The Oak is blooming and some nice trips

The oak tree which forms an integral part of our home has done its annual magical costume change as illustrated by these two photographs taken a few days apart.

Leon (my cousin) and me went on a quick visit to Bethlehem. We were hosted by Crause my youngest brother who operates his Air Ambulance Service and a flight school from there.

Our routing was through Vereeniging Oranjeville and Frankfort (where we had a great T-bone steak on the banks of the Wilge river) into Bethlehem.

The next Morning we went on a run through the valley of Clarence, Sunnyside and Golden Gate.

From there we went past Qua-Qua, Kestell, Reitz and so forth, this was noticably dry countryside but poised to turn into paradise by the first rains which cant be far off.

Leon's bike is fitted with a GPS which has this fantastic feature that allows you to download the record of a trip and lay it over Google Earth.

Th image above is of the Clarence - Golden Gate - Valley which is a real bikers dream with a smooth sweeping road in some of the most beautiful rock formations on earth.


That same evening I flew freight from Johannesburg to Port Elizabeth and the to Cape Town and back to Port Elizabeth. It was great to fly overhead the same area that we covered that same morning on the bikes.
The boeing I was flying that night (ZS-OBN) is of course also fitted with a GPS and this is a shot I took of the GPS on the last leg of the night just before sunrise with a healthy tailwind indicating that our groundspeed was 1079 Km per hour.

Juanita went on a road trip (She had a few days off in Kigali before her next flight to Ethiopia).

Apparently she went some seven hours driving south along the great lake of Tanganyika and when she gets back I will post her photos and other details of the trip.

Criss Crossing Africa and Spring is here!

The Kosmos Steyls are busy:- Hunting - flying - skate boarding - Spring cruising etc.

All my brothers and my father went hunting on a farm near Kimberley in the Northern Cape. Louis represented the Kosmos Steyls and managed to shoot a nice Blesbuck which is currently as I am writing being turned into Biltong in Bloemfontein.

Juanita is by far the busiest - on a trip covering the length of Africa - several times. She went from Lanseria to Kigali in Rwanda on to Germany for a few days then Rome then back to Kigali. She is now in Malawi and still has to go to Addis Ababa in Ethiopia back to South Africa and the to New York before the end of September.

Last week On Thursday night the skies over Johannesburg was full of Steyl Pilots. Johan Jr. came into Johannesburg flying freight from Windhoek. Louis brought a patient down from Harare and me myself flew 22 Tons of freight from Johannesburg to Cape Town.

On Friday I spent the day in Cape Town and was privileged to meet Tyla the grand daughter of Johan and Susan Steyl at a lovely lunch at their home in Newlands Cape Town.

Then on the week end the start of summer was celebrated with the seasons opening cruise on the Dam, a very spectacular event in which approximately 200 powerboats all cruise around the lake past the various boat and yacht clubs and then light the fires for the traditional braais at their own club grounds.

Tonight I am on standby to fly but if I don't get called out the plan is to take the Intruder for a spin to the Eastern Free State with my cousin Leon on his GS 1200 BMW.