2012 CELEBRATION TRIP

 

My iPad countdown tells me that it is 1 days, 18 hours, 6 minutes and 45 seconds to take off on our 2012 Celebration Trip to South Africa - or perhaps I should say to Cape Town. There are two reasons for this. In the first place it will be our only port of call this time and secondly, Kapenaars  (as those who live around Cape Town sometimes call themselves) often regard their patch of earth as being very different from the rest of the country, as indeed it is, and one which should have declared its Independence some centuries ago. The folks from the North of the country – Johannesburg and thereabouts – flock to the coast at around Christmas. It was at this time some years back when a bunch of wags set up a “border post”  demanding passports and visas from the Transvaalers, who were singularly unamused.

Although I don't usually keep a diary for trips back 'home', I thought it might be interesting to try and do that for this trip - as if I were a tourist and not a returning native. So here is a bit of back story and motivation for the 2012 Celebration Trip.

We were last in Cape Town in 2009 for Rab to celebrate, jointly with good friend Lola, a significant birthday. We had a great time and for those who want to see a bit of the countryside, there are some views here . The party was great fun all round. Good friends, good food, good wine and plenty of singing. Rab usually sets this off with her well loved rendering of "Land of Hope and Glory" and it goes downhill from there. I set them all blubbing when I toasted the old girls and said that it was wonderful that we had this chance to get together because, given our combined ages of almost 1,000 years, and our multiple health issues, we had to accept that the chance of us all meeting again were slim.  Of course everyone missed the point which was that we should be gloriously happy that we had this time together, not sad that it might end. But such is the fate of the optimist I suppose. We are all still here, and no doubt this will be pointed out to me and I  will be told that I was wrong.

In fact we had no real intention of returning to Africa, although I would love to get up to Zimbabwe and Lake Kariba again – or perhaps visit the Okavango Swamps. But….Rab says that with no hospitals there or thereabouts and my dickey heart, that’s not going to happen. In vain I point out that it would be a good way to go, surrounded by the most beautiful views and countryside, but sadly she is unmoved by these excellent and logical arguments. But…we acknowledge that physically and financially we have a finite number of long trips in us and there is a fair number of places we still want to see. There are some members of the family, including our dear son, who tends to get out the old violin, metaphorically speaking, when he hears us saying that kind of thing. As he points out, we have been going on 'last trips' for at least twenty years. But.... I think it focuses the mind on how important it is to enjoy today, in case there is no tomorrow. We may not have another trip, this may be our last, let’s make the most of it, I say.

We were tossing up two self-drive options last year – the Mountain States of the USA or Southern France/Northern Portugal when we were diverted by the thought of a cruise. I’ve described that decision making process in the piece I posted on this blog on   Monday, September 12, 2011 - Back on theMarco Polo What I didn’t mention then was that  the e-mail from Malaysian Airlines with a Special Offer: One Week Only!! which essentially gave us two tickets for the price of one could also be used to get to Cape Town AND, so we calculated, that would mean we’d have enough points to get yet another ticket – five for the price of two.   So we booked there and then to be in Cape Town with our pals for my BIG 70 – or as I tend to think about it my “Best Before” or “Use By” Date, based on the biblical three score years and ten - in February.

No sooner had we booked and as we were on the point of paying our non-refundable fare than we got an e-mail from my sister-in-law saying that her daughter – Rab’s godchild – was getting married in March. Quick change of plan – celebrate my birthday a month late and get to the wedding. Done! Then came the e-mail from my sister announcing that she was getting married again three days before my niece. Hence the title The Celebration Trip.

 

What we didn’t know then was that Malaysian would stop flying to Africa, which left us in a bit of a spot. Of course they offered us some optional flights with other airlines, the best of which would have seen us on the move for about 32 hours as we flew from Melbourne to Kuala Lumpur, to Singapore, to Johannesburg, to Cape Town changing aircraft at each stop sometimes with several hours on the ground. We rejected that and for some time it seemed that our best bet would have been to trade the tickets in for the French/Portuguese option. We had been considering in the first place. but in the end we were able to negotiate a deal which sees us back on Qantas.  For many years we flew Qantas happily. It is a great airline – or was back then – but the hub is Sydney, so virtually all International flights go out of that city. We face the option of getting up at 4.00 am to get an early morning flight up there or going up the day before and overnighting in Sydney. We’ve chosen that option. We also have to change planes in Johannesburg, which is a bit of a schlep – the last thing you need is to sit around for a couple of hours on the ground waiting for a local flight after a fourteen hour international one.

So there you have it. The boys are going down to their luxury kennels tomorrow. It will be a first for the pup, but with Rudi as an old hand and his natural exuberance, we don’t think he’ll find it too hard. He may miss out on his treats though – he enjoys his food more than any other dog we’ve ever had.