Day 6: We head for the beach

Woke up at 8 o'clock, which was a luxury, in Swaziland to a delectable breakfast of flap-jacks and all sorts of fancy things, it's still amazing to me all the delicious food Maretha can cook from a kitchen set in the side of a truck. Then packed up our tents and headed to the beautiful white sands and blue seas of St. Lucia.

On the way we got the opportunity to stop for a bit of shopping at a traditional Swazi market, called the Swazi Candle Market which was originally started as a community upliftment programme to create employment for the locals, and has grown into an astonishing success. The candles that they make are hand crafted and moulded into the shapes of all different kinds of animals ranging from buffalos to giraffes to elephants, and watching them being made is quite incredible.

When we got to the border everyone was very excited to be going back into South Africa, as much as we loved Swaziland and everything it had to offer, South Africa is home. As we all climbed back on the truck and started driving into our home country everyone broke out into a chorus of Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika which once again amazed me as to how patriotic South Africans are. As we proceeded through the lush greenery of the eastern coast we stopped off by a grassy patch on the side of the road for some lunch in the sunshine, before reaching our final destination, Shonalanga guest lodge in St. Lucia. Upon our arrival we got a briefing on the optional activities available to us in the area and then escorted to our luxurious and comfortable rooms. St. Lucia as a town is the most incredible place, a quint seaside town with only one main road and a beach, its simple and magnificent at the same time.

For dinner we gave Maretha bit of a break and went to the Ocean Sizzler across the road for some pizza, and then ventured out for a night on the town which was quite lively considering it's only a small town. Babooshka's Karaoke night had nothing on us, standing up front and centre singing and dancing more loudly than the people actually performing the song, it was too much fun as we all danced the night away.

Day 7 A day out and about around St. Lucia

We got a nice late start for a change, and all decided to rent bicycles for the day. The experience started off a little bit rocky with a few bumps and bruises, but everyone got back up and carried on, what a brave group we have. I told you yesterday how beautiful this town was but riding around on this day, we finally got the true experience. Witnessing the cute little road side shops, cottage styled houses and a massive, clean, white beach that completes the whole look and feel of the town.
On our bicycle trip the first stop was of course the beach, we were the only people there conceding it is the middle of winter and all, but that did not stop us. Pearl and Philile were the first to brave the cold water for some swimming action and they soon had all of us in the sea splashing around. Before the hunger pains set in we headed back into town for some lunch, after which we were back on our bikes for a trip to the lake. Where we had to ride along this very narrow path over the lagoon and some grassy areas, this did not quite match up with Ntsike's zigzag bike riding style and she proceed to fall off her bike, off the path and into the reeds. Our game spotting on this trip was also back in full force as we found some monkeys, hippopotami, impala and Megan spotted some extremely large shongololo's, but no one else seemed to be able to see them. After a long afternoon of riding everyone was exhausted and we caught up with Max and Dylan back at Shonalanga guest lodge. They had a fun filled day on the tour around Cape Vidal snorkelling, swimming and playing in the rock pools in the iSimangaliso wetland park. Where they witnessed a monkey jump onto some poor granny, steal her banana and then proceed to go hump another monkey, cheeky little thing. Had a much needed chill session before dinner and the lunar eclipse, which we watched from the deck of Quarterdeck restaurant that night. While the boys headed to the beach for a massive bon fire party and some game spotting with the locals they met the night before.