Some of our most loyal readers, like Barbara and Jim, may have noticed that since the hospital and Kruger Park we have been posting about a day behind. This has actually been quite helpful, as it has given us a chance to catch our breath and sit down the following evening to work out what happened the day before. The downside is that by then we have sometimes forgotten some of the little stories, especially the funny things the kids have done during the day.

So we are going to try and get ourselves caught back up again and write each post in the evening after the day has actually happened, which will be New Zealand morning. This post is therefore being written on the morning of Day 20 so that, hopefully, tonight we can write Day 20 while everything is still fresh in our minds. Hopefully that makes sense!

Today was a little different as Chris and Dan spent almost the whole day doing completely different things, so we thought we would split this one into two parts.

Chris

Dan left very early, before either of the boys were awake. Chris is pretty comfortable looking after Karl, but has had considerably less experience looking after Isaac, and very, very little experience looking after both of them at the same time. Add to that being away from home and out of our normal environment, and he knew from the outset that it was probably going to be an interesting day.

The first challenge was getting our washing to the laundromat before 8am, so there was definitely no going back to sleep after Dan left. Chris got everything organised, woke the boys, got them dressed and fed, and then realised he was rapidly running out of time. Everyone was loaded into the car and they headed off to a place that is literally called The Bush Laundry.

Laundry seems to work a little differently here, with lots of places offering a full service rather than having machines you use yourself. You simply drop everything off, they weigh it and you pay based on the weight. The lady running The Bush Laundry looked like she had stepped perfectly out of a 1970s movie set. Everything about her outfit was absolutely immaculate and she was probably the last person you would expect to find running a little laundry in the bush! It was also very reasonably priced and, even though the following day was a public holiday, they said everything would be ready by lunchtime, which was very helpful as we need to keep moving.

After getting back from the laundry, Chris realised there was another logistical problem. Our room is upstairs, and getting up and down the stairs while keeping Karl and Isaac safe, as well as collecting medication, breakfast things, bottled water and everything else we needed, was going to be rather difficult. We are also still using bottled water for everything, which adds another thing that always has to be carried around. In the end the boys stayed strapped safely into their car seats with the air conditioning running while Chris raced around gathering everything. Isaac was extremely unimpressed with this arrangement and screamed for most of the few minutes it took, despite Chris checking on them constantly.

Eventually everyone was inside, medication was sorted and the day could properly begin. Then a message came through from Whitney about a possible lion sighting across the river, so back into the car they went. Down at the river they ran into Gary, Kevin and Mackenzie, and Chris was finally able to get the camera out and get a reasonably good photo of a lion. Interestingly, the lion was wearing a GPS tracking collar, which made it look slightly like somebody’s very large and dangerous pet.

After the lion sighting they headed back towards Kevin and Gary’s house, but they hadn’t arrived back yet and Isaac was starting to have a bit of a meltdown. Chris decided to head back towards our accommodation, but spotted a café along the way and decided that stopping was probably a very good idea. Isaac had a bottle, Karl had some water and Chris had a very much needed coffee. Karl turned the seat they were sitting on into a boat and appointed himself captain, spending his time shouting instructions while Chris managed to catch up on a little bit of admin.

One of the jobs Chris needed to sort out was another rental car change because of all the changes to our trip. In a few days we need a different car that we can keep all the way through to Johannesburg, so while Captain Karl was steering the boat and Isaac was happily drinking his bottle, Chris managed to get all of that organised.

They then headed back to the Airbnb, where Gary, Kevin and Mackenzie had returned, and spent the rest of the morning there. Chris even managed to get Isaac down for a sleep, which took a bit of effort but was definitely a win.

Once Isaac had slept for a while, everyone headed out for lunch at a lovely restaurant overlooking the river. From the restaurant they could see crocodiles and hippos in the water, including some quite close to one another, which was really interesting to watch. They were waiting for Reggie and his brother to join them, so lunch stretched out to nearly three hours and the kids ended up ordering before everyone else arrived.

Chris also went a little outside his comfort zone and tried raw springbok as an entrée. Surprisingly, he actually really enjoyed it. He followed that with an enormous chicken schnitzel which he couldn’t finish, so the leftovers were packed up to become dinner later.

Unfortunately, getting back to the car after lunch turned into probably the least glamorous part of the day. At first Chris thought Isaac had simply managed to spill apple juice over himself. It quickly became clear that he had actually wet through his nappy, his clothes and the pram. That was messy enough, but when Chris pulled his shorts off to change him, things got considerably worse.

Without going into too much detail, the problem was no longer just pee.

Isaac, Chris and the boot of the rental car all ended up covered in something rather less pleasant, and what followed was a fairly major cleaning operation in the back of the car. Chris pretty much exhausted his entire supply of wet wipes before everyone and everything was finally clean enough to continue.

After that adventure they headed back to the Airbnb, where the boys had a cool but refreshing swim in the pool. As the afternoon started to cool down, the citronella candles came out, the kids were given a quick dinner and everyone sat watching the wildlife again while waiting for Dan and ladies to return.

Danielle

My day started considerably earlier and considerably more peacefully than Chris’s!

I had a very early pickup followed by about a two-hour drive into Nelspruit for a girls’ day. The place we went to was beautiful and very upmarket, with a lovely café outside in a courtyard. We had just enough time for a quick coffee before everything began.

Nails were first, starting with our toenails. There were many, many, many different colours to choose from and they all had names. Amusingly, the colour called Danielle was black, while Cynthia was purple. I eventually chose a purply sort of colour for my toes and got a lovely warm foot soak and foot massage at the same time, which was very relaxing.

After that it was onto fingernails, where I ended up going for sparkles. I also had my very first spray tan, which was an interesting experience. Looking back now though, I probably should have booked a massage and maybe a facial as well while I was there!

We ended up spending pretty much the entire day there, with lots of yummy food, cocktails and drinks being brought out along the way. I was a good girl though and didn’t drink anything alcoholic.

Eventually it was time for the roughly two-hour drive back to Marloth Park, where I returned to find that Chris had successfully survived his day alone with both boys.

Possibly only just, judging by some of the stories!

Chris, Dan, Karl and Isaac