Wednesday, February 14, 2007....HAPPY 40TH BIRTHDAY, SHAWN! Today is sorta a sad day.....we are leaving Shikwaru. Hopefully, someday we will be back. But for now.....it is goodbye. Barbara and I packed everything and we said our goodbyes to the NOMAD team and to Johann and Rheanna. The team will do great things and we are so proud of them. They studied hard and have prepared well. We will miss the “farm”. It has been a great time. This place will do great things for the Kingdom.
So, Barbara and I along with Randy, Becky, Joe, Mishael and Matt Woody piled into the van to leave. We had put all of our luggage in the trailer and we started out. Mishael drove and Joe was in the navigator seat....7 of us in the van. Barbara and I only took a small amount of clothes as we were only be gone until Saturday. We drove about 2 hours and arrived at Midrand where the Book of Hope office is located. We saw Carol
(see photo) again and I got my Shikwaru hat to go along with my Shikwaru shirt. We stayed and visited for awhile. We left Midrand and stopped off at a curio shop and did a little shopping. We tried to eat at Carnivore restaurant but it was closed for lunch. So, we went to a coffee shop for lunch. After lunch, it was about time to head to the airport. At the airport, we dropped off Randy, Becky and Matt for their flight home. We then went to the domestic where Joe and Mishael dropped us off for our flight to Capetown. The flight was on time and very full. We had a nice flight and arrived 10 minutes early. We got our rental car after leaving a $1,500.00 deposit on our credit card since we refused their insurance coverage. So, I had better drive very carefully....on the wrong side of the road..and only the third time to drive here. We arrived at our hotel (at around 11pm).....sorta of a cross between a motel 6 and a Japanese cubicle. Really, it is not bad....small but very clean and only $35/day. A continental breakfast is $3/person.
Thursday......Up late and down for breakfast. Today, we decided to go see Table Mountain
and then to the Waterfront area. We wanted to get up to Table Mountain first before the clouds arrive. We got directions from our hotel host and we took off......going the wrong way a couple of times and backtracking. We finally made it. However, the clouds started coming at about the same time we start
ed up the cable car. Of course, all of you that know Barbara, she sat right in the middle of the car and didn't look out as we ascended since she doesn't like the heights. We got to the top and it was beautiful. We took a walk around the top of the mountain to see the sights in all directions. The clouds would come and go and we would have a small window of opportunity to see the sights and then the clouds would close up. We took the medium route and walked for about an hour and a half. The view was amazing.
We didn't get to see much of the backside view as the clouds were very thick....but they would open for a brief moment. We headed back down on the cable car and, of course, Barbara assumed her position in the center of the car. We got down OK and headed back to town. By this time, we were starting to get a little hungry. We drove to the Waterfront and parked our car and started looking for a place to eat. We found a fish place and I had sushi and Barbara had lamb. It is just OK as the lamb had a lot of gristle and my sushi was fair. We left the restaurant to look for a cellphone car charger as Mishael had loaned us her cell phone but it need charging and she had misplaced the charger. She wanted us to be able to call for help if we needed to. We searched all over and didn't find one. I then went to the car to get my laptop and we looked for an Internet cafe to go on line and update this blog......no luck as the Internet cafes did not do wireless. We need to call Shawn (a day late) and sing Happy Birthday to him. As we were walking out of the Waterfront Mall, we saw a coffee shop that had a wireless hotspot. Se sat down, ordered a diet coke, got on line and sang to Shawn via his answering machine since he wasn't home. We also called my sister to check up on my brother-in-law with his cancer diagnosis. By this time, it was time to head back to the motel. While we were inside, it had rained and cooled things down a bit. We arrived back to the motel and watched a movie partially and retired early.
Friday......Today, we are headed down to the Cape Point which is the furtherest point south of the Cape of Good Hope (however, not the southern most point of Africa). It was a very pleasant drive going through the small towns along the 100 kilometers. We arrived to find the end of the highway at the end of the Cape. In order to get to the lighthouse, we had to climb a steep trail and some steep steps. Once we got there, the view was tremendous. 
(I know that I am using “amazing” and “tremendous” a lot but it really is.) Several ships have down down around this point and some of the ships were barely visible out in the water. The trip up the point (we were very tired as it is very steep...if I had done this before my heart surgery, I would have been hurting....however, I was just winded from lack of exercise) and back down
took about 2 hours. We headed back toward the little towns and, along the way, we saw some baboons playing in the road. They warned us that they can be very unpredictable and they were.....some little ones crossing the road in front of cars......one of the bigger males jumped up on the hood
of a car....they just did their thing and sorta oblivious to the humans staring at them and everyone taking pictures. We left the baboons and headed to see the penguins. There is a small colony of penguins that inhabit a small beach along the coast. There were hundreds of them. 
