Its Vimala’s birthday tomorrow. We wanted to celebrate in a far away place and we chose Durban. We left around 3 PM from Joburg. Babu and his family joined us too and we all set for the launch
It was a tiring 7 hours drive and finally we reached Hibberdene (1 hour drive south from Durban) around 10 PM. The kids had a good sleep in car and terribly fresh until midnight.
Babu’s family surprised us with a cake for Vimala’s bday. So, all set for a cake cut at 12 with 2 active kids around. Off to sleep soon after munching the cakes.
04/11/2011
Had breakfast at the beach house we stayed and did a quick walk around the place with kids. It was a decent choice as I always prefer out of the city stay.
Reached Ushaka marine world (Durbans famous tourist attraction/ Water theme park for all ages) around 10 AM and started getting wet. Did my first time Shark cage snorkeling inside. Though its just a small, I felt nice to get closer to those most dangerous creatures. At one point, I realized I wounded my self an hour ago and my legs are still bleeding. Slightly scared if that will distract the sharks but ironically, they didn’t give a s**t
Vimala did her first time under water ocean walk and was too excited about the experience. Her son didn’t seem to miss her at all ;) However, had a tough time to keep him occupied while she was busy with her under water mates
The dolphin show was well organized. I still liked the Singapore one except for the hot and humid part in Singapore (against the chill and pleasant viewing in Durban) Achyut enjoyed the show very much and shouting ‘Fish Fish Fish’ everytime the dolphins jumps.
The Aquarium was also a pleasant viewing. Lots of collections and very well clubbed with the viewing of snorkelers, shark cage divers and the ocean walkers on the go. Altogether, a good walk for us around the huge aquarium.
Did lots of water slides and loved it very much as it was less crowded and I gave a pat to myself for choosing this place on a weekday.
This is the memorable part of the day. The dinner we had in a restaurant called Kashmir is just horrible. The hospitality in the restaurant is close to zero. Friends, stay away : ) To make things worse, my GPS was broke and we have to navigate back on our own. Luckily, Babu was an X resident in Durban and he made it like a piece of cake.
05/11/2011
Got up around 7 AM and had a lovely walk to the beach with my family. We had to cross a hanging bridge and a river (where we got drenched till our hips) It was nice and fun. Even funnier, was the sky started drizzling as we reached the beach and then got back through same route immediately
Got back home, got read and drived further south to a place called, WILD COAST SUN which is like 45 minutes drive from hibberdene and the place lies along the easter cape border. Now, this was a surprise for me. This place had a huge water sports collection all I liked. We all did the Water Scooter ride (called as Jet Ski in South Africa) for the first time. I was bloody thrilled to go at top speed and turned at will with the same speed still not drenched. That was the best experience for me in the whole trip. Again, the sky started drizzling and we couldn’t catch up with other sports there.
06/11/2011
No plans. Just went around shopping in a huge GATEWAY mall. Later, went to this Funfair land for kids. Off to Joburg after a quick lunch in Copper chimney restaurant. Over all, our experience with food in Durban wasn’t all that great : )
Luckily, I managed to fix the GPS and we had a rainy first half drive then sunny as we get close to Joburg. At 7.30 PM we are back home in Joburg. It was a pleasant trip with lots of adventures and misadventures. My wife and me decided to do more water sports in future after this experience.
