Tanya's Blog

Oh my word but it is cold here! Our guest house is lovely, Lali’s Guesthouse and our room has a beautiful round bath which is where I headed the instant we got in the door, ah bliss. Travelling in the car all day has a way of making even the most seasoned traveller a little edgy and nothing melts that away better than a hot bubble bath in a pretty bathroom.

It would appear the only decent restaurants are those at the big 1 Stop on the way out of town so we headed off to have supper at the Ocean Basket, waiter was a little slow, we figured he’s obviously new cos 9 times out of 10 whenever we eat out we always get the newbies. The food however was delicious and well up to the high standard of ours back home. A few night caps in the room whilst we either read or played pc games and it was time to hit the pillows….hard.

Home stretch tomorrow with an all day, most of the night drive…eta just after midnight.

What a bust Hluhluwe game reserve turned out to be, admittedly the weather was lousy, rainy and dull but still you’d have thought we’d have seen more. True we got to see an elephant saunter across the road in front of us and a small herd of giraffe, with two babies, two kudu and about a dozen monkeys but that was literally it, oh wait I saw a lone zebra and as we were leaving the park a warthog and her family. That’s the problem with going to lots of game reserves you start to expect to see amazing sites around each corner, course it doesn’t help chatting to a very friendly American later on who tells you they saw a leopard and her cubs in Kruger. Dammit it’s my life long wish to see that!

Emdoneni, a lodge and cat sanctuary did however improve our otherwise disappointing day. They have cheetah, caracals, wild cats and cervils, some of which get rehabilitated back into the wild and others are used in breeding programmes. We had a large group of American touring gymnasts with us who had the rather annoying habit of making a YOLO sign every time they took a photograph, now times that by 22 and it starts to get damned annoying. We were allowed into one of the caracal enclosures whilst he was eating, pretty cool to be so close to them. We also got to have our picture taken with a cheetah (sans YOLO signs I might add) which was extremely cool although we were anticipating at least one US gymnast might become dinner, they really know no boundaries and would insist on crowding around the animals. People, these kitties may look tame but one false move and they’ll turn on you like the wild animal the are. Lastly we were allowed to play with the cervil kittens but really there were too many people trying to vie for their attention so we got the money shot and high tailed it out of there. Nice experience, the guide was funny if a little hard to understand and all in all well worth the R160 entrance fee (each).

We went relatively early to bed after eating one of Rosie’s delicious chicken curries and watching the bush babies.

They say you should never go back to places you used to live because they never live up to your memories and it’s true. I suspect in my case it’s the time that’s passed which made the difference, I didn’t recognise 99% of Meerensee or Richards Bay, sure the house we built there was familiar, a lot smaller than I remember. I recall roller skating up and down our driveway listening to “you’ll always find me in the kitchen at parties” and “Y.M.C.A” ( with hand movements) and it was a really long driveway…not any more. The garden seemed smaller too of course I couldn’t really see much of it as there is now a huge security fence, guess crime is rife everywhere. The cafe I used to walk to to buy my ice creams and teeny bopper magazines is now a Steers but other than that nothing else was familiar, 25 years is a long time.

We had time to spare whilst our laundry was being done so we parked off at Porky’s on the Waterfront and had a scrumptious lunch while Wouter introduced Tamsyn to Nethack, an old PC game he played back in his varsity days. She’s missing mine craft and although she keeps dying on a regular basis it is keeping her occupied, when she isn’t texting on her phone, ah the joys of being a teenager.

From one magical setting to another, it once again took an all day drive to get to our final destination but so far the long drives have been worth it.

Our night in Underberg wasn’t quite as adventurous as Hogsback but it was charming it its own way.  Tumble In (B& B) was lovely, the rooms were large and decorated with a homely feel with little unexpected touches, like the medicinal kit in the bathroom and bean bags to heat up in the microwave in case it got too cold. Our host was chatty (perhaps a little too much for the more introverted types) but she did recommend the Himeville Arms for supper which more than made up for it.  The Himeville Arms Hotel has that olde worlde feel about it, reminded me of hotels we used to stay at when I was a child (yup, I’m now old enough to hark back to my youth and have it mean something). We started off by having drinks in the bar as close to the fire as humanly possible, nights around here are just a tad* nippy.  We then retired to the dining room to dine on steak, egg and chips; eisbein, calamari and a veggie stirfry. There was one niggle but Tamsyn sorted that out by playing DJ on their hi-fi and getting rid of the “I want to see how long it takes you to cut your own throat”  music to a more appropriate “yes I’m getting old and the modern music of today is driving me to drink” type (Richard Clayderman if you must know) 

*flippen cold!

