Good day, friends!
I desperately need to minimize my backlog of adventure sharing, so here’s another post filled with 2,193,492,845,908,240 things I’ve done over the past few months. OK, maybe that number is more like 4 or 5, but experiences multiply when you’re having fun, right?
Ok, clearly I’m making no sense. I’m not going to lie, I’m not in much of a mood to write right now, so just enjoy the visual stimulation 🙂
Brewing Beer (with a dash of yoga)
In packing for my move to South Africa back in August 2014, I heavily debated whether or not to bring my beer brewing equipment. I mean, it’s bulky, it’s heavy, and it’s sure as hell not cheap to ship bulky and heavy items overseas. So, I opted for “no.” But after being here for a couple of months, I really started to miss my favorite hobby. I did some research and concluded that I could re-buy most of the equipment I need for a reasonable price (give or take a few non-essential items, such as my amazing homemade wort chiller that cannot be reproduced in South Africa because there is not a hardware store in existence with coiled copper pipe or nylon tubing…) So I did some shopping and, initially, attempted to make my first “all-grain” batch (which omits the commonly used malt extracts). All-grain brewing is a very calculated process, and somewhere along the lines, I f@#$ed up. It could have been improper grain steeping temperature, miscalculated wort dilution, etc… Either way, the batch didn’t ferment and I had to chuck it.
So after this failed attempt at all-grain brewing, I figured I’d revert back to extract brewing for a few more batches before reattempting the pro method. I bought myself some ingredients to make a weissbier/hefeweizen, and embarked on a brewing journey one fine Saturday afternoon. I set my urn at the appropriate temperature, and let the grains steep for about an hour.
While the grains were steeping, I decided to drink a beer and do some yoga (as the two often go hand-in-hand).
…and take some pictures of my fine ingredients (yeast n’ hops!)
After the grains were finished steeping, I added the malt extract, brought my wort to a boil, and then added my hops. Boil time was 60 minutes.
Once the boil was complete, I let the wort cool and took a hydrometer (measures specific gravity of a liquid) reading. In brewing, you collect an initial reading prior to fermentation, then a final reading once fermentation is complete. Then you use the delta of these two numbers to calculate your ABV %. Starting gravity on this batch was roughly 1.046.
And then I added my yeast and sealed my fermenter…
… and attached a blow-off tube (useful for very active fermentations, otherwise your beer may essentially “blow up”).
After the initial few days of fermentation, the yeast activity dies down and bit and you can replace the blow-off tube with an airlock. The bubbling out the top of the airlock signifies that the yeast was still pretty active!
And after about 2 weeks, I checked the specific gravity (final gravity = 1.0085) and concluded that it was ready for bottling (sorry, no pictures of bottling). The ABV is calculated by multiplying the difference of your original and final gravities by 131.25.
OG = 1.046, FG = 1.0085
OG-FG*131.25 = 4.9%.
Not bad for a Weissbier!
I suppose I’ve just given you a very high-level tutorial in brewing beer. You’re welcome.
PS – the beer turned out pretty good. Definitely not my best batch (nothing beats my Heady Topper clone!), but very enjoyable none the less. I named it “Chewie the Hefferweizen” after my recently deceased and obese feline daughter, Chewie (R.I.P. my sweet lil’ fatso <3)
Hartbeespoort Dam
My friend Liaan and I had been toying with the idea of taking a day trip up to the Hartbeespoort Dam just northwest of Johannesburg. Well, when my Uncle Chris and his wife Lindi invited me to join them on a trip up there, I invited Liaan to join, and off we went. The area is gorgeous — tons of iron rich pseudo-mountains and “koppies” (little peaks in Afrikaans) everywhere, and the dam itself is a beautiful crystal blue color. We first stopped at the Old Windmill Restaurant for lunch, then strolled around a “farmer’s market” type of place, where I stocked up on nuts and dried fruits (which are CRAZY expensive in the grocery stores here.) Then we made our way over to the dam and just explored for a while. We topped the day off with a visit to a craft market. Didn’t buy anything except a whopping serving of lemon sorbet to cool off. Overall, a super fun and relaxing afternoon!
The Old Windmill Restaurant
I don’t know. I thought it looked cool….
A creative way of utilizing old tires… Sustainably beautiful!
Overlooking the Hartbeespoort Dam.
Uncle Chris and Aunt Lindi 🙂
Liaan and me.
Ezemvelo Camping
Ah yes, my very first South Africa camping trip. We went to a beautiful nature reserve just NE of Johannesburg called Ezemvelo. Lovely campsites, superb hiking, and allegedly some good bouldering spots (had I known I would have brought my climby climb shoes…) It was a wonderful weekend full of Brits, Brazilians, Americans, Belgians, French, and of course, our one token South African dude 🙂 The camp itself was super cushy — drive-in campsites, “ablution” facilities (aka bathrooms and showers), electrical hookups, braai facilities, etc… Not exactly true camping if you ask me, but we had a fabulous time none the less…
We went on a nice 6-7k hike throughout the reserve as well. Quite a hot day and very little shade, but it was amazing. We topped off the hike with a swim in a crocodile and hippo infested river. Luckily, we only managed to piss off 4 bathing hippos, and were also later required to outrun a large 10 foot crocodile, but the adrenaline rush was totally worth it! Despite this, as well as getting slightly lost on the hike back, we each managed to arrive back at our campsite in 1 piece.
…Oh and just kidding about the crocs & hippos.
First night of camping shenanigans.
Apparently several of us have good taste in hiking shoes…
One of several warthog burrows we saw along the hike.
Trail markers.
The “Abbey Road” photo of Ezemvelo.
La vista from Mushroom Rock.
The croc and hippo infested river. Oh wait….
