Come to the place of misfits!

Come to the place of misfits!

Theresa Johnston

North Stradbroke Island accommodation

Tsitsikamma Forest

While in Plett, Brett and Nicole enjoyed an awesome Canopy Tour on what we in S.A call 'Fufi slides'. You glide above the Tsitsikamma Rain Forests and waterfalls on a zip line. They had a complete blast and were thankful for not taking me along for my fear of...well, just about everything! You will see their adventure in pics below. At our tree house place of stay, Brett found a mate! A long antlered deer who would literally not leave his side, no matter what he did. All deer were free-roaming and when Brett was grilling outside, along came his mate. He stood with him for so long, it was hilarious.

Visiting monkey land was a hit! Monkeys of various species roaming around you. Some of them are known thieves. There is no wearing of sunglasses, etc because they reach over and help themselves right from your head. They are amazing. Nicole is convinced we will get one, one day. Yeah right!

From the Tree House we had a long drive down to Cape Town. The girls were absolute troopers without any complaints about the 5 hr backseat journey! After arriving back in Cape Town, we have been on the go non-stop!

We had a cook-out at our friends Ian and Alison who made such a great open fire chicken on a rotisserie rod. Of course, for anyone who knows me, after a couple of glasses of wine, I stood up to check it all out and scorched my arm on the red hot rod. Yes, I now have WAR WOUNDS!

Brett's mom arrived from Durban and is spending the week with us. She is keeping up with all our gallivanting well. Sunday was a seriously fun BBQ with my family which was just wonderful. Not seeing fam in 7 years is, in fact, a long time! I just never realized how long. The adults are older (but still look wonderful LOL) and the kids are all TALLER than me! Not that it's too difficult;)

Our morning at the Ostrich farm was fun! Nicole wants to do a special 'shout out' to her friend at school who LOVES Ostriches. You know who you are ;) We all got to stand on the eggs and sit on them and play blindfold which is hilarious. They throw a bag over their heads and the poor things have no clue what the heck is going on. Naturally, Nicole and I found an abundance of humor in this!

Nicole and Brett climbed Table Mountain in a little over 2 hours. Pics are below too. It's an amazing view. The mountain is and was our morning view as we woke up each day.

Yesterday, the girls stayed with my mom and Brett, Merle (his mom) and I all headed to the wine farms in Paarl. Oh man, what beauts! We did tons of tastings and ended at the Backsberg Winery for lunch. The greenery in the wine lands is amazing with what seems to be a never ending sea of valleys.

Today, we are all off to the Waterfront. Nicole wants to shop!! It's a little rainy here today but still awesome.

More to come tomorrow.

Cheers all,

T

Plettenburg Bay, here we are

We had a great drive to Plett without Shelley getting car sick, thankfully!

We spent two nights at Addo Elephant Park (as you will see from pics) which was probably the most amazing wild life experience I have ever had. We all went on a dusk Safari drive and literally had elephants walking by the truck within arms reach. Did I hold my breath? Ahh... YES! Was I terrified? Ahh YES! But at the same time I was so fortunate to experience what I did. The girls had a blast! We stopped half way through the game drive for some wine and snacks at the back of the truck until that is, that a herd of elephant came walking in our direction to see what that yummy smell was. Was I the first one to jump back in the truck? YES!

The following day we drove to Plettenberg Bay and stopped off at Monkey Land. It is the world's first free roaming multi specie primate sanctuary. We spent two hours walking among the wild monkeys as they played around our feet, checking us out to see what they could steal from us. We were warned to not wear glasses, etc as they love to reach down from the branches above your head and GRAB! We all had the opportunity to walk over the longest free swing bridge in Africa. Pics below or on next blog.

Nicole is trying to reason with us for her to adopt a monkey and live in South Africa. Her dad: Yes, sure...Her Mom: NOT!

Brett and Nicole have just left for a canopy tour above waterfalls and gorges. Pics will follow.

Shout Out for Dad: We drove right by Cape St. Francis and all I could do was think of you :)

Cheers,

T

Pics of our last day/night in PE

We've had an amazing time in PE. Brett got up the next morning after the race and has been on his feet every day. That doesn't mean to say he is in no pain though;)

Enjoy these pics of our last day/night in PE.

Kari/Hannah: You would love it here :)

We are headed to Addo Elephant Park today.

Cheers,

T

Our last night in Port Elizabeth

Our last day in PE was spent with the most glorious morning of warmth and sunshine, an afternoon of laziness and an early evening of beach sporting sunset like no other. We had an awesome steak dinner at the PE Boardwalk and are now bunking in for the night. We have a relatively early start to Addo elephant park tomorrow. Enjoy the pics ...

And... he is OUR Iron Man, South Africa!

He's done it! It's finally over...Brett, the Iron Man, Johnston!! His little family couldn't be more proud. We made it to the finish line in time to see him come in and it was amazing. The men and woman of this race are awesome and most of them still seem to smile.

It still baffles me as to how these people do such an inspiring event! I am in awe!

Well done my love. Hard work, unbelievable dedication and still making family time puts you in my top ranks!
Love,
Your girls
xoxo

And the run begins....

Hi All,

We had a special visit from a triathlete named Brett, who stopped by his three girls for a Hello! He was smiling so this must mean well, right? Man is it hot out there! But the breeze has just arrived in time to cool them off on their run. Brett was on his first loop when we saw him. He had a 5 minute transition time which is amazing. He so rocks!

Last night I was told that all he wants at the end of his run is good ol' biltong and a freezing cold beer. Off we went this morning to get that biltong and already have a cold one here that we will take to the finish line! But, Woody, the dog the size of a donkey crept into our flat while we were watching a show this afternoon and ever so quietly stole Brett's biltong! All we heard was a 'crinkle crinkle'. I thought it was Nicole until I saw the gray head walking through the doors to stash his treasure! LOL

Here is an updated pic of Brett on his run! The next update will be the FINISH!!!! YEAH!
I have the best man in the world!
Cheers,
T