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

I was lucky enough to see Brett at the end of his second loop in the cycle. He looked great!
The spectators are awesome! From the tribal dancers (shields, spears and all LOL)to cheer leaders and noise accessories the atmosphere is amazing!

Theresa's estimated time for his cycle is in the region of 6:37 but I know that you BTT'rs will know the correct answer to this.

The weather is hotter than expected so I am sure the athletes are not too pleased about that but their spirits seem high nonetheless. I got burned to a crisp while cheering on the cyclists so walked back to our B&B for some well needed lotion and oh, by chance took a nap. I have no idea how that happened ;)

BTT'rs: Brett is sporting his gear oh so proudly!

Posting another pic for you. See you at the next blog

And the cycle is over....

I was lucky enough to see Brett at the end of his second loop in the cycle. He looked great!
The spectators are awesome! From the tribal dancers (shields, spears and all LOL)to cheer leaders and noise accessories the atmosphere is amazing!

Theresa's estimated time for his cycle is in the region of 6:37 but I know that you BTT'rs will know the correct answer to this.

The weather is hotter than expected so I am sure the athletes are not too pleased about that but their spirits seem high nonetheless. I got burned to a crisp while cheering on the cyclists so walked back to our B&B for some well needed lotion and oh, by chance took a nap. I have no idea how that happened ;)

BTT'rs: Brett is sporting his gear oh so proudly!

Posting another pic for you. See you at the next blog!
Cheers,
T

He takes the swim with a PR

Hi All,

Brett completed his swim in a time of 1:17.07. This race is amazing. The beach was swamped and the vibe unbelievable. From the S.A Army to a traditional cannon being fired for the start to the African tribal dancers on the beach, it is just so much fun!

I dropped Brett off at 5:30am and he appeared to feel ready. I can't even imagine what I might feel if I were about to fulfill my life dream. I have a funny feeling that this might be the first of many. I don't know if my heart can take it ;)

We were sitting at the Wimpy (restaurant on the beach) having breakfast when we were notified of his swim completion and one would think we won the lotto.

We will wait for him to come passed our B&B in an hour or so. Right now we are watching Casper the friendly ghost with the hope of Shelley taking a power nap!

Will check in again later but in the mean time, here are some pics for you.

Cheers
T

Pics for below post....

Nicole finishes her first Iron Kids Race

HI Everyone,

All slept until 10:30am and wandered off to a good breakfast. Woody, a dog the size of a donkey, helped us bask in the morning sun for a while before we all got ready to take Nicole to do her first Kids Tri. The water was FREEZING. The poor kids jumped into a pit of ice so it's no wonder their little arms were flailing like they were...

Nicole did great but did get very dizzy on the run. I don't know if you know that she fainted in the kitchen last week? So after she ran over the finish line she was pretty upset and off to the medics she went. She is fine now but tired, and just want's a Wimpy Milkshake!! LOL She was awesome and we are so proud of her!

Brett is down at the race now delivering his bike and transition bags telling all the Africans they need to guard his bike for him tonight. One can only imagine...

I am planning for a 6am wake up in the morning to take Brett to the start of the tri. Fortunately, after he gets into the swim, the girls and I will come back to our B&B and watch him come past on all his loops. The location of our B&B is amazing. So I will be watching him cycle and run from a chair on the side on the road and walking in to the B&B to update the blogg and pictures as goes his way.

Thanks all for reading the blog. Stay tuned for the big day tomorrow :) GO BRETT GO!
ALL BTT'rs: You can leave comments below for him.....
Cheers
T

And our journey begins!

Both flights were awesome apart from the turbulance on the second one. Shelley used the puke bags on both flights, poor girl. Amsterdam was ... interesting but good :) We arrived in Cape Town at 10:30PM to our friends at the airport.

So much changed since we were here last. New roads that completely confuse me, I have no idea where I am going and, driving on the left hand side of the road has thrown my brain into mayhem. I let Brett drive and am his back seat driver :)

Weather is great, like spring. Days are around 65-70 odd so we get to still enjoy the T-shirts while they all walk around in sweaters. It's hilarious!!

Our first day in Cape Town consisted of a serious lunch at a restaurant we have missed. Then a traditional South African braai (BBQ) outside. It was amazing.

This morning we took a flight to Port Elizabeth, rented our car and are now at the B&B where we will spend the next four days. The B&B is on the iron man course so we should get to see Brett often during the race. Brett did a test swim in the ocean today and said it wasn't too bad (waters just a tad chilly this side)as well as a bike ride and is now up at the convention center for his briefing.

Nicole does her Kids Ironman tomorrow. I wouldn't call her excited but she says she will do it ;) She's goning to be great !!

Will post a few pictures of our day. Enjoy! Also, I will be blogging throughout the race in its entirety!

Stay well
Brett, T, Nicole and Shelley

All Prayers Answered!

All flights are scheduled to take off. Yeehaw....OMG, what stress...

We need Mother Nature to work with us here...

So, seriously, after so much intense training and unbelievable dedication to a first Iron Man, could Mother Nature please just blow this crazy volcano ash away? If, God forbid, we don't get onto our flight on Tuesday, I am sending Brett on his way via another route. The girls and I can wait, but Brett will make it to this race if it's the last thing I do..

Cross fingers everyone!

Follow us on our journey!

We will be updating and adding to our blog often so come back to visit as much as you would like!

Our trip home is a special one for a number of reasons. Shelley has never been to South Africa or met any of her extended family. Nicole has not been there in 5 years, me in 7 years, and Brett will be doing his first full Iron Man South Africa on April 25th, 2010. This is an exciting time for all four of us…come along and take the journey with us.