E-mails & Letters 2006
Craig McCabe
----- Original Message -----
From: McCabe, Craig
To: paul@oldcollegiansrugby.org.au
Sent: Tuesday, November 07, 2006 2:15 PM
Subject: 98 Grand Finalists Photo
Paul
Not too important but thought I might just fill in a few ? for the 98 photo.
<info given>
Congratulations to the club again this year hope every thing continues to go well in the future.
Craig McCabe
Boyds
----- Original Message -----
From: Stephen Boyd
To: paul@oldcollegiansrugby.org.au
Sent: Tuesday, October 17, 2006 3:38 AM
Subject: New Arrival to the club
Hi Paul
Hope all is well with you and enjoying the UK.
Thought I would let you know that Lucy Ruth Boyd joined the Boydie clan on 12 October 2006 @12:17 pm, weighing in at 3.8 kg or 8lb 7oz.
She joins Stephen, Nicole, Annie, Zac and Emelia and the Old Colls family.
All the best and great work at keeping the site maintained from afar
Stephen Boyd
Chief Executive
Variety - The Children's Charity
Tent 75 South Australia
PO Box 1235
MARLESTON SA 5033
Rokobaros
From: "merridy rokobaro" <merridy.rokobaro@richmondps.sa.edu.au>
To: <kim@oldcollegiansrugby.org.au>
Sent: Wednesday, August 09, 2006 10:00 AM
Subject: Reply
Hi Kim,
Thank you for the invitation to Life Members. Ben and I would love to join you for the Dinner.
I could have spent all afternoon there but we have friends from Southern Suburbs and it would be a little cheeky to be looking down at them from the VIP area !!!
Now you have my email address it would be great to get a newsletter.
Club members may be interested on an update for Alex.
He is returning to Adelaide for a test on his knee next week. He was happy to be included in the Marist 1st 15 who had their jerseys presented to them by John Connelly as he should have, he did all the hard work, camp and 3 tough trial games only to have an injury in the first 10mins of the first game!!
John is an Old Boy who played in 3 Marist teams.
Alex is hoping that he will soon be able to resume training. Meanwhile he has been playing volleyball.
Better go this is like a life story!! Thanks and Cheers, Merridy
Mad Dog
----- Original Message -----
From: Allport - Waitpinga
To:paul@oldcollegiansrugby.org.au
Sent: Friday, July 21, 2006 5:35 PM
Subject: info for the records
Hi Paul,
What are you doing? and where?
I have been wandering through the club' web page looking for tomorrow's draw.
I have been enjoying Stewart Douglas' email about his trip to Nymagee and Beverley U. M. I was his boss on these excursions and am not as shocked by outback Oz as Stew.
PS I was Club Captain in 1994; just for the records. You got the true basis of the Mad Dog nickname correct, my behaviour in subsequent years allowed for some embellishment.
Regards
Jeremy Allport
Andrew Secker
----- Original Message -----
From: A Secker
To:
Sent: Wednesday, July 12, 2006 10:51 AM
Subject: new email for Andrew Secker
Please note that on 20 July I will be moving back to Adelaide, Australia after 3 years in New Zealand.
I will get a new ISP once I get back to Adelaide and am dropping this Paradise address in a few days.
In the meantime, you can still get me at the address above: weakscarr@yahoo.com
Cheers, Andrew Secker
Andre Brummer
From: Andre Brummer [mailTo:docta.andre@gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, 19 June 2006 11:25 PM
To:
Subject: My first email from vietnam
Hi all,
It has been a fun week but very hectic here is a brief rundown:
Arrived on Friday 9 June at Hanoi to find that my transfer was not at the airport to pick me up so called hotel and they sorted out a taxi. this worked out well.
Next day moved hotel since the 1st one was too expensive, and then booked my trips.
Sunday 11/06 went on trip to Halong bay for 3 days and 2 nights. Beautiful area with carst rocks rising out of the bay. Spent night on Junk (the ship we used for travelling)
Mon 12/06 went kayaking in Halong bay and then in the afternoon went for a walk on Cat Ba iland. This was very interesting and since we were walking between farmlands including lychee trees.
Tuesday 13/06 headed back to Hanoi though Halong bay again and then onto a sleeper overnight train to Sapa.
Wednesday 14/06 once booked into hotel went for walk through the hills and rice paddies of Sapa. Very spectacular - there is a photo around every corner. The local minority tribes are very friendly (even although they are trying to sell you their goods). Met two couples of kiwis and 4 aussies on my trip up there and had a great time. We went to have a beer that night and ended up Karaoking with some locals who thought i was Robbie Williams.
