Hi guys! Just a quick email to update you all on what we've been up to these last couple of weeks. No camera connection on this computer so you'll have to wait until i get to Oz to see the piccies!

Sooo... Dawn and I came back off safari today - just resting up before taking the final leg of our journey to Jo'burg tommorrow before flying out to Oz for me on Thursday and home for dawn. Cant believe a month has passed already...its bizarre as in one respect if feels as though we've been travelling for ages and in another it feels like its gone really quickly!

Anyway - since my last update in Coffee bay, we've been up to quite a bit. The next stop was St Lucia, a nice little town on the edge of the St Lucia greater national park, and our hostel backed onto the wetlands were Hippo's and crocs were. We spent a couple of days just chilling out really, and it was the first time we pretty much did nothing the whole time we've been away and i think it finally caught up with us! What we did do though was take a walk out to the wetlands which was lovely, although the walk was rather stressful as there were crocs and hippos in the surrounding area and we were worried that one would jump out at us at any moment...plus some guy had told us there were snakes around, so dawn and i didnt take our eyes of the ground and were picking our feet up so as not to step on one! Well we made it alive, and saw some crocs and hippos in the water... there was a sign on display saying "Do not feed the crocodiles" ...what idiot would do such a thing! We certainly kept our distance!

Also went on a boat trip whilst we were in St Lucia which gave us a good opportunity to take lots of pics of hippos and crocs - you've prob seen some of them as i added them to the blog last time.

Headed to Swaziland last Monday, Swaziland is one of the smallest countries in Africa and is nestled inbetween Mozambique and South Africa. It was beautiful. Spent a fab couple of days at a hostel called Sondzela on a private game reserve. The views were amazing - you'll see what i mean when you see the pics. It looked like a painting it was that pretty. We stayed in a rondavel (round house) that overlooked the game park, and every morning we could look out at it. Warthogs, Impala and Zebra roamed around the park and we frequently had warthogs and their babies munching grass outside our door. Again we didnt do too much in Swaziland, took a walk around the game reserve and got close to some Zebra's and got some good pics, also took a trip to Manzini - local town were we visited a craft market and bought a few bits. We ate at the camp on both nights, sitting around the camp fire. The main basis of the meal was something called Mealy Pap... which looked like mashed potato when they dished it up in the dark...but it was not! Its bizarre stuff, its made from Maize but tastes like really overcooked rice and is kind of rubbery. They eat it alot over here and you kind of get used to it after a while.

On Thursday we caught the Baz bus to Nelspruit - where we were being picked up for our safari on the Friday. Just spent the day chilling round the hostel which seemed nice. We lounged by the pool for most of the afternoon. I barely slept at all that night as i couldnt stop scratching my arms. Went and looked in the mirror the next morning and both of the underside of my arms and top of my back was competely covered in bites... I swear if the b*****s could have bitten me on top of a bite then they would of thats how many there were and they KILLED! :( The people in the hostel were very not bothered by it all saying that some bugs live in their sofas apparently and that would be what ate me alive! So anyway - 250R (about 15pound) later id got antihistemines and cream and set of on the safari (trying not to scratch!)

Safari was great but very tiring! There were only 2 other people on the tour with us a young married couple from Wolverhampton who are also going to Perth day after me so will hopefully meet up with them. Wont go into details about everything we did but it was certainly a highlight from the trip. Saw 4 of the big 5... Lion, Elephant, Rhino and Buffalo the only one we missed was a Leopard ... gutted as was looking forward to seeing one. First day we went on a drive in the afternoon and then one in the evening too, it was pitch black but they used high beam torches on the sides of the jeep to scan the surrounding area for animals... saw a hippo out of the water which was cool!. Spent the first 2 nights in a bush tent which was interesting ...especially on the 1st night as it rained! There were Hyena's patrolling the fence of the campsite too which was quite eerie... they're quite evil looking things with their hunched backs!

Day 2 of safari we went on an early morning game drive at 5am as thats when the majority of animals are out before it gets too hot. Also that afternoon we went on a game walk - was a tad scary ...led by two safari guides with guns telling us to walk in single file and if an animal approaches...dont run - stand your ground! ... Yeah right! I was just thinking that it would probably pick me off first as im such a midget... i stayed near the guns! It was good though - we saw quite a bit, but no encounters on foot with any of the big cats though so all fine!

Yesterday we went on a trip through the Blyde river canyon which is the 3rd largest in the world - that was quite a nice relaxing way to spend the afternoon after all the game drives we'd been doing...its tiring work scanning the surrounding area for animals after a while your eyes play tricks on you and you think you see something that isnt there!

Spent our final night in a game lodge and not a tent which was nice - it was alittle wooden hut like something out of an enid blyton book or something - most bizarre!

Anyway - best go as running out of time on t'internet! Speak to you all soon from Oz. Remember im still checking my hotmail account so feel free to email me all your gossip as miss you all muchly.

Happy Valentines day for Thursday everyone ... hope you get lots of cheesey tacky gifts!

Xx