Wimbledon - England

The Event: After getting our queue card the night before (number 671), we joined the long line of tents all queueing to get into Wimbledon the next day. With everyone getting woken up at 6 by the stewards, we were packed up and queueing by 7:30, to get into the grounds at 9. Liz, Stu, Amanda and I were lucky enough to get tickets for Court 1 by being early enough in the queue. This meant that amongst the players, we would be able to watch Maria Sharapova, the then topseeded lady. Even luckier were friends Gavin, Alexia, Kath and Tolis who (having started to queue 2 hours earlier the previous day) got Centre Court. They were kind enough to let us in to watch Djokovic (then also top seed) play the last 2 games of his winning match. They went on to watch Federer's epic battle in which he came back from 2 sets down against Benneteau to win his match.

Isle of Wight - England

The Event: Pearl Jam at Isle of Wight - great concert!
What was really great was to be there with some of my great buddies from university and school; Tim, Trev, and Steph and even Nick who happened to be in England for the weekend.
Changing our minds to drive up to the Festival on the Friday morning thankfully saved us from getting stuck in gridlock traffic on the Island due to the parking lots being too muddy for the hundreds of arrivals to park their cars that night. We ferried across in the morning and were parked and pitched by 12 o'clock. Though we had missed the worst of the rain, we still got the mud - sometimes sloshing through a foot of mud in our gumboots. Our tent was also pitched on a mud patch nestled tightly within a sea of tents - nice!
We watched some good acts including Biffy Clyro and Lana Del Rey, but could not have been luckier to watch an awesome gig by Pearl Jam. They belted out all their old hits including Given to Fly, Jeremy, Yellow ledbetter, Alive and Betterman and their presence on stage is powerful. We all had a great time and even managed to tour a bit of the Island afterwards, which included a visit to the needles.

Henley - England

The Event: After months of intensive training and with hopes being high for being selected to row, Liz made it into the Henley Womens Regatta 2012 to row in one of two fours for Barnes Bridge Ladies (BBL). Being one of the most well known regattas in the world and a familiar stomping ground for the likes of 5 times olympic gold medalist, Sir Steve Redgrave, it was great for me to witness Liz taking part in the race. 

Conditions were harsh in the blustering wind which seemed to rise from nowhere and then disappear just as quickly, but the team had a great race with the team giving it their all and making no mistakes. Unfortunately they didnt make it through to the next round, however as it turns out the other BBL boat went on to win it the following day. Despite some small intervals of rain, the sun did come out, making it a pleasant day out on what is a beautiful part of the Thames.

Les Gets - France

 

The Place: After a flight to Geneva, and a transfer across the border from Switzerland to France, we arrived at our chalet for 8 in Les Gets.
Some features: We spent a good 3 days snowboarding (Liz, Cath, Craig, Alison & I) and skiing (Tim, Hayley and James) in and around the areas of Les Gets and Morzine. The area has a huge selection of blue, red and black slopes all interconnected by chair lifts (thank goodness not button lifts or T-bars). We were particulary lucky to have good snow accompanied by sun which meant glorious days on the slopes. It took a while for us to find our feet but after a day of practicing on one side of the range we found that the rest of the slopes became much more accessible for days 2 and 3. Making sure we boarded and skiied till we were wrecked we headed back to our chalets for some unforgettable gourmet meals (provided) and a bit of jacuzzi goodness on day 2. The town had numerous festivities going on including jumping freestyle competitions and grafiti artist displays. For Apres-ski beers we headed to a great little Canadian bar called the Black Bear which featured an enormous taxidermied moose head inside. An awesome weekend was had by all with good friends, great runs, many wipeouts and thankfully no major injuries.

Zebula - South Africa

The Place: Near Bela Bela (prev. Warmbaths) in the Limpopo province, saw the New Year in around a fire with Liz, Nick, and Karen on Zebula game reserve.
Some features: The game is plentiful, with Wildebeest, Eland, Red Hartebees, Impala, Giraffe, Waterbuck and Warthog all roaming freely around the reserve. Hired some bikes for a unique game cycle which was a great experience - came skidding to a halt when rounding a corner so as not to collide with a giraffe! Zebula also has a golf course so smacked some balls around with Liz, Nick and Karen after a game of squash and swim in the morning.Went on a game drive through the neighbouring game reserve (Mabalingwe) and were lucky to spot black backed jackal and mongeese, and many interesting trees including the euphorbia candelebrum (or naboom) and the Marula tree. Also witnessed a funny/ sad scene in which a dung beetle had built the perfect ball only to be ambushed by another who kicked him off and ran away with it at pace.

Cape Town - South Africa

The Place: Arrived in Cape Town to spend Christmas with family and catch up with old friends.

Some features: Stayed in a house overlooking Fish Hoek beach, a great spot for walks and runs down to the beach. Ran a 12k circular route with Liz down to the beach then along to Glencairn and back round via Blackhill Rd. Met up with Gordon for some fish and chips at Kalkies. Lazed on the beach at Clifton and Camps Bay with Liz and Jason. Spent a day with Lauren, Mark and Jason, heading to Moyo for lunch, De Toren wine estate for a wine tasting followed by Brass Bell for a few beers. Surfed at Muizenberg before a climb up and down Platteklip gorge, Table Mountain with Liz, and then to finish the day having sunset dinner at the Red Herring in Monkey Valley, overlooking Noordhoek beach.

Knysna - South Africa

The Place: After stopping off at the beach at Victoria Bay, we drove to Lake Brenton where we relaxed for 3 days at a house in Brenton Park overlooking Knysna.

Some features: The view of Knysna was really good from the house, and we were joined by the local deer which came up to the house to greet us. Spent a morning and ate lunch at the heads to soak in more views. Liz and I ran a 14k from the town , around the vlei and up and down the steep hills to Brenton Lake - a killer run - but much needed after all the Biltong and red meat we consumed in the Karoo. We were lucky enough to chance upon the Knysna Rocks Festival which was another great way to spend the day.