Canada/New England - Day 1

We are on our way.  Picked up by Shoalhaven Maxi Bus in a “VIP transport” van with luxury seats (better than we’ll get on the plane!) very nice and unexpected. Left home at 11am on the way to Berry to pickup another lady then on to Sydney International Airport. 

We checked in online for our Qantas flight to LAX. Breezed through get-your-own-and apply-your-own baggage label.  The lurking security guy put a special bit of sticky tape (seriously) inside our passports for US visitors only.  Then we scooted around to bag drop - no line there and through security. Took 10 mins all up. 

Checked in for our next flights LAX>Philadelphia>Burlington but the flight does not appear on American Airlines website. Might be interesting at LAX. 

Namibia - Day 18

 Flying from Victoria Falls to Johannesburg Via South African Airways then Qantas from Johannesburg to Sydney.  

The gang: Ambrose, Paul, Sandra, Peter, Jennie, Don, Rachel, Lorraine, Janet, Jan, Ian, Dorothy, Jane, Ron, Ellen, Chiara, Clayton and John.

Namibia - Day 17

 Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. 

Ronnie set off this morning for White water rafting on the Zambezi River. 

Some of the biggest white water Ronnie had ever been in rafting on the Zambezi River. 

View from the Victoria Falls Hotel with Sandra and Paul.   

         

Afternoon High Tea at Victoria Falls Hotel - spectacular Victoria Falls Bridge views and spray from the Hotel grounds.  

Warthog at the hotel.

Baboon on the top of the roof waiting to steal food from the high tea. 

Mongoose on the grounds of the hotel.

Inthe afternoon we had Hight Tea at the Victoria Falls Hotel.  Including gluten free cakes.  The hotel was built by the British in 1904 for accommodation for workers on the Cape to Cairo railway.  The Edwardian-style hotel was splendidly redecorated in 2013 to combine its traditional majesty with modern sophistication. 

John relaxing in the lounge

Lovely bathrooms.

Elephant near Victoria Falls.

Stay: Sprayview Hotel

Namibia - Day 16

We went to the Victoria falls National Park to see the falls. 

Don, Ian, Dorothy, Lorraine, Ellen, Sandra and Jennie preparing to sing and dance with the locals. 

Victoria Falls is a waterfall on the Zambezi River Located on the border between Zambia and Simbabwe and is one of the world's largest waterfalls.  Not by height or width but based on its combined width of 1,708 metres and a height of 108 metres, resulting in the world's largest sheet of falling water. 

Scottish Missionary David Livingstone identified the falls in 1855 and name it after Queen Victoria.

Devil's Cataract Falls - 70m high and 30m across. 

View from Danger Point.  The falls are on one side in a tight canyon.

Victoria Falls Bridge joining Zambia and Zimbabwe. 

Lunch at The Lookout Café which had a fantaitic view of the second and third gorges of the Zambezi River. 

Mongoose in the grounds of the Lookout Cafe.

The Lookout Cafe had a great view of the zip lines that intrepid people tried.

Our intrepid zipliners -Rachel, Don, Ellen and John.

Stay: Sprayview Hotel

Namibia - Day 15

Exited Botswana and crossed the Zimbabwean border and arrived at Victoria Falls. Had lunch at The Three Monkeys. It looked great but still no aperol. 

Then we settled into the Cresta Sprayview hotel. 

We went to the BOMA (place of eating) dinner and drum show. The drummers were fabulous and the lead guy was great at getting everyone involved as we were each given acdrum. The chocolate moose was fabulous but we avoided the crocodile tail. 

Stay: Cresta Sprayview Hotel

Namibia - Day 14

 Morning game drive at Chobe NP

Sunset game-viewing cruise on the Chobe River.

Stay: Chobe Safari Lodge on the river banks. 

Namibia - Day 13

From the Okavango Delta in Botswana we travelled back into Namibia, through the Caprivi Strip & then back into Botswana into the Chobe National Park.  It was a lot of driving and took time                                                   negotiating the boarder crossings.                                                                       

Herd of giraffe along the way: 

Had a late lunch at the Chobe River Safari lodge and they brought out the gluten free option - fish cakes covered in breadcrumbs and glued together with gluten. No where we’ve been so far (except the Tug restaurant) has known what gluten free is. 

Warthog

Warthog

 Stay: Chobe Safari Lodge on the river bank.