Pretty Damn Fine

Shew. So much for a do nothing duvet-weekend! Well that did not happen ... it was a busy one. But a good one. Even tho my anxiety kicked in last night again as soon as I put my book down :(

Friday was awesome. Left work a little bit early to head to Joburg Zoo with The Trucker and his niece for a Moonlight Tour. Now as you may know, one of my favourite experiences was the Night Zoo in Singapore. So I was super keen to give the Joburg Zoo a whirl in the dark. I can't actually remember the last time I even went to Joburg Zoo, but I see they have a new Amazon Exhibit open, so I suspect we'll go in the next while.

Anyhoo. We had to get there by 17h15, which can be a little tricky in Friday afternoon so there was some waiting around while people arrived. And then we headed off on a tractor ride. First stop was the tigers. They have 2 on loan from Pretoria Zoo apparently, one of them is a white tiger who we got to see up nice and close (he was lying right next to the glass window). And then the camels who seemed to know the guides had apples and carrots for them.



And then we hopped back on and headed over to the lions. This was cool because usually they are pretty immobile when you see then and since it was just after sunset, the male was wandering around roaring. So awesome! Did you know you can sleep over at the zoo?

And then we went to the nocturnal animals. Which was pretty cool. Unfortunately I can't remember everything we saw, but the highlight for me was definitely the Porcupines! They have like 20 of them and they were all out and about and bristling at each other. And there was a cute little one. So cool and unusual to see. We saw Genets, Caracal, Red Panda, a cute little Fox-like creature with huge ears, BG the Honey Badger ... lots of cats.



After that they made us a bonfire and we got hot chocolate / coffee / tea and marshmallows to roast. What fun :) Should've taken some snacks for along the way, but the tour ends at about 8pm so we headed to Rocomama's for dinner afterwards.

Unfortunately that was crazy busy (we were 4th on the waiting list), so we ordered take-aways instead and headed home to eat.

On Saturday we had a bit of a lazy morning and then a bit of a rush to get to Puppy Training on time. Shew, that has improved so much! (I suspect because the next group of newbs started this week, so they can yell at someone else - haha). Pepper is doing so well and growing so much! Shew. Such a cute pupsicle. But photo-taking has slowed significantly ... it always does in winter.

And then after a late brunch at home, and a fairly relaxing afternoon, we headed to Mozambik at 4:30pm to meet up with one of The Trucker's friends to watch the rugby. Haha, and he is now dating a girl I did Boot Camp with. Small world.

After the rugby, we stayed at Mozambik for one of the SCM birthday's. I don't even remember the last time I went to this restaurant, it was shortly after it opened, I think? (Doesn't even seem to have gotten a mention on the blog, but I am pretty sure Varen and I tried it). After this experience, I'd definitely go back.

The Trucker and I shared 2 starters: a chorizo in creamy sweet chili sauce (a special), which was amazeballs. Seriously, I'd go back just for this! And their Prawn Bilene, also delish and more rich and creamy sauce! Which meant that by the time our main (Trinchado) arrived, I was pretty full. Luckily, The Trucker had only ordered one for us to share and he had to eat most of it. All this while sipping on R&Rs! Definitely a good evening and they handled our tables 25 (!) well.

And bizarrely, after that, we ended up at Red Room, dancing for a few hours. Haha, blast from the past.

On Sunday we slept in till 09h30! Bliss. I don't think we've got home after midnight in ages. Yes, clearly, old. And it's cold! Haha. Then we had breakfast at Doppio before going grocery shopping. The Trucker's cricket was canceled, so I dragged him jeans shopping with me. I am feeling super fat again (because I am) so need new jeans. But there are few things more soul destroying than clothes shopping when you feel like this. I generally end up depressed. But I did buy a pair ... even tho it didn't make me feel any better about myself :( Gym starts again today! #sigh

And then we had a relaxing afternoon around the house, okay he napped. And we tried to take Pepper for a walk, after hearing the thunder, we decided to leave earlier than planned, but it was pouring before we even go to the park!

The Trucker walked her the block home in the rain, which she loved. And she doesn't seem at all phased by the thunder, which is good :)

Gypsy and Pepper are playing so nicely these days. Pepper still annoys Gyps sometimes, but mostly they are pretty cute rough-and-tumbling together :)

For dinner I made a Chipolata Paella and heated up some gluhwein. Damn. The Paella is so easy (which I love in a recipe!) and yummy. They said the recipe made 4 portions, but we got 6 large portions from it.

Pretty superb for a weekend, actually :)