Tuesday, 9 July 2013
Day 16 of Batty tour
This is it.....We've almost reached the end of our Batty Journey, but we still have a whole lot to do!!!
Another beautiful, warm day in London, and off we were to fly the London Eye.
We had another opportunity of a 4D-experience, this time based on the sights/ views of the London Eye. This time we had smoke, and bubbles and "snow".
We boarded our pod and through the half hour ride saw just how big London is. We recognised sights we'd visited and made the most of this sky-view by snapping pics of one another and the great view.
Safely back on the South Bank we made a quick stop for some ice cream and then headed off for our last few hours of London shopping :)
We met up back near the hotel in our Russell Square Park, ate our lunch and chilled.
4 o'clock seemed to roll on really quickly and before we knew it we were boarding our shuttle bus to Heathrow.
With sad hearts we say goodbye to this vibrant city and this amazing country. We have loved every minute of our trip. And with happy hearts we look forward to seeing our parents, siblings,
children (for Mr and Mrs Nel) and other family members.
Day 15 of Batty Tour
Madam Tussaud’s was an eagerly anticipated attraction by
all. And the queues were worth it!
It was so delightful to see the Batty learners admiring the
first few wax models we saw. You can imagine that because the wax models looked
so life-like, the battys would stand by waiting for the model to move or blink.
A couple of pokes and prods reassured a few girls (Charity, Kholofelo and
Samia) that the models were in fax not real people.
We made our way through the different themed rooms, posing
with our favourite look-alikes. And then we arrived at “Scream”. We were all
macho going into this ghost tunnel but as we moved through it, we grabbed onto
one another, screaming like girls all the way out.
And then the cherry on top of this visit to Madam Tussaud’s
had to be the 4D theatre experience. Moving into the dome theatre wearing our
4D glasses, you could feel the excitement. ….
Splinters of glass flying at you,
water from a near fountain splashing on you and Hulk’s incredible power blowing
you away were a few highlights of a brilliant never-to-be-forgotten experience.
Day 14 of Batty tour
Free day!!!
A day to explore, to get lost, to laugh, to take pictures, to
shop, to enjoy London!
Day 13 of Batty Tour
Bring on London!
We enjoyed a hop off/hop on bus ride through London today.
The bus ride took us past all the big sights of the city, and with audio
commentary gave us a good insight into London.
We made our way to Tower Bridge and then jumped off to walk
to Tower Pier where we boarded the cruise boat for a ride up the Thames River.
As we came to end of our cruise we docked at Westminster Pier, with Big Ben
towering above us. We jumped on
another bus to take us on to Buckingham Palace.
We spent the rest of the day getting lost and exploring
London along the way.
Day 12 of Batty tour
Another travel day for the Batty team. With sad hearts we
bade farewell to the great town of Linlithgow and its wonderful hospitality.
We got a train from Linlithgow to Glasgow Queens Street,
with a quick walk on to Glasgow Central Station to board our train to London.
The train ride was 4, 5 hours!!! We all used this journey time for some much
needed recharging, to fill up our energy tanks for our London leg of the tour.
On arrival in London, we were taken aback by how busy it
was. The station, the streets and our hotel were all jammed packed with people.
Once we’d booked in at the hotel, we grabbed some supper and
had a chilled evening.
Day 11 of Batty tour
The morning started with one of our Batty members being down
and out for most of the day. Although we were short of one person we kept our
spirits high throughout our shopping trip to Glasgow. As usual the boys and
girls split up and for the rest of our visit it stayed that way until it was
time to meet up at the train station and leave. After our wee train ride we
convened at Low Port Centre were we made plans for our Burns Supper and
Scottish dance class.
Scottish dancing really exposed the musically inclined and
the people with two left feet. We all came in with predetermined mindsets under
the assumption that it would be easy but within the first ten minutes the
instructors had us sweating like dogs.
We learnt and performed a variety of traditional dances such as the
Gay-Gordons and the Boston Two-Step. To sum it all up the dances involved a lot
of jumping, partner switching, polkaing and laughing (A.K.A. a very hilarious
intense aerobics class).
Our Burns Supper was almost derailed when it was discovered
that one of our members had forgotten her newly bought goods at Glasgow train
station but thanks to the amazing trust system that Scotland has the goods were
handed in to the authorities and waiting for its owner. With that out of our
minds we got dressed to the nines and congregated in the dining hall for the
commencement of the Burns Supper. We were treated to a wonderful menu of food
including haggis. The haggis stabbing ceremony was preformed by Mr Nel and
after the meal the Battys performed The Mans, The Gowd written by world renown
poet Robert Burns (whom the dinner is named after). The most challenging part
of this apart from us not understanding the poem was reciting it in a Scottish
accent. It’s safe to say that as a team we sucked but nonetheless it was
hilarious. We forgot lines, could
not pronounce words and our accents were something else…
We ended the day with a stroll through the Linlithgow palace
gardens and a photo shoot in our formal wear.
