Give me my holiday back!
Last year before we all went on a break I bumped into Zodwa in Sandton and when she said she was going to the South Coast on an affordable backpackers holiday, I thought she was going to have the time of her life… endless days of sun soaking and bonding with her friends, little did we both know that it would turn out to be a disaster of note, (I must say the story is quite funny, sorry Zo’)… Click here for our South Coast holiday snaps!
I’m back at work and not very happy about it! Not because I hate my job but because I was robbed of my summer holiday! My first mistake was booking me and five friends into X backpackers in Port St Johns (unaffectionately known as PSJ). Store this piece of advice in your memory banks people: Don’t visit PSJ over the festive season.
My second mistake was choosing to stay when they told me they had no record of my booking. Funny that. We had paid a hefty deposit! They definitely had record of that.
After I threw my toys they put us up in a dingy granny (literally) flat situated about a kilometer from where we were originally ‘booked’ into. The place smelled and looked like it hadn’t been cleaned for months. And there were collage photos of someone’s family up on the bathroom and toilet walls. There were enlarged versions of the same photos pasted on the grimy kitchen floor. Tacky!
It rained every time we had the vaguest inclination to take part in some adventure sports. And when it didn’t rain, we couldn’t get hold of anyone who was running the kayaking or the horse riding. *sigh*. On a more positive note – we did get to squeeze in two beach sessions when the weather held out. Some of PSJ is truly beautiful and serene (3rd beach), while other beaches (2nd beach) feels you’re on the Durban beachfront.
There was not a fresh prawn to be had in the entire town either which was the most depressing part. You always hope that if you find yourself in a small shitty coastal town (like Ramsgate in Natal) at least you’ll be able to get some big cheap prawns! Well not in PSJ! Nevertheless one of my friends was determined to have prawns, so we had them at the last place where you’d expect to find anything fresh – at a local pub on the main road which shall remain nameless. Here we tucked in and tried to make the most of a rather dismal affair. I mean, how much worse could it get? For the he friend who had insisted on having prawns however, things certainly did get worse.
With mouths agape, we watching his forehead erupt with large scary-looking red lumps- three of them to be exact. We didn’t want to make him panic so we reassured him that they weren’t getting any bigger and that the swelling would go down, ahem, eventually. Shame, his biggest concern was whether any girls would find him attractive that night with his lumps ‘n all (they were also coming up on his arms!). It was New Year’s Eve after all. Lucky, his throat wasn’t feeling itchy or closing up so while tucking into our prawns, we kept stealing furtive glances at his face, doing our best not to show our alarm or worry. It was also around that time when we decided to order two rounds of Jager bombs. The swelling went down after that!
I say it was a dismal affair because New Year’s Eve had already promised to be a shocker when we spied the posters on the toilet doors stuck up at the said backpackers boasting ‘Local band and other musos’. I’ll get to that in a minute… good thing our bookings were messed up because that said backpackers was overrun by rugger buggers! *shudder*
In full panic mode, we drove around town to look for a bigger and better party only to be told that there was a full-on road block happening all over town. Best was to stay close to home. We didn’t want to risk getting stuck at a horrible party and not being able to leave because you’ve had three glasses of box wine. So we stayed at the said backpackers. This is how the miserable band from Queenstown opened their act: ‘So who here loves ACDC?!’ That’s when I actually shed a tear.
At least now I can say: 007 can only get better!
CLICK HERE FOR PICS OF SOUTH COAST HOLIDAYS IN DECEMBER
Zodwa Kumalo
