24 December 2022 – Swakopmund Christmas Eve
We spend most of the day cooking 12 fish dishes to keep Mish
happy with his Polish traditions.
However, the dishes definitely had a more African/modern style to them and included:
1. 1) Moules Mariniere
2. 2) Smoked Namibian Oysters on crackers
3. 3) Kabeljou
4. 4) Prawn skewers
5. 5) Avocado Ritz
6. 6) Salmon California rolls
7. 7) Teriyaki Salmon rolls
8. 8) Peppered Mackerel
9. 9) Roll mops
10 10) Curried Hake
11 11) Salmon, spinach and feta pie
12 12) Crayfish salad
Before sitting down to Christmas eve dinner we had a short morning
excursion to town and found 4 geocaches while taking a walk and getting a few last
minute necessities.
We then finally sat down for dinner at a reasonably early
hour (4pm) and spent the next 4 hours eating, drinking and getting into the Christmas
spirit! At the end we were absolutely
STUFFED! No space for any pudding. Early-ish bedtime as waiting for Santa to
arrive!
25 December 2022 – Swakopmund Christmas
Kids got up early as expected! Santa did in fact stop here
and left each of them a drawer full of presents to enjoy. So whilst the kids were busy opening the gifts,
the adults managed to enjoy a coffee until 8:30 whilst still in PJs.
Everybody then got ready for the day and Grandma took the girls
down to the beach (25m from the front door…).
Robyn and Mish in the meanwhile were in charge of Christmas day lunch for
2pm. And they managed to cook up a feast
of:
· - Roast Chicken (No turkey was available and the oven was too small for an ostrich!)
· - Gammon with pineapple and honey mustard glaze
· - Cauliflower cheese
· - Potato wedges
· - Creamed spinach
· - Patty Pans
· - And for pudding: Fruit cake, German ginger biscuits and ice cream
The kids entertained themselves most of the day with all the
new toys. But we took them back to the
beach in the evening and they had a blast swimming and jumping in the waves for
over an hour. To finish the day off, we
played a quick game of Catan (is it ever quick?) and nibbled on some leftovers
for those who needed more food! Then kids
went to bed … Parents weren’t far behind!
26 December 2022 – Swakopmund Boxing Day
It has been a catch up day, slow and relaxing with some
friends over for lunch to help eat the leftovers. Afternoon nap was a must, followed by reading
and walking along the beach with some swimming for the kids.
Late afternoon Maxine and Mish went dune boarding while
Robyn and Harriette chilled at home.
27 December 2022 – Swakopmund
Early start as in the morning we went on a #livingdesert
tour, with Dwayne our desert guide. It
was a really interesting full morning tour.
We saw 4/5 of the “little 5” including
· - Sidewinder (Peringuey’s Adder)
· - Palmato Gecko (Pachydactylus rangei)
· - Dancing white lady spider (saw her borrow)
· - FitzSimons‘ burrowing skink (Typhlacontias brevipes) aka the 'Legless lizard'
· - Shovel-Snouted Lizard (Meroles anchietae aka the desert “Ferarri”)
And as a special treat, we also saw a Namaqua chameleon
(Chamaeleo namaquensis)
Then some fun dune driving, and showed the kids the minerals
in the dune sands. Particularly magnetite
– its magnetic and can be picked up from the rest of the sand with a strong
magnet.
Lunch consisted of samosas, followed by another lazy
afternoon that included a nap, a few pages of reading, kite flying and of
course swimming and wave jumping! Before
the sun set, we had organised a family shoot in the dunes. As we have done so much cooking over the past
few days, we treated ourselves to an Indian for dinner. A great way to end the
day.
28 December 2022 – Swakopmund
Maxine: We woke up and we got ready for the Marine life
boat tour. On the boat we saw, one seal
jump on board (looking for food) and one male and one female pelican at the start. Later Harriette and Maxine fed the seagulls
fish (out of their hands). Near the end
of the trip we saw a group of bottlenose dolphins and lots of Cape fur seals
on the shore and on the beach. On board
they served chicken on sticks, meatballs with herbs, cooked fish, veggie spring
rolls, fresh oysters, mini pork sticks and for the adults white wine!
29 December 2022 – Ameib Camp
Today we set off from Swakopmund after packing up and a breakfast
of scrambled eggs and bacon. Grandpa, Robyn
and the girls set off first to do some sight seeing and geocaching along the
route. Stopped twice for geocaches and
found both!
1. 1. At the old regimental badges, made from coloured
stones lying on the side of a hill. The regimental badges were built in April
and May of 1915 by units of the second battalions of the Kimberly Regiment and
the Durban Light Infantry.
2. 2.At the heliograph point with a century old rock
wall. Heliograph towers were used in the
war between Germany and the native Uvambos
around 1911. It’s a signal point to
communicate via Morse code using mirrors and suns reflections.
After stopping for a roadside picnic lunch, we arrived at
Amieb. And it was HOT! Cold drinks in
the shade and finishing up their book reports for the girls. Once Gandma and Mish arrived, it started to
rain. Big heavy drops for about 20 minutes. It was refreshing whilst it lasted and we all
danced in the rain! It all dried up within minutes. Once it stopped we went to the Bull’s Party –
a huge conglomeration of rocks the size of buildings! As the rained dried up so
quickly, you could almost not even tell it rained there, except for a few
little frogs in the remaining pools of water in the rocks.
Burger braai for dinner – a Mish Special! Followed by marshmallows
for pudding and another stunning African sun set. They never get old or boring.
Sleep was tricky as it was very hot, but the fan helped
until around 4am when all the solar power in the batteries ran out and switched
everything off!
30 December 2022 – Oubokberg
5:30 am wake up for a sunrise 2km hike to Phillip’s Cave. It
was a nice hike where we saw a velvet spider and a little adder snake that
Harriette almost stepped on (Robyn saved her in the last possible second). The view of the sun rising from the cave was breath-taking! As well as the cave itself, specifically the rock
painting from around 3368 (+-200 years)BC.
We saw the famous white elephant and other rock paintings from the
bushmen. It was definitely worth the
early morning hike to see.
Harriette: On the walk we saw lots of interesting animals. There was a railway of ants, a velvet spider, a funny rock looking bug and I even nearly stepped on a small adder snake!
Getting back to camp, we had coffee, rusks and melon for breakfast. The girls even managed to jump into the pool for an early swim. After which the girls and the grandparents packed up and headed off to find the next campsite – Oubokberg (or in English: Old Goat Mountain!)
After Mish finished working, Robyn and Mish headed out there
too. While it was not to far away, the
last 30km took nearly an hour and was unbelievably bouncy! Arriving to find the girls back in the water
swimming just to cool off. The rest of
the day was spent just relaxing and socialising with the farms German owners.
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