We set our alarms for some insane hour and hit our beds hard – well not before I had a bath, well attempted a bath, would you believe I was hankering for the hobbit sized one by the time I was done? Long baths and short people do not a good match make and so I gave up my lovely hot bubbly bath to the tall dude who could lie quite happily without drowning. His only comment “good bath pity about the foam stuff” Shock and horror! A bath isn’t a bath unless it has at least 3 types of bubbles in it and they reach up to your chin.

Another long day of driving but this time we did take time to stop at a few places along the way. The Natal Midlands Meander is stunningly beautiful and the people who own the various shops, restaurants and places to stay along it only make it more picturesque. 

The conversation went like this:

Wouter: If you see somewhere you’d like to stop just yell
Tanya/Jessica/Tamsyn: STOP!!!!!

R320 worth of Belgium chocolate later and we were on our way again.

We stopped at the Ugly Duckling and judging by the number of cat type ornaments and bric-a-brac one could buy they just might be as cat mad as we are. The Piggly Wiggly (I just adore the name) centre had enough variety to keep us all happy including a chocolate bakery, with cupcakes smothered in Belgium chocolate – how could we resist?* A wine shop where the owner knew of Hermit on the Hill and agreed with us it was worth quaffing in vast quantities and a deli (3 Fat Pigs) with pink grapefruit marmalade.

The brewery was next (in all likelihood the real reason why we took the meander) and although the beers didn’t quite live up to their hectically cute names the lunch was lovely, steak pie, red pepper and feta soup and crispy prawn salad.

I’d worked it out, it’s been 25 years since I lived in Natal and as we were passing right by Richards Bay I thought it would be fun to take a drive by my old house; unfortunately time wasn’t on our side and it was already getting dark so we skipped the trip down memory lane (to be revisited another day) and headed for Pim and Thandi’s Bushbaby Lodge. 

Our GPS might have led us astray a few times on this trip but she came up trumps this time because without her we would never have seen the off-ramp or found the lodge. What a welcome, a roaring fire and the promise of what turned out to be a damn fine (albeit totally over catered) braai. We also got to experience why the lodge is called what it is, I cannot describe how insanely cute bushbabies are up close, one even took a piece of fruit from my hand (something to mark off the bucket list for sure). 

Which brings to me today, being an early riser I have managed to catch up on my travel journal (aka blogging) whilst listening to the birds and spotting a duiker wandering amongst the cottages; oh and heard the train pass by three times and still none of my family are awake. Nothing to do but sit back and soak up the solitude.

*starvation diet starts the instant we get home

For some reason today’s drive was long, like 10 hours long. Partly road works but predominantly navigating the towns, avoiding killing the people, goats, cows, dogs, pigs, sheep and donkeys.

Hogsback in the end turned out to be awesome, even the hobbit sized bath was great. The backpacker’s had enough character to satisfy the most hardened imaginists out there* and even though the cottage didn’t turn out to be quite as it was advertised we had so much fun. I’m pretty sure it isn’t a new theory (how many can there be these days?) but much like landrover trips – if you don’t break down you have absolutely nothing to talk about afterwards – if you don’t stay at places that are a little odd ball; eccentric or even Fawlty-like; what do you have to relate back home?

