25 Mar 2009 – Traveling to the Draks

We started the day of traveling with another run on the Durban beachfront outside the Tropicana Hotel. This time we ran south down the boardwalk for a mile, and when that ended, we continued another mile on the sand before turning around at a stone pier. The weather was even warmer than the previous day, but the slight breeze helped to make up for the difference. Even so, when we reached the hotel again we were literally dripping with sweat and more than relieved that our air conditioning had spontaneously started working the night before.

After showers and breakfast, we checked out of the hotel and loaded up the vans at 10:00. A drawn out stop at an ABSA bank delayed our departure for another half hour, however, and also depressed us some as we found out the exchange rate had yet again dropped (this time to R9.35 to USD1). The four-hour drive to the Drakensberg Mountains was elongated by bathroom breaks and lunch at yet another Steers at a middle-of-nowhere rest stop. The scenery grew more grand and dramatic as we drove, with the hills thrusting skyward into rocky mountains and yellow flowers interspersing with the corn fields that lay beneath them. The air blowing in the windows was so hot and driving that at times it felt like we were stuck in the crosswinds of massive hairdryer, but as we drove into the mountains the van temperature grew cooler, and we read and slept in greater comfort. Just after finishing a novel I’d been reading, the van was suddenly enveloped by the majestic Drakensberg Mountains, and we all had our camera arms hanging out the sliding windows. We climbed into the hills beneath them for about twenty minutes before we reached the Monte-Aux-Sources Resort (which sounds like “Montasaurus”, or some kind of dinosaur, when spoken aloud).

We checked in and divided into small groups for the individual chalets in which we’re all staying for the next three nights. The little houses cascaded down the grassy hillside, overlooking the green and brown range of Drakensberg peaks (including the famed “Amphitheater”) that rise impossibly tall in the distance. Once we settled in, we explored the grounds amidst the pretty landscaping – the pool, the tennis court, the basketball and soccer courts, the sand volleyball court, the boccie green, the jungle gym, the super-sized, walk-on chess board… and indoors, the sitting room piano and board games.

With so many options at our disposal and a solid field of potential game players, the isolated paradise (there wasn’t even internet access) of Monte-Aux-Sources became an athletic haven for many of us. We rented tennis rackets and a ball at the front desk in the main building at the top of the hill and played a novice game of doubles for about half an hour until we realized we’d rather play soccer. We returned the rackets and took out the soccer ball, and after positioning the nets on the converted basketball court, we played a game of three vs. two against the boys. It was exhilarating simply to throw together a game so easily, having the equipment and players ready on a whim, and by the time we headed to dinner at 7, those of us who’d played were sufficiently worn out.

The buffet dinner was set up in the large dining room with several long tables seating other large groups that were dining at the resort. The food selection was diverse and delicious, once again, and before we finished, we discussed options for the next two days in the mountains. Some people decided to look into hiking or horseback riding, while others contemplated spa treatments and massages. After dinner, the four of us in chalet 504 decided to rent out the game Scrabble from the front desk, and we played for about an hour, even though we never managed to get rid of all of the letter tiles because the game included twice the usual number of pieces. Sometime before midnight, most of us called it a night, but we not until we'd flipped through the six channels on the chalet television and found nothing worth watching.