South Africa: Champagne Castle Hotel - The Berg (Sunday 18Nov12)

At the unearthly time of 6:30am I got out of bed to get myself up and dressed ready to leave Durban. Sally had been kind enough to organise a trip to the Berg for me. Sally's sister Rose and her friend Jacqui also agreed to come along for the night and do some hiking with us.

Due to lack of sleep the night before I decided that I would get my head down in the car so as we drove off I put my head back and closed my eyes only to hear Sally say "Did we close the back of the truck up?" When we looked behind us it appeared that we had left the back of the hilux open. Oops! Luckily nothing had fallen out, but we did have to have a giggle while we got out and locked up the back. I was also told not to put it in the blog but it was such a blonde girlie thing to do I couldn't resist. After a quick stop at the fuel station we were on our way to the Drakensberg and within ten minutes I was fast asleep. The next thing I knew I was woken up to the loud discussion being had over which turn off we needed to get to Champagne Castle Hotel where we had booked a chalet for the night. It was my second giggle of the day as the girls were ignoring the directions of the Sat Nav and using their so called memory, which is usually something that men do.

As we arrived too early at the Hotel to check in we took ourselves off for a three hour walk to the Sphinx point. I really enjoyed the hike, it was good to be outside and active again and although it was a bit cloudy the weather conditions were perfect. I think we all really enjoyed it. After the walk we dumped our stuff off in the lovely chalet and took a drive to the Thokozisa restaurant. I was back in my old haunt near UmPhafa and all day I had been wishing I could go back and see everyone there. I miss my little home on the reserve. All four of us had worked up a bit of an appetite so we had a late lunch and a drink. The clouds had lifted and the sun was hitting down hard on my back. It was nice to see the sunshine again.

Once we got back to the chalet it was getting nearer to sunset so I plonked myself on the sun lounger with my camera at the ready. If it had been a tad earlier I probably would have gone for a dip in the pool but I settled for a few sunset pictures instead. After everyone had freshened up a little we all sat outside and took in the view and the atmosphere. We could hear the geese, goats and horses around us and there were families playing with their children and people relaxing on their patio's in the other chalets. I could easily loose myself for a week up here, especially with a few hot days. I felt very peaceful and there is just the right amount of things to do.

We had a few drinks while we prepared the veggies and meat for the braai which Sally was in charge of. While the girls were putting the finishing touches to dinner I tried to get the log fire going without success. We had prawns to start, followed by lamb cutlets, sausages and veg. It was a nice evening but I have to admit I was quite tired. Jacqui managed to polish off a bottle and a half of red wine against my four vodka's which was a bit of a poor show. I headed up to my mezzanine bedroom once we all decided to go to bed and it wasn't long before I was fast asleep.