A Three Beach Day

To Plettenberg Bay, South Africa

Hi, it’s Kylie.  We woke up in Mossel Bay this morning.  Our hotel room was huge.  We had a kitchen, living room, and two bedrooms each with a bathroom.  We also got to talk to our lovely Miss Jane this morning on the computer.  It was great seeing her.

Then, Dex and I convinced Mom that we should go to the beach to get the wiggles out before getting in the car.  We played a new game, where we jumped from rock to rock trying to get away from the waves while not touching the sand.  Lucky me, I also found a small, shiny abalone shell.

One thing I have noticed in South Africa are towns built up along the highways with rows and rows of tiny shacks.  They are homemade houses built of corrugated metal, wood and bricks.  Sometimes, in the towns at stoplights, people walk between the cars trying to sell magazines.  Also, it seems common for people to walk or hitch hike on the highways, so many people must not have cars.

Some of the cool animal life we’ve seen that we don’t see in California are ostriches (on farms); grey, white-spotted guinea fowl; and, if you’re lucky, baboons eating bugs or picking fruit on the sides of the roads.  I’m haven’t seen an ostrich egg yet, but I want to.

Later in the day we stopped at two more beaches.  At the first, Dad and I dunked all the way under for maybe three seconds, then ran out.  It was the same freezing cold temperature as the ocean back home in California.  Now I can say I've dunked in the Indian Ocean.  Mom, Dad, and I took a walk along the beach and saw a whole bunch of interesting snails.  Instead of slime trails, they swam a breast stroke on the sand leaving crazy twisting tracks.  We joked that they couldn’t figure out where they were going.

We found a nifty little restaurant call Nibbles for lunch.  The hot chocolate we ordered came as a glass of hot milk with five pieces of chocolate.  The waitress said we could either drink the hot milk and eat the chocolate, or melt the chocolate in the milk, stir it up and drink it.  It was one of the best hot chocolates ever.

The last time we stopped, Dex and I played with our stuffed animals. We tried to build rock bridges across a small stream fed by the waves for Nipper, Lemme, Rocko and Mr. Monster.

As it started to get dark, we looked for a hotel.  We saw a big hotel by the beach, but it looked expensive.  Since we couldn’t find a smaller place, Mom and Dad went inside and got a room anyway.  Our room was small, but we had a huge shared patio with a view of the ocean.  Surprisingly, there were three restaurants.  We chose the Island Diner in the lobby.  My steak and chips (french fries) were delicious.