Beach holiday - Salt
Rock – July 2009
Just to prove – our feet were wet. And yes, it was quite pleasant.
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Wednesday, 29 July
2009
With the cat-children safely tucked away in Katmandu hotel, we packed
for our 9-day beach holiday. The first long holiday since March last
year. 2 Big crates, 1 smaller crate
(with our coffee machine and only about 18 coffee pods – couldn’t find any
more), 1 overnight case packed with books, 1 canvas overnight bag with shoes,
sun umbrella, our 2 camping chairs and Hein’s pillow.
Avoiding the morning rush hour, we left home at
9 am. At the Beyers Naude McDonalds, we
stopped for breakfast. Normally we’ll
choose the ‘sausage & egg mcmuffin’.
But they now have a ‘sausage & egg burger’. It’s made with their normal buns. And was that delicious!!!! It came with coffee and hash browns – but
yikes, leave that alone. Too oily by
far!!
On the highway via Villiers, we stopped at
Makiti Art Gallery & Restaurant.
It’s the Roadside/Reitz offramp – about 200km from Johannesburg. You can easily spot the restaurant from the
highway – bright orange with interesting architectural features. Sharing a toasted ham, cheese & tomato
with 3 small portions of delightful salads, 3 coffees and a tea, we were
surprised to find the bill at only R32.
Next time we’ll try their homemade chicken pie.
From there, our route took us
through Harrismith, then Colenso and Weenen.
It’s a beautiful road – well, not the road per se (full of potholes),
but the scenery!! Driving through small
rural villages, trailing behind slow trucks and swerving for cattle, kids and
goats, we arrived at a small shop outside Weenen. With still about an hour’s drive ahead of us,
we pulled in to look for a restroom. A
60-something white lady was behind the counter of this tiny convenience
shop. When I asked her for the restroom,
she threw up her arms in the air and quite annoyingly, told me to ask the
petrol attendant next door.
Confronted with such unexpected
animosity, I got back in the car and forgot about my need. And wondered … did she then not use the
restroom? Maybe she had a chamber pot
under the counter? Why could she not
have told me where the restroom was???
Greytown was next, then
Stanger. At 5pm we arrived at Sea
Cottages, Salt Rock. (www.seacottages.com
– R575/night) With 4 different kinds of chalets, we chose the ‘Saw Sea’. A one-bedroom chalet with a big bathroom,
open-plan lounge cum kitchen, a lovely patio and only about 50 m away from the
sea. Not the beach, the sea.
While I unpacked everything, Hein
went to the Pick ‘n Pay in Ballito (5 km away) to buy some chicken for
dinner. And arrived back with … coffee
pods! 2 Boxes. He said there were a lot! Seems we have to fly to Salt Rock to buy our
daily fix of coffee. With marinated
chicken pieces, 1-min ‘pap’ and tomato relish, we felt at peace. The waves were breaking non-stop and even in
the bedroom, you could see them while sitting in bed.
Thursday, 30 July 2009
Sitting outside with our morning
coffee fix and aniseed rusks, we gazed at the waves.
While walking on the beach, Hein
took a picture of my footsteps.
The fire was lit for
breakfast. Boerewors and hot dog rolls
with tomato relish. With quite a few
books to read, I first dived into Eat Pray
Love’ by ‘Elizabeth Gilbert.
It’s an absolute must for every
woman. It’s a true story of Elizabeth
in an unhappy marriage at 30-something.
She got divorced, had a fling with a younger guy, then started a quest –
4 months in Rome,
indulging herself with pasta and gelato.
4 Months in India, finding enlightenment in a temple while scrubbing
floors and 4 months in Bali, where she discovered acceptance, peace and a new
love.
Most of the books I managed to
read.
Looking up at a shout from Hein,
he handed me the binoculars. A few
dolphins were playing in the sea. Frolicked
for a while then disappeared. We didn’t
see any dolphins again during our stay.
During the afternoon, we went to
buy groceries for the week. Hein wanted
to make lamb curry, so we stopped at a butcher in Salt Rock. (There are a 7-11, a dry-cleaner, a few restaurants/pubs,
a liquor store and the butchery in Salt Rock.)
Hein requested a piece of lamb for curry from Petrus, the friendly black
guy behind the counter. Petrus asked ‘deboned’. But Hein was struggling from flu, so he heard
‘t-bone’. ‘No, no, not t-bone’ Hein
said. ‘Lamb for a curry.’ ‘Yes, yes, deboned lamb for the curry,’
Petrus said. And then we found out he
speaks Afrikaans too. With a marinade of
Indian curry powder and plain yoghurt, Hein started the curry at 4pm. A few hours later, we were thanking Petrus
for the deboned lamb. Soft, soft,
soft!!!!
Friday 31 July 2009
After a breakfast of toast,
bacon, eggs & cheese we read for a few hours. Every now and then we lifted our heads to look
at the waves. A few metres behind the
chalet, is a German restaurant. Siggi’s.
Hein had Weiss bier, kassler
chops, sauerkraut & potatoes. Mine
was pork schnitzel with egg & cheese. And of course – real
Schwarzwälderkirschtorte – Black Forest Cake!
During the afternoon, Hein again
called me. Through the binoculars, we could
see dozens of fish in the waves. Don’t
think they were sardines, but there were a lot of them.
