Peter Giddy Guided Tours.
- Airport and Hotel Transfers -- Port Elizabeth and surrounding areas
- Addo Elephant Park -- Guided Safari
- Kragga Kamma and other private wildlife Reserves
- City; Historical and Cultural; Township Tours
- Garden Route -- Tsitsikamma; Plettenberg Bay; Knysna; Wilderness; Mossel Bay; Oudtshoorn. Hermanus. Cape Town
- Adventure Activities -- Hikes and Walks; Horse Riding; Ocean Safaris; Sandboarding and River Canoe Trails.
We watch these lions feeding on a warthog kill that they had made.
A Great song of praise:
You give life, You are love
You bring light to the darkness
You give hope, You restore
Every heart that is broken
Great are You, Lord
You bring light to the darkness
You give hope, You restore
Every heart that is broken
Great are You, Lord
It's Your breath in our lungs
So we pour out our praise
We pour out our praise
It's Your breath in our lungs
So we pour out our praise to You only
So we pour out our praise
We pour out our praise
It's Your breath in our lungs
So we pour out our praise to You only
And all the earth will shout Your praise
Our hearts will cry, these bones will sing
Great are You, Lord
Our hearts will cry, these bones will sing
Great are You, Lord
While I am staying at the Eight Bells Mountain Hotel on the R328 close to Mossel Bay I arrange to spend the morning with Johan and Helena Claassen.
Helena and Johan Claassen.. We met this week in George quite by chance as I walked past Johan was waiting for Helena and recognised me. Amazing but that is how it is. Johan has just retired, after 30 years, from formal employment at JDG.
We spend some time with Helena's Parents -- Barry and Ella. They live not too far off at Groot Brak.
Then Helena; Johan and I talk about first of all his leaving JDG and then we discuss opportunities and thoughts for their future. They have a flat adjoining the main house..... The main house has four bedrooms and the flat has two bedrooms. They are currently on Air BnB but underpriced for the flat at R350per day.
We talk about possible markets for the future and how they can supplement their income.
Afterwards I have some Admin to do and find a Print and Emailing shop in the Mall of Mossel Bay before going back to the Eight Bells Hotel.
Wednesday 1st November -- Enter Two Oceans 21k. Fetch Jack and Mariette from Gondwana and continue to Hermanus where we immediately see whales from the Gearings Point lookout.
Finally on Friday 3rd I leave Jack and Mariette in Stellenbosch and I drive home.
Sunday 5th. Josh and Daniel run the Ocean Series Beach run. Josh = 5k and Daniel = 1k. Both do well with Daniel first in his age group and third overall.
After the beach events Barbara and I do some shopping for a vehicle. We think that we should be buying a Combi. The landrover continues to give trouble although when it is running, it is a great vehicle for Addo.
Monday... Back to jogging / walking ... I join the group for our morning 7k. I have a dentist appointment which leaves me pretty shattered for most of the morning. Later I have a City Tour for Mosaic
Tuesday 7th. Barbara and I make a purchase of a VW Combi. This is going to be a Tour Guiding Vehicle for future Garden Route and other tours. We also finalise our Flight tickets to Spain next year. And I buy a Kindle for Barbara. So much admin....
David Muller is Oom Schalk Louwrens.
Wednesday 8th I have an Addo Tour with Borchard and Marianne who are staying at Ocean bay. They are simply loving their SA Experience and plan to urge family and friends to do this trip. They are both IT Specialists from Austria and Germany. Later this evening we join Peter and Elmarie at the Oom Schalk Louwrens Evening in 9th Ave Walmer where there is a new Arts Centre being developed.
Gustavo and Barbara at Jacks for picnic lunch. They are from Brazil -- He is an Architect and Barbara is a Teaching Methodology teacher.
Thursday 9th -- I have not run with the group for ages. What I have been doing is jogging along with the walking group. So today there was no walking group -- And I had to run Target Kloof. Not able to keep up but at least I ran the whole way.
A late call for an Addo Tour kept me busy for the rest of the day. Probably the best sighting of Lions that I have experienced in a long time. At least 6 lions on a Warthog kill. Plus probably in excess of 100 Elephants spotted today.
