We had a nice leisurely start to our day, but surprisingly no one slept in, and by 7:30 almost all were down in the dining room enjoying another delightful breakfast. Paul made use of the pool to give an active start to his day. After loading all our ‘stuff’ onto the bus, we walked across the street to the 
Union Building, across a beautiful lawn and up a flight of stairs. Stuart filled us in on all the significant structures and statues along the way, and we stopped to get a group picture on the stairs, with the building in the background.
Preggie met us at the top of the stairs with the bus – as it was rather hot already – we were happy to get on to head towards our next stop the
Cullinan Diamond Mine. The drive was about 1 hour along very good roads and through lush country side filled with farms, trees and a very red soil.
We arived at the mine on a very historic day. As we came into the town, we noticed a very colorful helicopter – we learned later that this was the De Beer’s Helicopter, and it carried the new owners of the mine. Today was the day that the papers were signed to transfer the mine that has been operating under De Beers for over a hundred years – to new owners. After our lunch we saw the helicopter leave. We were told that all the staff were being informed about the transfer while we were on our tour.
But more about our tour. It started with an 8 minute video presentation, followed by a walk through of the operations, with explanations of all the machinery, and the safety features of the mine.
We then walked around to the top of the pit where we were shown samples of Brown, Black and Grey kimberlite, and were surprised at how easy it was to break up this material. 
The process of extracting the diamonds from the kimberlite was explained, and Diane won a replica of the Cullinen diamond. Then we headed off to watch and learn about cutting diamonds, and to be tempted into buying. Most of us were more than a bit shocked to learn that the price we thought was ‘reasonable’ was actually in US Dollars – not quite so reasonable.
After a wonderful lunch at the Whispering Oak Garden Café we returned to Pretoria to continue our sightseeing tout.
First stop was Voortrekker Memorial which tells the story of the Boer’s struggle to establish an independent state. Stuart talked us through the history of the
Voortrekkers with the help of the marble fescos that cover the walls. A number of us took the elevator to the top to look down on the memorial, then most of us went through the rest of the museum. From here we drove to the Kruger House which the house that Kruger lived in during his presidency of the Transvaal. We learned a great deal about the history of this area during his presidency, and the Boer Wars. Many of us really appreciated the pieces of furniture from that era that are now in the house. We also viewed the wagon that is made completely of Stink Wood.
From there we drove around Church Square (where there is no church), then made our way through heavy traffic to our dinner engagement at the Carnivore Restaurant. This was quite an experience. The food was absolutely terrific – from chicken to Kudu to Wildebeest, to Crocodile, most tried everything. The wine courtesy of a special treat from Rostad – topped it all of. Then we had great fun exchanging gifts with our secret pals.
Union Building, across a beautiful lawn and up a flight of stairs. Stuart filled us in on all the significant structures and statues along the way, and we stopped to get a group picture on the stairs, with the building in the background.Preggie met us at the top of the stairs with the bus – as it was rather hot already – we were happy to get on to head towards our next stop the
Cullinan Diamond Mine. The drive was about 1 hour along very good roads and through lush country side filled with farms, trees and a very red soil.We arived at the mine on a very historic day. As we came into the town, we noticed a very colorful helicopter – we learned later that this was the De Beer’s Helicopter, and it carried the new owners of the mine. Today was the day that the papers were signed to transfer the mine that has been operating under De Beers for over a hundred years – to new owners. After our lunch we saw the helicopter leave. We were told that all the staff were being informed about the transfer while we were on our tour.
But more about our tour. It started with an 8 minute video presentation, followed by a walk through of the operations, with explanations of all the machinery, and the safety features of the mine.
We then walked around to the top of the pit where we were shown samples of Brown, Black and Grey kimberlite, and were surprised at how easy it was to break up this material. 
The process of extracting the diamonds from the kimberlite was explained, and Diane won a replica of the Cullinen diamond. Then we headed off to watch and learn about cutting diamonds, and to be tempted into buying. Most of us were more than a bit shocked to learn that the price we thought was ‘reasonable’ was actually in US Dollars – not quite so reasonable.After a wonderful lunch at the Whispering Oak Garden Café we returned to Pretoria to continue our sightseeing tout.
First stop was Voortrekker Memorial which tells the story of the Boer’s struggle to establish an independent state. Stuart talked us through the history of the
Voortrekkers with the help of the marble fescos that cover the walls. A number of us took the elevator to the top to look down on the memorial, then most of us went through the rest of the museum. From here we drove to the Kruger House which the house that Kruger lived in during his presidency of the Transvaal. We learned a great deal about the history of this area during his presidency, and the Boer Wars. Many of us really appreciated the pieces of furniture from that era that are now in the house. We also viewed the wagon that is made completely of Stink Wood.From there we drove around Church Square (where there is no church), then made our way through heavy traffic to our dinner engagement at the Carnivore Restaurant. This was quite an experience. The food was absolutely terrific – from chicken to Kudu to Wildebeest, to Crocodile, most tried everything. The wine courtesy of a special treat from Rostad – topped it all of. Then we had great fun exchanging gifts with our secret pals.
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