We were taken on a scenic route past the Waterdown Dam and through the town of Whittlesea, Steffan was lucky enough to get a personalised tour. (History lesson courtesy of Steff - An English settler, by the name Henry Parsons who settled in 1848 and named it after his birthplace).
After the tour, we arrived in Queenstown and were welcomed by our hosts. we then spent the afternoon being entertained by our hosts. Sarah was energetic enough to go horse riding for the first time in 20 years.
Tuesday saw us being taken up to Madeira Mountain to take in the view of Queenstown, followed by a rare sighting of a crash of 5 rhinos, rarely seen by the locals! Some of us were slightly scared when one of the rhinos blocked the road, turned to face us and started stomping the ground - Sarah, the brave police officer, was the first to run back to the car!!
The rest of the afternoon was spent being hosted by one of the Queenstown Rotarians who gave up his afternoon to show us the Queenstown countryside. There was another opportunity to see some of the wildlife, such as a large wild tortoise who got rather grumpy when we picked him up and a herd of zebra amongst a variety of buck.
It was time then for our official presentation to the Rotary Club, which seemed to go down quite well, with Mike putting on the charm as always and entertaining the audience with his wit and humour. I think that Bruce was very complimentary about us to Geoff, but Geoff is keeping this to himself! The Rotary Club had gone to lots of effort in decorating the tables with iconic symbols of South Africa, such as the cricket bat. We were then very well fed with Potjie (a kind of stew) and samp...very nutritious and filling!
On Wednesday, we drove out to visit Stephen Townley Bassett, an artist whose passion is Bushmen Rock Art. Steve has spent his life researching rock art, some of which dates back 27,000 years! He has discovered what Bushmen used as paint and now makes his own paint using ochre, charcoal and bird's faeces! It was a truly wonderful insight to this art which has been discovered all over South Africa and was a fantastic opportunity to meet someone so knowledgeable and passionate about what he does. Thanks to Farnie and Bruce for organising this.
In the afternoon, Mike, Steff, Tash and Sarah went with Quintin, Melinda and Farnie out to the township of Ezibeleni where we visited Isibindi, a safe park for up to 600 children of all ages. There we were given a guided tour of the centre, were allowed to participate in the music lesson (Mike has now become an expert on a giant xylophone!), play drums and watch the children sing and perform the HIV dance for us. We were met with wonderful smiles and laughter despite the incredible poverty that these children face on a daily basis. It was a both a heart wrenching and heart warming experience and reminded us of the huge challenges that South Africa still faces even now in the 21st century.
Thursday was our vocational day and each of us will be giving an update on what we got up to.
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