my last day in south africa was a fun one. first, in the morning, duncan, shawn, and i met early in the morning, and we went down to the beach and picked mussels from the rocks. it was great fun to climb around on the rocks, trying to beat the waves to move from one to another.

they showed me some neat spots in the rocks, some that could only be accessed during lower tides. the waves were strong and powerful, crashing and slamming into the rocks. it made the rock hopping more challenging and therefore more fun to run them.

we collected enough and shawn headed off to work.

next, duncan wanted to take me sandboarding, which is the same as snowboarding only on sand. he picked me up with his family, and we headed for the dunes. ahh, the dunes. i loved these dunes!

i am not much of a snowboarder. i prefer skis. two skis. one for each foot. but it looked like fun, so i decided to give it a try. i made it down once, but getting the hang of is something i would have been best done before that day. so, i decided to let duncan and justine board while i just took pictures and video.

duncan was going to take his family back then he and i were going to drive down to the dias cross. i asked him how far it was. he told me about 10 km. i thought i could hike that and meet him there. so, he agreed with a smile and drove his family back, and i began my trek down the beach.

as i started walking, i was keeping a good pace and enjoying the wind and surf. i realized soon that my destination was further down than i could actually see. so, i had to quicken my pace. i think it took me about half an hour to get to the cross. i climbed the long wooden stairs to the top. i took pictures, enjoyed the view, and trying to message my cousin. after a while, he responded. he told me he could see me. when i looked intently for him, i could not. he finally walked out on the dunes and sat down. i finally spotted him, a little dot so far away. it took me about fifteen minutes to reach him, down the steps and then climbing dunes. huge dunes! (you can see the distance from the google map link above.)

on my way back, duncan let me drive the dune buggy. my first time driving on the wrong side of the road. and a stick, no less. i have to say the hardest part was trying to reach the pedals. see, because my cousins both surpass two meters in height quite easily and this buggy was built with fixed seats for shawn, i was once again almost out of reach. pfft, tall people….

that evening we had a braai. on the grill we had the mussels we picked out that morning, some of the springbok i had killed several days before, and several other very delicious dishes (including some bacon). it was all very good. it was a very relaxed evening. even the sunset was perfect to end the day and the trip.

one thing i never did get before i left was a group photo of everyone together. i should have insisted on it at the beginning of the evening. but everyone did get in a few pictures. you can find the rest on my flickr account, including chester and jean (owners of the bed and breakfast where i lodged), duncan’s wife and girls, shawn’s wife and boys, and plenty of shots of the beach and sky.

thanks to duncan who planned so much for me to do. and to his wife, deanne, and shawn and tessa too who fed me and had me in their homes to visit. they are very good memories.

i would go back. i want to go back.