December 2024 ā€“ Thatā€™s a wrap

And just like that, our three-week camping holiday at Yellow Sands is over! In today’s post we are going to summarise 3 weeks of fun times, delicious camp food and challenging weather conditions with many photos.

The first half of our camping holiday was rainy with hot and humid conditions. And for the last week and a half we have had lovely sunny weather (with the last few days being quite hot). We can honestly say that the extreme weather conditions did not ruin our holiday at all.

You would have seen most of the places we are going to show today in previous posts on our blog. However, it was all new to my mum and we enjoyed showing her all our favourite places.

  • The famous ferry of Kei Mouth

After we told my mum about the ferry at Kei Mouth, she was very excited to see it for herself. On a muggy day we drove the 70km/43 miles from Yellow Sands to Kei Mouth where we crossed the Kei River by ferry.

Humid day at Kei Mouth

My mum at the ferry crossing

Driving onto the ferry

On the Kei River and the friendly ferry operator

Leaving the ferry and cattle next to the road

  • Trennerys Hotel and Beach

With Trennerys Hotel only 18km/11 miles from Kei Mouth, we decided to go there and show my mum just how beautiful the beach is.

The beach at Trennerys Hotel

My mum enjoyed the pristine beach

Qolorha River flows into the Indian Ocean

Steep steps from the beach back to the hotel

Elderly women from the former Transkei (they are also referred to as ā€˜gogoā€™)

  • Morgan Bay, The Deck Restaurant

It was too early to enjoy lunch at Trennerys Hotel and we decided to drive to the beautiful Morgan Bay and eat freshly fried fish and chips at their restaurant, The Deck.

Lunch at The Deck at Morgan Bay Hotel

  • Yellow Sands

Let’s head back to Yellow Sands. Although it rained the first week, we still had beautiful sunsets.

Beautiful sunset after a rainy day

And although it rained, the temperature was rarely below 27Ā°C/80Ā°F. That’s when sweet watermelon is one of the most delicious fruits to eat.

Sweet watermelon

On one of our many beach walks, a microlight flew past. We have seen them often and I think it must be a lovely view of the coast from up there.

Microlight flying over Yellow Sands beach

After it rained for more than a week, the road past our tent turned into a mud bath. It was a great place for the kids to play in (which makes me think the ladies at Yellow Sands laundry services must have been working overtime).

The road past our tent after days of rain

However, the day before Christmas the weather changed and we had lovely sunny days. This was the perfect time to sit next to the campfire while preparing our meals.

Campfire to prepare traditional curry ā€˜sosatiesā€™ (kebabs)

Lovely sunset after all the rainy days

While our diner tent was definitely the best addition to our camping gear (this is where we could relax/prepare food while it rained outside), there was another camping gadget that we really enjoyed, our ‘vuurvarkie’.

What is a ā€˜vuurvarkieā€™?

Literally translated it would be ā€œfire piggyā€. It is a traditional South African bread oven (we used if for bread and a few other dishes). You put the fire piggy in the hot coals and then add fire briquettes on the side and top slots ā€“ this guarantees even heating.

Our ā€˜vuurvarkieā€™ (fire piggy)

Before we tried to bake bread in the ‘vuurvarkie’, Berto first cooked a baked pasta dish in it. And we were quite pleased with the result.

* There will be future posts (look out for our ā€œDish of the Weekā€ series) where we will show more dishes from the ā€˜vuurvarkieā€™.

Pasta dish gets baked in the ā€˜vuurvarkieā€™

Perfect baked pasta from the ā€˜vuurvarkieā€™

Rarely a day went by that we didn’t made a campfire – even when it rained. For us, this is what camping is all about – sitting next to a fire and enjoying the sounds of nature around us.