Thursday 15/6 walk to another minority village in Sapa and looked at the old disused French hydro-electric scheme. In the afternoon organised a trip to the Silver fern waterfall (at 120m the biggest waterfall in Vietnam - spectacular) and ???? pass to the highest point accessable in Vietnam by car. Then on train back to Hanoi over night.
Friday 16/6 tour down to Tam Coc (three caves) which is like Halong bay but in rice paddies. And you paddle through 3 caves. Very spectacular but the camera's battery decided to give up ghost.
Saturday 17/6 did bicycle tour around Ha Tay - the Pagodas here are very interesting, and my guide explained the buddhist culture. The scenery was good when we went for the cyling tour around the rice paddies and villages.
Sunday was a free day but went to Ho Chi Minh Museum and the army museum. Both were from the North Vietnamese view point of the Vietnam war. Left to Dong Ha on an over night bus trip.
Today 19/6 Did a tour of the Demilitarized zone (DMZ for short) the tour guide that I specially stopped for was excellent and took me to places that any other tour would not go. He was an ex-translator for the US forces in the area so he had exceptional knowledge. We went to a couple of bunkers and particular bridges, cemeteries and the Vinh Moc tunnels which was very interesting.
All for now
Check out this address for all my photo's : http:/muquangtri.servegame.com/vietnam.rar.
It is a winrar file for download and you can get a free download manager from google. just search.
Cheers all
Hope all is well
Andre
Ben Allgrove
----- Original Message -----
From: Allgrove, Ben
To: Allgrove, Ben
Sent: Wednesday, May 24, 2006 5:08 PM
Subject: Coming back to Adelaide
Dear All,
Apologies for the spam if some of you are not in Adelaide at the moment, but I thought I would try my hand on the off chance.
As some of you know, I will be back in Adelaide for a few days next week. Given time constraints, it will not be possible to see everyone, but I will be out at the pub next Thursday for a meal and a few drinks and if you had a few minutes to drop by it would be great to see you. I will be at the Earl of Leicester (85 Leicester Street, Parkside, SA 5063) from about 6pm on Thursday evening and (subject to finding someone to stay with me) plan to stay there until closing.
I will hopefully see some of you at other times during the week as well, but if I do not and you cannot make it on Thursday, I hope that you are well and hope to see you soon.
Please pass this on to anyone that I have missed out on through having old email addresses. It is very much an open invitation.
If you want to contact me when I am at home, the old's is probably the best bet - 83330952.
All the best
Ben
Ben Allgrove
21 Red Lion St
Bloomsbury WC1R 4PS
(M) 07986725893
(H) +44 02074041679
(E@H) allgrove@mac.com or benjamin.allgrove@magdalen.oxon.org
(E@W) ben.allgrove@bakernet.com
Dave Pack
From: david pack [mailTo:packygurkha@yahoo.co.uk]
Sent: Wednesday, 24 May 2006 3:46 AM
To: Kim Evans
Subject: OCs
Kim,
I'm a long way away I know, but I always read your mails and regularly check the Club website.
Just thought I'd drop you a line to say that the summing up of last week is why the Club will always mean the world to me. Christ I miss it!
Take care, good luck for the rest of the season,
Packy
p.s. If only both teams could lose on Saturday!
Stewart Douglas
----- Original Message -----
From: stewart douglas
To:
Sent: Thursday, May 11, 2006 12:25 AM
Subject: Downtime
Ok everybody, In 2 days time i head for the skies and come down in Zambia.
I have seen some photos of where i'll be staying and it looks very remote. I don't think that i'll be in touch or contactable for the next 12 weeks.
Internet cafes and phone boxes are few and far between. In fact i doubt that our quaint little cottages have electricity. But the main thing is that i will be able to collect some good stories, or at least make some up.
So if there's anything you want me to read or see or if you just feel a bit lonesome then get it in quick!
have courage comrades,
Stewart
From 'stewart douglas" [disco_at_large@hotmail.com]
To:
Subject: ramble on...
Greetings one and all!
I hope this finds you all fighting fit and successfull.
Firstly, apologies for taking so long to write to everyone. Secondly, apologies for the group e-mail thing. So impersonal.
But moving on...
Since i got back to Adelaide from Ireland i've spent most of my time in the middle of nowhere. I've been working with a company called 'Search and Exploration Services'. It's owned by a friend of the family. When he heard that i had landed he called and asked if i'd like to give it a shot. I agreed and promptly found myself on the way to Nymagee, in central NSW.
When people talk about the middle of nowhere, they are actually referring to Nymagee. The name is not mentioned in case it creeps back into your memory and sucks the life out of you.
Nymagee. Population: 12.
Nymagee, where the most valuable thing around is a ticket out of there.
Nymagee, where the water smells funny but tastes serious.
