Homeward Bound

Thursday, October 13, 2016
Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa
    No Safari this morning,had a bit of a sleep in.Washed my shoes clean and packed my bags already for them to be picked up and taken to the bus. Got picked up at 9am and taken to see the white Lions, there was supposed to be 3 of us going but the others did not show up so I got a conducted tour all by myself. The white lions are kept in captivity on a Island with a moat and high fence around it. The lions seemed to be used to having humans around as they just sat in the shade beside the track and fence. Of course they were fed by the keepers . They also had wild dog and other lions in captivaty.
    Then back to the main office to settle the bill Golf and Flights ect.From there there an early Brunch at 11am. then boarded the bus for a 3hour drive back to Johannesburg Airport, to depart for Sydney, with a comfort stop half way; This was another 12 hour flight.The shops at the airport were busy with queues caused mainly by Americans with credit cards being declined perhaps it was at the end of there trip!!.Finally found a Polo shirt with South Africa on it at a reasonable price only to find when I got home I had picked up a small size and would not fit me anyway.
The flight to Sydney was with out sleep,they served breakfasts which tasted funny and I left most of it,with in an hour my lips all swelled up but this went down by the time I reached Sydney. Spoke to my group Friends about it who also said there was some vomiting on the plane after breakfast. Arrived Sydney 4pm and said good bye to the rest of the group who were all going to Auckland,I had to wait for a couple of hours then the short flight of 3 hours back to Christchurch. arriving about 11:00pm. got through customs and biosurity with out much trouble had to show them my shoes that had been worn at the game park.
    Got picked up by a shuttle at the airport and taken to my car storage and drove the 83 km home which was not a good Idea really after a long flight but made it safely to Ashburton.. just. Perhaps I should have booked into a motel and had a sleep.
    Well that was the end of a great 13 days, really enjoyed the trip something I wanted to do 45 years ago.It took about a week to settle back into normal life with jet lag.
Now settled down and planning the next trip to China and Europe.

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2025-02-10

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