Durban

On Wednesday morning after a brisk walk along the beach,a look at some sand sculptures a little wrecked by the weather and being hastily repairedand a quick Christmas buy from a local craftsman (I can’t tell you what they are because it would spoil Ellie and Paris’ surprise but they’re made from monkey fruits) we left a very windy St. Lucia for a very windy journey to an even windier Durban.

The journey had been fairly straightforward with some more, truly amazing scenery followed by short glimpses of the wild sea as we neared our destination.

As a quick aside – I can’t believe that I’ve forgotten to tell you that Rob’s favourite thing since his arrival in South Africa, has been an ever increasing presence of Mark 1 or Citi Volkswagen golfs. He has loved them since before we were married (a long, long time ago) and I think he mainly married me because Jen and Noel lent us a brown one early on in our relationship. (What ever happened to it Bennetts?) Anyway, there are literally hundreds here and Rob has taken pictures of most of them. We’ve passed many a happy hour playing who can spot the most (a bit like the red nose game I used to have to play with Porky) but I’ve given up now because Rob always wins. It’s like he is so in tune with them that he can sense them before they appear – what chance do I have? Anyway I didn’t know how obsessed he was until I joked about getting him one for his birthday and he explained that he’d looked in to having one shipped over but can’t because of various reasons including differing emission rules. He’s still looking into whether there’s a way around it – bless him.😘

We arrived in Durban to the Blue Waters Hotel and were shown up to our room. As we went in there was a definite dodgy smell (sort of a damp dog or sweaty feet smell) but as everything else seemed okay we ignored it, turned on the air con and got ready to explore. The room was really hot so we left the air con on as we set out.

The wind was even stronger and we dodged various pieces of rubbish as bins were blown over spilling their contents carelessly. Unfortunately we couldn’t dodge the sand particles which intermittently blasted our bare limbs like hundreds of mini needles delivering free acupuncture. Rob also lost his hat a couple of times much to my amusement. There is very little more funny than him bending down to retrieve it just as a fresh gust blows (There is it so happens but I’ll tell you about that later). We visited the tourist information centre (not a patch on how good you used to be Rois) and tried to formulate a plan for the next day – Rob’s Birthday!🎂

On arriving back to our room we were disappointed to discover that the wet dog smell was still very much in evidence and the air conditioning had done nothing to improve the ambient temperature. We tried opening the window but as it was torn from Rob’s hand by a forceful gust of wind and there was no way to secure it, we abandoned this plan.

Dinner was calling so we quickly showered, fiddled with the air con to ensure we weren’t missing anything obvious and left to visit the hotel restaurant.

Having forgotten all about the issues of our room our senses were totally assaulted as we arrived back to an, if possible, more pungent smell and an even hotter room. After eating both Lindt chocolates (the hot room had left the centres perfectly liquidy) left on our turned down bed we decided we had to take action and called reception.

Several phone calls and a couple of visits later, at about 10.45 (a very late night for us) we were transferred to a new, fresh smelling, cool room (with Lindt chocs still in place – not for long) and thankfully drifted to sleep.

The next morning, Rob’s Birthday, I awoke, wrote the card I’d smuggled all the way from England and assembled his two presents. He did have more but the fruit and nut toblerone I’d bought him had been eaten in a chocolate emergency the previous week (we did share) and he’d really needed the shaving foam from the men’s grooming kit and the waterproof map of South Africa so had already had those. Therefore his assembled presents consisted of a Kruger, reusable mug and a little leather band. I’d also written in the card to promise to let him choose all plans for the day – very bad decision!

Before moving rooms the previous night I was sure Rob had agreed to a visit to Ushaka. Just down the beach it was a lovely sea life centre with water slides, seal and dolphin shows and an opportunity to go in a glass elevator like contraption into a shark tank. As an alternative there was a trip to Bike and Bean, just down the beach in the opposite direction. This is a coffee shop (from the Mugg and Bean chain – our favourite African coffee chain) that rents out bikes and body boards. We could cycle down the golden mile all morning, go back to the shop for lunch and body board all afternoon. Alas, neither plan was to be.

Rob had decided instead that we would get in the car (we’d definitely been in there too much lately), drive for half an hour and visit an MTB trail ride park. I love cycling and in most circumstances I’m quite brave but hurtling down paths, barely wide enough to take a bicycle tyre and covered in rocks and tree stumps just doesn’t appeal. I had however made a birthday pledge in his card so in good grace (🤔😡) I agreed to go.

I’d like to say it wasn’t too bad, the people there were lovely, it was really good value, the actual place and surroundings were beautiful but the trails……. were just as I’d feared and worse. The most upsetting part was that Rob absolutely loved it and had he had another nutter (Joe, one of his brothers/brothers-in-law/nephews) with him would have had an even better time. As it was we made the best of it – I was so glad when it was over!After a quick, recovery drink we set off back to our hotel and a dip in the sea before our evening plans. As we were walking down the pier the funnier than Rob chasing his hat thing happened but I think you had to be there. Along the pier are stone benches, they’re very simple, no backs and almost the same colour as the pier, they’re practically camouflaged, it could have happened to anyone.

As we were walking along I was in the middle of the pier but Rob was walking along near the side. Both of us were looking out at the massive waves, I saw the bench in Rob’s path but he didn’t. He hit into it at full stride, sprawling across it before recovering quickly and looking around to see who’d seen. I tried to contain myself – it was his birthday, but between the fall and the checking who’d seen it was just so funny. It was quite a bash and I did try to check if he was okay but was struggling. Luckily, it was definitely his pride that took the biggest battering. As I said, you probably had to be there.🤣

We had a lovely evening meal and a trip to see The Crimes of Grindlewald – not my choice but actually really good especially as I was able to experience 3D thanks to my eye op. Rob says he had a great day and says thanks for his birthday wishes (and cash).

Our final morning in Durban we had a quick walk to see the very impressive Moses Mabhida stadium. As you can probably tell from the trees, the wind had really picked up again so we abandoned plans to have a last lounge on Durban beach and instead set off for Kokstad – our next stop on our South African road trip.