Mozambique - Sept 2018

We settled into Casa Rex with a beautiful view of the Indian ocean, nearby islands and coastline.  The hotel was pretty rustic and the staff were fantastic through our tantrums over the hopeless wifi service.  Outside the town of Vilankulo is more rustic verging into squalid, which is something of a surprise given its international reputation as a premium dive zone.  The town really isn’t geared (yet) for international tourism, however the bay and islands (Bazaruto Archipelago) are quite beautiful.

Gave myself a fright when looking into a mirror on arrival, seems I’d grown a couple of “John Howards” above my eyes while in the Namibian desert.  As Brenda would say, large enough to land a helicopter.

Now I’ve had some feedback from my self-proclaimed “favourite” sister (which will be gauged by the quantum and expense of birthday gifts) that there hasn’t been much comment around the food.  We weren’t expecting to come to foodie destinations from the outset, however on balance its better than expected and so is the South African wine.  The African antelopes, which we’ve tasted so far, are all quite delicious.  Its lean meat and the cheetah agree, although they are faster at catching them than me, especially with a dicky hip.

At a local hotel in Vilankulo/Vilankulos we had some delicious crab and fish entrees, one was a double cooked crab soufflé accompanied by a green apple yoghurt salad, simply outstanding.  The wine has been quite a surprise, not that South African wine is below par, rather that its quite widely available.  I’m wondering if this is the influence of the former colonial nations.

The same sister without mentioning names (Narelle) questioned my ability to execute the escape from Villa Violet plan, given aforesaid dicky hip.  Clearly my plan was to land on one leg.

Diving was a something of a disappointment for me, although I was having issues with my mask.  Brenda thinks I’m too critical.  Before the initial dive we were visited by three hump back whales and later saw a dugong in the Bazaruto Island lagoon.

Further learnings:

* Mozambique has a very nice style of visa with a photo

* Which side is the hot water tap, both, any, guess

* Bob Dylan was right

* There are seven ATMs in town with no cash - seems they need a guru

* Everyone expects us to have small notes, which is difficult when you can’t get any notes from the ATMs

* Telstra only gets the bronze medal for mobile phone recharge complexity, Mozambique is the present front runner

* I love the sound of a rooster at 4am - back in Sydney I’d probably sleep through the amplified sounds of the city

* It’s always been a practice of mine when alighting a zodiac dive boat to be sure not to stop your momentum with your face, ouch Brenda

* We were compelled to change hotel mainly because the wifi didn’t work for 48 hours (and may still not) plus the aforementioned crab soufflé

* Bit of an ABBA scene happening with the locals at a favourite nearby restaurant with a great seafood platter - thankfully they have no idea who they are

* Mozambique has great beer, very respectable dark ale and one called “XXXXXX” - must be 50% better than fourex

* Apparently Zero is in widespread use in Mozambique - the pineapple flavoured gin, not the accounting system

* We were walking on the beach and I was complaining of the small scallop like shells cutting my feet to which brenda responded “ya big pansy” and of course she was right they were pansy shells from pansy island just off the coast (Google it)

We fly out today and will spend Thursday night in Jo’burg so I should have phone connection.

A few photos have been uploaded to Instagram, however they seem to have been cropped, cutting out all or part of the subject in some cases.  Not sure what I might have done incorrectly.  Our user name is “gavinandbrenda”.  Google still a wip.

Next up Uganda and gorillas