Away with the Fairies isn’t sophisticated  by any means but then again what backpackers is?   The menu was a choice of butter curry chicken and ‘build your own’ pizzas – both of which were awesome, not “I’ve been travelling all day and anything right now would taste awesome” awesome. Bonafide; smack your lips and want more awesome. Yes we had to make the fire in the lounge/diningroom, despite massive hinting to the owner when we ordered our drinks; yes the wood in our little cottage wouldn’t catch light so the fire was pretty much a non starter (and it was freezing inside); yes there were only 2 mugs and a wine glass in our ‘self catering cottage big enough for 4’ but you know what none of that mattered; what will be remembered is the laughter we shared as we made preparations for bed and the memories we made as a family enjoying each others company in an adorable albeit basic two “double” roomed cottage. Who wouldn’t enjoy sleeping in a cottage in the woods where the hobbits dwell?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

* once you’ve seen the place you’ll understand how made up words become acceptable

Initial reaction…..omg how cuuuuuuuute….. Slightly tempered by the sight of our accommodation and then totally tempered by the sight of our bath….but a glass of bubbly stills an unhappy heart and the prospect of ‘build your own’ pizza and chicken curry has improved the mood.

We’re staying at the backpackers Away with the Fairies in The Hobbit, billed as a two doubled room cottage with a kitchen. It’s true, there are two rooms not sure you can call the second a double though, and there is a kitchen, loads of ‘character’ and actually why does one travel if you don’t go places with ‘character’. The bath is going to be interesting, it’s hobbit size, pretty much everything in the cottage is hobbit size.

We’re now all parked off in the lounge/dining room either blogging, reading or on our phone…good times.

Figured I wouldn’t bore you with a km by km break down, pretty sure you already know how pretty the scenery is travelling through the Eastern Cape and Free State, and it really is beautiful, at times I am reminded of Natal or even the UK.

What I am going to bore you with are a couple of incidents that either amused us greatly or scared the living habdabs out of us.

Our first stop was PE where we shacked up with a friend (thanks again Mark and Viv) and waxed lyrical till the cows came home, had an awesome steak braai and the early hours of the morning found me playing like a dolphin in the pool, (just so you know this was neither the amusing or scary incident although the mental picture of me cavorting like a dolphin might have misled you). We did rather foolishly go shopping at a local mall which in hindsight was flippen stupid, ( but not scary) Xmas eve and we go shopping, are we nuts?

All good road trips need spontaneity which is how we found ourselves the next night at the Graham Hotel in Grahamstown, we were going to stay in PE another night but our host being on standby got the dreaded call so we fired up the Internet and found ourselves a room at an inn ( or in this case a very respectable hotel which we highly recommend). 

I however have to interrupt this portion of my tale and tell you about a high speed car chase, there we were minding our own business slowly making our way to the front of a queue of cars trying to get passed a truck when a taxi driver got impatient and figured sod this I’m just going to nip passed him on a solid white line. He’d have got away with it but for one small (‘k nothing about any of them was small but still) problem, as we drove passed the two cop cars there was the one policewoman hurtling towards her car bum and tits flying  in all directions grinning like a banshee, little while later a BMW lights and sirens blaring came whizzing passed us and yup, two minutes later we passed a somewhat contrite taxi driver being towered over by a man twice his size, dude if I was stopped by this policeman I’d be more than just contrite (this is of course the amusing story and not the scary one, confusing I know).

Back to Grahamstown, neither of us have been there before and I’m not sure why but I had a totally different image of the place. It’s dirty, as in rubbish and litter strewn all over the show, but the churches were magnificent and the pub we had supper at was nice, food was variable, Wouter’s chorizo sausage starter was excellent but the steak and calamari platter we shared was average at best.  

Oh, another break in the narrative, on the way to Grahamstown we came across Bathhurst, a fascinating little place with a very artistic bent, it was here where we found a little bric-a-brac shop filled with a very eclectic mix of treasures and let’s face it downright rubbish but I did find a cute salt and pepper set for my brother, love it when that happens, how you can be browsing through a shop and discover a little treasure that makes your heart sing.

Finally I am coming to the end of part one of this trip, if you’re still reading here comes the scary part, a good story should always have the reader on the edge of their seats, so if you would scoot up I’d appreciate it. The R26, the road to Ficksburg is fraught with danger around every turn and even on the straight, I’m talking potholes, but not those namby pamby potholes you sometimes come across in your travels, I’m talking I could hide a body and still have space left over size holes, it was truly nerve wracking cos it wasn’t just one in the road it was dozens at a time, throw in lightning, rain and we felt like it was Armageddon, just a few days late.

