Another KZN experience

Peace is not the absence of conflict but the ability to cope with it, I say if you are planning to get stuck on the N3 national road do it in style. When we decided on a girl’s trip, I was not only looking forward to the craziness and fun, but I was also looking forward to experiencing the new Isuzu MUX. The new vehicle promised refinements beyond anything we had seen so far.

The trip started as normal with a clear plan that we leave early to avoid the afternoon traffic in KZN. A group of people were having a protest, so we had to take a detour in Harrismith. Life is all about experiences. It is always exciting to go to my home Province KZN. The drive was fun, with a few stops along the way. The road closure between Harrismith and Estcourt forced us to re-route which added more hours to our drive. What was supposed to be a six-hour drive ended up being a nine-hour drive nevertheless, it was a comfortable ride with Isuzu MUX.

The drive took us through the thoroughly beaten track-up Sterkfontein Dam, passed little Switzerland, where we had a brief stop to stretch our legs. The Isuzu MUX next generation is in a league of its own.

The upgrades are visible from a distance. After driving the previous model to the Drakensberg, it is easy to spot the upgrades. The new Isuzu MUX looks modern and it has world-class safety features. Have I mentioned fuel efficiency we drove from Joburg to Ballito and had to re-route and still made it to Ballito in a single tank of diesel. Another important feature that helped us with the re-routing was the apple car play, we used the GPS to navigate our way through Drakensberg. The best part about apple car play is having your phone at the touch of a screen.

This route took us past incredible sights including the view of Giants Castle, and ultimately, we re-join the N3, and happy days are back, not that we were bothered. Arrived in Zimbali, the check-in process could have been better we had to wait for an hour for their system to update, cause our names were not showing on their system. Finally, we made it to our villa. We are staying at 19 Oceans Edge. The villa is beautiful and has ocean views from the two bedrooms upstairs. There are four bedrooms in total, two have ensuites, and the other two bedrooms share a bathroom. The entertainment area is large and open plan with a large sliding door that opens to a lap pool and another outdoor sitting area.

The weather was not the greatest. It is dark and gloomy but the girl’s personality and enthusiasm shine through making it a bright day. The morning activity calls for fun and adventure quad biking by the beach. Everyone was looking forward to this fun activity. We arrived early so we had to wait a bit for our activity to start. We took a couple of pics while we wait. The rain didn’t want us to be great it started pouring and that’s how we ended up having to cancel this activity. I am a great believer that the weather should never dictate how you spend your day. However, I am one of those people that when I get the flu it quickly changes into Asthma in 0.1 seconds so I must keep my daring personality in check because I do not want to end up in hospital in these trying times of Covid19. Luckily our second activity is indoors.

We had to go back to the villa and change and then we went to the newly opened Zimbali hotel. I was in awe of the work that has been done, the décor was dark and moody. It is beautiful even though I’m one of those people that like light white and airy spaces, but this works and creates an unusual but beautiful ambiance for our afternoon tea that lifted our mood after the earlier rained-out quad biking activity. Kevin ushered us to our exclusively prepared table. The setup is beautiful and colourful the way I wanted it to be, and the service was world-class. We were well looked after the entire time.

Traditionally when we go to Durban we go out at night. Durban comes alive at night but because of the pandemic, we chose to stay indoors and have a braai in the comfort of our villa and dance the night away in our villa. The next morning, I felt like singing when I saw sunshine. It is our last day, and we have to check out at 10h00 but the pool kept calling our names and yes, we submitted. We spent a couple of hours just chilling by the pool before we headed out to take a stroll on the beach. There is a thing about a large body of water that makes me happy.

As you look forward to December break, where you can rest and embark on your new adventures, I hope you make every moment fresh and memorable.