Old Town - Prague

The Place: Spent four days in and around the bohemian city of Prague in the Czech Republic.
Some Features: We arrived a week before Easter so the old town square was filled with food stalls containing lots of a meat and some interesting baked goods including 'trdelniks' (pronunciation??), which is a pastry baked while wrapped around a wooden bar resembling a rolling pin. In the middle of the square was a stage with various Easter performances, some traditional Czech and some from around the globe. Every hour on the hour a skeleton rings the bell forming part of the astronomical clock which tells both the time and indicates the relative positions of the sun, moon and various zodiacal constellations. Wandering around the town it became clear they love their colourful glass art, madryoshkas (3rd pic from top), classical music (Mozart spent allot of time in Prague), marionettes, beer (cheaper than coffee or bottled water), and absinthe! (it burns). We watched a marionette opera which was very entertaining though very long (which did make me respect the puppeteers considering they had a movement for every note of the opera that brought the puppets alive). We went out at night and got to experience a few old traditional pubs, some live blues music and jazz, as well as some dance clubs. Also visited the Franz Kafka museum which was well equipped with Kafkaesque props which gave some insightful background into his books such as 'The Castle', ' The Trial', and 'The Metamorphosis' which are written before the Austro-Hungarian empire became the communist Czechoslovakia.

Sedlec - Czech Republic

The Place: Close to Kutna Hora, and an hour and a half outside of Prague lies the tiny town of Sedlec.

The Feature: Sedlec is known for its Ossuary, a chapel decorated using thousands of human skeletons. The story behind it is that one of the abbots was sent to Palestine in 1278. He brought back with him 'holy' soil from Golgotha and placed it in the cemetery. Believing that the soil was blessed it became a popular burial ground for europeans and was enlarged through the burial of over 30000 people. Between 1400 and 1500 a new church was built on the spot and the bones were dug up and kept. Much later, around 1870, a woodcarver was commissioned to put the heaps of bones in some order and resulted in him making artworks including a chandelier containing all the types of bones of the human body, big cups made out of skulls and bones, a coat of arms including a persons eye being pecked out by a rook, and in all four corners of the chapel tall pyramids of human bones bound together loosely.

Cape Town - South Africa

The Place: Spent four days in Cape Town staying on the beach in Muizenberg.

Highlights: Our busy agenda was as follows with everyday beginning with a surf at surfer's corner. 1st day: Morning surf after a breakfast at the Empire. Hanging out at Rob's with some beers and then going out on the town in Cape Town's long street (Neighbourhood and Zula bar) with Liz, Rob, Grant, Jo and Tiz. 2nd day: Morning hangover surf at Muizenberg, a quick stop at UCT's campus (to reminisce and take some photos), a quick browse through green market square in Town, and then an afternoon at the beautiful Clifton 4th beach followed by a dinner with Colin, Caryn, Ryan, Jenna and Gran. 3rd day: A day out at the wine farms of Stellenbosch with Gordon, Jason, and Liz after the mandatory morning surf, followed by sundowners at Cape to Cuba, an amazing fish braai meal at 'The Outspan' near Kalk bay, and ending with a night out in Obs for old times sake (Scrumpy Jacks and then the Roots (previously Cool Runnings)). 4th day: The last day was spent chilling at Muizenberg beach after our late morning surf and then taking the very very scenic drive back to the airport - via none other than the incredible Chapmans Peak.

Rhenosterpoort - South Africa

The Place: Near Ryman's pass in Limpopo, spent an active 8 days in the relaxing game farm Rhenosterpoort.
Some Highlights: Day hikes through the waterberg, so named because of how the water seeps through the hillside rocks. Spending time at the waterfall which is great for swimming, cliff-jumping, swinging into the rock pool and bird watching. Game drives to see the wildlife as shown below. Hot sun and plenty of natural swimming spots. Helping Anton on the farm, one day with his sheep and the other herding the bramen cattle to get their tick spray. New years around a camp fire. Potjiekos, corn on the cob, biltong, potbrood, braaied lamb, boerewors and ribs! Spectacular sunsets, night walks to spot bushbabies, playing card games at night (up and down the river) and brilliant company!

Wildlife - Rhenosterpoort South Africa

The Wildlife that we spotted: Antelope on the farm include Nyala, Kudu, Blesbok, Klipspringers, Impala and Eland. Other wildlife include Zebra, Bramen cattle, Baboons, Blou Ape, bush babies (we could spot only their eyes shining in torchlight at night), chameleons, rock monitors, dassies, and warthogs. Insects of interest were various interesting types of dragon flies, wasps and spiders including the parachute spiders. The types of birds spotted at rhenosterpoort count up to 143 of which we spotted Kites, Paradise fly catchers, European bee-eaters, Fish Eagles, various types of Kingfisher including pygmy, half collar, woodland.

What we missed: The farm has numerous predators including leopard, rooikat, serval, and jackals. Bush pigs, porcupines, and aardvarks come out at night and their burrows and holes can be seen on the day hikes.

Stellenbosch - South Africa

The Place: Together with Liz, Gordon and Jason visited the 3 wine farms Avontuur, Muratie and Delheim out on the Stellenbosch wine route.

Some highlights: Love the old cob-webbed cellar of Muratie which looks like its been left as is for decades! Muratie is the first place where South Africa's own pinotage was made. Delheim, a family run farm is a great spot to sit and taste some wines and not feel rushed. They have a great selection of wines and an interesting bottle of sweet wine called Spatzendrek (Sparrow droppings) - tasty.

Pembrokeshire - South Wales

The Place: In the South of Wales took a road trip over a long weekend to Newgale, Manorbier, Freshwater East, Tenby and Laugharne.

Some highlights: Fresh sea air with great views, walks on the beach (we were hoping for some surfing as Pembrokeshire is meant to be one of the best surf spots in the UK - however I think we missed the season as it was glassy at all beaches), rock pools, freaky animals (including a couple walking a miniature pony the size of a dog, and steriod bull above), camping, lighting a fire on the beach in Tenby and playing djembe drums in the evening, impressive castles - which you can't miss as they're everywhere, and visiting the boathouse and grave of Dylan Thomas, famous welsh poet.

South Downs Cycle - England

The event: Together with 6 work colleagues set out on a 100 mile+ cycle along the South Downs from Winchester to Eastborne with the aim of completing in 3 days, camping along the way.

Some features: The first day was a gruelling 40 miles, taking us 12 and a half hours of cycling in the rain up and down steep hills. We arrived at our campsite in the dark at 10:30 in the evening to set up our tents in a downpour with a total of 7 punctures and 2 broken chains.

The severe conditions saw 3 of our team pack it in and go home. Luckily the rest of us had awesome weather for day 2 (35 miles) and day 3 (28 miles), which enabled us to enjoy the breathtaking scenery of the South Downs. The days were very challenging and we managed another puncture and 2 broken chains but we were in fantastic spirits as we approached Eastbourne.

The highlight: Arriving in Eastbourne we descended the most amazing downhill. Green velvety grass from heaven paved the way for about ten minutes of downward flight. Awesome.