Venturing West to Vleesbay

We've just returned from a weekend trip to Vleesbay. We'd only been here in George for 3 days when we packed a suitcase again and enough food for a weekend away, and headed West. Dieter's parents own a Nissan Lavina, a spacious 7-seater, and there is more than enough room for them and us together. The route we followed to the National Highway was past the strawberry and potato farms and then past the airport. It was so relaxing to be able to just sit and look out the windows. Every thing we saw was a new discovery. The Highway meanders and curves through the hills and its not long before one can see the sea. And its beautiful! We don't ever get tired of seeing the sea! Over the Great Brak River, and then the Little Brak River and the little villages that have grown around their lagoons, we travelled past Hartenbos and then to Mosselbay. I was amazed at how the suburbs along the highway have grown, especially closer to Mosselbay, and at the new Mall at Langerberg. We spotted a gas-tanker and a few smaller fishing boats in the quiet bay.

We stopped briefly to see Ouma Malan (Dieter's grandmother) and his uncle Gert who both live in Mosselbay. It was wonderful to see them again after so many years, and obviously the first time they have ever met Ethan and Aimee. Ouma Malan was very sick in ICU when we left South African in 1995, and it was wonderful to see her strong and healthy again.

Uncle Gert and his family own a holiday house at Vleesbay, which is where we were going to spend the weekend. It was another 30 minute drive to the holiday house, driving out of Mosselbay on the N2 towards Cape Town. Just past the Mossgas project (where they are working endlessly to turn gas mined at sea into petrol for local consumption) we turned off down towards the sea.

Vleesbay is the Geographical name of the entire bay, which we could see perfectly from our verandah. Along the bay are various smaller settlements like Danabay, Boggomsbay and then where the holiday house is. It is an enclosed community which can only entered through a remote controlled gate or a security entrance. The houses are all of various shapes and sizes, depending on the budget and taste of each individual property owner. The house we stayed in is a 8 - 10 minute walk from the beach, and uphill all the way home! The house can be divided into 2 sections, one has 3 bedroom and sleeps 6 and then the upstairs section of the house can sleep about as many people. Its a lovely spacious house and we had fun using the indoor braai facility!

We all had a nap on the afternoon we arrived and then headed for the beach. From the house it looked windy and foggy, but down at the beach the wind was not cold or rough and it the waves were perfect! We are very used to the calm waters of the Meditteranean so these strong and constant waves were a wonderful treat! Even Aimee wasn't put off by them and wanted to go farther in! We borrowed a 'boogy-board' and the boys had so much fun riding the waves back to shore over and over again. Jed decided that diving under the breaking waves was much easier than trying to jump over them, and Ryan was swimming like a dolphin! Ethan took a break from the rough waves after a while, he was learning first hand to respect the sea.

In the evening Dieter and his  Dad braaied some boerewors indoors which we ate with some mielie pap and tomato-and-onion gravy. It was so yummy! (Boerewors is a traditional South African sausage, and mielie pap is maize meal that has been boiled up in salt and water to a thickish consistency). That night we didn't sleep too well as the wind howled outdoors! There were strange noises all around and at times it felt like the house was going to be ripped apart by the strong wind.

Sunday was not a good day to go to the beach! The wind was howling and coming off the sea at an Easterly angle and anything not nailed down was blown away! We took a late morning drive to the tip of the bay, known as Fisherman's Corner. It must be a fisherman's paradise: huge rocks protruding into the sea bearing the full brunt of the waves. It was beautiful to see and the boys felt like they were on an expedition of sorts as they climbed up and down these huge rocks.

We had a wonderful lunch together with Ouma Malan and Uncle Gert that afternoon. Oupa braaied some snoek, basting it with Apricot jam, garlic and butter. Ouma baked some fresh bread and roasted some butternuts in the oven ......... oh, what a treat! It was also good to see that Ouma Malan loves watermelon just as much as our family does!

Knowing it would not be good to swim, we went down to the beach prepared for a walk. The tide was high and the sea was rough, the wind still wild! The beach was littered with dead bluebottles (Portugese Man-of-war) and jelly fish that had washed ashore. It was quite an experience for us to see. At first we had to work really hard to dodge the incoming tide and avoid the bluebottles on the beach, but it only took a short while before we looked less amateur! It was very interesting to closely inspect the bluebottles and pop the little balloon-like sacs. Some of the tentacles were incredibly long! The jelly fish were also very interesting to us. Shaped somewhat like parachutes with the short tentacles floating at the bottom, they really did look like a flavourless jelly - something the East-Asians might use to make a soup.

We also picked up numerous shells during our long beach walk. We just meandered along, keenly looking for shells we could pick up. The most beautiful were a Violet Foam-shell, home to a snail that feeds on the bluebottles. Many of these actually had bluebottles inside, and it took a while to find a couple of empty ones to take home. There were also thousands of little snails running on the beach, desperate to feed on the bluebottles, but they too were fighting the incoming tide and the sand that washed over them on each return of the water to the sea. My favourite shell was an open mussel-like shell, white on the outside with faint grey on the inside, and the shells were open and looked like butterflies. We thought we'd bring them home and paint on them and then hang them ....... watch this space!

Yesterday was our third and final day at the beach house in Vleesbay. The wind had calmed down considerably and it was a scorcher of a day. We headed down to the beach after breakfast armed with umbrellas and sunscreen and were so looking forward to a swim. As soon as we arrived at the beach Jed and the 2 little ones started playing in the sand immediately. Once everything was out of the car and the umbrellas were up we stopped to put sunscreen on everyone - and they ran into the sea for a swim! Even I ventured into the water (I really don't like cold water!) after working on our fort in the sand for a while, and found the water to be nice and refreshing. The waves were really forceful but with enough of a break between them to get our balance and stand firm for the next set of waves to push past us. It was low tide and quite scary to see all the rocks everyone had swum between just 2 days before.

We returned home after a lunch of weekend left-overs, tired but content. It had been a lovely weekend away and every day brought a brand-new experience our way, especially for the children. I can't remember how many sheep, horses, ostriches, birds we saw along the way, and how many fascinating things we found too.