Our sentence was three weeks. Three weeks in the paradoxically named "Metropolitan Hotel". Metropolitan? You could walk it's length in six minutes. The hotel was a shocker to say the least. But i suppose they don't get much business and they could be excused for being a bit rusty on the hospitality side. But you'd think that they might think to brush off the spider webs that stretched between the wall and your bed. Our rooms didn't have air-con or fly screens on the windows. So i found myself in no hurrry to leave site at the end of a 45 degree day. You either wake up toasted or devoured.
In the bathroom were two stick-insects longer than my hand. They gracefully waltzed round on the floor in a stylish manner previously unseen in Nymagee. Then some redneck bastard flushed them. Or tried to. They were too big to go down.
In the front bar slumped the locals. Blokes who sat like pregnant women to accommodate beer guts. And women who, well... i don't want to remember.
I had misjudged the amount of reading material required badly. I finished Ian Rankin's 'A Question of Blood' quickly and was then forced to read a novel from the reception/dog house. It had a picture of Roger Moore in a safari suit in a shocking shade of tan on the front. Enough said.
The highlight was the old abandoned mine. A wonderfully cliched site, with an old abandoned warehouse and everything. We found what seemed to be a bottomless pit. We couldn't hear anything hit the bottom. Everything we threw in slowly sank into the silent darkness.
Out on site was fine. Spectacular scenery. Apart from the flies. I have never come across anything so annoying.
In your ears, up your nose, in your eyes. I swallowed quite a few. Yep. What can you do? They just fly in. I'm sure they do it (annoy people) on purpose. I swear i saw them flying in formation when they approached us.
At the end of three weeks we returned to Adelaide and blessed civilisation, with a valuable lesson under our belts. Never, EVER, go to Nymagee. After 5 days off we went to the Beverly Uranium Mine. Or, BUM for short.
Bum is right on the edge of the Flinders Ranges, near Arkaroola. It is one of the most beautiful places in South Australia. The soil is deep red and in the afternoon the setting sun makes everything glow softly.
Our accommodation in the mine was totally salubrious compared to Nymagee. Air-con, TV and a fridge in every room. And a full time chef. Didn't cook or do a dish while we were there.
We wrangled a free day and went four-wheel driving in the range. I hadn't expected it to be so much fun. We drove the public roads and then paid the fee for the 'serious' section. "Are you fully trained in extreme terrain driving?" asked the girl behind the counter as we paid our fee. "Of course i am!" i lied. How hard could it be? As it turns out, it wasn't that hard. You just need a decent 4WD and a set of big brass buttons. After three weeks in the mine housing we were transferred to Arkaroola resort. This meant an hours drive to site everyday. Didn't bother me. I found out if you hit the dips at about 80kph, you get airborne on the way out. So, as you're sailing through the air, no seatbelt on, try this: Your bum will be off the seat, and your feet will be nowhere near the pedals. This is due to the impact of the dip. Don't panic. While hovering within the car you may as well take your hands off the steering wheel. (It won't be working anyway, you're off the ground remember). And PRESTO! you are now pulling the famed 'No-handed Superman' manoeuvre, made famous by psychotic motocross riders. Try it. It's tremendously irresponsible, and therefore fun.
There was no chef in Arkaroola and we had to fend for ourselves. A shopping list had been devised and the contents delivered, including some $800 worth of steaks. (we are growing lads after all). We took it in turns to cook each night and soon it got quite competitive about who was the best cook. The end result was that we all ate like kings. Better than the food served in the resort restaurant at least.
Throughout the two trips we saw a lot wildlife. A mob of Emu's regularly walked through the camp. They weren't fazed by humans. They just wandered in, chilled out for a while, then mozyed on out. They were regulars.
Eagles and lots of them. It's a treat to see them feasting on something. They're big too. Waist high if they stand tall on their massive talons. Also Spiders that made webs so strong that they sound like steel cables snapping if you were unfortunate enough to walk through one. Tip for visitors: never kill a small spider, it makes the big ones angry. You don't want that.
I'll slip in a fewpics to save time regarding other stuff we saw.
I am now awaiting the beginning of my third trip. This time it's a big'un.
Zambia. 3 months. I leave on May 15. Should be an eye opener. I have had a lot of injections to keep me alive. "Don't drink the water or the girls and you'll be fine" was my boss's advice. Even the doctor giving me the shots said 'Don't have sex with anyone'. Common sense really.
Apart from that not much else is new.
I've been going diving a fair bit lately and i should get my license soon which will be good, then i can do it legally.
I am slowly getting back into rugby training when i can. It's difficult after such a long break. Great to see all the lads though. The family are all good. On the weekend we celebrated dad's 60th in the appropriate manner. Guests from everywhere. Hugh and June from NZ. (They quizzed me about you Sara). Cousins from Sydney and Melbourne and of course all the usual heavies.
