Letters to Darby- Day 2... Safari in Mauritius

Dear Darbs,

Well I made it to day two of my holiday in Mauritius.. The sun was shining and it was so nice to put on a summer dress after being wrapped up in winter clothes for so long! I'm still a little tired, but my body is getting used to the time difference slowly!

You would have had the most amazing time yesterday as we went to a safari and adventure park called Casela! It was beautiful.. The scenery here is breathtaking.. I never had a picture in my head about what it was going to be like, but I never expected steep mountains that cast an amazing presence over everything, nor did I imagine acres and acres of sugar cane fields! And of course there are the ocean views all around... And they are always amazing views in my books!

At the safari park you could chose your own adventure on what you wanted to do.. There was a massive flying fox over a gorge.. That wasn't for the faint hearted like mum! Then there was buggy cars you could ride around the safari tracks and of course there was the interactions with the big cats- lions, cheetahs and tigers! Everyone signed up for that, except for me!!! I was a big old scaredy cat!! Instead I got to babysit newborn Aiden and practice my mum tricks of long ago!!

I did however go and check out the lions to see how this interaction really worked!

There was about 8 lions in the cage, and about 8 safari men in with them, each person was given a stick, not sure a stick would do much if your head was in the lions jaws!! But in fact the lions were so tame and placid, it was like watching big kittens play! Each person got to pat a cat and say cheese to the camera! Those are the kind of pictures you want to take to show and tell!! When you are old enough, you can do it too!!

After a gorgeous lunch we headed out to do our safari! We boarded an open air bus and went on our way through the bushy terrain! We were met first by a number of cheeky ostriches who were looking for some food and weren't afraid to stick their huge heads into the bus! I just squealed the whole time!! We fed them some bread and we were on our way up the mountain.. 

Our bus lurched and screeched up the massive incline.. My knuckles were white with fear as I held my breath till we got to the top! The views were amazing! So beautiful, but I knew what goes up, must come down.. The sharp turns and rocky cliff faces were not my cup of tea! I let out a massive sigh when we reached the bottom!! Phew! Mum is such a wuss!! I know if you were with me you would have held my hand and shown no fear at all!!

As we drove along some Zebras came bounding towards the bus, they were looking for food as well! It was surreal being able to touch and feed them! They really are just painted horses (although I'm sure they are quite sensitive about that!) I'm sure I saw 'Marty' from Madagascar there! You would have loved it!!

After we drove back from the safari (with no more hills thank goodness!) we headed home! I was very tired.. It's taking a little while to get the hang of the fact we are 6 hours behind melbourne! When it was 5pm here it was 11pm at home - no wonder I felt like having a nap!

I'm just looking forward to another day of gorgeous sunshine and getting to show off my ghastly white legs!!

Missing you like crazy! But I bet you are super excited that your cousin has finally arrived and you can meet her soon! Give her a big kiss from me!! Have fun with Grandma and Grandpa, Laura and Millie Dog.. they will love having you with them!

Love you heaps darbs,

Mum xxxx ooo xxxx