"A Very Happy Life" junecorlett's Profile

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The Vaal Dam South Africa

On weekends we love to spend time on our boat with family. The Vaal dam is approximately 130km from Johannesburg Northern suburbs. There are many holiday homes on the banks of this dam. The dam is vast, with a circumferance of over 1000km. A lot of sea-going yachts are also moored on this dam. The Vaal dam has more yachts, power boats etc moored than all the marinas throughout South Africa's coastline. Approximately 500 families actually live on their yachts on this dam. The annual "Round the Island" Race takes place during the first weekend of February every year. It is a spectacular sight. About 400 yachts of different catagories enter this annual event. From Hobies, to huge CATS. The colourful "spinnakers" are a sight to behold.

At home in Johannesburg

Roger and I

We live in Johannesburg on an Estate. Very safe and easy living.

Latest page SWAZILAND and a big update and new tips on PHUKET and Phi Phi

Jet-Skiing in Koh Samui

Koh Samui Thailand.

Jet-ski's are available for hiring. Lots of fun on the water. A cruise ship had anchored from Phuket, allowing their passengers to spend a day on the island. We were inquisitive and took a ride out to the ship.

Social time on the Vaal Dam

Friends

My best time on the dam is just before sunset. It is the time of day I like to relax on a cruise (booze-cruise) we call it that as we like to take a few"sundowners" with us. We do a gentle cruise with lovely music coming from the CD player on the boat. By the time the sun has set, which is about 7pm in summer, we are ready to light the fire for our traditional BRAAI (BBQ). On summer evenings you can see all the lightning in the distance, beautiful, until it creeps up on you and you have your own thunders storm. A storm generally lasts for about 20 minutes. It is not dangerous or scary. We are quite used to it. If the grandchildren are asleep by then, it does not even disturb them. We like taking friends to our house at the dam, it is very sociable, and Roger loves teaching people to ski, if they have not tried before.

James and "BING-pa"

Roger and our Grandson James

James is 5 years old. He is our eldest granchild. He loves his "bing-pa" as he likes to call grand-pa. He has already been on the water, very gently on a "Tube" and loves it. He loves the open spaces. We have a few "meerkats" who visit us during the day, and James loves to feed them an egg, or a bit of "biltong" (dried meat).
Once James is 6 or 7 yrs old, his bingpa will teach him to ski.

Vaal Dam

South African sunset.

Sunset on the Vaal.
Every summer evening we have a different sunset. Our summer skies are always slightly cloudy, due to our summer rainfall. The best sunsets are in summer. During the winter months we have cloudless skies as we have our dry season. The rains start in October through to late March.
Winter at the dam is extremely cold, therfore NO water sports for us, unless we are stupid......then we don wet-suits.

Having fun on the Water

Tubing

This is a "disc-type-tube". I dont know any other way to explain it. It has a back rest like a couch/sofa. Lots of fun, especially on a hot day. Have to beware of sunburn. Our youngest grandchild Josh (2 yrs old) has also had a ride on this. We always wear life jackets for water sports and insist on it with the little ones.

Our home in Johannesburg

Bryanston, Johannesburg

The estate we live on is (as estate agents would describe it) in the leavy suburb of Bryanston, Johannesburg.
We have access to the squash courts and flood-lit tennis court. We also have a large swimming pool for the use of the residents. Some families prefer to have their own pool (like us). It is more sociable and lovely for the grandchildren. Johannesburg is very hot during summer...there, a few swims a day cools you off. We also have a nice park for the children to play in.
We love where we live, as we have easy access to all the shopping centres.
The airport is about 38 km from our home.

Intro Updated Jan 14, 2012
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Comments (265)

canuck68 May 1, 2012 at 4:47 PM Report Abuse

I enjoyed your pages on Alaska. Seems funny when I live so close that I have never been there. I agree with your comments about the Franfurt airport. I spent 10 hours there on my way to Jo'burg once. It was awful. Diane
lynnehamman Apr 7, 2012 at 7:37 AM Report Abuse

And a very happy Easter to you and your family too! Thanks for the visit- hugs
hopang Dec 25, 2011 at 9:48 AM Report Abuse

Hi June, Wishing you Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2012. Hope you have a wonderful time! ~ho & pang
CatherineReichardt Sep 18, 2011 at 11:57 AM Report Abuse

Hi June Was just checking on the VT home page and saw that you were online - welcome back! Hope that things are going OK for you after what must have been a tremendously difficult year. Regards Cathy
DennyP Sep 13, 2011 at 7:12 PM Report Abuse

Hi again June..I have just stopped by your Swaziland pages and enjoyed the informative tips along with your great pics..Thanks for sharing..This is on my list of places to visit when I come to SA..
Yaqui Jun 5, 2011 at 12:04 PM Report Abuse

Happy Belated Birthday June! Sorry I missed it. My modem died and it has taken some time to get a new one. Hope your special day was grand!
balhannah Jun 5, 2011 at 11:55 AM Report Abuse

Happy Birthday! I do hope you had a special day.
goutammitra Jun 5, 2011 at 9:59 AM Report Abuse

Happy Birthday June! So sorry to learn about your husband. I apologise for not being regular to your page, else I could have shared the news. Lynne also never shared. I am so sorry.
fachd Jun 5, 2011 at 1:02 AM Report Abuse

Happy Bday and have a great day. Cheers
DAO Jun 4, 2011 at 3:22 PM Report Abuse

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JUNE !!!! All the best and many happy returns !!