You gotto love a campfire

  • Christmas Day at Yellow Sands

I think all the campers at Yellow Sands couldn’t believe their eyes when blue skies and sunshine greeted us on Christmas Day. We prepared a delicious meal using all the cooking implements at our disposal ā€“ camping gas stove, campfire and ‘vuurvarkie’. There was so much food that we were able to share with our fellow campers ā€“ all in the spirit of Christmas. More about this day’s food will appear in our feature ‘Dish of the Week’ series.

On that note, we were very happy to have great camping neighbours – it definitely makes for a great camping experience.

Christmas Day (šŸ“· credit: Wayne, our camping neighbour)

Great to have my mum with us on Christmas Day

Our Christmas lunch table

A festive table

Christmas lunch

Baked Panettone Bread & Butter Pudding (with Nutella filling)

As mentioned earlier in the post, the ‘vuurvarkie’ is originally used to bake bread. We did bake bread (more on this in a later post), but here is a photo of how the bread baking process was started.

No, itā€™s not garbage ā€“ bread dough is rising

  • Emerald Vale Brewery Farm

We’ve written about our walks on Emerald Vale Brewery Farm before, but this time decided to treat my mum to a delicious lunch at their restaurant. It was the first time we saw how beautiful their Christmas decorations were.

Christmas dƩcor at Emerald Vale Brewery Farm

  • And back to Yellow Sands

We took full advantage of the warm sunny days at Yellow Sands. We often went for strolls on the beach and along the river, spent the evenings quietly by the campfire and made more delicious food.

Evenings next to the campfire

Relaxing strolls on the beach

Activities at the Kwelera River

Chicken Paella on the fire

Corn on the campfire (look at that beautiful blue sky)

Just one of many breakfasts

Hamburger evening

Yellow Sands has made a great addition to their resort, namely the Yellow’s Bru Bistro. Here the freshest delicacies were on sale (along with their delicious coffee). We couldn’t resist their donuts and cinnamon buns.

Tea time snacks

On New Year’s Eve we had a spectacular sunset. After a brief downpour, a lovely rainbow appeared and the sky turned into beautiful colours. What a great way for 2024 to come to an end.

Rainbow at Yellow Sands

Colourful evening sky

Berto made another fire to ‘braai’ chicken espetada, my mother made meatballs and stuffed eggs, while I took care of the tasty toothpick appetizers. That food so simple can be so tasty is beyond me!

Simple food for New Yearā€™s Eve

  • Glengarriff Beach

While walking on the beach of Yellow Sands, we saw another beach in the distance. On New Year’s Day we drove the short distance to Glengarriff and were surprised that there were only a few people on this beautiful beach (even more so because it was New Year’s Day and the perfect beach day). This beach is definitely on our list for 2025 to visit for a weekend – watch this space!

Canna Lilies at the entrance of the beach

Glengarriff Beach

Bulura River flowing into the Indian Ocean

Sand layers

After our beach walk at Glengarriff, Berto made a favourite on the fire, namely Chicken Potjie. Our new year certainly kicked off on a high.

Chicken Potjie on the fire

Chicken Potjie and Orzo

  • Areena Riverside Resort

Areena Riverside Resort is just around the corner from Yellow Sands and we came to enjoy lunch at their restaurant towards the end of our holiday. It was a lovely afternoon under the trees by the river.

Lunch at Areena Riverside Resort

  • And finally, back to Yellow Sands again

On our last day at Yellow Sands we had one of the most beautiful evenings (why does this always happen towards the end of a holiday)?

Our last evening at Yellow Sands

We made a campfire for the last time. Berto filled ciabatta with basil pesto, cherry tomatoes and cheese which he grilled on the fire.

Last campfire and tasty ciabatta sandwiches

We watched the sun go down and reflected on our holiday – long forgotten were the rainy days. We unzipped our tents and climbed into our beds for the last time while listening to the (now familiar) night sounds of Yellow Sands. What an unforgettable camping holiday!

Final sunset at Yellow Sands

We wish you the very best for 2025 and hope to share some of our travels with you again this year.