Yesterday was the best beach day we’ve had since we’ve been here in Ballito.  The sun was awesome and the waves weren’t quite as rough as the day before… the only problem again was the cold wind.  But that didn’t deter us from having fun.  We met up with the boys’ school friends on the beach, and the kids had a ball playing with kites, and bats and balls… and playing tag, and hide and seek.

Connor counting to 20 while the others started hiding

Oh the joys of a long lens, and the kids that weren’t watching me I love taking photos like this… natural play

I know, I know, you haven’t seen photos of happy kids playing in the sand and water yet… but today’s weather may have been amazing, but the water wasn’t.  I’ve never actually seen the beaches in Ballito so narrow, and the waves so high at low tide.  In fact, it was also the first time I can ever recall not being able to swim! The lifeguards didn’t even put out swimming beacons today… that’s how hectic the waves were.

By noon, most people had left the beach actually, because the wind was starting to pick up, and there was hardly any space on the beach with the waves being so high.

So this afternoon, while Lance and Connor had a nap, Bradley and I took a walk with my camera along the beach walk, and watched the massive waves pounding the beaches.  The waves were actually coming right up to the grass under the walkways… in most places you couldn’t even see the beaches or rocky outcrops that are normally so high and are normally teaming with fishermen in the afternoons.

I’m sitting on the 5th floor of the flat in Ballito that we’re staying in, as I type this post, and I’m listening to the sea crashing on the rocks below… and the wind is howling outside!  In fact the wind has been blowing so hard that I’ve been loathe to take my camera to the beach.

But yesterday afternoon, I lugged it with me while we took a walk along the beach (I choose one lens to take with me on any given day, I wouldn’t even attempt to change lenses in the wind, so these images were taken with the 24-70mm)

After the Waterfront, our travels really started.

We had wanted to see if we could get up Table Mountain, but the queue of cars was already snaking at 9am, so we laughed that off and we to Signal Hill instead.  Then we drove to Simons Town and unsuccessfully tried to see the penguins there.  And then we drove to Somerset West to say hello to my aunt and uncle and then went to Strand Beach for some fun while we waited for them to arrive for their photoshoot.

And yes, my kids are mad… that water was absolutely FREEZING!! But they had a ball

We’ve just come home from a very short flying visit to Cape Town, Somerset West and Hermanus, and we spent a lot of time with our family.  You’ll see more of those photos tomorrow, but first, I have to show you Kathy and Ian’s photoshoot.

It was a very special shoot, because Kathy is about to start a long treatment process. Kathy is a beautiful and an amazingly strong woman, and she has the complete support of her whole family… and she’ll pull through this… we all know she will.

Kathy and Ian, you see, are my aunt and uncle.  We’d organised this trip a while ago, and had planned on staying with them for a night.  I had also planned on doing this photoshoot with them, but hadn’t actually told them about my plans until last week.  But when we heard her news, I decided that this shoot just had to happen… and I’m glad she liked the idea.

They’re about to start a long journey, and I think they enjoyed this special time on the beach just concentrating on themselves.  I didn’t want to do many posed photos, I wanted to show the special bond between the 2 of them, and I think it worked (OK, there are posed photos too but I couldn’t resist when I spotted the reflections and shadows).

They had originally wanted to do their photoshoot in the mountains behind Somerset West, but because of the massive veld fire raging in the area, we decided that the Strand beach would be a better idea.  And the weather was perfect for it!! There was hardly any wind, and it was beautifully warm.

 
Good luck for tomorrow Kathy, we’re all rooting for you, and thinking about you constantly!