Belated Anniversary Weekend

Oh. My. Word. My weekend was perfect. And wonderful. Spectacular. And all sorts of other good words. When life is good like this, it really is amazing. My heart feels full to bursting and everything is warm and fuzzy. Happiness really is the most special emotion <3

I'd booked us a "surprise" weekend away for our anniversary, quite a while back. Okay so the word surprise is in quotes because I suck at keeping things as a surprise for The Trucker! It's a combination of being too nervous to go ahead and book something without checking with him and the excitement of what I have planned ... I struggle with it even for surprise date nights! Haha.

Anyway, so before I booked, I'd actually told him where we were going. He doesn't really get as excited about things as I do, so it doesn't really matter when I tell him. But this weekend, on our drive home, he did tell me what a good find it had been :) And really, it was! Unfortunately we couldn't get the weekend closest to our anniversary, in the cottage I wanted. So we pushed it out to this weekend instead.

I'd found the place absolute ages ago on a Getaway post and it sounded perfect. Nice and close ... altho not nearly as cheap as the Getaway post led me to believe. I booked us the Rock Haven cottage at Thabela Thabeng.I would highly recommend this to anyone needing a quiet, private, romantic weekend away less than 2 hours drive from Joburg. It was superb.

We arrived before sunset on Friday evening. Our hosts were very friendly and we had a look around the little "museum". I knew nothing about this area at all, let alone heard of the Vredefort Dome either.

It is self-catering, which I've come to discover is a bonus with The Trucker <3 We ate so well this weekend. Bacon Carbonara pasta for Friday night dinner, with Gluhwein and then strawberries for dessert. We cooked up some Harissa Eggs for breakfast on Saturday morning and then made simple sandwiches for lunch. Dinner on Saturday evening was Peanut Butter Ostrich burgers (omg these were amazing) while we sipped champagne. We rolled home. Because on top of that we (I) had to buy gingerbeer and koeksisters from the little farmstall :)

Our room was on a separate ridge from the others, completely private. One whole wall is mountain rock (which makes it chilly, but still very awesome!). There was a fabulous fireplace that got used every evening (and Saturday morning!) and the most divine big bath that looked out across the view. Ah, it was a special weekend.

On Saturday morning we took their River Walk, which is about 3km of flat walking past their Pecan Nut Groves down to the river and back. And then we took a little drive to see the tiny town of Venterskroon (possibly the smallest town I've seen!). Nothing much exciting to see here. So we huddled up in bed for he rest of the afternoon, napping and reading and watching some series on the laptop, keeping warm.

Just what we needed. A weekend where we were forced to do nothing. The Trucker even finished his book!

The only real downside is that I probably did more dishes than I've ever done in a weekend before ... but for the amazing food we ate, it was well worth it.

Folks, if you are looking for somewhere nearby to go for a quiet getaway, I would highly recommend this place. A babymoon or a brief honeymoon (I was thinking it'd be perfect for about 3-4 nights before you jet-setted off somewhere ... or if your honeymoon is postponed till a significant time after your wedding) or just a romantic weekend away. Perfect for recharging your batteries ... even better, I'd guess, if you like hiking. We were not feeling that energetic this weekend ;)

We had to check out by 10am on Sunday morning so decided to stop for breakfast in Parys en route home. Well we couldn't find anywhere that looked appealing in Parys and ended up at the Wimpy instead.

It was nice to get home fairly early. We collected the keys from The Trucker's sister who had been pet-sitting for us and raced home. I tell you, this whole going away thing has changed a lot for me since we got the Gypsy cat. Awe. I miss her so. It's much harder than leaving the bunnies behind. Because she is so very happy when we get home, you just know she missed us! And I was having bizarre dreams about her and the ginger cat who seems to have taken an interest in her and our garden and chasing the bunnies :( It was not pleasant.

We got our grocery shopping done and got loads of washing done and had a nice relaxing afternoon ... until The Trucker had to go out and get some work done. See why it's so important to get him away to relax properly! Haha.