The night before...

20th March 2011 – we can hardly believe that tonight is the last night we will be staying in Durban, South Africa for somewhere up to 2 years.
As a bit of history – about two years ago Nick and I were sitting at our bar at the flat looking out at the lights of Durban discussing what our future could look like. We love to travel and knew that we needed to get out of Durban and see as much of the world while we were young without responsibilities and happy to rough it!! It was at this point that we decided a trip through our own continent would be the best place to start...and there started the idea of: ‘Africa to Anywhere’. From that day our expenses were tightened and the saving began. To be honest, we did have a huge debate about whether we should use a 4x4 or motorbike...and decided that as Ted Simon says – travelling on bike you feel that much closer to the world you are experiencing. And that is exactly what this trip is about – experiencing other cultures, different environments and (of course) doing it all as cheaply as possible. Before we knew it we had 2 Kawasaki KLR650’s and from there the planning began...and here we sit with our panniers packed, our Durban life packed up and butterflies in our stomach!
Nick and I both finished work by the 5th March 2011, and the last 2 weeks have been the craziest getting all the last bits of paperwork ready. Not to mention organising the well equipped medical aid kit, tool kit and all the other bits and bobs we feel a necessity for the trip. Below are a few pics of us boxing up our lives, kitting out the bikes and packing for the journey.

On Friday, 18th March 2011 we had our farewell at Hops...very fitting because we have both spent so much time there having a party with good friends and meeting new friends each night. It was such a lovely evening catching up with everyone and showing off our bikes and all the hard work we have put into getting them ready for this adventure. Thank you to everyone that was able to make it, and for supporting us in our raffle to earn some funds for the first leg of the trip 



Tomorrow is departure date...we are going to be leaving from outside Lorna’s house (Nick’s mom) at 8am where we will take a slow drive down to our first destination – Kokstad . We’ll be staying with family that we saw 2 years ago during our trip to Baviaanskloof.
We cannot thank everyone enough for all the support and help we have received during these planning stages. It has been a long time coming, and we are bubbling with excitement to hit the road and start “Livin the Dream’!
Best wishes to everyone.