Endless Summer Road Trip…

Nads doing last daily report!: It does not seem like it, but we have been gone for nine weeks and today is the last day of the Endless Summer Road Trip. Guess we can’t call it that anymore :-). We traveled 8000km in total (including day trips) and spent 160 hours in the car! Our route (campsite to campsite) was 4830km of mostly magnificent South African coastline and took 64 hours to travel.

Today, we woke up to a much chillier morning in Piet Retief, Luke cut open guavadella (guava and granadella cross) which we enjoyed even if they were a little sour. Boys couldn’t leave the camp site without the last attempt at bringing in a fish. So with bread as bait they tried their luck in the dam in front of the caravan.

With no fish, we packed and left for the final stretch at 11.30am. Our lunch break was at Bethal for fish and chips. We arrived home at 4:30pm, and it was hard to see who was more excited, the kids or the dogs, to see each other. So we are back where we started 9 weeks later, all enriched with memories of places full of beauty, and many hours of togetherness. We will treasure these memories forever.

Mikey reporting: Went for a run with my brothers. Luke went five times to the end of the camp, John went four time and I went four times. Then we stopped to have a drink of water. We were having breakfast, then a Monkey came and stole the sugar, then Dad chased the Monkey and finally we got the sugar back. Then we packed up the tent. We saw some white Rhinos and some warthogs. Then we saw a kudu.

Then we went to Wimpy. I ate French toast and bacon with syrup. Then we played on the jungle gym. Then we was going. We setup the tent (in Piet Retief), had a shower and then we had supper.

My best things of the Endless Summer was looking at a Gemsbok, lions, white Rhinos, catching my spotty and surfing. I also loved the big slide, the bumper cars and jets and swimming to the platform at Storms River.

Daniela reporting: Woke up with Luke whispering “Duiker, duiker” and that’s how my morning started. Had a lovely breakfast and then we went to the beach. I did a lot of snorkeling and I saw an angel fish about 20cm long. Then I went to get a net to fish in the rock pools. The boys saw an eel and a honeycomb stingray and they also caught a crayfish – wow it was big and alive!

I flew the big kite and then Dad wanted to test how strong it was and the string broke because the wind was so strong. Lost a piece of the kite and I’m guessing we can’t fly it again until we get a new piece. We saw a boat come in with three yellow fin tuna and one mackerel. I wanted Dad to buy one so we could eat sushi, but it was too big to take home.

After four hours on the beach we decided to go home. While Mom made lupper, the boys and I went for a ride on our bikes. We went quite a far way and then went back and all ended up in drama and tears for John and Michael because John wanted Mama and Michael fell off his bike. Had delicious lupper of pasta, tuna and broccoli and then went for a shower.

Played a card game and Dad saw a genet next to the camp which I didn’t see. Now its time for bed.

Nads reporting: We woke up to a beautiful morning at Tugela Mouth, and the kids were swimming in the pool before 8 am. This place was a great find,the kids have loved the play facilities, and we (the biggest kids) enjoyed the reading time. So after last chess games, rope swing and somersaults on the trampoline, we left at 11 am. 

We decided to go into Richards Bay, for lunch and some 3G to do some updates on the computer.  We sat at the Dros at the Waterfront. The kids were spoilt to making their own pizzas, a games room with TV and video games. After lunch I did a very speedy food shop stop before we went the beach, where we walked along the pier to the lighthouse.

Back on the road with 2 hours to go till we got to Cape Vidal in the St Lucia Nature  Reserve. We arrived and set up the small tent, racing against the light fading. This looks like a great place to have our last beach campsite.

Had a relaxing morning with the kids swimming in front of the caravan. Later on, we took a walk down to the beach in front of the campsite. The Tugela River is something to see – with the recent rain, it is flowing strongly and has turned the ocean a murky brown for many kilometers from the mouth. The sea was wild and rough so not much swimming. The kids are loving the new kites – they had a lot of fun learning to fly them and catching crabs.

