Are we there yet?

Till Sunday 1st March 2009 - The start of our girlie weekend, we travelled two and half hours to George with Ronald and his wife, left on York Street and wait for Philip (Phiebes boyfriend and our ride to Wilderness) and we wait and we wait some more. Finally as we are about to give up hope Philip arrives, and we jump into the back of the bakkie, enjoying the cushioning from the supplied mattress. A quick visit to the local supermarket, we buy enough food to feed a small army, under the pretext that Phiebe and Philip may be joining us for a braai on Saturday night! One more stop at Mackie D's, and we were on our way to Wilderness.
Arriving in darkness, we carefully climb the steps up to our wood chalet, our accommodation being precariously built on stilts. The whole thing moves every time you walk through the different rooms.
I sleep with my curtains open, looking forward to the scenery in the morning, I was not disappointed, with lush green mountains being the first thing I see once awake and able to focus. Waking early, I start cooking breakfast, SA hasn't yet welcomed the concept of individual sausages, so I attempt to fry the mother of all sausages, this one being over a foot long and filling the whole frying pan! Introducing Bulelwa to fried bread, we sit outside to eat, watching the guinea fowl across the lawn. I think I could get use to this outdoor living.
Breakfast is followed by a brisk hike on the Half Kingfisher Trail, a total of 7.2 km. Taking us to the Parks waterfall after negotiating the rivers pontoon. The walk takes us over 3 hours, the incentive of chocolate cake and ice cake ensuring our journey back is completed in record time.
Not content with the days already strenuous exercise, subconsciously needing to work off the previously mentioned indulgence maybe, we set off to make use of the beach, being told it should take us a mere 15 minutes to walk. Half an hour later, we take our first step onto the white sands and within seconds the heavens open, coupled with the driving winds along the shore line, we are soaked and rather damply make out way back to base camp for a much needed hot shower.
With no news from Phiebe, we start the mammoth task of eating all the food we have bought, having an indoor braai, without the braai. We make a proper girlie night of it, setting up mattresses on the lounge floor and watching a chick flick. I tease Bulelwa, after leaving a sizable piece of chocolate cake uneaten! Wasteful minx! Talk about eyes bigger than your belly!
Sunday starts again with a full English, we have managed to blag ourselves a free session on the Parks canoe, Bulelwa having never experienced canoeing, and me hardly able to remember how to paddle, you could say it was the blind, leading the blind. For fear of falling in with my camera equipment, I barely allowed Bulelwa to breathe let alone paddle. But once back on shore, I gave Bulelwa a quick paddling lesson and were out on the water again briefly, asking a guy camping to take a couple of photos as hard evidence.
In the afternoon, we thought we'd try our luck again at the beach, this time award with sunshine and cool waters.
The sands were a treasure trove of shells, although you had to be careful, some had inhabitants, tens of sea snails scurried around, in between some very odd blue coloured jelly fish.
Concerned that we hadn't eaten enough chocolate cake (it being large enough to feed a small country, and I don't like waste) we made our way back, quickly calling into Reception to reassure them we hadn't drown whilst canoeing.
Bellies full, we pack and wait for our ride to George (giving Philip the remaining cake, a mere sixth of its original size, for his trouble) and then catching a lift with Ronald back to Swellendam, already planning our next weekend away to Tsitsikamma, which worryingly has the highest bungee jump in the World!