Royal Oak Roundabout

Taking advantage of the nice weather, we "hired" a car to drop Zambezi off for his trial visit at the Country Canine Retreat (more to come on this). Familiar with stylish Eurowagons unavailable stateside (reference our VW Polo or our all-time sexiest ride, the Honda Jazz), we were pretty happy with the Kia Cce'd and its dog friendly "boot."

Royal Oak Pub #1

The drive appeared to be a straight shot through the village of Dorking (actual name) and down a few country roads. True to stereotype, the directions to the country retreat were based around a local pub. I plotted our route on Google Maps and happily, the pub popped up right away. We arrived without a problem but the directions onward to the retreat didn't add up from there. After much circling around, several phone calls to the owner and consultations with local residents, we determined that we were a town over, at the wrong Royal Oak pub. I re-googled the location, not relying on the apparently-common pub name this time and typed in the street name instead. Off we went. To yet another wrong pub, on a street with the exact same name, again just a village over from our destination. Back in the car. Although the third time was in fact the charm, we weren't able to locate the country retreat without at least six more u-turns and one incident in which the driver might have been driving on the American side of the road (oops).  

This makes me feel a bit better...

Upon finally arriving at the retreat, we unloaded the dog and immediately headed back up to the nearest Royal Oak for a calming pint and much-overdue lunch. Unfortunately although the pub offered tractor races, pantomime horses and allowed guests to sleep in the back garden, there was no food on offer other than the basket of duck eggs on the bar (which the barkeep said you could take home, hatch, raise the duck, kill it, and then bring back in August for the DIY roast. True story.).

The final Royal Oak

Just a short few months until lunch will be served... 

We sat outside in the sunshine and made the best of the situation by enjoying a picnic lunch of crisps, peanuts, and Dillon's baby biscuits. We arrived back in London as the sun was setting- starving, yet assured that Zambezi was "a friendly chap" and confident we would be just fine without driving for another four months.  

The village's finest

Blood Traitors

Goodbye tiny spaceship, cactus, and oil rigs.  We will not miss your terrible design, but more what the plate symbolized in this seven-character, vanity plate-obsessed state we now inhabit.  

The Jazziest of them All

For those of you have either met him in person or have been following his antics through the blog, I am sorry to bring this news... the white Polo has moved on.  Yes, it is true.  We are no longer driving around in the most generic vehicle in the most generic color (South Africans love white cars... not sure why) possible.  Last week, our buddy Riedwaan at the VW dealership let us know that someone had decided to purchase this gem and that we would have to give it up.  Since we only have a few weeks left, Chevron decided that it would be more cost efficient to just rent a car for our remaining time.  Fine. Not a problem with us.  Until I saw the rent car, that is.  I can't explain why this car (a Chevy Aveo) made me so angry.  Maybe because it was white.  Maybe because it was even more generic than the Polo. Maybe because I am just sick of other people picking things out for me. Who knows. You would think that 6 months of driving a white Polo would have stripped away any pride I might have had about driving an uncool, generic car but I was immediately loathsome of this newly imposed method of transportation.  Upon getting in the car, I hated it ten times more.  No automatic locks. Manually adjustable side mirrors (try getting the passenger side perfect when you are practically shaking with unexplainable rage).  And manual windows!  We were going on a road trip that weekend, for pete's sake.  This just would not do.

I drove straight home, called Avis and calmly explained how unacceptable this new arrangement was ("And what is the problem with the car, ma'am?" "Well, it completely sucks and I refuse to drive it."). Luckily, the airport location had a few other cars that were suitable for American drivers (a.k.a. automatic transmission) and they were willing to exchange the hated Aveo for something different. And different it was! Everyone, get ready to meet... the Honda Jazz!  Not available Stateside, but easily living up to its name by boasting a completely unconventional body style and a brash blue (not white!!) color.  Here are some pictures of the Jazz in action:

tearing it up on the open road

resting in the shade

showing off its hot bod

I am sorry to say that no visitors will have the opportunity to ride in fine specimen, but whenever you are feeling down, just visit this posting and imagine us cruising around in complete luxury and style.

Cowboys in Cape Town

Despite the elimintation of the Cowboys from the playoffs and the end of football season, we continue to cheer on our home team in style.  Included in a late-arriving Christmas package from my mom, the Cowboys decal probably was meant for the fridge, but we have found it a handy way to distinguish our white VW Polo from the scores of other white Polos in they city.  Although main reason for keeping the decal is practical, it has also served as evidence to other city residents of our foriegn strangeness...

What Happened?

