Wintery smells of Joburg

Our Swiss Air flight touched down at 9am this morning with the thermometer reading a very breezy 6 degrees. It's been 10 years since I last experienced a Joburg winter. Stepping off the plane - we had to take a bus to the terminal - I got that distinctive a 'wood fire smell' of cold winter mornings on the highveld.

The arrivals terminal at Johannesburg International was still decked out in World Cup decorations and posters with signs pointing the way for ticket holders and football delegates. The highway on the way to my parent's house was lined with flags of the competing and now departed nations and a giant South African flag remains cut into the turf alongside the road. A lot of cars (including my dad's Toyota) have South African flags wrapped around their side mirrors like socks.

I weighed myself on the bathroom scale and found unbelievably, that I am about 15 kgs lighter than when we set off from Melbourne four months ago. Saying that, we'll have to get into some kind of exercise regime here, otherwise I'll struggle to keep the weight down. I've already tucked into a packet of biltong and being eyeing out the sweets and snacks in my mother's pantry.

Ah...It feels good to be back.

(I had a glance at the headlines on the Sydney Morning Herald website to see that Tony Abbott's coalition is leading in the polls. Yikes, an Australia ruled by the mad monk scares me!)