Christmas in South Africa, 2010

Cameron & I love Christmas and we were so excited to be home for Christmas this year. We knew that Christmas day was sorted and that my mother-in-law had it all covered, and we knew it was going to be fun. As it always is!
So we spent Christmas eve with our "other" family, our friends at our favourite place to be - Aunty Mary's house. This Christmas was hard because we had lost alot of important people in our lives while we have been in NZ, and it was even more hard being at Aunty Mary's place (even just writing "Aunty Mary's place") because it was the first time we'd seen everyone and been home since Uncle Noel passed away. But we were so happy to be back with all the people we hold dear, and it felt like we had never left. Wayne had come to Durban as well, and so the old crew (minus Poovi & Kumaran) were finally back together.
Thiru, Cameron & Niven

Aunty Mary

Cyan

Thiru, Verasha (Vees) and Cyan

Cyan, Aunty Mary & Barthie

Me, Janine, Lloyd & Wayne

the crew


Thiru, Niven & Casper


Our friends Niven & Verasha's little girl Cyan has grown so much from a little toddler to the most beautiful little girl and it was so good seeing her again, and being able to have a conversation with her too. And we got to meet Lloyd's new girlfriend, Janine which was so good. Thiru & Barthie, and their son "Casper" were also there, the last I'd seen them they had made me the best crab curry for my farewell. It really felt like old times and although Uncle Noel wasn't there, he's presence was very near and we missed him sorely!

Uncle Noel (Papa)


The Christmas celebrations shortly begun, and it went pretty much until the next morning. Every moment we spent with our friends made us miss home so much more, and we realised that if we could only take the people we love with us back to NZ, life would be perfect. But even though we live far away from everyone, we didn't want to hold onto the negative, and the what if's, or the shoulda, coulda, woulda's we just enjoyed every moment and held onto every one dearly!

The boys





Cameron, Wayne & aunty Mary


At 6am we finally left Aunty Mary's place and went home. Cameron thought he'd get away with not going to church but his mother was waiting patiently for us and no sooner had we got home, we were off to church. Everyone was so excited to see Cameron and Pastor Tony ever so happily announced our arrival and welcomed us back.
When we got home we decided we'd have a small nap in preparation for the festivities and all the family that was coming over. Durban is usually extremely hot over Christmas and especially on Christmas Day, this year was no exception however this year surpassed all others... I've never felt so hot in all my life. The air was so thick and hot that you could barely breathe. I guess it may not have been as extreme to other as it was to me, but I think I've become to climatised to Auckland weather that I felt so uncomfortable in Durban. Anyway, we managed to stay cool and enjoyed ourselves on Christmas day.

All the family came over and we had a wonderful time. The food was plentiful and ever so yummy and the party started and ended well into the morning.

Amber, Cameron & Quentin

Ricky, Pam, my mum, and the kids

The Boys

The Bonhomme's

Me & Quentin

Lunchtime


The Boys

Cousins - The Pillay's


Dancing the night away



My Father-in-law and his sister, dancing the night away



For Cameron the most special moment for te night was his friend Gordon, who he hasn't seen in probably as long as we've been together, came by and it was so special seeing them reconnect. Cameron was Gordon's best man at his wedding and through circumstances that could not be controlled by either of them, they lost contact and by some stroke of genius, Gordon came by on Christmas Day and made my dear husband's day.


I love Christmas and being home this year, made it even more wonderful! I love being home!

uShaka Marine World

We didn't have the chance to get up to much while we were in SA. But one of the things we did do was go to uShaka Marine World with Wayne & Tish. It was a beautifully hot day and we enjoyed spending some quality time together. We love going to uShaka and have done so most of our time while we were courting. Although we had been there a few times Wayne & Tish hadn't been there before, as Tish is from Dundee (a small town in KZN) and moved to Johannesburg thereafter she never spends much time in Durban, and well, Wayne being who he is never took the time out to enjoy the wonders of the Marine underworld and so we took the opportunity to spend some time together, just the four of us.






The whole park is built in what used to be called the Point Beach area. And it includes both the Marine park as well as the Water world which is always packed to capacity. There's wonderful shopping in the little mall leading up to the park. And the beach is on the border so you can shop, swim, surf, or anything else right there.
The Marine park is built underground, and in a sunken ship. The amazing part for me is that the ceiling is what should be the floor and so it really gives you that feeling like you're walking in a sunken ship in the middle of the ocean. The glass panels are massive so you can look in and view the marine life (everything you can think of) and then ther's little aquariums with lobsters and crabs, eels, and they even have a little "Finding Nemo" exhibition which have all the little fish characters in there. Love it.






The shark tank still gets Cameron. I would've loved to do the Shark Tank Dive, where you're submerged in this steel tank with the Sharks... sadly I never got the chance this time... but I still have a hope.







We didn't have much time to see all the shows but we managed to sneak in the Seal Show. It was so cute and so hilarious and I was, as usual, really into the fun and if the "Pirate" Host had called me up to take part in the fun I so would've gone with it. But alas, I wasn't that lucky and someone else got called up. He was a visitor from the Mpumalanga province, and he was so scared of the seals that he made for really good entertainment! He kept running away hysterically every time the seal came near him and I was actually waiting for him to fall into the water... but he didn't, I was slightly disappointed! LOL!!







After the fun at the Marine world we had lunch at our favourite seafood place in the "WHOLE WIDE WORLD" - Ocean Basket. No pics of that I'm afraid, we were so excited that by the time I realised I should've taken pics, we were already eating! Oh well, great memories...

Our trip home Part 1

They say home is where the heart is and if that has any truth in it then, well home will always and forever be South Africa.

