Sunday, April 25, 2010

Sea, Sand and Sun

This  is  a  long  weekend  for  us,  Tuesday  is  a public  holiday  so  we  took  a  days  leave  on  Monday  and  headed   for  the  ocean..............
We  were  up  at  3.30am  and  on  the  road  for  4.30 am,  my  family  thought  I  had  lost  my  mind,  but  the earlier  we  arrived  the  more  time  we  would  have  exploring......  for  most  of  the  journey  it  was  drizzling   with  rain,  the  first  two  hours  were really  dark....  with  only  the  twinkle  of  a  farm house  light breaking  the  darkness............  the  dawn  broke  just  after  6 o'clock,  but  with  the  rain  it  really  did  little  to  improve  the  driving conditions.

The  roads  were  full of  trucks,  and  we  saw  a  couple  of  bad  accidents  involving  trucks  the  drivers  had  obviously  fallen  asleep  at the  wheel  and  lost  control  as  no  other  vehicles  were  involved.  Van  Reenens Pass   at the  foot  of  the  Drakensberg  was  covered  in  mist....  and  I  must  admit......  rain  and  mist   make  for  a  scary  trip.............. I  was  worried  that  the  rain  would  follow us  all the 550  kilometers  to  the  sea,  but  about  500  kilometers  away  from  home  the rain  stopped.  As  we  took  the South  Coast  road  and  headed  for  the  flat  we  had  hired,  we  landed  in the  middle  of approx. 100  Harley  Davidson motorbikes  that  were on  the  way  to  a rally.............  as  if  we  had  not  had  a  stressful  enough  trip.  On  a  three  lane  highway  they  decided  to  use  the  middle  lane,  driving  two  a  breast  each  on  the  white  line,  it  made  driving  very  dangerous,  and I  held  my  breath  every time   we   passed one  and  they  have  the  cheek  to  say  that  cars  are  not  considerate  enough............
In spite  of  everything we  arrived  safe  and  sound,  off  loaded  our  bags,  had  a  cup  of  tea  and   headed  for  the  beach ...............  there  is  something  about  the  ocean............  that  is  relaxing  and  cleansing...............  it  helps  to  put  things  back  in  to  perspective,  clears  the  mind  and  warms  the .  spirit..................... even  though  the  waves  were  really  high  and  the  ocean  was  just  white  with  the  force  of  the  waves  breaking,   all the  no  swimming  signs  were  up  as  the currents  were  just  too  strong............. we  took  a  walk  up  the  beach  for  an  ice cream ........  after  which  we  discovered  we  would  have  to  come  back  the  long  scenic route  via   the  road  as  the  tide  had  come  in,  and  the  river  we  had  crossed  was  now  one  with  the  sea............
 Had  a  lazy  afternoon,  reading..............  the  4.30  start  really  affecting  everyone............ and  then  we went  out  for  supper,  good  food  good  company..........  what  an  amazing  day  one  of  our  long  weekend............................

2 comments:

  1. Hi Karen, You guys had a nice adventure trip even before the final destination. I wish i could do it sometime.

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  2. I really don't enjoy driving at night and with rain and mist, oh baby, whew! But the pic of the ocean would make all that worth it. Let's see, the closest ocean to us is atleast one day east, or 2 days south, or 4 days west. Wait, I forgot, someone invented the airplane! (which I hate)Guess I'll settle for a near by lake.. Have a wonderful holiday weekend!

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