Short drop to North-Coast

Holiday mode

Oh my its weekend, 3 whole days of stressfree chilling and no sign of work, this can’t be bad. We had packed our stuff already on Thursday and were ready to start our engines around 4am on Friday morning. We were headed for Umhlanga, a city on the North Coast just above Durban. Excited but dead tired we started the 8 hour drive to the coast, back seats sleeping and the front seats staying awake.

On the road

Avoid Wimpy's! I’m telling you, we stopped to have some breakfast at a gas station and what we got was cold burgers and raw fries, lovely. Almost everyone disappointed on their burgers we were ready to hit the road again. The one driving until this point was in desperate need of sleep so change of drivers and we were back on the road. The scenery was breathtaking with hillsides from the LOTR movies. The other cars were clearly heading for vacationing like us. Many cars were dragging their asses from the weight in the trunks. Also many were filled with laughing and partying kids that had taken their matricular exams. Going to the coast for a three week long party tour is a strong tradition here. After some fun with the others on the road and naps we had made it, Umhlanga it is baby!

Umhlanga

Umhlanga Rocks has many luxury hotels and apartments right on the beach including the Cabana Beach Hotel, the Beverly Hills Hotel, the Umhlanga Sands Hotel and Pearls of Umhlanga apartments. Many of these have views of the landmark lighthouse.

Once we got there we just dropped our stuff at the clean and cozy B&B, Villa Calla, and went to check out the beach. Everyone was thrilled to finally get a touch of the ocean. Everyone was playing in the water like little kids and having the time of our lives. Later on that day we had a little incident with our car, and it had to be left to Umhlanga. This was a slight knockback to our holiday mood, but we took care of everything necessry straight away. It was easy to get back to holiday gear at the Gateway Theatre of Shopping . The amount of shops was tremendous and everyone found something there. For example the highest indoor climbing rock in the world. The evening came soon and after enjoying some quality time with the group at the Villa Calla bar we were ready to check out the nightlife of Umhlanga.
Normally you really can’t walk around after dark in South-Africa , especially all alone. It’s said to be dangerous and shouldn’t be done. That’s why we were so excited once we heard from the owner of Villa Calla that in Uhmlanga you can walk anywhere at anytime, it’s not dangerous. Of course we wanted to check if it’s true on our first night. And yes, it was! After several beers no one still came to ask for our wallets.

The next day after a wonderful breakfast, we headed back to ocean to body board. It was pretty cool but the waves were not big enough to lift these big boys. Even the lifeguard told us that the waves are too small and we should use flippers to get on the wave. After some bruises in our chest we gave up and orientated back to Villa Calla.

We had some uncertainty of how to get back to Pretoria, since our car had to be left at the garage. After checking out the possibilities we opted rather to rent another car than to sit 11 hours on the Umhlanga-Pretoria bus. This ment we would have enough space for everyone to enjoy the ride and more kilometers for the drivers to drive.

It was hard to even hear our own thoughts since our bellies were moarning for food, and we decided to find some cozy restaurant. We didn't have to go far because there were a lot of restaurants near by. Oh Lord, some people really can make food!! Salads, stakes, pizzas you name it, they all tasted fantastic!

After the excellent dinner we went to the beach to walk around and enjoy the views. Some of us also ended up buying tickets for a local party to celebrate some more. Most of the party animals were at the age of 18-21 and the spirits were high! Dancing, drinking, yeah babe, this is what we have been waiting for after all those weeks of hard work!!

Early Sunday morning we jumped out of our beds, some feeling better than others, and thought we'd go to the beach one last time. It sure was worth the early wake up, although the body board rental was opening a bit too late for us. We just used our own bodies to ride the waves. All were sad to leave the beach so soon, especially since for the first time this weekend the sun was shining.

Back at Villa Calla we packed our stuff quickly and it was time for goodbyes. Big thank you for our host Janelle, she did so much for us and was lovely right from the start. A taxi took us to the Durban airport and it was time to drive that VW back home to Pretoria. Avoiding Wimpy's of course for the whole trip back.