(Benny and Johno, good to see your folks lads). There was much singing and
laughing at embarrassing photos of dad. A good night in all.
I've been seeing a girl named Michelle lately. Sort of. On and off, like.
It's hard to take anything seriously when i'm away for extended periods. I thought it about time to make an effort towards the fairer sex, especially since my dream babe decided to head back to Scotland without stopping into see me, thus ruining my plans to sweep her of her feet. (Yes Sara, that's you).
Michelle is a bit of a loony, which is amusing in a way. And she knows world cup winning Wallabies Jason Little and Richard Harry. Which i find very interesting...
OK, that should do for now.I'll give the photos a go.
Hope to hear from you all soon.
Until next we meet,
Don't react, instigate. The front foot is where it's at.
Much love to all,
Stew.
PSs
Rob- Thanks a bunch for sending the package mate. I'll give money to Johno and he can give you cash. Hope 59 is doing well. Say hi to Dolly for me. Can you forward this to Ian for me?
Johno- Send me your bank details hommie so i can do the above. Talk soon mate.
Benny- Are you still at Chateau Elrington? Congrats on the new job bro, now you can bring it down from the inside.
Ainz- keep working at it. You know you'll do well in the end. Much love.
Dildo- Still the player? Go get'em tiger.
Dan- Nicked anyone yet? Hope you're enjoying the beat. Can you forward this to Louisa please? Ta.
Dog- Stop bashing travellers. You don't know what you'll get.
Colm- How's the room? Small isn't it? Hope business is good.
Stevie+Danny- How was Amsterdam? I bet it was. Can you forward or show this to Stacey and Rachel. Cheers lads. Keep at it.
Chupito- Donde estas? esperando estas bien.
Camilla- Hope the studies are going well.
Mags- Hope you're keeping in touch with everyone, and dominating in general.
Ian- hope Rob's not working you too hard. Say hi to Gail for me.
Laura- congrats on your marriage. I wish you all the very best.
Paul- Made it to Ireland yet? Or are you still in Leeds?
Sara- Are you back in Scotland Yet? Or has the land of the Long White Cloud held you a bit longer? Have a safe trip anyway.
Nick- Still a goer for South America?
----- Original Message -----
From: stewart douglas
To:
Sent: Sunday, September 17, 2006 2:34 PM
Subject: The big one...
OK folks, We're in the back end of 2006 and it's time for the big one. Africa.
I think the last bundle of ramblings in sent out covered my Arkaroola/Beverly Uranium Mine and Nymagee trip. That was all a good learning curve, but nothing could prepare me for the next few months. I had absolutely no idea what to expect from Zambia. It would be my first foray into the third world and i didn't know how third world Zambia was.
We flew in via Johannesburg and managed to avoid getting mugged. Apparently we were among the lucky few. We landed in Zambia in Ndola, and the airport was basic in the strongest sense of the word. Customs was a tin shed with a wooden table where you open up your bags. Dizzy (real name Adam) had brought along a rubber snake, on the advice of more experienced African travelers. The poor customs woman nearly had a heart attack upon seeing this snake on top of all Dizzy's clothes. She recoiled into the corrugated iron wall behind her and I'm sure seriously contemplated shooting Dizzy on the spot. But it WAS pretty funny. After customs eventually saw the funny side of things and decided not to jail us we began the six hour drive to the mining camp at Lumwana. One hour into the journey the driver queried, with a satisfied laugh, "This is your first time in Africa?" I managed a nod and asked how he could tell. "Your mouth is nearly on the floor, and all you have said so far is: 'what the....?'" I thought this was a justified question. After all, in Australia and the rest of the world there aren't people walking all over the highway, in bare feet, leading cows or goats. And there aren't roadside stalls selling old mattresses, doors, pineapples or toys made from fencing wire. It seems that the road is THE place to be. It's where people meet, where you do your shopping if you have some money, where the kids can play, where you can just generally hang out and try to look cool in missionary issued clothes. Two hours out from Lumwana the road deteriorated and soon became useless, so we simply drove on the dirt next to the road. Judging by the corrugations and ditches, people had been doing this for some time and i thought that soon the dirt would be too bad to drive on. In the last two hours we didn't cover much on our four lane (two dirt lanes, two part tarmac lanes) highway. It was pretty slow going. We made it eventually and met everyone and were shown to our huts. Which were very nice, I must say. They had thatched roofs, concrete floors, electricity and mosquito nets. Painted white, they looked very quaint. The rest of the camp was very nice too. There was a bar, satellite TV and the world's coldest swimming pool.
