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Tomorrow it’s on the bird PER-SYD on the first leg of six weeks in the African region 
.
The impetus for this trip is to visit Madagascar for the first time. But as I need to go through South Africa on the way, I figured I may as well use the opportunity to do some more travel in, and revisit some parts, of southern Africa which is one of my favourite regions.
But… why via the Hunter Valley you may ask.
As some of you already know, Bindibuys and Mr Bindibuys are heading off in September on epic F-based travels until November. As a result of a chance remark on ‘View from my ‘office’’ last year, I am going to housesit BB Estate in the Hunter Valley while the BBs slum it in F and on the other side of the world.
Travelling from PER to JNB via SYD gives me the opportunity to spend an extra day in SYD in order to travel to the HV, meet the BBs and scope my upcoming responsibilities – and the opportunities it is going to offer to travel around the mid-N coastal region of NSW.
On Tuesday it’s the QF bird on redemption in J for the trundle to JNB (at last look it was showing as an unrefurb’d B744 and I’m in 1A - natch).
Here’s the plan after I hit the deck at JNB: Overnight there and rent a car the next morning to head out for a loop to explore the Drakensburgs for about 10 days before heading over to Antananarivo (aka ‘Tana’ – TNR) for a 16-day tour in Madagascar (independent travel by car is regarded as generally impractical in Madagascar), then over to Kasane (BBK) in Botswana via JNB to join a 14-day overland tour of Botswana and Zimbabwe before flying out of Victoria Falls (VFA) (Zim side of the falls) and home in early August.
While Botswana, like Namibia and S Africa, is an easy place to travel independently by rental vehicle, doing so in Zimbabwe – especially solo – is probably impractical/inadvisable.
I’ll be home for about five weeks before packing the car for the drive to BB Estate over about 10 days, using the opportunity to visit friends in Canberra, before ensconcing myself in BB Manor for about 7 weeks.
I’ve always wanted to drive across the Nullarbor again since doing it quite quickly over 35 years ago, so this makes a great opportunity for a more leisurely experience. Following return of the BBs in early November, I’ll drive directly back to PER in order to be home for AFF10 on 11-12 Nov and a 50[SUP]th[/SUP] year reunion of my school leaving class :shock: on Sunday 13 November.
All-in-all, these plans should keep me fairly well occupied for the rest of the year…
The flight routing.
General route plan for S Africa.
Madagascar and Botswana/Zimbabwe routes.
.The impetus for this trip is to visit Madagascar for the first time. But as I need to go through South Africa on the way, I figured I may as well use the opportunity to do some more travel in, and revisit some parts, of southern Africa which is one of my favourite regions.
But… why via the Hunter Valley you may ask
.As some of you already know, Bindibuys and Mr Bindibuys are heading off in September on epic F-based travels until November. As a result of a chance remark on ‘View from my ‘office’’ last year, I am going to housesit BB Estate in the Hunter Valley while the BBs slum it in F and on the other side of the world.
Travelling from PER to JNB via SYD gives me the opportunity to spend an extra day in SYD in order to travel to the HV, meet the BBs and scope my upcoming responsibilities – and the opportunities it is going to offer to travel around the mid-N coastal region of NSW.
On Tuesday it’s the QF bird on redemption in J for the trundle to JNB (at last look it was showing as an unrefurb’d B744 and I’m in 1A - natch
).Here’s the plan after I hit the deck at JNB: Overnight there and rent a car the next morning to head out for a loop to explore the Drakensburgs for about 10 days before heading over to Antananarivo (aka ‘Tana’ – TNR) for a 16-day tour in Madagascar (independent travel by car is regarded as generally impractical in Madagascar), then over to Kasane (BBK) in Botswana via JNB to join a 14-day overland tour of Botswana and Zimbabwe before flying out of Victoria Falls (VFA) (Zim side of the falls) and home in early August.
While Botswana, like Namibia and S Africa, is an easy place to travel independently by rental vehicle, doing so in Zimbabwe – especially solo – is probably impractical/inadvisable.
I’ll be home for about five weeks before packing the car for the drive to BB Estate over about 10 days, using the opportunity to visit friends in Canberra, before ensconcing myself in BB Manor for about 7 weeks.
I’ve always wanted to drive across the Nullarbor again since doing it quite quickly over 35 years ago, so this makes a great opportunity for a more leisurely experience. Following return of the BBs in early November, I’ll drive directly back to PER in order to be home for AFF10 on 11-12 Nov and a 50[SUP]th[/SUP] year reunion of my school leaving class :shock: on Sunday 13 November.
All-in-all, these plans should keep me fairly well occupied for the rest of the year…
The flight routing.
General route plan for S Africa.
Madagascar and Botswana/Zimbabwe routes.
