camping addict

I can’t wait to go camping in June!



The quiet before the big Wake UP!
Yes, we will be camping during the first week of the June holidays. And, to the children’s delight, we will be at Goudini Spa where there are hot pools, games rooms and a water slide. This is heaven for Sasha and Christo who have missed these campsites with the trinkets of comfort and familiar computer games.


My family loves camping and for the past 3 years, we have camped at Soetwater, a camping site close to Cape Point where our tourists enjoy seeing both the Atlantic and Indian Ocean romancing each other.
View from campsite a few metres away
Although our teens, Christo and Sasha, will disagree, there is really no camping site like the Soetwater resort where you co-exist with nature.


Our campsite in the caravan park, Medusa, is snuggled between fynbos-covered sand dunes and mountain views to the west and an unspoilt shell-cobbled sand and boulder-strewn shoreline and ocean to the east. Sheer bliss and a delight for all the senses!


Potjiekos - the traditional fare
Our children spend their days turning beach sand into massive art galleries filled with sculptures of cars and caricatures of themselves. And we have our own Bikini Bottom right on our doorstep! The kids would find Spongebob’s real bossman, Mr Crab and his best friend, Patrick’s extended family in the tons of rock pools that dot the area. Instead of the minute fish being the diners at Crusty Crab sea world restaurant, they become our dinner at the traditional campfire.


Joel, Christo and Nazeer strutting their stuff
All this entertainment and adventure for a mere R500,00 for a family of six per week.  A visit to the Spur Restaurant with that amount will just about cover a family meal and the experience lasts no longer than 2 hours at a push. Or, that amount can cover the cost of one visit to the cinema. See the point?

Clockwise: Nazeer, Sasha, Riko, Christo and Brandon
I believe there are certain activities like camping that we have to expose our children to. We fear the youth’s obsession with technology and their growing alienation,yet we do not expose them sufficiently to other possibilities of entertainment. 


Family holidays and family outings are also threatened by our rushed lives and the obsession to equate a holiday with an hotel or a self-catering facility.  And, if there is no money to pay for such experiences, we tend to choose the ‘stay-at-home’ route, pretending to enjoy the same old, same old... 




Sunrise 
  Even if there is an economic crunch, camping is not only affordable and family- ( and friends if you have kids like ours) -friendly. Camping allows us to promote eco-tourism in our own cities and we give our children a balanced menu of ‘mall-rat frenzy’, computer-mania and a respect for the environment.




Time to create magic : cuzzies galore...




So, to all the campers out there: continue roughing it while you can because life is too short and nature is too beautiful to only view from a cabin or an hotel room.That's right, Pitch a tent or pack your caravan and go with the flow...

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Packing for our Thailand trip

Image
I think I am getting better with packing for holidays - whether it is for local breakaways, camping or most recently, for our holiday in Thailand. I still overpacked ( rolling eyes) by putting in all my light lacy throw-overs because I prefer my "Sauls" arms to have a wee bit of covering. Believe me, those lacy tops stayed put in the luggage bag for the duration of our trip!   We use Jiffy self-locking  bags as our packing cubes, a cheaper version of the material cubes you can buy. The Jiffy bags are transparent and vacuum seal as well, creating more space in  your luggage bag. Our travel wardrobe I  think we worry unnecessarily about what to wear when going on holiday. All the clothes you usually wear when you run errands or when you go out, would be just perfect for Thailand as well. If you intend dining at an upmarket restaurant or want to visit a smart club, you can pack in dressy shoes and a fancy outfit. We however,were just going to do regular activities t
Read more

It's been a year since I had breast cancer and life is good.

Image
Ayesha (far right), my past student and now wonderful radiologist, posing with me after the mammogram and ultrasound moments.   On 18 May, it was a year after I had a lumpectomy.  As you will recall, I was diagnosed with breast cancer and the option my surgeon, Dr Edge, recommended was a lumpectomy. Fortunately, there was no evidence of spreading after the binodal biopsy and thus I had to only go for radiation after the operation. The year had flown past. Just the other day, my family and I were dealing with all the visits to the hospital for the lumpectomy, the 30 daily sessions of radiation and then the recovery period. In fact, our lives went back to normal pretty soon after this trauma and life has been good. Sometimes when certain well-meaning folk enquire about my health whenever they see me, my mischievous streak hovers below the surface. When they ask , "And how is your health  now?" their voices drop, their mouths contort  and I get that " I hope I lo
Read more

Our elephant trekking experience in Phuket.

Image
We had our own dedicated taxi to take us to go elephant riding and to experience the 9D images at the Trickeye museum. We met our taxi driver in Bangla road, who also waved his laminated brochures to passing Bangla road crowds. After agreeing on the cost of our trip the next day and giving our hotel details, we parted ways. The next morning, at exactly 11h00, our soft-spoken taxi driver was there to chauffeur us to our planned attractions. Our driver lives about five hours from Patong, where he works. He would go home some weekends or his family would join him in Patong.  The day we met him in Bangla road, his young son was with him but since we were three passengers, the little one had to stay at home. Our first stop was to do the elephant rides. Here again, you will experience the ingenuity of the Thai people. Once you had paid for your ride, you are invited to buy food for your elephant. The food is a tiny plastic bowl of small overripe bananas that will set you back 100 baht.
Read more