After the beach we came back to the campsite, had a swim and then had an early braai. The kids are in heaven here – they spent the rest of the afternoon in the treehouse, swinging on the ropes and playing giant chess. Having an early night tonight and will leave for Cape Vidal tomorrow morning.

We woke up at that awful campsite. The sun was shining but it was still very muddy. The boys and I went to go and play on the jungle gym and while we were dancing on the table which I called the stage, I spotted a frog in the pool. We played with it a lot, then we went to explore.

Then we went to Zinkwazi Beach which was beautiful and it was low tide with flat rocks with big rock pools. We saw big fish in there, but did not catch any of the big ones. Dad said he was going to the lagoon and we all ended up doing it. Johnny spotted a crab that was very cute.

Then we went for lunch and I bought a rhino that I called Ian. Mom bought lots of costumes and clothes for us. Dad bought a ginormous kite and then we went back to the campsite to pack up. Dad was so grateful to leave and we drove to the Tugela Mouth. We arrived at a beautiful campsite with our own private pool, giant chessboard, treehouse and a playground. The tree was better than a jungle gym.

We went to the beach to fly our kites and it was so much fun. It was time to go and we went home and went to bed.

Luke reporting: Woke up late because it was rainy and still dark. I did some colouring played a map game when I said a place and Dani had to find it. Played around and helped mommy and daddy. Had fish balls, squash and tomato. Packed up everything in the cottage and left for Zinkwazi in the rain.

Drove for 2 hours and arrived at a muddy camp then we made the caravellovan. We played a memory game while mom made pesto pasta for supper, had it. We played UNO and went to bed with Sharpey the shark that mommy gave to me two days ago.

Dani on duty: Woke up with Michael making a terrible noise and ended up lying there for a little bit trying to get back to sleep. I didn’t, so I went to go and have breakfast. I arrived and realised that everybody had already had breakfast. Mom asked Precious to make me some porridge and then we went for a walk on the beach to the river.

I had my socks on to protect my big injury on my foot and I got them wet and dirty. Got to the river and ate Easter eggs and everybody jumped off the sand bank except me because, obvious, I had a sore foot.

Got back to Southport beach and the boys flew their kite and I sat on the road waiting for the car to be opened. Got home and the boys and I went to go and get five, big, juicy, scrumptious hot chelsea buns. We all ate them and yum yum, they were yummy.

Fra, Josh and Olie left, that was very sad, but we weren’t so worried because we know we are going to see them at home in a while. Me and Mom built puzzles for quite a while then I went on Dad’s iPad to watch movies. Then it was time to go to church. After that we came home and had sweets and supper. Had a bath and then and then came to this blog where I am going to go to bed and read my book.

Nads reporting: After waking up with monkeys jumping on the roof, we all got up to a beautiful day. We had some breakfast and all went down to Anerley Beach. The sea was really wild, and waves were big crashing into the tidal pool there. Greg,Luke, Josh and Mikey enjoyed a bit of fishing, Luke caught a bream which made everyone very excited. John, Olie and Dani played on the beach and swam in the tidal pool. While the mommies were happy just to catch up on chat! With the surging tide and strong wind, we left the beach to go back to the house for a shower and a sandwich.

We decided to take the kids to Riverbend Crocodile Farm, which was very exciting for them. Running from the Snake House seeing mambas, cobras and house snakes, we walked around the enclosures full of basking crocodiles. We watched a short movie before leaving. Our next stop was The Waffle House for savoury and sweet waffles, with banana milkshakes.

We came back to catch up some diaries, then settled down to a movie (Despicable Me) and pop-corn, all squashed on the couch.

Nads’ friend from school days, Fra, arrived with her boys, Josh and Olie. Fra is visiting SA from New Zealand and drove down to Southport from Howick. They unpacked quickly and then we went down to the beach for a swim in the tidal pool. Nads and Fra started a long overdue catchup while the kids were catching fish with the nets and jumping off the big rock.

Came back to the cottage and had a great braai while the kids played hide and seek and made a lot of noise. John and Olie blew out their candles again as they both turned four a couple of weeks ago. Nads and Fra continued the catch up…