2012 Weekly Summary #22: 3 June 2012 – St Lucia to Ballito

Week 22…Indian Ocean route begins

28 May 2012

Day 149

Our second stop off in St Lucia took us to Seasand for a night, it is always good getting two perspectives of a town, and in particular a famous town like St Lucia. Mads went on a boat cruise to learn a bit more about the area, the estuary and the wildlife.

29 May 2012

Day 150

Onto Richards Bay, the busy industrial harbour town, and immediately we got lost. The town like so many others we have visited is poorly signposted. Our accommodation, Bay View Lodge, was good and located in the suburb of Meerensee. A few photos of our surrounds and the industrial side of things and then another attempt to get Mads’ visa – success, finally!

30 May 2012

Day 151

We moved to our next Richards Bay spot – the very nice Uhambi Lodge. Our room reminded us of Donkieskraal in Leipoldtville because it was a cave room – hard to explain but very cool. Interviews of the locals revealed that although the harbour and industrial part of town is a massive employer there is still unemployment and poverty.

31 May 2012

Day 152

Onto Empangeni and Canefields Country House. Empangeni is a growing, busy town that needs a lot of work to pick it up out of the direction it is heading – an uncontrolled developing town.

1 June 2012

Day 153

Another day at Canefields and time to explore the area a bit more. Empangeni, it seems, is as we suspected – overpopulated with not as much work as you would think.

2 June 2012

Day 154

Stanger was our next stop and for us the Princes Grant Golf Estate. What is so cool about this golf course and estate is that it is right on the beach and the estate climbs up the rising hills until you look down over the golf course and Indian Ocean.

3 June 2012

Day 155

Ballito, the Plettenberg Bay of the north it seemed, is an upmarket town loaded with hotels and beachside property. Our accommodation was at the beautiful Coco de Mer, probably the best in Ballito and we were fortunate to have a fantastic meal sponsored at Crawdaddys.

…of the week:

• Towns visited this week – St Lucia, Richards Bay, Empangeni, Stanger, Ballito
• Accommodation sponsored this week – Avalone Guest House, Seasands, Bay View Lodge, Umhambi Lodge, Canefields Country House, Princes Grant Gold Estate, Coco de Mer
• Food sponsored this week – Avalone Guest House, Seasands, Bay View Lodge, Umhambi Lodge, Canfields Country House, Princes Grant Gold Estate, Coco de Mer
• Highlight of the week – Maddy finally got her visa sorted!
• Lowlight of the week – Minimal project finds
• Accommodation of the week – Umhambi Lodge
• Meal of the week – Canefields Curry and Peri Peri Chicken

See you in a week…