Day 9: Midlands Meander

S and I picked up M at her house then headed to the Midlands, where several tourism routes through rolling hills are lined with artist shops, craft stores and restaurants. Our first stop was at Fordoun, a spa where we had booked massages. I tried the "Duku Duku" stick massage (R300) where the masseur uses polished wooden sticks as well as her hands. We had a delicious late lunch over at the Granny Mouse Country House restaurant.

M really wanted to show us a bead store called Decadence. Some of the women who make the art and jewelry live on the farm and earn money designing the crafts and filling commissions. We shopped, sat for coffee and dessert (yummy ice cream filled pancakes!) and chatted with the jewelry designer. Before the shops closed (usually 4 or 5 pm), we made it out to Spiral Blue, a store that imports a lot of Indian and Thai clothing, jewelry and knickknacks. It was dark when we left for Umdloti.

We have some guests in the apartment at the moment, three travellers who were put in touch with C. Our evening was enhanced with guitar playing and interesting conversation that lasted until past midnight, an hour unheard of in a town where everyone is asleep by 9 or 10 pm!

Complete set of South Africa pictures in my Flickr set.