wee little lovelys

Merry Christmas!

December 23, 2013

We are very behind on our blogging! We left South Africa at the end of November and traveled to Australia. We had a great 9 days in Perth with family & 1 day in Sydney with friends.

We have now made it to Victoria, BC where we will be situated for the next four months. So much change in such a short time! We will update our blog in the New Year with our Australia travel story.

Annual Santa photo wise, we attempted to get one with the kids when we were in Perth. We waited for almost an hour in a line-up before we gave up due to zero progress. While hastily running chores in Vancouver we happened upon a Santa photo booth that had no line-up -imagine that! We were able to get a 2013 photo and the kids were so happy.

We wish everyone a wonderful Christmas and we will catch-up with you all in the New Year!

Love, the Millers (now back safely in Canada)

Last Africa trip! Clarens, SA

November 22, 2013

Last weekend we adventured on our last trip in Africa. We decided to go to Clarens which is situated in the foothills of the Maluti Mountains in the Free State province of South Africa. The sandstone mountains were really pretty and reminded us of the drumheller region in Alberta.

This town is an artists haven with so many cute shops, restaurants etc. that surround a town square. It also has a golf course which draws tourists in. The weather was overcast and rainy but it was a fun little get-away that the kids enjoyed.

We are now getting ourselves organized and packed as we leave South Africa at the end of November to begin our journey back to Canada. We will be traveling through Australia to visit friends and family- fun!

Stay tuned for our parting thoughts on our time in South Africa as expats & for more travel/ life stories….

Whether it’s falling asleep with a lolli stuck in his hair or general hi-jinx, Rhys kept us entertained:

Claire & Rhys stoked on the 4×4’s sunroof (whilst parked):

Golf Village

November 11, 2013

Since our arrival in Johannesburg, we have had a list of things to do and places to visit. Golf Village was on our list and with only weeks away from our departure from Johannesburg back to Canada we finally found time to visit.

The morning we visited golf village it was fairly sunny but once on the greens it turned to wind and rain. We had fun anyway and both realized we were really out of practice.

Lory Park Zoo

October 30, 2013

The sun was shining as we headed to Lory Park Zoo in Midrand, a quick 30 minute drive from home. With our remaining time in South Africa now measuring in weeks, we are trying to make the most of it by seeing as many nearby attractions as possible.

This animal park ended up being very well maintained and it was the weekend hot spot for birthday gatherings. There must have been 4 parties going-on at picnic tables etc. I thought Claire & Rhys could be burnt out on animal observation but they were so excited to see them all…. We saw lots of birds, cats, and reptiles. We had lunch, played at a little playground, walked around, fed the bunnies then made our way back home for nap-time.

Pretoria

October 25, 2013

What you just scrolled down from is a pretty photo of my stunning wife in front of a jacaranda tree. They are starting to bloom here and their bold purple colour is quite a sight. What you also scrolled down from is the inspiration for our latest Miller roadtrip; Pretoria.

Pretoria is one of the South Africa’s three capital cities; it serves as administrative capital while Cape Town handles legislative business and Bloemfontein tackles judicial issues. Pretoria is also dubbed “The Jacaranda City” due to it’s high volume of this variety and at only 45 minutes away (and limited time left here in SA) we opted to pack up the car and go for a visit.

We have to be honest though, the trip ended up quite stressful due to high traffic volumes, muggy heat and less than cooperative children. After our obligatory tourist stops we found an outdoor park for all of us to blow off steam. The kids nodded-off easily on our return ride and we arrived back home thankful, collapsing back into routine.

– Jimmy

Trip to Mauritius – Part 4 of 4 (departure)

October 20, 2013

Parting is such sweet sorrow… or something like that. Our last day on Mauritius came with mixed emotions for sure. On one hand, we felt somewhat done (cooked well done) due to sun exposure, but on the other hand our freshly discovered groove was great and we felt at peace. It’s quite a feat to forget the world’s hectic speed, if only for a little bit.

Aside from getting slightly lost while en-route to the airport; a missed roundabout turn (so many roundabouts on this island), our exit was less chaotic than our entry.

We feel very blessed to have been given this unique opportunity to travel somewhere so nice and facilitating. If you’re ever given the opportunity to travel to Mauritius we surely give it our stamp of approval.

– Jimmy

.TThis

This little buddy greeted us on a few mornings. Turns out it’s rare & endangered. A ‘Mauritius Fody’:

Claire really grew her gills this trip, she was a water baby spending so much time in the water:

….and the Oscar for most dramatic performance goes to:

Traffic was especially dense going through Port Louis enroute to the airport:

Having no time for any real skateboarding, I did a G-Turn at the airport just to be able to say I rolled on Mauritius:

Trip to Mauritius – Part 3 of 4 (day 2)

October 18, 2013

Our second full day on Mauritius was a bit more planned and scheduled, or so we thought. We booked a half-day tour of our area of the island knowing full well the kids’ stamina wouldn’t last a full day mission. After a quick breakfast we were off in a slender tour van with our new tour guide friend, Coco.

While Coco was nice enough, his pre-rehearsed dialogue didn’t prove flexible to spontaneous banter (and I’m a chatter). Veering off course to a tourist shop rather than to a legitimate “sight” made us cringe and I knew then our adventure would need to be altered. After awkward viewing of a model boat store with factory onsite (yes, still kinda’ neat) I politely mentioned our desire to change course. Cultural enlightenment would have to wait.

It seems my plea wasn’t completely necessary to voice as the kids got groggy/pale as we drove higher into the mountains. The winding roads, altitude and increasing humidity was getting to all of us. Coco couldn’t deny our wavering stoke so he agreed to drop us of at the Pamplemouse Gardens (which was set to be our tour-climax). We opted to head back to the resort after wandering the gardens, much to our relief. Our afternoon and evening slid nicely from hasty forced tourism to a relaxed pace on our own terms and speed.

– Jimmy

British colonialists said that if Mauritians ever achieved independence this mighty boulder will fall. As you can see it remains atop the mountain in spite of this claim:

Root structures like this provided a nesting locale for the Dodo bird. Extinct partially due to this easy accessibility for their prey:

Trip to Mauritius – Part 2 of 4 (day 1)

October 17, 2013

Waking up with a major travel day completed is a great thing. Waking up to an all-inclusive sunny resort on someone else’s dime with nothing but time to spare? Now that’s marvellous! The kids were amped to explore and play and so were we.

After a breakfast buffet feast we decided to attack the beach. Thankfully Deanna’s soya allergy was dutifully noted by the chef/kitchen earlier so there was no concern there. We were basking in the sun with full bellies and big smiles in no time. I sneaked away to explore some free cabana drinks and catch up on skateboard magazine reading while Dee kept a safe eye on the kids from the comfort of her lounge chair. Some people say it takes time to find your groove whilst resort living; seems we found ours really quickly!

After some proper static sand stationing we opted to partake in a glass bottomed boat tour of the shoreline. Unfortunately the reef in our area wasn’t touted as the best and it wasn’t. This said, it was neat for the kids to observe the undersea on their terms… so comfortable in fact that both kids fell asleep mid-trip and we set them up to slumber on some loungers post ride. As the sun set we had nothing more to do except reflect upon our great first day, enjoying our pace slightly above that of a snail 😉

– Jimmy

Rhys’ definition of “seize the day”: