Day 295 May 27 2015 East London South Africa

that kid looks tasty 

playing with the animals

can I play with it??

making friends

it just spit on me

the coast in East London

Day 295  May 27 2015  East London  South Africa

We spent a fun afternoon at a little game reserve called the Lions Park.  The cutest thing that they had by far was two lion cubs.  Unfortunately we were about two weeks to late for the kids to hold them.  If Isabel ran outside the enclosure the cubs would immediately chase her.  There were two small dogs in the cage with them and it was neat to see the dogs playing with the cubs.  The park also had a cheetah, a couple of tigers, some lions and alpacas that spit on David a few times when he was feeding them.  

Day 294 May 26 2015 East London South Africa

view from the deck of our hotel

another view from the deck of our hotel

I love these signs!

one of the beaches in Port St. Johns

Day 294  May 26 2015  East London  South Africa

We drove from Port St. Johns to East London today.  There is such a contrast between where the white people and the black people live.  When you get to a town that looks rough and rundown you do not see very many if any white people.  When you get to a modern clean looking place you see many white people.  Even many years after apartheid it is obvious that things are not equal.

Day 293 May 25 2015 Port St. Johns South Africa

gym class

our four legged guides

the trail to the next beach

a stop to watch the waves

I just had to go past!

the ladder into the gap

Day 293  May 25 2015  Port St. Johns  South Africa

We went for a hike from our hotel to a beach in a nature reserve.  The entire walk was along the ocean and was very picturesque.  The dogs from the hotel accompanied us on our walk. They also showed up on our deck every time we started preparing food.  In the afternoon we went to a place called “The Gap and the Blow Hole”.  It is a place where the water has worn a hole in the rocks and shoots up like a geyser with the waves.  We were expecting an easy walk to see it.  When we arrived there was a warning sign saying do not go past this point which I promptly ignored.  We followed the path to the edge of a cliff where we found an old pipe imbedded in the ground with a steel cable attached to it.  The cable was rusted through where it had one wrapped around the pipe and was now attached to the pipe with some very questionable ropes tied with even more questionable knots.  Evy forbade David from proceeding any further and told me not to go.  I kept going and climbed down the rocks until I came to an old ladder and then climbed down the ladder.  I could not see the blow hole but did see a ruined ladder going up a rock formation on the other side.  The ladder was not usable and the trail to the ladder seemed unused so I did not try to proceed as it was definitely not safe.  I returned up the ladder that I had just descended only to discover that the top rung had been “repaired” with some very small plastic ties.   I was happy that David did not come with me as it was a lot harder getting back up the rocks than it was getting down them.   When I did arrive back at the top Evy was mad at me for not listening to her as she thought what I had done was not safe (she might have been right).  In the evening we had another candle light dinner as the power went out just as we were getting ready to cook supper.  We ended up cooking the entire meal on the grill, it was fantastic. 

Day 292 May 24 2015 Port St. Johns South Africa

a cool swing behind our hotel

another rough day at the office

marshmallow crusaders

the marshmallow won this round!

Day 292  May 24 2015  Port St. Johns  South Africa

We drove from Margate to Port St. Johns today, a distance of 235 km that took almost 4 hours to drive.  There are many things that you have to be aware of when traveling in South Africa including terrible drivers, goats, cows, donkeys, slow cars, pot holes that will swallow you car and if I did not mention it terrible drivers.  It is not uncommon to come upon cars doing 40 km/ hr on a 120 km/hr road.  Evy is sick today and not moving to fast.  She woke up last night and started vomiting; we have no idea as to what the cause is.   The hotel we booked is isolated, and on top of a very steep hill.   It was a good thing we rented a vehicle with 4 x 4 or we would be parking at the bottom and walking up.  It does have a great view of a beach and the ocean and we can hear the waves crashing into the shore.  David lost a tooth when he was eating a marshmallow.  I guess the marshmallows are tougher in South Africa.

Day 291 May 23 2015 Margate South Africa

the big race

after the flush

David smiling and Evy screaming

going round and round in the bowl

enjoying her ribs at the water park

Day 291  May 23 2015  Margate  South Africa

We spent the day at Wild Waves Water Park near about 35 km from Margate.  It was a fantastic day with no lines.  They have a slide called the tube.  The attendant opens the tube up and you stand on a platform.  He locks you inside and a countdown begins; when it gets to zero the floor drops out and you fall down the slide.  It takes about 7 seconds to get to the bottom once the floor opens, it was great.  They had 6 big slides and a lazy river.  The lazy river turned out to be the most dangerous.  I was getting into a double tube to go in the river and when I sat down the tube flipped and I smashed my head on the concrete on the bottom of the river.  It was very shallow so the water did not help me slow down before my head hit.  Isabel was just big enough to go on all the rides all though one time down the tube was enough for her.

Day 290 May 22 2015 Margate South Africa

hippos invade the town at night of St. Lucia every night

getting ready to spray his sister

so this is where goats milk comes from

part of the coast in Margate

anyone for a moon light skinny dipping?

talent on the beach in Margate

Day 290  May 22 2015  Margate  South Africa

We drove from St. Lucia to Margate today with a stop at the cheese farm as the Kids wanted to milk the goats.  When it was David’s turn he sprayed Isabel with milk, I am pretty sure that was why he wanted to milk the goat in the first place.  The tour also included the cheese factory where the guide explained how to make cheese.  I told him he should start selling cheese curds in the shop and poutine in their restaurant.  He was going to look it up on the internet when we were leaving.  If cheese curds are popular around the St. Lucia area in a few years it will be because we told a South African cheese maker of glorious poutine.  When we got to the hotel the kids stayed and watched TV as they have been TV deprived.  Evy and I went for a walk to the beach.  Many of the beaches in South Africa have shark nets to protect the swimmers, I guess there must have been a fair number of shark attacks in the past. 

Day 289 May 21 2015 St. Lucia South Africa

if you get eaten or beaten it is your own problem

Makes you want to go swimming! Doesn't it?

the currents were extreme 

running for snacks

the supervisor and the construction crew hard at work

taking a rest after an marathon digging session 

Day 289  May 21 2015  St. Lucia  South Africa

We started the day at 7 am as there was a scheduled power outage for 8 to 10:30 am.  By 8 am we had our coffee ready and breakfast eaten.  We drove up the St. Lucia Estuary to Cape Vidal and saw a few animals on the way including a new species of monkey a blind snake and the highlight of the day female leopard with 2 cubs.  The sighting of the leopard cubs completes the baby 5 as we saw lion cubs, rhino, elephant and buffalo calves when we were in Kruger.  We were very fortunate to see the big 5 let alone the baby 5 on our trip to South Africa.  Once we got to Cape Vidal I went snorkeling by myself as it was way to rough for the kids to be safe.  The kids spent the day playing in the sand digging holes and trying to catch creatures in the tide pools.  Evy stuck her foot into the Indian Ocean and stated that it was as cold as Lake Huron; the kids and I all laughed at that.  I think that Evy has forgotten what cold weather and water is like.   On the way to the hotel David bought a stone rhino and Isabel bought a wood lion.  The carvings are the first souvenirs that we have purchase since leaving South America.  It was a wonderful day for the beach as the temperature was 28 deg c; however the high wind speed made it seem much cooler.