Thursday, August 11, 2011

Pictures from Sunday continued . . .

So Sunday afternoon, John and I said our goodbye's to the group and got in our rental truck to drive to the game preserve.  It was about 2-3 hours north of Durban.  We had a GPS but it was still a little unnerving to be off on our own in a foreign country.  I give John all the credit for getting us there safely.  He wanted me to stay awake and help him nagivate, but there is just something about being a passenger that makes me so sleepy . . . well I did stay awake for most of the trip, but I think I nodded off for part of it.  :)

John driving.


There's me!

We passed so much farm land.  Sugar Cane fields, and I don't know what all they were growing.

This was a huge area that had been forested.  Those are piles of logs on the ground.

Now you can see them better.

It really was a pretty drive, and most of it was on a big highway like in this picture.  It was a toll road so we had to stop several times to pay our toll.

The trees were so tall and straight.  They were beautiful.

Simply dwelling places all along the route.


Cows were also all along the route.  They were right next to the highway.

After we got onto a smaller road, the cows were not only beside the road, they were ON the road.

You know you are getting close when you see this sign!

Once in the preserve, this is the first animal we saw.  A Warthog.

Not very pretty, but we were thrilled.  lol!

Can you spot the giraffe?  I saw this guy on a mountain opposite to us.  Super far away.  I have no idea how I saw him.

This Rhino was right next to the road.  He was HUGE!!  I couldn't believe how big around he was!



He crossed the road right in front of us.

I have some more pictures from our Sunday drive into the preserve and will post them soon.

Pictures from Sunday . . .

Sunday we had a sunrise service on the beach of the Indian Ocean.  Now being a California girl, I have been on real beaches before.  However I have never seen an ocean like the Indian Ocean.  The waves were enormous and incredibly powerful, at least at this beach, I'm not sure if they are as a rule for the Indian Ocean.  It was incredible to sit there and see wave after wave come crashing in to shore, not to mention the beautiful sunrise!
Sheryl viewing the sunrise while Dan is preaching.

Matt and Nick, obviously still sleepy.  It was very early.  :)

Jake deep in thought.



Dan preaching.


A man fishing right in front of us.  I think he caught three fish while we were there.

Dan, Key of Hope's missionary.


Matt looking at the waves.

Mikki, Emily and Kim sitting together on the beach.

Fabian

Matt, Mikki, Emily, and Debra

Fabian and Dee


Debra and Mike

Mikki

Emily, check out those waves!!

The whole group, together for the last time in Durban.  Everyone except John and I, flew home Sunday evening.  John and I left around noon on Sunday and drove north a few hours to a game preserve.  We wanted to experience "wild South Africa" before coming home.

Pictures from Saturday, Part Three . . .

The program on Saturday ended at 12pm and we were done with all the clean up around 2pm.  Since we hadn't eaten yet, we went to McDonalds (yes they have it there in Durban, and it's just as good as here) for lunch.  McDonalds has NEVER tasted so good to me.  After that we went back to the guest house where we were staying and changed clothes.  We then went to the stadium in Durban.  The World Cup was played here.  It was just an amazing place, right by the Indian Ocean.  We seperated into a few different groups when we got there.  One group went to the beach to play, and we had two groups that went on the tram-thing to the top of the stadium.
This is the tram-thing that goes up the arch of the stadium all the way to the top where there is an observation deck.

Fabian and Dee went with John and I.


We caught a peek at the stadium below from the tram.

The sun was setting on Durban.  Such a view of the city from one side and the beach on the other.

Fabian and Dee, city side.

Dee and Fabian, beach side.

The city goes right up to the beach. 




John

John and I, beach side.


John and I, city side.


After we got back down from the arch, we walked to the beach to meet up with the other group.

The view of the stadium from the beach.  You can just see the observation deck at the top of the arch.

By the time we got down there, it was getting pretty dark.

Sonora was playing in the sand with Bill.  I think that is one of Dan and Rachel's other girls out in the water in the background.

Love this view with the lights.  So pretty.

Jake and one of the girls swimming.  I think Matt, John, and Nick also went swimming.  It was pretty cold though when they got out. 
We stopped at the grocery store on the way back to the guest house and picked up all kinds of meats to BBQ for dinner.  I think they called it a "Brie".  I got to taste some Ostrich filet, which was actually really good!  After we ate, we sat around and talked about the week.  We discussed what were everyone's highlights.  It was such a fun time to talk about what we had done, seen and been part of.  A beautiful ending to such a wonderful day!