Happy Birthday to Me

Well, it’s been a few days since my birthday now, but I thought I’d better catch you up with what we’ve been up to (and what I did on my birthday)!

The fun really started the day before my birthday – guess what Lyds and Milly got me?!? A horse riding trek! It was really good fun. I rode a big horsey called Copper.

Sadly he was a little slow…possibly in part due to my significant weight on his back. Regardless, he did have his moments of haste – once when he started running off downhill, and a couple of times when he got spooked by the farm dogs running in the sugar cane! We went out for a trek (me and Lyds riding, Milly walking) with a 14ish year old horsey person, and rode through majestic scenery into the sunset, through woods, vales and hills. And, in fact, that’s not very far from the truth!

My birthday started like this:

I was prepared a delicious bacon and egg breakfast by Lyds, before driving off to school for the morning. A few lessons later (and a quick happy birthday from grade 6), it was time to go. When we arrived home, Mummy called, we had a quick turnaround, and then had to drive out to Etsheni for homestead visiting. We walked around in pairs, visiting homesteads to check for orphans. Milly was proposed to (and got lost – according to the volunteers!), and Cindy (zulu volunteer I was paired with) and I were led on a wild goose chase, which left Lydia and her two volunteers to do the bulk part of the work! A couple of exhausting hours later we dropped the volunteers back off and drove home to Empangeni. In the evening I had band practice, which resulted in a bit of rather over exuberant and talentless bass playing, and so I finally rolled in at about 8:30 in time for a phone call from Daddy!

A much better birthday that I’d expected! I was also treated to an unnofficial birthday present by Gavin and Elaine, as we visited the Drakensberg over the weekend!

We left early on Friday morning, to arrive about midday at the ‘Little Switzerland Resort’. ‘Little Switzerland’ has a hotel, and numerous chalets, all located on a picturesque plateau halfway up a mountain. You can hear baboons bellowing in the nearby forest, get close enough to touch wild zebras, but still enjoy the comfort and convenience of the site’s tennis court, bowls green, volleyball court, stables, trampoline, crazy golf course, swimming pools, play parks, and fully equipped gym/sauna/jacuzzi/indoor pool/squash court facilities. I was impressed. Could you tell?

We went with Gavin and Elaine, and met Rebekah, Naomi, Ben (G+E’s kids), Eman and Candice (family friends) there.
We arrived first (by some margin) and were left to explore on our own! To our surprise we discovered that the facilities (except the gym, squash court etc) were all free! So we had a couple of rounds of ‘Putt-Putt’ (aka crazy golf) and several games of bowls. Needless to say I was mostly victorious, in a roundabout kind of way. It soon started to go dark, and we waited for everyone else to arrive. Everyone except Eman (who was to arrive the next morning) turned up by about 6:00. We ate a delicious supper, and played a game of 30 Seconds, and went to bed.

The next morning, some of us (me, Milly, Rebekah, Candice, Gavin) were up bright and early for a walk down to some nearby ‘falls’. We almost lost Milly there when a pillar collapsed, dropping a huge rock onto her. Luckily, Gavin managed to lift it off.

We played squash and tennis in the morning, coming back for lunch afterwards. The fog settled thereafter, so while Milly got her fix in the gym Lydia and I shared a very soggy game of tennis. The night was concluded with another delectable offering from Elaine’s culinary repertoire.

The next morning was time to leave, and so we had to clear our chalets. Once we’d loaded everything into the back of the bakkie, we headed over to reception to borrow some games kit before we left! Bowls was first on the agenda, as we split into two games. It was an intense, fast, and furious match – wait – no it wasn’t…but it was fun.

After this, those who wanted to headed back to relax/prepare dinner, and Milly, Lyds and I played 3 games of volleyball against Ben, Candice and Eman. South Africa took advantage of the young english team’s disorganisation in the first match, winning in almost straight points. By the second match however, we had recovered, and inflicted a heavy defeat. The deciding game was going really well – until we had to cut it short for lunch and lost. Or at least, that’s my excuse. Haha.

On the way home we visited the Cascades at Royal Natal – the sun was glistening off the rushing water – it was amazing. The water was frost cold which was lovely on your hot, sweaty feet!

Anyway, I had a fantastic weekend. It was brilliant being in the Berg – the cooler climate, stunning views and sports facilities suited me just fine! Apologies for the lateness of the post, it’s not even near my birthday now, but it’s been in the pipeline for a fair few days!

Have a good week, will try to be in touch soon – might even get to hear from the girls!

Lewis