Everything started out so sophisticated and mature....  Here's Jared, reading from the famous Platter's guide while comparing notes on the lovely offerings at the Thelema vinyard.  Glasses were swirled, subtle notes detected, aftertastes lingered upon...

I would like to recount exactly what happend next, but I am not sure that I can do that very accurately as the details are a bit hazy.  I remember a lovely lunch at Tokara, complimented by two bottles of the finest Thelema Chardonnay, the successful German Wedding cup challenge, and well... sometime after two more wineries and a lot more wine, the ride back to Cape Town ended up looking like this:

Now you might notice that a certain guest from Texas is missing from this lovely photo collage.... and that is because not only was Libby talented enough to hold a camera in one hand and the wine bottle in the other, but also because she was smart enough not to turn the camera on herself!

New Zealand Flashback (Part 1)

So since this is our blog we get to make our own rules here.  We have decided that to take a quick trip back in time and update our faithful blog reader(s) about how our quest through New Zealand went down.  In honor of the original inspiration behind this trip, we’ll make this a mythical three-part epic with a new chapter dropping every time we feel like typing up a new section.  Without further ado…part 1:

So after the ruckusness (yes it’s a word) of our wedding , we needed to get out of town for a little bit of R&R.   New Zealand was the choice and wow that flight took forever.  We left Austin around 6:00 p.m. on a Monday and then landed in Auckland 6:00 a.m. on Wednesday.  We may have skipped a day in there somewhere, but that’s neither here nor there.  Anyways, pictures are better than words so lets kick off a montage:

So this is the Auckland skyline.  Amongst this lineup the Sky City Tower is the obvious standout, with the whole needle-thing going on.  The last night of the trip we actually stayed at the hotel there and gambled away our last New Zealand dollars betting on when bungee jumpers would leap off of the sky deck.

Gnarly Factoid: Only 4 Million people live in New Zealand and 1.2 Million of those live in Auckland

Yeah so this is me big timing some other tourists aboard our Whale & Dolphin Safari.  So if you are starting to ask “what is the deal with these two and whale watching?” well I don’t have an answer for you.  Maybe the big fellas are subconsciously drawing Lindsay to them in order to thank her for her non-mammalian diet.  Anyways, this righteous pic is of the legendary Blue Whale….turns out this was only the 2^nd one the safari guide had seen in 17 years so, needless to say, we felt pretty awesome afterwards.

So this was embarrassing:  I paid a bouncer $100 to get Lindsay and I into Auckland’s exclusive 5 Below Bar and to get upgraded into pimptastic Russian parkas with Isotoner ski mitts, but after going to the bar and getting us drinks, I returned to find Lindsay copping a feel of this naked ice dude. Turns out he was a pretty cool guy though so no big deal.

It may not look it, but this was probably the most intense moment of our time in the land of extreme sports.  We are in the Hertz parking garage about to hit the New Zealand highway in our brand new bizarro-world Ford Focus.  Unfortunately for Lindsay, she lost the pre-drive paper-rock-scissors match and got 1^st shift.  Overall, our time in Auckland was a good time, but New Zealand isn't about city life.  In order to get this trip started, we needed to step it up a bit.

Okay, so first stop on our North Island road trip was Rotorua, the land of hot springs and weird Kiwi thrill rides.  Luckily, these hot spring all reek of sulfuric gas (a la rotten eggs) and this big boy was right outside of our hotel room. Nice romantic choice of hotel room, huh?

Alright, bizarre adrenaline rush #1… street luge racing.  That dude in the blue helmet was about to get run off the road by my nasty Mario Kart skills.  As for Lindsay, she is actually about to slap some kid that started mouthing off about being a more radical racer than her.   She refrained from the physical beat down, but made sure he ate asphalt before it was all over.  Bottom line, Texas owned the mountain that day my friends.

Bizarre adrenaline rush #2 = Zorbing!  Pretty simple process.  They drive you up the hill, put you in a huge plastic ball and then fill it with warm water (good cause it was like 50 degrees outside).  A quick nudge and you are spinning around inside while the ball is bouncing and rolling down the hill.  Tops out at less than a minute, but it was totally worth it.

So after issuing beatdowns on the street luge and getting all twisted in the Zorb, we were feeling a lot more confident about getting back on the road in our Focus.  How could you not with such a fly ride.

So its no Africa, but New Zealand has its fair share of wildlife.  On our way from Rotorua to Waitomo we were lucky enough to witness these rare black & white hill-grazing bovines and then later caught a glimpse of the world famous shepherd and mega-sheep dog combo.  That sure was a groovy little drive.

