Silverhill

After a very relaxing 2 week cruise my old man was kind enough to stop off in Durban and spend the Easter weekend with us.

Thursday night was very relaxed. My dad had arrived in the morning, and spent the day at my house washing his 2 shirts which he had worn for the last 14 days. I got home from work at around 6pm and we had a quick braai. This was followed by a few beers and bottles of wine, and then an Eddie Izzard DVD. That guy rocks!

The real fun started on Friday morning when we all headed up to the berg. On route we stopped at Piggly Wiggly for breakfast. On a whole the food was good, but I was somehow disappointed with my meal. I ordered an open faced, chicken mayonnaise and bacon sandwich. The chicken mayonnaise was great, but for some reason they gave me a pile of bacon which had been dished up with a shovel. I supposed it’s not really a reason to complain, in fact some people would love it, but I really didn’t need a huge pile of fatty bacon bits on my sandwich. Two strips would’ve been enough. This isn’t America. If they’re serving up bacon at that rate, pretty soon it’s just going to be called Wiggly, since there’ll be no more Pigglys left.

As we were leaving Sharon spotted kiddies pig radios at the till, and her face lit up. In fact, it’s probably the most excited I’ve ever seen her, which really isn’t saying much for my company. None the less, she is now the proud owner of a blue piggy radio.

We arrived at Silverhill just before lunch and we lucky enough to be allowed straight into our rooms. The rooms consisted of a small bathroom with bath, shower and toilet, and then a main room with a double bed, couches, TV (satellite and all) and a kettle (most important). There was also a loft above main room with 3 single beds. The rooms were all connected, each with its own balcony, overlooking the mountains and main dam. All in all it was fantastic.

Silverhills is located in the Kamberg region opposite Glengarry. It offers a wide range of activities including hikes, fly fishing in 5 small dams, mountain biking, volleyball, boule, croquet, a driving range, swimming pool and of course, table tennis, pool and darts. And yes, they do have a bar.

Anyway, not being one to waste time, we unpacked the car, and went about finding the table tennis table. It turns out they have huge plans for an entertainment area complete with gym and indoor pool, but in the meantime, the pool and table tennis tables were cunningly located in their barn. This of course meant that the ball would forever roll under tractors and huge rolls of wire, behind which broken sheets of glass had been “hidden”. Luckily for us our epic skills got us through these hard times.

The afternoon was spent re-learning how to play this game on what seemed to be a very small table (or maybe I just have very big muscles). We then settled down on the balcony and enjoyed a few beers before heading to dinner.

SPECIAL ANNOUNCMENT! The Bulls finally lost. Maybe now their supporters will shut the hell up *evil laugh*

Moving on…Due to our accommodation being thatched, I didn’t sleep particularly well that night. In fact, I think I lost in the region of 2kgs that night – purely through my nose.

The next morning we all had a fantastic breakfast, and then while Kerry, Sharon, my dad and Cassia headed out for a walk, I headed down to the dams to fish. Although the dam I fished was small, I took the opportunity to make use of my float tube for the second time. I landed a nice 20 inch Rainbow after about 15 minutes, which gave me high hopes, but it turned out this was to be the only fish of the morning for me. And after about 2 hours I made my way back to my chalet for a quick shower.

Then it was time for the all Africa croquet challenge; we set up a course on the lawn in front of our rooms, and the girls proceeded to kick ass. Sharon won the first game, and Sharon took the second one with ease. Laziness then kicked in, and my old man, Cassia and Kerry headed for an afternoon nap.

Much to Sharon’s dismay I was having none of this and dragged her back to the shed for some table tennis and pool. This was followed by a swim in the beautiful, but rather chilly pool.

I was hoping to fish one of the other dams that evening, but eventually had to get my priorities straight and opted to head for the bar to watch the Sharks game instead. After a few side bets were placed at the bar, I’m glad to say that the Sharks pulled off their third successive win. And even better, my dad’s guess was closest to the final score, so we walked away with a nice kitty of drinking money.

Sunday was my dad’s, sister’s, and Cassia’s last day. After breakfast we all jumped into the trusty Paj and made our way up the 4×4 trail to the top dam. Once we were up there my dad and I had a quick fish while the girls went for a walk. Sadly there were no signs of fish about, and we both blanked. In our defense we did only fish for half an hour or so, so we didn’t give ourselves a huge chance.

Kerry and I then drove back down, while the rest opted to walk. Lazy bastards…catching a lift up and then casually walking down like heroes.

We then had the all Africa double championships which was great fun. There’s nothing quite like the chaos of trying to alternate shots in that tiny space. Another couple joined us, and proceeded to kick all our asses, so I guess all the practice really hadn’t helped us that much. Either way, it was great fun.

Dad, Cassia and Kerry then headed home, leaving Sharon and I alone for one night *evil laugh*. We headed down to the driving range and hit off a few balls, which was great fun. This was followed by a game of boule. And then the rain started to come down. We had a few games of pool and table tennis, and then headed back to our chalet for a few drinks and dinner.

It was still raining when we woke up on Monday morning, so we had to forgo the round of golf we were hoping to play at Glengarry. After a final stint in the games “room” we packed the car and headed home. Thankfully unpacking was quick, and we were done before lunch. This gave us time to grab the golf clubs and head out for some mashie. Not quite a full golf course, but at least its improving my chipping.

All in all a great weekend, and sadly the last of the long weekends. Sigh!