This comes from Sydney Airport. A free internet terminal. I had a lovely time in Uganda, and pictures will come when I get back to ChCh. Unfortunately only my pictures and not all the lovely ones that Dad took (of which I forgot to give him credit in the last lot). The reason for that is that the end of my trip to Uganda wasn’t the best.

Mum was having a going away party for her 3 years of work and there were lots of people about having a fun time, telling stories and generally giving her a good send off. This was Easter Sunday. Some Scottish folk arrived by taxi at the guest house we were using to host the party. The taxi had come from miles away. Which is why, we think, they decided to see what opportunities they could grasp. Unfortunately they did quite well, breaking into the car and stealing 2 laptops and 2 passports (not mine) and 2 sets of travel tickets. I, fortunately, had kept most of my important things with me – not trusting tooooo much, but mum lost the lot. I stupidly thought that my tickets weren’t too important – that they could always get reprinted. Wrong. Dad stumped up quite a lot of cash to get me back to NZ and I am just hoping that my insurance covers theft from cars. One wonders…

Mum should be on her way to the US (via UK) to be with my sister as baby #3 arrives.. but that will be delayed at best by a few days.

So, not the most amazing end to the holiday. Incredible airport security too. Quite insane. If you buy duty free they take it off you again!!! I’m quite glad I didn’t buy the bottle of bombay sapphire I had been eyeing up.

Anyways, me be quite ready to be home – or NZ – still trying to work out where home is sometimes! It was a thoroughly excellent time with mum & dad – good chats and just great to spend some quality time with them and see the really incredible work they have performed over the last 3 1/2 years.

On Friday we headed to Kampala for the pre-St. Patricks Day festivities in the Irish Embassy. Delicious smoked salmon on fresh brown bread – and as much booze as one could stomach was there to be enjoyed. Enjoyed, but not by me. I started feeling pretty rotten and by 9pm asked dad to take me back to the hostelyhotel we were staying in.

One traffic jam later and I ended up saying that I would just stay over at Fr. Alberts place. They were kind enough to take me in and give me a bed. It was one of the nastiest nights I’ve had feeling sick in a long time. Very hot (no fan) – ran out of TP by the next morning too!

Next two days were spent flat on my back in my room (mum and dad collected me the next morning) and not very far away from a convenient toilet :)

Anyway.. enough of my bowel woes :) I think it was from drinking Nile river water when we went rafting – but will prob never know.

Then on Tuesday headed to Murchison National park. It’s an amazing game reserve and we saw Lions, Giraffe, Elephants, Hippos, Crocs lots of birds and many deeresque creatures. Really great fun. It’s also a place where the Nile pours through a 9m wide cleft – which makes for an incredible waterfall. Pictures etc. will come soon hopefully.

So that has been the last week – not quite feeling back to my old self yet – but definitely on the mend :)

Thanks to Glynn for hosting these pics – blogger refused to upload them for me :(

From the Cape of Good Hope looking towards Cape Point. I think.

(uncle) Jonno & Sandra and cousin Katherine

intrepid explorer (jonno)

From Stellenbosh gardens looking up to Table Mountain with its tablecloth on.

Mum, Dad and Fr. Albert (of who’s brainchild the universtity is)

Jack fruit. Reminded me a (very) little of a custard apple fruit from OZ.

traffic lights (rarity)

Me at the source of the r.nile

Roadside stall.

Away to the Irish Embassy tomorrow for a pre-st.Patricks day pissup :) Then off to some national park for hiking and generally touristing .. should be fun – hopefully get some more pics!

Sorry about the complete lack of pictures (so far) but – would you believe it – broadband is a luxury I can’t seem to access over here!

So had a lovely time in South Africa – pics to follow. Then had a minor panic attack as my issued tickets had no record of the Jo’burg->Entebbe flight (either direction). Of course it turned out to be an electronic ticket – still.. made me a tad nervous.

A little too much haze and cloud on the way up so didn’t manage to get any pics really – hopefully the way back down will be better. Lake Victoria really dominates the view as you fly in. Apparently one of the safest places in Africa to land – due to there being 68,000 sq km (the size of Ireland) of water on hand to douse the flames.

Mum and Dad came to collect me and since then I have been pampered rotten. I’m completely loving it!!! :) There is so much to describe – Africa reminds me a little of Asia – in that there are lots of people everywhere. Here however the people are far friendlier – they’ll talk to anyone, and indeed it’s pretty rude to be in a rush. Everything cruises along at 3/4 speed.

All of the places we have stayed have large fences & gates and watchmen (generally with guns). All slightly unsettling at first – but am used to it now. The roads are insane – or most of them. Not just because they are mostly more like trenches than roads (mostly dirt roads) but also because of the motorbikes (borda-bordas), pedestrians, trucks etc. that swerve all over the place in order to avoid the bigger of the pot-holes.

Still, great country. It has been wonderful to see the university (where I am writing this) and mums IV fluid plant (which still needs heaps of cash – but at least the building has started). Mum leaves Uganda on the 9th April with me – and goes back home… looks like Dad will be here until Juneish by which time he will hopefully have handed over to the next poor unfortuna… I mean the lucky successor ;)

Actually it really is a pretty good life here. We went rafting on the nile – and there was a guy there – Richard (from Auckland) who kayaks 3 days a week – and that’s all he needs to do to have a perfectly happy life in Uganda. He lives in a big house – has people to look after him and helps grow the tourist economy. Spends half his year here, and the other half guiding in Austria. I think I need to do more kayaking when I get back to NZ ;)