Absolutely Fabulous

Once the Jacarandas started blooming again, I knew that my one year anniversary was approaching.

I spent last weekend "celebrating" with Laura who was visiting from the States for a week to finish up some work. We went to the Brayanston Organic Market to eat and shop. Tried on some "fabulous" hats but decided not to buy them.

Franschoek

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While in Cape Town, I took a drive to Franschoek- A little town in the Cape Winelands originally settled in by French Huguenot refugees. A beautiful place fully surrounded by vineyards and mountains.

The Southern Rights are out...

I took a weekend to go see the whales in Hermanus. Whale season runs from August to October each year along the southern coast of South Africa before they migrate south to Antartica for the summer.


More pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/backroads.traveler/HermanusSouthernRightWhales?authkey=dN7rifA2CLA#

registered and ready

after going through the process of confirming that i'm registered to vote and in what state, i finally received my absentee ballot. now, i have to figure out how to get it back to the U.S. as it seems i can only mail it back...

apparently there are 6 million voters who live abroad. i saw on CNN that there was one country where the U.S. embassy held a "come out and vote" party. i'm thinking i may have to pay a visit to the Consulate here in Joburg to put my completed ballot in the mail.

Boating on the Bronkhorstspruit Dam

Fun times on the water. It was the perfect day on Sunday to attempt water skiing (again). Still did not manage to stand all the way up but gave it a good college try. We also tried out this floater that can lift you up off the water. Thrilling.

Me on the floater about to take flight

Me and Chris (my fellow North American friend in South Africa)

More pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/backroads.traveler/BronkhorstspruitDamWaterSkiing?authkey=3vj-FcOmdPU#

Walter Sisulu Botanical Garden

I stopped by one of the local botanical gardens a couple Saturdays ago to just chill. There are some short walks there but I decided to plop myself down on a patch of grass and just enjoy being outside in the hot sun. Very peaceful. While sitting there, I came across:


Beautiful grasshoppers

The resident black eagles whose newborns exhibit interesting behavior each year. They hatch only 2 eggs at the same time every year. Only one of the hatchling survives because the first born always kills the other. Makes you think of Cain and Abel.

The black eagles' nests next to the waterfall.

Two turtles mosying along.

Would anyone like some Evian?

The little town of Evian is located just across the Lake from Lausanne. With only a few hours to explore on Saturday, I decided to take the ferry over to France. Evian is a sleepy little town, especially over the lunch hours between Noon-2pm, but I had a fantastic time walking the historic tour route through various alleyways and passing by fresh spring water fountains. People came with carts of empty bottles to fill them with fresh (Evian) water, for free!