Aww yeah.  Welcome to Waitomo my friends.  Population 215 and home to the world famous glowworm caves (actually world famous this time, unlike the shepherd & mega sheep dog thing from earlier).  So seeing as the whole reason we were here was to get extreme with an underground cave adventure, we had to stay in equally wild accomodations.    The Waitanic and the Hobbit Motel definitely fit the bill.

So yes we look really tough with this sweet gear on, but man was it clutch.  Our outfits consist of a wool base-layer fleece, an arctic-rated thermal wetsuit with a an additional over-layer jacket, thermal booties, gnarly red helmets, and some killer boots.  For two hours we abseiled, ziplined, tubed, swam, trekked, and climbed through this massive underground cave system all under the luminescence of the glow worms.  It was by far the most physically grueling and ridiculously freezing cold thing we did on the trip.  It was awesome.

So other than the caves, there wasn’t much to do in Waitomo, so we shortly set off on the road again towards Wellington.  When you are making good time, the last thing you need is a delay, but its kind of tough to get mad when its caused by a hundred or so sheep that happened to sneak out onto the highway.  Plus we got to help the dogs get them off the road with some skilled driving and horn honking.  We eventually made up the lost time and completed our relaxing and scenic journey through New Zealand’s North Island.

Stay tuned for Part 2....

Cape Town – The Beginning

When Jared proposed writing a blog so that our friends and family could keep abreast of our adventures while abroad, I have to admit that I wasn't totally gung-ho about the idea. Bloggers, in my mind, were weird little people that spent all day at the computer over-analyzing political/sports/fashion minutia or self-absorbed types that thought that everyone was really interested in what they were up to today. Obviously, at some point I came around to the idea. Despite the fact that we both have facebook, skype, gmail chat, and send regular emails, there still seemed to be a bit of a gap, which we hope this blog will fill….

So to help you get an image of this foreign African city that we live in, I'll offer this simple description:

"The town and the surrounding area are SO pretty. Tons of palm trees, a massive blue ocean and big, funny shaped mountains in the background"

….but we'll tack on a nice aerial tutorial photo just for kicks:

Our new city:

So, now to summarize the first 3 weeks and change since we have arrived. Here are a couple quick-hitters:


Driving Lessons – Three 2-hour sessions with our quiet and not so assertive driving instructor Sam. The first of which we didn't learn of until 9:00 AM (1 hour before the start) after having gone out for a celebratory sushi/sake dinner into shots and beers with some new friends of ours (who happen to be from Dallas…can't get outside the bubble if you try). Happy to report zero incidents, but it was quite a painful time. Ultimately we did so well that they gave us an upgrade on our company car.

Our New Ride:

Mouille Point (pronounced Moo-lee) – This is the lucky segment of the never-ending Cape Town coast that will be our home base until March. It has an old iconic red/white striped lighthouse (for you historical landmark fans), a putt-putt golf course (no Peter Pan Mini-Golf…doesn't even have a T-Rex), a creepy hedge maze, and a jogging path that features Cape Towns fittest coeds. It isn't really a beach, rather more of a rocky, ocean plant repository, which isn't too disappointing because the Atlantic coast is insanely cold. For beaches, we just need to make a scenic 15 minute drive to Camps Bay where all the rich and well-to-do like to reside. For good reason too. So other than the ocean, we have once again managed to find a place that has construction going on next door (4th year in a row). This project is a bit more interesting though, cause it is a new golf course surrounding the new World Cup stadium. Plus the construction workers here wear cool matching uniforms: teal pants with fluorescent yellow vests, red pants with yellow vest (a.k.a. the ketchup & mustard) or my favorite, the all-orange jumpsuit.

Our Apartment Views:

Chevron – so in case you guys really just don't listen very well, this is why we are here. My job is going well so far. Nothing of great appeal to discuss, but I will say that even working in a predominately English-speaking work environment can be confusing. Just because my co-workers speak English doesn't mean they want to. Most would rather chat in Afrikaans (Dutch-originated, sounds rough at times like German), Xhosa (a tribal language for an African subset that features the stereotyped 'pops' and 'clicks', and grab-bag (could be anything, bottomline is I don't understand it). Another challenge for me has been remembering and understanding names. With the two aforementioned groups and a large Indian/Malay cultures here, your Johns, Mikes, and Daves aren't as common. Other than that, I am just working on digesting how my hugely complex company operates and enjoying it thusfar. 

