Just keep swimming

Good evening from South Africa! Here's the latest from the past two weeks.

Week 33 (Monday 22nd April - Sunday 28th April)

The weather at the start of the week was quite bad but I still managed to get a swim in on Tuesday once the rain had cleared. On Wednesday the weather was better so me and Scott headed into Sedgefield for lunch then afterwards went for a swim. Thursday and Friday we swam too and also went to a local small cafe. We headed to the market on Saturday morning. I love the market here with all the stalls and local produce. And on Sunday... you've guessed it - we did more swimming. The water is becoming colder and colder as the days pass and winter gets closer.

Week 34 (Monday 29th April - Sunday 5th May)

So this week we started working again. Monday morning was a bit different than usual as a photographer came and took pictures of us all doing some of the activities! She was taking photos for the new brochure OB is getting made so we did the Jacobs Ladder, Trapeze and Spiders Web. We also started safety checks that lasted the whole of Tuesday as well. Wednesday and Thursday we spent doing maintenance around base. Maintenance here can really range of anything but this week I fixed new whistles to the PFD'S (life jackets), cleared the cut down tree, laminated some signs, swept stairs and loaded the trailer for the rubbish run.  While helping fix the railing for Berlin Wall, me, Scott and Sicelo were looking for a good bit of wood in one of the many piles of logs on base. After just warning us to be careful of snakes, Sicelo runs - faster than I've seen anyone run before - all the way up to the kitchen. Why? Because he spotted a puff adder. It's the most common venomous snake in SA and this one was huge! Monday - Thursday we got to finish work at 4pm so we could go and practice swimming (more or why we've been swimming so much in Sundays blog).

Friday was 'bark chip day'. We spent the whole day loading the gear trailer and bakkie's with bark chips before driving back to base to offload them. The bark chips were to replace the worn ones at the high ropes activities and the group dynamics. And we also replaced the ones on the paths outside the office and the kitchen. On the drive back to base I spotted a baboon and at base we had a rare visitor - a monkey!

As usual, on Saturday morning me and Scott headed to the market. The walk was made much more enjoyable due to how cold it was! It was also raining a bit which was even better. I've loved the cold weather we've been having here. At the market I bought some yoghurt and oranges (they are SO big). Talitha also arrived back today after spending two weeks back home so it was nice to see her again and catch up. Sunday, we went swimming for a short while (the water was very cold, even after swimming for a while). I got timed doing the 200 meter swim (we have to do it for our water fitness LOC) and did it in 4 minutes 24 seconds - well under the 8 minute cut off time so I'm very happy. We also cooked dinner - chicken stew and rice. 

The next few weeks are going to be very full on so I'm aiming to return to a blog each week because there is going to be so much to cover. This week we are all updating our LOC'S (level of competencies) then next week we're going to be hitting the road. I'll be spending over 3 weeks away from home here at 'base' traveling to different bases for courses!

I don't have many photos from the past two weeks so here's a picture of the puff adder we saw.

Rachel :)