The search begins!

19/9/2015

We woke up to another cool drizzly day in Hlane and decided it was time to move. We knew that Heath was in Hluhluwe game reserve doing the last of his research stints and we wanted to see him again.

First stop was at the Wimpy in Mkuze for breakfast! It felt so good, and easy, to be back in SA - I mean, one turns on a tap, and firstly, the water comes out, and secondly, it is clean and drinkable.

We bypassed the reserve and "snuck" into Richards Bay Caravan Park and set up camp in the pouring rain. We then took a drive to find somewhere to try and watch the Boks play Japan (haha!) and Cheryl spotted us and promptly did a U-turn and told us to go straight home and watch with her and Mike!

Very quickly we were back in the swing of Richards Bay life and it was a necessary period to get repairs done by people we knew, and catch up on unfinished business.

Josh and Abbi

The Liebenbergs came to braai with us in the park.

Necia and Shelly "catching up"

Our daily visitor - the Natal Robin!

The next part of our adventure is to find somewhere to relocate to. So we started to make our way south.

1/10/2015

A two night stay with Necia's brother and s-i-law in Cramond. Lots of reminiscing about Zim. When will we see these good folk again?

3/10/2015

A check in on the Camerons and Rod's sister, Bev, in Howick. So good to see folk that are pleased to see you.

5/10/2015

Unexpected detour to Leisure Bay to spend time with Andrew Marx and Sonja and the children at their beach cottage.

Now our dilemma started - why not just stop off at the South Coast and not go any further?

We soon discovered that this was to be our mantra all the way down the coast. Time and again we have seen how beautiful is this country of ours and it is proving difficult to choose a spot. 

Sunset taken from the car on the drive to Grahamstown.

7/10/2015

Makana campsite in Grahamstown. We immersed ourselves in academia and things historical .

Traveling on, we stopped at "JBay" for breakfast to see why Pat and Fred Beechey go all dreamy eyed when they talk about their retirement spot. It was "soo cooool, man", we could have stopped right there and become permanent beach bums!

Beautiful clean J Bay.

9/10/2015

We explored Storms River area from Tsitsikamma campsite and experienced gale force winds; paddled up the gorge on canoes and lilos; hiked and drank in the beauty of the Garden Route. 

Boardwalk to the Big Tree.

"The big tree" - behind him!

The campsite at Tsitsikama.

We paddled kayaks and floated on lilos up and down the gorge. Did some hectic cliff jumps too!

The boardwalks/ swing bridges were not Rod's favorites.

Could get creative with this lot?

How did they hang all these walkways?!

Start of the Otter trail - we hiked to the waterfall.

11/10/2015

Woodbourne campsite in Knysna. Just for a looksee. Very pretty , quaint, quirky and upmarket too but for us, nice to visit but not to stay.

Taken from The Knysna Heads.

Roderick is tired of doing "Circles in the Forest" !

So beautiful but no sign of the elusive ellies.

13/10/2015

That is, until Necia's College friend ( about 35 years of contact!) invited us to their dairy farm at Rheenendal! Oh my, we had such a good time on the farm with Ali, Hub, Rory and the dogs and were able to explore the area, relook at Knysna and surrounds, and fall in love with Sedgefield. We were able to visit our Malawian friends there, Gail and Douglas; and Delyse and Gerhardt treated us too. All good folk to get insight from and pros and cons to living in the area.

17/10/2015

We left the farm, almost confident that this was it and Sedgefield "ticked all the boxes" bar one - its proximity to/distance from Cape Town. We had other places to see but really felt that we would be back. Mosselbay Caravan Park for the next stretch was interesting but never an option. We enjoyed the beach, old buildings and the hikes, and learnt what it sounds like to be camped at the base of a lighthouse in foggy weather with the foghorn blaring relentlessly.

Visited Cango caves from Mossel Bay and sampled a Karoo wine farm on the same day.

21/10/2015

A quick look at Swellendam but we were soon put off by a coffee shop owner who told us we would never be able to start a business there - way over subscribed! We camped at De Bos at Montagu and were able to check out the area as well as surrounding towns. Montagu came close to being chosen and still might be. MacGregor was good for sampling grappa and Robertson didn't get the nod.

Beautiful Montagu - we could not get enough of the mountains and the flowers.

24/10/2015

And on we went to our good ex-RBay friends, Wendy and Dave, recently relocated to Langebaan, and luxury! It was so good to see them and be back in a bed again. We did a lot of searching and looking along the whole of the West Coast . It is pretty bleak and there are no trees as such, but it does have a beauty of its own and creeps into your soul. Velddrif, Jacobsbaai, St Helena, Darling, Yserfontein - we did them all. We found houses to buy, and running and squash clubs to join and started ticking the boxes. Yes -  Langebaan it is.....until we went inland to Riebeeck Kasteel!

The highlight of our stay there was being able to have our family under one roof again, thanks to Dave and Wendy.

Who is the biggest now?!

Sunday hike in Saldanha national park.

