Sunday, January 16, 2011

WELL RESTED, SAFE AND SOUND!

GREETINGS FROM SOUTH AFRICA!!!
MAXMOM here...

(Sunrise 5:07am Ramsgate, South Africa)
Hello there to all my friends across the globe.
We are back!!!

(Ramsgate main beach and lagoon)

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What a homecoming welcome we received from our three excited dogs yesterday!
Toby ran circles around our feet in sheer delight.  We were only absent for six days, but he'd obviously thought we had permanently deserted him. What a celebration! There is no greater delight than that of a dog who has missed his owners.
All three doggies are in excellent health and were treated like kings by their enthusiastic caregivers while we were away.
Thank you Jon and Amy!!!
(The beach outside our unit at "Bill's Best Roscarberry")

It’s been a while but it’s wonderful to be back with you all again.
(The Vaal River - in flood - the border between Gauteng and Kwazulu Natal)
(View of our accommodation and beachfront)
Our accommodation was lovely, our weather perfect and the five of us enjoyed one another’s company immensely. As with all holidays, we over-indulged on all the junk food but this was balanced out by swimming in the sea, strolling along the beautiful walkways, playing beach games, throwing Frisbees, flying kites and merely lazing in the sun. Our expanded waist lines should hopefully be rectified in the weeks ahead. All-in-all we had a fabulous time!

(Kite flying in gusty wind)
Our holiday wasn’t totally incident free, but this I will share in another blogpost at a later stae. For the moment I prefer to focus on the positive things and the wonderful memories which we created. These far outweigh any ugliness. We all feel relaxed and ready to face city life again.

There is so much to tell you but it is impossible to record everything in one post. You will have to ‘stay tuned’ for all the interesting snippets. :) 
Today, I want to share one of the extraordinary beach walks which we had.
(Dawn: View from our balcony)
My daughter and I got up really early one morning to go and observe all the cute little crabs on the shore and watch the sunrise. What magnificent wonders our country offers:

After this exquisite spectacle, we simply had to indulge in a long pre-breakfast walk.
(The beautiful beachfront path which stretches for miles!)
The dassies (rock rabbits) were out – waiting for discarded morsels from generous holiday makers. For supposedly wild animals, some were surprisingly tame
(Dassies/Rock rabbits along the way)


Wild flowers welcomed us as we ambled along the path...


 So too did some geckos...

bumblebees...

crabs...


crows (in wait for wayward Dassie babies)...

...and as always...some new doggie friends...

Six glorious days of relaxation and sunshine!...

There is so much to tell, but all in good time...
(Another view from our balcony)
For the moment we are home safe and sound...

---xXx---

The washing is in the machine, the groceries stocked up again and the animals have finally settled into serene contentment.

Thank you for being our much loved cyber-friends!
I've missed you all and hope to catch up soon!

Sending lotsaluv




Despite the widespread rain and flooding across our country we have just returned from six beautiful, sunny, fun-filled and revitalising days at Ramsgate Beach along the South Eastern coast of South Africa. It is so beautiful there at the moment – so lush in foliage and plenty of lovely ocean views.

31 comments:

kks said...

so glad you are back home safe and sound! looks like you had a wonderful trip...love all the cool creature pics!!
look forward to hearing all the stories!
xoxo

Doris Sturm said...

Wow - those are wonderful photos - I loved them. I have never heard of Dassies. They look kind of angry to me. Are they aggressive?

My mother has a cousin who lives in St. Petersburg and I often wondered what life would be like living htere...it all sounds so exotic to me.

I'm glad you had a wonderful time. Looking at your photos it sounds just lovely!

Gail Wilson said...

We are so glad you had a great time and we are happy to have you back and blogging. Your photos are amazing. I would love to visit such an incredible place. so many beautiful places on this earth of ours.
We are looking forward to reading all about your advenure by the sea!
Hugs, Mistaya and M.O.M. Gail

Sheila and Bob said...

Welcome Home !!!
The photos are beautiful, you are such a wonderful photographer.
Can't wait to hear about your adventures.

Sheila & Bob

Asta said...

Welcome home MaxMom!!!!1
We'we so glad you had such a glowious time. youw pictoowes once again show us that you live in one of the most spectacoolaw countwies in the wowld..so much booty, so many wondews
I know the kids must have bowled you ovew wif theiw loving gweetings.
We missed you
smoochie kisses
ASTa and Mommi

The Life of Riley said...

Welcome back Maxmom,

I'm so glad your holiday was a relaxing one. I loved seeing your photos (especially seeing those rock rabbits - I've never heard of them before), and I look forward to reading more about your adventures.

Sending love and woofs to you all,
Riley's mum and Riley

pilgrim said...

Welcome back! Looks like you had a spectacular time! I can see you are having fun with that new camera, your photos are stunning. I've just started posting again today as well - on the camino blog at least, Abbey's blog will have to be revived later this week!

I love your daughter's blog - you can be very proud of her. I think I was one of her first followers! Wonderful that you are guiding her in this way - all the best to you all for this first year of her studies... xx

George The Lad said...

Good to see you back, beautiful place, its so nice to see photos with the sun on, its grey and rainy over here.
Looking forward to seeing more of your trip.
See Yea George and Jan xxx

Deborah said...

