Newcastle, Dundee, and Margate

We have had a busy two weeks.  And, I must admit that I got a little lazy thinking, perhaps that the new had worn off our blog and, that no one was really reading it.  But I heard otherwise, so here it is.  The pictures loaded in reverse order so I will start with this week.
We went to a youth conference (convention as they call them here) at Margate on the south coast of KwaZulu-Natal.  It is a beautiful drive about 2 hours south of Durban and right along the coast.  With the foliage and vegetation, we got only occasional good looks at the ocean beaches.  This flower is another wonder here, growing like this in what is the equivalent of February in the Northern Hemisphere.

 This was at Margate.  It was a stormy day  and huge waves breaking but these guys are typical fishermen. Going to do what it takes to catch fish!  Margate is the home of the 1924 Margate Monster or Trunko.  Look it up on Wikipedia for a laugh.

 There are a lot of banana groves along the south coast.  All the bunches of bananas were covered with blue plastic bags.  I am not sure why, unless it is to protect them from the weather while they ripen.  Monkeys certainly know how to get around the bags as they are open at the bottoms.

 Stopped at a little retirement type area with restrooms and saw this little pool that had been made with some kind of cement and rock.  Margate is a huge summer destination for South Africans in the summer.  It was not at all busy during the winter.  I can just imagine how fun it would be for kids in this little pool in the warm Indian Ocean.

 A little closer view of the same pool with waves crashing on the rocks.  The coast around Durban is mostly sandy while the South Coast is very rocky.

 At the lodge where the youth convention was held with a wall decoration made from date palm pods and the fruit vines.

 One of the youth on a John Deere.  Made me feel at home.









Sister Gunderson was speaking to the youth about education and the Perpetual Education Fund and the opportunities that it provides.  We had a fun time with them.  They are quite eager to get additional education and know that it is the key to a better life.  When asked about what they wanted to do after matric (graduation) to become better educated, one young man said  "serve a mission because that will help me be a better student when I get home."  From what I have seen among the young returned missionaries that we work with, nothing could be truer.  They learn so much while on their mission, if they are obedient to the mission rules, that prepares them for college.

Who says that it does not snow in South Africa?  On our way to Newcastle in the northwestern part of KwaZulu Natal Province.  These are the Drakensberg Mountains that practically surround the little country of Lesoto and are northwest of Durban.  It is not unusual to have snow there, but this is a couple of days after a particularly cold spell that put several inches of snow on the ground in Newcastle and Bloemfontaine.  The first that they have had in 10 years.  Where is that Al Gore???

With the Elders in Newcastle and the remanants of a once 7 foot tall snowman.  Not these elders, but two in Bloemfontaine who had never seen snow, rolled their bakkie (pickup) while driving on snowy roads.  Fortunately they were wearing seat belts and no one was hurt.  Some people helped them roll it back over, it finally started and they were able to drive it to where they could get help.  They were in an area of dead cell phone coverage.  Note the classy slacks and sweaters-still a little chilly.



Just an interesting way to build a dam.  There was a wetland behind this rock/cement wall that was just choked with tall reeds-hardly any open water.  Because of the way it is constructed, we thought it was natural rock formation.  Glad it was winter and no snakes out!

This is one of our PEF students Khulekani Nkambule of Dundee.  We took him to lunch and he sure does like pizza.  He returned from a mission in Uganda about 4 months ago and is planning to go to the University of Zululand in Durban in January.  His name is one of many that here that sounds Hawaiian.

Entering Ladysmith with artwork shaped in the form of traditional Zulu ovens.  The town is named for the wife of Sir Harry Smith, the first British Governor of the Cape province.  Several bloody battles were fought here between the British and the Boers.  Gandhi served as a stretcher bearer during one of them. And Winston Churchill was war correspondent during the same war and was captured by the Boers during that conflict.  Lots of history here.

A Hadada Ibis.  These birds are as common as robins and like robins, feed on worms and other insects of the soil on fields and lawns.  The make loud squawking sounds, especially early in the morning.  One of Sister Gunderson's favorite waking sounds at our boarding.

A yellow mongoose spotted along the highway near Ladysmith.  Larger wildlife in South Africa is sadly found only on reserves.  Poaching, some of it for subsistence, has pretty much eliminated all but the smaller predators through nearly all the open countryside.  The area south of Margate called the Wild Coast might have a few of the larger species left. While driving out on a dirt road from the youth convention a small deer, maybe a duiker ran across the road.  It was so jungle like I got only a glimpse.