Fursday: No, we are not furries.

In the hunt for fur-car inspiration I’ve found myself coming across the fairly disturbing trend of furries. We’re all for freedom of choice but personally we prefer to keep the worlds of bodily fluids and synthetic fur far far apart. God agrees, apparently. 

We won’t deny that Robs does enjoy fur-based Halloween attire from time to time..

And yes, this anthropomorphic character does bear a striking resemblance to Laura..

But no, we are not furries.

Mammal Monday - A What Now?

Ever trying to improve my mind and general knowledge (if only I could make it stay in my head once learned, but that's for another day) I discovered this great article today all about mammals you probably didn't know existed and yes indeed, for the most part I didn't know they existed.

http://listverse.com/2009/08/27/10-mammals-you-probably-didnt-know-exist/

By far my favourites were number 1 Lesser pichiciego (aka fairy armadillo) and number 5 Hairy Saki (he is so grouchy and disney is totally going to use him in an upcoming film). It's also worth scrolling to the bottom to see Fennec Fox - creatures with giant ears are just so cute, it's a shame the same isn't true of humans.

Top Ten Tuesday - Gin drinks

1. Gin and tonic – The undisputed queen of gin-based beverages. Originated in India where them colonials would mix their anti-malarial quinine tonic with gin to make it more palatable. The quinine in the tonic water keeps the mozzie parasites at bay, but while this is a great excuse to have a second (or third) you still need to take your malaria pills kids!
2. Gin and Dry lemon – What the barman will offer you when they’ve run out of tonic, and why not? It’s damn good.
3. Gin and Juice – Favoured by Snoop dogg and Katy Perry, tastes best when drunk out of a juice bottle at a music festival.
4. Gin fizz – Gin, lemon juice, sugar, and carbonated water. Or just mix Gin, Lemos and soda water, tasty tasty!
5. Gin and Ginger beer – This one's for our red-headed rally comrades the ginger ninjas. Good for day-drinking.
6. Pink Gin - Spice up your garden variety GnT with a touch of bitters, giving it a pleasing pink glow.
7. Singapore sling – A healthy swig of Gin, some Cherry Liqueur, a dash of Grenadine, top it up with Pineapple juice and lemon juice, and finish with a dash of bitters. Magic.
8. Mad glowing jelly – Add gelatine to your GnT, buy a UV light and voila! Full recipe from here.
9. On it’s own – Don’t do this.
10. The Hanky-Panky – A variation on the classic martini, the name speaks volumes.

Mammal Monday - Hiphopapotamus

Wikipedia tells us that the hippopotamus is one of the most aggressive creatures in the world and that they can travel as fast as 30 km/h over short distances. That’s faster than us, in case you were hoping to outrun one. But this little guy is too cute for words!

Photo credits: Ken Bohn / San Diego Zoo

If that didn't make you go "awwwwww" there's also a video.

Safari look SS11

Chiseled Boy included?

Meet the Beast

Meet Constance the Conquest: the pluckiest adventurer in the team.

Give us a Grin :-)

Connie (born in ’96) joined the Sluis-Cremer family way back in 1999 when mum’s Toyota twincab was nicked, and has been a much loved member ever since. I learnt to drive in her – there is still a dent in her rear as a reminder to check blindspots before hitting reverse and when I was 20 she eventually became all mine. 

She may only be a little car with not much power, but she made the great trek to and from Cape Town every year I was at varsity, survived the many bumps and scrapes inflicted by my haphazard parking skills and kept on running when fancier cars have pootled off this motoring coil. Connie is proof that looks aren’t everything.

She might not have airconditioning; she might be rust speckled and dented, with windows that don’t really work. Her fabric might be worn and her boot small, but there is adventure in her heart.

She’ll look after the girls and get us to all the checkpoints. And at the end of the rally she’ll get us home again.

I heart my Connie Conquest.

Fursday: It's a jungle out there..

Fur wasn’t quite enough for these hippies at Burning Man who made this elephant art car - not sure the structure would survive 7000 km’s and Zambian potholes though..?

From here

Imagine the reactions you’d get from border officials with this psychedelic rhino wonder



From here



And then there’s this.. which even comes with camping chairs! and what may or not be a leopard print covered cooler box.

From here

Mammal Monday - Guilty Pleasures

What does it have to do with Africa? Nothing.
What does it have to do with car rallys? Nothing.
Why should you keep reading? Because this made me really happy. And, even if this one doesn't make you happy there are about a million buzzfeed to entertain you once you get there.

Boys with beards holding cats.


In fairness, boys and cats are both mammals.

Fursday Thursday - Pretty In Pink

I know it's a little while till Valentine's Day but I can't deny that this year the endless hearts and swathes of red and pink EVERYWHERE I LOOK is trying on my nerves. It doesn't help that part of my job is to try and get people to buy things and Valentine's Day is a really wonderfully wicked marketing tool. Just today I've set up two offers and sent out an email about Valentine's Day while a large portion of yesterday I googled images of " loved-up couples at a theatre" - kill me now. And yes, I know this sounds a bit like bitterness, oops.

All this being said, I can't not honour the rolling in of Valentine's Day with our very own Penny Puts Foot Fursday Thursday delight.

At least I'm not trying to sell you anything, yet....

Crew Costumes for the Conquest

Constance the Conquest (aka our trusty steed) has seen many fabulous costumes over the years - fairies, pumpkins, lambs, cacti, Sponge Bob Square Pants and still the one that wins above all, our time as KISS. So I've been racking my brains for a costume to trump them all, we need something awesome for all the photo ops!

Given that I'm not sure how often we'll manage to shower, and that in amongst tire changing, fire starting and driving 8 hours we won't have time to do that much face painting I think we may have to learn to rock "Safari Chic" - I cut a striking figure in beige. And I don't mind rocking a bit of two-tone.

Something like this perhaps?

 (image from here)

Although, apparently that's so 2009...back to the drawing board then it seems!