The welcoming committee

Our day started at 4:30 as we decided to get on the road early. It is a 600km trip from Johannesburg to the Durban coast. About a six hour drive with a stop for a meal. Its always exciting, especially for the children, to get up early and leave in the dark. The night before Mr G packed the car and filled it up with petrol so we could head out as soon as everybody was dressed.

We were lucky that the day was overcast and cool and the drive was pleasant. We have a very good highway (that charges very high toll rates!) and so the drive is quite easy.

Most of the way you pass through farming areas or green rolling hills. Johannesburg is on the top of the escarpment and at a high altitude. Halfway along the route you get to Van Reenens Pass which is where you start to descend to the coast. We stopped at a restaurant in Van Reenen's for breakfast and to stretch our legs.

As you descend further you drive along some winding roads with lovely views. The road is a bit monotonous with more green rolling hills but still makes you realize what a beautiful country we live in.

We drive through three provinces; Gauteng, Free State and Kwa Zulu Natal. When you get to Pietermaritzburg (where Kendalishere lived), the landscape has more trees and starts to become humid. If I think of Pietermaritsburg I think of two things; mist and roadworks. It is in a valley and is always misty and I have never driven that stretch of highway without seeing construction signs and barricades.

The vegetation changes as you get nearer to Durban. It is lush and green with banana and palm trees, hibiscus flowers and sugar cane farms.

We came down to the holiday town of Umhlanga Rocks on the north coast of Durban. It is a very popular destination because it has a wonderful long beach with good swimming conditions.We have not been to Umhlanga for about 10 years and there has been so much development since then.

When we came into the resort we were greeted by these beautiful macaws. The resort has not changed much over the years and they have always had parrots here. It is a family resort right on the beachfront and as I write this I am sitting on the balcony watching and listening to the waves breaking on the rocks.

Sorry for such a long write-up. There is still so much to say but I will continue with a little every day. I hope to get up early gat some beach shots tomorrow. The light conditions were not good today.






"Joy is what happens to us when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things really are."
~ Marianne Williamson



My Joy Today:
~ Being with my family!
~ Being at the sea!
~ Being on holiday!
~ Relaxing and switching off my brain!

~ And my BIGGEST joy today has come from the flood of years of holiday memories that I have been sharing with my children!
~ You can't get better than this!




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