April 12, 2025
Our first full day in Montagu and we had some nice weather. The town vibe is a nice quiet place ~2 hours from Cape Town with a wealthy population mostly in their golden years. There were some younger families with kids but definitely not the majority.
Everyone we have talked to that lives in town is happy to tell you how the town takes care of ALL the people in the area and that is way it is safe and there are no high walls, electric fences, or panhandlers.
We met one of the owners of the home, Hein, when Brydon and he cooked us breakfast. He told us all about the house while we ate. Most of the citrus trees in the garden are grafted to a local lemon trees root stock. A handful of the trees are not native to South Africa. They smuggled cuttings in their pockets on flights back from the Mediterranean region and quickly drove from Cape Town to get them grafted to the root stock. He also told us he bought the home in 2015 and it took a year to renovate it but finding all the furniture was not as hard as it seems to people. Apparently South Africa has a large inventory of antique furniture for reasonable prices, his business partner just filled a house in Rye, NY with it for a client.
The kids became restless with all this history but Ollie went with Brydon to collect the eggs from the chicken coop and Lenny wanted to check on all the giant fruits. Lenny also came up with a squirrel trap, there are no squirrels here, out of a ceramic turtle that he filled with acorns where the top should fall shut on anything that tries to take the acorns. He checks it multiple times a day.
We went across the street to a little market that pops up on Saturdays. It had some interesting vendors from food to jewelry. We got a caricature of the four of us which we thought would be a nice memory but ended up being the most unflattering caricature ever so now we have a funny memory…
We tried some samosas, Ollie took down a corn one, and the boys had roll of dough that was dusted in cinnamon and sugar followed by a bubble waffle with Oreos and chocolate.
We also spotted a flattened frog which Ollie and I were unsure if we could count toward the critter count. We think the things need to be living…
Then it was on to some home school at the house. The big desk in the room of curiosity provided a fun spot for the boys to do their work. Ollie wrote a letter to his Uncle Pat who he said Brydon reminded him of.
Once we were done with home school we were off to Avalon Springs to see the geothermal pools. They have a full hotel there but also allow visitors to purchase a day pass. The grounds were very nice and the pools looked like normal pools but were all vastly different temperatures from the hot springs. Much to the boys delight there was a water slide.
Hein and Brydon had told us there were come creatures called rock rabbits, formally known as hyrax, around the area. By locals they are viewed how we view squirrels. Regardless we were excited to find one to add to our critter count. Maybe Lenny’s squirrel trap will catch one..
Once we arrived at Avalon Springs we saw one near the parking lot and spent some time trying to get a good look at it. Any locals must have thought we were nuts for doing this. As soon as entered they were everywhere... They are much cuter then a squirrel because of how fat they are.
We spent a few hours on the grounds and in the pools. Ollie was excited to play on the giant chess board and got some exercise setting it up since the pieces were so big. Lenny was happy to keep jumping in the pool but at one point spit a mouthful of pool water on me. He lost dessert for two nights and I told him the rock rabbits were going to eat his toes which made him squeal.
We met a couple from South Africa, Ross and Rene, that were getting a weekend away from their 4 year old daughter. They were very nice and the first to tell us we had American accents. Ross told me that he had just completed a swim from Robben Island to Cape Town and he swims in the ocean for exercise most days. I told him I would have a heart attack thinking about great white sharks but he said his bigger concern was the seals now that some are being reported with rabies. Any swimming exercise for me will be in a pool.
On the way back from Avalon Springs we stopped at a grocery store to grab a few snacks. Since the drive was only 10 minutes the boys got to have control of their windows in the car, a rare occurrence. They put them down and debated whose window a rock rabbit was going to jump in and what they would bite. It started with toes being bitten but quickly escalated to rock rabbits that eat brains and eyeballs.
We were all tired so picked up some pizza and pasta from a restaurant a few doors down to have a quiet dinner at the house. We ate and played Uno with the kids, we are hoping that Lenny will be able to play on his own soon so we can have 4 player games.
Then we made some popcorn and watched a movie, Luca, before heading to bed.
