The last weekend in July saw us all going up to Hluhlwue for the Kistner Clan annual weekend away. We decided to go for the early morning 5am start, working on the theory that Anya would sleep for at least a couple of hours. No such luck. By the time we got to Empangeni for breakfast we were sick of listening to the Mums & Tots CD on loop. Little did we know, that this would be the soundtrack for the next 10 days! We got to Hluhluwe with plenty of time for a long game drive to Hilltop Camp, arriving there at pretty much the same time as Oma & Opa. Anya was very excited to see them and even presuaded Opa up the jungle gym! Gitty & Sean arrived mid afternoon by which time we were nicely settled into our 2 bedroomed chalet. It had a massive living & kitchen area which was great for the kids as the weather was minging. Gitty, Sean, Sasa & Luca stayed ina rondavel further down the camp. The kids really enjoyed spotting bokkies (impala) and elephant poo, which was just as well, because there wasn't much else to see. Nevertheless, we still had a great weekend, with minimal back seat tantrums, once we figured out that it was best to keep Anya & Luca in separate cars! We extended our stay with a couple of nights in Impila - lion spotting. The weather proved a challenge as it rained for most of our stay. As we were in a one roomed chalet, Anya proved a little difficult to entertain. She also objected to having her campcot parked in the shower cabinet. This resulted in one late night removal during which time Hermann fell over a bag and impaled himself on the bed post - thereby breaking the few remaining ribs that he has left intact. Anya, sensing this was NOT a good time to make a fuss, helpfully fell asleep instantly. To complicate matters Impila only has electricity until 10pm and we had forgotton a torch so the entire proceedings took place by mobile telephone torchlight..... And, as usual, despite numerous game drives, everyone else spotted lions except us! Bruised, but not dispirited (bush spirit and all that), we continued onto St Lucia to enjoy the hospitality of Roly (Brenda's brother). We also met up with Uwe & Jenny who had rented a holiday home for the week. Anya got to play with little Brendan, and we got to braai in peace. We met up the next day for a trip to the beach, lunch at the boat club involved hippo & croc spotting (wouldn't want to go swimming in that estuary) and dinner at Roly's with Anya & Brendan both passed out and fast asleep. You could tell it was a good night when Uwe took his shoes off to get comfy and settle in for the long haul at midnight! By this time me & Jenny were more than ready for bed - Jenny is also expecting a baby in October. The next day we headed up to Warmbad (near Paulpietersburg) via Pongola where we visited an old friend of Hermann's. We stocked up on supplies at the Pongola OK Shop (any supermarket decorated with huge red teddies goes down well with Anya), manouevered our way through the roadworks (2 years down and 2 years to go) and off to the farm. I was expecting a basic farmhouse but what we got was 5 star lodge luxury. A lovely rondavel; the comfiest bed of our trip; hot water so long as Holger made a fire at 5am every morning; a complete food fest and the entire Vorwerk family to help with babysitting. It was a fantastic weekend. The kids had a brilliant time going on little game drives to the river and playing on the trampoline. We even did folk singing around the campfire (with yodelling)which I attempted to capture on video. Lets just say that I'm not going to be winning any Oscars anytime soon. Thanks Brenda, Holger, Hannah & Helmut for a fantastic weekend.
