Hi everyone again! We are currently at Dan's Aunt's house (Janet) so we have a bit more time to keep you all updated! There again we are trying to upload some photos and it is messing us about! Never mind, will keep trying for you all!

The last week has been fantastic, Wednesday was pretty uneventful. We went for a trip to the landrover garage at Mooi River which was about an hour away. Ngome (the baby monkey) came with us so we sat under some trees in the shade playing with him while we were there! Had Wimpy for lunch - incidentally, South Africa has thousands of Wimpy's! They are as common as Maccy D's in Plymouth! Strange...

Thursday got off to a great start - Bekki was bitten again! I swear the monkey's hate me or something! lol. This time it was one of the monkey's in the enclosure - we were putting fresh straw in the cage and they got riled and one of them bit my arm - lovely bruise and gouge but never mind! We went to visit a couple of other farms in the afternoon which was quite nice - they have massive amount's of land! Such gorgeous scenary! The funniest thing happened early evening though, hard to give you the picture without you being there but we will try... Adolph (the grumpy dog) took a snap at Heli (the oldest cat); the cat in panic bit it's tongue; in pain he flailed and swiped at Rodney's cheek and arm; he, in turn, panicked and hit Adolph with a carving knife (not the sharp end, lol), who then barked, ran through a stool and got it stuck on him like a tortoise shell; in desperation he ran around knocking things over and snapping at other dogs; in anger Dawn grabbed her whip and hit him with it making all the other dogs howl; Rodney was stomping around in pain; and just to top it all off, Dingbat was sick everywhere!! Meanwhile, Wobbles the deaf cat sat through the whole ordeal calmly eating her dinner! Was so funny we had to hide in our room while laughing!! hehehe.

We stayed the weekend with a Zulu family called the Zuma's. They were really lovely people - huge family though who all live in huts near each other. We were dead nervous when we were dropped off, especially when were told an 'event' was happening on Saturday night when we would still be there! But we soon got into the swing of things! Dan went with the guys to chat, find some cows and make some cement blocks (Mr Zuma's trade) and Bekki helped prepare dinner with the girls and went for a walk to invite other people to the event the next evening. Dinner was maize meal with a kind of cabbage and carrot stew. Was quite nice, except fo the maize!! It really is the most disgustingly bland, boring food ever! So dry and stodgy, don't know how they eat it so often! Anywho, we watched a movie with some of the other children on a tv about 3 inches by 3 inches run off a car battery! no kidding! They have no electricity so it is pitch black in the huts except for a candle in the middle of each hut! (there are 2 bedroom huts, 1 lounge hut, 1 kitchen hut and i kind of hut with the long drop toilet!). bedtime we were split up - Dan with the guys, Bekki with the girls and children. Slept on mats and blankets on the floor! Surprisingly not too uncomfy! Abruptly woken up by 10 annoying cockerels at about 5am! Great fun! We did some chores in the morning and then everyone sort of flopped about as it was sooo incredibly hot during the day! late afternoon, we went with three other guys to collect water from the Mooi River. Water collection involved us sitting on top of water tankards in the back of a jeep holding on for dear life as we hurtled down the rickety roads!! It was sooooo amazing! Mr Zuma taught us some Zulu phrases and rechristened Bekki 'Gugu Zuma' (I was Ngungubane before - it means porcupine!) and Dan kept his first name Sambane (meaning antbear - anteater) and became a Zuma - so we are both part of the family now! Dinner was delicious maize meal again with a potato soup and...wait for it... CHICKEN FEET!!! Eurgh! THE most disgusting thing! All they are is sinew and fat on bones! Will definately not be bringing this back to England! The event that happened during the night was an all-night church of Zion religious gathering. From midnight until 7am about 30 people danced and sang in one of the huts continuously!! Me and Dan had fallen asleep by about 9 so we missed most of it but Mrs Zuma woke us both at about 6am so we could join in the end of it! Crazyness! We spent the morning playing with the children in the yard until we were collected! Boring sunday monkey chores followed... Incidently, we forgot to mention that Dawn and Rodney had a HUGE argument on Friday morning because Dawn shouted at us for not closing a door SHE left open. And they still weren't talking when they dropped us off! We were worried we had managed to split up a couple 3 weeks into our gap year! Luckily they were speaking when we saw them again though!

Was quite sad to say goodbye to everyone today as it seems as though we have known them forever - but at the same time we are wondering where the time has gone! Our taxi ride to Durban was quite an experience! about 16 people WITH luggage crammed into a minibus! We had our huge rucksacks on our laps for the 1 1/2 hour journey! Luckily it was nice and cool with the windows open and nobody smelt! (the people in Greytown seemed to honk quite a bit!!). We were picked up at Durban by Janet who took us back to her place. She is really lovely - took us to the biggest shopping mall in the southern hemisphere which even has a bungee jump place, a huge rock climbing wall and fake surfing waves!! Cool! Back at her place we met her partner Brian, who is also a lovely guy, and then had a swim in their own swimming pool! Lovely and cool in the heat of Africa!!

So there you have it, still enjoying every minute and quite alarmed at how fast time seems to be going! We are off to Hluhluwe tomorrow for a 3 day extravaganza including a trip to a Zulu village, a boat ride in St Lucia, snorkelling on a reef, quadbiking and a safari!! nice! We will hopefully be updating the blog again on Friday so look out for it then!

miss you all like crazy!! love love

Gugu & Sambane Zuma

x x x x x x