The beach was calling, so I had to go. We drove an entire day through the garden route to our destination in Tsitsikamma national park. Salt water runs in my veins and to say the beach is my happy place would be an understatement. Enter relaxation!
Our campground was Tsitsikamma Sunrise and it was entirely, adequate. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great. We spent both Christmas and New Year’s Eve here. It was about five miles up the road from the beach, which was the best part. We spent ten days here and we mostly went to the beach every day – just because we could. Here are a few pictures from our favorite spot.
We did have one rainy day. The boys decided to stay and do some work at the site so Lian and I went to a puzzle park. It was pretty cool and totally exceeded our expectations. There was a 3D maze that took us almost an hour and a half, and then there was a forest hike with ten puzzle stations. You had to solve the puzzle in five minutes. We solved nine out of ten puzzles and got a free drink at the shop. It really was a fun day for the two big nerds in the family.
Puzzle box 
We had a great farm across the street that had an amazing padstal. Fresh milk, cheese, butter, fruit, veg, and a butchery were all available and incredibly fresh. They had a petting zoo area out front, which Q really liked. We even had breakfast there one morning. We had one day trip to St. Francis Bay, but I did not take even one picture. Fail!
Piggies and calves 
On the road, again!
After all our fun in the sun, it was time to head off to the last stop on the trip – Addo Elephant Park. In case you haven’t figured it out yet, we are hopeless safari addicts. Any chance we have to go, we are gone. Addo has a huge concentration of elephants and did not disappoint. We also saw lion, rhino, eland, and the other usual grassland animals.
We stayed at Homestead B&B and caravan park. It was a really nice place and I would happily return. We did have one other stop at the halfway point going home, but it was the same place we stayed on our way down. It was a nice caravan park, but we only slept and got back on the road to home.
Yup, that’s AC 
That excellent bottle of bourbon that was gifted to me a few posts ago finally made an appearance as we celebrated a fantastic Christmas break and journey. This trip was one of many “lasts” for us as a family. Cameron graduates in May and will be off to university, so we don’t have many of these experiences left. We took full advantage of our time together and spent much time playing and having fun. We played many board games, almost every night, which I highly recommend. There’s nothing like a good board game to instigate arguments and belly laughs! Not pictured were Uno, Phase 10, and Skull King.
Codenames 
Secret Hitler 
Cards against humanity 
Blanton’s bourbon
Q thoroughly enjoyed his trip and especially the beach. He played so hard that he slept for a week when we got home. He also had to have a very short haircut, nose to tail, as we couldn’t get the knots out of his hair. It’s summer here, so I’m sure he didn’t care.
Dog bed 
New ‘do
Stayed tuned for the next adventure or culinary delight!