Well, I am doing the real travel stuff! Not because I am actually travelling in South Africa, but because my internet connection here in Spain is playing up, so I am down at one of the local internet cafes writing to you to let you know that service is still maintained, albeit virtually.

Enough of me and my difficulties – here´s something far more interesting! How about ´Creating Art´ or ´underlining something beautiful´? Why not take to the Dolphin Coast to celebrate the art of inspirational living at the Umdwebo Festival in Ballito, KwaZulu-Natal?

A “Cognac, Coffee and Chocolate evening” or what about a “Blacktie and Ballroom Gown but no shoes” gala dinner on the Salt Rock beach? There´s also an Opera Concert or a Bollywood Bhangra Beach Bash! Whew!

Theatre, art, fashion and food fundi´s will also have much to indulge in. Only problem is making sure that you are there 13-19th November. Go on, take the time to relax a little and enjoy the finer things in life.

To find out more go to Umdwebo 2006 Festival.

South Africa Travel experiences – how would you go about researching a destination that you’ve never visited before, but one that is definitely on the “hot” list? Have you ever thought about radio shows?

I’ve just come across Rick Steve’s radio show because I am doing a course with my friend, Wayne Kelly of On Air Publicity. I wanted to learn how to be the best radio show inerviewee that I could and who better to coach me than my mate Wayne.

Part of the homework for this week is to listen to radio shows, to find out how interviews are conducted, what kept you listening and what would you do to be more interesting/informative.

I chose to listen to Rick on Spain. Boy, have I learnt a lot about the country I have chosen to live in! Quite by chance Rick is doing a show on Saturday about South Africa with Carmin Arnot, who is a native of Cape Town. I urge you to listen in if you are at all interested in South Africa. It is bound to be highly informative and I am sure will whet your appetite for this facinating country.

I’ve had the great good fortune to come across this website that allows you to put a slide show on blogs, websites or even just add your photos to the world wide web. Take a look – this only took me about 10 minutes (possibly even less time).

Let me know your thoughts. Many thanks to Simon West for putting one on his website. Simon has some inspiring places you will really want to check out for your next event.

Get Your Own! | View Slideshow

Blogging is the way to go, no doubt about it, especially if you have a book within you.

Tertia Albertyn blogs the much admired So Close from her home in Cape Town. Her blog started because of her inability to conceive and became her salve as she chronicled her journey through infertility to the miraculous birth of her twins.

The blog is written with a huge amount of personality, love, humour and honesty which I am sure spills over into the book.

Now, because Tertia took the huge step of writing the book and chronicling her thoughts on her blog, the book, “So Close” is set to become a South African bestseller and on the international bookshelves by the end of the year.

Congratulations, Tertia! May there be many books within you, but most importantly – Keep blogging!

Tertia also gives out some good advice about blogging in general, so bookmark her site for great information as well as taking a peek at Tertia’s world. Another good site to find South Africa’s finest bloggers is at South-African-Blog-Directory.

Something to try this weekend – Cape Malay Bobotie

This is a wonderful dish to prepare and leave cooking whilst you enjoy the early evening TV. We particularly like “Strictly Come Dancing”, but the other side of the family go for “X Factor” – even here in Barcelona we can get all the British TV through our satellite dish. The wonders of modern technology! I definitely don’t like spending endless hours in the kitchen away from the family on Friday and Saturday evenings, so food like this has become “sole food” in our household …

INGREDIENTS

* 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
* 2 onions, peeled and sliced
* 2 1/4 pounds good quality lean ground beef
* 1 thickish slice of white bread
* 1 cup milk
* 1 tablespoon medium curry powder (or hot for the hale and brave)
* 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
* 2 teaspoons salt
* freshly grated pepper (about a half teaspoon)
* 3/4 teaspoon turmeric
* 1 1/2 tablespoons malt vinegar
* 1/2 cup seedless raisins
* 2 tablespoons strong chutney
* 2 bay leaves (or fresh lemon leaves if available)
* 2 medium eggs

METHOD

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Heat oil in medium sauté pan. Stir in onions. Cook over medium heat until transparent. Add ground beef. Cook until lightly browned and crumbly.

Soak bread in half the milk, squeeze out excess milk and mash with a fork – DON’T TOSS SQUEEZED OUT MILK! Pour it straight back into remaining milk. Set milk aside.

Add curry, sugar, salt, pepper, turmeric, vinegar, raisins, chutney to the beef mixture. Spoon the mixture into a greased baking dish, and place bay leaves on top.

