Weekends Away Titbits
I have decided most definitely that I want to retire to a tropical island. It has been placed on my goal board.
The Balance gets done on a Monday morning at 5am in my kitchen as that is the cosiest place to be. No matter what I do to wrap up, the cold seems to curl around my ankles, sneak up my sleeves and find other entry points to chill the bones!
In keeping with the warm theme, I have decided to highlight some warmer areas for us to play in this week.
Warm and cozy wishes until next week -
With love
The Weekends-Away team.
Corporate
Rustenburg has always been a whole lot warmer than Jo’burg and it is an easy one hour drive from Johannesburg. The Orion hotel has been there for years and is still going strong. It is ideal for big groups mostly because of the size. Smaller groups tend to get lost in the masses.
Whilst walking through the corridors of the hotel and passing myriads of conference rooms, I felt as though I had been transported back in time to my school days.
This is not far off the truth as most of what we are doing in the conference room is studying and we are fortunate that we are in a country which so much emphasis has been placed on up-skilling our workforce.
If you have a conference coming up - give us a call and we will send you through a few options to choose from.
Email jenny@weekends-away.com for more info
Team-Building Activity of the Week:
Survivor the real deal! Want to try out the real thing in terms of the obstacles that are used, the games that are played and the challenges that are set. Our facilitator has the rights to all the designs and within days of the release of each new Survivor Challenge on TV, they have built the new object.
Our facilitator is skilled and has been in the industry for years -
Try it out on your team - email me jenny@weekends-away.com for more information
Conference Speakers International
Conference Speakers International
Patricia’s journey shadowed that of her adventurer ancestors, Sir Richard Glyn and his brother Robert, who came to Africa in 1863 because they’d read David Livingstone’s account of ‘The Smoke That Thunders’ and wanted to see this mighty cascade and to hunt Africa’s big game.
Using Richard’s diary about the old party’s trip, Patricia found and walked their route along the 19th-century wagon trails that once snaked along the great river systems of South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe. She crashed through thick bush and deep Kalahari sand, walked unarmed in Big Five territory and consorted with Zimbabwe’s notorious ‘war veterans’. When her ancestors’ wagons moved, so did she, where they stopped for provisions, so did she - eventually reaching The Falls on exactly the same day as they had, 142 years later.
Patricia’s talk about her walk is richly illustrated by magnificent slides and wonderful video footage. It highlights how much the subcontinent has changed in the century-and-a-half between these expeditions, and comprises a very personal wake-up call to the destruction for which we are all responsible. The presentation is also about Patricia reaching her destination through the kindness and hospitality of Africa’s rural people. It’s a tale about personal development, as the woman who could hardly read a map learned how to navigate by GPS and lead her two-person back-up team through the thirst land on the peripheries of the Kalahari. It’s about the crew’s near disasters, their highs and their lows. It’s about the wonder and simple delights of camping in the great African outdoors. It’s a tale about meeting challenges, facing fear and being rewarded with great insights and even greater peace. The presentation is brutally honest, extremely funny in places and deeply moving.
To book Patricia for your next event,
please call Robyn on (011) 465 4447/57 or 0861SPEAKERS
Incentive
Make your incentive trips educational! This wonderful city Fes el Bali holds the World Sacred Music Festival.
Thousands of visitors now converge on the city every year to experience a unique week-long celebration of sacred musical traditions from every corner of our planet. Famous performers like Ravi Shankar, Youssou N’Dour and Salif Keita are juxtaposed with more obscure musical genres such as Japanese Gagaku, Indonesian Gamelan and folk music from Central Asia. The 2007 festival promises to be a vintage year, with new Artistic Director Cherif Khaznadar bringing a fresh perspective to the programme. The festival was founded in 1994 by the Moroccan scholar and philanthropist Faouzi Skali. It includes a four-day Forum under the rubric “Giving Soul to Globalisation”. Politicians, social activists, visionaries, academics and religious leaders come together in dialogue. The Forum is Sponsored by the World Bank.
It seems that the city of Fez is still lingering back in the Middle Ages. As you arrive in the city and begin to walk around your senses are torn between beautiful sights, intricate sounds and colorful smells. Much of the city still is still holding on to its French roots. Thus around 200000 of Fez’s inhabitants stay in the city of Fez el Bali . Staying a few days in Fez el Bali will make you recognize that it’s hard to avoid the paradox of the place. Fez el Bali is a place with a constant source of interest.
Try Morrocco for your next incentive trip (it is always warm too!)
