Saturday, June 28, 2025

We got up early and got ready and packed. We enjoyed our final breakfast buffet and then went and got our luggage. The Lamborghini Club of South Africa was at the hotel. There were only four Lamborghinis in the parking lot. Three of them were very low to the ground and I have no idea how they made it up the road to the hotel! 

We took a few last pictures.

Next, we drove to Falcon Ridge to see a raptor show at a birds of prey rehabilitation center. It was very interesting! We got to see a fish eagle, a peregrine falcon, an owl, and vultures fly around. They showed us how they use falconry techniques to exercise the birds after they have healed so they can rebuild their stamina.

During the show, our van alarm went off twice. Our van was parked out of sight and had all our luggage in it. We were glad when Sandra went to check it. Thankfully it was another false alarm.

We got back on the road and stopped at a bakery to use the restroom and get a snack. I had an apple tart which was tasty. Tammy had a Millionaire shortbread which she let me taste. It was delicious with layers of shortbread, caramel, and chocolate.

We drove a couple more hours to Hebron Haven, the bed and breakfast near Renée’s house where we were staying. We checked in and dropped off our luggage. Tammy and I were in a duplex that we shared with a family. Each half had a bathroom, closet, a big bed downstairs and a loft with two twin beds. Tammy slept in the loft since it was my turn for the big bed. 

We headed into Howick to pick up Heidi. She had sold her car because she’s moving to England soon. We drove past Renée’s Health Shop which was located in a nice shopping center. 

We drove to the place where Heidi is living. It’s an adults only community that seemed really nice and safe. We went in the wrong gate but figured out how to get to the correct gate. We picked Heidi up and drove a half hour to Renée and Laird’s house. They live out in the country off the grid. They have solar panels that produce all of the electricity they have. They have a borehole for water. To get to their house, you have to drive up a mountain on a bumpy dirt road. There were three gates we had to go through. It took about 10-15 minutes to drive to the top of the mountain to their farm. We saw their two horses.

They gave us a tour of their house. It was amazing with huge windows that let in tons of light and give glorious views of the mountains around them.

Tammy’s Uncle John was also there. He and Anthea are who we stayed with in Sydney. We chatted for awhile until the food was ready. We had eland steak with mushroom gravy, potatoes, broccoli, and cauliflower. For dessert we had bought a lemon meringue pie at the bakery. Renée had already started making a lemon meringue pie so she tweaked her recipe to make a lemon dessert with half with gooseberries and half with passion fruit (or granadilla, as they call it here). It was delicious. We also had rooibos tea with it.

After we ate, we went outside and saw the chickens and watched Renée feed the horses. We saw the solar panels. Then we went back inside because it was getting chilly. We sat around and talked. Izzy, Jamie’s old dog, sat on the couch with Kelvin.

When it was time to leave, we made plans to meet for coffee in the morning. We said goodbye and took Heidi back to her house before going to Hebron Haven. 

We were really cold. We went to ask for hot water bottles for our beds, but they never arrived. I discovered that my bed had an electric blanket so I turned it on. However, when I went to get into bed, that side of the bed had brown stains on the sheet so I switched to the other (cold) side of the bed. I turned on the electric blanket on that side and it eventually warmed up. They were having a big loud party with live music where we were staying. The music lasted until 10:20. We heard everyone singing happy birthday to Chris at one point. We tried to fall asleep before the music stopped, but it wasn’t possible. Thankfully the WiFi reached to our room so I was able to send some messages before going to sleep.