24th December, 2000: Hi everyone,
Just wanted to let you all know what I've been up to – I have been having some problems with email so sorry for being slack in letting you know what I have been up to...well... where to start...Finally I finished my degree and went off on this overseas holiday. I started my trip at my friend's Heather’s home at Johannesburg in South Africa.
Johannesburg: In Jo-burg I was really tired, as I had just finished a flight for approx 17 hrs. I didn't sleep much, I was lucky enough to time my flight the same as my friend Lylie as she was going home too. We met some people on the plane (Phil – Melbourne accountant, and lylie’s Zimbabwe friend Michael). Basically we were the peanut gallery down the back of the plane laughing and carrying on and having a great time. When I arrived at Jo-burg I met Heather's fiancé Greg and then we all went out to dinner. I met Heather’s family. During the middle of dinner I felt like I was dilerious with tiredness and was having a hard time understanding what people were saying to me – yep the jetlag finally kicked in and I was exhausted!! It was definitely bedtime for me!! The next day Heather and I went to a lion park where we saw some ostriches, zebra, gazelles, lions, and hyenas. WE also got to witness a feeding of a lion pride in which the park dragged a dead horse carcass past us (absolutely reaked!!) and they devoured it!! It was very interesting. Also we went into the cub park in which we played with baby lion cubs - soooo cute, just only 2 and 4 mths old!!. Then we had a car tour of Jo-burg and went to a bongo-drum cafe called 'Cool Runnings' and met up with another uni friend Celeste.The next day we went wedding dress shopping for Heather and got to watch her dress up like a princess- very beautiful. We finished the day up with a formal Christmas dinner at one of her friends house (Kirsty) – lovely.
Cape town: Absolutely loved Cape Town!!! Fell in love with the coastal shores, lapping turquoise water, white sand, and the sunny warm weather (reminded me of home!). This place is sooooooooo beautiful – just a little slice of perfection for us mortal beings!! I would love to go back and work or holiday again next year. I was met at the airport by my uni friend Lylie and her friend Ross. Both of them toured me around everywhere for 3 days – it was fantastic.We went for coast line drives, cliff face drives and walks, and visited a couple of beaches (we put our feet in the Atlantic ocean and absolutely froze – I think my pinky snapped off from the cold out there!!) and we did a bit of a shops tour upon arrival. We saw the most breathtaking scenery from the cliff faces which overlooked Capetown and its various bays – just magnificent!!! Then we drove to the other side of the cape to Simonstown to see a penguin colony which live on the public beach down the road from her dad who we also visited!!.The next day we all went off to some wineries (3-4) and of course had to taste all of them as we went. We attended a mini wine tasting session which taught us about the different wines. Whilst we were at one of them, I petted a cheetah (it was very smelly, lean, and had rough fur). After this we went to a club that night on the beach's shore and met up with lylie's cousin Quent, his friends (Steve, etc..) and also with Phil that we met on the plane trip over. We all had a few drinks and then headed off for dinner to a beachside café with night views of the ocean!!The next day, most of the people from dinner climbed table top mountain (a huge mountain at capetown which is flat on the top and looks like a table). It had stunning views of all of Capetown and its bays. We caught the cable cart down. That night we went to Steve’s housewarming party and had heaps of fun and met the locals. Before I left, Lylie and Ross took me to Cape Point (the most southern point of Aftica, and I got to see where the Atlantic and Indian oceans meet!! Gorgeous coastal views. I hated leaving Capetown and wanted to stay longer!!.. . such a beautiful place.
Egypt:I mostly did the touristy thing here and saw 7 lots of pyramids, sphinx's, statues, the Egyptian museum with tones of artifacts, real dead mummies over 5000 years old!!, papyrus factory, jewellery shop, perfume shop (which provides French perfume companies their perfume essences - I had to buy some of course!!), and ate out at restaurants for lunch - great food.I found Egypt to have a foul stench. The whole time you’re inhaling the aromas of decaying rubbish! The hygiene system over there is nonexistent – very different to the wheely bin pick up system at home!! There is rubbish just rotting and piling up on the roadside everywhere. I didn't find the locals too friendly – I guess the fact that I was a foreigner, female, and alone (in that I was the only one on my Egypt tour) would contribute largely to that!! I was warned by my guide not to speak to anyone when I had extra time to wander around the tourist site/pyramids/temples as they weren’t to hear my accent. I therefore became paranoid about my safety and didn't really enjoy my time there. I was dropped off at my room at 2pm and told not to walk around by myself outside in the area that I was staying (industrial type area – away from the city) and should only venture out between 9-10am in the morning when some women were out!!. I think I would change my location next time!! I hated being the only person on my tour although I did get a tour guide and driver all too myself!!. In Egypt you have to tip for everything and found the helpful people were the ones expecting tips – a very different way of life here.
I looked forward to leaving leaving Egypt after seeing the main sites. I was harassed at the airport by the Israeli airline staff for hours as they thought I had the potential to be a bomb carrier and searched my whole bag and x-rayed my sealed up box of chocolates 50 times!!!!. I bought some chocolates duty free with my left over money (big mistake!) and they thought that someone gave it to me to carry on to the plane – the guy who sold it to me didn’t give me a docket (and I didn’t know to ask!!) so I couldn’t even validate where I’d got it from!!! They were so suspicious of me!!. The decision to allow me to take these chocolates on board and search my stuff took 2hrs and 35 minutes – can you believe it!!!! I was glad to leave Egypt at this point- it finished off a not so good impression of the place although I loved seeing the pyramids!!!. Egypt also had crazy drivers- no-one drove in lanes. There just drive where ever there was space and just sat on their car horn.
Israel: By the time I reached Israel I was so glad to see a friendly face just for me!! After the whole Egypt airport experience my friend Efrat was a wonderful welcome when I hopped off the plane!!. WE went on a car tour and visited the funeral place of the first Israel minister, we also visited a gorgeous canyon south of Tel Aviv with immaculate views, we drove through a crater to visit a bedouin village, and went to her friends (Ronite and David) place that night for an authentic Israeli home cooked meal– it was delicious!!. Today we drove to the Dead Sea, I put my feet in it, and then we all walked though the canyons/mountains in the Judah Desert ranges which laid parallel to the Dead Sea. This hike took 4 hours return and it had the most beautiful canyon and waterfall backdrops in this desert environment. I had a great day.Well that’s about it so far, I will write soon. I am enjoying myself heaps!!
See ya
Penny |
