Hello Port Elizabeth

It was quite an early start to get a taxi to the airport for my mid-morning flight to Port Elizabeth. The roads were quiet and I could probably have had another hour in bed … as it was, I had lots of time to scope out the left luggage and bus route for my detour in Cape Town on the way home, wander round the shops, and spent an hour browsing the web in a coffee shop, my first skinny latte for two weeks.

The flight was on time and uneventful. I had a window seat so enjoyed fantastic views along with southern coast of Africa. Joyce and John were there to meet me at the airport.  As I only have a few days with them, we decided to make the most of the time and in the afternoon went to an animal sanctuary about half an hour drive away. The city has a completely different feel to Cape Town, and the landscape is much more English. “African Dawn” was a really nice little place that seemed well managed but there were only two other people there which seemed strange for a weekend – better advertising needed!  There were huge aviaries with hundreds of birds, a whole flock of the rather scary secretary birds, a jackdaw that barked like a dog and chuckled and had us in hysterics, several large cats (cheetah, cerval and something else I need to get the name of), a lazy old crocodile, a couple of cheeky chipmunks, and lots of parrots.

In the evening, we just caught up over a meal at home.