One of the places we've been wanting to visit is the eastern coast of South Africa. We wanted to see the Indian Ocean coastline, and the popular holiday spot of Durban. We decided to stay just north of Durban, in the Mediterranean-style holiday town of Ballito where we found a good deal on lodging. Instead of going during a busy school holiday, we pulled Aden out of school one Friday and took a long weekend to hit the beach, also celebrating Daddy and Mommy's eighth anniversary. Even though it was the end of July, in the South African "winter," and the water was cold, the weather was pleasant enough to enjoy the outdoors.
Everyone enjoyed the drive down, exploring new territory. By mid-afternoon, after an early, exciting start to the trip, the boys seemed to be growing weary and Aden and Wiley both nodded off in the backseat. Meanwhile, Noah found a second wind, singing at the top of his lungs and drumming on his backpack. He never missed a beat and never even hinted that he was tired until we crashed in our beds that night. Having a new "home" for the weekend was quite exciting as well, and the boys rushed from room to room immediately on our arrival, telling us all about what was in the ocean-front apartment we had rented for the weekend.
On Saturday morning, Mommy heard little voices just after six. She
peeked in the boys' room and found Aden and Wiley sitting on their beds,
which had already been made, and reading by lamplight. She took the
boys and some blankets out to the deck to watch the sunrise over the
ocean, and brought out binoculars to watch for dolphins and whales. We
were able to enjoy our breakfast on the deck, listening to the waves
crash on the beach below and watching for sea animals. We really just
wanted to get away from the city and have a change of pace, so didn't
plan lots of activities for our brief holiday. We spent most of the day
walking the Ballito boardwalk, looking for shells, and everyone at
least touched the waters of the Indian Ocean. We enjoyed fresh fish for
lunch, and then were pleasantly surprised to find a frozen yogurt bar
for dessert.
|
|
Aden and Wiley testing the water - a small tide pool - of the Indian Ocean |
 |
| Noah: I touched it! |
 |
| Looking for shells |
We checked out of our room Sunday morning, so it was our last chance to spot any sea animals on the Dolphin Coast. Wiley especially had hoped we would see something; sure enough, as we were eating breakfast Aden noticed a dark spot in the water, and we watched a small pod of dolphins swimming along the coast! After breakfast and checkout, we headed back to the boardwalk for "family church" on the beach. We explored a bit more, the boys getting braver and jumping on the rocks, before we piled back into the car and headed back home to Jo'burg. The highlight of the trip home was stopping at a rest area with camels (both Bactarine and Dromedary), one of Wiley's favorite animals.
 |
| Aden jumping the rocks |
Everyone enjoyed the drive down, exploring new territory. By mid-afternoon, after an early, exciting start to the trip, the boys seemed to be growing weary and Aden and Wiley both nodded off in the backseat. Meanwhile, Noah found a second wind, singing at the top of his lungs and drumming on his backpack. He never missed a beat and never even hinted that he was tired until we crashed in our beds that night. Having a new "home" for the weekend was quite exciting as well, and the boys rushed from room to room immediately on our arrival, telling us all about what was in the ocean-front apartment we had rented for the weekend.
We checked out of our room Sunday morning, so it was our last chance to spot any sea animals on the Dolphin Coast. Wiley especially had hoped we would see something; sure enough, as we were eating breakfast Aden noticed a dark spot in the water, and we watched a small pod of dolphins swimming along the coast! After breakfast and checkout, we headed back to the boardwalk for "family church" on the beach. We explored a bit more, the boys getting braver and jumping on the rocks, before we piled back into the car and headed back home to Jo'burg. The highlight of the trip home was stopping at a rest area with camels (both Bactarine and Dromedary), one of Wiley's favorite animals. 
No comments:
Post a Comment