Bake for 50-60 minutes in preheated 350°F oven.

Beat egg with remaining milk and pour over mixture approximately 25 – 30 minutes before end of baking time.

Serve with steamed rice (traditionally yellow!) and extra chutney.

Pure South African comfort food! Especially nice in winter, or cold with a salad in summer.

Serves: 6 Many thanks to Meryl Grebe at inmamaskitchen.com for this recipe

I heard about a guy called Jim Rogers for the first time today. It turns out he is a whizz with money/investing, co founder of the Quantum Fund and creator of the Rogers International Commodities Index (RICI).

I can hear you all now asking what on earth this has to do with South Africa and how is she going to link these two very diverse subjects! Well, that’s the sort of guy Jim is. In the 1980′s he travelled through China on a motorcycle and again in 1990- 1992 he took off on a motorcycle covering 65,065 miles across six continents and picked up a Guinness Book of World Records journey. 1999 – 2002 saw him and his partner Paige undertake another record breaking journey travelling through 116 countries, covering 245,ooo kilometers. Guess what? They visited South Africa and the photos, videos and audio evidence is one that perfectly sums up their trip through Johannesburg, on safari and right down to Cape Town.

I thought that you might like to take a look at their journey through South Africa especially, although the rest of the world looks facinating too! Click on the map for Africa and then choose South Africa. Down the left hand side you will then find all the places in South Africa that they visited with photos, video and audio diaries. What an experience! What a guy!

Although I haven’t yet read his books, I am reliably informed that they are a great read – Entertainment Weekly said this of Investment Biker, “Set against the backdrop of an exhilarating around-the-world motorcycle odyssey, Investment Biker paints a vivid picture of the current state and future direction of economics throughout the world.” Let’s hope Jim will make a book out of his Millennium exploits – I’m sure he’s got a tale or two to tell!

A scrap of balloon has found its way across the Atlantic ocean from Martinsville, Virginia, USA to Plettenberg Bay, South Africa and inevitably found its way into the record books as the balloon that travelled the furthest in a geography competition held for the students of Collinsville Primary school. 281 helium balloons were launched with the nearest rival for the title travelling 144 miles, so the delighted 5 year old winner easily grabbed the attention.

The luggage-tag style attachment read, “We found the remnants of your balloon on the lawn of our hotel here in South Africa. What a trip the balloon took. We live in Cape Town and were vacationing here.” What a great place to vacation!
Having been released on the 15th September, the balloon seemed to make good progress with students at the school speculating that gentle Bermuda trade winds blew the balloon over the Atlantic, with another theory being that somehow the balloon found its way into the luggage compartment of an airplane!

I hope that the competition will have piqued a number of the students interest in visiting South Africa when they are old enough, because I am sure that Plettenburg Bay will more than live up to its billing. Long, sandy beaches with warm water lapping its edges, Plettenburg Bay lies on the Garden Route and is a must-visit destination on your travels.

Jewel of the Garden Route, Plettenberg Bay has a plethora of lagoons and estuaries as well as golden sand beaches, towering indigenous forests and unpolluted rivers. Explore, watch or just laze – the choice is yours.

It’s doubtful whether the little 1 year old boy that Madonna is desperate to adopt from Malawi noticed his stop in Johannesburg, South Africa, but you can bet your life that the world will.

Controversy surrounds this boy as the incredibly wealthy Madonna seeks to get what she wants quickly by setting up an orphanage for 4,000 of the 1 million children orphaned in Malawi through the AIDS pandemic sweeping through Africa.

How can she possibly pick out one small child to take back home like a trophy when so many would love that chance? And why is it that she can just waltz straight in and bend the rules so effortlessly? Money talks all right!

Remember my story about Desmond Tutu last week on the occasion of his 75th birthday?� I’d found a great photo that I thought summed Archbishop Tutu up.� Well, I’ve found a better one and another story which makes spectacular reading.

Many thanks to the Washington Post for this story and for the photo.� I am sure you’ll agree you can’t help but smile and join in Desmond’s enjoyment of life!

Reading this story of safari in South Africa, I thought how well it is written and offers a different view of the traditional game to be found in South Africa.

Look away now, if the killing of game is not your thing, but if you can bear it, the story makes interesting reading. Take a look here and let me know your thoughts. Should any game be hunted or have we become a world in which we shy away from anything distasteful just because it’s been “Disney-fied”? Fluffy animals look cute on a cinema screen, but is that the reality – I think not. What do you think?