After our good experience at Rocky Bay last year, we decided to book for three months this year.
We arrived on 23 April, exactly 11 months since we visited last year. A month has passed since we booked in and I only get to blogging now.
In the meantime other things happened
At the end of 2021 I started a new idea (for me) which is to create and build affiliate websites that have the potential to generate additional income. I had an older site which I started a few years back but which was not “monetized”, meaning there are no advertisements on it that could possibly generate income.
One article started appearing on Google’s first page for the search term “How to start a security company in South Africa” and that resulted in a small spike in traffic. So I started a number of other topical or niche websites for South Africa and one for the international (US) market in the pet niche to see what the result would be. The jury is still out.
The reason why I tell you that is that it means I am writing mostly for my niche blogs and don’t always get back to Centurion Living as much as I would like to.
In any case, today (31 May) is the exact day we left last year, but this year we still have two months to go. We walk on the beach every morning and enjoy the relaxed atmosphere of camping right on the beach.
This morning we came across a guy on the beach named Chris. He cultivates plants for nurseries in the area and knows the beach well.
He showed us how to find Cowries, a popular shell found on the beach. Cowries are popular at flea markets. Many campers go out early in the morning to be the first to collect Cowries.
What I enjoy very much is the interesting people we meet in the caravan park and on the beach. Sam the Samoosa man is still working his beat, and Blue Bull Graham Clouston is here for the 22nd year.
Two weeks ago we visited the fleamarket at Park Rynie where we met George Plotz who has a stall selling products made from shells that he and his wife collect at Rocky Bay.
They collect the smallest shells with much patience and he meticulously makes them into special shell products.
We haven’t had extremely strong winds on our side of the camp although the campers on the higher side of Rocky Bay had 90km gusts just before we arrived. We did have 45km winds which gave me the opportunity to make a nice video for my Maxcon affiliate site that illustrates how Maxcons tent pegs work.
Challenges with the monkeys.
Two weekends ago, a woman who was in a family of weekend campers fed the monkeys chips. They surrounded her and she panicked, throwing the bag of chips at the monkeys, which is exactly what they wanted.
We will have increased problems with monkeys and baboons at many camping grounds because people act as if primates think like humans. They don’t, and when a monkey bites a child to get hold of whatever he is eating, we will have a big story in the media and a hunt for the monkey.
We’ll see what the next two months bring and I will be adding to this story as time goes on.
Weekends
Weekends bring change when you are a long-term camper because the weekend campers move in and the camp gets busy.
This weekend we had a number of young families with small children. Not all campers appreciate the sound of plastic scooters on gravel at 6 in the morning but we love it. Toddlers bring a new vibe to the campground and the young parents spending time with their kids and the laughter of happy kids is a soul-lifting experience for me.
Over the weekends we also have the thick wallet, wet feet brigade. If you take the kids out for a weekend, you need to have a thick wallet because they like to spend money in the resort tuckshop.
Weekends also bring campers who care less about the ablutions than long-term campers, so I call them wet feet campers because they tend to leave the shower floors flooded and the floors with wet footmarks. It’s no crisis but just something you come to expect.
I posted on a Facebook group about the weekend wallet and wet feet campers. Boy, you should have seen what reaction I got! I never realised that there are people without a sense of humour, people who do not know the difference between comedy and humour and people who take themselves so seriously that you wonder how the world will exist after they are no more.
All-in-all I had many more positive comments than negative which shows that most people have a sense of humour. In the camp, many people shared a good laugh and a confirming headshake with me.
In any case, it’s now Saturday night and by tomorrow afternoon the weekend campers will pack up and leave. Then the camp will be quiet again. It’s boring without the cheerful voices of the kids.
We are waiting for the sardines to arrive on their annual migration North. They will come when it is their time.
I spoke to a number of old-timer anglers who live in town, and they all tell me that Shad fishing has never been so quiet as this year. They all ascribe it to the rock and surf anglers that you find on the beaches every day, who catch undersized fish to mince and make fish cakes at home.
It’s not fishing for food because most of the culprits have fishing gear that probably cost as much as a weekend at Rocky Bay.
18 June
A Scottish Pied Piper
The long weekend in June afforded us the opportunity to visit a well-served fleamarket in Scottburgh.
While browsing for this-and-that, I heard the sounds of two recorders (that’s blokfluite for the Afrikaans outjies) and stumbled upon this character.
He calls himself a Scottish Pied Piper and has travelled the country with his electric bicycle. The battery isn’t what it should be, but at R7000 for a new one and 61 cents for a recharge that takes him 30 km, he’ll just recharge it.
If you come across him anywhere, have a chat and pop a R5 into his collection bowl.
We had nice chicken curry take-aways, talked to a variety of stall owners all with their own stories, bought another catty (slingshot or kettie) for the camp monkeys, and found a substitute percolator top for our coffee pot because the first one disappeared.
It’s R347 online!
