Unintended

‘If you tolerate this, then your children will be next’ Manic Street Preachers – If you tolerate this, your children will be next

On Friday evening we had drinks with the family at a hotel on the banks of the Nahoon river. It was a beautiful evening, but I’ll remember it as the time that Duncan told me he wanted to leave East London as his family were driving him up the wall. To be honest, some of them were pushing me the same way.

Don’t get me wrong, these people have been nothing but great towards me, but there are only so many times I can listen to the ‘how the black people have destroyed the country’ speech. Like the white man is clever and all-knowing! It makes me wonder if some people were happier when apartheid was in place.

On Saturday I was woken at 6am to stand outside the house for a short while. Both Lauren and Barbara are menbers of a walking club who race in the area every weekend. On this particular day the race took them past the house so me & Duncan got to cheer them on (as much as someone can cheer at that time of the morning!) with minimum effort on our part – brownie points all round! Lauren has been walking for a fair while now and is the person to beat the moment. Barbara has been walking for the last few weeks, but seems to be enjoying it immensely. It all seems a bit bizarre to me, but then I am a very non-sporty person – except for watching it of course!

After going back to bed for a while (well, wouldn’t you?!), Duncan and I headed to the coast for a fantastic seafood lunch before going to the aquarium. We spent ages wandering round – which is impressive as the thing only has 2 rooms, but we basically killed time until it was fish feeding time and the seal show. I fell in love with the seahorses, as well the tiny fish who hid everytime you went near the tank. We were also amused by the penguins (whose numbers are depleted somewhat after some people sacrificed some in the name of Satan recently… sick, sick, sick) who seemed really stupid but still adorable. On Saturday evening we drove to Lauren and Wayne’s for another family meal. I never spend this much time with my own family!

On Sunday afternoon we drive out to the small coastal resort/township of Sunrise on Sea, which is where Phil has set up home. It’s a small place where people wander in and out of freely – something I found quite weird. We spent the evening drinking and reliving old times. It was relaxed and chilled – just as holidays should be.

Monday was our last full day in East London and so the morning was filled with errands before we went to Nahoon beach. Here I got to splash my feet in the Indian Ocean. When we left the beach at 12 it was already ridiculously warm and as the temperature climbed to 31, we spent the afternoon attempting to cram a large amount of stuff into our, suddenly somehow, smaller bags. Monday night was a whole family farewell things. Everyone was there and when it came to actually saying goodbye, I’ll admit I felt a little sad. For all their flaws, they are lovely people and I felt kind of settled there.

I was woken at 5am on Tuesday as Duncan’s grandparents wanted to be on their way to Port Elizabeth by 6am at the latest. We took the scenic route and there were times that made me wonder if we would make it there in one piece. The ‘scenic’ route basically involved a lot of narrow, twisty roads through hills. If his grandad had driven at a sensible speed, it would have been fine, but for some reason he felt the need to speed. I’m not a nervous passenger – I grew up being driven at speed by my drunken father, but whilst he sped he always maintained control. Unfortunately the same could not be said of this journey and we were often on the wrong side of the road and unable to see what was approaching. How we avoided being hit I’ll never know – sheer blind luck I think.

We arrived in PE just after 9am, an hour before we were supposed to collect the car. Luckily Avis handed the keys over early and after breakfast and car safety lectures (don’t leave valuables on display, etc – like I’d do that anywhere in the world!) Duncan and I were alone and heading west on an empty highway to Knysna. The drive was hot, uneventful and thankfully short as we were in Knysna and checking into the hotel by 1:30, It was still stifling hot – apparently caused by a berg wind – a hot wind which saps all energy from you. After a shower we headed out of the hotel and into Knysna, a small coastal resort of the southern coast. It’s described as the place were people (in particular arty people) move to when they want to ‘drop out’ of the rat race of modern life. And it shows. Just about every other private residence has a small gift shop or art gallery operating out of the spare room or garage.

We walked round the waterfront, had lunch and wandered listlessly round the shops for a while before giving up and returning to the hotel. On the way back down the main road we noticed a lot of pink ribbon, bows and balloons, and after spotting a poster or two, realised we had arrived in town at the beginning of the Pink Loerie (or Gay Pride) festival. It added a whole paryt atmosphere to the town.

We treated ourselves that night to an ‘expensive’ dinner at a restaurant on the waterfront. We were given some money by Duncan’s family for petrol, but we decided to spoil ourselves. Of course, compared to the UK, it was cheap, but still fantastic.

On Wednesday the weather finally broke and it rained on and off all day. We dodged the showers and visited the main art gallery and the maritime museum. Both had been recommended in the guide books, but turned out to be disappointing. Thankfully the rain stopped late afternoon and we got to enjoy a cruise out to the Knysna heads – the rocky entrance to the Knsyna Lagoon. It was a nice end to an otherwise disappointing day and we rounded it off with dinner at a Thai restaurant, which made me a convert to the food.

On Thursday morning we re-packed the car and left Knysna for Oudtshorn (pronouned Oats-horn). It was a two hour drive through the Outeniqua mountains (where Hansie Cronjie’s plane crashed a few days ago). When we arrived in the town we went straight to the tourist information office to find ourselves a cheap room for the night. Once sorted we drove out to the Cango Caves, about 30kms north of Oudtshorn. We had a guided tour through part of the caves, which were pretty impressive. After that we headed towards on of the four Ostrich farms open to the public in the area, via a detour to visit a waterfall. The waterfall was listed and signposted as a tourist attraction, but was at the end of a 30 minute drive down a dirt/rock strewn “road”, which ideally you would need a 4×4 to access. Our little car did quite well under the circumstances.

cont…