It has been almost four years since our last big overseas adventure, so it is time to dust off the travel blog again!
This trip will be a little different from our previous travels. Chris and Danielle are now being joined by Karl, aged three, and Isaac, aged one. Travelling halfway around the world with two small children will either be a wonderful family adventure or a terrible logistical mistake. Probably a little of both.
We leave New Zealand in early September and, after a very long day of flying, arrive in Johannesburg. We will spend our first night near the airport before continuing to Cape Town once everyone has had at least some sleep.
We have allowed ourselves a couple of quiet days to recover from the flights and work out what time zone everyone thinks they are in. After that, we will spend several days exploring Cape Town. Our plans include visiting the penguins, attempting Table Mountain and generally moving at a pace suitable for a three-year-old and a one-year-old.
From Cape Town we head into the Winelands, where we hope to ride the Winelands Light Railway, see some giraffes and perhaps even manage to visit a winery or two. How sophisticated the wine tasting will be with two toddlers remains to be seen.
We then fly across the country and make our way into Kruger National Park for a few days of self-drive game viewing. This is probably the part of the trip we are most excited about.
Karl is particularly keen to see hippopotamuses, giraffes and rhinos. Isaac has not expressed a strong preference yet, but will probably be satisfied by anything large that moves. Chris will also celebrate his birthday while we are in Kruger, which should be slightly more memorable than spending it at home or at work.
After leaving Kruger, we have allowed several quieter days at a lodge near the park. There are vague plans involving massages, the spa and not spending quite so many hours in the car. Whether the children agree with the “quiet and relaxing” part of the plan is another question.
The main reason for the trip is to celebrate the wedding of our friends in South Africa. After the wedding, we will gradually make our way back towards Johannesburg, with a few more stops and possibly a visit to Sun City along the way.
We will begin the long journey home in early October, eventually arriving back in Northland after nearly a month away.
It is a fairly ambitious trip with two small children, several flights, multiple rental cars and plenty of accommodation changes. We have tried to leave enough slower days in the plan, but we are also expecting that at least some of it will change as we go.
As with our previous trips, we will try to post regular updates and photos here so our friends and family can follow along.
This will be our first big overseas adventure as a family of four, and we are excited to see how it unfolds.
After a somewhat restless night, with Karl waking a few times, we had the challenge of getting through the morning without breakfast for him. He had to fast before the surgery and was very hungry, which was understandably hard for him to make sense of. A few white lies were required about where everyone else was going. Chris went out to make some ‘hospital arrangements’, otherwise known as breakfast, before Dan and Isaac headed out to make some more ‘hospital arrangements’. Breakfast at the hotel was perfectly adequate, although the buffet had a rather strange layout and it took a while to find everything. Still, the secret breakfast did the job.
Chris was keen to get going as we weren’t sure how long the drive would take, what the traffic would be like or how easy parking would be. Once Dan and Isaac returned from their arrangements, Chris and Karl headed off to the hospital. It was hard leaving the other two behind, but Isaac was too young to be allowed on the ward, so Dan stayed with him at the hotel. There were messages from the surgeon’s office along the way, coordinating quotes, prices and approvals, so there was still plenty to organise before we even got there. Karl had a brilliant suggestion along the way: perhaps we could do the hospital later and go for burgers now instead. ‘Burgers would be a great place to go, Daddy. Let’s do burgers.’ It was very clear that we had a hungry boy.
After parking, we were met at reception by the surgeon’s staff, who went through the separate quotes for the surgeon, anaesthetist and hospital. It was a fairly daunting amount to take in. Once Chris’s credit card had endured its share of the pain, we moved on to pre-admission. This involved quite a lot of explaining that we don’t live in South Africa, we’re not from South Africa, we live in New Zealand, no we don’t have a South African ID number, and no we weren’t born in South Africa either. After about twenty to thirty minutes of working through all of that, we were finally able to head up to the paediatric ward and get Karl admitted.
The ward was quite confronting. A paediatric ward is not somewhere you want to find yourself on holiday, and Chris thought the beds had a bit of an orphanage feel to them, which was unsettling. Fortunately, we weren’t there for long before the surgeon came to review Karl and explain the procedure, followed by the anaesthetist to talk through the plan. Chris would be able to go into theatre with Karl for the first part of the anaesthetic, to help make it as settled as possible for him. The surgeon also said Karl could stay in his own clothes rather than having to put on a hospital gown. Anything to make a distressing time a little easier for the poor wee thing.
When it was time to go, three staff arrived to push Karl down to theatre in what was effectively a giant crib. Karl had absolutely no intention of getting into it, so Chris carried him while the team pushed the empty bed through the lifts and down to the theatre waiting area. He did briefly get into it there, but when it was time to go into theatre he became upset again and Chris carried him in. Having to hold Karl still and help with the initial anaesthetic until he was asleep was pretty confronting for Chris too.
