Tuesday 17 April 2012

On the Point and the month of mud

Zanz has been on at me to write something for the blog, I think she has adopted a Murdoch persona and this is the beginning of her global media domination via the Internet. Anyway, as you have read we have been away for a break...holiday within a holiday some may think! I won't go on about how beautifully picturesque it was or, how the stunning sunrises were the precursor to warm heady days...But. Most of the my days were spent chasing the boys and finding different bits if equipment Zanner and Zac dropped in to the sea whilst out kayaking. The journey both ways took around six hours with large tracks of off road driving which were fun. Fish Eagle Point comes highly recommended, set within a mangrove cove it has a relaxed atmosphere that captures many of the most stunning elements of places we have been to around the world, from the Bandas in Bali to the far away and hidden fish island off the Thai coast. Everything about the place has been well thought out by the Zimbabwean owners who are continually developing the site to capture more and more of the beauty of the setting. In progress as we left was the honeymoon Banda with a small private beach and sunken pool within the confines of the structure.
By the time we returned to Moshi we had entered the 'month of mud'. Basically it rains here with such intensity it would peel your skin if you stood out in the downpour. The plus side is that it generally only occurs when you are tucked up in bed, so in essence the weather is very civilised but boy does it leave the place muddy come the morning. The 4x4 rules here and some roads you would think are impassable. However, the fortitude of the Tanzanian piki piki (small 125 motorbike) puts to shame the cosseted WASP school run 'I need a 4x4 because my arse is too big' mum and her dog by their ability to keep traction and get through roads many of our school run mums (and dads) wouldn't attempt as it would dirty their shiny rims! It is lots of fun driving and sliding around at the moment and I have started to look for more challenging roads on which to test our 20 year old land cruiser. The boys are enjoying the mud as exemplified by yesterday's trip to watch some of the Rally of Tanzania. We managed to place ourselves on a decent corner which was ankle deep in gooey mud. The boys spent most of the time sliding through the mud made worse by an afternoon deluge. They finished looking more like locals with their deep brown masks of mud applied like sun lotion to any exposed skin surface. We finished the day with a HASH set in Tanzania's largest sugar plantation(TPC) it was run by the Arusha Hash House Harriers. Completely different to the uber competitive Moshi courses this one was very frustrating as every time I hit the lead we had to stop at a checkpoint for everyone to catch up. Suffice to say it was a bit Taka Taka but we enjoyed fantastic food at the end in the day in the TPC restaurant. TPC retains most of it colonial heritage with tennis courts, swimming pool, club house and of course the obligatory 18 holes over which to spoil a good walk. Well that's me done, oh yes I turned 42 so I am officially middle aged and now can look forward to more morning aches and pains, memory loss, hair loss, fatigue, memory loss, arthritis, rheumatism and memor

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