Our gigantic Teambuilding Jigsaw Puzzle!

Spend the whole of last weekend building a huge gigantic jigsaw puzzle that we can use during teambuilding excersises with companies. What a job! And me and the wife got it done just in time for the teambuild we had on Monday with the guys and girls from the Stratetic Communication department from the University of the Free State. Worked into the night. Only got it done around 11h00 on Sunday night! But al’s well that ends well; the teambuild was a huge success! Let the photos tell the story of this epic undertaking.

And for photos of the teambuild itself, click here! Teambuild photos

JP en Dorien se kuiertjie

Jp en Dorien is 2 awesome mense, ek is mal oor hulle! JP is een van die min opregte goeie boerseuns met goeie maniere wat nog oor is. En Dorien is die oulike Belg aan sy sy.  Die 2 is besig om van Belgie af te ry met fietse Suid-Afrika toe. Kliek hier en gaan kyk na hul webwerf. Ek dink dis ‘n awesome avontuur en beny hulle! As als reg loop join ek hulle vir die laaste stuk hier deur Mosambiek of iets. Verseker.

Hulle het tot in Turkye gekom en toe besluit om eers ‘n breek te vat. So Augustus September se kant gaan hulle weer hulle tog hervat.

JP wou graag leer van log-cabins bou, en aangesien ek ‘n onvoltooide projek het wat vir ‘n hele rukkie botsstil gestaan het, het hy aangebied om aan te gaan daarmee, sodat hy kon leer en ondervinding opbou. En Dorien is gaande oor kayaking en riviere en die dat ons haar toe sommer geleer gids het ook in die tussentyd!

Loer gou na die fotos hier onder (kliek om hulle groot te maak) en kyk die vordering wat JP gemaak het met my cottage. Dankie JP, ek skuld jou big time! Gaan loer gou ook hier by my Youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/kalliezwahlen

Daar is ‘n paar videos van julle; Dorien wat “Big Surprise” kayak, awesome! Dis nou nie ge-edit of iets nie, shit ek het nie nog tyd daarvoor ook nie! Maar enjoy!

Life gets in the way

Bruce Springsteen:

      Now the hardness of this world slowly grinds your dreams

      away, making a fool’s joke out of the promises we made.

      What once seemed black and white turns to

     so many shades of grey, we lose ourselves in

      work to do – work to do and bills to pay.

      It’s a ride, ride, ride and their ‘aint much cover.

      No one running by your side, my blood brother.

“Big Surprise” turning into a “Big Monster”

I took some trainee guides down the river last weekend and got a nasty surprise in “Big Surprise”. That right hand channel is turning into a nasty beast!!

A pitty ’cause it used to be such a cool run, that right hand channel.

For many years there was a tree-trunk stuck there and it was un-runable. But then we managed to cut the tree out with chain-saws when the river was closed off for a few days. And that right-hand channel proofed to be such a lekka run!

But we’ll have to go back to running the left line. Sad, but life goes on, regardless!!

Quantuam leaps

We had 2 big moments in the Zwahlen household the last few days!

Danika suddenly managed the cycling thing. I took of the training wheels more than 6 month ago already but she didn’t put much effort into it. Untill a few days ago when she just got onto the bicycle and cycled!

And yesterday Damien gave his first few tentative steps. About time. Lazy bugger. He is nearly a year old already. Wow, time flies. And there is still so much I need to do before the December holidays and our boom-time. Gotta run!

(I’m working on my old Bedford again, amongst other things. Will try and get some photos up soon for those that don’t know about my old Bedford truck and for those that do know about it and want to see the progress)

Barbie The Swan

We found a stray chicken in the yard, still very small, a few weeks ago. So I went to buy it some food, and all I could get was budgie-seeds. And now Lettie recons it’s my fault that our little pet chicken has an identity crisis and just wants to sit on everyone’s shoulder like a budgie. But the friggin chicken doesn’t even get the shoulder thing right most of the time and then ends up sitting on top of everyone’s head J

Danika named the little chicken Barbie The Swan!

Here you have it, folks. Click on the thumbnails to enlarge the photos of Barbie The Swan.

(And I don’t want any comments about it being an ugly “township-hoender”. I know that)

(And no, I have not figured out what we are going to do with this little chicken once it’s a big chicken)

Minis in Clarens

The Mini motor vehicle celebrates its 50^th birthday this year, and they booked out the whole Clarens this last weekend! The square in town was fenced off, and a HUGE stage was put up. It was a huge event with activities throughout the day and a big concert with some well-known bands like Goldfish on Saturday night.

They even had the Finnish rally driving legend of the sixties, Rauno Aaltonen, here. He won the Finnish Rally Championships when I was 2 years old! I love these legends and their stories. I really enjoyed the interview they had with him.

People came from all over South Africa with their Minis to attend the festivities. 

And the week before the Ducati people where in town. Clarens is fast becoming the favorite destination for these types of events, which is awesome. It can only be good for Clarens and tourism.

Click on thumbnails to enlarge!

Dylan on the river

On Friday and Saturday we had a big groups on the river, and I had to guide as well for a change. It felt good being on the river again! I get so caught up in running the business (Outrageous Adventures), that I forget way I started the business in the first place; for the love of rivers and paddling and being out there in nature, taking people on a unforgetable adventure that they otherwise would not be able to experience on their own. 

In the beginning days of my business I still run every trip myself. Nowadays I get so caught up in all the office work and marketing and the rest of it, that I seldom get out onto the river. That’s just wrong! I will definitely see to it that I spend a bit more time on the river again!

On Saturday there were quite a few kids on the trip, and Dylan has been nagging me a lot lately, to take him on the river again. As there was space on my raft, I took him along. He his only 6 now, and we do not take kids that young on the river normally (maybe only on the flat stretches). But hey, he is my ‘laaitie’ after all, and I would not be much of a river-guide if I didn’t trust myself enough to be able to look after him on the river!

He loves going on the river and I should really try to not only get myself on the river more often, but him as well.

The kids walk around the bigger rapids like “Fishpond” and “Big Surprise” and usually don’t have a problem with that. Kids are actually good at knowing their own limitations. Most of the time the parents are the ones who do not want to understand that things can maybe go wrong on the river and that we do not want to take that risk and let the kids run those big rapids.

The kids enjoy the flat stretches, where they can splash each other and throw each other off the rafts and have mud-fights, etc. more than the rapids in any case!

Here are some photos of Dylan on the trip. Click on them to enlarge.

Dylan

Dylan at the back with me

Dylan (on the right) and James

Busy, busy, busy

It’s long weekend and school holidays as well. So we’re busy! We had 6 rafts on the river again yesterday! Enough so that I needed to steer one as well. I have not been on the river myself for a long time now, seeing that I have enough excellent guides to do the work. Felt good to be on the river again!

I have not spend much time in the Drakensberg yet, but lately I am quite fascinated by the Grand Traverse. So will definately spend more time there in future! And now Kobus Bressler and Gustav Greffrath are doing the Drakensberg Grand Traverse for charity. Join their Traverse For Charity website and network. They need your support! Even if you only join on the network. Numbers count!

“Breathilliser” on the Ash River

On Saturday the Ash river produced the goods again! Henry, my “chief-in-charge” guide, hit “Breathilliser”, the very first rapid on the trip, in the teeth and send the 2 guys in the front flying! I love it! That’s what they pay good money for! The best excitement in South Africa!