Dan tends to have a fairly emotional time coming round from an anaesthetic, so Chris had a suspicion Karl might be similar. Despite some strong suggestions from the staff that he go back to the ward, Chris stayed near recovery. After a nail-biting half hour or so, the surgeon came out and said it had been a complete success and was well worth doing. The cut had been deeper than expected, involving the muscle, and had needed stitches in several layers to repair it properly. The plastic surgeon had done a brilliant job. Compared with the enormous gash from the night before, you could barely see the repair.
The anaesthetist then said Karl was starting to wake up, and it wasn’t long before Chris could hear him bellowing and was called into recovery to help calm him down. Coming round was proving to be a bit tough, just like his mother. Chris was able to pick him up and get him and his big feelings under control, but the moment he tried to put him down it was clear that wasn’t going to work. A somewhat unconventional solution was found, with Chris climbing into the caged crib with Karl. The staff were a little startled to see six foot three of Chris folded into a child’s bed, but it did the job.
🔒
Family photo
Enter the family password to view protected photos.
Once the recovery team were happy with Karl’s vitals, it was time to go back to the ward. Chris was released from his cage and carried Karl back to the room. Karl was very groggy and quite nauseous, and spent the next couple of hours dozing on and off. Eventually he woke up very hungry and was allowed to slowly work his way through the hospital lunch. Much to his delight, it was pizza and chips.
🔒
Family photo
Enter the family password to view protected photos.
Meanwhile, Dan and Isaac had a much quieter day, mostly around the hotel room, where Isaac made sure to explore every cupboard. They did venture out to the supermarket for a few supplies, and Dan managed a bit of hand washing so that we would all have some underwear to wear home.
Once Karl had managed to eat and drink and keep it all down, the IV line was removed from his hand with surprisingly little fuss and he was discharged. Chris and Karl headed back to the hotel to a very relieved Dan, and we started organising ourselves to go across the road for dinner.
Despite the previous pizza outing ending in a trip to hospital, and having already had pizza for lunch, Karl was adamant that he wanted pizza for dinner. After the day he’d had, we couldn’t really say no. So back we went to the scene of the original accident and ordered pizza again. Fortunately, this visit was entirely uneventful, although Chris spent the whole time hovering over both boys, absolutely paranoid that one of them was about to get hurt at every turn. Hopefully we’ve had quite enough of that for one holiday.
🔒
Family photo
Enter the family password to view protected photos.
🔒
Family photo
Enter the family password to view protected photos.
We had a slow start this morning. We’d left the bathroom door open down the hall, which made it look as though a light had been left on as we finally had some sun. We had a leisurely breakfast at the restaurant, where Isaac made a new friend who was only a month older than him. After a quick pack, we were back in the car and heading towards Johannesburg.
Screenshot
Some of the back streets were lined with people and vendors, with oranges and nuts for sale at the four-way stops. Once we were on the motorway we passed a fire burning, but we didn’t see anyone stopping or coming to put it out as we went past.
We stopped at Mall of Africa for lunch at Spur, with Karl having a play while we were there. Chris and Dan had visited Mall of America years ago, so there was a bit of comparison to be made. This one was smaller! After lunch we continued on and checked into our last hotel in South Africa, then later walked across the road to Eastgate Mall for pizza for dinner.
Chris went to order the pizza while Dan sat at a table with Isaac in the pushchair on one side and Karl in a chair on the other. Both boys were banging their hands on the table. Dan turned to get Isaac out of the pushchair while Karl carried on, and we think his chair slipped and launched his face into the edge of the table. Dan didn’t see exactly what happened, but turned back to find his face against the table. When she pulled him back there was a lot of blood. Chris returned to find both boys screaming and Karl bleeding, but we didn’t realise quite how big the cut was until Karl opened his mouth. It was an impressive-looking gash.
We managed to get the bleeding under control and console Karl until he was no longer crying. After a quick consultation with ChatGPT, we decided that because of where the cut was, it needed to be looked at by a doctor. We hurried back towards our accommodation, which you wouldn’t think would be too difficult when it was just across the road.
Finding our way out of the mall turned out to be another matter. It certainly seemed to be a mall designed for people arriving by car, and we had to ask several people for directions before we managed to get out. It felt as though it took half an hour, although it was probably closer to ten minutes. Once we were back at the hotel, Chris and Karl jumped in the rental car and went straight to a nearby hospital.
The doctor was concerned about the location of the cut and that it crossed the border of Karl’s lip. The doctor took some detailed photographs and sent them to a plastic surgeon to review. The surgeon recommended surgery the following day to repair the cut and help reduce the risk of lasting disfigurement.
Chris and Karl then came back to the accommodation, where Karl managed a little yoghurt for dinner before going to sleep for the night. Chris got started on the laborious process of lodging yet another travel insurance claim and going through all the hoops.
