicians and bands to mention but a few.

South Africa is known for the wonderful wine which she produces, and here above is a wine display showing a small selection of what the restaurant offers to diners.

Since living in Tanzania (where the general quality of meat is not that great) I have gone off meat - red meat especially - and prefer to eat chicken or vegetarian options, but my husband is a complete carnivore so this restaurant was right up his street ! He tucked into a 1/2 kg (1 lb) rump steak and my Dad enjoyed the same ! My Mum enjoyed a ladies rump, and I opted for the Thai chicken wings, which my daughter also enjoyed. The flavour and tenderness of the meat was, according to all those who ate it, exceptional - and the restaurant certainly live up to their slogan 'steaks you'll leave home for !'

If you'd like to read more about 'The Meat Company' group of restaurants - which also operate in Australia, Bahrain, the Middle East, Mozambique, Israel, United Kingdom & Asia you can read more about them over here.

Meeting A Fellow African Blogger (& Long Time Online Friend !)

Last week I finally had the pleasure of meeting a fellow African blogger and long time online friend (we first started corresponding online in 2005), Jo who's blog 'Memorable Meanders' covers her current life in South Africa, aswell as her previous life as an expat in various African countries. (Here is a photo above of Jo & I together, taken just last week !)

Jo & I 'clicked' immediately when we first met online, as we had so much in common - at the time Jo was living the expatriate lifestyle in remote West Africa, she was also feeding (& rescuing !) stray West African animals (Jo even had a village duck feeding programme. Yes, ducks !) so we had that in common, and she was also into a healthy diet/exercise lifestyle (I still remember her emailing me detailed instructions on how to do lunges with a pack of playing cards to make it extra hard on the thigh muscles !) Since we first made contact, we have had weekly - and often daily (sometimes multiple times a day !) - email contact, 'phonecalls when we've both been in 'civilisation' & have swapped gifts and cards over the years.

Once Jo moved back to South Africa and I was visiting the country regularly, we tried to meet up but for some reason or other we never quite managed it. Until this time ! Last week Jo had to travel to Johannesburg on business for her husband (who is currently working in the Sudan, and Jo has some interesting posts on her blog on his life there) so we finally managed to meet up at a lifestyle garden/nursery centre where we spent the better part of the day in a delightful tea garden, drinking endless pots of tea & coffee (not to mention eating some delicious cheesecake !) & catching up in person for a change !

Jo is the first online friend I have ever met 'in the flesh' (& hopefully not the last !) & she is every bit as delightful, warm and friendly in person, as she is online - it was an absolute pleasure to meet her, and we got along so well !

As an added 'bonus', I also got to meet Jo's son, daughter-in-law and their 3 children - my daughter got along so well with them, and they all had great fun playing together. My Mum was also with me, so she got to meet everyone too but unfortunately my husband was still in Tanzania at the time - and as Jo's husband was in the Sudan, we thought that was fair and that next time we'd have to meet up with our husband's, too !

Thanks, Jo, for being such a great & supportive friend for all these years, and I can't wait for the day when we can all meet up again - hopefully on East Africa soil ?!

To learn more about Jo, you can read her blog 'Memorable Meanders' over here. It's well worth a visit, and I'm sure that you'll soon be back for more !

Welcome To Our New, Temporary Home In South Africa !

I'm officially a city girl for now - living in a secure townhouse complex in the Northern Suburbs of Johannesburg, South Africa. A far cry from the freedom & wide open, wild space of a 3500 acre farm in Kilimanjaro's foothills, and quite an adjustment, too. But fun, an adventure - and thank goodness, not for the rest of my life ! Above is a private swimming pool/party venue in the complex.
This is what our new home looks like, above - we have a downstairs unit with a teeny tiny garden, but a garden nevertheless. The complex has many cats so my daughter is in her element !
The complex has a Club House & various swimming pools. The photo above shows the entrance to the Club House (which has a restaurant/bar, swimming pool & tennis courts).

Here above, is a view of the Club House tennis courts. The windows on the bottom floor of the Club House are where the restaurant/bar is.


