Season's Greetings

And a very merry Yuletide to you all - as well as my wishes for a peaceful, prosperous and thoughtful 2012. We're back from a holiday in Port Alfred where the lovely beaches were uncrowded and the kids got to set up their own ecosystems in tidal pools (of course these were gone the next day to the bafflement of Lily and the relief of the dozens of captured hermit crabs and starfish).  Henry was more concerned with running into the waves than any eco-research; with the water being fairly rough and given his brick-like swimming abilities, I was kept on the hop. All in all though it was a fabulous time.

One of the excursions we made was a little North of Port Alfred, to the Fish River lighthouse. Chivvied on by a very strong and chilly wind we took some quick pictures of this imposing Victorian edifice and the completely deserted beaches nearby and then fled back to our cottage to apply an insulating layer of KFC grease to our innards.

Another excursion was to the Big Pineapple at Bathurst – a hilariously kitsch structure once again subject to some gale force winds which meant I was clinging onto the kids at the top, 17 metres above the concrete.

 Ice creams all round (or, in Harry’s case, all over) and then off to Grahamstown to marvel at the Victorian architecture I recalled vaguely, details having been blurred by alcohol when I was at Rhodes in the Eighties and the decades since then. The Cathedral of St. Michael and St. George was well worth a visit although Henry Alexander decided the acoustics were perfect for a clog dance cum ballet routine and needed to be chased down to ground behind the baptismal font and silenced.

We ended off with a night on a farm near Addo Elephant Park, and then the next day drove through the park on our way to PE Airport - seeing, strangely enough, quite a few elephant :) they survive surprisingly well on the low thorny scrub that grows near the coast there.

All in all a great and long overdue return to my old haunts in the Eastern Cape..