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.

Honey, we're home!

Today marks the end of our first week here in South Africa. We arrived in Johannesburg at 04h45 last Wednesday morning, a rather early start to our day. It was the first time I have ever travelled alone with all 4 of our children and was a journey we won't easily forget. Only Aimee had a full, uninterrupted nights sleep, the rest of us were pretending to be fully alert after only maybe an hour or two's sleep during the night. Jed had a very sore tummy (as a result of the fish-dish he was served, we think!) so we were one-man-down and that left Ryan and I lugging the majority of the hand luggage and jackets on and off the various flights.

We were told by various friends that we'd be wonderfully surprised by South Africa and it all started rather early! I felt incredibly safe carrying a rather large sum of cash at the bottom of my backpack. Ofcourse, I didn't let it out of my sight (or hands) for even a minute. Changes at the (HUGE!) Oliver Tambo Airport mean that one no longer has to exit the airport at International Arrivals and walk outdoors and re-enter the building to get to National Departures. That was already a huge blessing! Ethan pushed Aimee in the pram and Ryan, Jed and I each pushed a trolley loaded rather excessively from the one end of the airport to the other.

The lady at the Kulula counter was ever-so friendly and considering we had booked and paid for an extra 60kg of luggage to be added to our allowance, had no problem with the additional 17.3kg we actually booked in! She also said we could take the chance of carrying 2 guitars, the pram, a backpack each and our jackets through security - and if they didn't respond favourably we'd then have to come back and pay extra to send the guitars and pram as cargo. Fortunately, Domestic Departures was very busy at about 6:30am, and the security wasn't the slightest bit interested in how much hand luggage we were carrying and we had no problems carrying it through. We sat down outside the boarding gate and enjoyed the egg-mayo rolls we'd made in Dubai the night before.

Due to a strike in Durban, our plane could not refuel and we had to wait until it arrived. Our boarding was delayed by and hour and a half, and by this time the kids were rolling on the carpets in the waiting lounge! It was becoming less and less possible to maintain a restrained pose like everyone else waiting to board flights! When we did board the flight (with all our masses of hand luggage!), we found the Kulula staff to be absolutely amazing! The staff were so chirpy and humourous and friendly! Within minutes of being in the air we were all fast asleep and had a good nap on the way to George ........ which meant we were all bright and perky to meet Dieter and his parents at the airport.

George has one of the smallest airports I've ever been to! In fact, it may be the smallest now that I come to think of it! The plane lands and then parks almost directly infront of the terminal. No tunnels and fancy stuff, just good old traditional steps and a 50m walk into the building. We were all very excited to see Dieter  and Ouma, who had negotiated with the security officer to walk past the glass partitioning and come and assist us with our luggage at the carousel. Oupa was waiting outside with his 7-seater vehicle and a trailer which we managed to completely fill with our 8 bags, pram, 2 guitars and various backpacks!

Oupa and Ouma live in Heatherpark, a short 8 minute drive from the airport. The green fields and majestic mountains were a treat to our eyes, and the various farm animals we could spot grazing in the fields a delight to the children (and adults alike!).

For the rest of that day I was a complete zombie. I was so overly tired and in desperate need of rest. After a light lunch I had an afternoon nap, while Ouma read to the little ones and then took all the children for a walk to the park and a swim in the neighbour's pool. And, I've had an early night ever since! Dieter began to unpack some of the suitcases, and finished that over 2 or 3 days and we all packed our cupboards and really began to make ourselves at home. The only constructive thing I did that night was to bake a Beetroot and Chocolate cake for Ouma - it was her birthday the next day and we were having a party!

The next few days are something of a blur in my memory, they happened rather fast, but I was still in slow mode. Aimee has been making her routine early morning visits, so the days have started early and felt long! Ouma's birthday was a special day. After breakfast we gave her the gifts we'd bought for her and the card Dieter had made for her. Then the party preparations were in great swing! The dining room table was turned into a buffet-style food fiesta of cakes and tarts. It seems to be tradition here, that the neighbours in this street visit each other on their birthdays share a cup of tea and enjoy some cake together. There seemed to be an uncoordinated, but very definite 10h30 group and a 15h30 group. The Beetroot and Chocolate cake seemed to be a huge hit and not one person made any strange comments about the beetroot or refusing to eat it. Now these people are adventurous! Having a house full of  and eating lots of food people for most of the day was an experience of its own. Ouma has many wonderful friends and it was lovely meeting them.

The next day we went into town with Ouma for a few hours. During that time we managed to browse through a couple of our favourite clothing stores (Pep, Mr Price, Ackermans), buy a handful of essential groceries for the weekend and visit the local library. We applied for our own library cards and took out some books for the children using Ouma, Oupa and Dieter's cards. It took us a while to orientate ourselves and find the English books for older children, but we did find many wonderful books!

Our first few days in SA were an adventure in themselves! Its been quite a shock to hear so many people talking in the accents we've been used to hearing so seldom abroad. I turned my head a few times, expecting to see South African friends from abroad, only to find another local person engaged in conversation. To be able to understand most of what people are saying and not be cut off from the conversations of others due to a language barrier, has been strange. I think I've grown accustomed to being an 'alien' and not really knowing what people are saying in conversations around me. I don't mind not knowing what people are talking about!

It has been so very refreshing to see the arty, flambouyant, expressive culture that is so uniquely South African! This is going to be an interesting adventure, especially for our children who are walking around with their eyes and ears wide open!