4km Toontjie Fun Run - 14 October 2016

Alfie entered this fun run yesterday evening. He agreed to take me along too as doggies had to be on a lead. It was his first ever proper race!

We got to Bredasdorp Megapark in time to enter the race, and then went for a little wander around the venue to warm up, looking at hundreds of people of all shapes, sizes, and ages, and other dogs. Alfie had never seen so many people and dogs all in one place! He didn't know what to look at first. There were even some chickens and ducks there!

Filling in the entry form!

Checking the details!

The warm up!

 Eventually, after what seemed like ages to Alfie (and Steve!) we listened to the guy with the microphone telling us where we were to start the race, and the route.  Then, everyone wandered over to the starting area.

There are a lot of people in there!

Some need to rest their little feet before they start!

Alfie lined up with everyone else and we waited about 5 minutes, then we were off!

In the starting area!

And we're off! Well, Alfie is somewhere in amongst that lot!

 Alfie knew exactly what he had to do. He trotted along as if he had run races all his life, totally focussed!

The 1st kilometre!

The route was through part of the town, past houses (where there were dogs barking their support at Alfie!) Then, through a wooded part with a stream running alongside, through sand, over rocks and around bushes and trees, and grass.

Alfie did notice, though, that some of the dogs cheated, and were given a lift up with their humans. Alfie asked me if I would like a lift up, so we could run faster, but I declined, telling him we didn't want to cheat, and those dogs only had little legs!

The last kilometre took us back to the megapark, and we crossed the finish line, which was just inside the building where we had registered for the race.

Coming back after 4 kilometres!

The home straight!

Determined to beat that dachshund!

 We crossed the finish line and were given our medal - sorry, Alfie's medal, and I was handed a drink at the Coca Cola truck.

Yay, finished!

 Such a proud dog! He would have loved to do it all over again! Next year, Alfie!

Well done, Alfie!

Such a clever boy!

 Then, he drank a whole litre of water before we got back into the car for home!

He couldn't wait to get back home so he could tell Mango, Sid and Chilli all about how he won his medal!

Looking more like a cottage you would want to live in!

The front of the property had a tidy up this week. The pillars were given a coat of paint and the name, 'Brookway' was repainted. It just needs the number of the road, '1,' to be stuck above the name now, so people can find us more easily!

The outside has now been finished and it looks much cleaner and brighter.

We spent the weekend scrubbing floors.  Ouch, we both have sore hands and knees now!

Then, 'someone' spent a good hour trying to work out how this fitted together!

It was amusing watching it, though!

Sidney felt it was safer to sleep through it all!

We also managed to get the curtains back up at the windows, and we are having a double bed, fridge and microwave oven delivered today, so it should look more a cottage that can be lived in.

Whilst working outside yesterday, Steve came across this.  Apparently, it is known as a milkwood locust, or sometimes also called an African bush grasshopper.

Mango and Sidney were helping us clean out the chicken coops last weekend and Sidney decided she would hitch a lift to the compost heap! Well, you never know what might still be in all that straw!

Sidney did do well, though, as soon after her excursion to the compost heap, she found this little guy digging its way into the sandy earth. She didn't touch it but we removed it on to some land outside of our property! No doubt, it will find its way back soon!

Every time we wander around the garden, we find new blooms. Spring is such a lovely time of year! Everything is growing so fast!

It's getting there!

Things are starting to come together now in the cottage.

Shelves going up...

...on both sides of the kitchen

Newly painted decorative fire place back in its spot

Door and window frames being repainted

There are some lovely Spring colours around the garden at the moment. 

It's hard to believe that this Almond tree had no leaves on it at all just a month ago!

  The baby chicks want to go and play with the big chickens - but they're not quite big enough yet!

Day out to De Mond Nature Reserve

We desperately needed a day off from painting, tiling, banging and crashing, (and especially Steve, who is doing the majority of the work on the cottage at the moment) so on a bright, sunny morning last week, I got Steve out of bed and told him that he wasn't doing any work in the cottage that day - we were going out! I told him we were going to De Mond Nature Reserve, somewhere we kept talking about visiting but, somehow, it was somewhere that we never seemed to get around to actually visiting.

I packed a picnic, explained to the dogs that we would play with them when we got back, and set off. It is only about 40km away so it didn't take too long to get there, although the last part of it is on gravel road.

En route, we stopped to watch Blue Cranes displaying, and some very young lambs playing.

Blue Cranes

When we arrived at De Mond, we parked in the car park and walked into Reception to pay our entry fee and were pleasantly surprised when we discovered it was free entry to Cape Nature Reserves all week.

The first bird we saw upon entering the nature reserve  (we actually heard it before we saw it) was this Cape Eagle Owl, sitting in the tree outside Reception. Stunning! There are two of them, and we saw them both - just sitting there watching us!

Cape Eagle Owl

A short while later, we set off on our hike over the river bridge and into the dunes, and down towards the sea, past the Spring flowers, butterflies and other wildlife that had come out to enjoy the sunshine.

Cape Wagtail

Cape Grassbird

Yellow-billed Kite

Green-backed twit(cher)

After a few kilometres of walking along the beach, with not another person in sight, and just our own footsteps and some sea birds for company, we arrived at the river estuary and the lagoon.  We followed this back to the bridge, having completed a big loop.

Greater Flamingo

Greater Flamingo

Swift Tern

Pied Kingfisher with breakfast in its mouth

African Darter

White Fronted Plover

Sacred Ibis

Angulate Tortoises!

After lunch and a break to give our aching feet a rest, we had another short walk before heading back home. On the drive back, we stopped to look at these too.

Cattle Egret

Oribi

Puff Adder

Overall, we walked about 9kms. Not a bad day's exercise - and a lovely day out! Yes, the dogs did get a game when we got back!

De Mond Nature Reserve - we totally recommend it. If you want some peace and quiet, and a break from a busy life, it's definitely worth spending a few hours here. There is even a cottage to rent if you want to stay overnight.