This trip sure has thrown a lot of trials at us. We are pretty nervous having Karl have surgery in another country. Compounding things Chris will be supporting Karl solo as the hospital is some distance from our Hotel and Dan will be staying behind with Isaac. Wish us luck for the surgery ahead (We think around midday Friday, South Africa time)
We had to visit Sun City at least once while we were here, so even though it was still raining we decided to go. We had breakfast at the restaurant again, with the boys having a play in the playground, before heading off for the day.
As we were day visitors, we parked in the lower car park and caught the shuttle up. The sky train is out of action and has been taken over by monkeys. Literally. We made our way up through the welcome area and into the general gaming area, then wandered through until we eventually found the Valley of Waves.
To get there we went past all sorts of elephants and other animals carved in stone, and across the Bridge of Time, which can shake like an earthquake. Karl was keen for a swim at the Valley of Waves, until he saw the waves. We were not so keen in the first place, as it was raining and cold, so we headed back inside.
On our way back towards the main area we found a little side door with no real signs on it. It took us out to a suspension bridge over the road, which led us to the maze. Thankfully the rain was stopping by then, so we were able to spend half an hour or so finding our way through. Go team Hoffmann! We think Isaac enjoyed it the most, but then he got to ride everywhere. Once we found the middle, we climbed to the top for a photo, then headed back the easy way rather than going through the maze again.
🔒
Family photo
Enter the family password to view protected photos.
Back in the main area we went to Spur for lunch, the same chain we had stopped at on the way over. This restaurant had an attendant in the kids’ room, so we didn’t need to stay in there with them. After lunch Karl had a few rides on the cars and other little rides while Dan went souvenir shopping, before we decided to leave.
When we got back to our resort we had a swim in the pool, then finished the day with a buffet dinner at the restaurant.
For the first time this trip we didn’t wake with the sun, but actually had a sleep-in. Yay for good blackout curtains! We had breakfast in the restaurant, and both boys enjoyed playing on the playground. Isaac was starting to get the idea of the slide too.
We’d planned to have a look around and check out the facilities, but the rain had other ideas. Instead, we headed to Waterfall Mall in Rustenburg, about an hour away. The longer drive was quite deliberate, as we wanted to give Isaac some time to sleep. (Which he did not!) We didn’t do too much once we got there, just wandered around for a bit before pizza for lunch followed by ice cream.
🔒
Family photo
Enter the family password to view protected photos.
On the way back we also passed a crashed ute. It looked as though it still had a dealership price sign on the dash, so perhaps it had been out for a test drive!
We headed back towards Sun City in the afternoon, stopping at a local supermarket for a few supplies. Chris went inside and locked Dan and the boys in the car, where they managed to set off the alarm. It was very loud! Not the most discreet supermarket stop.
Dan had been feeling a bit ill in the evenings, so once we were back we kept things quiet with dinner at home before bed.
We woke up for our last morning at Oluchi Lodge and gave the boys their customary Weet-Bix before heading upstairs for breakfast. There were fewer guests staying by this point, so instead of the semi-buffet breakfast we had become used to, we had a seated breakfast with everything cooked fresh to order. We were all brought a little bowl of yoghurt and fresh fruit to start, which everyone except Chris was able to enjoy, followed by our own egg orders and freshly cooked breakfasts. It was really nice and a lovely way to finish our stay.
For the first time while staying at Oluchi, we also managed to see some wildlife around the lodge while we waited for breakfast. We were a little sad to be leaving, as we had really enjoyed our big room and, perhaps most importantly after some of our other accommodation, the very comfortable soft bed! Packing was also considerably easier now that we had acquired yet another suitcase, so apparently buying more luggage really was the answer to our ever-expanding belongings.
We said our goodbyes to the family and eventually got ourselves on the road. Or at least we thought we had. About five minutes later we were doing a U-turn and heading straight back to Oluchi because Dan had left her phone behind. This was made slightly more complicated by the fact that we had already returned the gate remote, so we then had to sit outside trying to attract somebody’s attention to let us back in. Eventually the phone was recovered, we said goodbye again, and this time actually left.
Once through Nelspruit we got onto the highway and started the long journey west across the country. The weather became quite strange as we drove, with thick patches of fog appearing and disappearing very quickly. At times it was difficult to see very far ahead and the fog seemed to be moving sideways across the road, making it hard to work out whether we were driving through fog, low cloud or rain. Then we would go around the next corner and suddenly everything would be completely clear again.
There were also many, many tolls along the way, and after a couple of hours we stopped at Alzu Petroport for lunch. This turned out to be considerably more interesting than your average motorway service station, as there is a large wildlife area alongside it. We could see rhinos and ostriches wandering around while we were there, which is certainly not something we are used to seeing when stopping for fuel and lunch.
