Expedition 6-0

Greetings from Singapore! Besides being the auspicious Year of the Monkey - (I am a Monkey!) - 2016 is also the year I will turn 60. Yikes!

So in honor of this milestone birthday, I have decided to challenge myself. Before I turn the BIG SIX O in May, I will take part in an international expedition  to Antarctica, my sixth and last continent on Planet Earth to explore. (If you're keeping score, that will make it six-continents-visited to zero-left-to-visit ... or 6-0. )

I have chosen to travel to Antarctica with the 2041 Foundation's International Antarctic Expedition (IAE) 2016. IAE 2016 is a leadership expedition specifically focused on climate change and environmental sustainability. We have been challenged to create a call to action for future leaders to do everything they can to help maintain the pristine environment of Antarctica. I have partnered with Elite Academics Inc. (EAI) in Denver, Colorado and have created a new blog where I intend to post responses to questions created in advance by mostly high school students and compiled by EAI's Executive Tutor Jill Talley. My new blog name? Expedition 6-0.

And during the expedition, you can also follow IAE 2016 via our official expedition blog. It will be updated throughout the expedition along with an active map that shows our exact location. The blog and map will be live by 13 March 2016 and is available on the 2041 Foundation website. Don’t forget to use our hashtag, #icyclassroom on all social media outlets!

Beechwood Garden

As one of the open garden days arranged by the Gardens of the Golden City, a visit to the lovely heritage garden of Beechwood in Hyde Park has become an annual must-do on the Johannesburg social calendar.

A lake and six ponds including an iris pond and a lotus pond. An immense kitchen garden and an English country rose garden. Fountains and sculptures. This garden had everything!

the kitchen garden outside the catering kitchen

an al fresco luncheon was served by Susan Grieg

there were frogs in the fountain in the center of the formal rose garden

waterblommetjies!

inviting

the Jacarandas watched over the estate

Perfect timing for peak Jacaranda blooming!

full bloom

coral tree and Jacaranda

The roses were magnificent!

wisteria and rose-bedecked colonnades

waterlilies

For the remaining scheduled open garden days of the season, visit the website for Gardens of the Golden City.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times

Jane, Chris and I @ 44 Stanley in the Joburg CBD

We have been entertaining some American visitors since Thursday. Chris and Jane stayed on in Sandton over the weekend after a two week trip through South Africa and a jaunt up to Victoria Falls. They picked the best time and the worst time to visit Sandton and see more of Joburg.

Joburg rolled out the purple carpet for our guests!

Firstly, the Jacarandas are in full bloom. We took them to the Four Seasons Hotel The Westcliff to take advantage of its fabulous view overlooking the Jacarandas of the Parks and Joburg below.

And for their sundowners of course - or in this case, clouddowners.

Sterkfontein Cave

And the Homo naledi exhibition - which was originally scheduled to close on October 11 - was serendipitously extended until October 18 which allowed Chris and Jane to experience this other incredibly ephemeral opportunity. These two circumstances made it the best of times.

They were there!

In one of her previous lives, Chris ran a consulting company back in the USA which helped plan educational exhibits for museums. We introduced Chris to the Rising Star Expedition's Lindsay Hunter who is in charge of designing the National Geographic visual lab experiences for Homo naledi at Maropeng.

But it was also the worst time to visit Sandton. Their visit landed right smack dab in the middle of the EcoMobility World Festival in the Sandton CBD and Jane and Chris stayed right smack dab in the middle of EcoMageddon Ground Zero, the Protea Balalaika Hotel. We had to drive in and out of Ground Zero several times over the long weekend and with all the road closures, detours and restrictions, it was very painful. The worst.

How do we know Chris? Chris was Vince's High School Senior Class English teacher! She was a huge influence on his life and he has seen her and kept in touch with her all these years. She recognized his writing ability amongst the football jocks in the back row and according to Vince, "mercilessly edited and critiqued his work." Two published books as well as several chapters written for other authors' works, countless papers, magazine and journal articles, speeches and talks later, he is in Cape Town right now being interviewed for an upcoming TED Talk documentary on cognitive computing. (see the finished product below!) Thanks Chris!

I wonder if they read A Tale of Two Cities that year. It would have been prophetic. "It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; ... " - Sydney Carton in A Tale of Two Cities

 

EcoMageddon Week Two Status Report

Jacaranda Taxi photo by Caroline Hopkins

We're halfway through Week Two of the EcoMobility Festival in Sandton. School is back in session. Good news: I haven't really noticed much of a change in traffic volume.

