Our family was recently invited on a weekend adventure to Underberg.
Our trip started with an unexpected and terrifying obstacle course. The road to Underberg from Durban is not for the faint hearted! The potholes seem to serve as the local cow and goat population watering holes, as they seem pretty determined to step out of nowhere into the middle of the road for no apparent reason.
I spent most of the trip proving very useful to the husband by pointing out the various hazards. It has to be said that the husband didn’t seem to appreciate my hazard spotting skills.
On arrival to our cottage our 2 excitable children rushed out the car to see what adventures laid ahead. Boy were we in for a surprise… the temperature was a frosty 8 degrees….for Durbanites that truly is just too cold!
Our first morning we were woken up to delightful squeals from our children, Ella, Maddi and Hayden. They had managed to take the little dinghy out for a paddle on the small dam. I watched in wonder how children away from the everyday tasks of school, sport, iPad’s, TV and technology, were able to be just children again. They were thrilled at the freedom of being able to be out there on their own.
The children were tasked with feeding the chickens. Little did the unsuspecting chickens know that the children had grand ideas for them. The chickens were to be hypnotized… the chickens seemed to respond well the children’s hypnotic skills, however Rolo the Rooster was not so accommodating. After much hypnotic persuasion from Hayden, Rolo succumbed!
When the children were not boating or hypnotising chickens they were to be found tearing up a track down the icy grass bank on make shift plastic sleds. Up and down they went with no sign of tiring.
As the sun set, the rising planet of Venus showed up, followed by our beautiful African starry sky. Our night sky away from the city lights is a wonder that far too people on our planet get to experience.
After the standard South African braai and obligatory marshmallow toasting session we entered into a hotly contested game of 30 Seconds. I think the all-time low point in the game came when Ella described the word “‘FACEBOOK’… as Twitter for Old People”, and Maddi and Hayden got the word without hesitation!! The children were promptly packed off to bed, while us “Old People” enjoyed a glass of wine around our toe warming fire.
Coming away from our sneaky getaway it reminded me that our children won’t remember all the ‘stuff’ we buy them, they will remember how they felt at succeeding in paddling a boat unassisted, hypnotising chickens and the numb fingers after a solid morning of icy sledding.
It really is the simple things in life that bring us all joy!
‘til next time…
Contributed by Louise Steer of Clamber Club Sports – Durban North
Tel: 083 659 4636
Email: sportsdurbannorth@clamberclub.com
Website: www.clamberclub.com