23rd July Fiona's Perspective

This morning we chilled, waking a little later than normal and deciding to drive in to Monkey Bay harbour and see the old ship the Chauncy Maples, 101+ yrs old from the days of Livingstone.

After breakfast, we set off for the harbour. About 4km after we hit the tar, we got pulled over by a Policeman standing in the middle of the road. The embankment on our side of the road was so steep that Alan pulled over to the right hand side, off the road onto the dirt. We then got a 20min lecture on how it was illegal to park facing oncoming traffic and it was a major offence in Malawi (where goats, cows, bicycles etc are all over the road). After apologising, we then reversed and parked on the road, on the correct side, in the middle of the lane, blocking traffic, but that was ok, totally legal!!! We were then asked for Alan's drivers license, and when that was in order, he asked to see our fire extinguisher, which is actually not a legal requirement, so we showed it to him. Alan then asked him what else he would like to see as we would love to show him anything he wanted to see (facetiously). This put him on the back foot and we were allowed to go.

Wouldn't it be great if all the burnt out trucks lying next to the road had had a fire extinguisher on board, maybe they wouldn't be a shell of their former self!!!

We stopped at a roadside stall, called 'Toys R us' a couple of guys sitting under a Lapa making wooden replicas of Landrovers and Landcruisers. (I have uploaded a pic of their signage). So we ordered one to be made to look exactly like our vehicle and showed him a photo on my camera of Gavin's vehicle and ordered one for him too. Incredible workmanship.

Back for lunch and an afternoon snooze! Well, actually I snoozed and Alan repacked the car to fit in all the Curios I had bought. Especially Herman the Giraffe, a caricature of a giraffe that Taffy&Jen had just brought back from Zambia from a lodge they had stayed at. It wasn't for sale, but they managed to purchase it, just to give it to ME!!!

Afternoon drinks were relaxed and we sat chatting to Taffy and Jenny (South African owners of our accommodation), watching the sun set, when I got an sms that Gav and Jen where close to Monkey Bay and where were we.

They arrived about 30min later and joined us for dinner, drinks and more drinks. So, the team was back together.
We decided then and there that we would extend our stay by another night...

Do we have to leave?

Sent via my BlackBerry from Vodacom - let your email find you!