Beach trip to Durban

I know I haven't been posting in a while.  To be honest, I have been feeling a little disillusioned lately.  (See last post).  But the last week has improved exponentially!  Jonathan got here a week ago and we have been going ever since.  We took a road trip to Durban, on the Indian Ocean.  It is a 6 hour drive from Jo'burg to Durban and quite scenic.  You drive southeast and parallel the Drakensberg Mountains for a while.  They are beautifully rugged with snow-capped peaks. They are the natural border between South Africa and the mountain nation of Lesotho (pronounced Lesutu), which is a tiny nation plopped down right in the middle of SA. (Click on the link above to read more about Lesotho.)

A desolate drive between Jo'burg and Durban.

The Drakensbergs in the background with snow on the very tops.

Our pitstop in Harrismith, about half way to Durban.

It is winter here but Durban stays relatively warm year-round.  The daytime temps were in the 70s though the water was a bit cooler.  We stayed right in Durban proper, a beach town that reminds me of an older Panama City Beach.  There is a beachfront boardwalk with a skate park, snack bars, and people of all shapes, colors, sizes, and ages strolling, jogging, biking.  We checked into a nice hotel overlooking the beach and spent the next few days just being tourists.  It was heaven.  We found a surfboard rental shop where Jonathan found a good deal on a board for a two-day rental.  We struck out for the beach only to find that, while the beachfront might resemble Panama City, the waves definitely do not.  Wave height varied anywhere from 5 to 15 feet!  Jonathan braved the cold water, the waves, and the extreme current but nature won out and he never did catch that perfect wave.  But I am happy to say that no sharks caught him either.  This coastline is known for being shark infested but Durban has invested in shark nets that run just offshore for miles along the coast.

The view from our hotel room

Such a surfer dude!

Jonathan eyeing the surf.

Durban beachfront. In the background is the Moses Mabhida Stadium, built for the Soccer World Cup in 2010.

Several people we know here in Jo'burg spend their summer vacations and other holidays in an area north of Durban called Ballito.  We took a drive up there and were blown away by the beautiful scenery.  The coast is mountainous, the beach rocky and the waves huge.  Jonathan spent the entire day trying to talk us into buying a beach house. Beach property is very reasonable here but still not reasonable enough for us!

The Ballito Coastline

The view from our lunch restaurant in Ballito