Africa - here we are

Well, the internet is painfully slow here and is also a half hour ride on the back of a motorbike (the poor driver had to use “heavy gear” to get up the hill with Ruth and me on the back!) from camp so the updates might not be too frequent.
We made it safely to Uganda, had an awesome experience at check in where they only weighed one kayak so we weighed Kat’s which was empty rather than mine or Ruth’s which both had gear in them.
The flight was long but otherwise good, 13.5 hours to Dubai then a plane change and another flight via Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) to Entebbe. I had my first marriage proposal from a Ugandan guy on the plane, although when he asked me how old I was his reaction to the answer was “bloody hell!” – he thought I was about 20. Everything went smoothly, Kylie’s plane had landed 10 mins before us so we cruised through customs and got picked up by a Kayak the Nile organized mini bus with roof racks.
We arrived at the Nile to be met by rather drunk raft guide who promptly got us to skull Zappa (think sambucca) out of the bottle before we set up our tents and had our first night in Africa. Waking up early I was treated to seeing monkeys in the trees just down hill of the tents and a beautiful early morning light over the river. That day we managed to hook up with another 11 paddlers making it 14 on a trip to “super hole” and the day 2 section of the river. Loads of fun and just a really cool feel to the whole boating thing where you just hook up with other groups. Everyone loves the T-shirts although the most popular is Dave's one that says "paddle like a girl" and then "official team pimp" on the front - all the boys we've been paddling with want one.
I managed to amuse the locals by getting stuck in a little sticky pourover in a non-descript rapid within the first five meters. Ruth thought I was about to swim as I was in there for a while but pride got the upper hand and I managed to get out. Then it was on down to Kalagala – one of the well known harder rapids. Just before it a little furry head popped out of the water in front of my boat. I had no idea what it was and yelled at the others “what’s an animal that swims?” they were like “crocodile, fish…” anyway turns out they have otters in Africa – never knew that.
Anyway after a few early nights and early mornings I decided it was time to break the jet lag cycle and stayed up drinking with an Irish paddler the night before last….. hmmm that’s the last time I drink shots with the Irish – man they can hold their alcohol. They also have some smooth pick up lines ;- ) hehe that don’t work on aussies it turns out!
Anyway so we’re all well, the river is amazing as are the monkeys, motorbikes, kids, etc etc. This afternoon we’re heading down to super hole – a cool play hole about 20km down the river. Dave Kneen turned up yesterday and is currently recovering from a duty free head ache – we took him paddling the moment he arrived but he did the drinking without any encouragement what so ever.
To all the boaters back home – we’re boating in rashies and shorts, it’s big fluffy waves and warm water – woohoo it’s so awesome. We were at Nile special yesterday but it's a bit huge and bouncy right now so we haven't got on it yet.
Mum – don’t worry we’re all being careful ;-) the boda bodas (motorbikes) don’t go too fast with three people on them.