We caught up with Danielle’s parents at the Appaloosa Spur for lunch, and Gary, Ashley and the girls also appeared for a while, so despite having said all of our goodbyes earlier in the morning we had managed to catch up with everyone again only a couple of hours down the road. One of the stranger features of Alzu is in the men’s bathroom, where the urinals have windows looking straight out towards the wildlife. Apparently even going to the bathroom in South Africa can involve watching rhinos.
After lunch we continued west, eventually travelling through the Pretoria area and then onwards towards Sun City. The further we went, the more it felt like we were seeing yet another completely different side of South Africa. We have seen the big cities, the coast, the Winelands, Kruger and all of the wildlife areas, but this part of the trip took us through countryside and roadside communities that looked very different again.
There were lots of people gathered along the side of the roads, roadside stalls and shacks, plenty of speed bumps and places where traffic had to slow right down, along with the occasional small fire burning beside the road. We also went through a tunnel or two and, around the Pretoria and N4 sections of the drive, started seeing warning signs about hijacking-risk areas and people placing spikes on the road to make vehicles stop. It was all very different from the sort of countryside driving we are used to at home and certainly kept the journey interesting.
The stars of the drive were actually Karl and Isaac. We had been a little worried about how they would cope with spending five or six hours in the car, but both of them were absolutely brilliant. Karl caused very little trouble and Isaac spent a large part of the trip dozing or sleeping. Considering how disrupted their routines have been and how much time we have asked them to spend travelling over the last few weeks, they both handled the day far better than we expected.
Eventually we arrived at The Kingdom Resort, only a few minutes away from Sun City, and checked into our new home for the next few nights. Almost immediately we noticed something very exciting — there were remarkably few obvious ways for Isaac to seriously injure himself! After several places with unfenced pools, steep stairs, big drops and railings that a determined one-year-old could crawl straight underneath, we have finally found somewhere where we don’t need to helicopter-parent him every second. A couple of strategically positioned chairs outside blocked off the main escape routes and suddenly life became considerably easier.
The Kingdom Resort itself is much bigger than we had expected. Even though we are only a few minutes from Sun City, there are swimming pools, a water park, restaurants, a convenience store and lots of different activities all here at the resort. They also run a complimentary shuttle into Sun City, so you can stay here and still easily head across to visit without necessarily needing to stay at one of the much more expensive Sun City hotels.
It was about 33 degrees when we arrived, so after unloading the car we decided a quick swim sounded like a good idea. Unfortunately the pool water was a little cooler than the outside temperature suggested and neither of the boys was particularly enthusiastic. They had also just spent most of the day in the car, so they were probably fairly over everything by that point. Karl did manage to practise some of his floating, and Isaac enjoyed a few rounds of Humpty Dumpty before we decided that was probably enough swimming for the day.
After such a long travel day, we were very happy to have arrived, unpack a little and settle in. We now have a few nights here to explore The Kingdom Resort and Sun City before the next stage of our trip.
The day after the wedding was always going to be a bit of a slower one, and thankfully that is exactly what it turned into.
We had a cruisy start with a lovely breakfast at Oluchi Lodge with some of the other wedding guests, before spending much of the day relaxing around the pool and recovering from the night before. Most of the kids were pretty worn out after such a big day, so there were plenty of naps, plenty of lying around in the sunshine and generally not too much rushing anywhere.
Except for when it was raining.
For reasons we still cannot quite comprehend, our belongings appear to keep multiplying and expanding as this trip goes on. This may possibly have something to do with people continuing to give us things, but we maintain that this is completely unrelated. Either way, Chris decided that we had reached the point where yet another suitcase was required.
So Chris and Karl headed into town in search of a Checkers Hyper. Chris faithfully followed the GPS and arrived at Checkers, where they were at least able to get some of the groceries we needed. It was only after getting back to the rental car that Chris realised they were at Checkers, not Checkers Hyper.
Fortunately, the actual Checkers Hyper turned out to be about 30 metres across the road.
This made slightly less sense when we discovered that Checkers Hyper also appeared to contain another Checkers, but we decided not to think about it too much. Most importantly, we managed to find the suitcase we needed, and Karl found another little toy plane, so he considered the shopping trip a great success.
While Chris and Karl were inside Checkers Hyper, there was apparently quite a decent thunder and lightning storm outside. From inside the shop they really only noticed a bit of rain, but back at Oluchi Lodge, Dan, Isaac and the rest of the family got the full experience with a short, sharp lightning storm and a decent downpour.
After returning to Oluchi, while the last of the weather was doing its thing, the boys settled in to watch some rugby on TV. Even Karl took an interest, which was probably something of a novelty for him as we must confess there isn’t a huge amount of sport watched on TV in the Hoffmann household.
🔒
Family photo
Enter the family password to view protected photos.
Later the sun came out again and the kids were straight back into the pool. The water was definitely on the cold side, but that didn’t seem to bother them too much.