The next day we did the induction course and met the teams that each of us would be leading. We were introduced as 'Mr Stewart', 'Mr Terry' etc. Dizzy's introduction brought much laughter. In Tetembo, the local dialect, dizzy means drunk. Very appropriate, we all remarked. Most of the guys turned out to be very friendly and helpful, though the actual usefulness of some would be questioned later. The next day was training day and a trial run to see if they understood what was expected of them. It became obvious which ones would become our front men. The front man is the bloke who walks next to us at the front of the sensor array. He is the one to do the yelling over the radio, and translate if necessary. Translation being important. English is the national language but most of them only spoke broken English. This lead to lots of interesting phrases being used. One instance found us meeting one lad along the road where the power cable was supposed be. (In the mornings the locals would leave earlier and pull out about 4km wire that was to conduct electricity into the ground. It broke quite often). He was just standing there, doing nothing. "What are you doing?" we asked. "I make sure that no one drove the cars over the cable" he explained. "But there is no cable here. Where is it?" we asked. "It go that way", he pointed. "I watched the end go in the trees, then I waited, but the rest of the cable was not following". We all fell down laughing. "Ah, the cable is broken!" we surmised. "You better get in there and get the other end. Then you can bring it to the other end and re-acquaint them with each other".
Once work began in earnest it turned out to be pretty easy. Having 12 guys to do the work three guys do in Australia makes life grand. The only hard part was explaining to the locals the same things you explained yesterday.
The terrain was pretty interesting. At least, more interesting than the desolate areas we go to in Australia. We generally walked about 6kms a day and it was mostly under a canopy of trees that allowed dappled sunlight to filter down and make things very comfortable. The only hard parts were the Dambo's. These are small creeks that are either fed from underground sources or rain, in the wet season. They often have very tall grass and uneven terrain beneath. So you tried to stand on the tops of the bases and skip from clump to clump. Inevitably you slipped and plunged into the water beneath. So, wet feet were common. And so were snakes. (See illustration below). We couldn't spot them but Zambians could. 'Did you see the snake, boss?' soon came to be a sickening sentence. Most of them were (poisonous) Vipers and weren't scared away by approaching humans. Some were Black Mambas. These are possibly the most dangerous snakes in the world. They are very aggressive and can stand up 2/3rds of their body length just so they can repeatedly bite you on the chest and stomach. That way you die quicker, a bit like standing too close to Chuck Norris.
We were supposed to work 7 days a week but the locals insisted on having every second Sunday off to go cheer for God, or food, or something. So we made the most of these days by going to swim in nearby waterfalls or visit villages or anything of remote interest really. Some of these trips lead through remote villages that housed hundreds of kids, kids that may have never seen a Mezungoo (Swahili for white man) before, or at least not one as white as me. These kids were one of the highlights of my time in Africa. They have the most incredible smiles. And they manage to produce them despite having to walk to school in the cold, without shoes. Some very tiny kids walk along the road on very tiny feet. They kept their hands tucked in their armpits for warmth. Only at the last minute did they whip them out to wave and jump franticly as we went past, waving. As soon as we were past, they quickly resumed the hands in armpits survival position. Driving through the villages, they came charging out of houses to wave at the roadside. In the tall grass we often couldn't see them, but we could hear them. Like howling homing missiles they raced towards us just to catch a glimpse and wave. I was always worried about hearing the sickening thud of infant on panel work. Somehow they always managed to get out of the way. We managed to get a flat tyre in the middle of a village on one occasion. We drew a crowd of about 70 people, which was funny, in a scary kind of way. They came from everywhere to see what the crazy mezungoos were doing. One even offered me a bite of his shaslik, which had about seven overcooked mice on it. I nearly shat myself and then to him to keep it so would grow big and strong.
I had brought a couple of old rugby balls with me and we tried to teach the lads how to bounce them, Aussie rules style. It was difficult, given that their first comment was 'Er, Mr Stewart your ball is flat', having only ever seen soccer balls before. But still they enjoyed laughing at each other as they learnt. Some could even kick it properly by the end.
Most of the work went past without incident, although, Mr Terry did head-butt the toilet for some reason. Beats me. He kept going on about a loose step or something. The final result was that he did look like he'd been making fun of Chuck Norris. And another night Dizzy drank more than a bottle of Klipdrift (local brandy) and was subsequently the sickest human on earth the following day.
After three months our contract was finished and it was time to go touring. Dizzy and I had lined up a three week overland safari, which passed through Zambia, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa. This was followed by a week for general relaxing and other scallywag behaviour in Cape Town. Jiggy all round, I'd say.
