Goodbye beehive huts, hello beachside apartment! Back to semi-civilization with the arrival in St Lucia in a few hours but first breakfast and a couple of hours to the Swazi border. I got a goodbye grunt from the Warthogs this morning- very emotional stuff...After a quick stop at a local market to buy some souvenirs, it was goodbye to sunny and smiley Swaziland.

Got to St. Lucia at lunchtime after another long drive through the Swazi countryside. Probably not the best idea to wear my kiwi rugby jersey driving back through the South African border- I got a few dirty looks from the border control staff but it was the only clean top I had left! I was hoping they would go through my bags because the smell off my clothes after the last week would have killed a bunch of hippos- toxic is an understatement..

St. Lucia looks like a bit of a party village, similar to Castlegregory back home! Our accommodation was at Shonalanga Lodge, a self catering apartment each with all mod cons including a TV...I hadn't watched TV or been on the Internet for a week, will be avoiding both for another 24 hours!

DC wanted to head straight back out after we landed at our apartments but I was wrecked and it was roasting once again so nap time for me...booked in for a river safari at 4pm- it's 1pm now so zzzz time for an hour!

Nap lasted about fifteen minutes,( something buzzing around the room was enough the kill the relaxing mood). We may as well check out the beach while we're here instead. Not like I'll be in St Lucia again anytime soon, but you never know, nobody knows what lies ahead..

A nice leisurely drive to the beach via a hippo and leopard inhabited road littered with 'Beware' signs. Apparently, there is a leopard that has been spotted (by CCTV) coming into the village at night and devouring the local cats and dogs- class!

A quick dip of the feet in the Indian Ocean for good luck apparently and that was good enough for me. The wind on the beach was like a hurricane, we were getting 'sandblasted'- similar to somebody throwing sugar at you at 500 km/hr..time to head back to the lodge!

Decided to give the water safari a miss, I wanted a proper nap and watch Saturday sports on TV. I'd prefer to watch Spurs v Newcastle than the tops of crocodile and hippos heads for two hours in the baking heat, no wild animals will take preference over today's sport schedule..

We're booked in for another 'all you can' eat buffet this evening, one last one..for a few days..

The restaurant we ate at was like something out of Phoenix Nights, full of greasy old couples and live music from some geriatric who looked like he has seen much better days, probably sometime in the 60's..Luckily, a local tribal band came to the restaurant balcony so old man river was forced to stop, while they jumped about the place beating on drums for about half an hour- just enough time to lick my plate clean and head back to solitude until tomorrow. St Lucia looks like a quality spot but my bed is my dream destination now before the local leopard strolls into town.

It's off to Durban early in the morning, one last chore for DC to do before it's adios. That will be my eight different nights accommodation in two weeks, at least I'll be spending four nights there without any cross country drives or wild animals, I hope anyways..