Fernwood - Days 5-7

Those who may have noticed - yes, blogging does require a discipline I haven't mastered yet. I should record thoughts as they occur but find myself scratching my head 4 days later to regroup my thoughts. Oh well, here goes.

Having walked most of the trails in the area many times we decided to be a bit more adventurous on Wednesday so we chose the sunken forest walk which we had last done in the 90's. It turns out that the walk isn't even on the map anymore but that didn't bother us since we knew where to go - up towards Sphinx and turn left at the Robin Hood Forest sign, then through the RHF onto a path we recalled as being rather badly defined, into the sunken forest. The sunken forest is known for the huge halleria lucida trees that grow there and they are in flower at this time of the year. Unfortunately the bad path has become a non-path and we got as far as the RHF but could not see a way into the sunken forest. After much bundu bashing we had to give up although we did get the chance to walk paths we hadn't experienced before. We joined up with the path heading to the hotel and followed it taking many detours to explore new vistas and terrains.

On the way to the hotel we walked through what were most probably commercially viable pine forests many years ago - now they are just mono culture deserts that smell quite nice. Invaders become more of a problem the closer you get to civilisation - bug weed, blue gum, wattle and of course, pines can't be excluded. 

Our last full day, Thursday was spent walking all the Fernwood paths. Not much new to report, except a lovely Aloe at Dingaan's Cave and some lovely Zebra encounters.

Travelling back on Friday was great because most of the traffic was heading towards KZN for Comrades. Hardly any traffic to contend with - even back in Jozi we had a fairly free road. The next trip to Fernwood will be next year - the withdrawal begins!

Fernwood - Day 4

If anyone ever gets the chance to visit this area you must visit Falcon Ridge. We have been there half a dozen times and never tire of it. Falcon Ridge is a rehab centre for injured raptors and to fund their work they show the birds to the public for R 70 pp. When I say show it is an understatement - they tell you about each bird, how it came to be in rehab and then show you how they hunt. The fish eagle, the owl, the peregrine falcon and occasionally vultures too, although they are more difficult to control since they see red toenails as food and have scared the hell out of some guests. Apparently when the falcon stoops they can reach a speed of 300 km/h before ripping the head off their prey; the owl is totally blind up to half a metre and the fish eagle only occasionally hunts fish, although it is the only raptor that takes fish on the wing.

We always have one retail day and this was it, although I think we may need to change this habit in the future because our visits are too frequent for the shops to have anything new on offer. We did however find a really cool bottle opener in the guise of a crocodile - and Rose added to her rock collection.

Fernwood - Day 2 & 3

Day 2, Sunday. We never buy the newspaper in paper format except when at the berg. We spend the day lazing around, scanning the Sunday Times, eating, napping and generally enjoying the feeling of not having to do anything we don't want to. All in all a lovely day until I decided to watch the soccer and got treated to Liverpool's humiliating 6-1 defeat by Stoke. You can't have it all, I suppose.

Day 3, Monday. We decided to get a fairly long walk in today so chose the Hlatikulu walk (7,5 km). After crossing the Mpofane river there is quite a steep climb into the forest where we were treated to almost sighting a Porcupine - it was so close we could smell it (OK, there was a funny smell that neither of us owned up to) and also found a few quills. 

I didn't realize how destructive they are until I saw the debris left along the path. I suppose they deserve to be allowed to graze as they have for ages before we came upon the scene. Talking about destroying the environment, why do hikers insist on littering? Rose had the idea that every guest be asked to give a mouth swab when they sign in and then if snotty/crappy tissues are found they can be linked to the guilty party so they can be fined - worth considering. Personally I think we should try to keep this pristine.

Fernwood - Day 1

Heading off on holiday shouldn't be frustrating but any trip that goes through Jozi on the N3 is going to be all that and more. More because 2 eejits collided near the Allandale off-ramp and caused a 30 minute stoppage. Anyway, having chilled our way through that the rest of the trip was great - one pee break, a lunch stop - yoghurt and a banana - and a last stop in Winterton at the chemist. We got to Fernwood at about 4 giving us plenty of time to unpack and then sit on the verandah sipping a drink and snacking on peanuts and raisins.

Supper was a highlight though. We brought frozen meals that weren't labeled but I had assured Rose that this meal was a chickpea curry, and we had therefore prepared the normal side dishes - raita and rice. Once we defrosted the meal it turned out to be beef soup so we ended up having soup with rice and raita. Rose couldn't stop giggling.

Eskom greeted us this morning by switching off the power a few seconds into boiling the kettle. But, good little campers that we are, we had brought a Cadac cooker so managed to boil water for our morning coffee, albeit a bit delayed. The lack of electricity also prevented us from having bacon and eggs for brekkie, so undeterred we had them for lunch. The rest of the day was spent reading, napping and to end the day a short walk down to the reservoir. Guess who we met on the way home?

Right now Rose is plotting another huge win over me at Scrabble. 

How could I possibly win with tiles like this? (My thoughts). How could you possibly lose with tiles like those? (Rose's thoughts).