The tour was to start at Victoria Falls. This was a pretty mind boggling way to begin any tour. Could the rest of the trip follow the standard? We landed a few days before the trip was due to start, and checked into the nice, but rather quiet, Fawlty Towers Backpackers.
Extreme Thingy #1: White Water Rafting on the mighty Zambezi. Where better to learn how not to drown in extreme conditions than the Zambezi rapids? Most say that they are the best in the world. It certainly is a long magical ride. And it does contain about five grade 5 rapids. There is even a grade six rapid, but we weren't allowed through it because it 'Is very bad for business', as our guide termed it. After the brief crash course in safety, we went down to the river, just down from the Falls. We were still very close and the sound was deafening, and the spray was thick. All the rapids have ominous names such as Gnashing Jaws of Death, Oblivion and Commercial Suicide. The first was the grade 5 Boiling Pot. We smashed through it easily. It was all going swimmingly until we got to Morning Glory. Another G5, we went in fast and were looking good until, very suddenly, the boat somehow got upside-down. That put us in the water. The suddenly thrashing, hungry, powerful and remorseless, croc-infested water. It didn't seem to matter which way I tried to swim, including back up to where the oxygen was, the water took me somewhere else. Eventually I popped back up to the surface to find that everyone else had been similarly scattered. We re-boarded the raft and got back into taming the raging waters. Laughing at how much fun it was to be in so much danger. We had two more flips, one of which was caused by our guide because I think he was getting a little bored, and we all survived. Although at one stage I was submerged, and scared. Proper scared. But that's what makes it fun. You never really appreciate life until you nearly lose it. A few of the people from the rafting excursion asked us back to the other backpackers, Jolly Boys. We followed and found that it was quite a kicking place. A few too many beers later and we had worked up the courage to visit the local late night bar, which was interesting, sort of.
Over the next couple of days we visited the falls, which were stunning, had lunch in a smooth hotel which we had snuck into, and went gorge swinging.
Extreme Thingy #2: the Gorge Swing. Simply terrifying. We thought it would be like the old tyre swing under a tree, but a bit bigger. Turns out that you free fall for about 3½ seconds down a sheer cliff face, accelerate to 140kph, and then you start swinging. Once you swing out over the gorge it's all very peaceful, apart from the fact your heart sounds like its about to explode in your ears. A bit like when you find out Chuck Norris doesn't like you. We also did abseiling and a flying fox. But they weren't nearly as fun.
We eventually met up with the tour group at a place dubiously called Grubby's Grotto. It wasn't flash, but it was a start.
Speaking of starts, this e-mail is starting to feel like it may never end, no? You have 20 other e-mails to read after this, don't you? Alright, I'll compress the next 4 weeks down to speed things up. Ready? Let's go.
First stop after the superb Vic Falls was Chobe National Park, and my first chance to see an animal that didn't try to inject you with deadly poison. Elephants! Lots of them, and Giraffes too. It wasn't an off-road excursion, more like a fenced off section of the highway.
From there we drove the Caprirvi Strip, which is like saying the M3, but a bit more exotic. That night we stayed in a cool campsite that had a cage in the river to swim in, decking and everything. The cage was to protect people from crocs and hippos. It was touted by the management as the worlds first Croc and Hippo cage dive.
The next day we drove to the edge of the Okavango Delta in Botswana. We stayed in another great camp. And I think that we set a record for consumption in the bar. The owner was so happy he gave the tour leader her drinks for nothing. There was an old Mokoro canoe hung from the ceiling in the bar. "It can hold eight people!" said the barman proudly, until a very hefty English lass tried to climb up. "Oh no, actually only four people" he hastily added in unsubtle fashion.
Next day we piled into boats to go camping the heart of the Delta. 1 hour by power boat, then 30 mins by Mokoro, and we were in paradise. Dizzy and I were let loose in a Mokoro with a pole each. Great fun, bloody hard though, and I think that we were slower than a local with a single pole, 3 passengers and their luggage. That night we went to sleep to the sound of Hippos in the night. This is probably the coolest sound I've ever heard. They sound like Jabba the Hut laughing, so loud that the ground shakes. The next day was Hippo spotting and general lounging in the hammocks.
A couple of days driving saw us cross into Namibia. There was a lot of driving on this trip. But we managed to pass the time with games such as noughts and crosses, charades, celebrity heads and world wrestling championships. We headed into Etosha National Park, which was truly spellbinding. There was a watering hole next to our camp and at night we watched Rhinos, Springbok, Giraffes, Elephants, Jackals, Zebras and Sable come down for a quiet bevy. We spent two nights in Etosha at Namutoni and Okuakuejo Camps. Neither of which had much character, being old army forts, but the animals made up for it.
