I am home

Hello everyone
i am finally home, i had a really good time but it is also good to be back. i slept in till 1:15pm on Wendesday because we only arrived the night before and i was not on the same time zone as everyone else. All the girls from school rang me and were all yelling and screaming that i was back.
i might not check my blog as much as i did so if you do want to talk you can e-mail me k8trox@hotmail.com which will be checked more.
Thanks
Katie!!!

the last few days

Hello everyone
we went on lots of game drives but did not to get to see all of the big 5. No rhinos or Leopards but we went on a big chase looking for one. We stayed up late and heard some of Memory and Martins story's about stupid things that people have done. I had a shower outdoors so if you look up you can see the sky (SO cool). The food was good and we were going to sleep in the tree house but it was too windy, Jade and Judy got to. we went for a half walk half drive with the driver. We saw lots of trees and Muffins (poo) of many different animals, he carried a big gun with him in case we ran into something. we then drove back to Johannesburg and had to say good buy to Memory. He did a good speech and then played sad music. we all hugged, Memory was so much fun, he was always playing a joke on Martain (who worked at Umlani the place where we saw the animals). Martain wanted all Memory's stuff. We then met Jade and Judy for tea but before that jade and I went on the rollercoaster (the same one as we went on the very first night) she screamed the whole time and i was laughing at her, we also did what Martin and told us before we left, when you are on a roller coaster you Put You Hands Up In the Air and you yell in to everyone so we did it. Jade just screamed it was so funny.
we will be leaving Africa soon and flying home (YES!!). we will arrive Tuesday but we leave Monday, we will get into Perth at 7am Tuesday and then have to go through customs (If you see me on border security you will know why), then we catch a plane to Adelaide at 2pm but we might be able to get on the 11am flight if we are early enough.
we will be home soon!!
!!!Katie!!!
P.S. I still have not washed my hair with shampoo scince the day before we left

Day ? 8/8/08

Dad is very excited the Olympics are going to start but there is no TV.
we went to a cheetah sanctuary and saw cheaters, lions and rhino. they were in cages like Monato. We then drove to a game reserve and have been on a night and morning drive. We arrived here yesterday afternoon and sat around the bar (24 hour free drinks). We went on a game drive and saw Elephant, Water buffalo and Giraffe. We went on an open top land rover with 9 seats, very exciting. they carry a gun on the front just in case but the man said that they have not used it yet (lucky!!). We are sleeping in little huts with bamboo walls and thatched roof and the shower is outside, wildlife walks through the camp including lions. We are told that if we walk into something we must slowly walk backwards into the nearest hut.
A tip - if an elephant chases you and you are with a friend, make sure that you are faster than your friend. if you are alone, start running and take off an item of clothing to distract the elephant. If he does not stop at that piece, take off another item of clothing... so if you see a naked person running, you should start to run!!
Katie!!!

Day 26

we went to the Blyde river canyon and saw the three Rondavels but it was a little misty. at every stop they had a market. we also went to Bourkes Luck Potholes and threw money into one of them. Berlin waterfall and gods window. Memory our guide challenged me to a game of table tennis and for dinner i tried Snail (it did not taste that good!!).

Day 25

No sleep in, up at 6am (too early). we drove to an Elephant sanctuary and met 3 elephants. we got to brush them, they are rough with a little fur. we also got to feed them, you put the food in there trunk and they put it in there mouth. we also got to walk them, you put your hand out and they put there trunk on it. they were warm and really big. we also went into the forest and the elephants came in and showed us some things like flapping there ears, trumpeting and sitting down. They were really sweet but we did not have enough time to ride them. We then drove to a place called Hannah lodge. they had lots of animals and the lodge was huge. Hannah means Guinne fowl which is a type of bird.

Day 24

we went to the post office in the morning (did not take very long), Mum and i locked bags ready to leave fot the airport. dad and i then went for a walk to see what Washington Dc had done with the seed pictures, he told us that one was in his house and one he gave to the Queen Of His Heart (his girlfriend). we went and talked to the man on the gate at the hotel and he wanted mums bisness card. we went to the arport and waighted in a very long line. we only had 14Kw and 20 Tambalas left. we walked out to the bus that would take us to the plane. we went through a metal decters and then got seardhed (everyone no matter if you beeped or not). the flight took about 3 hours and we landed in Johananurburg for the last time (YES). we found our guide and his name was Memory, there are 2 other people on our tour and there flight from Sydney was delayde from 4pm to 8pm. we went to the shopps and then back to the airport to pick them up. they finally arrived and there names are Jade (10 year old) and Judy (mum). we drove to the place where we were staying the night
more on that later
I have to go for dinner
Love Katie
P.S. going to see lions Tomorrow
P.P.S. Good to know that people are reading this and that you live/miss me (Yes)

Day 23

Finally a big sleep in!!!!
Mercy was going be meeting us at 9am but arrived at about 10am. She wanted her mobile phone back but had suddenly forgotten how to speak English. Harriet had some T-shirts for us (they are very thin and not very nice). Ester had a wall hanger for us and Lonely had sent with her mum a school bag (that was really nice). we went to the market out side the post office. we bought lots of things. I met a man called Washing Dc and he made key rings with your name on it, i had to have one. we walked back for lunch and we stopped at CFC (like KfC) but they had run out of hot dogs so we went to the super market next door. Mercy gave us these seed pictures (we cant take them home) so we gave them to washing Dc to do what he liked with. we went to meet the scout group that we met last week because they said they had some badges for us. They were not there and they had gone on a camp that morning. so we went back to the room and went to the pool, it was like ice but Numface went in anyway. Dad, mum and i played Cludo. we were all very tired !!!