They were small in size but they captured your attention. They too were oblivious to the crowd and the cameras. 
Next, we headed back to a place to eat lunch as it was now around 4pm. We stopped at Spurs, a steak place, and ordered lunch. There was a wireless hotspot next door so we got on the net to check and see if we could change our flight tomorrow but it didn't work out. We tried to call Kevin Brown to get the number of his friend but found out his missionary friend lived in Port Elizabeth, a few hundred kilometers away. The call was not a good connection and Jenny only heard every other word but got the gist of what we wanted. By the way, Jenny gave me a picture of her family, to carry with us, so they could go where ever we went and be a part of our travels. After lunch/dinner, we headed back to the hotel and arrived around 7pm exhausted. We finished the movie we started last night and then crashed.
Saturday......we got up late and headed to the Mall next door for breakfast. There is this place that served 2 eggs, toast and choice of meat for R17...about $2.50! It was very good. We headed downtown to find a curio shop we had seen on the web. We parked and started walking. We finally found it and it was closed....and this was on a Saturday. But one of the security guards told us about another branch open a little walk away. So, we started walking and walking and walking. This walk took us by the Presidential Palace. We finally found the shop, inside a very nice hotel. We didn't find anything we wanted or anything we could afford. We left and walked back and thru the city gardens which we next to al
l the government buildings. All the kids were out in their costumes dancing on street corners for the tourists. We got into the car and started and got stopped as the Gay Pride parade was happening. We couldn't move as everything was blocked. A policeman finally let us make a left turn to get around the parade. Next, we then headed back to the Waterfront to see if we could get to Robbins Island, the place where Mendela was imprisoned. But they were booked until the next Thursday. So, we walked around the waterfront stores and mall for awhile. We had a late lunch at the mall and ten headed to the airport to catch our evening flight back to Johannesburg. Our flight was good until we got close to Johannesburg and the storm clouds were all around and we ride got a little bumpy. We arrived early even tho the pilot had to divert around the storm. Joe and Danny picked us up and we started the 2 hour trip back to Rustenburg. We made it around 11:30pm, tired and ready for bed.
OK....time to send off this blog.
Love you and blessings,
DAD and MOM
Jerry and Barbara
So, Barbara and I along with Randy, Becky, Joe, Mishael and Matt Woody piled into the van to leave. We had put all of our luggage in the trailer and we started out. Mishael drove and Joe was in the navigator seat....7 of us in the van. Barbara and I only took a small amount of clothes as we were only be gone until Saturday. We drove about 2 hours and arrived at Midrand where the Book of Hope office is located. We saw Carol
(see photo) again and I got my Shikwaru hat to go along with my Shikwaru shirt. We stayed and visited for awhile. We left Midrand and stopped off at a curio shop and did a little shopping. We tried to eat at Carnivore restaurant but it was closed for lunch. So, we went to a coffee shop for lunch. After lunch, it was about time to head to the airport. At the airport, we dropped off Randy, Becky and Matt for their flight home. We then went to the domestic where Joe and Mishael dropped us off for our flight to Capetown. The flight was on time and very full. We had a nice flight and arrived 10 minutes early. We got our rental car after leaving a $1,500.00 deposit on our credit card since we refused their insurance coverage. So, I had better drive very carefully....on the wrong side of the road..and only the third time to drive here. We arrived at our hotel (at around 11pm).....sorta of a cross between a motel 6 and a Japanese cubicle. Really, it is not bad....small but very clean and only $35/day. A continental breakfast is $3/person.Thursday......Up late and down for breakfast. Today, we decided to go see Table Mountain
and then to the Waterfront area. We wanted to get up to Table Mountain first before the clouds arrive. We got directions from our hotel host and we took off......going the wrong way a couple of times and backtracking. We finally made it. However, the clouds started coming at about the same time we start
ed up the cable car. Of course, all of you that know Barbara, she sat right in the middle of the car and didn't look out as we ascended since she doesn't like the heights. We got to the top and it was beautiful. We took a walk around the top of the mountain to see the sights in all directions. The clouds would come and go and we would have a small window of opportunity to see the sights and then the clouds would close up. We took the medium route and walked for about an hour and a half. The view was amazing.