Hi, We are glad your back safe and sound too!! Your vacation looks beautiful..We are going to the Cayman Islands in a few weeks. We are looking forward to just hanging out and looking at the beautiful ocean. I hope we get nice weather like you too. Isn't nice to come to your pets who love you so much. It does make me feel so loved :)
Have a great day.
xxoo
Deborah

Tama-Chan, Benny, Vidock, Violette, Ollie, Heloise, Momo, Ryu said...

It sounds like a lovely time but we missed you so we'\re very glad you're back!

WFT Nobby said...

Hi MaxMom
Welcome back! Your dogs are not the only ones to be pleased you are home safe and well.
That Ramsgate looks an awful lot prettier than the UK version!
Cheers,
Gail.

Tweedles -- that's me said...

Hi Maxmom
I am here to welcome you back..
Oh you were missed so much not only by Toby and the gang back home, but by us too.
What glorious photos you shared with us. We can feel that ocean breeze and hear the roar of the tides.. I hope that with crashing sea,, soothed and calmed your souls.
I can imagine what an awsome time you all had. I cannot wait to hear more about your splendorious journey..
Welcome home
huggs
love
tweedles

KT and Easton said...

Looks like a wonderful place. Yes, nothing better than the joy of a dog who misses their masters. Sometimes I wonder how a dog's "absence" clock works and how the level of joy is dished out based on how long we are gone. More to ponder.....
Welcome back.

♥I am Holly♥ said...

Welcome back! We are glad to see you back and also very glad you had a good time. The pictures are beautiful. We have never heard of rock rabbits or dassies. They look cute! Everything looks so nice!! The only geckos we see are on commercials on TV (and they talk!) It makes us realize how much we miss out here. Lots of love, Holly and mom

~Kim at Golden Pines~ said...

Hello and welcome back! What a beautiful and perfect place to get away from it all!! Glad everything went well curing your absence and you know how very muc you're missed!

D.K. Wall said...

Welcome home from a great vacation! We can only imagine the canine greeting that met you.

Pepsi Bum said...

Welcome home, Maxmom!
Seems like you had a great vacation!

Woofs,
Pepsi

Kasha The Dainty Great Dane said...

Hello Maxmom and welcome home. I'm sure your furbabies were very happy to have you home. We missed your posts but glad you had a great time and everything is well. I've never heard of Dassies or seen such a critter before, I have learnd so much from you. Thanks for sharing with us.

Welcome Home.

Denise & Kasha the Dainty Great Dane

Scout and Freyja said...

Welcome home, dear friend. You were missed terribly. I looked at your photos and imagined myself standing with you in SA looking at the lovely terrain all warm with all of the sun and sand. Sadly, it is barely above freezing here with snow predicted and gray skies. The dogs will love the snow and me - well, it will be time for some hot chocolate with a big, fluffy, white marshmallow floating right in the middle of the cup!

Huskee and Hershey said...

Happy New Year and welcome back!! I am sure the pups missed you terribly while you were gone... Oh my.. the view from your accomodation is gorgeous, as is all the other places that you've been to!!! Hope you had a wonderful time...

Molly the Airedale said...

What awesome pictures! It looks like you had a wonderfully relaxing vacation!

Love ya lots,
Maggie and Mitch

Milo and Alfie Marshall said...

The photos are fabulous ~ especially the sky ones. We're glad you are back safe and sound and the dogs gave you a great welcome!

MySpecialDoggies said...

Welcome back - your pictures are simply breathtaking! We're glad everything went well and we're very happy to have you back.

Yes, our doggie do miss us - Neeli thinks 9 hours without me is too much, so 6 days for Toby and the gang is a lifetime!

Awaiting more pictures!

Woofs
Nadine & Neeli
Angel doggie Apples (1994-2010)

Piappies World said...

Welcome back, MaxMom!
We are so glad that you had a grand time! The photos are wonderful!
It is sweet to come home to excited Tammy, King Toffee and lil Toby!
Looking forward to more vacation photos. =)

Love,
Piappies Fudgie, Princess, Frappie, Mocha, Sugar, Wai-Pai, Wai-Max & Forgie

Unknown said...

Welcome home! What beautiful photos, they make me feel as if I've been on holiday along with you. One of the perils of blogging is adding even more destinations to my list of places I MUST visit. Needless to say, South Africa is close to the top of the list! We're back blogging. Hope you'll drop by for a walk on our wintry beach.

Love,

Jane and Petey

Two French Bulldogs said...

yippE welcome home. Great pictures, beautiful. Wwe never saw or heard of those kind of rabbits before
Snuggles,
Benny & Lily

Oskar said...

It looks like a beautiful trip! I really like the Rock rabbits.

Nubbin wiggles,
Oskar

sprinkles said...

Welcome home, I've missed you!

Beautiful photographs! Never heard of rock rabbits before.

I got your Christmas card the other day, thank you! I hope you got mine too.

Scruffy, Lacie and Stanley's Place said...

Oh, we've just come from Petey's blog and here we have another lovely beach walk! It does look a bit warmer on your walk!! And what a lovely sunrise!!

We're glad you are all back safe and sound and had a restful trip!!!

Kisses,

Scruffy, Lacie and Stanny

Anonymous said...

Looks like your family had a pawsome vaca and you and your buds had a great time too!

Love again all the pics!

woo woos, Tessa

Angus said...

We're all envious here. Is there a Margate near Ramsgate ?