One of the really special parts of this trip for us has been watching Karl spend so much time with Olivia and Mackenzie. He has absolutely loved playing with his cousins, and whenever we have been away from them he has constantly been asking, “Are my cousins coming?” or “Are we going to see my cousins?” Getting to watch them all spend this much time together has been a really lovely part of being here.
Later in the afternoon, Chris also enjoyed a quieter moment watching the sunset from the top of Oluchi Lodge. The colours in the sky looked really nice against the little pool, and it was one of those simple moments where everything looked particularly peaceful.
With absolutely no South African influence on our dinner timing, we decided to be sensible and had things cooking by about 5pm so the kids could eat at a reasonable hour. We all sat down together for a nice dinner, although unfortunately Dan only managed two or three bites before starting to feel pretty unwell, which seems to be one of the side effects of some new medication she is taking.
Dan decided an early night was probably the best option, and Chris, Karl and Isaac weren’t too far behind her.
All in all, it was a very quiet day by our recent standards, but after the excitement of the wedding, I think everyone was quite happy for it to be that way.
Dan and the girls had a lovely morning getting ready at the wedding venue. We can’t share too many of the details just yet as we don’t want to steal any of the bride’s surprises before she has had a chance to share things herself, but it was a really lovely morning and everyone was very excited for the day ahead.
Back at Oluchi Lodge, Chris and the boys started the day with almost military precision. We have definitely learned on this trip that Isaac especially does much better when we can keep some sort of routine around him. With new places, new people, long days and everything else going on, if his sleep and food get too disrupted he really struggles. Knowing that the wedding was going to be a very big day, Chris set about trying to give him the best possible chance of making it through happily.
The boys had their usual breakfast first before heading up for the lodge breakfast, where they got to eat with their cousins. Gary, Ashleigh, Olivia and Mackenzie were all staying at Oluchi as well, along with a number of the other wedding guests, so it was a nice start to the morning with everyone together.
After breakfast it was back to the room to start getting Karl organised. Gary and Ashleigh then took Karl through to the wedding venue with the flower girls at around 11am, while Chris stayed behind with Isaac and started the important mission of getting him to sleep. Housekeeping arrived at almost exactly the same time, so Chris spent a while entertaining Isaac on some concrete stairs while the room was being cleaned before finally being able to get him settled.
Thankfully it all went reasonably well and Isaac went down for a really good sleep. Chris decided to rig up a rather creative baby-monitoring system, streaming audio between his computer and the iPad, which meant he could take the iPad out to the pool and have a pre-wedding swim with other wedding guests while still being able to hear Isaac. All in all, Isaac managed nearly two hours of sleep, which was about as good as we could have hoped for.
Meanwhile, Karl had arrived at the wedding venue with the flower girls, and that began the roughly three-hour challenge of keeping three small children entertained while hair and makeup were being done. Thank goodness for Alex, one of the bridesmaid’s husbands, who spent a lot of time chatting with Karl and helping to keep him occupied. Karl did look very smart in his little “Ring Security” outfit though, and was extremely pleased with himself.
Once Isaac woke up, Chris scrambled around figuring out his wedding clothes, got him dressed and loaded him into the rental car. Chris had decided to drive rather than rely on the return shuttle, mostly because the shuttle wasn’t due to leave until around 11pm and we suspected that might be a little late for Karl and Isaac.
Chris left in a bit of a panic shortly after the shuttles, thinking he might be running behind, and then somehow arrived at the wedding venue before everyone else. Apparently the shuttles had taken a somewhat creative route and stopped at a few places where there weren’t necessarily any guests to collect. But that is another story!
The wedding venue itself was absolutely perfect for Whitney. Anyone who knows Whitney knows how much she loves rocks, and the whole property was surrounded by interesting rock formations. Even from the chapel you looked out towards a beautiful rocky landscape, so it all felt very fitting.
And, because this is South Africa, there were also zebras wandering around the property and even milling around the car park, which was just fantastic.
Once the ceremony started, Vicki and Hugh once again came to our rescue with Isaac. They had come prepared with an extra bag full of treats and different things to distract him, and somehow managed to keep him quiet for the entire ceremony, which was about 40 minutes long. Anyone who knows how vocal Isaac can be will know that this was no small achievement! It also meant Chris was able to sit up the front with Karl once he had finished his very important job of kicking off the wedding.
The ceremony itself was beautiful and Karl did an amazing job in his very important role as ring security. After the ceremony there was lots of confetti, photos, mingling and celebrating before everyone moved through for dinner.
Dinner was really tasty, and then it was time for the party.
It turns out Karl is a bit of a dancing party animal, just like his mum. Whenever a good song came on — which, according to Karl, was basically every second song — he was straight back out on the dance floor. Karl and Dan spent a lot of the evening jumping around, dancing in circles and having an absolute blast.
🔒
Family photo
Enter the family password to view protected photos.
