Landrover | Diary of an Adventurous Retiree

Struisbaai at Easter time becomes a hub of activity. Our normally quiet little fishing village is suddenly alive with tourists and events. On a normal weekend it’s busy enough for the peace-loving locals but at Easter the town explodes and there’s traffic on the normally car-empty roads. The beach, which goes on for miles, is often empty of people on a normal day, but at on this weekend it’s the first place the visitors head to.

On Easter Saturday this is exactly what happened as it dawned bright and sunshiny after two days of cloud and rain.

The Earl, our grandson, Jay and friend, Ray were off to sea by 6:00 am. They should have gone yesterday so we could have fish for Good Friday but the rain prevented that so we had to have our Good Friday on Saturday.

Jay loves sharks! He cuddled this dogfish and gave it a kiss before releasing it back into the sea.

The rest of the household rose from their slumbers a lot later and we headed to The Shed for the Food Market. There were lots of goodies to eat but all we bought were some fresh veggies from the farmer’s stall. We decided it best to go for a proper brekkie at Shipwreck Coffee Shop instead.

My gorgeous girls at The Shed’s Food Market

Me buying fresh produce for the weekend

Traffic on the main road was bumper to bumper. The NSRI (National Sea Rescue Institute) were encouraging folk to part with R 10,00 to boost their coffers. In return you got a marshmallow egg and a chance to photograph them and their vehicles.

I gave them R10,00 – after all my men were out at sea!

Rescue Boat

On Standby

Josh and I walked to the area where the Land Rover Rally was happening. We spent some time admiring the landies both ancient and new. There were time trials too which were fun to watch.

Land Rover Rally

Registration Office

A very old land rover

Land Rover Passion starting young

This one is 71 years old – I was told.

Track Trial

After taking some interesting photographs we went for a long walk on the beach – well, I walked and took photographs and Josh ran on for about 3km. I thought I’d missed his return but soon after I turned around he caught up with me.

Somebody scrawled the date in the sand

And declared her love for Daddy and family

Abandoned Sandcastles

Busy Beach

Fishermen’s Paradise

Watch out for the jellyfish!

Most Beautiful Beach in the Country

Josh running in bottom right corner

Josh returning

We continued our walk along the boardwalk and as we approached the harbour, Lisa and Laurie waved to show they were there with the former’s friends, Margaret and Frans. Their kids were having fun on the beach. Spencer invited Josh to go out with him on the paddle skis. He dashed home to change into his costume while the adults went to Pelicans for a drink.

My girls and Margaret sharing a bottle of Pink

Josh on paddle ski

Josh and Spencer

While we were there we heard the whirring of a helicopter and observed it doing a practice rescue. That was fun too.

It was after three when we finally got back home and I started preparing for the fish supper. I baked a lemon meringue for the first time in my life – and this was a Banting version that I got from a recipe book written by a local of the Overberg, Madelè Burger. Her book is called “Hier’s Die Toortsie Weer” You can see her blog Here Her posts are mainly in Afrikaans but there are some in English too. I am pleased to report that it turned out pretty well. Not a crumb was left after our dinner. I also used her recipes to make a creamy eggplant dish and a butternut salad.

Busy in the kitchen

And it’s done!

Creamy Eggplant Dish

The fishermen returned at 5 pm, sunburned, tired but happy after catching enough fish to feed eight of us for dinner. There is nothing to beat eating fish fresh from the sea.

The Earl cleaning fish

Josh helping the Earl wrap potatoes for the Weber

Fish cooked and ready to serve

Rewards of a day at sea and on the beach – Weber cooked fish for eight!

Hilton invited us to spend some time with them at their holiday home in Port Edward while we’re here in KZN. We needed to take Lolz to the airport yesterday so we decided to stop over with them on our way back.

King Shaka International Airport is a three hour drive from Kokstad so it was a crack of dawn start on a beautiful clear day. We were lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time and had a golf cart come by and give us a lift from the carpark to departures. It took half an hour for Laurie to get through the bag drop queue and then we went to Mugg and Bean for breakfast.

Bag Drop was busy!

Brekkie at Mugg and Bean

The drive from the airport along the South Coast of KZN is one of the most beautiful in South Africa. It has a subtropical climate and everything is intensely green. The old railway line is still in existence for industrial use but sadly no passenger trains use it anymore.

A mix of traditional and modern housing

The railway next to the sea

A very scenic route

In 1979 I stayed with a friend whose family farmed in Boston. At that time I had no connections with anybody in KZN! Together we took the train from Durban to Port Shepstone – a beautiful scenic ride which took about six hours. Another friend collected us from there and took us to Port Edward. I still have amazing memories of the mud huts in which we stayed, the trees and the unspoiled beach. Returning there this year to stay with Hilton and Glynis was a thrill. Progress of course, is inevitable because those thatched, mud huts which nestled on 640 ha of pristine land, bordered by two rivers and one of the most unspoiled beaches in Southern Africa, have been replaced by The Wild Coast Sun Hotel and Casino. Heather’s husband, Gundi, also remembers the site, as he too spent many family holidays there.

Although a lot of development has taken place, the beaches are still unspoilt and it is a delightful area in which to have a holiday home. Hilton and Glynis have one close to a small beach where the kids can mess about in rock pools, there is space for the boat and tractor that pulls and launches it and there is also a pool.

They usually have this beach all to themselves

Glynis and the dog

Just watch out for grass snakes before getting into the pool

Soon after we arrived we went down to the Ski-boat club which overlooks the main beach. We enjoyed a drink and then returned with Nathan who had just been discharged from hospital and was a little tired. Recently Hilton and Gareth entered a species competition and they and Earl returned to attend the prize giving. And Gareth was thrilled to get R2000 in prize money!

Gareth posing with photos of past catches that line the walls of the living area

An old landrover is what is used for most of the driving around Port Edward

Hilton at the wheel – even the windscreen is missing

It’s a really fun ride

In the evening we went to the spectacular Wild Coast Casino for dinner. It was busy and full of gamblers but we enjoyed wandering around the place and the restaurant, Chico’s was lovely. For a set price they serve soup, Mongolian stir fry, roasts, seafood, vegetables, cold meats and salads and a variety of desserts. You may help yourself and eat as much as you can manage! We had an amazing evening.

Chico’s

Lit up for Christmas

Tropical Fish in the ponds

This morning we were up very early and met another niece Heather and her hubby Gundi for breakfast at Bobbie’s – which also overlooks the main beach.

Gundi, Heather, Glynis, Hilton and me

Afterwards we went for a walk along the beach. The swimming flags were up and a good number of life guards were on duty. Once again we thoroughly enjoyed our morning bonding with our younger relatives. We are very keen to visit them there again in the future and when Earl is stronger Hilton wants to take him out to sea – the KZN way!

View from Bobbie’s

The sea was 20 degrees C – Hilton said it was cold but it was not!

Life Guards keeping a close eye on the bathers

It was an hour and a half drive from Port Edward back to Lauren’s. We took the short cut which involved a game of “dodge the pothole” and watch out for pedestrians, cows and goats but once on the N2 it was smooth going again.