Very unique rock structures and bright color lichens.
Those of you who know me know that I have quite a knack for spotting mating insects… These appear to be “Lycidae” or “net winged beetles.”
The worlds tiniest bonfire!
…Shenanigans #2.
“Would you like to try some of my smoked meat log?”
Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe and Zambia)
Now this was another truly remarkable experience. Growing up in the NE United States, I had always heard about Niagara Falls being the most spectacular waterfalls in the world (albeit not necessarily the highest). Well… Niagara ain’t got NOTHIN’ on Vic Falls. Holy shit!
I went there with a group of friends/colleagues (I think there were about 12 of us) back in February. We stayed at a lovely little hostel called Victoria Falls Backpackers. See pictures below:
Inside my cozy little chalet.
And outside my cozy little chalet 🙂
The backpackers’ “Bush Cafe.” A lovely little spot for braai and booze.
Not the finest brew in all the land, but hey, “When in Rome,” right?
As soon as we arrived, we dropped our luggage off at the backpackers, downed a Zambezi lager, and headed straight over to the park to soak in the beauty of the Falls (literally).
Majestic!
So powerful! Definitely wouldn’t want to get caught in the current on that side…
“The hills are aliveeeeeee with the soundddd of…… waterfalls?”
Dude. It just kept getting more and more amazing as we traversed the length of the falls.
At the last lookout point… which I have appropriately dubbed “The Saturation Station.”
The bridge crossing between Zimbabwe and Zambia. And while I’m giving things nicknames, let’s call this “The ZimZam.” Lots of people bungee jump off of this bad boy every day. Not me, no sir.
Slightly outdated yet visually appealing billboard.
Baboons everywhere!
After moseying around the falls for some time, we headed straight to cross the border into Zambia for a sundowner at the Royal Livingston Hotel.
Welcome to Zambia, where you are very likely to contract malaria! Enjoy your stay 🙂
The Royal Livingston was breathtaking. It literally had zebras just walking around hotel grounds near the deck and the swimming pool. It’s an obscenely fancy and luxurious hotel, and having just come from hiking around Vic Falls National Park in sopping wet clothing, we were slightly under-dressed for the occasion. Regardless, the staff were happy to over-look our sodden appearances for the fact that we were about to contribute immensely to their net revenue for the day (at roughly $12 per drink, I imagine they made bank from our group of alcoholics!)
Oh you know, just hangin’ out with some zebras… NBD.
Can you say “African Sunset?”
The next day was, hands down, one of the most exhilarating days of my life. Several of us woke up early and made our way down to the banks of the Zambezi river for a whitewater rafting experience. I had never gone whitewater rafting, and I have to admit, I was terrified. Water is a powerful thing, and god forbid I fall out of the raft and hit my head on a rock or get sucked into whirlpool or stranded far behind the raft with no rescue… Who knows, anything could have happened!
We went during the high season, which means the water is higher than usual and the rapids aren’t as insane as they are during the low season. So this alleviated my fears a bit, but I was still apprehensive until we conquered our first rapid. After that, I realized I had nothing to worry about, and the trip was all fun and games from that point on. No one fell out of the raft at all except on one rapid. And on this particular rapid, I was the only person who managed to stay in (probably because I was holding on for dear life the entire time.)
I wish I had some pictures of the rafting to share, but it’s not recommended that you bring anything valuable with you on the raft for fear of it falling out along the way. That being said, however, I did have my GoPro strapped to my chest the whole time 🙂 Unfortunately, I’m too incompetent to edit videos (I’ve tried now like 8,454 times and I suck) but I did manage to export a slow-mo clip of the group during the wipeout. Find it on YouTube here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_u4J_MsOI7k&feature=youtu.be
Warthogs moseying about in a residential neighborhood of Zimbabwe.
Vultures waiting to scavenge their next meal.
View of a beautiful watering hole from a random hotel we stopped at for a sundowner drink. And by random, I really mean not strategically located — at all. We had to hike through the bush and make our way down a very inconspicuous “road” to find this place. Totes worth it though!
Evening entertainment at Vic Falls Backpackers.
So long, VF Backpackers! Until next time 🙂
And so long, Vic Falls. You were amazing ❤
OK so the rest of this post is just randomness. Some pictures below for your viewing entertainment.
Me handling what I have NOW identified to be a CMR Beetle, or “Blister Beetle,” named for their defensive secretion of a blistering agent called cantharidin. My fingers survived.
The crag at Bronkhorstspruit. Some good climbing (note: that is not me)
More of the Bronkies crag.
Some Joburg sightseeing — Arts on Main marketplace in Maboneng Precinct.
The world’s largest serving of the world’s most delicious gelato. Good thing my friend Elke had me to help finish that beast! 🙂
One of my favorite Joburg breweries!
Red bus tour on a beautiful sunny Johannesburg afternoon.
Braamfontein — the hipster locale of Johannesburg.
More of Hipsterfontein — near Neighbourgoods Market.
Johannesburg Municipal Building. Somewhat ordinary, somewhat unique. I liked it.
I came home one day to find this ENORMOUS rain spider chillin’ on my counter. I contemplated peacefully removing this monster from my home by non-harmful means… but then I imagined it coming back into my home and crawling into my mouth while I was sleeping… so I killed it 😦
Another MASSIVE creature invading my home. This cockroach was probably the size of Shaquille O’Neal’s big toe. I happily Doomed the shit out of this one, too.
And some welcomed creatures! An adorable little gecko on my front door ❤
And last but not least — Me on a three-way Skype call with Mum/Dad and sister Kelly, and then brother Kurt Skyped in through Kelly’s phone. Only missing Kyle in this little gem. I ❤ my family!
avontuurjoburg 