When he couldn’t convince Mum to dance with him, he simply moved on to finding somebody else. He took a particular shine to a couple of the other guests and, in his usual charming way, had no trouble recruiting people to come out and dance with him. He had a fantastic time and would probably have happily stayed on the dance floor all night.
Vicki and Hugh were also a huge help with Isaac during the reception. By this stage he was already starting to become more than a handful, so having some extra people willing to entertain him and pass him around made a very big difference.
By around 7pm though, Isaac was definitely starting to hit the wall, which is getting pretty close to his normal bedtime. The hosts at the wedding venue very kindly managed to produce a baby cot for us, so once he had well and truly had enough, we were able to get him settled down to sleep.
That worked out brilliantly, as it meant Chris didn’t have to leave early with the boys. Instead, Isaac slept away while Chris patrolled back to check on him about every ten minutes, almost like clockwork, before returning to the reception to join in with the festivities.
It was a beautiful day, everything went really well and, most importantly, Whitney and Reggie looked incredibly happy.
We are still being a little careful with what wedding photos and details we share until Whitney and Reggie have had a chance to share things themselves, but we can safely say it was a very special day and we were very glad to be there for it.
We know we have been a little quiet for the last few days and the blog has fallen behind again. We have both been very busy, and Dan has also still been getting pretty tired while recovering. Add two small children into the mix and, unfortunately, sitting down at the end of the day to write the blog has had to take a bit of a backseat. We are still keeping notes though, and we promise we will catch up!
Our last night in Marloth Park wasn’t exactly the best night’s sleep. We had a number of power cuts during the night, which wouldn’t normally have been too much of a problem except that our air conditioning unit had a very helpful feature where it played a long and very loud tune every time the came back on. After hearing that a number of times through the night, we were all fairly pleased when morning eventually arrived.
Despite that, we managed to get ourselves packed up and out of our accommodation at a reasonably sensible time, largely thanks to Quartermaster Chris rather than Quartermaster Dan this time! We loaded everything back into the car and started the roughly two-and-a-half-hour trip towards Nelspruit.
Not long after leaving Marloth Park we came across the aftermath of a very serious truck crash on the main road. One of the trucks had clearly caught fire and there were large wrecks across part of the road. What struck us was how differently the accident scene was being handled compared with what we would normally see at home. The road hadn’t been completely closed and traffic was still slowly making its way around the wreckage. It was clearly a very serious accident and quite confronting to drive past.
Once we reached Nelspruit we made a quick stop at the mall because Isaac still needed something suitable to wear to the wedding. We managed to find him a shirt, ticked that job off the list and then headed about 20 minutes south to the wedding venue.
Once we arrived, Dan went pretty much straight into bridesmaid and wedding-setup mode. There was the chapel to organise, the reception area, the canapé area and lots of other little things around the venue that needed to be sorted before the big day. It was one of those days that was very exciting if you were actively involved in all of the setup, although perhaps a little less exciting if you were mostly waiting for things to happen!
While all of that was going on, Chris and Karl went back to town for a haircut. Chris then dropped Karl back for his rehearsal and headed off to swap our rental car for the car we were actually supposed to have had for the previous week. Because of all the changes to our trip, we had missed the original collection, so there was another round of rental-car admin and moving luggage around before we finally had the car we needed for the next part of the trip. Fortunately Dans parents were at the venue and able to keep Isaac out of mischief so Dan could focus on her bridesmaid duties.
We ended up spending a large part of the day at the wedding venue before eventually moving on to Oluchi Lodge, where everyone was gathering for a large outdoor barbecue. Some of the meat ended up being cooked more like a braai anyway, so perhaps it was a bit of both!
Oluchi Lodge itself was really lovely. We had a very comfortable room with our own little private swimming pool, and after several nights of fairly firm beds it was also very nice to discover a properly soft and comfortable bed. The deck wasn’t particularly Isaac-friendly because the railings weren’t suitable for a small child, but with a little bit of rearranging we were able to make the room itself reasonably safe for him, which made life much easier.
🔒
Family photo
Enter the family password to view protected photos.
The barbecue area was beautiful, but unfortunately it was even less suitable for Isaac. There were lots of stairs, uneven ground and several places where the barriers were high enough that a determined one-year-old could simply crawl underneath them and potentially fall a very long way onto rocks below. Naturally, Isaac thought all of these things looked extremely interesting and wanted to investigate every single one.
🔒
Family photo
Enter the family password to view protected photos.
After another very big day he was also well and truly over everything, and because we couldn’t safely put him down to crawl around, he was having none of it. Chris eventually took him back down to our room, which happened to be underneath the party, and managed to get him settled and off to sleep.
Around the same time we discovered another problem. Isaac had just finished his last bottle and we suddenly realised that the baby formula was missing. We weren’t sure whether it had been left behind at the wedding venue while we were moving bags around during the rental-car swap, so Vicki once again came to our rescue.
