Wowie, spent the whole morning in the Hydro centre! About 2 hours in the indoor / outdoor pool, water temperatures ranging from 25 degrees up to 40, big fountain in the middle. Pruned up real good! After we had enough of that we signed up for a full body massage with an “Aroma therapy booster” (clearly this IS an American run resort...). By 11 am we were practically floating on air. Annelie is quite fine this morning, by the way. She does still get the odd hot flash but we don’t really know what was wrong with her. Maybe she ate something funky. I’m also quite aware that sometimes with all the driving and concentration, it can get quite hard on you if you don’t eat enough or don’t drink enough water. I suspect maybe a piece of that hake fillet we had at the Inn on Great Zim may have been a bit off or something. I had a similar thing way back in Arusha, when the others were on the Serengeti tour. Heh, but it’s such a cliché: Oh shit, you feel bad, must be malaria! Meh.
We spend a bit of time retracing our steps after we checkout of the chalet, because Mattie left one of the flaps of his canopy open and his sleeping bag rolled out.... somewhere. Unfortunately it’s nowhere to be seen, so we leave our contact details at reception in the unlikely event someone turns it in. Mattie is gutted, not because he needs it anymore but it has quite a bit of sentimental value, a sentiment I can totally relate to. Weird huh? Tours the whole damn continent with it only to lose it now! I try to cheer him up over the CB as we head out to Sun City.
We only need to go 150 km’s since we’re taking a short cut over some less than stellar roads. Slightly after noon we arrive at the Cabanas, one of the 3 hotels at the resort, and book in. The resort is nestled in the valley between the Pilantsburg and features more activities and attractions than I can shake a stick at. Check it out.
Mattie and I have been here a few times before, my last visit was in 2001 for a Microsoft Technet conference. Aaaah, good times! This is Annelie’s first time so we give her the guided tour of the main hotel, casinos, entertainment areas and the Valley of Waves (big water park). Sun City used to be quite a big deal back in the day, because it was the only spot in South Africa where you could come to gamble. A lot has changed since, they built the Palace of the Lost city and the Valley of Waves for one. For me and Mattie it was interesting to see that it’s still quite a busy place, most of the hotels are fully booked and loads of conferences happening. The only thing I’d comment on is that a few cracks are showing up here and there, little things, little things. Annelie didn’t care much though, it was all new to her! We even had to wait on the connecting bridge to the valley, because we mentioned to her that the whole thing vibrates and shudders and smoke comes out everywhere on the on the hour, like a clock. So we stood on the bridge for a whole 30 minutes... She enjoyed it, so I guess that’s ok :) She regresses to a 7 year old around this kind of stuff. That, and various fluffy or cute (sometime deadly) animals. Examples include: puppies, kittens, babies, LARGE dogs, hippos, rhinos, elephants, etc etc etc.
Turns out you actually have to pay to see the Palace of the Lost City, Sun City’s premier hotel. Huh, that sucks. Annelie convinces the one gaurd that she really needs the toilet and they let her in. Then the other guard tries to solicit a bribe for us to get in too! Impossible for him to know that I am now a seasoned pro and this sort of thing, but instead of getting some money out of me he only succeeds in evoking my wrath. I only wanted Annelie to see it, and a good time later she returns all smiles. I ask her if she at least got to see the rest of it and she was like “jup, no problem, saw the whole lobby, dining room, everything!”. That’s my girl.
The weather is quite nippy, only about 17 degrees and a slight breeze, but hopefully we’ll be able to get good weather tomorrow. I’d like to at least get Annelie on the monster water slides they have here! But you can check out Sun City and what they have to offer here. Personally, I think the hotels are a little on the expensive side. If you have kids though, I reckon they’d totally dig it here.
In the evening we had a wonderful meal at Santorini, a restaurant at the Cascades hotel. This is our last evening with Mattie before he heads off tomorrow, so we made it count with lots of whiskey, wine and cocktails! It was also very cool just to spend time with him and him alone just because you get to know someone just a bit better that way. We had quite a few very interesting discussions about the tour and what’s next (Mozambique! Cairo! Madagascar! Ok, maybe only next year...).
It was very cold tonight! We must be acclimatised to the tropics by now, Not used to this type of cold anymore. We “walk” to our hotel anyways, through weird jungle paths with bridges and waterfalls, past the golf course bar and around the corner to our rooms.
Highlights: Well, it’s good to be here at Sun City. Lots of memories flooding back (the parts I remember between the hard drinking and parties of the “conference”). Also miss my 20twenty buddies something chronic
[G & A], out
going over to susan’s house, she’s gonna make it right
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