By Boipelo
Sunday, 7 July 2013
Day 10 of Batty Tour
Today we spent our morning on the beautiful Loch of
Linlithgow.
Kitted out in waterproof suits, we loaded the kayaks and
headed down to the loch. After some time getting used to rowing in our the
kayaks, we headed across the loch for activities. The first being a game of tag.
The next few minutes were very interesting to see you could outsmart (and out
row) the rest of the pack. Boipelo did well to outlast being caught, and was
announced the winner.
The kayaking activities were enjoyed by all, especially when
we had to “raft” and two of us had to move across boats. By the end of the day,
everyone was wet either from falling in the loch, or being pulled into the
loch.
After lunch we headed to the climbing-wall hall, which the
guys discovered was a basketball court too. Needless to say, they worked their
magic and managed to book a scheduled time for them to play this evening.
The climbing wall was great fun! We mastered the skills of
wall climbing, and with a little boost managed to get everyone up the wall.
When our instructor called the last few minutes, we scrambled to get in a few
more climbs.
Today was a lekker day!
Monday, 1 July 2013
Day 9 of Batty Tour 2013
After a defeated or victorious sleep after the match between Brazil and Spain, we head over to explore the way of life in the town of Stirlling.
We visited StirlingCastle, finding ourselves between ancient walls and ancient graveyards with a beautiful view of the land of the Scots. After our cultural top-up we walked along the streets singing High School Musical backtracks and getting lost, running in all sorts of directions.
Stirlling is a calm and chilly town, with a profound tale of struggle and the essence of Scotland. As we rounded off our day in Stirlling and seated ourselves on the train back to Linlithgow. we thought the day was over, BUT our day has not ended.
After a power nap, we set off to indulgein and be captivatedby the history of Scotland. We headed up to LinlithgowPalace, where we found ourselves playing hide and seek around the castle walls and searching for the hints of a castle quiz.
By Elaine
Day 8 Of Batty Tour 2013
Church!
We visited St Michael’s church today in Linlithgow. The sermon was uplifting and the people were warm and welcoming. To our surprise they played us an African praise song, which took our spirits to a whole new level.
Edinburgh Castle!
Going through the castle was honestly breathtaking. Seeing the honors(the crowns) made the whole experience even more special. After viewing the castle we got to wander around the town and ‘do our own thaaaang’. SHOPPING was one of the highlights of the day, not only did we get MAJOR discounts we also got the most fashion forward clothing anyone could ever dream of. From what we saw thee most popular trend happens to be colouring your hair, from crazy colours like orange to laid-back colours like faded purple. The funniest part of the day was trying to find our way back to the train station while struggling to carry shopping bags (made out of paper) in the rain and having to pick up the clothes which had fallen on the wet paving, we found ourselves carrying the handle of the bag without the bag itself LOL!! Overall, the day was FUN-DUBEE-DOUZEE!!!!
By Charity.
Day 7 of Batty Tour 2013
Day 7 of Batty Tour 2013
Today was a travel day. We left Lagganlia, and got the train from Avimore to Linlithgow. The train ride lasted about 3 hours, and then we finally arrived at our next “home”.
MrsNel had us all believing we’d need to walk kilometers to our accommodation from the train station, when it is really around the corner J
In the afternoon, we decide to head to the Peel (the grassed area around the Loch) in Linlithgow. To our delight, the “Historic Scotland” group was hosting a jousting day. As we strolled through the crowds we got to see some role-play of Scottish history in the beautiful setting of the Linlithgow palace grounds.
Our last stop before heading back to Lowport Centre was Tesco for the legendary Minstrels.
Saturday, 29 June 2013
Day 6 of Batty Tour tested the endurance, the willpower, and the amount of enthusiasm our already tired brains could manage to . Day 5 was a day jam-packed with ooo's and ahhh's even yippie's(as one jumped off one of the cliffs into the freezing water), so Day 6 had to live up to the previous day's awesomeness.
And without any doubts, it did! Waking up once again and getting into the transport only to experience a rather long and treacherous ride(by our beloved spaniard) drenched our fading breakfast energy immensely, nonetheless a long awaited press of the brakes by the spaniard not only signalled an opening door, but fresh air and a wee walk. Upon the wee walk we came across a lock at Fort Augustus(a lock being the system of transportation which is used through levelling water at certain heights solely to get boats through the town's river). It was an amazing sight indeed and it had supplied us with renewed hope and vigour for the day to come.