Vicki drove Dan back to the wedding venue to have a look, but unfortunately there was no formula there. She then took Dan into town in the evening to find a supermarket and buy some more, which was very much appreciated. Baby formula is one of those things that you don’t really want to discover is missing just as your baby finishes the last bottle!
Eventually everyone had what they needed, Isaac was asleep, and the day started to wind down. Chris and the boys stayed at Oluchi Lodge for the night, while Dan headed back to the wedding venue to spend the final night with Whitney and the bridesmaids.
After weeks of travelling, hospitals, Kruger, Marloth Park and everything else in between, we were finally here.
It was nice to have another slower start to the day. We had breakfast at our accommodation, took our time getting ourselves organised and let the boys explore around the outside area while we ate and caught up on a little bit of the blog.
Before doing the supermarket run, Chris and Karl stopped for a coffee and a hot chocolate. Karl decided to make friends with some of the locals who regularly go to the coffee shop, introducing himself and then making sure they all knew exactly how to spell his name. He seemed very pleased with himself.
Chris and Karl then headed to the little supermarket in Marloth Park to pick up a few supplies. It is quite amazing how much they manage to fit into such a small shop, but unfortunately baby formula was one of the things they didn’t have.
That meant a trip out to Komatipoort, where there is a much larger supermarket. Being Heritage Day, we weren’t entirely sure how long everything would be open for, so we thought it was better to head out sooner rather than later.
On the way, Chris dropped Danielle and Isaac at the restaurant overlooking the river where Chris and the boys had eaten lunch while the girls were having their spa day. It was an extremely hot day, so sitting somewhere with a nice view while Chris and Karl went shopping seemed like a pretty good option.
Driving along the N4 towards Komatipoort, we once again came across the enormous line of trucks waiting to head towards the border. Chris counted more than a hundred trucks in just one small section, and the line continued for kilometres. There must have been many hundreds, possibly close to a thousand, all sitting there waiting to cross. We have absolutely no idea how long some of them must have to wait.
Once the shopping mission was completed and everyone was back together again, we headed to Werno’s house. Werno is Reggie’s brother, and Reggie’s parents also live there. Their house is new and absolutely lovely, with a really nice outdoor area and swimming pool.
This was where we were celebrating Heritage Day with some of the Mostert family, some of their friends, Danielle’s parents, Whitney and everyone else who was there. Of course, being Heritage Day, there was a braai.
We spent a lot of time around the pool, which was especially appreciated given how hot the day was. There was also plenty of wildlife coming close to the house while we were there. A number of animals wandered through, including some monkeys which the kids thought were absolutely hilarious.
Isaac was a little more challenging than usual during the day, mostly because he hadn’t managed to get much of a sleep. Chris spent quite a lot of time keeping him entertained and trying to stop him from getting too upset. We are definitely learning that keeping on top of his naps makes a very big difference.
To be fair to him though, he has done incredibly well considering how much we have asked of him on this trip. There have been lots of long days, different beds, disrupted sleeps, different feeding times and generally very little of his normal routine.
We really enjoyed the braai and spending more time with everyone, but we headed back to our accommodation fairly early. We knew we still had packing to do, as the following day we were leaving Marloth Park and moving through to Nelspruit to be closer to the wedding.
So that brings our time in Marloth Park to an end. We have really enjoyed staying here and having the animals wandering around us, but now we are very much moving into wedding mode and helping Whitney and Reggie with everything leading up to their big day.
We are also not quite sure yet what the rules are around sharing wedding photos on social media, so there may be a little less in the way of wedding-related photos over the next few posts. If there seems to be a suspicious absence of wedding photos, that will be why! Once we know what everyone is happy for us to share, we can work from there.
Some of our most loyal readers, like Barbara and Jim, may have noticed that since the hospital and Kruger Park we have been posting about a day behind. This has actually been quite helpful, as it has given us a chance to catch our breath and sit down the following evening to work out what happened the day before. The downside is that by then we have sometimes forgotten some of the little stories, especially the funny things the kids have done during the day.
So we are going to try and get ourselves caught back up again and write each post in the evening after the day has actually happened, which will be New Zealand morning. This post is therefore being written on the morning of Day 20 so that, hopefully, tonight we can write Day 20 while everything is still fresh in our minds. Hopefully that makes sense!
Today was a little different as Chris and Dan spent almost the whole day doing completely different things, so we thought we would split this one into two parts.
Chris
Dan left very early, before either of the boys were awake. Chris is pretty comfortable looking after Karl, but has had considerably less experience looking after Isaac, and very, very little experience looking after both of them at the same time. Add to that being away from home and out of our normal environment, and he knew from the outset that it was probably going to be an interesting day.
The first challenge was getting our washing to the laundromat before 8am, so there was definitely no going back to sleep after Dan left. Chris got everything organised, woke the boys, got them dressed and fed, and then realised he was rapidly running out of time. Everyone was loaded into the car and they headed off to a place that is literally called The Bush Laundry.
