Sigh... the long weekend is over. But what a weekend it was. I so enjoyed going away (even though the place turned out to be only about 20 minutes away from where we live!) and spending time outside. When I'm at home, I always feel like I should be doing something - clearing out my guest room so there's actually space to get through the door, sorting photos, cooking supper, doing the washing etc.
It was great to be at the guest farm, because I COULDN'T do any of those things, so I could actually allow myself not to think about them and to think about what I wanted to do and then do it.
This was the quaint little cottage where we stayed, just outside of Muldersdrif. It wasn't luxurious, but it was quiet and clean and, most importantly, it had a heater!
But I'm getting ahead of myself. I really suck at keeping to chronological order. The weekend began on Friday, so I shall start there.
After finishing work early (which I always do on Fridays because we don't take lunch breaks or tea breaks during the week at all), we packed our bags. The cats need almost as much stuff as we do - their kitty hut, litterbox, extra litter, dry food, wet food, food bowls, water bowl etc. Then we headed off to my folks in Pretoria.
We had supper at Cafe 41 in Groenkloof. Not my favourite place, especially seeing they've changed the recipe of their chickpea and sweet potato curry. Ugh.
Saturday morning we rushed to Menlyn Shopping Centre as it opened to get the last part of my dad's Father's Day present, seeing our local branch of the store had run out. We met up with him, my mom, and (surprisingly) my brother, who doesn't normally get out of bed before noon on weekends. After that, we did our shop for everything we'd need for the weekend (food, mainly. And Lindt chocolate, of course) and off we went, leaving the kitties with their grandparents for the weekend. They always come back from my parents spoilt and stuffed ;-)
We checked in at the guest farm and took a drive around the area before heading back to watch the rugby. We followed all these signs promising fresh vegetables and a farm stall, but when we got to the end of the road, we found ouselves at a place called the Dog Park. There were about 50 dogs (seriously), a little honesty bar (where you can help yourself to a drink and leave the money) and nothing else. No veggies in sight. Bizarre. There was a big old Alsation with bloodshot eyes standing on the steps to the bar, like Clint Eastwood in some awful ancient Western flick. He looked at us sternly down his long doggy nose as if to say, 'This here be my bar. Touch my liquor and there'll be trouble.' We left.
Hubby watched the Boks playing Wales and I curled up on a couch outside, in the sunshine, with a book. So nice to have time to read! After that, we braaied a spatchcock chicken and chilled outside with a glass of really good wine. A candlelit bath was next, but being spoilt rotten and used to a nice big bath, not a little one like the cottage had, that didn't last too long ;-)
It was such a lovely chilled night. I managed to finish the book I'd started in bed, much later, and actually managed to sleep well in a new bed, which is a first for me.
Sunday we had a long lie-in and a good heart-to-heart, before setting out adventuring. We stopped at a little nursery, which turned out to be having a half-price sale, so I filled the boot of our car with beautiful green things, for only R200.
The plants then got to enjoy the rest of the day driving through the Rhino and Lion Park with us. Thanks to
Angel and
Ruby for the idea. What a great day! We arrived just before feeding time, so we got to watch the lions, wild dogs and cheetahs enjoying their lunch.
This is one of the feline chaps, announcing his hunger to the watching crowd.
Then we drove through the park and saw countless animals, including sable (I'd never seen them before), waterbuck, rhinos, and many more. It was quite funny, because they all looked red from the red mud.
Then we went to the animal creche, where we oohed and ahhed at the baby tigers, hippo, jaguars, leopard and these cuties, whom we got to play with...
They were tuckered out from all the attention, so they'd decided to take a snooze. We had fun tickling them under their paws and watching them swat at us in their sleep. They're white lions, so they have big blue eyes (caused by a recessive gene).
This fellow below is a teenage cheetah. Tired of being called cute and of all the attention from the people petting him, he climbed on the roof of his shelter to glare at us all and sulk.
After that, we headed to the Wondercave, South Africa's third largest cave chamber. I love caves. A bit of speleophile am I. Showing off the little bit of Latin I remember.
Anyhoo... Hubby had never seen a proper cave, so it was great fun, aside from some of the annoying people in our group who made the guide spend the entire time chasing after them. They dropped sweet papers in the caves, which I dutifully picked up. Neanderthals.
Sunday evening was spent making a yummy potjie (nobody makes potjie like my hubby), with another glass of really good wine, and lots of cuddling to keep away the chills.
Monday morning, we had to up early as check-out time was 9am. We did breakfast at Zest, a dinky little restaurant at the Ngwenya Glass Village, and browsed the shops. At around lunch time, we headed back to my folks. My gran is visiting, so we chilled with them before taking our kitties home and enjoying leftover potjie and a DVD.
It was such a lovely weekend, and I'm sorry if you found my post long and boring, but I've had fun recalling my little getaway in between my chasing of clients. Grrr...
The only bad thing about a long weekend is that one extra day out of the office seems to make me forget how to type, do admin and put my head down ;-)
I'm off to give it another try, and to read your blogs, of course.
