The big decision, at the time we never knew quite how big the decision was, but the family, those left in Port Elizabeth, decided to meet up with daughter, son-in-law and dear Amy, the grand daughter of a few weeks short of two years old, who all reside in Stellenbosch in the Western Cape.
After much discussion it was decided that we would do a four day camping trip at the Storms River Mouth in the Tsitsikamma Nature Reserve.
That was actually the easy part, the decision that is.
Being an experienced business person and an "old soldier" who has spent many a night under the stars, dear Dad was fully aware that the more effort put into planning, the more enjoyable the experience would be for everyone.
Low cost, forget it, unless you already have the equipment, this is a nightmare.
The suppliers of equipment have absolutely everything to ensure that your camping accommodation experience is as good as any luxury Hotel or bed and breakfast could be.
I mean everything, either battery or powered from the car, ice for you drinks from your portable fridge, fans, heated blankets, coffee machines...
if you spend enough money on the exercise I can assure you that your bed, your tent, your food and amenities would be at least as good as any other holiday accommodation.
We were not however about to break the family budget, we did splash out on a new tent, a really nice one I might add, a trailer, Dad's excuse was that it would come in handy on the farm and we borrowed a fridge from Uncle Griff.
The truth was that if I couldn't have a cold lager and a few blocks of ice, it was simple, I was staying at home! The day dawned, after two days of packing and preparation, shopping and planning we parked outside the school and hauled the boys off on our holiday.
A four hour trip along the Sunshine Coast, through Port Elizabeth and we arrived at the Storms River gates, just an aside before I forget, their staff was excellent, the welcome friendly, the shared ablution facilities were at all times in immaculate condition, I certainly cannot fault the team at Storms River, an ideal South African camping destination, the onion award must however go to the restaurant staff, the whole breakfast experience we had was really disappointing.
Back to the camping, the tent in particular, to cut a long story short this took us three hours and innumerable barks and bites from Dad before we successfully erected this, then to discover the fly sheet was the wrong way round, well, bad luck, it was going to stay that way.
Jax and family arrived a while later and by sunset we were ready to crack a cold one which we duly did.
The one thing bad about camping is setting up and breaking down the camp, the rest is a holiday dream.
We were blessed with sites right next to the sea, as one day at night it felt as if the waves would break into the tent, add to this the well prepared catering, many a fire for a barbecue, and above all else young Amy with a completely new experience, she fed rock rabbits (Dassie), swam, fell, cried, laughed, eat ice cream every day and had the holiday of her life, Grand-Pa, he just sat back and lapped it all up, even the seventeen Luke finally acknowledge that "hey Dad, it wasn't too bad.
" - for those with children of that age, you'll know that's a compliment of note.
For a holiday in South Africa, in summer anyway, consider camping as a great form of accommodation.
The Tsitsikamma Nature Reserve is home to the Storms River Mouth area, camping, chalets and very well positioned along the rugged and exciting coastline.
Storms River offers visitors nature walks, some exciting adventures such as tubing on the Storms River, scuba diving in the reserve, abseiling and quad biking for the young at heart.