Laundry seems to work a little differently here, with lots of places offering a full service rather than having machines you use yourself. You simply drop everything off, they weigh it and you pay based on the weight. The lady running The Bush Laundry looked like she had stepped perfectly out of a 1970s movie set. Everything about her outfit was absolutely immaculate and she was probably the last person you would expect to find running a little laundry in the bush! It was also very reasonably priced and, even though the following day was a public holiday, they said everything would be ready by lunchtime, which was very helpful as we need to keep moving.
After getting back from the laundry, Chris realised there was another logistical problem. Our room is upstairs, and getting up and down the stairs while keeping Karl and Isaac safe, as well as collecting medication, breakfast things, bottled water and everything else we needed, was going to be rather difficult. We are also still using bottled water for everything, which adds another thing that always has to be carried around. In the end the boys stayed strapped safely into their car seats with the air conditioning running while Chris raced around gathering everything. Isaac was extremely unimpressed with this arrangement and screamed for most of the few minutes it took, despite Chris checking on them constantly.
Eventually everyone was inside, medication was sorted and the day could properly begin. Then a message came through from Whitney about a possible lion sighting across the river, so back into the car they went. Down at the river they ran into Gary, Kevin and Mackenzie, and Chris was finally able to get the camera out and get a reasonably good photo of a lion. Interestingly, the lion was wearing a GPS tracking collar, which made it look slightly like somebody’s very large and dangerous pet.
After the lion sighting they headed back towards Kevin and Gary’s house, but they hadn’t arrived back yet and Isaac was starting to have a bit of a meltdown. Chris decided to head back towards our accommodation, but spotted a café along the way and decided that stopping was probably a very good idea. Isaac had a bottle, Karl had some water and Chris had a very much needed coffee. Karl turned the seat they were sitting on into a boat and appointed himself captain, spending his time shouting instructions while Chris managed to catch up on a little bit of admin.
One of the jobs Chris needed to sort out was another rental car change because of all the changes to our trip. In a few days we need a different car that we can keep all the way through to Johannesburg, so while Captain Karl was steering the boat and Isaac was happily drinking his bottle, Chris managed to get all of that organised.
They then headed back to the Airbnb, where Gary, Kevin and Mackenzie had returned, and spent the rest of the morning there. Chris even managed to get Isaac down for a sleep, which took a bit of effort but was definitely a win.
Once Isaac had slept for a while, everyone headed out for lunch at a lovely restaurant overlooking the river. From the restaurant they could see crocodiles and hippos in the water, including some quite close to one another, which was really interesting to watch. They were waiting for Reggie and his brother to join them, so lunch stretched out to nearly three hours and the kids ended up ordering before everyone else arrived.
Chris also went a little outside his comfort zone and tried raw springbok as an entrée. Surprisingly, he actually really enjoyed it. He followed that with an enormous chicken schnitzel which he couldn’t finish, so the leftovers were packed up to become dinner later.
Unfortunately, getting back to the car after lunch turned into probably the least glamorous part of the day. At first Chris thought Isaac had simply managed to spill apple juice over himself. It quickly became clear that he had actually wet through his nappy, his clothes and the pram. That was messy enough, but when Chris pulled his shorts off to change him, things got considerably worse.
Without going into too much detail, the problem was no longer just pee.
Isaac, Chris and the boot of the rental car all ended up covered in something rather less pleasant, and what followed was a fairly major cleaning operation in the back of the car. Chris pretty much exhausted his entire supply of wet wipes before everyone and everything was finally clean enough to continue.
After that adventure they headed back to the Airbnb, where the boys had a cool but refreshing swim in the pool. As the afternoon started to cool down, the citronella candles came out, the kids were given a quick dinner and everyone sat watching the wildlife again while waiting for Dan and ladies to return.
Danielle
My day started considerably earlier and considerably more peacefully than Chris’s!
I had a very early pickup followed by about a two-hour drive into Nelspruit for a girls’ day. The place we went to was beautiful and very upmarket, with a lovely café outside in a courtyard. We had just enough time for a quick coffee before everything began.
Nails were first, starting with our toenails. There were many, many, many different colours to choose from and they all had names. Amusingly, the colour called Danielle was black, while Cynthia was purple. I eventually chose a purply sort of colour for my toes and got a lovely warm foot soak and foot massage at the same time, which was very relaxing.
After that it was onto fingernails, where I ended up going for sparkles. I also had my very first spray tan, which was an interesting experience. Looking back now though, I probably should have booked a massage and maybe a facial as well while I was there!
We ended up spending pretty much the entire day there, with lots of yummy food, cocktails and drinks being brought out along the way. I was a good girl though and didn’t drink anything alcoholic.
Eventually it was time for the roughly two-hour drive back to Marloth Park, where I returned to find that Chris had successfully survived his day alone with both boys.
Possibly only just, judging by some of the stories!