29 September 2012
Grunau …. Interesting place in a sort of one horse town kind of way. We’d purposefully booked a place in ‘town’ as it had three rooms and J and T wouldn’t have to share, but due to a variety of misunderstandings (still not sure what they are) we have ended up with a room for Wouter and I and the kids staying in the teardrop. In fairness to the Road House she did offer them a room further down the drag but they’re still busy building them and although they have beds and a bathroom, the electricity isn’t in yet and neither is the plumbing. Don’t blame the kids for not wanting to trek through the dark over the building rubble to come use our loo in the night should the need arise so we’ve parked them outside our door and Wouter scored a free six pack of Windhoek Lager as compensation. Right now that beer is worth more than a room in a five star hotel.
According to our trusty Namibian guide book the Road House has a simple restaurant and a ……….. Having surveyed the scene and asked the ‘locals’ supper will be eaten at the Country House… Which is ‘billik’ according to our landlady. No clue what she meant but I have entirely exhausted my Afrikaans trying to explain why my kids are happier staying in a teensy caravan than a huge room with about ten beds. (Jessica reckons the entire place has been built with orgies in mind based on the size of the baths and showers being built in the rooms, you could fit about five ppl in the shower alone)
Of course as per usual when travelling with someone who isn’t exactly the most organised it was a bit disturbing to discover the kids SA passports had expired in May 2012, we still had the UK ones and they’re far from expiring. I got more and more nervous the closer we got to the border crossing in Vioolsdrif but after a bit of hannering on the part of the immigration dude and a few confused looks he stamped both their SA and the UK ones and sent us of our way. Phew…. On the Namibian side I didn’t bother with the SA ones and it was plain sailing.
Suffice to say the mile after mile of stark Namibian vast nothingness is starting to wear on my soul and we’ve only been driving for a day and a half, still have the same ahead and then the trip back…
I managed to goof up again by losing the folder which has all of our booking info, car registration details etc. in it, basically we’d be up the creek without it. Fortunately Tamsyn remembered seeing it on the bed in one of the unfinished rooms and after a bit of an exchange with the security dude (who kept looking very suspiciously at us) he phoned the owners and some poor bloke came out to open the office so we could get the keys for room 5. Travelling with me is one huge adventure.
Honest review: Road House
Baring in mind they are hectically busy with building new rooms which I must say do look very nice and modern so things will change soon. If you’re an easy going traveller who takes things in their stride and aren’t too phased by little niggles then this place is fine. Our toilet wouldn’t flush unless we filled the cistern 7 times with a jug of water, the fridge door didn’t close properly so it kept making weird noises in the night and the bathroom needs a good paint and some tlc, however the bed was very comfortable and if it weren’t for all the noises in the night I would have slept the sleep of the just. Things would probably have been better for all of us if there hadn’t been the mixup over our original booking but as we’re staying there on the way back perhaps my second review will be a little more kind.
Supper proved entertaining, the food when it eventually arrived (2 hours after ordering) was very edible but a more uptight traveller might say that was because we were ravenous by this stage. Wouter had gemsbok which was extremely tasty and will probably be ordered again. There was a huge tour group ranging in age from ancient to midde aged who had the poor waitress running off her feet delivering of all things toasted sarmies and chips to most of the tables. Not sure if they’d never seen white ppl before or if it was our appalling attempt at holding a conversation in Afrikaans but we kept getting surreptitious glances and some sweet old dear on her way out mumbled something to us which none of us caught. The food was simple but very nicely prepared and I would recommend the place just don’t count on fast service if there is more than two tables occupied.
30 September 2012
We had breakfast at the Wimpy just outside of Keetmanshoop and stopped off for fuel and provisions at the spar in mariental.
4 October 2012
