Our holiday was just spectacular! It's been a loooooong time since I've had a proper holiday - 2006, with mom, and before that, it was 2002. (We did go camping at Salt Rock in 2004, but I don't count camping as a holiday!)
We left Joburg on the 16th, in the pouring rain. I woke up early that morning - 5am - and the first sound I uttered was a whimper because our entire courtyard was flooded. As in, our littlest dog, Scampy (he of the cute photo) could barely keep his head up when he leaped into the little dam! I was exhausted by the time we left (via Dischem, who had yet again screwed up my script and patient details, and I had to resolve that and collect meds on our way out of Joburg), and was passed out in the back seat before we even got out of Joburg! I only woke up about half an hour out of Harrismith, where we were staying with mom's uncle and aunt for the night. They had given us a week's time-share down in Port Shepstone, and we stopped by to see them on the way there.
They live on an old family farm, that has been in my mom's family for over a hundred years. (My mom's uncle is my late Gran's brother, who inherited the farm from his father...) It’s just magical out there! The original farm house was burnt down by the English during the Boer War in the late 1800’s or so, and the house was rebuilt into the structure it is now in 1902. There is so much history on that farm, in that house…. My senses were just tingling the whole time we were there! It was awesome!
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| The Farm House |
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| The sky is enormous on the farm! |
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| Sunset |
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| Sunset over the dam |
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| A moombi - just for Lolly |
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| Fresh and crisp morning after the rains |
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| Now I know where the saying "Clear as day" comes from! |
On the 17th, we moseyed down to the coast… Maja Boo was a little less excited about the actual accommodation than I was, but that was because I was only looking at it as a place to sleep, and so it didn’t matter that it wasn’t marvelous to me. I didn’t mind, and she seemed to. All the same, we enjoyed our stay there. Grumps took a tumble in the waves on our first day on the beach, and gave us all a big fright! He lost his balance while he was fishing, landing face down in the little breakers, and he couldn’t get up. So for a few days after that he was a bit hesitant to fish again, until we found the most diving little bay where he could sit on the rocks and fish and we could lay on the beach and read and relax without worrying about him. Perfect. Except for the fact that there were virtually no bites. That disappointed the boys a bit. Not that it stopped them from trying! They just kept on at it, every day. While we sat on the beach, like total Vaalies, in the rain. Ha! I could just hear the locals muttering “Tourists… Ugh.”
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| The view from our bedroom window in Port Shepstone |
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| A rainbow! |
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| Mister Boo fishing |
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| Grumps trying again |
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| Much safer and better little bay! |
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| Typical tourists - on the beach, in the rain! |
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| Watching a storm come in from the balcony |
We made a day of Durban. We actually headed right up to Salt Rock for breakfast, but the Salt Rock Hotel was fully booked, so we couldn't get in for even a scone! That was a real disappointment, but we managed to buck up and hit the Wimpy instead! Not quite the same, but it fuelled us up nonetheless. Then we headed back down along the coastal road, and went to uShaka Marine World for most of the day. It was excellent! I'd been there once before, with Maja, but Grumps and Mister Boo had never been, so it was a real treat for them! What a beautiful aquarium! And they have a "Dangerous Creatures" exhibit too, with reptiles and bugs, which turned out to be quite a lot of fun too! Didn't do that one with mom, because she hates reptiles and I hate bugs. With Mister Boo, I could avoid the bugs and just hang around the iguana while he marvelled at the hairy, eight-legged terrors.
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| Me and Grumps at the entrance of uShaka |
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| Mister Boo in the jaws of a Megalodon - yummy snack! |
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| Hooded Chameleon - "How YOU doin'?" |
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| Green Mamba |
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| Writhing bag of 'snakes' - a very cool prop which freaked a lot of people out |
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| Spot the Tomato Frog! |
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| Very content iguana - Smile! |
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| Happiest. Baby-Croc. Ever |
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| I see you!!! |
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| Whale exhibit at the entrance of the aquarium |
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| We were there!! |
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| Beautiful Turtle - I could have watched him for hours! |
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| Jellies - SO pretty! |
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| The Boos and the Jellies - Best lighting ever, right? |
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| I knows what you're up to, Ray! |
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| From the top of the stadium |
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| The Shark Tank rugby stadium, which used to loom over Durban's skyline |
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| Maja and Baby Boo working the windswept look |
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| See how little everything is? It's REALLY high! |
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| The little steel box of doom |
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| The Bluff in the background |
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| Hamming it up with Maja Boo |
On Christmas Eve we rambled a little further down the coast, to Ramsgate. Two of our friends were staying in a house that sleeps 6, so they invited us over for a few days. It was, in a word, paradise. I ADORED it! We never went anywhere near the main beaches or tourist-y centres, we just stuck to the little area near the flat. But really, when that area looks like this:
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| Dawn on Christmas Morning |
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| We didn't get Santa and Reindeer, we got an Ibis... shoulda left out worms instead of milk and cookies! |
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| The view from the lounge. No kidding |
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| My little forest buddy |
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| View of the complex from the beach |
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| Love Hurts (hurhurhur) |
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| My forest friend No 2 |
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| Catch of the Day - MOAR Seaweed! |
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| Driftwood with a tiny Hellboy crab lodged in there (His one pincer was enormous, the other... not) |
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| On the last night, the sky was just incredible... |
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| It was as if |
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| it was trying to convince us to stay |
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| because it was so spectacular |
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| It was incredibly difficult to leave! |
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| Crisp, sparkling dawn on the last day |
Who in their right minds would go anywhere else??
We finally managed to drag our asses back the Highveld on the 28th (Sad Trombone!) and life hasn’t been the same since. I have such a yearning to live at the sea again; I am just trying to figure out a way to do it! I feel totally suffocated and caged here at the moment! I guess that’s the downside of going away on holiday. Home always feels foreign when you get back, and it takes ages to settle back in. yuck. Ah well, we shall see what happens! Life is crazy like that! Haha
x
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