But  to be totally forthcoming I have not tested it during rush hour. Vince is traveling this week in Istanbul and Dubai so I don't have to do the daily commute. But I did drop him off at the Sandton Gautrain station on Sunday which is on the border of the no-go zone. No problems there either. And I did actually go shopping at Sandton City yesterday. Plenty of parking and hardly any traffic. It's working!

But we have guests arriving tomorrow who will be staying in a hotel right smack dab in the middle of the Sandton CBD. I called the hotel to ask how best to navigate the street closings and one-way restrictions to get to the hotel entrance. There is a way, but it will still be interesting getting them to and fro outings and the airport. Needless to say, we won't be doing much actually inside the CBD over the weekend!

putting out cones on Sandton Drive for the rush hour lane restrictions

bringing a little orange into Sandton's purple October

 
  .

I'll tell you one thing though. I think it was brilliant to schedule the EcoMobility Festival during the height of the Jacaranda Bloom. I almost want to sit in traffic and take them all in! Almost.
 

High Noon at Higher Ground

view over Greater Sandton from Higher Ground

St. Stithians College, on the border between Sandton and Randburg, is one of South Africa's most storied and prestigious preparatory schools. Founded in the early 1950's, St. Stithians began its tenure as a Methodist school chartered exclusively for boys. Girls were not admitted until 1995. Fun fact: among its noted alumni is none other than Dave Matthews!

St. Stithians is also the site of the Higher Ground Restaurant boasting one of the best views for sundowners in the city. I believe it too. Aptly named, the restaurant does have an impressive view of the skyline of the Sandton CBD from its perch on top of a high hill. Higher Ground is located inside the One & All Club, a popular venue for St. Stithians parents and alumni as the terrace overlooks one of the college's many sports fields.

cricket & Jacarandas

We went to Higher Ground - not at sundown but at high noon - to meet friends for Sunday lunch. It is the height of Jacaranda season in Sandton and beyond the cricket pitch below the terrace, the landscape was awash in purple. Jacarandas make for a nice view too!

We will be returning to Higher Ground soon to catch a famous Joburg sundown - or possibly one of its equally famous thunderstorms - during Restaurant Week South Africa 2015 which runs this year from October 22nd to November 1st. The food was pretty good too.

Purple Power!

Parkmore purple

It's Jacaranda bloom time in Sandton! Everything's gone purple ...

Parkview purple

Even the graffiti!

2041 IAE 2016

2041 IAE 2016

I have been accepted to the 2041 Foundation's International Antarctic Expedition (2041 IAE 2016) led by polar explorer, environmental leader, 2041 founder, public speaker and Explorers Club member Robert Swan, OBE, the first person in history to walk to both the North and South Poles. Swan has dedicated his life to the preservation of Antarctica by the promotion of recycling, renewable energy and sustainability to combat the effects of climate change.

 

The purpose for this Antarctic Expedition is to engage and inspire the next generation of leaders to take responsibility to build resilient communities and in doing so, preserve Antarctica. 

I will be starting a new blog in which I will chronicle my experience on the expedition and will use to convey what I have learned and seen while exploring this fascinating continent. Now I just need to come up with a cool blog name!

Happy Heritage Day!

Today is Heritage Day in South Africa and to celebrate, last weekend the Johannesburg Heritage Foundation (JHF) hosted their annual Heritage Weekend. Lectures, a book sale, organized tours and ...

... a photography exhibit organized by the Joburg Photowalkers. 

Joburg Photowalkers are a community of photographers who meet up regularly to take pictures around Joburg. Vince and I participated in a few of their meet-ups when we first moved to Joburg and we had a ball! Their outings are a great way to safely get out and photograph some of the city's most iconic architecture, world astronomical events, annual festivals and local street scenes from unique vantage points in and around Joburg. Joburg Photowalkers also organize walks which focus on different photography techniques and themes. And it is a great way to meet other photographers.

The JHF exhibition featured photographs taken by the Joburg Photowalkers of some of this city's most recognizable places. The exhibit was like a photographic love letter to the city of Johannesburg!

Ponte City and Hillbrow

the CBD

Brixton Cemetery

Joburg's famous lightning storms over the skyline

the old Park Station concourse

FNB Stadium