Bloemfontein

The next morning we continued on to Bloemfontein and arrived just in time for my birthday party!! (as though they would start without me) I had no idea such a thing was being planned!  We piled out of the car into hugs from all the Veitches and Ute who had made a surprise visit (having to leave Zimbabwe for her visa anyway)! Balloons, cake, cupcakes, milktart and friends…it was a wonderful time followed by a big water fight that no one was able to escape from no matter how hard they tried. It was like we had never been apart. We played backyard cricket and ate an amazing meal.

The next morning Will and Brian left us to begin their return journeys to England and Namibia. The rest of us headed out for a picnic at a local museum that had a great playing field in front. The field has become an art display entitled the Long Walk to Freedom. The final projection will have 400 statues of important people from SA history. Niki, Herman and I had a wrestling match. Then we headed up to the Nelson Mandela statue that overlooks Bloemfontein for some beautiful panoramic views.

On Monday James had to go to work (possibly happy for some peace and quiet even though we knew he was sad to have to work while we were there). The rest of us loaded up and went to the town of Kimberley to see the world’s largest man made hole and the place where so many of the world’s diamonds have been found…we got to go in the mine (or a replica of it) and to visit the old town after an informative film on what the history of the mines and the impact it had on South Africa. That night Reinette also had to work. She has gotten a job as a night nurse for an eye hospital. Mostly quiet nights as they have at most 5 patients but she wasn’t too happy about working while we were there. We went to visit her that evening to see where she was and it looks like a nice place.

Looking for diamonds!