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Thursday 22nd
Thursday we took a drive down to Durban. This city is very different to Cape Town! There are lots of high rise buildings, street vendors, taxis that are 3 deep either side of the street - a very busy place! We drove through Durban to get to the beachfront and decided to go to a place called USharka (a water park/aquarium/shopping kind of place!). It was very hot walking around the park (we later found out it was high 30's!). We first went to see the Africa penguins being fed, followed by a dolphin show. I'd never been to a show like this before so I was quite excited watching these beautiful dolphins jumping around in the air. We also looked around the aquarium and caught a glimpse of the sharks and HUGE fish found around the African coast. After grabbing a milkshake from a place called 'Milky Lane' (another place Chris loved as a kid), we took a walk along the sandy beach. The water was again cold but it was lovely on our hot feet! I noticed all the people in the sea were swimming in certain marked-off areas - I was told this was because of sharks! I forgot that I wasn't in Spain but in South Africa where great-whites are found in the waters! On our drive back home we noticed that it started to get a little cloudy and within an hour the heavens opened and the thunder growled! I got quite excited as a storm in the afternoon is something we don't get in the UK - and hot rain is very strange!!
Later in the evening we all went out for dinner to an Italian restaurant in Hillcrest, just down from Granny & Grandads' place. The food was lovely but big portions (calamari count 5). After the meal we all headed back home and had a very hot & humid nights sleep, listening to the rain pouring down outside.
Friday 23rd
We had our final breakfast with the grandparents before packing our bags and heading to 'The Everglades' for the big family reunion for Christmas. It was still raining and the mist had gone down over the hills which made driving very interesting! After an hour of driving we stopped in a town called 'Howick' which has a very high waterfall! Although it was still raining we still took some photos and were walking around in shorts. We looked through the curio shops and got some last minute Christmas presents. I also bought a wire beaded chicken although I think I'll need to buy three given that I've got three chucks! We all had lunch (a steak & kidney pie with chips and gravy - very British ha ha!) followed by waffles with syrup & ice-cream….. mmmmmm! (I dread to think of the pounds piled on by the end of this holiday).
We then continued with our journey to the Everglades. What is quite strange is that the roads have tar-mac up to a certain point and then it just stops and becomes a rocky dust road! To say it was bumpy was an understatement! With the rain pouring down, our cars had soon turned from white to orange by time we reached the lodge! The Everglades is very nice and our lodge is lovely. We have a very big room with the comfiest beds and a huge bath J. The whole end of the room is made up of a large window which overlooks the hills - very beautiful once the mist had lifted! Breakfast & evening meal is included and the food is really good.
We were joined by Helen's family - too many to name all on the blog, but to cut a long story short - 3 sisters and 1 brother and all their husbands/wives/children!!! The cousins soon found the bar and dart board and spent most of the evening there playing Killer (which I've since found out is a very competitive game which I'm quite good at!!!). As I wasn't feeling too well I went to bed early but sought comfort in turning on the TV to find 'Eclipse' on the movie channel so I settled into bed watching Mr Pattinson….. however I must have felt ill because for the first time ever I fell asleep watching the movie!! (Catherine if you're reading this, I'm sorry!)
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