A Wild Week-end!!

On Thursday evening I woke up quite a few times with terrible stomach cramps, diarhea (sp??) and vomitting. I have not had anything like this in absolute years and have no idea what caused it. Nedless to say when my alarm went of at 6am, there was just no ways I could get up for work. I sms'ed my boss and asked if I could come in at 10 and replied that I should come in after lunch. I went back to sleep and woke up at 12 to shower and go to work. I felt horrific. I stayed at work for an hour and a half and then came home again and went straight back to bed and woke up when Dereck came to say goodbye to me when he went to rugby. I drank lucozade and took a health probiotic, had a roll and went back to sleep. After sweating profusely I awoke on Saturday morning like a new person!

I went with Dereck to Umkomaas Golf Club and walked round the golf course with him – about 8km. He and his partner won the competition that they had played in and it was a most enjoyable walk.

Meanwhile Grant and Lauren had gone to Shongweni Farmers Market to sell charcoal and on their way home they collected Lauren’s step-sister Michaela and her brother Jett to spend the week-end with us!! They took them down to the Umgeni Bird Park for the afternoon and we met up with them once they got home. They are such lovely children and Jett is such a cute 3 year old!!

On Sunday morning we decided to go to the Lion Park near Pietermaritzburg. I remeber going there as a child and then when Dereck and I first met, so it was going to be a treat for us as well. We didn't tell Michaela where we were taking them, so they were rather excited once we got there. The first animal besides some cows was a rhine which one of the rangers brought up close to the car for us. Her name was Sally and she just about stuck her head in the window. Jett got a bit of a fright, but calmed down once he saw that she had moved away.

Next up were some elephants. Again the rangers were with them and said we could get out and stand with them. Grant, Lauren and Michaela did just that while I took the photos and Dereck held onto Jett, who was rather concerned that the elephant was going to come and bite him! After we left the elephants he wanted to touch them!!
Then we hit the Lion's Den!! There were a couple of them lying around eating a stick, a few licking each other and some just watching.
This is what my car looked like (notice the rim around the light missing)........

after this lion who had been lying next to the road, decided to get up, walk towards the car and just quietly pull the cover off, then walk round the car, sit down and promptly start chewing it. I couldn't believe what I was seeing and Dereck didn't even try and move the car away!!!! I could not stop laughing as all we could do was sit and watch while she chewed my car part and Jett found this rather funny too that the "Lion had eaten my car!!"

We then headed off the the Zoological Gardens which was just round the corner from the Lion Park. They had quite a number of animals and below are a selection of some of the birds ...
An orangotang whose eyes just said "please cuddle me" and a chimp ....
a few more animals ....
and some more ...
By this time it was about 12pm and we decided that it was time for home to have some lunch rather than stopping somewhere to buy it. We did stop to buy some mince and rolls and once we got home I made some burgers while Dereck and Grant cooked them and Lauren prepared the condiments. Better than Steers and a whole lot cheaper.

Watched the tour de France while others snoozed or watched dvd's.

Wild thing signing off ....