The year is half gone....

It's crazy how time flies, I know we keep saying that and each year it seems to fly by even faster!!!  Age, it's creeping up on us.
I just realised now that I hadn't posted the previous post so it is a bit outdated - but hey it's still part of the history that made up the start of this year.
I did stay in Underberg... and we have tackled the project of building the restaurant with great gusto!!! lol  sorry, those are words that someone has recently used and its... oh nevermind, it's too long a story!  Anyway we are so close to completion and yet so far away from opening.  Money, money, money - wish it grew on all these beautiful oak trees around here.  Wayne (Craig's brother) moved up here at the begining of April and he's been handling the building while I've been busy with the marketing and trying to get The Old Hatchery put on the map so to speak.
We are almost through the long awaited soccer world cup being hosted on home soil.  I have to admit I have NEVER watched an entire soccer match until this event and I have become totally addicted... Don't know if I will carry on feeling this way when the rugby season kicks in again but hey it's been a lot of fun keeping up with Bafana Bafana and the rest of the teams and their crazy antics on the field.  Their rules are really weird and little unfair if you ask me.

This was taken at Rowen's school after Don Clarke and the Clutch Mullets won the BAFANA BAFANA song KICK IT UP....  what a fun!!

The charter season is going well.  Craig has done 2 trips to Bassas and one island cruise.  Some of the people are fantastic and others are ... well lets just leave it there shall we?  It's a means to an end right now and the sailing dream will not die, just the timing has to coincide with the rest of what goes on in our crazy life.
Craig gets home from current charter on Wednesday night, I can't wait!  It's been a long and lonely holiday for me.  The kids have all had a fantastic holiday, friends, cousins, boyfriends!!! so there's no complaints from them at least.

Back to school time

What do you do when faced with a really tough decision? 
I tend to get a bit tearful, irritable and willful!! It makes me feel like I'm sinking when in fact I should be swimming.  Anyway, if I hang in there long enough I get to grab onto the lifeline that someone throws in my direction.
Well just a week ago we were faced with one of these tough decisions.  Our charters start in April, we're planning to take Shannon & Rowen with us along with all their homeschooling books that we've collected.  We have 3 charters booked and each of them runs for 10 days at a time. 
Our original options looked like this:
Do we hire an aupair to come with us and base her and the kids on land whilst we're out at sea?
Do we hire a hostess to go along with Craig on charter whilst I stay behind on land with the kids?
Now we have a new option which is the one causing the tears, irritableness etc
Do I stay here in Underberg and send Rowen back to Underberg School?  He wants it.  Shannon will carry on with homeschooling as planned.
After much deliberation, we decided it would be in everyones best interests to let him stay at school.  Our first charter run is from April to June so Craig will just have to manage these ones on his own.  She is coping well with the homeschooling programme.
Megan is loving being at the Academy in Stellenbosch.
Time to put my Big Girl Panties on and just get on with things and see how it all pans out.

All roads do in fact lead to Underberg

I really thought we would only come back here to visit again in a few years time.... I didn't envisage us moving back here.... well let me start where I last left you and you will see what has led us back to NUD

I drove from St Francis down to Cape Town with Meg, Shannon and Rowen.  Excitement and nerves all mixed together.  This was a big step for our family.  Craig left the same day as us and sailed Sarah back up north towards Durban, having to sail up the dreaded Wild Coast.  The winds along this section of the coast change on a daily basis so it is incredibly hard to find a weather window big enough to get you going in the right direction.  He had to wait for a few days of westerleys or south westerleys!!  We had 2 days of this and so it was decided that Craig would leave - he had 2 youngsters from St Francis to keep him company and share in the night shift duties.  The weather didn't behave and they pulled in at East London for 2 nights before carrying on.  When the wind eventually died down and they got back on track the current was against them, there was no wind and it was cold and rainy!!! yuk  anyway, a week later they arrived safely in Durban, the same day I arrived back in Underberg.  But let me back track a little and tell you about our time in Cape Town....

We stayed with Charlene in Somerset West which is so close to Stellenbosch.  After some mad last minute shopping we took Meg to Isa Carstens Academy on the 12th to get her registered and settled in at her new res.  It was a long, tiring and very hot day - at least we didn't let our eyeballs misbehave too much.

Whilst in Cape Town we decided to act like real tourists and equipped with the required back pack, camera and bottles of water we headed off to Table Mountain.  The new cable cars are magical... the inside floor actually rotates while you move so that your views of the breathtaking surroundings are changing constantly.  It was so hot up there and the wind was hardly blowing - so acutally it was a perfect summers day.

Then it was off to Hout Bay for some fish and chips at Mariner's Wharf - South Africa's oldest waterfront food emporium (25 years old) We were starving by the time we got there and the fish was awesome!  Our next outing was right there in the harbour - we hopped on board "Calypso" for a boat ride out to Seal Island.  Craig was horrified when I told him I had PAID for a boat trip!!! haha - but it was worth it.  The kids loved it but when asked what the most memorable thing about the trip was... the unanimous answer was:  "seals stink".

We drove from Hout Bay along Chapman's Peak down to Simon's Town to swim with the penguins on the beach.  It was about 6pm when we got there and I actually felt as though I was still getting sunburned.  The sky only becomes dark at around 9pm in Cape Town - quite the strangest thing.  It feels so odd to be eating supper at 7pm when you haven't even had sundowners yet.

