We sat down to a lovely lunch, watched some of my holiday video footage and then went out shopping. We first went to a very large building the size of a small shopping centre that was one shop aptly named Makro that was like a Coles and a Target and a Bunnings all in one. It's supposedly hugely cheap, but to shopt there you need a (free) member card. I picked up a sleeping mat and head torch without the assistance of an amazingly unhelpful retail assistant and we headed for the checkout. I plonked my stuff on the counter, said G'day and the checkout dude ignored the stuff, smiled at me and made a funny symbol with his hands. I turned around for some cues from the locals and Vicky noticed he was asking for the member card. It soon triggered that he was a deaf mute (the lip-reading and silence gave it away). I thought this was a nice idea - haven't seen anyone in retail before who was a deaf mute. Anyway I paid and we headed off, but before we were even outside someone said "where's your stuff Tim?". I slapped my forehead and turned to go back and coming towards us was our checkout dude running and waving. It was really quite amusing, at this guy's expense unfortunately. We retold the story to eachother on the way to the car and Bryce sang some Three Stooges music and I felt bad at causing this guy some embaassment. He wasn't the slightest bit perterbed when we saw him though; he probably had a great chuckle at my expense. I still needed a mosquito net (or so I thought at the time) so we went 15mins up the road to a large shopping centre, to a camping shop. Vicky and I asked the help of one sales guy who said he'd meet us down the back where the mosquito nets were. By the time we ambled over Dan & Bryce had someone else there helping them. The first guy came up and said "thanks Andrew" wanting to score the sale I guess. He stood infront of the wall with the nets on them and looked around quizzically. He turned to ask Andrew where the nets were and Andrew pointed right over his shoulder and said there they were. The first guy grabbed one a little sheepishly and siad "it must be these pills I'm taking." Out of empathy I thought I'd follow the joke and with a big grin told him that if he wasn't on any then he should be. He looked at me with even more puzzlement than the wall and said that no, he w actually was taking pills. I felt like melting into a little puddle, apologised profusely and we left the shops as fast as possible before I raised all of Johannesburg's medically challenged against me. Daniel drove us far far away ("shame") to the ____ ___ Botanic Gardens. These gardens are lovely, with tiny manicured lawns, an open area with a stage where free concerts are held every Sunday, and right down the back, a waterfall. We huddled indoors over milkshakes and Appletisers for a brief "thunder shower" and then wandered down to the waterfall area. Beyond the "No picnicing allowed for the good of the environment" signs were some happy campers sitting in picnic chairs and drinking beer, perhaps thinking they'd get off on a technicallity because they didn't bring a picnic basket. The waterfall was lovely and it would have been nice to do the walk up it, but we had to get motoring. From the falls we drove to the opposite side of town to the backpackers where my African Tour's pre-tour briefing was held. I was surprised to hear that on the tour was myself, four girls, the tour leader and the driver. At first I gave off a whoop, but I soon got to thinking that there was an equal possibility that it could be heaven as it could be hell. We had the pre-tour briefing with only 2 of the girls and I; such a small group. After that Vicky, Daniel, Bryce and I were cruising back to Daniel and Vicky's place when we decided to stop off for dinner at a place called Monte Casino. This place is really cool. It's a massive fake Italian village entirely enclosed, where you can walk between recreated day, night and everything in between. Cafes and restaurants make up all the houses and wandering the streets are musicians, dancers and clowns, and in the middle is a casino. The whole place takes a little piece of reality away and replaces it with a good dose of fantasty: an escapists delight and an escapist gamblers bain. We headed over to Steers (?) a traditionally Saffa family restaurant, similar to Sizzlers but with top food and an American Indian theme. We enjoyed a great steak dinner with lovely wine.