Email jenny@weekends-away.com for more info
Adventure News
Sunday, July 29, 2007
57.5hrs on a stationary bike
Well, he did it. Ray Chaplin spent 57.5hrs on a stationary bike (Trek MTB, with rear slick, on an indoor trainer) at the Cyclelab gym from 05h15 on Friday morning to 14h45 on Sunday afternoon. He cycled something like 1,030km in this time, taking only a few quick breaks to shower and stretch. Sleep? Not a wink.
As mentioned in a previous posting (About a guy, his bike and our beautiful country), Ray is a chap with a dream. Most admirable is that he doesn’t just wait for things to happen; he makes them happen and pursues his own initiatives. And this is why he decided to spend over two days on a bike.
Ray called this initiative “57.5hr Cyclethon for Housing”, a fundraising ride to raise money to build an old lady a house (she looks after numerous grandchildren and others in her community); in association with Habitat for Humanity.
The long and the short is that he did it. More admirable is that he did this ride in Joburg and not his hometown, Cape Town (Ray rode from CT to Joburg a month ago and will be flying back to Cape Town at noon on Monday). It’s always easier to do something like this from your normal base, where most of your friends and family are located; it helps to make those nights shorter. Fortunately Cyclelab is a great location and Ray had support from spinning classes and riders during the day, with other visitors stopping in at night. But, he certainly had long, dark hours to get through on his own and I commend him for his tenacity and commitment.
Ray, well done. This is an achievement to be proud of. And I say so with conviction ‘cos you wouldn’t catch me with my butt on a saddle for that long. I’m in awe.
Article courtesy of Lisa de Speville www.ar.co.za. Check out the site to find out more about Adventure Racing in South Africa.
Insert Holidays of Hope banner here
Competition
Our wonderful new competition for this month was donated to us by Kievietskroon.
They have a great special on at the moment -
R595 p/p for one night or R995 p/p for two nights which includes Dinner, Bed and Breakfast as well as the use of the Spa facilities. I think this is great value for money and definitely worth the spoil.
To win a weekend for two send your email address to Tamara
I
Training
TOM PETERS CALLS HIM…
“THE HOTTEST PROPERTY ON THE MANAGEMENT GURU CIRCUIT.”
Imagine two worlds that are completely different in nature:
the Downward Spiral and the world of Possibility.
The Downward Spiral is the world we ordinarily inhabit.
It contains all our fears, anxieties, successes and failures, expectations and disappointments.
We are driven to measure and compare everything.
It is where we experience belonging and not belonging; winning and not winning; success and failure. Everything good implies its opposite, everything bad conjures hope for change.
It’s a world of hierarchy where we compete and struggle to maintain our position in relation to others.
In a word, it is the world of SURVIVAL.
The World of Possibility prompts us to remain open because we recognize that it is all invented and so we can create a setting for anything that we say is missing in our lives.
In other words, we TELL A DIFFERENT STORY.
Instead of meeting events with anxiety, defensiveness or resistance, we remain joyful, open-hearted, at ease and in a state of contribution.
For more info email ryan@frontfoot.co.za
Activist Issues
Heaven is by favor; if it were by merit your dog would go in and you would stay out. Of all the creatures ever made [man] is the most detestable. Of the entire brood, he is the only one… that possesses malice. He is the only creature that inflicts pain for sport, knowing it to be pain. ~Mark Twain
With the horrifying non-consequential verdict of the husky killer, my focus has once again turned to the cruelty of man to animal. It amazes me, the arrogance that we have to assume that being born human gives us the right to destroy the precious animal lives around us.
With this in mind, I decided to highlight the Animal Anti-cruelty League as they have been doing wonderful work for years -
Their aim is the prevention and elimination of cruelty to all animals, whether arising from ignorance, neglect or deliberate cruelty, and the alleviation of suffering by such cruelty.
They are a registered, non-profit organization and do not receive a subsidy from government. The Animal Anti-Cruelty League has been protecting and caring for animals since 1956. It is the second biggest independent animal welfare organization in South Africa, and relies entirely upon the generosity and goodwill of the animal-loving public for financial support.
All monies donated or raised, are parsimoniously managed, to ensure that every Rand is accounted for and makes the difference to as many needy animals as possible. We are an organization that gets involved with all aspects of animal welfare.
- We provide shelter for abandoned animals
- Promote an efficient adoption programme
- Prosecute animal cruelty cases
- Operate welfare hospitals and provide primary veterinary care for lower income groups
- Visit underprivileged areas with fully equipped mobile clinics
- Regularly address schools and clubs on the challenges of animal welfare
For more info on the Animal Anti Cruelty League see http://www.satis.co.za/aacl/index.htm
Thought for the week
In memory of Connie - may the angels watch over you
Treasure each precious moment, cherish each soul around you
Live your life to the full,
You never know when it will no longer be there for you to enjoy!
Help keep our country and it’s cities tidy
A tidy city is the sign of a civilized society!