South Africa - Johannesburg

We arrived in Johannesburg and were picked up by Aunty Ethne and Uncle Sean. We finally got to see Gran (98 years old!) and was very emotional for Kyle to see her after five years. We were quite heavily jet lagged and had an afternoon nap while the thunderstorm happened. It was so warm there and we got to talk with Gran heaps and went to Checkers supermarket where Aunty Ethne worked her whole life. It was so interesting comparing everything in the supermarket to NZ as well.
That night we had a nice South African dinner with just the five of us. It was so warm and it felt good to be there and with family.

17th December
The following day we spent more time with Gran just trying to catch up. We went to the mall and looked around there, going to Mugg and Bean was nice! That night we had a lovely braai (Uncle Sean knows how to do a good braai!) with Aunty Rona, Sean’s brother and Kyle’s cousin Rene and her boy Logan (who was playing very loud video games with guns and shooting the whole night with Gran watching on, was a hilarious sight!).

18th December
We had a pretty chilled out day and in the evening we went and had a pizza night at Rene’s house. it was a nice way to end our time with Kyle’s family!

19th December
It was tough saying goodbye to everyone. We got picked up by Kyle's friend Hylton in the afternoon and went to his place in Centurion. We had a chilled out afternoon talking with his Mum Aunty Eleanor and feeding their massive pet turtle! That night we had Nicole, David, Mark, and Geoffrey come around. It was so nice getting to know everyone and for Kyle to catch up with his friends! We played an interesting game of 30 seconds which is like Articulate but the South African version so I let our team down a bit!

20th December
We had a lovely sleep in and then Mark took us to the mall where Hylton worked. We had a beer at his restaurant and then walked around and looked in the shops. That night we went to the Barnyard Theatre with Nicole, David, Uncle Ian, Geof and Hylton. It was a live concert of hits from around the world. Full of energy and was a great concert! Something fun and different to do!

21st December
We went to the Mall of Africa(ns) with Hylton and the size of it was gigantic. We couldn’t believe it! We went out for dinner upstairs in the food court to Ocean Basket and had a nice meal there. That night we went to Aunty Lynn and Uncle Ian’s place for a tea and rusk and got to spend time with everyone there. Was sooo nice!
22nd December
We said our goodbyes and got dropped off at the airport by Mark and Hylton. On the way we were stopped at traffic lights and there were street dancers who were really good and used boxes in their routines. We said goodbye to Mark and Hylton and eventually boarded our plane to George!
- Danielle