Challenge accepted! Family trip part III

As we travelled the famously beautiful panorama route after leaving Pilgrim's Rest behind us, the weather wasn't really on our side, but we tried to make the most of it. Waterfalls like the Macmac and rocky landscapes  do have a tendency to look rather romantically spooky in this sort of weather however.

Since boys will be boys, the youngsters in the group bought a new toy to occupy themselves with while enjoying the views, and of course they couldn't resist challenging each other. They decided to test their new acquisition, a sling-shut, that for some mystical reason is sold at every souvenir stand you pass. After watching them going at it with a target ten metres away for about twenty minutes... without luck, Jens stepped up.

With his second shot he showed us all how it's done... Must say that I thoroughly enjoyed that!

The second challenge of the day came as we stood overlooking the Three Rondavels... and I of course couldn't shut up about having sat at the edge, on a rock overlooking the canyon.

...I still think my picture is cooler though!

Another new family classic is the sour plum contest. Sour plums are juicy and sweet tasting... to begin with. After a while they however turn a tad bit sour, as their name would suggest.

When you ask any young man how many of these fruits he can fit into his mouth and also for how long... you've got yourself another silly challenge not to be turned down.

The fact that this also makes you laugh out loud adds to the difficulty of the task and certainly to the amusement of the audience.

 

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Falling down, Family trip part II

A favourite South African town of mine is Pilgrim's Rest, situated in the lush misty mountains of Mpumalanga. It's a quaint and quiet little place that definitely breathes the history of a long gone gold rush era.

I've never had the opportunity to stay over-night before, so I booked us for a night at the Royal Hotel, totally disregarding some of the comments on Tripadvisor... I figured that when a hotel's been built in the 1800's and declared a national monument, it's ok for the décor to be old-fashioned and the floorboards a bit aged. Maybe I hadn't expected the floral madness that welcomed us though! It looked like a dozen cinnamon bun-baking grandmothers had exploded in there. But I must admit that the flowers kind of grew on me, and eventually I learned to love this wallpaper.

Because of a bad back, I always bring my own mattress (invaluable). This night I woke up with a strange feeling of having lost my footing. The uncontrolled flying sensation was however terminated by a prompt thud. A second later the lights came on and my step brother called out “What the hell are you doing?!” (which sounds much funnier in Danish) before his eyes could focus on me. I was sitting on the floor, on top of my inflatable mattress!

I've never fallen out of bed in my sleep before, not even once at the age of six (...sorry, family joke)! Such a thing is unheard of, otherwise bunk beds would be lethal. I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard! I was crying and making pig-like noises and so did my room mate. As I was falling asleep again, the silliness of the situation seemed even more hysterical and I laughed myself wide awake again. The second time this occurred earned me a firm pillow-whack on the head and I finally managed to contain myself. Next morning my stomach muscles were sore and Rasmus, of course, made sure to bruise my pride as well...

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