Being a complete novice at this blogging game, I've no idea whether this will ever see the light of day.
Anyway, here goes for a quick re-cap of our first 10 days in South Africa.

Highlights so far:

1. Amazing, astonishing beauty of the countryside that surrounds us wherever we go. 'Countryside' is a rather drab, everyday sort of word really. The Table Mountain National Park which is always visible wherever we go in Cape Town and on the Penninsula isn't countryside in the English sense. There are mountains everywhere we look: Table Mountain, the Twelve Apostles, the Hottentot Hollands, Lion's Head and Devil's Peak. They are majestic, dramatic, and they govern our lives in as much as they dictate the weather locally.

2. The wildlife. We're a long way from the nearest safari park, but we've already seen African penguins, rock dassies, baboons and their babies, and Cape fur seals. Long billed ibis birds dig up our lawn for worms each morning. The girls are thrilled with every new sighting, especially the baboons which was a real treat, just as it was getting dark last night.

3. The welcome. We're staying in a cottage in the grounds of a bigger house for the first few weeks until we get settled. Charlie and his family couldn't be nicer, or more helpful and generous. The girls are loving the fact that Charlie has 3 horses and 3 dogs and a big garden to run around in. We were offered our pick of produce from the vegetable garden this morning, until the youngest and naughtiest pony gained access and ate much of the crop.

4. School and the way Lottie and Elizabeth are settling in. The girls have been amazing, taking to their new surrounding with barely a wobble. On day one the only person to shed a tear was me. They are making friends and getting to know their way round quite a complicated school site. Afrikaans and Xhosa are proving very challenging! African Music starts this week, which they are both looking forward to. Elizabeth has a new friend called Pagan. She introduced herself to me very politely, and told me her name then said ' and that's funny because my religion is pagan too.' Well well. I've never met a pagan before.

5. The upside down nature of the seasons, and the constantly changing weather. It has been bloody cold at times, especially in the evenings and early mornings. Having to scrape ice off the car windscreen last week at 6.55 am so that we could leave for school was particularly notable. But the weather doesn't stay the same for long and this weekend has been glorious with really warm sunshine. I love the fact that every mention of 'winter' and 'July' in the same sentence remind me that we're 6,000 miles away from home and that this really is the other end of the planet. Once you reach the end of the Cape Penninsula as we did yesterday, the next land is Antartica.

Right, time to try to post this and see what happens....