Trust you all had a wonderful Christmas and Jenny and I hope that 2015 brings all that you want it to bring.

'Despite some hassles getting cash from ATMs and a scramble to get International Driving Permits (only obtainable from Australia) we are slowly getting back on keel after the stress of selling the house packing, moving twice etc etc.

As is usual for this time of the year in the E Cape its been fairly windy but with little rain. We have been up the river a couple of times in my Tom's boat and saw many birds, managing to photograph a few.

Yellow billed egret, Great Egrets are fairly common on the marshy banks:

While further up the river we found (clockwise) Hadada Ibis Goliath Heron African fish eagle, Burchalls Coucal Cape Cormorant Pied kingfisher,   and the weaver's distinctive nest

The hadada has a very distinctive call when flying, anyone born in Southern Africa would recognise it.

We go for walks most days occasionally joined by Sophie who finds the whole experience exhilarating. 

Ann (my sister) relaxes by sanding down pieces of driftwood resulting in some interesting and lovely shapes. Apart from wood she and Tom pick up the odd nautilus shell (and a few oysters) on the beach when they walk early in the morning with Alice their golden retriever.

The four of us went to watch the Radio Kalahari Orkes, held in the local school hall.  They are a well known boeremusiek (farmers music) band in Port Alfred - it was great fun but we discovered too late that the lead singer (and actor) Ian Roberts is the brother of a good friend of Jenny's sister and husband. Roberts and the delightful singer accordian player are pictured here.

Last week we went off to Bathurst a small village about 30 minutes away to pick up some fresh veggies and other items for the Christmas festivities from a market held daily during the holiday season.  The town is a bit alternate with a lot of craft shops and some hippies wandering around - even older ones! I saw this girl working at one of the stalls and was struck by her unusual eyes. Colourful weaved hats were being sold in an old house.  

Going back a bit - On the last night in Pretoria the four of us went to a Mozambican restaurant where we had prawns, fish, calamari etc all with the distinctive Portuguese flavours - the tail end of the bill was quite amusing see the end. For those who like to compare prices exchange rate is around 1 Aus $ to 9.4 rand (2M is a beer) 

The next blog will be our Christmas/New Year celebrations.  Until then totsiens!