Well, didn't end up dragging out the laptop yesterday as it turns out but here we are on the weekend and I might as well catch up what we have been up to. Our lodge in the mountains was called Witseisehoek, and bares a few more words. First the service. While we waited in vain for the cloud to cover to enjoy the view, the staff came up with menus to let us have a look at what we wanted for dinner. We made our order while relaxing in the lounge and when the food was ready they called us in to the dining room. I really enjoyed this service and we had fun chatting to other people in the dining room. Sleep was a little difficult, mostly because Munchkin could not settle in her travel tent.
A word on the tent, presents some challenges in warmer climes. I think I've described it before, but it is literally a toddler-sized instant-pop-out tent, complete with flaps and mesh zip-up sides. I got it mainly because it was relatively cheap and very light. For the price we could try it out and get something else if we didn't like. Time passed and we just never got anything else. In particular in Northern Europe, it's very nice because it traps a bit of heat like all tents do which keeps Munchkins nice and warm. Not so great in warmer places, so we have been struggling to get the right combination of sleep wear to keep her from getting too hot.
Breakfast was the same nice service, the staff stays on the mountain and only goes home once a month, so it was the same people as the night before. Unemployment in the town at the bottom of the mountain is very bad, and we saw a lot of people just sitting around on a week day with no job to go to.
Our destination this day was Little Switzerland and the Midlands Meander, a strip east of the Drakensbergs that is said to look like the English Midlands. OH thought it looked a bit more like Scotland. The Midlands Meander is a tourist trail. You drive round, visit boutique shops selling locally produced foods and drinks, stay in nice self-caterings or hotels and eat very well. We had a single destination the first day since we arrived in the afternoon, which was Gunter's, a German man who makes his own sausage and cheese. As we were traveling during the holidays, the cheese was all out but the sausages were not, and they were very good indeed. All the rest of the shops were closed, so we went to our self catering. O and W had found an absolutely stunning one called Otter's Den - a row of 4 cottages with the traditional Zulu thrush roofing, overlooking a small brook and waterfall. It was so peaceful and lovely!
We have been dining out early with Munchkin, and we did so that night, driving to a fancy hotel which was supposed to have an excellent restaurant but alas was closed. We went to the pub instead and had a pretty nice meal. The next morning we got some excellent Wee Cute Shoppes, and had delightful breakfast of eggs florentine on GI bread. GI or glucose index bread is all the rage here, it is meant to be more easy to digest and not so easily converted to fat. It is also very delicious.
We set out after lunch for our final destination - Umhlanga, just outside of Durban, for a short week of Beach Holiday. More on that tomorrow. Let us end with more Tales of Toddler Traveler. Munchkin does not sleep in cars, is what we have found. She will cat nap, and nothing more. This flies in the face of all conventional wisdom, which says that children should sink into slumber the minute they enter the car. It's made road trips a bit difficult but our feeling has been as long as she sleeps well at night (she seems to) we push on.
A word on the tent, presents some challenges in warmer climes. I think I've described it before, but it is literally a toddler-sized instant-pop-out tent, complete with flaps and mesh zip-up sides. I got it mainly because it was relatively cheap and very light. For the price we could try it out and get something else if we didn't like. Time passed and we just never got anything else. In particular in Northern Europe, it's very nice because it traps a bit of heat like all tents do which keeps Munchkins nice and warm. Not so great in warmer places, so we have been struggling to get the right combination of sleep wear to keep her from getting too hot.
Breakfast was the same nice service, the staff stays on the mountain and only goes home once a month, so it was the same people as the night before. Unemployment in the town at the bottom of the mountain is very bad, and we saw a lot of people just sitting around on a week day with no job to go to.
Our destination this day was Little Switzerland and the Midlands Meander, a strip east of the Drakensbergs that is said to look like the English Midlands. OH thought it looked a bit more like Scotland. The Midlands Meander is a tourist trail. You drive round, visit boutique shops selling locally produced foods and drinks, stay in nice self-caterings or hotels and eat very well. We had a single destination the first day since we arrived in the afternoon, which was Gunter's, a German man who makes his own sausage and cheese. As we were traveling during the holidays, the cheese was all out but the sausages were not, and they were very good indeed. All the rest of the shops were closed, so we went to our self catering. O and W had found an absolutely stunning one called Otter's Den - a row of 4 cottages with the traditional Zulu thrush roofing, overlooking a small brook and waterfall. It was so peaceful and lovely!
We have been dining out early with Munchkin, and we did so that night, driving to a fancy hotel which was supposed to have an excellent restaurant but alas was closed. We went to the pub instead and had a pretty nice meal. The next morning we got some excellent Wee Cute Shoppes, and had delightful breakfast of eggs florentine on GI bread. GI or glucose index bread is all the rage here, it is meant to be more easy to digest and not so easily converted to fat. It is also very delicious.
We set out after lunch for our final destination - Umhlanga, just outside of Durban, for a short week of Beach Holiday. More on that tomorrow. Let us end with more Tales of Toddler Traveler. Munchkin does not sleep in cars, is what we have found. She will cat nap, and nothing more. This flies in the face of all conventional wisdom, which says that children should sink into slumber the minute they enter the car. It's made road trips a bit difficult but our feeling has been as long as she sleeps well at night (she seems to) we push on.
3 comments:
It sounds like you've been having a relaxing time, in spite of the travel tent woes. Do you know how they make GI bread? Is it higher fiber, or made from a different flour? I'm curious.
Glad to hear that our 'sleep in car' experience in Spain was not an anomaly.
definitely not - she dozes well but naps poorly in the car!
I have no idea how to make GI bread, but I'm curious to investigate!
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