Last Snow Of Winter?

After a good week of warm and mostly sunny weather on Sunday a cold front rolled in with a vengeance and sprinkled the Hottentots Holland mountains with a generous coating of snow. We usually have one last cold snap in Spring before the weather really turns for the better, so hopefully this was it. However, it is unusual to see this much snow on the Hotties.

Big Joel, Little Joel

A while ago we had Joel Bird stay with us for a few days as he enjoyed a long weekend break from his time with Scripture Union in Jo'burg. Joel had to return to the UK a bit earlier than expected so he spent his final night with us before leaving.

The boys were really chuffed to see Joel again and Eli took a real shine to him. I know Joel's parents will read this, so just to let you know that it was a real pleasure to have Joel stay, he's a real credit to you!

Winter

With winter being set in the time spent out in the garden is at a real premium so we have to make the most of the brief spells between deluges. Yesterday we had just under one inch of rain and that's fairly average at present. Amazingly even the locals have stopped saying "We really need the rain" or "I love the rain" which is quite something. Being British I have a built in dislike of the rain and as much as we may really need it I really don't care for it at all!

Ice!

This weekend is predicted to be the coldest of the year with snow falls on most mountains in the Western & Eastern Cape. Certainly it is very cold at the moment and after 5 weeks of decent weather in Blighty we're not really prepared for this.

This is a picture of some ice we found in the garden this morning, just to prove it really is cold!

Winter Has Arrived!

Well winter is truly here with a vengance.  The winds in the last few days have been quite frightening (as well as keeping Paula awake at night).  The rain is almost non-stop and many places are flooded.  Summer shouldn't be too far away now - we hope!

The big news is that our visas have been approved until 2007 so it's good to know we're legally here!  Dean will drive to Paarl to get the passports stamped in the next few days.