Back into the transport we went and "RAFA"(short for Rafael) - our esteemed driver - got us onto the road again. The break we experienced, eating the lunch we'd received earlier got us into full gear. Next Stop: the Urquhart Castle! Beautiful and Majestic was the short film which we'd seen before even seeing the actual castle. After the film had finished the curtains which had been tightly closed together had opened, the lights turned on and... The Magnificent Castle lay surrounded by the Loch Ness River. It lay ruined and its corners incongruent. We enjoyed a few moments of fame as we positioned ourselves near the hall of the castle to construct a loch ness monster lookalike - while the tourists exiting and entering the castle were amazed by the relentless attempt we had made at constructing the lookalike.
After much sightseeing of the loch ness river - at the top of the castle - came to an abrupt end, we were on the road once again! Now, to Inverness! As we entered Inverness, we were told to return to the transport after an hour and a half, because we were allowed to go shopping for whatever we desired at nearby shopping centres at the various malls in Inverness. It was amazing! The stores were quite different to the ones at home. I even hoped to see a Woolworths store there, but I saw a KFC...ATLEAST!!! We made a stop at clothing stores and shoe stores. Obviously experiencing a bit of shock by the shoes which were on display at one of the stores made us stop, we decided to enter that very store. The sales on the shoes gave us even more reason to go and purchase one or two pairs, but attempts at converting the prices of the shoes to rands sank our hearts incredibly!! We felt extremely sombre, but the thought of being on this tour consoled us because we knew that we'd spend a pound or even 60 pounds to get what we desired most.
Our free time had expired and we returned to the transport. Arrived back at Sgorans Lodge quite quickly, through the many shortcuts our RAFA had taken. WHAT A DAY!
by Laud-Beau
And without any doubts, it did! Waking up once again and getting into the transport only to experience a rather long and treacherous ride(by our beloved spaniard) drenched our fading breakfast energy immensely, nonetheless a long awaited press of the brakes by the spaniard not only signalled an opening door, but fresh air and a wee walk. Upon the wee walk we came across a lock at Fort Augustus(a lock being the system of transportation which is used through levelling water at certain heights solely to get boats through the town's river). It was an amazing sight indeed and it had supplied us with renewed hope and vigour for the day to come.
Back into the transport we went and "RAFA"(short for Rafael) - our esteemed driver - got us onto the road again. The break we experienced, eating the lunch we'd received earlier got us into full gear. Next Stop: the Urquhart Castle! Beautiful and Majestic was the short film which we'd seen before even seeing the actual castle. After the film had finished the curtains which had been tightly closed together had opened, the lights turned on and... The Magnificent Castle lay surrounded by the Loch Ness River. It lay ruined and its corners incongruent. We enjoyed a few moments of fame as we positioned ourselves near the hall of the castle to construct a loch ness monster lookalike - while the tourists exiting and entering the castle were amazed by the relentless attempt we had made at constructing the lookalike.
After much sightseeing of the loch ness river - at the top of the castle - came to an abrupt end, we were on the road once again! Now, to Inverness! As we entered Inverness, we were told to return to the transport after an hour and a half, because we were allowed to go shopping for whatever we desired at nearby shopping centres at the various malls in Inverness. It was amazing! The stores were quite different to the ones at home. I even hoped to see a Woolworths store there, but I saw a KFC...ATLEAST!!! We made a stop at clothing stores and shoe stores. Obviously experiencing a bit of shock by the shoes which were on display at one of the stores made us stop, we decided to enter that very store. The sales on the shoes gave us even more reason to go and purchase one or two pairs, but attempts at converting the prices of the shoes to rands sank our hearts incredibly!! We felt extremely sombre, but the thought of being on this tour consoled us because we knew that we'd spend a pound or even 60 pounds to get what we desired most.
Our free time had expired and we returned to the transport. Arrived back at Sgorans Lodge quite quickly, through the many shortcuts our RAFA had taken. WHAT A DAY!
by Laud-Beau
Friday, 28 June 2013
Day 5 of the Batty Tour was filled with wet and trailing adventures. Starting from the treacherous rapids of a rocky river, and ending off with an adrenaline pumping bicycle ride through narrow, steep and muddy terrain.
The first activity we as the batty group encountered was Gorge-Walking. More than it just being a wet walk up a rapid river, it was a ice cold, muscle pulling, current fighting adventure. Many people thought black people couldn't swim... They were right. Okay well, the Batty group did extra-ordinarily well, swimming against a strong current, sliding in between huge rocks, jumping off high cliffs plummeting into the cold water. This is one activity that is not soon to be forgotten.
Then we started with the bicycle activity, I remember riding on a narrow bridge over an entire dam. Riding under trees, between thick bushes and the edges of a steep ledge. By the end of the activity we were tired, and beat up, but I was willing to do it again. Every single Batty learner will remember this day, each having a different story.
