Tag Archives: travel

10 Years ago on a Durban trip, my husband Clifford proposed to me.  I use the word proposed in a rather loose manner as he said something along the lines of “So when should we get married?”  We had met only 4 months previously after exchanging a few messages on a dating website.  Despite his somewhat unromantic proposal,  my memories …

Leaving Durban returning home to Jo’burg is never easy.  We ease the pain by taking a mosey through the Natal Midlands on our way out.  Last week we decided to try a few new places.  We drove past 1 or 2 cheese places before deciding to visit Marrakesh Cheese Farm in Rosetta.  Our choice was oh so perfect, their cheeses …

From Shingwedzi camp, we moved to spend two nights at Mopani camp in the Kruger National Park.  Each thatched chalet blended into the African bush.  A giant baobab silhouetted against the setting sun stood in poetic majesty.  A rabbit (or hare) greeted us at the chalet as dusk settled.  Cliff and Fjord played drafts while I prepared supper. At dawn …

Shingwedzi Camp is a fine reason for me to keep my blog, providing me with records of experiences.  Cliff tells me that we stayed there before, roughly 10 years ago.  I have zero recollection, nothing looked or felt familiar.  Either age is a factor, or I live too much in my head and engage too little with the world around …

Some days being South African feels bleak, crime is an ugly reality, urban decay and litter befoul potential beauty.  The fuel price is rampant and here in Gauteng we have the dastard e-tolls just for an extra dollop of misery.   Viewing images of Jacob Zuma is like waking the day after a car prang, bile rises on the realisation …

Leaving Natal on the freeway is too harsh an exit from a holiday in Durban, we prefer to adjust gradually, exiting via the Midlands Meander, stopping to revisit favourite places and discover new delights.  On our last trip we stopped for lunch at The Junction Bistro in Nottingham road for the first time. The food was lovely and good value.  …

I remember The Waffle House when it was still The Teahouse of the Blue Lagoon.  In my school days it was already an institution.  My son Fjord can only eat home-made waffles made with Orgran ‘No Egg’ as his is allergic to eggs.  It is not fair to go a-wafflin’ when he cannot partake.   We were prepared to block our …

Until the year 2000 I lived in Pinetown and Durban.  In all those years I saw very little of the Natal South Coast.  Durbanites consider any trip more than 30km to warrant a packed lunch.  The South Coast was viewed as ‘That place where the uncouth Vaalies (Transvaalers) over-run during holiday season.’  The irony that I now visit as a …

Cliff and I have travelled South Africa extensively, there are few towns which we have not passed through or visited.  Throughout our travels I cannot think of a restaurant with a view to rival Leopard Rock Coffee Shop’s, make no mistake there are some stunners but this one is super special.  The panorama of Oribi Gorge is breathtaking.  If you …

The giant flat-crown, crowns my memory of Rustic Cottage at Oribi Gorge.  Her limbs a tapestry of wood and light.  A marriage of permanence and elusive elements.  At sunset her dark silhouette stood firm against sunset’s fire.  What tales she could tell at our campfire.  She who has seen countless seasons, she is memory and she is now. Rustic cottage …