Horse rides and relaxation

Yes I know that this post is fantastically late, after all we returned from honeymoon over 4 months ago now, but you know what they say: better late than never.

View from horse back over Natal

On Saturday morning we went for a horse ride up to the Vulture Restaurant. I thoroughly enjoyed this experience. We didn’t canter or anything, in fact, we didn’t even trot but the walk was great. It was certainly the steepest hill I have ever ridden up on a horse. We went with Cuan who took all the pictures of us that you see here.

Windswept

It was fairly windy on top of the hill although nothing like earlier in the week. The view was magnificent and I love the photo above.

Tenahead Mountain Lodge

On our way down (just as steep) we took a slightly different route and were treated to this lovely view of the lodge. It really does set it in perspective and demonstrate the typical ‘Berg winter flora.

Down the mountain

The mountains are huge and I believe that the far ridge to the far right of the above photograph is actually the border to Lesotho. If you look behind the lodge you will see a valley with snow on the right hand slope. After we returned from our ride up to the Vulture Restaurant, we made the mistake of going up the path in that valley by ourselves. Unfortunately, without Cuan to help control the horses, we couldn’t manage them and we had to dismount and lead them up the path out of fear for our safety. Mel met us at the top and one of the locals took the horses back to the police station where they are stabled while Mel drove us back to the lodge.

Relaxation

After a lunch of pork ribs and salad and some debate about what we were going to do in the afternoon we decided to spend our last afternoon relaxing in the sun on the deck. Janita dove straight into her book while I took photographs.

Relaxation – view to the north

The sun was magnificent and warm and it was a fantastic way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

What a wonderful way to spend Saturday afternoon

When I was finished taking photos I also sat down to read and we read until the sun moved off the deck. We watched the line of shade approaching as the sun slipped behind a mountain and it was possible to feel the temperature drop as the sun disappeared.

We moved inside and indulged in a bath together where we sat eating cheese and biscuits and drinking champagne. We had chicken kebabs with roasted vegetables (butternut and sesame seeds) for dinner. For desert we were spoilt with Malva pudding covered in strawberry goo.

We really enjoyed our last full day on honeymoon, riding horses in the morning and relaxing in the sun in the afternoon. I can highly recommend it!

 

“I wanna go skiing…”

This is usually what I heard at least once a week from the 31st January till the beginning of our honeymoon. My reply to Tristan was “well, if you haven’t booked somewhere where we can go skiing for our honey moon, then I don’t want to hear about it”

Well today, was a perfect day to go skiing, so after breakfast we got ready and left for Tiffendale. This was the second time to drive this route, and still new things caught our eyes. It was so beautiful to be up there with the Lammies.

Lammies flying high

So we got to Tiffendale, got kitted out and we headed for the beginner slopes, so I could get my footing back , as I was a bit nervous after the accident in Sweden. Needles to say, I never did get over my mental block. Tristan kindly bought me a private lesson, and not even that helped – I am bad at skiing, so I will try again next time. I am proud to say that I never gave up, I stopped skiing at about 5 when sense-of-humour-failure set in.

Me having a lesson

Tristan on the other hand was having a great time, going up and down the two slopes. He said that it was quite nice being one of the few people on the slopes actually knowing what they were doing.

We went off to lunch with Mel, and had a nice burger and chips for lunch, and there after hit the slopes again. As it was Friday, the slops were open till 7, this was really great cause now Tristan could get all the skiing ‘out of his system’!

My dear husband having a blast

There was a noticeable change in the regular saying, from “I want to go skiing” to “these boots make my toes sore”!

As the afternoon wore on I took a few photo’s of Tristan and what it looks like to be skiing in South Africa. It is a strange feeling, when you look down and see and feel snow under foot and then look out into the land below and see bare winter grass hills. Very strange, I tell you.

The out look

Tristan went up and down in the fading light and I was able to reflect on what a special man I had married and how spoilt I was to be here.

Just one more – Please!

The beauty of the mountains, the setting sun and tranquility made me realise that we should all take a moment, from time to time, and be grateful that we are alive in such a beautiful world, and that we should be thankful for everything that we have everyday.

The last rays

We had sundowners before we left to go back to the lodge – lots of cheese and biscuits – much to our delight!

It took us just short of 90mins to get back, and what a bumpy trip. We were then fed again with yet another delicious meal made by Cuan. It was a mildley curried seafood soup, then followed by sirloin with tagliatelli in a green pepper sauce. (Im sure dessert was really good, but it was not written down and I can’t remember – sorry!) And another day was over – how it has flown by so quickly!