The first 10 days in Paradise

What I love the most about living in the “wild”:
Being woken by the rooster crowing before dawn
Watching sunrise, sunset and Venus setting every day
The brilliance and exhilarating infinity of the stars
The unbelievable vastness of the silence
Spying with binoculars on the multitude of birds feeding on the fynbos
The overwhelming friendliness and helpfulness of small-town people
No rush hour traffic, no noise, no pollution, plenty of parking in town
Time and space to breathe, to think, to BE
Watching the ecstatic happiness of the dogs running at full speed for as long and as far as they wish
Falling into bed by 10pm, bone-weary from physical work
The breathtaking, heart-stopping beauty of this place
Leaving the doors open at night and feeling safe in a way I have never felt in the city in a cage of burglar bars
No car alarms going off in the middle of the night, no streetlights, no drunken revellers shambling past our house, no beggars, no city squalor, no ugliness anywhere
Driving in 4x4 up the bumpy, treacherous, incredibly beautiful, mountainous dirt road to our home

What takes some getting used to:
At night when the lights are out in the house it is irrelevant whether my eyes are open or closed – the view is the same!
The fine dust that settles over everything regardless of how much I clean
The brown colour of the river water due to tannins and the funny “scum” it deposits round the rim of my teacup
The realization that we need to make sure there are “belts and braces” in place for everything we might need – a dramatically increased awareness of the need for self-sufficiency
No distractions - nothing I have to do and nowhere I have to be
In this place one is confronted with the reality of who you really are. There are no places to hide and you need to be very happy with your own company and with creating your own entertainments.

We spend most of the day watching the ever-unfolding beauty from our balcony. I’ve been taking countless photos but nothing can do justice to the spectacular beauty of this place.

However, below is a small selection:

The view from our balcony



God’s handiwork on display all day from our balcony


Sunrise over the swimming pool


Sunset over the distant mountains


Toasting the sunset


Our house


Our pick-up in front of the house


Zingdad and Zing collaborating on The Ascension Papers


The 2 blondes in my life, in the light of the setting sun


Zingdad in meditative frame of mind

Next: Adapting to my new reality