Friday 10th October ... Swim with Megan. This is the first of many. We now start ourselves on a new adventure with Swim Training. At first we have no specific goal but as we progress we start to enter events and basically open up new pathways for our lives. Today we swim One kay which is entirely satisfactory for the first time out. Then a couple of chores and later this afternoon I take delivery of the VW Microbus. Not yet registered but at least I have it in case of an urgent request for a vehicle of five seats. This vehicle has 8 seats of which I can have five guests with window seats.
| Sardinia Bay parkrun results for event #33. Your time was 00:39:31. |
| Congratulations on completing your 54th parkrun and your 3rd at Sardinia Bay parkrun today. You finished in 92nd place and were the 60th male out of a field of 249 parkrunners and you came 3rd in your age category |
Saturday 11th. I run the Sardinia Bay Parkrun at Grassroof (which is now looking more like Nasturtium Roof) with Sjani and Adrienne. Catherine was going to run with us but suffers from Blisters.
Sunday ... I receive late requests for Addo Safaris and end up with five guests. Yay!!! I have the Kombi. So now I am able to take the five guests comfortably. It is my first time to use the Kombi for a tour.
Later this evening Almarie and Adele come for supper. Almarie has done the Porto to Santiago Camino and so came this evening to talk about it so that we are better equipped to tackle this challenge next year. We have a lovely evening just chatting about everything.
Monday 13th. Megan and I start the morning with a 1200m swim. She swims further as she is much more capable than I am.
I have my first assignment for Africa220. A destination tour company based in Cape Town. I received a call from Vincent who assigned me to guide a group of 19 crew members. Witness was our driver. We went to Lalibela where we were greeted by Juliet and Charmaine. Our Ranger was Ruan. He tried hard to find the Elephant and Lions but no success. This is a 9000 hectare reserve and these animals roam freely so Two Hours was not sufficient to find all the animals. However we were treated to a lunch and then a Drumming lesson which was the highlight of the day.
Tuesday morning I walk run with Adrienne's group. Meeting up with the people who are so often on the road at this time in the morning. I also meet Ewald walking to work at the caravan shop in fourth ave Walmer. Later I take tent poles to him for repairs.
I have an Addo tour for a family of four from Netherlands -- Josse; Manon; Saffi (4) and Baby girl staying at Millbury. Also three Swiss girls -- Janine; Carola and Sabrina.
Wednesday 15th. It rained all night. And all morning. Megan and I go swimming at Newton Park Pool. The pool is almost empty of swimmers who must have been put off by the rain.
I have an Addo Safari with Wolfgang and Doris from Germany staying at Boardwalk Hotel. It was raining in the morning and the most unusual sightings -- We did not see a single elephant until about 3pm. Then we found 5 lions. Good sighting of a Hyena as well as Jackal.
Wednesday afternoon I respond to a group whatsup to assist with guiding at the Zuurberg Hotel.
I am met by Clifford, Langton and Brighton who are guides for Zuurberg Inn. This morning the three vehicles have 25 guests from the Netherlands and we are doing a Half Day Addo starting at 8am. And it is Raining. And we are using open vehicles. Fortunately I find another rain jacket in my Land Rover which I used to get there.
So I put on my two jackets and my wide brimmed hat and off we go. I realise that I have no lights and no windscreen wipers. Just seeing the road is difficult. And the rain is coming into the front of the cab so my face and hands are freezing. I wear shorts which are also wet within a short while.
And so we drive down to Addo. Rattling and shaking on this corrugated road.
We fill up with petrol and then go into the Park. At first we try to stay together but this does not work with five vehicles trying to do the same route. I head off. And the rain continues to fall. The roads are a mess of rivulets and invisible holes. We see few animals but this is an endurance experience more than a game drive. Amazingly the 6 guests I have in the vehicle do not complain. We are driving around until 13.00 and I leave back for Zuurberg. As we arrive it rains even harder. The guests climb out and head for showers and hot beverages.
I climb back into the dry and warm Land Rover and drive home. What a day! Today it rained more, in Addo, than I have ever experienced in the past two years and as it turns out I am in an open vehicle. A day that I wont forget in a hurry.