Saturday 1 August 2009
Chatting on Facebook with Eliza,
a fellow high school friend from Pietermaritzburg, she invited us to their home
in Matatiele, Eastern Cape
(part of the old Transkei). After coffee and a sandwich, we left at 9 am,
the temperature was 22 oC. It took us 4
hours. Luckily Eliza warned us of cold
weather. At Kokstad, we stopped for a
Wimpy burger and it was freezing cold.
And it was raining softly. In
Matatiele, we arrived with a temperature of 7 oC and a steady soft rain. Braai was out of the question!
Eliza and her husband, Wicus, are
running a rural school in Matatiele – with 500 pupils. The school was started 10 years ago by Nick
Maartens – with a handful of students in his garage. And with planks over
plastic crates as desks. Through the years, with donations and hard work, they
have managed to build classrooms and even their own chairs and desks.
With a roaring fire in the lounge,
rugby on the TV, spareribs and chips sizzling away for dinner, we had a lovely
time with the family. The 3 elder
children, Wikus, Anneke & Moses showed us the ‘haka’. 3 or nearly 4 year old Herman, were running
up and down.
Sunday 2 August 2009
After a lovely breakfast of
viennas, bacon, toast, scrambled eggs & mushrooms prepared by Eliza, Wikus
(jnr) and Anneke, enjoyed at the dinner table (set by Anneke), we said goodbye
and drove back to Salt Rock. When we
stopped at Kokstad the previous day, Hein showed me a lovely little shop with
all kinds of handbags, clothes & jewellery accessories. We stopped there on our way back and I bought
a lovely fabric handbag with little bells and buttons.
Outside Kokstad, we drove passed
Ebongweni C-Max Correctional Facility.
From South Africa's
most dangerous offenders are transferred to the Ebongweni Correctional Facility
on a regular basis, the country's "most secure, super maximum"
facility.
By 2 pm, we arrived back at Salt
Rock. I was coughing quite badly, but
between pills, cough syrup and spaghetti bologna for supper, we read and
relaxed.
Monday 3 August 2009
Sunny skies greeted us. Perfect weather for a breakfast boerewors
braai. Walking in the Lifestyle Centre,
Ballito, I saw this beautiful little coffee shop – Cinnamon & Silk. (www.cinnamonandsilk.com) With strong coffee, I opted for a piece of
carrot cake. And then Hein saw this
appetizingly described dessert – Cinnamon
bun with chocolate inside, covered in cardamom custard.
Absolutely delicious – quite
rich, quite sweet, but a sure ‘to share’ dessert.
Look how they decorate the plates
– with choc powder and a ‘stencil’.
Wanting to support the local Salt
Rock community, Hein stopped at the liquor store after 1 pm. The owner had just locked the door. He just said that he was closed on
Mondays. And walked off. Hmpff!
Braaied chicken pieces, baked
potatoes and steamed cabbage & cheese for dinner.
Tuesday 4 August 2009
Another lazy day. Steak (for Hein), chicken kebabs & braai
broodjies for lunch – Cheese, bacon & mushroom omelette & toast for
dinner.
With no-one in the front chalet,
we lazed on the front lawn for hours.
Wednesday 5 August 2009
Only 2 more days left of our holiday! But the weather was perfect.
We drove to Umhlanga to have
lunch with Hein’s parents from Pietermaritzburg, at the Oyster Box Hotel. Only to find the hotel in the process of
renovating. We drove back to Ballito and
had lunch at The Hops.
Just look at the view from our
seats.
We strained our eyes for
dolphins, but apparently the sea was too choppy.
After lunch, we said goodbye to
Hein’s parents, had a walk through the Gateway Centre, Umhlanga, and headed
back to the chalet.
While I had a nap, Hein drove to
the local liquor store – again – for some beers. Only to be told – he was out of stock!! Is this guy for real? Is he not interested in doing business?
Wanting to treat Hein, I drove to
the butchery. Petrus gave me a lovely
piece of rump. Hein braaied the rump and
some brown mushrooms for me. We made
burgers and enjoyed it with potato wedges and mashed smoked peas. (The
peas are in a tin and would make a lovely soup, paired with ham/bacon and fresh
bread.)
Thursday 6 August 2009
Mentioning our Salt Rock holiday
to one of my XCentric girls, Reena Applesamy, she asked if we could meet for
coffee in Ballito.
At Cinnamon & Silk we had
coffee and juice and talked about hobbies, households and food. Reena works for Zimbali Tongaat-Hulett
developments (timeshare) as their portfolio administrator.
Stopping at their offices, Reena
told us a bit about their business and showed us their lovely boardroom – where
she sometimes caters for the company.
After coffee, we said goodbye and
drove to The Hops for lunch.
But what a disappointment –
everything was very greasy and with no taste. We left for the chalet.
While I was reading, Hein went to
the Siggi’s pub for a beer, while he read his latest Jason Bourne book. Still coughing and sneezing, I read in bed.
After our greasy luncheon, a
simple meal of mince and vegetables was dinner.
Planning to wake up the next
morning at 4 am, for some reason sleep deluded us.
Friday 7 August 2009
We only got up at 6am. After coffee, we quickly packed up and were
ready to leave by 8 am. Rain has started to fall.
With only a few hours at hand, we
decided to drive back via the N3.
At 2pm, we arrived back home in Gauteng. Offloading everything, I rushed to fetch the
cats – leaving Hein to cope with a burst water pipe.
Even though we could have easily
stayed another week in Salt Rock, we were both relaxed and rested – and I was
looking forward to my Tai Chi classes and coffee friends!
ooooooooooooooooooo
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