Day 22 Saturday 2/8/08 (i think)

Hello everyone
I am still alive and it is good to know that so many people miss/love me.
We had breakfast and our favourite waiter Damson was on again, he welcomed us with his happy smiley slow Good morning sir, madam (he speaks weird). dad liked his so he gave him a T-shirt he said that it was lovely and how much he appreciated it. we had to get out our harnesses and tried to carry our bags (Really Heavy), we sat at the Coffee shop (with no coffee) so we went to the Scoop and Shake to get milkshakes. We went into town and went looking for a Malawi Flames t-shirt, the national soccer team (you can count the scores with no hands). we went to the place where Damson had told us to go but it had burnt down and was operating from a small hut (No T-shirt). we then went to the post office but they were only open from 8 till 10 so they were closed so we bought stamps on the street. we went past a sports shop and in the window they had English soccer t-shirts so dad thought he would try there. we went in and asked and the man said that they custom make T-shirts with what ever you want on them, dad orded a Malawi Flames shirt so we waited. Dad notice a man making T-shirts with the Olympic logo on them, he asked the man and they were making the Malawi Olympic Teams shirts and they were leaving on Monday. Dad asked the man if he could have one, so the man went to make one. This was the Olympic shirt for the Malawian Olympic team (all 4 of them) he got the Athletics on the back and was so happy. Dad got both t-shirts and is going to wear them when the Olympics start. Dad told Damson and he was very happy, dad said good by to Damson and he gave dad a bracelet (he is still wearing it). we put our packs on and walked down the road to the bus station. we got on the bus (it smelt YUCK) and were driving 4 hour back to Lilongwe. we were the only whites on the bus and the rest were locals. we went to the hotel, it was getting dark. we went to ore room. Numface really wanted room service so we got it, he was very happy. we were all very tired!!!

Day 21 Back to the market

I got another sleep in. before Numface woke me up with the TV on too loud. we walked out of the hotel and walked for about 20mins on this track to the National Monument which was a church. It was built by someone who had no building experience at all. It was very big and no one could believe that they did not know how to build. we went inside and it was not that big, on our way out we were asked for a donation so dad gave the man 200MA, he said that it was respect. we then went looking for the train station, we went up this dirt track and into this little village, a man said that it was just around the corner but we gave up looking because just around the corner could be 5KM away. we walked back to the market and looked along. we bought another Malawi table and 2 more small Malawi chairs. we also bought 3 books made from recycled paper, the man chased us down the street to buy them. we walked back to the hotel. It was very hilly. we made it back and had hamburgers for tea, mum and dad had soup. a good day!!
Katie
P.S. i have not had many comments and i want to know what everyone is doing in Australia please!!!
and if you wright a comment and you go on the next day and there is 1 more on the same day, i have replied to the comment.
Thank you

Day 20

I finally got a sleep in. as aoon as we left the gate of the hotel we were harassed to buy something, dad told the man later. we went to the bus station to book a bus trip back to Lilongwe, then we wanrted to go to the tourist infomation office, we were tolk just around the corner but it was at the very end of the street in an office with no sign and there was nothing there. we were tolk to go to some other place so we walked back up the hill (longer than i walk to school) to some tourist place in a hotel, it ended up to be a big waiste of time because it cost about $200AUD to do what we wanted to do. we went to the local market to find poeople everywhere. we walked along looking at all the wooden carvings, i found a neclace and i wanted to buy 5, the man said a really rediclious price so i had to haggle with him. i walked away and went looking at something else so he chased me with a better price, i finally got then=m in the end for $6.50 which was all right. Dad bought a malawi table and Numface bought 2 small Malawi cahirs. it was a good day but everyone was calling me sister and dad boss. A man asked my name and everytime i walked pased his stall he would say Hello Katie (it got annoying after a while). we walked back to the hotel and were atopped by the man dad had told later to this morning. we ended up buying 4 paintings from him. then we walked back to the room and watched TV and went to bed.
A good day shopping!!

World vision visit

Hello
We drove in a world vision car about 2 hours south of Blantyre. We stopped at a look out on our way, it was called Mikes Area and was sponsored by Mikes Trailers, there was a man sitting there silently, one of the translators Cheese (as i called him) and i named Silent Mike is Minding His Area and we all had a big laugh about it. Cheese was absesed with eating Pigeons (Yuck) and he said that it was a delicacy. some of the road was covered and some was dirt, it was much better than Madagascar, Cheese said that the roads where really bad but they were not. We arrived at the village to children running behind the car and people coming to see us. We were introduced to Thokozani (she was in very nice cloths). We sat down (on plastic chairs) and were introduced to Thokozanis family. She had 5 brothers and 1 sister (we did not meet her). W e were sitting in front of about 50 children who were just looking at us. One of the translators talked to us and then to the family, we had speeches from the head brother and other people, I also had to do a speech because i was the sponsor, all the people were looking at me and i had to make something us off the top of my head. Some of the children did local dances. We went into the house and gave Thokozani and her family loads of stuff, Thokozani loved an Australia t-shirt and hat and most of the family got a hat too, they were all wearing them. On her T-shirt on each side she put a clip on Koala. we went out side the house and blew bubbles and gave out Australia balloons but i cause a riot with the balloons so one of the aunts took them and gave them out to the children who did not push. We went back inside the house and had a meal, Malawi food (like yesterday), everyone had big plated of rice and a little meat (it was very oily). After the meal we talked and showed photos of our house, dog, chooks and ducks. After that we went outside and went to look at the school. they have about 75 kids in one classroom and most girls drop out at year 8 to get married or cant afford it. We than had to say good buy to Thokozani and her family as well as the village chiefs. We drove back talking to Cheese, we stopped to take a photo of silent mike who was still minding his area before going back to the hotel.
Busy Day!!!