Lindsay's Boot Camp – Basically she works out in paradise so please don't feel too sorry for her. My office building is not quite this nice. I don't even have a window, actually I don't even have an office to have a window in.

Lindsay's Gym in Camp's Bay:

Food – They have it all. Seafood is the easy standout, being near the ocean and everything. But, they also churn out mean hamburgers, pizzas, bread (kind of random, but they make fresh loaves everywhere and they are really good), and most interesting of all: the game meat. So lets talk highlights: Namibian oysters (huge and crazy delicious), Kudu biltong (the most complex and multi-flavor-dimensional jerky I've ever encountered), Royale Cheeseburger (top 3 all-time burger despite Euro ketchup), Pinotage wine (cheap South African red wine that never disappoints). 

What is a Kudu you ask?:

Heritage Day – So week two of work I learn that Thursday is a national holiday, which was an awesome surprise. Combined with the fact that I had four days off my first week and I have every other Friday off work as part of the local Nine Day Fortnight policy, this allowed me to keep my streak of not yet working a full 5-day work week alive. It appears that the streak will end though during Week 5, but I am still holding out for another surprise. So what did we do on Heritage day you ask? Well if you noticed Mexican food wasn't really on the list of food highlights above, so we decided to celebrate our Texican heritage by whipping up some breakfast tacos and homemade salsa while jamming out to Buena Vista Social Club (do yourself a favor and pick up their greatest hits….the album is uber choice). Overall big success. So well in fact that we are going to self-cater our Texas/OU party in a couple weeks. We just need to find some margarita mix and good tequila.

Wine Country – For our first weekend jaunt out of town we drove to Franschoek to do a little bit of rigorous R&D on behalf of our upcoming visitors. As for location it is about an hour west of Cape Town and maybe 15 minutes southeast of the better-known Stellenbosch. It's a smaller more quaint town with a fewer number of wineries, but this makes it easier to maximize your wine intake. It was quite cloudy and rainy when we were there which allowed us to focus more intently on examining the wine. All together we sampled 27 wines, and left with 10 bottles as to run further tests on.

Research Team:

 

Whale Country – On the way back from Franschoek we decided to go through a town called Somerset West and visit Monkey Town (a megaplex of monkey madness from what I hear), but due to some horribly placed construction, we couldn't figure out how to actually enter Monkey Town so we called an audible and drove an extra hour in the opposite direction of Cape Town to catch the end of Whale Fest in Hermanas. Again, David Finfrock's nemisis was against us as we arrived in a cloudy downpour. There was lots of traffic and it was really hectic getting into town so with that and the rain we just ran into the first hotel/restaurant we saw, which happened to be this over priced white table cloth place.  As much as we weren't in the mood for a fancy meal, we decided to just wait out the rain and traffic there, knowing that lunch would take three hours.  Luckily, the hotel totally redeemed itself when we learned that Brad Pitt had stayed there a few years ago.  Moreso, it redeemed itself because it had huge windows looking down on to the ocean and we could see whales from there!!   We saw a mom feeding a baby (or what someone told us was a mom feeding a baby because we could only see the fins and backs rolling around next to each other), and about 5 or 6 other active types that were flipping their tails around for us.  It was pretty crazy….they must have known it was whale fest. To make things even better, on the drive home we were able to see a troop of Baboons running down the highway effectively filling that monkey void created from the Monkey Town tease. All together it was a pretty solid weekend.

Hermanus, a.k.a. Whale Territory:

Football – So I know that the suspense has been building the whole time you have been reading, asking "when is he going to address the fact that despite the scenic backdrops, exotic food, and all around badassness, that they are missing out on an entire NFL and NCAA season?" Well here it comes. So thanks to the miracle workers that invented the Slingbox (slingmedia.com … look it up) and African DVR technology I am proud to report that we have missed zero Cowboys games and only 2 Texas games (only because they weren't on DirectTV in Dallas). Yeah so we know that Romo is playing like a chump right now, Wade's man boobs are looking good, Jason Garrett is not a hot commodity anymore (sweet double quick fades on the 1 yard line), and everything is good so far with the Horns. 

Animal Watch – So being in Africa it wouldn't be right if we didn't keep a running tally on the animals that we have seen while we are out and about. So far here is what we got so far:

• Whales – No big deal, just a couple mom/child Southern Right Whale combos
• Mongoose – quite a tail on those little guys (no pix, dude was way too quick)
• Cape Hyrax – Evil looking fella, kind of like a fat groundhog
• Baboons – these guys are like a creepier, roided-out Chimpanzee

Cape Hyrax:

Baboon: