Got the ball rolling by dropping Murray and Fergus off at the Dargle Dale Kennels and Cattery. Picked up Bruce the next morning and joined Andrew, Heather, Ryan and Rachel on the long and winding road to Haga Haga. The journey took over eight hours, and I cannot say I am proud of the some of my driving. The Rule of Law simply does not feature on South African roads when it comes to adherence to the rules of the road. It is also not reasonable that traffic capable of maintaining an average speed of 100 kph, has to deal with large trucks, taxis, cars and bakkies that are unable to travel up a hill at even half that speed. It is bound to test the patience of those that can maintain that speed. The extent to which some of the bakkies, and the trailers behind some of the mini-bus Taxis are overloaded, is staggering. Even more staggering are the heights reached by some of these loads.

Haga Haga is an idyllic spot, and surpassed my expectations . It is a declared conservancy that affords protection to the Cape Clawless Otter, and the Blue Duiker. While one does not see fields of flowers, there are a great variety there, and many of then were flowering. Ultimately there is the sea and the sea shore. We swam, bogie boarded, walked, climbed cliffs. wacked the swing ball, and braaied. Simply a great place to spend five days with family, and here a vote of thanks to the Sheards for inviting us to join them. Andrew was returning with his own family, to the holiday venue he had frequented as a boy with his Dad, Mum and sister.

Finally I need to mention that it was a destination that was extraordinary within the South African context. Petty theft and other similar misdemeanors did not seem to feature. We were not forever looking out for stuff, and locking up the house. In fact there were no burglar bars on the windows, and I did not see a single security guard while we were there. As I have already mentioned, extraordinary.