Here, above, is the main swimming pool at the Club House. There are over 130 houses within the complex. It has taken some adjustment living so close to other people. I am not used to being able to hear other people so close by, as aside from our staff and the birdlife, and the farm equipment working in the fields, there are no other sounds on the farm ! I can hear people talking, arguing, playing music and taps/plumbing in next door units. I can smell when the neighbours are smoking out on their veranda, I can tell when the people opposite us are making toast for breakfast ! Early in the morning I hear people leaving for work to avoid rush hour traffic. Late at night I hear them return.

My daughter is thrilled at the novelty of being able to drink water 'right out of the tap' and keeps checking with me that it is okay to do so, as at home we can only drink bottled or boiled water ! She even drinks her bath water in glee ..... ewwwwwww !

I was out in our garden the other morning when a neighbour in an upstairs unit called out to greet me as she saw me stroking one of her cats ... "Vodka !" she shouted "and the other one is Tequila !" I was taken aback ..... ummmmm ...... was she talking to me ? Inviting me over for a drink ?! She quickly explained that those were the 2 cats names. Oh, phew - relief - I had wondered why this lady was shouting out the names of alcoholic drinks to me so early in the morning ! Thank goodness it was only the cats !

At the time of writing this, my husband is on a 'plane from East Africa right now, flying somewhere across the African Continent to reach us. (This being unpredicatable Africa and all, I'll wait until he actually lands here before I celebrate his arrival, though !) I also won't be online for a while. My husband is bringing our laptop with him, & it will take a few days to get ourselves set up online on that - maybe even next week only ? So don't worry if I disappear for a while, I'll be back soon ........

Weekend Markets In Johannesburg

There are many markets held in & around the city of Johannesburg (or 'Jozi' as she is affectionately called !) over the weekend, so this past weekend we took the opportunity to visit a couple of them.

On Saturday morning we went to the fairly new (it first opened in October 2008) 'Jozi Food Market' in the Parktown Quarter of Parktown North. It is an open air market, showcasing homegrown, homemade, organic and natural products from a selection of speciality suppliers. (See the delicious array of bottled products above which included Pomegranate dressing, balsamic reductions, whisky marmalades, jams, meat rubs and pickles).

The market is open every Saturday from 08h30 to 13h30. We found a lovely array of organic vegetables, preserved meat products & sausages (above) and delicious homemade bread (below). The market stalls included people selling products like goats milk cheese, port, organic sparkling wine, rosewater cordials, cook books, honey, organic coffee and beautifully decorated cupcakes, to mention but a few.

There is a public area with tables and benches laid out so that you can buy food and drink to try from the various stalls, then join some friends and tuck in ! I loved the fact that the market was pet friendly (no health & safety checks here !) with water bowls for dogs at various points throughout the market, and a few four-legged shoppers, too ! It's also family friendly with plastic push bikes for toddlers to play on and many families were out shopping and enjoying the market the day we went.

On Sunday we went to the well known 'Rosebank Rooftop Market' (it's open every Sunday & also on Public Holidays) which is situated in one of the parking areas of the Rosebank Mall, Rosebank. This market first opened in 1993 and now has around 600 stalls selling everything from clothing to artwork (some pictured below), crafts from all over Africa, paintings, jewellery, antiques & collectibles, kitchenware and food - to mention just a few of the delightful things which you can find there !

This market is very popular with tourists as you can pick up some great African crafts there, & there is a huge selection all under one roof. I've been a frequent visitor to this market over the years and have bought some lovely items for my home during each visit - this time I bought some lovely stainless steel cake forks, sugar spoon & butter knife which have hand welded beading/artwork and glass baubles worked into the handles - striking and unusual, I'm sure that you'll see them featured in an upcoming food/recipe post once I'm back home and in my own kitchen again !

Isn't this golden lion above gorgeous ? He's made of wire and beads and is the size of a small dog. It's all done by hand which makes each one unique.

The goats and sheep in the above photo are also made completely of wire/beads, as are most of the items you see on the tables behind them.

I just had to publish this photo as I know some of you who read my blog are great artists, so may find this interesting. It didn't come out too clearly due to the use of spotlights, but this artwork is made of African porcupine quills and is quite unusual. The artwork on the easels just behind these is all done on handmade paper - really beautiful, and typically African.