We've been in New Zealand for almost 3 years and at first our plan was to come to NZ and after a year got back to SA for a holiday, but for anyone who has experienced immigration they can understand the desperate need to go back to the place you call home and to weigh up the options (both financially and emotionally) of a long trip back home or staying where you are and building the foundation you need to make it in your new surroundings. Well, it took us 2 and a half years to finally be able to go home and as soon as we could we got our ickets and set our plans for our trip home.

After 17 weeks our time for our "long trek" finally came. Because I'd done the long 3 and a half hour flight via Dubai on Emirates we decided there was no way we were gonna do that and so booked through Qantas and flew via Sydney. Our flight was a 7am flight and so we had to be at the airport at about 5am, but with the Festive season already underway and the airports so hectic (we were told by a few people that they were lat checking in even though they were 2 hours before their fligt) so we decided we would get to the airport as early as possible. So we got onto the airport shuttle about 3.30am (100% lack of sleep that night, with doing last minute packing and such) and were at the airport by about 4am. I hate airports, I absolutely hate airports! I am a very nervous traveller (bad experiences at Heathrow airport which has scarred me for life) so I was very very pleased that all went well at check in! Our flight to Sydney wasn't to bad, Air NZ is a wonderful airline (giving props where it's due) but one of the worst airports I've ever flown into is Syndey International. The place is a mad house! We got off the plane 3hrs later and were advised that connecting passengers needed only to go to the Transfer desk, BUT they don't tell you which Transfer desk out of the few hundred desks in the airport!!! Anyway, I kid you not when I say 80% of the people on the Air NZ Auckland to Sydney flight were all transferring to Qantas Sydney to Johannesburg! So we're standing in the line right, for about half an hour (which is like a day in airport time) and one of the gentlemen in the line asks one of the airport staff if we're in the right line. Guess what, we weren't! He directed us to another transfer desk which was on the other side of the airport altogether. Thankfully because most of the passengers were all together there was no way they were gonna let the plane go! And, well we had about an hour to go anyway! But I digress, we finally got checked in and finally borded our 14 hour flight to Johannesburg! After about 6 hours we had had it, and the damn travel agent had ordered Cameron a "Special Diet" so every meal on every flight Cameron was receiveing low-fat, low-carb meals, and guess who had to eat that!!! It was so funny! At first we were wondering what the hell was happening, at first I thought maybe it could be a mix up (and thought maybe it was me but then realised my passport is in my maiden name - Bonhomme - so the "Pillay" meal was definitely for him. Side note: only on our return trip did he realise that he "might've mentioned" this to the travel agent!) Anyway, 14 hours later we arrived in Johannesburg! I was slightly disappointed when we arrived because when I went back to SA on my first trip to NZ 6 years ago, the overwhelming feeling of "FINALLY I'M HOME" was not there! Maybe it was because the trip was really long (and the plane was so old, I'm used to each seat having a tv and you can watch whatever you like, but this flight was like straight out of the 90's, with tv screens dropping out of the ceiling and everyone watching the same old movie). Needless to say we didn't watch the movies and slept all the way, so maybe that's why we didn't have that excited feeling when we disembarked. But when we saw Poovi & Reshme, that all changed! Cameron was so excited to see Poovi & when we actually got onto the roads in JHB and realised that "Wow, we're home" we finally got that excited feeling.

Poovi & Resh have an amazing home and the most beautiful little boy, Kailash. It was so nice just sitting around and catching up with them and finally getting to play with the little munchkin, who we had never seen besides in pictures. Poovi went all out & cooked up a storm and Wayne & Tish came over and we finally got to enjoy what we had been missing for so long. Wayne & Tish have only been together since we've been in NZ and so we never got to meet her either and we so enjoyed spending time with her and getting to know her. The boys so enjoyed being together again. Cameron & Wayne have been friends for over 20 years and Cameron & Poovi have been friends for about 17 years. And they, along with the rest of the crew (Kumaran, Lloyd, Niven and others) have been friends for so long and have been a huge part of Cameron's life and now mine. All the wives & girlfriends get on and they are all part of our extended family.

These are a few pics of our first night in SA.
Cameron & Poovi

The Boys, Poovi, Cam & Wayne



Reshme, me & Tish




We divided our time in Johannesburg at Poovi & Reshme and with Wayne & Tish. We literally partied all night and slept all day and it didn't help us in terms of jet lag. The first few days in JHB were a blur, needless to say but I can and will say we thoroughl we enjoyed it. Here's a few pics of our time in JHB:








And the thing I missed most (besides my family & friends) was Beacon Marshmallows. No offence to NZ but there is no better marshmallow and definitely the standard I've found in NZ and Australia is far below that of a Beacon Marshmallow. Tish came to my rescue (after dear Reshme went on a marshmallow hunt on our way from the airport) and had these gorgeous marshmallows in her cupboard... girl after my own heart!
One of my faves is the coconut covered marshmallow...

And yes, I ate marshmallows my whole holiday through. My dear mother had them ready and waiting for me cos she knows how much I love me a good marshmallow!!!

Anyway, after our fun-filled weekend in JHB we finally flew to Durban and got see our families. Cam's parents, my mum, sister-in-law & niece & nephew, and my dad (his wife and their son, Zack) came to see us at the airport. It was so good to see everyone, and the tears ran as we saw everyone! I will admit the excitedness came once we got on Durban soil. As we were going to collect our luggage from the carousel, I heard my mum and nephew call out my name and the butterflies started!!! We were so happy to be home! After catching up at the airport we headed off to Cam's parents place and had the WHOLE family come through to see us which was awesome!