Next it was down the Skeleton Coast. We were supposed to go and see some rock paintings. Yawn. Boring, right kids? So our leader took us to a Cheetah farm instead. Wicked, wicked, wicked! I touched one. Don't believe me? We also saw them being fed, which was cool. I must say that I was disappointed by the noise of a Cheetah. It sounds like a normal domestic cat, when you step on it.
Heading further south we stopped in at Spitzkoppe rocks for the night. Part of The Gods Must Be Crazy II was filmed here, and it was just beautiful. Some of the formations were a bit cheeky but the sunrise was something to behold.
Everyone hanging in there? Not too much to go. Then you can check out everyone else's e-mails and find out who got laid on the weekend and which Aussie icon has been killed in the line of duty.
We pushed onto Swakopmund, a bizarre Germanic town on the edge of the Namib Desert. The very edge. You can see the dunes from the town centre. Here was the place most people went to do more exteme thingy's, such as sky diving, quadbiking and dune surfing. I found the prices were highway robbery, and having been skydiving before, having to ride a quad at work, and able to dune surf here in Oz, I decide to just lurk around the city with Dizzy and smoke a few doobies. Buying some pot here was a bit hair-raising. We asked a few shady looking locals, who drove us out of town into a shanty town, where even six year old kids without shoes on looked menacing. The taxi driver suggested we ask anyone with dreadlocks. So we did. We swapped some crap money for some crap weed and then got the hell out of there, lickety-split. The others had a good time jumping out of planes etc. Although one girl dislocated her hip on the quadbikes and another guy cracked some ribs.
From Swakopmund we went to Fish River Canyon, which was both massive and spectacular. We had been told that the world's biggest Bungi jump was there. It wasn't, thankfully. Dizzy and I had been bravely saying we would do it, but were both privately terrified.
From there we headed into South Africa, for one night in a small lodge where we went tyre tubing down a freezing river with small rapids, before hitting the big smoke of Cape Town. I loved Cape Town. It was near the beach, it has a cool mountain, it's very cheap and it is a bit rough around the edges, which is nice.
Extreme Thingy #3. Big fish. Dizzy and I signed up for a White Shark Dive. It was cheap and practically guaranteed to see lots of big angry swimmers. The water was rough and the boat smaller than expected. So when we anchored and the chum was brought out, people got sick. I did too. I made my own burly. But as soon as I got in the water and looked into the murk to see a killer emerge, everything else was forgotten. One of the most elegant and perfect animals I have ever seen, they nonchalantly cruised past and then they would suddenly explode into action in an attempt to catch the bait being trailed in the water. This bait was actually a couple of fish heads on a rope that was pulled in towards the cage, to give us a close look at something more deadly than a Chuck Norris roundhouse. The spookiest thing about a White Pointer is not the teeth, but the eye. It's like a black hole. There is no sign of it moving like a conventional eyeball like ours or other animals, it's all black, no white, no nothing. You couldn't even see any reflections on it, making it look like an evil little part of the world that was pretending not to exist.
A couple of days later, Extreme Thingy #4. Chopper time. The bird was an old Vietnam war veteran. A big old open sided huey that also served in the war for Africa. Now it just whips excitable tourists about. It was truly awesome. We flew in low over the beach to keep under the radar, and then moved over the sand dunes for some joyriding and so the pilot could show off a bit. I must say that was even more fun than I was hoping for. The NOISE... I will never forget that noise. We were also lucky enough to fly over a whale that was wallowing around in the bay.
Other activities in Cape Town included a trip up Table Mountain, by cable car of course. A fair bit of drinking, walks around the V&A Waterfront and general lolling about in the sun. So that pretty much covers the tour. After that it was back to Kitwe for a weeks work. On our final night we headed out to XTC, which is a local night club set up in the old office block of a disused petrol station. It looked pretty rough from the outside and we weren't expecting much, but we headed down. Then we headed back to get changed after finding out there was a dress code. A dress code! In Kitwe! A town that sets fire to the grass footpaths because no one can be bothered mowing them, has a dress code! In the end the place turned out to be quite good and we had a cracking time.
And that's the end of the story folks. All done.
Sorry for the group thing. If you're lucky you may get a mention in the p.s.'s.