We are back at The 1000 Olive guest house having survived being robbed and the furnace like heat in Etosha. Let’s talk about the pleasant parts first, oh my phewk did we see lots of animals and if the postcards in the convenience store at the camp are anything to go by we saw everything except the really elusive leopard and cheetah, kind of bummed about that. The watering hole lived up to the various reviews I’d heard from others and we got to see rhino, elephant, the ever present springbok, jackals, wildebeest, giraffe, kudu, gemsbok, warthog, zebra – it was flippen darn amazing. My personal favourite were the elephants, they are such majestic beasts that take their time and quietly walk over the rocks to get to the water, who knew they were so quiet. Our first night filled us with wonder as we watched five rhino have a drink and take a bath, by the third night we were so blasé we didn’t even bother going to see them again. Rhino? Pfft been there, done that. In fact we kind of got blasé about most of the animals we were seeing, there were so many of them. Herds of wildebeest and zebra, masses of springbok and even the elephants were plentiful when we did our drives around the park. We did have the honour of seeing five lions, two males at one watering hole who put made a point of being typical cats and showing off their magnificence and later three lionesses trying to keep cool by bathing in yet another watering hole.
Which makes for a nice segue into the heat issue, starting to think all our holidays are going to have the ever present “oh my heck I am in hell”. Second day it was still 42 deg at four in the afternoon with no respite in sight. I have to confess I wasn’t at my best and there was a tad bit (‘k, A LOT) of whining and moaning on my part but it was friggen hot! Tamsyn and Jessica swam quite a bit and thankfully the pools were not like those in Disney World, who the heck heats a pool in a climate where the average temperature is in the high thirties with 100% humidity? Anyhow I digress the pools were lovely and cool and if I had been thinking before the trip I might have brought my costume but as we know, thinking and organising for trips is not one of my strong points. As it was the kids didn’t bring either so we spent an hour in O……wa on our way to Etosha going into every clothing store they had trying to find costumes. Nada, but we managed to come up with a plan and make do with the limited offerings. The robbery I mentioned at the beginning occurred here with Wouter being pestered by the local pan handlers selling everything from hair dye to knives and some swine managed to open the car door and steal his wallet (with all his cash, cards, ID book, drivers license etc in it) right from under his nose and the amazing part of it was Wouter never left the side of the car he was there the whole time. Bastards. So time we didn’t intend to spend was wasted at the police station reporting the theft, not that they seemed terribly disturbed by it, more like resigned to the fact that unsuspecting tourists who are only too happy to spend money in their town are being ripped off and left with a very nasty taste in their mouths. We do not like the town of O…..
Back to Etosha, the first night we opted to eat at the one and only restaurant which provides a buffet at the crazy price of $170 a head. Wouldn’t have minded so much if the food had been better, nothing really wrong with it but there was nothing really exceptional about it either. Variety of salads for starters, soup, then for mains a choice of lamb or chicken with rice, veggies and dessert was some sort of tart, fruit salad and a chocolate brownie with ice cream. In other words nothing we haven’t made at home and in most cases made better. When you think that tourists from all over the world come out spending lots of money to stay in air conditioned rooms and all they get each night is chicken or lamb, doesn’t seem right somehow. There is a general lack of attention to detail and upkeep of the park, the road signs in most cases are so faded you can’t make out what they are and the service is pathetic. ‘Africa time’ is in full force and just buying a cold drink from the little shop takes forever. There is so much potential for greatness and opportunity to deliver a five class experience but I’m guessing no-one complains very loudly because when you go to sit by the watering hole at night and get to see jumbo elephants spraying water down their backs, an owl catch and eat his prey and the soon to be extinct rhino you forget about the niggles and lack of service and find yourself transported back in time to an Africa where the game were plentiful and ruled the land. It really is as magical as people claim it to be.
Much of day two was spent by the pool where a slight breeze kept the temperature to almost bearable and every now and then Tamsyn would shake water from the pool onto my back and feet, really did the trick. We had a marathon two’s and four’s competition and later in the afternoon went on a drive to find meerkats, sadly we were unsuccessful but we did see all the others mentioned already. Supper was a mince and rice creation cooked entirely by Tamsyn who has now officially been declared the camp chef and will be called upon again to perform culinary delights on future trips. Each night we were serenaded by the king if the beasts and although I haven’t actually slept very well at all our little teardrop is remarkably comfortable and seems to be holding up well.
As food appears to feature quite heavily in this post I should speak about the meal we had in Windhoek on our way up to Etosha at Joe’s……. Also a buffet and funnily enough $170 per head but that is where the comparison ends. They had zebra, eland, kudu, beef and warthog on offer, plus beef stew, chicken curry, Eisbein, pork chops and a variety of vegetable dishes, potatoes in all forms and more desserts than even Tamsyn could eat. Highly recommend eating there just go hungry.