We finally found a home for us to settle into, yay! Having been here for over a month, you’d figure we would’ve had this sorted out by now. In actual fact, finding a home that is furnished, safe, kid-friendly and flexible with our short 6 month term proved to be a tricky thing. We looked at so many places with too many estate agents. In the end we decided to stay in the hotel we were first situated when we arrived in Joburg, but in a different more comfortable way.

Truth be told, there are many privately owned units in this hotel which are brighter, more spacious and have better functioning amenities such as a washer/ dryer and heat– all things we needed. The location was always great here and there is pool, gym and cafe on site too. I think the biggest thing for us was the safety and familiarity. We were recently at a park and a reporter came up to Jimmy asking for his comments on the recent rise of home invasions in Bedfordview -the suburb we’re in! This had us thinking for sure.

The kids love the new place as there are stairs leading up to a cool bedroom with a roof top deck featuring a stunning sunrise/sunset view. The weather here is great even though it is transitioning to fall so sitting up on the deck having some lunch and blowing bubbles is a favourite past-time.

We have lots of space if you want to come visit 😉

While searching for skateboard locations on the internet I found a spot in the nearby suburb of Edenvale. The website requested skaters/users keep the location in good care as the smooth surface is on loan from the sizable sports field attached. When I got there I discovered people haven’t really been listening; lots of windswept debris littered about, smashed windows, etc. Seeing as there was a homeless encampment at one end of the area (and it was the early hour of 9:15am) I kept my skate session mellow. Any skate shots of me are video-grabs from me filming myself by positioning my iPhone on the yellow barrier seen in the panorama photo. Upon my exit I saw a drainage ditch that had some skate potential. I later bailed on the idea of skating it –the septic smell proved to be the definite detractor.

– Jimmy

Click on panorama pic to view larger:

Just before my last work rotation to Botswana we visited one of the hot attractions in Johannesburg… or at least one of the attractions we had bookmarked as ‘to visit’ before arriving in this city- The Lion Park. The drive was about 45 minutes from our home and rather than taking the highway this time we decided to try a different route via our Garmin. This route took us through so many suburbs and interesting areas. It was nice seeing more of the city.

The Lion park was great. Lots for us to see and do. We did a 45 minute guided tour through the grounds and saw lots of animals- lions, cheetah, wild dogs, ostrich, giraffe, Springbok, Gemsbok, Zebra… and more. The highlight for all of us was being able to pet lion cubs and feeding the giraffes. The kids had such a great time and for about a week afterwards they pretended they were lions which was very cute.

Jimmy took a zillion pictures and they were all good so it took us a long time to select our favorite ones for this post….

 

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We are very fortunate to have so many community and recreation centres back in Canada. Public amenities like these don’t really exist here in Johannesburg. Any health club is private and there aren’t a lot of ‘safe’ public parks either. People seem to depend on their own grassy yards, organized school sports, or restaurants with play areas to keep their kids active.

So on a recent rainy day we decided to get active by going to a local casino. Sounds weird right? In fact, there was an indoor play area that we spotted back when we visited the bird sanctuary. Jimmy also read online that there was an indoor skate park listed as an additional facility, so we just had to go check it out.

The casino was a 40 minute drive away which ended in us parked in a massive secure parkade. We walked past the gun vault (where people can safely store their guns while they gamble-!?!) and then we were frisked/wanded prior to our actual entrance. The kids area did end up being fun, having lots of toys etc. It was different for us though -as most parents dropped their kids off, then dash away to go gambling, bowling, movie watching or to eat at the numerous restaurants. We decided to stay and play 🙂

Note- sadly, there was no skate park after Jimmy walked around looking for it. It was replaced by said bowling alley 3 years ago. Jimmy’s skate quest continues…..

Regardless of my age, what predicament I’m in or were I am in the world, I remain a skateboarder at heart. I always find myself scanning my surroundings for uniquely skate-able structures whether permitted to be ridden or not. I can’t help it, it’s in my nature. While Joburg hasn’t offered the bounty of obstacles I had hoped it would so far, I have found some neat places to roll. More photos to come I’m sure, as I’m always on the lookout.

–        Jimmy

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Nearby empty pool at one preschool location we checked out:

A tempting tame handrail for sliding down:

Scuff evidence of skateboarders using this ledge:

If this crisp bench was in Canada it would surely be stolen for alternate use:

Sloped supports for highway overpass; skateable with a broom and traffic- lookout:

Fence hop at a posh mall close to home:

Hill bomb wallride, barking dogs be damned:

Lots of these banked gutters around the highways:

Revolution Indoor Park- one of a few established facilities nearby:

In a previous post we wrote of our hyper secured environment here in urban South Africa. While the sense of always being guarded remains, the outright omnipresent vibe has lessened. Therefore, as a “cheers” to this notion, here’s a glimpse at some finer times experienced whilst behind fortification and safety.

– Jimmy

….. after our morning at the green ramp we discovered we were pretty close to the zoo which was on our list of places to visit in the city. We still had many hours to enjoy in the day so we went for it. The Johannesburg zoo is very large. So large that Claire & Rhys were too tired to walk so Jimmy had to give them shoulder rides taking turns.

Claire & Rhys’ hair has become more blonde since we arrived in South Africa. It makes them stand out and they get a lot of attention from people. We have found that people here on the most part really like children and our kids are quite the charmers. Walking through the zoo many people would reach out and would touch the kids on their heads or stroke their hair and smile at them.

We had fun seeing all the animals and the day was long so we all had a great sleep.