Charlie Davidson and Shona Black

Edinburgh - Scotland

3 April 2006

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I met Shona and Charlie at Avanti guesthouse and after becoming acquainted over the breakfast table we set out on  City tour + visit to the township of Kayamandi.

We did a short city tour and ended the experience by stopping in at the Mount Nelson Hotel for tea also visited the ballroom of the hotel.

On our way to Stellenbosch we stopped in at Beyerskloof winefarm where we tasted Pinotage

We visited Lily at her home in Kayamandi where she told Shona and Charlie her life story

Lily, Shona and Charlie next to Lily''s famous stove.

Outside Lily's home with the kids in her neighbourhood

Shona and Nandi inside Nosandile's shack home

Shona handing out the presents that her cousin Gillian Morris had sent over for the kids at Nosandile's home

A group photo outside Nosandile's shack home

Shona, Nosandile and her boyfriend Johannes

The happy couple with Nosandile showing off the bag that Gillian sent over that held all the gifts

Happy kids with many gifts

We moved on to Zone J where we dished out apples for trash and then got caught up in a light rain as can be seen from the above photo.

We travelled back to Cape Town and visited the Golden Jewel restaurant for a Chinese dinner

4 April 2006

Cape Peninsula

We started our Cape Peninsula tour with a stop at Muizenberg.

Charlie and Shona at Just Nuisance's statue

At the penguin colony on Boulders Beach

At Cape Point

Shona and Charlie at the most south western point of Africa

On top of Chapmans Peak

Sunset at Llandudno

Please click here to watch a video of the Charlie performing sabrage at Llandudno
Please do not download this file unless you have a broad band connection

Shona phoning her sister from Llandudno

We ended our journey at the Africa Cafe where we had a wonderful African feast

Please click here to see a video of the Africa Cafe staff giving Charle & Shona a rousing Cape Town sendoff
Please do not download this file unless you have a broad band connection

Shona and Charlie were a great couple to tour with. Charlie had lots to offer in response to Cape Town stories by telling me similar stories from his home city town Edinburgh. Shona just went with the flow and enjoyed herself immensely. All in all it was a great ride for the three of us and we had much fun enjoying the many marvels that Cape Town offers visitors. My thanks goes to Gillian who put Shona and me together to set up this journey which overall turned out to be a huge pleasure for us all

THANKS A TON
CHARLIE AND SHONA

Received 7 April

Hi Selwyn

Very many thanks for your kind words - we had an entirely marvellous trip to 
SA - all thanks to you for putting together our itinerary and suggesting the 
wonderful places we visited and stayed.

You know we had reservations about our visit to Kayamandi, simply from the 
point of view that we were uncomfortable about "looking through the goldfish 
bowl" but it was, quite simply, the highlight of our trip. I read in 
Gillian's e-mail to you (also on your website) her comments about the rich lives the people have who live there and we were able to see it with our own eyes. It 
was also a very humbling and thought-provoking experience but the "ubuntu" 
was all around us and we could not have received a kinder - or indeed more 
enthusiastic - welcome. That was a real privilege and we have already shared 
it with our families.

Our entire trip was magnificent - having waited 25 years to fulfil an ambition, Charlie was certainly not disappointed in any way. For us both it was an experience of a lifetime.

I have some good pictures too - a really good one of Liesl and will arrange 
to get copies for Gillian and Leigh - and also a good one of our 'model' who 
was determined to pose for us outside Lily's house.

Our families had already looked at your website and seen our pictures and 
the videos by the time we got home and so knew how much fun we had in the two days we spent with you. 

Thank you again for all you did for us - your passion is clear for all to 
see. When you do get the chance to visit Scotland, please remember to give us 
a shout if there's anything at all we might be able to help with. Charlie 
has already been looking at some info on Alexander Selkirk and will send this 
on, together with a picture of the statue when we find it !

We're back to work Monday and will need the weekend to come to terms with 
the dramatic difference in temperature. You might complain about the wind in 
Cape Town but it's nothing to what we have here - particularly when the 
temperature is closer to 0 degreess Celsius!!

Hamba kahle to you.

Shona and Charlie

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