Walkies

It is good to be home again at Jackpot. Coffee in the morning and discuss the options for the day. Ingrid is good at making a suggestion as to an activity that she wants to do without saying that she wants to do it. This looks nice and holds a pamphlet of something or other. After my brilliant session on the malibu bord yesterday, I was keen to go again this morning.

Compromise was going to be the order of the day. Why not go for the walk in the Van Stadens Park. Perhaps I could malibu later in the day. The park is a full hour away from Jackpot and the weather was going to be fine to walk in, albiet that we would be starting out a little late in the day. No worries for us seasoned walkers. We punched in the co-ordinates and Dusty got us going. We had to stop to top up her tanks as she would not last for the whole return journey. Running out of petrol here in Africa is to be avoided at all costs. The petrol attendant did a good job of cleaning all of the bugs off the windscreen. Courtesy of our trip to the farm this weekend.

Before i forget, yesterday I was done with my session and stoked about the waves that I had caught. As I was walking to the parking lot a man threw an orange peel onto the waterline. Something snapped and I looked at him with daggers! I stooped to pick up a piece of the peel and he is like, "It is just an orange peel". I was fuming inside for some reason and I picked up the other piece. It is just an orange peel he repeated. "Have you ever seen an orange tree growing in the sea I asked? And have you ever seen a fish eat an orange?". I dunno, maybe it is just me, but it made perfect sense to me. What happens on the farm stays on the farm. What grows on land, stays on land... Thought for the day.

Moving on, Ingrid and I drove along the back road to avoid the stop/go's. I had asked Mom if the stop/go was still active. No, only 1 on the long road. So, nothing on the valley of the waves. No. Nothing! I took the ramp back onto the freeway after Jeffreys Bay and sure as Peter (made that one up myself) we got stopped at the valley of the waves! Crickey Mom. Thanks. We were not delayed for long and after about a 5 minute stop we were on our way again. Slow as hell in a long line behind one of those big trucks that manage to do 20km/hour at a push.

We arrived at the park and stopped at the reception place and the lady asked if it was our first time. It took all of my restaint not to say that, Yes, I was a virgin. Shoes on and a stick in hand we had to navigate to where we needed to be and we were off. There are a few trails that one can take and we took the river walk of about 4km. 4km in Holland is a walk in the park (almost literally) This was a winding path (Not a farm road Barry) along the side of a mountain. Every so often we got a glimpse of the river in the vallye below. SUre footing was required as a false step could leave you tumbling down the mountainside. Thankfully we were somewhat trained in walking this holiday.

In hindsight it was a lovely walk. All along on the side of a mountain. Ingrid commented that it should be awesome when everything was in bloom. I think that we were about a month too late. Still, some of the proteas were still proudly displaying their flowers and we saw a few different types with different leaf and shrub structures. It was also quite a bit hotter in the shrubbery and out of the wind. Ingrid for some reason does not seem to work so well in the heat and her radiator overheats. We had not real planned to do the whole 8km walk, but decided to follow the river walk back to Dusty as the whole thing would have been a bit too much today.

The return journey was pretty easy along a farm road and was pretty flat. No worries. Back at Dusty it was a joy to take off our shoes and put on our slops. Bliss! There is quite a bit that we left on the table, but I am sure that we will be back there one day to do the rest of the walks. On the way home we debated where to go and have a bite to eat. Easy for me today to decide on the Rambling Rose. Good food, easy atmosphere and near to home when we were done. Dusty take us to the Rose!

The usual for me please. Coffee milkshake and that mushroom stuff toasted sandwich and finish off with a cup of coffee. Ingrid enjoyed her meal and coffee too. We were pretty lucky as we arrived at the Rose 30 minutes before they closed so it was not chokka block full. Always good there. After that is is a hop, skip and a jump to the Spar and those few necessary things. Water and butter today please.

Back at CFS I had to drive past the beach to check out the waves. A light easterly wind was blowing and there was no one surfing as the waves were a bit messy. Back home I crashed on the bed and it is not often that I wake before Ingrid. Tea for me please Glen. Now began the brain versus the head fight. Do I go for a session or stay at home an chill. Ingrid made my decision easy when she woke. Stay with us she said. I could live with that and sat down with a second bup of that rooibos and ginger tea.

Mom was going to take us out to dinner at Joe Fish, the local reastaurant at CSF. Mom was going to pay, but brother Brad was going to pay her back. Thanks Boet. We went to Joe Fish and sat at a table inside as the wind is pretty nippy lately. Ingrid had her Vegetable curry and I had fish and chips and Mom had their trademark dish, the calamari with a salad. 

I mean not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but I am not a fan of Joe Fish anymore. I think a restaurant has to get a few things right. Their food is always good, but that is about where it ends. The ambiance is off, with a big screen TV in the restaurant showing sport and bad accoustics. The plating of the food it seems that there is no thought gone into it.  We all felt the same. Good food, but not much else. I guess that I would call it a food hall rather than a restaurant. I do think that a take away in the future would be better for us.

Back home it was TV for Mom and Ingrid and I got into my blog to play a bit of catch up and here we are, another day done and dusted and we can place another tick next to the day. Thank you for this day!