Camping in the Rain

I have decided that 1 day of camping is just not enough. You barely have time to put your feet up on the newly improved camping chair, lay your head down on the blow-up mattress and sit beside the camp fire , before you're off again on the long road back to cape town.

But how exciting it is to stumble off the already delayed Greyhound bus somewhere in the middle of George, knowing that you're about to enjoy time at a campsite with friends and family. Before arriving from St.Francis, I made it very clear that a braai is very necessary for my single night of camping.  My parents obliged, but not before I returned to the beach of my childhood: Vic Bay.

Only this time, I was not going to body board and chance being dunked into the sand repeatedly only to leave with a broken back. Even though surfing is one of my new joys, I wasn't going to chance surfing here either.  Just not today.  Today was for swimming and jumping beneath the big waves ( jumping over the waves resulted in bikini hijacking). Plus there was only one surfboard up for rental which my boyfriend happily grabbed.

Holiday fever had set in and all around me holiday makers bustled here and there enjoying their favourite stress-relievers.  Some fished from the pier, others chose to wade in rock pools, a few never moved far from the towels in the sand and lifeguards blew their whistles each time the swimmers moved outside flag boundaries.




There is alot of fun to be had when its raining.  Walk to the nearest shop and eat a magnum in the drizzle. Rub leaves from the campsite together to see if its those cool ones which form a lather like soap.  Listen and watch the peacocks prance around.  Look out for frogs beneath your feet and manually move them to a safer location where you won't stand on them.

I forgot just how fun a braai can be, even in the rain.  We sat around as my dad started lighting the fire, just before the drizzle became more insistent.  Nothing would deter him and with a swift action, our braai was safe thanks to a large beach umbrella covering us all beneath it.   There's something about a campfire, that brings with it a certain magic not present with a normal braai at home.  Out come the jokes, the stories and best of all the roasting of marchmellows.  With the wet grass under our feet, donning hoodies, twirling marhsmellow sticks for maximum browning success and laughing with family, I realised this was very close to as good as it gets.