Hey guys and lady guys,

It's been so long since I've disclosed my whereabouts, but now you'll hear about some of my recent stinanks:

(Passage is totally unread/unedited btw)

I've been fortunate to have been able to go diving in the small town of Sodwana just below the Mozambique border. It's got some world class reefs apparently. We also we're lucky enough to stay with a local doctor of a rural hospital. The night before our dives I bravely (translation: stupidly) volunteered to sleep in the living room, only to find out after "good night sleep tight!" that it was invested with mosquitoes! I tried to hide in my sleeping bag but they we're all over my like a pack of wild dogs on a rabbit. A stupid rabbit who forgot to bring misquitoe repellent! Needless to say I slept about 2 hours max.

We had a very nice diving instructor who sculpted the reefs we were going to visit in great detail in the sand, listing with great accuracy the types of life expect to see at various places. He had a wry smile during the sculpting of the aptly named "bikini reef", during which we pretended not to blush. (But we did.) The boatride out was amazing, with some good airtime on some of the jumps over the 3ft waves! Hardly 10minutes into the "cruise" we spotted a school of dolphins. "Wait DOLPHINS you said?" Yes. Dolphins. Really. Transforming our little naval vessle into a beehive of frantic activity, each one grabbed his pile of snorkeling gear and dove into the crystal blue waters to meat our ever smiling underwater allies. (Needless to say I got in second, marginally behind the amazing Tory. Man, she's fast at grabbing gear!) We had hardly gotten into the boat and taken off our gear when a whaleshark passed underneath our boat...Same drill. Once more I had to settle for second place after Tory, leaving the other 6 people in our watery-dust. Being 110% excited and assuming the visitor to be at least several yards away, I jumped in blindly, only to find that I had jumped right in front of it, with about 2-3 meter to spare. It is sure to be one of the most vivid memories I shall be carrying along with me -- a 1.5meter long mouth closing in on me and my overeagerness!! Me and Tory swam with it for about 5 minutes. The previous night we discussed what our underwater sign for smiling/I'm so happy would be and decided on a finger movement from one ear to the other in the form of a smile. Swimming next to it Tory passed me an exaggerated underwater smile and I had to laugh into my mask making it leak terribly. I eventually got the courage to go and swim right above it's 7-10meter body! With eyes wide open...my only desire was to know the Creator of such wonderful things more...a whole lot more. The actual dive was everything I would've imagined of the underwater paradise. I am so incredibly fortunate, and thankful.

I've also been to a game-reserve or "African-safari" (lol) as our American friends like to call it. We saw everything except for the kitty's - cheetahs, leopards and lions. But the best part was walking in the wild with a guide. We were 5 people that went on the yearly morning 3 hour hike. I stood firmly behind Zwane. The bullets in his belt trying to serve as some reassurance that we'll return safely. Being very enthusiastically briefed by this statue of a Zulu man, I was on the lookout for anything that moved. He told us the signal for climbing into the nearest tree, when to run in behind it, when to stand motionless and what the signal for "I'm seeing danger!" was. (It was a difficult click sound.) Half way through the hike I thought I saw a tale behind some bushes, but since nobody said anything I just kept staring at it. After a while I felt an chilling in my spine, seeing a big shape emerging behind it. I mad a half-hearted click towards Zwane who marched on happily, after a while I tried again, now panicking a bit more. The guy at the back spotted it too and gave a loud one. We all stopped and realized it was two adult buffalo about 30 meters away. Zwane clutched his rifle and slowly approach them throwing two stones between us and them to scare them away. I could feel my heart racing now as my eyes scanned the surroundings for the nearest climbable tree (They can run up to 40km/h. The fastest human runs about 33km/h.) Fortunately they turned and ran away from us. We also got to walk in between 8 giraffe. I shoved my camera into my dad's hands at some stage to take a picture of me infront of them. Maybe it'll appear in my scraps someday. I wish I could tell you more about that weekend, the people, the children, the brokenness, the stories..

Moving on to other things I've taken up surfing again. Sadly I'm not quite the Kelly Slater, my imagination would've liked me to believe. But it was so worth getting up at 5am. We also saw a small antelope on our way to the beach.

I've been really busy of late and have neglected several gallery, not to mention my own. My camera CCD noise has increased substantially and my photo's just don't come out the same anymore. Don't worry I'll keep trying. I'm still saving for a DSLR, maybe the older 350D will be cheap enough soon. I'm also saving for a decent acoustic electric (guitar) which isn't going to be cheap. Especially since the Rand took a nose dive!

I look forward to continue to see you guys improve, and seeing that I'll be on holiday in December, making a trip to my --and to some extend our-- beloved Lion's head, my gallery should lift it's head with the coming of the new year.

Seeying that this is probably my last post for the year: BEST WISHES FOR 09. It'll be, wait for it.....devine! (so-ee )

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It's been a joy to make such amazing friends. Thanks to each one who takes an interest in what I do. BIG -

Sayonara, not to be confused with cyanide, which is, of course, goodbye in any language.
~WILL.