Sand, Sea and the Long Road

You may remember that I mentioned in a past post that December in S.A is holiday month. Our family wasn't planning on going away but things changed unexpectedly and we managed to take a short holiday after Christmas and visit some friends down at the coast. Rachel and I were born in Port Elizabeth (P.E.) - a seaside town on the East coast. Some years ago we moved inland but we used to go back to P.E. at least once a year to visit friends and family there. Unfortunately for the last couple of years we weren't able to do that so we were all very excited when we heard that we were going down to P.E. again in December! :) It's a 12 hour drive by car from where we are now living and the countryside changes a lot on the way down. (Sorry the pictures aren't too good - most of them were taken through the car's windscreen and the weather was often overcast and drizzily so the light was bad).

 We've had so much rain this Summer, apparently it's the most rain the country's had in more than 40 years and our normally sunny skies are now almost always cloudy. The Northern part of the country is very green but when you go further down you get the area (in the midle of S.A.) known as the Karoo, and it's semi-desert. Although it's looking "greener" now than it usually does.

 Horse/Donkey carts are still used quite a lot in South Africa, especially in rural areas.

Crossing the Orange River. This river marks the border between the provinces of the Orange Free State and the Northern Cape.

 Crafts (windmills in this picture) are often sold on the side of the road outside the small Karoo towns.

A service station and restplace just off the national road. A place to freshen up, get something to eat and of course, refill the car with petrol. :)

 Picture above and below - Part of the Karoo, known as the Plains of Camdeboo.

Starting to leave the Karoo and entering a mountain pass.

We're getting closer to the coast and the landscape is becoming greener again and soon changes to coastal forest.

 A final mountain pass and then we drop down to the sea!! :D

 I love the sea and it was wonderful being down by it again - I wish we could move back! As you can see from the photos we had almost continuous rainy weather but we didn't let that stop us from enjoying ourselves on the beach. :D

 It was so good to see Danielle again - she is one of our best friends and we got to spend most of our holiday with her. :) The three of us and Danielle's younger brother had lots of fun at the beach...

 ...and in the sea. :)

 The view from the home of friends.

A picture of the same beach but on a clear day.

We had a wonderful time but all too quickly our holiday was over and we had to take the long road back home again. :)