Aug

Caving

Wow! What a stunning week on holiday at Pine Lake Lifestyle Resort. Monday morning Mom, Dad and I rented a four-seater row boat and we rowed up Longmere Dam. The hot day made for a brilliant boating day. It was so tranquil and relaxing being out on the water, and I thoroughly loved it. Granny wasn’t too keen to join us – I think she’s a little afraid of boats, and unfortunately we also didn’t get any pics of us on the Dam. Maybe next time. During the day I caught a butterfly which I spent hours examining it. I put it in my insect viewer and observed the butterfly under my magnifying glass before setting it free again.

At dusk Dad and I went for a leisurely walk on the bird trail to try and spot some birds. We were worried about encountering monkeys which really frightened me. At the bat-run I spent ages trying to spot the bats, but they were too quick and dexterous for me to see. I found a small retaining wall nearby and entertained Dad with a number of Humpty Dumpty renditions by getting on the wall, singing Humpty Dumpty and then falling off. Daddy was thrilled with my little performance.

Tuesday I did something which I know was a brand new experience for me – we went caving! We got on the road early in the morning and after an hour’s drive we arrived at the Sudwala Caves. A flight of at least a hundred stairs awaited us but it didn’t deter me as I was too excited to get to the cave entrance. After paying and meeting our guide Bongi we headed into the depths of the Earth. In preparation I had brought my torch with me, and Granny bought me a glow stick at the curio shop. Fortunately the caves were lit, but every so often our guide would turn off all the lights to illustrate how dark the caves can get.

As we walked deeper and deeper into the cave our guide showed us stalactites and stalagmites along the route, giving us their names and ages. Since these are the oldest caves in the world, it wasn’t uncommon for the stalactites or stalagmites to be as old as 300 million years. Some of the stalactites and stalagmites had been growing so much that they actually met between the ceiling and floor of the cave. The smallest stalactite that Bongi showed us was about 4cm long but 200 years old!

In the Sudwala Amphitheatre (yes there is a 180 seater amphitheatre inside the caves) someone broke into song to demonstrate the brilliant acoustics of the cave – needless to say I joined in. Since the dolomite of the caves is porous no echo is emitted making the acoustics brilliant; possibly the best of any indoor venue in the world. This amazed me since we were surrounded by what appeared to be hard rock. Further in the caves we entered the Devil’s Workshop, spotted Samson’s Pillar, got frightened by the Screaming Monster and we were in awe of the Weeping Madonna that appeared to – yes you guessed it – weep! In places the adults had to crouch and walk hunched over to get to some the cave depths – for me it wasn’t a problem. Once we were 600m into the caves we came across the most amazing pool of water with formations all around it called Fairyland. The cave owners (the caves are privately owned and managed) placed green, red and blue lights all around Fairyland making it even more magical.

Sadly the tour was over in what seemed like a flash. We did spot some bats on the way out, and more about the history of the cave was shared with us. Outside we admired the Elands River Valley and Dad found a foot spa that had Doctor Fish (garra rufa species) in it and promptly popped his feet into the water for them to nibble on. Mom, Granny and I were not too keen, as it looked freaky with Dad sitting alongside a pool with hundreds of fish swarming over his feet giving him a ‘pedicure’. Dad said it felt great and even tickled a little. Once Dad was done with his foot spa we headed home again.

In the afternoon Mom, Granny and I (to a lesser degree) got involved with some ‘leaf art’. Mom was fully into it – I got a little bored so Dad and I played on the lawn. My big breakthrough for the day was that I counted four items.

The weather on Wednesday was really stunning. We opted to stay at the resort and play on the lawn, walk near the dam, and just relax in general. Dad and I played with my helicopter on the abundant lawns in front of our chalet, and later in the afternoon Mom brought me a tea pot, cups and saucers, and ingredients for tea. I then spent a good deal of the afternoon on the lawn making ‘tea’ for everyone.

We decided to go malling on Thursday so we headed off to the Riverside Mall. As it was the last Thursday of the month we had family breakfast, aka Scooby Num-Nums, at the Wimpy. After breakfast we bid Mom and Granny adieu as they got engulfed by the stores to shop. Dad and I wandered around the mall during this time. We found a Magic Company and I spent a good deal of time on the rides, playing the chameleon game, and throwing ‘ice balls’ for tickets. Dad and I even hopped onto one of the motor bike rides and rode it together. Eventually Mom and Gran had had enough of shopping so we headed back home.

Dad and I spent the rest of the afternoon playing with my helicopter and then, when the lawn sprinklers came on, we ran through them getting sopping wet and giggling.

Sadly we had to leave our beautiful chalet on Friday as our holiday drew to a close. Before hitting the road Dad needed to top up the car tyres with air; we needed to go to three filling stations before we found one with a compressor that worked! Everyone was very keen to fill the car’s tank with fuel, which we didn’t need since the car was full. But air was a battle! Eventually Dad got the tyres pumped to the desired pressure (with my help of course, although apparently I let more air of the tyres than was being pumped in). In defiance of our holiday coming to an end we had a leisurely breakfast at the Spur before really getting on the road.

The drive home was uneventful – all of us, apart from Dad, snoozed for most of the drive. Back home we were thrilled to see all our animals again. The kittens, Mickey and Milo, seemed to have grown while we were away. I was barely out the car and I was jumping on my trampoline again. Mommy had a really bad migraine so she popped out to Dr Anthony for jab and returned with KFC for all of us – ahhhh civilization!

We stayed home the whole of Saturday enjoying our own house again. I reacquainted myself with all my toys and played really hard. Granny also went back home during the morning. I was sad to see her go, but we promised to see each other during the week again.

Sunday morning I spent a good deal of my time playing completely on my own, for hours on end, something I’ve only started recently. Mom and Dad are thrilled by this. Mid morning Dad got a bee in his bonnet and decided to start cutting down the privet tree in front of the main bedroom. He did very well, but didn’t want to do all of it one go as there wasn’t enough space for all the branches until Aaron cleared the area on Tuesday. In the afternoon we went to Orango Tangos and met up with Shaun and Vanessa and Joshua whom I played with while the adults chatted. Back home Mom created huge soap bubbles for them that I chased around the garden and popped.

Well, that’s it for this week. In closing I’d like to let you all know that my singing is coming along really well. I sing to most things on my DVDs now, karaoke style, and I even sing the tunes on my own, without backing – unplugged as Dad likes to call it. The other thing that Mom and Dad are thrilled about is that I also make up songs based on requests.

Love

Jarrod