Friday morning -- Megan and I swim. This is my 6th swim of the season and am up to 1300m. Faye Tucker (Now Black), a school friend of Nicky from Erica and Collegiate days, shares a lane with me. Both Faye and Megan are so much faster in the pool.
Saturday... I start the morning with a beach front run. Later I have a Tsitsikamma day tour with Elly and Daniel.
We do the Zip Lines; Storms River Bridge; Tsitsikamma Nature Reserve and Bungy Jump watching while having our picnic lunch.
Later I have an Addo Safari with Wolfgang and Freda from Cologne Germany.
All kinds of comic pics are spread.
Tuesday 21st Start the morning with a run with the group and then the rest is an admin day. Not very successful as I had hoped to submit the VW Operators Licence application but it seems I must submit on line. 
I reported this sign down and within a few days it was back up. But anyway no one pays any attention to the limit of 41kmph.
I have my VW fitted with a Car Tracker.
Charles and Ingrid meet us for supper at the 1st Ave Bocadillos.
Friday --- Swim number 8 of the season. After a heavy supper and interrupted sleep I am not at my best and so cut short the swim to 1200m. Always glad to get into the water but was feeling a bit heavy.
| Sardinia Bay parkrun results for event #35. Your time was 00:38:09. |
| Congratulations on completing your 55th parkrun and your 4th at Sardinia Bay parkrun today. You finished in 93rd place and were the 58th male out of a field of 275 parkrunners and you came 3rd in your age category VM65-69. |
Sunday morning I have a Kariega Transfer with JR (Johan Robert) with Blunden. It is a group of 22 Finnish people with Rafa as their tour leader.
Immediately after dropping them at the Airport I have a group of 17 Yachtsmen traveling the world who want an Addo Safari. Alan Mc Williams and Peter Joseph assist me. I take seven and Alan 6 with PJ taking a family of Four. The day is reasonably successful with a picnic at Jacks
Monday 27th. I sell the Land Rover. At last! This vehicle has been nothing but trouble. Costing me stress, repairs and maintenance. When it was running well -- it was great. But it gave me constant headaches and I am now well rid of it.
Barbara flies to Cape Town to drive back to PE with Ally. We take the Nissan in for body works repairs. There are a number of scratches and dents that need to be repaired and there is the motor accident which is covered by insurance where a man drove into the back of Barbara in 3rd ave Newton Park and claimed that he was the injured party.
This evening I have a Cell Group Leaders meeting at church.
Tuesday Morning - Taking boys to swimming at St Georges School Pool with David Glover. Meanwhile I run around the park three times = about 6km. Feeling quite comfortable.
Then to the Post Office to deregister the Land Rover.
Barbara and Ally leave from CT to PE. They arrive home at 6.30pm.
I receive a call from Reynard in Cape Town to assist a family stranded at the PE Airport. Their flight was delayed and they have been here for about 7 hours. I am not able to do much except reassure them. They had already sorted flights etc out.
Wednesday morning -- Swimming -- session number 9 since we started. Today Megan had invited Liesl to join us so now we are three. Liesl last swam 2 years ago and managed 1km. Megan dolphined to about 1.7k and I did 1400m.
Wednesday Hiking Group -- Today on the hike 36 or 37 walkers.
Paul; Robin; Reg; Naomi; Dillan and Shannon and Grandad Peter; Jurgen; Dave; Richard; Ralph; Lucy; Dennis; Keiko; Errol and Mo; Jenny (new) and Jenny; Les; Sharon; Flo and Michaela; Magriet; Sally; Margaret; Julian; Val; Bev & Des (Ex Clarendon Park Teachers); Sheilah; Keith; Jim; Sandra and Belinda (Arrived late so walked on their own on the beach route to meet us at Sardinia Bay) and Peter. That is 35 so I think I missed at least one person's name.
Thursday 30th -- Boys do Swimming at St Georges School. I walk then run around the park. Meet up with Jacques and we run two loops together.
Month End Guides meeting with Peter Joseph; Frank and Alan. A good month for our team.
Some family news from around the world......
Jacqui goes shopping for spices; with Emily and Annabelle
Jacqui's Christmas Tree.
During my Garden Route Tour of October and November I visited Gondwana Game Reserve. I found the following, contained in their information brochure, to be interesting.
