Adventure | Diary of an Adventurous Retiree

The Kokstad Kids have left but Lolz is still with us for a few more days. Lisa returns to work tomorrow. The weather is stunning and I still feel as if though I am on holiday. Retirement, I think, will only seem real when schools reopen and I don’t have to go!

My weekly “Back in the Classroom” blog is no more. But Blog I must so my new Blog title will be – Retiring Adventurously! We do not intend to sit back on the stoep in our rocking chairs. Exactly how we are going to spend the next few years of our retirement has not been quite planned yet but what is certain is that we will not be staying in one place for long! Our holiday house in Struisbaai will be our base but we will also spend time in Cape Town where will be until mid-March. In the meantime we are going to decide upon what kind of mobile home to purchase – a campervan, caravan or just a tent! We have planned one big luxury trip for June – a safari in Namibia and The Kgalagadi. Watch this space!

Our first adventure this year is also to Namibia! Tomorrow we will be driving to Robertson and overnighting with our friend Abri at his home – Springfield Wine Estate. Abri phoned Earl yesterday and invited us to his game farm in Namibia for the weekend! Yes for the weekend. And how will get there? In his private aircraft of course. To say that I am terrified would be an understatement. I don’t even like flying in a Boeing. A tiny light aircraft is my worst nightmare! Airasia crashes so what chance does a box with wings have? But I have committed to a retirement of adventure and the first one has presented itself out of the blue – so here I go! I’m old enough to be brave now aren’t I. I’ve lived a full life so whatever happens now is a bonus. How grateful am I to still be young and healthy enough to enjoy whatever else Life has to offer.

I don’t think I will have access to the internet so I won’t be blogging daily on this trip. We return on Monday or Tuesday next week. If you don’t hear from me you’ll know I went down with a smile on my face!

Before I launch into today’s news – some more pictures from last night.

Three delicious Weber Chickens for supper

My name is Cloete – Riaan Cloete – our 007 doing a good job of the washing up

Nico doing a creative job of the drying up.

It was a late night again last night and for some reason my back was giving me trouble – I badly need my back guru but he is 250km away! I might have to resort to a local chiropractor or physio-therapist if it doesn’t improve.

The Fabulous Fat Fiets Friends were up before us and started preparing for the final ride to Bredasdorp and as far as they could get toward Swellendam as Francois’ dad would come with a trailer to collect them at 12 noon. It was surprising cool this morning with thick cloud cover and a chill breeze blowing – lovely conditions for cycling but not good for fishing so Earl’s plans in that regard were cancelled.

The kids made coffee and had rusks and seed loaf for breakfast

Having a quick breakfast before the final cycle

It was still cool when the kids headed off but the cloud cover was almost gone and it looked like the day would warm up.

And off they go

Farewell Amazing Amiable Awesome Adventurers

We felt quite flat once our new young friends and cycled off in the distance. The house was eerily quiet and so I turned the Christmas C.D. up loud. Earl gave me a quick back massage and I then took a long hot bath. He went off to do some chores and at 9:30 I went for a leg wax.

On my return I wanted to tidy the house and asked Earl to check the vacuum cleaner which hasn’t been used for centuries. It was ‘stukkend’ and even my Maguiver husband could not fix it. So we dashed off to Bredasdorp to purchase a new one – a necessary appliance, I think, if you are going to spend more than a weekend at the house. We found just the right thing in 10 minutes flat. When we got back into the car Earl said, I just want to drive down the road a bit to see how far the kids have got. He did some calculations and guessed that they would be about 15km from Bredasdorp toward Swellendam. “They would have had breakfast at the Wimpy and then hit the road,” he said. And he was right – we found them loading their bikes onto Francois’ dad’s trailer. It was great to meet Mnr Potgieter. “I bet you’re glad to be rid of them,” he joked. “Now they’re my problem!”

The kids had been most relieved to meet Papa before they had a steep hill to climb and the temperature had risen to 32ºC.

Last Goodbye

Marianda, Kathrin, Riaan, Time, Nico, Francois

Marianda, Kathrin, Riaan, Tim, Nico, Francois

Cheers Guys and a bright, happy and adventurous future to you all

To all reading this blog – Nico in addition to being a brand new Architect is also a member of a band called Streets of December – Look out for his CD. Good luck in your musical career too, Nico.

We waved our friends goodbye then headed back to Struisbaai. We stopped, of course, to snap at least one bird.

Juvenile Jackal Buzzard

Because of my back pain and lack of sleep the past two nights I decided to have what my aunt calls a Nana Nap” and didn’t wake up until 6 pm! Earl put the new vacuum together and cleaned the house then cooked mielies which we had with left over chicken for supper!

Tomorrow the family arrive – so more fun and games to follow in the next few days!