This stall above sold a selection of wooden salad and pickle spoons aswell as bowls. Many of these items can also be found in Tanzania & Kenya - the stall owner was not around at the time but I'm sure that s/he must be from somewhere in East Africa !

These beaded dolls above are, as far as I know, traditional South African Zulu dolls. This stall also had a lovely collection of beaded bookmarks - which you can just make out in front of the dolls.

The market also has an extensive food section selling everything from preserves and pickles to bread, cheese, pies, spices and fruit and you can also grab a bite to eat here if you wish.

There is lots of entertainment laid on as you walk around the stalls - brass bands, mime artists, belly dancers, tap dancers and traditional African (Zulu) dancers dressed in animal skins are just a few of what we saw the day we went.

So, these are just 2 of the many markets which you will find in Johannesburg over a weekend and if you are ever visiting the city, I would recommend both as definitely well worth a visit for a true taste of South African life, culture and food !

Travel Disasters - Safe Arrivals !

Well, here I am (finally !) blogging from the South of the African continent after many travel mishaps & adventures along the way ! (I should know by now, that things rarely go according to plan in Africa, 'eh ?!)

To cut a long story short, our flight out of Tanzania to Kenya was cancelled without notice. We sat at the airport from 4.30 am until 9.30 am and not ONE person representing the airline (Precision Air - and I will name them and shame them here, because their service is shocking and a jolly poor advertisement for Tanzania) appeared to tell any of the passengers what was happening. We were basically left to our own devices, & each one of us had connecting flights out of Kenya which we missed.

We eventually got ourselves onto a later flight to Kenya (on an old 'plane which had some of the arm rests strapped with tin/aliminium foil and covered with tape, a single filthy toilet on board & were served cake and peanuts as an 'alternative' breakfast - great service, hey ?) & of course by the time we arrived at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, we had missed our connection to Johannesburg.

THUMBS UP to Kenya Airways whose staff were courteous, professional & efficient and sorted out the mess which Precision Air had made, despite the fact that it had nothing to do with them. They immediately booked us on a flight out to Johannesburg later that night, booked my daughter and I (along with a South African couple who were also on the same flight as us) into a 5 star hotel for the day, complete with complimentary meals, drinks, airport shuttle service and phonecalls. On arrival at the hotel we were treated like VIP guests in a luxury suite and were able to sleep, shower etc before our flight out that night.

It was not an easy day for us, I am over 8 month's pregnant, travelling with a 4 year old and lots of hand luggage & stuck in a busy African city alone and my poor husband behind in Tanzania was beside himself, he was actually trying to get a flight out himself so that he could be with us to help us and protect us (!!) and I told him not to be silly, we would be just fine. He was terrified I'd go into early labour or something with all the stress, but I was more angry than anything and there's no way this baby is coming until we're reunited with him in a couple of weeks anyway !

We arrived in Johannesburg in the early hours of Sunday morning - utterly exhausted and now with the added worry of getting from the airport to the house we've rented safely, as Johannesburg is the crime capital and it is never safe to be out on the roads at that time of the morning, but my parents were there to meet my daughter & I, and we made it 'home' safe and sound !

Phew ! We are so glad to be here safely now, although quite exhausted by all the adventures & I have been catching up on a lot of sleep. Just finding my feet now & settling into new routines here, and I will soon be back to post on our adventures in Nairobi (with photos of the hotel) and some photo's of our new home for the next 2 months or so.

Thanks so much to everyone for the comments (which I'll respond to soon) & emails, I know that many of you were waiting to hear that I'd arrived here safely so thought that I should just to a QUICK blog post to bring you all up to speed. (My Mum said to me "A quick blog post ? But Lynda, you can never write a quick blog post as you always have so much to say !" ha ha !!!!)

I'll be back soon ...... ;)

And ..... We're Off !

Part of our garden with our house just peeking out ...... this photo was taken on Sunday afternoon. (Kilimanjaro towers above the house, but was covered in cloud when I took the photo).

View of the bottom portion of our front garden .....

Another view from the bottom of our garden, this time looking out onto farm fields. (I took this photo from underneath the ancient fig tree which sits in the corner of our garden.)

I can’t believe how the time has flown, and that tomorrow is almost here - when a new adventure begins !