Meanwhile, morning sunrise remains an experience at Rocky Bay and over the long weekend, we saw groups of photographers assembled to take pictures of the sunrise every morning.
This year, I found them bowing to the rising sun.
Dive charters at Rocky Bay
This morning one of the guys from Mokarran Dive Charters at the boat club just outside the Rocky Bay caravan park gate, came past with their brochure offering boat rides.
I told him that, in view of the fact that we get sea-sick by looking at the waves, we would probably not join them on a trip. They saw whales on their early morning trip which would have been nice to experience.
We have seen a few pods of dolphins over the past two weeks but over the weekend we did not spot any. The sardines are moving up the coast and the first shoals were netted at Hibberdene this morning.
We hope we will experience the sardine run, but one can never be sure as it depends heavily on the clarity of the water and how the cold water current flows.
Find them here
July
Alex the Koeksister seller
Everybody has a story
If you were in Alberton 30 years ago, chances are you saw a 6-year-old boy selling koeksisters in parking lots.
When Alex Walkenshaw’s father was medically boarded at the mine in Westonaria, his mother had to make ends meet. She started baking and selling koeksisters.
Each afternoon after school, 6-year-old Alex and his brother changed their school uniforms for their own clothes and travelled with their mother to Alberton. Here, the two boys would sell the koeksisters their mother baked until the parking lots became quiet.
At dusk the boys and their mother would be back home to bath, eat, do homework and go to sleep.
The next day would be a repeat.
“That is where I learnt to sell to people,” says Alex.
He learnt that you could sell more koeksisters if you sold in the parking lots of clubs because intoxicated men didn’t care to spend on koeksisters sold by a small boy.
It is also where the value of small amounts earned repeatedly became ingrained in his mind.
When he lost his own job many years later, Alex looked at what skills he had and thought about his childhood days. He knew how to sell and he could bake 60 dozen koeksisters in less than a day.
So, that is what he did.
Twelve years later Alex, who was in the meantime joined by his wife Adelheit, is still going strong with koeksisters and the milk tarts he added to his product line.
If you camp at Scottburgh or Rocky Bay, you will receive a visit from Alex every few days and if you live in Amanzimtoti or in the area, you could already be a regular client of Alex.
Quite often he arrives at Rocky Bay with his milk tarts already sold out. Then Alex will shake his head and say “Sorry, oom, the people in ‘Toti took all the orders they placed and the rest of my milk tarts”.
I can vouch that his koeksisters are of good quality, decent size and do not get dry as you often experience with shop koeksisters.
So, next time you camp around Scottburgh and a humble young man walks up to your tent offering koeksisters for sale, remember your money does not go to a shopping chain or a head office in Gauteng.
Your money helps support the family of a man who was once a 6-year-old boy who sold koeksisters in parking lots in Alberton to help support his parents.
Harvesting mussels at Rocky Bay
I heard about campers poaching mussels by the bucket well in excess of the permit allowance, so I got myself a license.
Early in July, our son flew down from Johannesburg for a well-deserved break and joined us at Rocky Bay.
Obviously, we had long conversations and relaxing walks and we used the opportunity to try our hand at mussel harvesting. It gave me the opportunity to see what the situation was with mussel numbers.
I was surprised because what I heard created a completely wrong impression.
There are mussels in abundance, and if I say “abundance” I mean baby mussels too small for harvesting by the millions, and I do not exaggerate.
Mussels big enough for use (bigger than the farm mussels we get in restaurants) were all over the rocks and in crevices by the hundreds, if not more.
Larger mussels were freely available although you have to know where to look for them.
I am satisfied that what I saw and experienced did not represent a mussel population on the brink of extinction.
An old camper told me that “the locals” sometimes come from Scottburgh and collect buckets of mussels and that there was a beach-living couple who scraped the rocks with shovels for food. Apparently, they both died. I saw no traces of mass scraping of either mussels or oysters although I saw single cases of oysters removed from the rocks, which I believe is illegal,
In the month I harvested mussels myself, I only saw at most 5 people harvesting mussels at any single time.
We are a conservation-conscious family. Although we can’t be called “Greens”, we believe in ensuring sustainability by the way we use nature. If I had any doubt about the sustainability of the mussel population, I would not harvest it myself and I would talk about it at any opportunity – definitely on my blog!
I did observe individuals harvesting live snails for their shells, as well as Hermit crabs, but we left quite a number because they had snails or crabs inside. In my communication with the Shell Collectors of South Africa last year, I was made aware of the fact that their members are not allowed to kill snails or crabs for their shells.
My experience on the rocks at Rocky Bay and Park Rynie leaves no doubt in my mind that the mussels and oyster populations are healthy, and should remain like that as long as poachers do not enter the game.
Where do you buy gas in Scottburgh?
You can buy gas, have keys made, and get that something you never knew you needed till you saw it, at Arthur and Elize Bailey’s shop in midtown Scottburgh.
