Jan & Mark's Wedding - 29 October 2005

On Friday, 28 October, my folks drove me up to the beautiful rolling green hills of the Natal Midlands - we stopped off and had a delicious bite at the "Squiggly Piggy" or some Cafe of a similar name (I can't quite remember it now!) ... and then we went on to Lythwood Lodge which is set in the hills of Lidgeton ... it was a magnificent backdrop for a fairytale wedding ... the only downer was the weather ... it didn't stop raining from Friday till late Saturday night!

On the Friday night, about 70 of us from the wedding party went to Notty's Pub in Nottingham Road which was heaps of fun and I bumped into Kathy McDonald who went to university with me ... hadn't seen Kath since I lived in London ... that was so awesome! She wasn't actually attending the wedding but was at the pub with her husband and friends for a night out so it was a chance meeting and such fun!

Anyway, I was so excited to see such amazing friends, people that I had lived with in London and had not seen for almost 10 years ... close and special friends who I travelled around Europe in a campervan with in 1995 ... and old family friends who have known me since birth!! Jan and I have been friends since we were babies ... we grew up together and went to pre-primary, some primary and high school together and it was such a privilege and an honour to be there at her wedding!! She made such a beautiful bride and the whole day was just fantastic ... the weather did not bring us down ... we partyed hard till the wee hours ...

The Chapel was so quaint and so beautiful ...


The theme was red/orange gerbers and chocolate brown which was just beautiful ... we all got momento bracelets (necklaces) to keep from our serviette holders which I am still wearing and have done every day since the wedding ... I love them!


The Bride ... Jan Schulze (nee Snell) !!


The Groom ... Mark Schulze


The Bridesmaids ... Mars (left) and Kirst (right)


The Bridesmaids Table ...


Girls just wanna have fun ... the best of friends ... forever, no matter where we find ourselves in this world, I know that I have these friends for life ... and that is very special!

Lynnie, Kaz, Me & Hayls


Ali, Pips, Kaz, Me, Lynnie & Sandy


Lynnie, Hayls & Adrian


Jan & Kirst


Lynnie, Me & Jan


Sandy & Kez


Kaz & Atholl


Table settings ...


What a hoot ... and what a wonderful weekend and tops to see Jan and Mark finally tie the knot after 10 years together! May God bless their marriage with love, happiness and many more exciting adventures in the years to come!!

Old School Buddies!

Whilst in SA, I had the pleasure of catching up with some of my dearest school buddies ... girls who, no matter how far away the are, have always remained close friends and I love them to bits! I had dinner with Lee-Anne Davidson and Annabelle Meaker (nee Inghilterra) ... and I also went and stayed a night at Annie's place in the estated of Kirklington which is a beautiful housing estate in Hillcrest. Annie has 4 beautiful children ... Bella, Cole, Lorenzo and Carla ... too gorgeous ... have a peek!

Annie and I went up to Ballito for brekkie at the Mug & Bean ...



Annie, Lee-Anne & I had dinner at The Grill in Florida Road ...




Annie's front veranda ... Kirklington Estate ...



Annie and her kids ... (L-R) Cole, Lorenzo, Carla and Bella ...




Annie's Italian villa ... a haven and a beautiful home ...



Other Kirkington mansions ... Sean Pollock (ex-South African cricket captain) and his wife Trisha (nee Lauderdale) also live in the Kirklington Estate! My Dad played cricket with Sean's father and I knew Trisha at school - she was a year below me and her older sister Debbie is best friends with Al Wheatley. I am God Mother to Al's daughters here in Sydney ... small world heh? Talk about 6 degrees of separation ... ?

Pumula Beach Hotel Holiday : 21 October - 25 October 2005

Whilst in SA, I was so excited to spend 5 nights away with my folks, my brother Murray, his wife Karrie and my darling nephew, Guy at the Pumula Beach Hotel which is down the south coast about 1 hr drive from Durban at a place called Umzumbe. It is a 3 star hotel, but being a guest there makes you feel like it is a 5 start resort ... with games rooms, a beautiful pool, 18 hole mini-golf course, jungle gyms, volleyball court and a step away from a pristine Natal coast beach ... it is paradise discovered!

Views from the Hotel ...



Umzumbe Beach ...



Little man ... having a ball of a time in the kids play room and on the beach ...






I love my mummy ... Karrie & Guy



Whale sighting ... a pod of whales swam past the hotel every day and we were privileged to see them breaching and playing around ... what a treat!










We also saw heaps of dolphins ...



Some catching waves ...



And on the beach, we watched a Yellow Billed Kite catch what looked like a rat or a puffer fish ??




We had one day which wasn't really beach weather so we headed up to Oribi Gorge for the morning and had a look around the countryside with a coffee break where Guy played on a jungle gym and Pops just about fainted from the merry-go-round much to the amusement of us all !!

Tanzania to Kenya : Day 13 - Arusha to Nairobi - Goodbye Africa!

Our last morning started with one of TT's famous hot brekkies ... and then some group photos and a lot of goodbye hugs and promises to stay in touch ... I am sure that many of us will stay in touch once we are back home, at least, that is my hope!






Saying Goodbyes ...





Narelle, Craig, Mandy, Ben, Troy, Dave, Andy, Jo, Nick, Bryan and I all got a shuttle bus back to Nairobi which proved to be an experience and a half because when we eventually arrived in Narobi centre, having gone to the Airport to drop off some other passengers, there was a bit of an incident about getting from the city centre to our hotel which resulted in an altercation between all of us and the bus operator's boss ... but sheer stubborn argument and complaints meant our bus eventually dropped us where it was meant to ... we all relaxed for the afternoon and then met up for a final dinner in the early evening!

Some of the scenary on our trip back to Nairobi ...







The last dinner together ...



Thank you to Marty, Patrick, Titus, Narelle & Craig, Mandy & Ben, Jo & Nick, Jen, Andy, Troy, Dave, Ben & Skye, Anita, Veryan, Bryan, Ben, Michael, Kylie, Tracy, & Yvette for a wonderful East Afrian experience and a great holiday!

Noosh :o)