On Saturday morning at 4.30 am, my daughter & I will check in for our flight out of Tanzania to Nairobi, Kenya. We’ll land in Nairobi very early, catching a connecting flight to Johannesburg, South Africa - our home until mid June !

Because we have such an early start on Saturday morning, we’ll be spending tomorrow night at a lodge near the airport. My husband will then drop us off at the airport early on Saturday morning, before returning to the farm alone. He’ll be joining us in South Africa in 2 week’s time, after he‘s finished with the planting here, and in good time (I hope !) for the birth of our baby daughter, who should make her grand entrance into this world on 26th May. (The airlines are quite strict about how far into your pregnancy you're allowed to fly, which is why we have to go sooner rather than later - I've had to get all sorts of tedious medical clearance forms and Doctor's letters done to present to the airline's we're flying with !)

Johannesburg was a natural choice for us when it came to deciding where we would have our new baby daughter, as she will be born at the same private hospital as our first daughter was, delivered by the same Gynae and with the same team of dedicated staff who took such good care of us over 4 years ago. Medical services are very limited in Tanzania, which is why I would never give birth here - especially after experiencing them first hand when we lost our second baby here a couple of years ago.

As my parents have now retired and moved away from Johannesburg, we have (wait for it !) rented a fully furnished and serviced townhouse in a secure suburban complex for the duration of our stay ! I know, it’s going to take quite some getting used to, living the suburban lifestyle …. we have also hired a car, booked our daughter in for extra mural activities so that she can make new friends and learn new things and I will be home schooling her daily with the syllabus given to me by her school here in Tanzania, so that she is not behind once we return.

My parents will stay with my daughter and I until my husband arrives, and will be staying with friends for the rest of the time we are there waiting for our daughter’s birth, so it will be lovely to have them close to us during this special time. I’m really going to miss my sister though, who was there when our daughter was born and now lives in the UK. She was invaluable in those early days with all her advice on caring for a newborn … although she is younger than me, she already had 2 children of her own and was a wealth of knowledge !

City living is not all new to me - I was born and grew up in the bustling city of Harare, Zimbabwe and have also lived in the South African cities of Nelspruit, Durban, Pietermaritzburg and Johannesburg - but still …. I’m a country girl at heart ! I am, however, going to make full opportunity of living in a city and all that it has to offer …. I already have appointments booked with the hairdresser, dentist, doctor, gynae …. and lots of shopping trips planned, meals out, taking my daughter to the theatre, to see her first ever movie, trips to play parks and child friendly venues, manicures and pedicures for me … all those things we can’t do here in Tanzania.

You know what else I’m going to do ? Buy my bread and milk DAILY !!! Yes, that’s right - no more stockpiling the basics on once-a-month shopping trips for me. Oh no ! I’m going to make sure that I regularly run out of things so that I can pop down to the shops every day - what a novelty !!

After the birth of our daughter, we have to wait for her birth certificate and passport to be issued before we can return to Tanzania. All going well, we hope to return home in mid June.

Now …. I have to be really honest with you here, and let you know that I'm not going to be blogging daily for the entire time I'm away. I am going to aim to update the blog with my news from South Africa with a once weekly post though - more often if I can, but I’ll just have to see how it goes as I’m sure you can understand how busy I’ll be, plus those final weeks leading up to the birth of a baby can be pretty tiring - not to mention the weeks after the birth itself !

Of course I’ll miss my daily blogging and connecting with everyone out there in the blogging world (comment moderation may be a little slow, as will replying to emails and commenting on my fellow bloggers blogs !), but one thing I do promise you all, is that once I’m back in Tanzania (in mid June) and settled into life as a new Mum again, I will definitely resume blogging on a daily basis again, posting new recipes & stories on what I‘m getting up to here as I have been for the past year or so - and nothing about the blog is going to change !

Thanks so much for understanding, and thanks so much for being such a wonderful and supportive group of readers - I appreciate each one of you !

My next post (apart from a tasty recipe for Chocolate Wheels which will publish tomorrow) will be from South Africa (not sure when though ?), to let you know that I’ve made it safely onto the other side of the continent …. so wish me luck, I have a long journey ahead of me … but I’ll let you know once I finally get there !