Good afternoon from a cold, rainy and windy South Africa! Although it's summer here, the temperature at Willow Point today is a chilly 19°C, giving me a rare chance to wear a jumper all day and not overheat after five minutes. I'm loving it!
After two weeks off we were all back to work on Monday. We spent the morning doing maintenance around base before starting this month's safety checks. We had PT (physical training) at 6.30am on Tuesday morning which included a run and dip in the water. Once we had finished tidying up the water front, me, Scott, Charmoné and Talitha spent the day in the rox store finishing the safety checks in there. The rox store is filled with all the gear we use for the high ropes activities, abseiling and rock climbing. Each carabiner, rope, harness, helmet all needs individually checked for cracks, cuts or fraying. It's a long task but VERY important. We also went swimming after work was finished.
On Wednesday we spent the morning making visual aids that we and the instructors can use on course to engage groups with what we are talking about. I'm looking forward to being able to use the ones I made in the field with a group! After lunch I was safety checking the high ropes with Talitha and Zanza. I was belaying Zanza while she checked the Jacobs Ladder then Talitha belayed me while I went up the Trapeze to check that. Like yesterday, once everything was finished for the day we hit the water and did some more swimming. We had PT again on Thursday morning (it's now every Tuesday and Thursday morning while we are working!) which was mainly swimming which was great. The rest of the day was spent packing the trailers and bakkie for the course happening in Graubow.
Scott, Talitha and most of the instructors left Friday morning to go to Graubow for the course there. I didn't go as there's a course happening here at base that I'm supporting next week. I prepared some paperwork for that course and then didn't do much else on Friday! I took a walk to the market on Saturday morning which was nice to have a look around and then tydied up our room. I went a run this morning (before the rain began) and spent this afternoon reading and listening to music.
Wednesday marked me being in South Africa for six months! It's crazy to think I've spent half a year here already and even crazier to think I've only got five months left before I find myself on a plane flying back home.
It occurred to me yesterday that I didn't have any photos from this week to put here so when I saw a toad on my way to the showers last night I took the opportunity and snapped a picture of it!
Rachel :)
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