We ended the day by joining Charl at the Harley Club for a bring and braai.

Our road trip coming back to KZN was such fun.  We took Route 62 and drove through gorgeous little towns like Monatgu and Barrydale.  Of course the road takes you right through Oudtshoorn so naturally we stopped and paid a visit to one of the show ostrich farms.  Meg and I did this trip back in September and we went to Safari but I didn't actually get to ride a bird.  This time round I took Shannon and Rowen to another farm called Highgate and I was determined to ride one too.  It was amazing, we got to feed the birds, play with them, walk inside one of their pens and stand on Suzy and Jack's eggs.

Shannon standing on Suzy's eggs

Have you ever cuddled an ostrich?  This was so special!!!











When we drove through St Francis, we picked up Aunty Dawn to give her a lift back up to Natal.  She is staying a few days with us in Underberg.

OK now for the reason that our road has led us back to Underberg.  Back in 2007 we sold our property to a consortium that was going to sell off all the units on a "timeshare" basis.  The mistake we made was in allowing them to pay us off over time.  They are now in breach of this contract as they have transferred all the shares out of our name and into theirs so they can issue share certificates to their buyers AND they haven't paid us in full yet.  This was done fraudulently as we told them last year that we would only sign the CM42 once we had received all our monies they owe us.  In Dec we had a chat with our friend Greg who is also and advocate and he advised us to cancel the contract and claim back the property.  Will keep you posted with as things progress.  I think it's going to get quite messy at times.

St Francis Bay Dec 09 - Jan 10

We all arrived in St Francis on the 23rd Dec and so Christmas shopping was a bit of a rushed affair at Greenacres in PE.  Handing our jack russells over to their new (very loving) owners was quite easily one of the hardest things I've had to do.  Meg and I cried all the way from Walmer to Lorraine.  I still get a lump in my throat at the thought of them running to the gate everytime they hear a Mitsubishi Outlander driving by their house...
                       Moving on...
Our drive down from Underberg was a slow one through the Transkei - lots of trucks on the road.  We spent a night with my sister Debbie and her family in the little coastal village of Kidds Beach and got to see mom too as she was visiting them for the Christmas holidays.  Then we were on our way to PE where we spent the next night with my other sister Ticki (aka Rose - to most other people) where I proceeded to drown my sorrows in a bottle of Sedgewicks. Funnily enough we drove past a building in East London that according to its signposting is the headquaters of Sedgewicks Old Brown Sherry - what a laugh.

Getting used to the weather in St Francis has been quite something.  I'd forgotten how the wind can BLOW in the this part of the world.  We've been here for about 2 weeks now and we've probably only had about 2 days free of wind.  If it's a westerly the bay is calm and an afternoon sunset cruise is an absolute must.  If the easterly blows, the sea is upside down and we tend to seek shelter at a friend's house.  Talking of friends, we and the kids have met loads of new friends here and if this is a taste of what's to come then we're loving it.  We've also had the opportunity to be with old friends we've known for a while and of course Craig's family too.  Wayne has been staying with us on the boat and he and the kids have had a fantastic time fishing and just generally having a great joll on the canals etc.  We got to meet and spend time with his little boy Ewan (aka Cuz).  Looking at Rowen and Ewan together makes you think you're looking at their Dad's when they were little.... there is such a striking resemblance between the boys and their fathers.

We've had loads of fun ourselves, meeting new friends and having great fun... beach braais (crayfish & muscle pots on the hot coals), blasting vuvuzelas at odd hours, eating too much calamari at Christy's Catch, partying at Cob's Cove, chilling at Greg's house on the canals, eating gourmet food at 11pm at Danie & Michelle's house.  It certainly has been a holiday to remember.

Jumping off the yacht in the harbour - Rowen, Gareth and Shannon

Loving the beach - Craig and Shelley

Crayfish braai - Greg hard at work

"Love is in the air"  Meg and Gareth

The freshest and most delicious mussels I ever tasted

Shelley and Michelle

more photos coming......

I can't actually believe that it is finally happening. We have packed up and sold all our land based possessions and will be leaving Underberg to move onto our boat full time.

I might be leaving the mountains behind but they will forever live in my heart.

We're not quite ready to start cruising just yet.... there are a few things we have to do first. I'm taking our 2 beloved jack russells, Bacardi & Scooby to their new home in PE (too sad to talk about) and Meg and I will drive the car down and spend a night at each of my sisters' houses, Debbie in Kidds Beach and Ticki in PE. In the meantime Craig has set sail with Shannon & Rowen and we'll meet up in St Francis Bay in time spend the Festive season with friends and family.

After New Year we'll head south to Cape Town where we will stay till March. Megan, our oldest daughter will be settling in to her studies in Stellenbosch while we do some refurbs to the yacht and travel around the Western Cape. It's such a beautiful part of our country and I can't wait to see more of it.

The school books for Shannon (14) and Rowen (11) should arrive in early January and we'll kick off with their studies right away and try to get them into a routine.

March / April will see us heading north to Mozambique where we will spend some time around the Bazaruto Islands.

Those are the plans as they stand for now.  Anything, absolutely anything could happen to change that...- if you know the Garratt family then you know that comment is oh so true!  One thing is for sure though, we will definitely not look back.  I know I will miss my friends in Underberg but it really is time for us to move on now.  When you miss me have a glass of Old Brown Sherry and I will be there with you keeping you warm!!! lol