We didn't get to see much of the backside view as the clouds were very thick....but they would open for a brief moment. We headed back down on the cable car and, of course, Barbara assumed her position in the center of the car. We got down OK and headed back to town. By this time, we were starting to get a little hungry. We drove to the Waterfront and parked our car and started looking for a place to eat. We found a fish place and I had sushi and Barbara had lamb. It is just OK as the lamb had a lot of gristle and my sushi was fair. We left the restaurant to look for a cellphone car charger as Mishael had loaned us her cell phone but it need charging and she had misplaced the charger. She wanted us to be able to call for help if we needed to. We searched all over and didn't find one. I then went to the car to get my laptop and we looked for an Internet cafe to go on line and update this blog......no luck as the Internet cafes did not do wireless. We need to call Shawn (a day late) and sing Happy Birthday to him. As we were walking out of the Waterfront Mall, we saw a coffee shop that had a wireless hotspot. Se sat down, ordered a diet coke, got on line and sang to Shawn via his answering machine since he wasn't home. We also called my sister to check up on my brother-in-law with his cancer diagnosis. By this time, it was time to head back to the motel. While we were inside, it had rained and cooled things down a bit. We arrived back to the motel and watched a movie partially and retired early.
Friday......Today, we are headed down to the Cape Point which is the furtherest point south of the Cape of Good Hope (however, not the southern most point of Africa). It was a very pleasant drive going through the small towns along the 100 kilometers. We arrived to find the end of the highway at the end of the Cape. In order to get to the lighthouse, we had to climb a steep trail and some steep steps. Once we got there, the view was tremendous. 
(I know that I am using “amazing” and “tremendous” a lot but it really is.) Several ships have down down around this point and some of the ships were barely visible out in the water. The trip up the point (we were very tired as it is very steep...if I had done this before my heart surgery, I would have been hurting....however, I was just winded from lack of exercise) and back down
took about 2 hours. We headed back toward the little towns and, along the way, we saw some baboons playing in the road. They warned us that they can be very unpredictable and they were.....some little ones crossing the road in front of cars......one of the bigger males jumped up on the hood
of a car....they just did their thing and sorta oblivious to the humans staring at them and everyone taking pictures. We left the baboons and headed to see the penguins. There is a small colony of penguins that inhabit a small beach along the coast. There were hundreds of them. 
They were small in size but they captured your attention. They too were oblivious to the crowd and the cameras. 
Next, we headed back to a place to eat lunch as it was now around 4pm. We stopped at Spurs, a steak place, and ordered lunch. There was a wireless hotspot next door so we got on the net to check and see if we could change our flight tomorrow but it didn't work out. We tried to call Kevin Brown to get the number of his friend but found out his missionary friend lived in Port Elizabeth, a few hundred kilometers away. The call was not a good connection and Jenny only heard every other word but got the gist of what we wanted. By the way, Jenny gave me a picture of her family, to carry with us, so they could go where ever we went and be a part of our travels. After lunch/dinner, we headed back to the hotel and arrived around 7pm exhausted. We finished the movie we started last night and then crashed.Saturday......we got up late and headed to the Mall next door for breakfast. There is this place that served 2 eggs, toast and choice of meat for R17...about $2.50! It was very good. We headed downtown to find a curio shop we had seen on the web. We parked and started walking. We finally found it and it was closed....and this was on a Saturday. But one of the security guards told us about another branch open a little walk away. So, we started walking and walking and walking. This walk took us by the Presidential Palace. We finally found the shop, inside a very nice hotel. We didn't find anything we wanted or anything we could afford. We left and walked back and thru the city gardens which we next to al
l the government buildings. All the kids were out in their costumes dancing on street corners for the tourists. We got into the car and started and got stopped as the Gay Pride parade was happening. We couldn't move as everything was blocked. A policeman finally let us make a left turn to get around the parade. Next, we then headed back to the Waterfront to see if we could get to Robbins Island, the place where Mendela was imprisoned. But they were booked until the next Thursday. So, we walked around the waterfront stores and mall for awhile. We had a late lunch at the mall and ten headed to the airport to catch our evening flight back to Johannesburg. Our flight was good until we got close to Johannesburg and the storm clouds were all around and we ride got a little bumpy. We arrived early even tho the pilot had to divert around the storm. Joe and Danny picked us up and we started the 2 hour trip back to Rustenburg. We made it around 11:30pm, tired and ready for bed.OK....time to send off this blog.
Love you and blessings,
DAD and MOM
Jerry and Barbara
posted by Jerry Northcutt @ 3:58 AM
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