Joshua Harris
The first activity we as the batty group encountered was Gorge-Walking. More than it just being a wet walk up a rapid river, it was a ice cold, muscle pulling, current fighting adventure. Many people thought black people couldn't swim... They were right. Okay well, the Batty group did extra-ordinarily well, swimming against a strong current, sliding in between huge rocks, jumping off high cliffs plummeting into the cold water. This is one activity that is not soon to be forgotten.
Then we started with the bicycle activity, I remember riding on a narrow bridge over an entire dam. Riding under trees, between thick bushes and the edges of a steep ledge. By the end of the activity we were tired, and beat up, but I was willing to do it again. Every single Batty learner will remember this day, each having a different story.
Joshua Harris
Thursday, 27 June 2013
Wednesday, 26 June 2013
Day 4 of Batty tour 2013
What a day!
Our activities included:
- Dry slope skiing: fun was had by all! All our guys mastered the slope and eventually skiied from the
top of the slope and Elaine did very well to represent the girls at the top of the slope. The other girls
enjoyed the skiing activity and we all had some good laughs at all the falls.
- Abseiling: Batty tour is not just about seeing the world, it is also about seeing ourselves. Today one of
our Battys faced her fear of heights and abseiled down what must have been 30m of rock face.
- Ruins: On our trip back home from abseiling, Raphael suggested this sight. We made a stop and
soaked up the beauty of the surroundings.
- Frank Bruce sculpture trail: The teachers surprised the kids with an afternoon hike, which took them
into the world of art. But a special kind of art. Frank Bruce did sculptures of wood and granite, and
along the trail we saw a number of his works. Walking back home at 20:45, the sky is blue and the
sun is shining.
What a day!
Our activities included:
- Dry slope skiing: fun was had by all! All our guys mastered the slope and eventually skiied from the
top of the slope and Elaine did very well to represent the girls at the top of the slope. The other girls
enjoyed the skiing activity and we all had some good laughs at all the falls.
- Abseiling: Batty tour is not just about seeing the world, it is also about seeing ourselves. Today one of
our Battys faced her fear of heights and abseiled down what must have been 30m of rock face.
- Ruins: On our trip back home from abseiling, Raphael suggested this sight. We made a stop and
soaked up the beauty of the surroundings.
- Frank Bruce sculpture trail: The teachers surprised the kids with an afternoon hike, which took them
into the world of art. But a special kind of art. Frank Bruce did sculptures of wood and granite, and
along the trail we saw a number of his works. Walking back home at 20:45, the sky is blue and the
sun is shining.
Day 3 of Batty Tour 2013
After a wonderful time in York, it was time to set off to our next destination.
As we made our way back to the train station, we did so at quite a pace as we did not want to miss our train! Imagine 14 speed-walkers, backpack and luggage in tow...... we must have been quite the sight :)
We spent the next 5 or so hours in transit to Kingussie, in the Scottish Highlands. In Kingussie, we were fetched by our team guide, Raphael (and you must say it with a SPANISH accent, as he is Spanish), and taken to Lagganlia, where we'd be staying for the next few days.
Lagganlia is situated in the Cairngorms National Park, where there is no cellphone signal, but there is wi-fi! ;)
It felt so good to be "home" for the next few days.
After a wonderful time in York, it was time to set off to our next destination.
As we made our way back to the train station, we did so at quite a pace as we did not want to miss our train! Imagine 14 speed-walkers, backpack and luggage in tow...... we must have been quite the sight :)
We spent the next 5 or so hours in transit to Kingussie, in the Scottish Highlands. In Kingussie, we were fetched by our team guide, Raphael (and you must say it with a SPANISH accent, as he is Spanish), and taken to Lagganlia, where we'd be staying for the next few days.
Lagganlia is situated in the Cairngorms National Park, where there is no cellphone signal, but there is wi-fi! ;)
It felt so good to be "home" for the next few days.
Sunday, 23 June 2013
Last bag check
Do you have these essentials????
- Toothbrush
- Cellphone charger
- Your ticket and passport.....
Then you're set... see you soon!
Saturday, 22 June 2013
What a journey it has been up to now!
We've counted down the days...... but now we've reached the point where we're down to HOURS!!!
Yes, in little over 23 hours we'll be meeting at OR Tambo International airport with big smiles and hopefully not so heavy bags, ready to head off on the most exciting part of our Batty2013 journey.
I don't think any of us can wait!!!
We've counted down the days...... but now we've reached the point where we're down to HOURS!!!
Yes, in little over 23 hours we'll be meeting at OR Tambo International airport with big smiles and hopefully not so heavy bags, ready to head off on the most exciting part of our Batty2013 journey.
I don't think any of us can wait!!!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)