Because we had been in the lounge until 22:00 last night we put off packing until this morning. We knew we had to be out of the house by 10:00 so we woke up at 8:30 to pack up the bags and pack the car. While Jenny was packing the bags I brought in the computer and iPod and redid some of our music so we had something different to listen to while we were on the road. When we were finished the packing Jenny made us some bacon rolls with the last of the food and we departed the cabin for reception. We figured we should take advantage of the free Internet and we sat and had some drinks before leaving Troutbeck for Harare. Jenny insisted we hand in our keys to the gate guard so that reception didn't know we were leaving (otherwise they might not have given us the Internet code).
The drive to Harare was only going to take about 4 hours so we had enough time to stop at a few places along the way. The first place we stopped was the Pine Tree Inn where Jenny and her family used to visit when they came to Zimbabwe. The inn was very nice but they had suffered a forest fire very recently and so the landscape left something to be desired. The fire had been so recent that several tree trunks and root systems were still on fire! We even met the owner on the way back to the main road and he told us the fire might be a blessing, now he could take out all the trees he never liked, haha :)
We continued our drive for the next 200km or so before we had to pull off and stop for some fuel. I only put $25 dollars worth in the car because we were running very low on cash, and we continued on our way. Because of all the police checkpoints our trip was taking a little longer than we thought so we didn't stop again until we pulled into Harare. Once we arrived we discovered that we had made very good time and so stopped off to get some pizza at a local restaurant before carrying on to the house to meet Andy and Cecilia. When we arrived at their house we found that only Cecilia was home and Andy would be returning from a business trip in the next hour or so. We gathered outside on their lovely porch and enjoyed a cup of tea while we waited.
Sure enough Andy arrived shortly after and was keen to open a beer after his long trip. We all settled back into our chair on the porch with our drinks in hand and shared stories from our travels and learned more about the Engelbrecht's. Food was served shortly after and consisted of lasagne and salad, just what we needed. When the food was finished the drinks continued flowing and Andy broke out a few bottles of scotch once he heard that I worked for a bottle shop in St. Andrews. We continued our discussion concerning drinks and just about everts thing else over many many scotches and beers until we all decided that we had our fill. At this point we all headed to bed, some of us able to walk straighter than others.
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