Kwa-Zulu Natal. June to October 2019.

Richmond

1. Sani Pass Walk

In 2018 at the Richmond Garden Club we had a talk about The Sunflower Fund which supports leukaemia sufferers.

Every year they do a walk up Sani Pass in order to raise funds and Paula and I decided to take part in June 2019.

The walk starts at the South African border posts and finishes at the Lesotho border post at the rop of the Pass.

Five of us from Richmond took part, from the left:
Geoff, Sean, Paula, me and Lorraine.

Kevin was our designated driver so he kindly drove up the Pass while we walked and then brought us all down.

On our way to the top. The Lesotho Border Post is at the lowest point on the horizon which is at 2876m. You can just make out some of the track on the left hand hillside. We were very lucky with the weather - sunshne and harly any wind. Previous years have sometimes had strong wind and snow!

Kevin on his way up in the bakkie.

Graham, a friend from Richmond, passed us on the way to the top.

On the zig-zags near the top I had a great view back down the valley. The track did get rather crowded at one point with 4x4 groups coming up and a large group of off-road vans being towed down.

At the top! The others all finished ahead of me but at least I made it!

2. Richmond - family, house and garden.

We spent most of the time at our house in Richmond. I was able to get work done in the garden and we saw friends and family and had plenty of braais.

Kevin with his hand bandaged up after the operation to straighten his finger.

Didn't stop him playing pool though!

We had the family round for a braai. Lovely to see them again and to meet our newest great nephew, Jordan.

I was pleased to find the aloes flowering when we returned in June.

The clivias were also putting on a good display.

We bought another bird bath which became very popular.

A white-browed robin-chat enjoying a bath.

Bronze mannekins alway arrive in groups.

We discovered that the tree at the bottom of the garden had some rotten sections and a few branches had come down in previous storms so we, sadly, decided that it would need to come down. Geoff and Sean did an excellent job.

3 Richmond - MOTHs and The Coach House.

The MOTHs are an ex-services charity which has a group in Richmond. We're always ready to help out with events.

Preparing food - bacon and egg rolls, vors rolls and burgers - for participants in a local cycling event. Great fun, as always.

We took part in the MOTHS annual Potjie competion at Beaulieu Dam. Great weather and we sold 16 meals.

The annual Coach House Potjie competition. Sadly only 3 teams taking part but a great day nevertheless.

1. Imfolozi Game Reserve. We did a 3 day Wilderness Walking Trail and then a day driving around the Reserve at the end of August.

2. Southern KZN - Scottburgh, Happy Wanderers and Oribi Gorge. We went away with our van on 3 short trips. Scottburgh and Happy Wanderers are on the coast. Oribi is further inland.

3. Richmond. We spent most of our time here. We helped out at some of the local MOTHs events, took part in a couple of potjie competitions and I walked up th Sani Pass for charity.

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Our Black Cat (that's her name!) who is always well looked after when we're away and is always pleased to see us when we return.