Stay safe peoples, and remember, You can always dance to disco if you don't like rock
Stewart.
p.s. Johno - how's the job hunting going? Still loving the Ed? How was the Cork birthday bash? Say hi to Harry if you see him. Benny N - Patrick tells me they're working you into the ground. Dont let'em win man! Dildo - Are you still at Lee View? Send me your postal address mate. Ainz - Loving Dublin? Is Dublin loving you? How could it not.. Mags - Keeping in touch with everyone? Hope your life's grand. Colm - Still in with Dildo? Stylish still there too? Gym business driving you crazy yet? Dog - Used excessive force lately? John the Girth - I got my new road bike. Very shiny indeed. Lots of carbon on it. Rob - How's 59? Booming? Anything interesting written on the door? Say G'day to Dolly and the gang for me. Can you also send this to Ian for me pls? Maybe even give me his e-mail. Killer - What town are you in these days? Sara - You going to the RWC? What are you doing these days? Lisa+Chupito - sounds like you're enjoying Thailand. That boat ride sounded like my kind of thing. Ian - I hear you are back in Sri Lanka. Nice, love your work. Hope you're going great guns. Nick - Still putting up with England? Wallabies touring there soon.. Jess - Are you a home owner yet? How's the fella? Keatings - Any new additions to the empire? Still in Melbs? Camilla - France isn't so bad. There will be a World Cup there soon, and Spain is always close by.. Hugh and June - Fantastic to see you again at dad's 60th. Hope all is going well. With the way the All Blacks are playing, NZ must feel invincible. Paul Horne - In Eire yet? Or still in Leeds? Paul Hamer - Playing in Melb? Richie - We gotta ride soon man. Need it bad. Constable Rouse - Cracked the case? London must be hard work mate. Nice to work with women in uniform though.Say hi to Louisa for me. Can you send me her e-mail details? Ta Stevie - You? Married? Seriously? Danny - Stevie? You sure? Tricia - Long time no see. Where you hiding these days? Boofy - How's this months Home & Garden? (snigger snigger) Roman - Heard you made a trip down under and ripped it up in the 2nds. Nice work. Betty Boobs - You know you want me! We need to catch up SOON. Dan - Visit Adelaide more often mate. It was good to see you, reckon dad would like to catch up next time too. Griffo - How's the north treating you? Jesus it must be cold there. Jackie Chan - Where are you at the moment? France? Married yet? Karl - Good to be home? I'm enjoying it too. Definitely have to visit. Canada sounds cool. Can you forward this to any of the others whose details I don't have? Cheers mate. Natasha - Plans to go back to Africa? Checkers - Killer game mate. Harry - Remember, as signwriters, we control the information. Derek/Alan etc - Don't stress, they're only signs.
Gavin, Jo, Kai, Nick Brown & Kitty
From: Gavin Pfister [mailTo:gavgavi@hotmail.com]
Sent: Friday, 21 April 2006 4:58 AM
To: Kim Evans
Subject: RE: This week at Old Colls
Hi Kim
My wife Jo, my son Kai and myself recently met up with a past English Old Colls player and a supporter over here in England and thought I would attach some images. Always good to meet up with old friends from Australia and chat about the days at Old Colls. The player was Nick Brown who played in my year there - 1997 - and the supporter was Kitty who I am sure many Old Colls will remember. Nick always makes sure he wears his Old Colls rugby jersey when we go and visit. Hope all is going well with the season.
Gavin Pfister
Gavin Pfister
From: Gavin Pfister [mailTo:gavgavi@hotmail.com]
Sent: Friday, 17 March 2006 6:29 AM
To: Kim Evans
Subject: RE: This Week at Old Colls
Hi Kim
I am an old Old Colls player from 1997 and certainly enjoy getting the odd newsletter regarding the happenings of the club. There are still some familiar names that appear on the newsletter and it all brings back very fond memories. I can't believe that some of the players (Boofy and Czelik) that I played with are still giving their blood and guts on the rugby field for Old Colls. Good for them.
I suppose I am still playing and a little bit of rugby always keeps me smiling.
All is well here and I am finishing probably my final month in England so that we can return to a sunny Cape Town and finish off my rugby career there.
It has been a long and hard 4 years in the UK but it is now time for myself, Aussie Jo and my little 17 month old boy to head back to Cape Town.
I often speak to Nick Brown who was also a player for Old Colls that year of 1997.
If all goes to plan I will see him next weekend to say farewell. He has also asked me to get his email address onto your mailing list so that he can keep in touch.
Anyway please send our best wishes to everyone who remembers us at Old Colls.
Gavin Pfister
----- Original Message -----
From: Kim Evans
To:gavgavi@hotmail.com
Cc: Paul
Sent: Thursday, March 16, 2006 10:32 PM
Subject: FW: This Week at Old Colls
Hi Gavin,
While I don't think we ever met (I joined the club in '98) your name is still mentioned around the bar with enough regularity for me to know who you are - you need no introduction!
I'm glad to hear all is well with you and your family. I have cc'd your message to our webmaster who will no doubt add it to the website; the guys love reading messages from Absent Friends. Should you ever be passing our way again, be sure and stop in for a drink. I will gladly add Nick's name to my email list.
Cheers Kim