The best place to buy gas when you camp at Rocky Bay is at Scottburgh Gas, Locks and Accessories. This is one of those increasingly rare small businesses usually referred to as a Mom-and-Pop-shop. It has friendly, well-informed staff and a most helpful, bilingual, gentlemanly owner.
It does not only provide gas and keys but a wide collection of anything you might need or would just like to have while camping. They are the ideal shop for affordable goodies that campers may find useful. The Wife bought two handy plastic serving spoons at R5 each.
It is just the most delightful little shop tucked away in the centre of town.
Find them at 148 Scott str, Scottburgh.
Today we have 8 days remaining of our three-month camp at Rocky Bay.
Two days ago these two committed fishermen did their thing in front of our campsite. It is these scenes that make camping an uplifting experience.
Visiting friends of 40 years
19 July and we had the pleasure of meeting with friends from the old days in Bronkhortspruit at their holiday home in nearby Pennington.
It was most enjoyable as can be expected although a tiny stomach bug decided that was the best time to take control. I had a terrible night and a day in bed. Luckily I had the best nurse to look after me en attend to my moans and groans.
I had enough for a while of the instruction: “Drink water en piepie!”
Thursday 21 July and we will return on Saturday.
It is a busy time for the children and I am happy to be returning to drive my granddaughter where she needs to go for her school activities.
It remains one of my favourite things to do!
Sardines
Birds and sardine net boats circle with dolphins in attendance, but it looks like we will miss the sardine run this year.
At least we have the monkeys under control if we just show the kettie.
Rocky Bay rating
Last year I gave Rocky Bay a full score but this time we camped for more than a week and I had more time to find imperfections. Not that I go looking for problems. I believe that every camping resort is just another business that eventually feeds families, so I rather look for the good than the bad.
Rocky Bay remains a well-managed, well-cared-for resort.
Three things caught my attention.
The showers (I’m talking about the male block) have curtains. Curtains are in my view something that takes away a star from a camping resort because of the difficulties it creates around keeping floors dry and clinging to your legs. I think that doors are fast becoming a requirement. Curtains also have the problem that the rings on which the plastic curtain hangs tend to break, especially when testosterone-filled men open them in one fell swoop of a hairy arm. That is what happens in the Rocky Bay showers.
Another disadvantage of the showers is that only one shower in our block was big enough to allow for a bench. Hanging your bathroom bag from a hook on the wall is not always the most comfortable.
I never thought that I would at any time in my life write about toilet design, never mind the design of Rocky Bay toilets!
But here I go!
Spot the difference!
Water is further from the back than the front of the bowl
Water is nearer to the back than the front of the bowl
You will note that you have a better chance of hitting the porcelain in the Rocky Bay toilet and a better chance of hitting the water in the home toilet.
And that is exactly what leads to users taking toilet paper and flushing up to three times!
If you ever encounter the same problem, let me give a word of advice: try the “flower”. I couldn’t find a picture online but people with mobile toilets who need to use it for “nr 2” in emergencies, arrange toilet paper in a “flower” pattern around the edges, so the toilet paper folds around any solid matter.
Trust me, four sheets of paper arranged against the back of the bowl before you start, save many rolls of paper!
Are these things I want to have changed? No, it’s only observations and makes no difference to Rocky Bay remaining my favourite campground on the KZN coast – and we visited most of the popular ones.
It remains a well-managed resort with the approachable manager in constant circulation, the office staff professional and helpful, the security guards hyper-friendly and helpful and the shop staff always effective and friendly.
Footprints in the sand at Rocky Bay
Now on to something else people leave behind.
Have you ever noticed the differences between the footprints of different people?
Look at these footprints I photographed while taking my daily 3km stroll on the beach.
Returning Home
So, because we were so keen to get to the South Coast that we started our three-month camp on the 23rd of April, we now had to return on the 23rd of July, a week before the other long-term campers.
Before we left we booked for May, June and July 2023.
Today is the 29th and I may get my act together and start cleaning everything this weekend. I may …
Let me say that this 3-month camp was one of our better ideas.
We wanted to do 3 months to find out whether real long-term camping would be feasible for us, and the answer is Yes. We now know that we will be able to camp for extended times, even in our relatively small Sprite Scout.
There is a long list of things that need to be done, and if we can get it done by the end of the year, we will probably rent out our house and do 3 or 4 months in the Cape, 3 at Rocky Bay and the rest of the year inland.
August is the start of a busy time for the children and the granddaughter at school. I am one of the privileged grandfathers who can fetch my granddaughter at school and drive her to all her activities. I would not want to miss that and hope to keep doing it as long as I am able to, so we’ll arrange our camping around that.
It is possible to camp nearby in the latter part of the year, so I can still do that while renting out our house.
Now, it’s on to the next camping experience.
I nearly forgot to report on the performance of my Maxcon tent pegs! I will get more Maxcons camping accessories, especially the anchor ropes which I adjusted in the first week and never had to tighten or adjust again in 3 months! You can order here if you want your own. Here is a video.