Julia, Heath, Rod, Necia, Megan and Ian.

Beautiful clouds.

Daughter and Mum. Love that girl so much!

10/11/2015

We had said we would still look at Hermanus, so off we went. A big surprise - no longer the little village we thought it was but a major tourist destination. We camped at Onrus and got to know and like the area. The 'champagne  air' is a huge attraction. Pringle Bay featured high on our list but Riebeeck Kasteel was still leading. Stanford necessitated a second drive out there - a time warp but a good feeling.

Betty's Bay in the background, from penguin colony.

 Baby blues starting to moult.

Betty's Bay Harold Porter Botanical gardens.

We breakfasted and whiled a way a good few hours there.

Rod particularly liked this. 

17/11/2015

We reach a point and then just know, that it is time to move again. Now camped at Chapman's Peak Caravan Farm in Noordhoek, and we love it. So far we have explored the Cape Peninsular , and have found the traffic quite a thing to get used to which involves careful planning. We are doing all the sights and walks and everything that makes CT one of the world's top destinations but we are not city folk and will leave here on Monday 30 November. The search is still on!

Cape Point

What an amazing coastline this is.

Shew!

This has been a long one.

Yes,to all of you who are wondering, we are still holidaying/ traveling/exploring/ enjoying ourselves but we do realize that sometime we have to find a place to settle and put down a few roots again. Until such time a place "speaks" to us, we keep on rolling!

Life's a beach!

J18/09/15

We write now from Hlane Game Reserve in Swaziland. Yesterday, listening to waves at night and last night, listening to lions roar in this game reserve. Sadly not a lot of game, birds and soon trees, left in Mocambique. We need to write before we move again, lest we forget the sequence of sand, surf and sky that was Mozambique ! Each country has been so different and Mozam was certainly no exception. What surprised us the most was the almost absence of English spoken anywhere. Portuguese still reigns as language of choice. It took two days to get to the beach- some of the roads are as bad as we had been warned they were - others are really good. Police road blocks - some good, and some not so good! 

Our first stop was at Baobab backpackers in Vilanculos/Vilanculossh!

A boat trip to the Bazzaruto archipelago was amazing and the sea really is turquoise.  

My tummy felt as if it was doing flick flacks when I saw the color and clarity of the water.

We snorkeled....

and climbed dunes....

   

and had lunch on the beach....

and had space....

and searched for shells....

The assortment of housing was interesting. The ones below almost seemed to be 'kit form' houses made from corrugated iron but they were all different.The coconut palm tree features significantly in their constructions, diet etc.

Morrungulu/Nelson's Bay and we could pick any campsite and still have space for all our washing!

At last we found a use for the calemba that has been carted all the way from the Bay. Coconuts 

are great fresh - still have not mastered getting them out the husk easily though.

"Our beach" - for now. Nobody for miles.

Necia managed to catch up on some runs.

The road to Coconut Bay. Miles and miles of coconuts!

Again we had the pickings of a campsite and were so chuffed to meet up again with Gail and Dudley from Makuzi Campsite at the Lake. They went on ahead of us and had similar requirements for good places to visit. They then messaged us where they were and their recommendations - which is what it is all about. Great. 

We celebrated by sharing our red wine and prawns bought in Maxixe, and crayfish and fish bought fresh off the beach.

Catching up on news. " So much of excitement" when wifi is found in the most unexpected places.

Note the dress code from sunup to sundown - the best!

Coconut Bay goes on forever - thanks for the recommendation , Gail in Zim!

The museum in Inhambane.

The Portuguese influence is seen a lot. Inhambane en route to Tofo beach. 

The sunrises are great. Tofo beach.

Views from the deck at Fatima's.

A luxury kitchen at Fatima's Backpackers, Tofo. Calamari curry in the making. 

Necia taking a picture of cottages she stayed in when she was 12, to show Richard, her brother.

Colors are vibrant. Markets are interesting with prices starting at extremes and haggling an expected and tiring game. This was in Tofo.

After three days in Tofo and waiting for the wind to die down and a "window" to appear, we took our chances on an Ocean Safari to try and snorkel with whale sharks . The boat trip was exhilarating; the dolphins always evoke such feelings of complicity with nature; breeching whales are a sight to behold and treasure, but Lady Luck did not provide the hoped for sightings of even one whale shark.

So, we packed, and rolled on down the coast.

Our camp site at Zavora Lodge.

Necia making sure lunch was dead. 

The chaps below brought the crayfish and when we cooked them they were still moving....

Wallowing and trying to get warm and out of the wind after a magic snorkel in a tidal pool at Zavora's.

These are part of the lodge at Zavora's. So many buildings are like this all along the coast - it almost seems like they want to leave some reminders of the 'troubled times'.

Our last sunrise in Mozambique, at Zavora's.

Good bye Mozambique. Our beach bum days are over for a bit . Your beaches are impressive and the water is delicious. Our fervent wish is that the situation continues to improve and that generations get to still enjoy the magic of carefree Mozam holidays.