Roadtrip to St Francis 2015
This year really is turning out to be a good one! I'm having to work harder than I ever have, but we're definitely making time for fun as well. A couple of weeks ago 17 of our friends road-tripped to St Francis for the long weekend. Courtney has a holiday home on the Kromme river that we stayed at for a few days.
I was so excited for this weekend firstly because I've never been to St Francis before and secondly because when the whole group of us get together we always have so much fun. We planned to all meet at the petrol station at 9am on Saturday and then all leave together. I'm not sure what happened but my alarm didn't go off that morning. Emma walked into my room to see if I was ready at 8:45am and I was still fast asleep! Luckily I had packed the night before and so I just had to get dressed. We arrived at the petrol station and ended up waiting about 15 minutes for the boys. I did my make up in the parking lot (super classy) while everyone stocked up on snacks for the trip.
We stopped off at Courtney's home in Port Elizabeth (just over half way), picked up Cat and Courts and then went for lunch. 17 hungry varsity students all trying to place different orders left the entire McDonald's a bit frazzled. Once we'd all filled our bellies we were off again, passing through Jeffrey's Bay and Humansdorp. The drive wasn't that bad at all and we arrived at around 2pm.
Once we had all unpacked some of the girls went shopping for the weekend's groceries. The boys wasted no time and started playing pool and foozeball. As the sun began to set we took a walk along the jetty before playing a few rounds of 30 Seconds around the fire pit. That evening the girls made salads, garlic rolls and potato bakes while the boys braaied for us. Pudding was ice cream and homemade Bar One sauce. It was such fun to have such a full and happy house with some of us in the kitchen, some setting the table, some pouring the wine and some stoking the coals outside. After supper we turned on some music and spent the evening in the entertainment areas. The punch flowed, the laughs grew louder and games of pool became more and more rigged.
Once our little party had simmered down we ended off the evening in the lounge chatting about any and everything over cups of tea and the sound of one or two punch-scented hiccups coming from the couch. After a long and happy day we all went to bed at around 2am.
The next morning we woke up and were amazed over the fact that the boys had taken it upon themselves to cook us a breakfast of egg and bacon. We spent the day on the beach and exploring the little town of St Francis. Once we got home we made burgers for lunch before some went upstairs to watch the football in the lounge while the rest of us took up our usual spots at the pool and foozeball tables. Once one of the boys had decided it was a socially acceptable time to crack open a beer we played games of Jack Slap, Kings and some other ridiculously silly game that I kept losing at - the name escapes me.
While a few of the guys and girls started making dinner the rest of us started a spontaneous dance party in the kitchen. We thought we were hilarious. We all gathered round the fire pit and made s'mores. It was the best time just sitting their around the fire, laughing and enjoying each other's company while our music played in the background. Our poetic little moment was ended rather abruptly when Tanna initiated a water balloon fight. Again, I completely lost this war.
The entire weekend was full of laughs and moments that only we would really find funny... Like the time Rob and I absolutely could not wait for the potatoes to cook any longer and tucked into the garlic bread, only for me to end up with a dollop of garlic butter up my nostril after trying to smell the delicious loaf. Or when Emma kept offering Kiri more dinner. Or how Bandile confidently tried some Titanic move on Tony and almost ended up snapping him in half. Definitely one of those "you had to be there" things. But they are memories I never want to forget. Before I got to Varsity, I would day dream of times like these. I'm so blessed to have these friends in my life. Life is so, so good right now and I need to make more of a conscious effort to stop willing the future and to simply enjoy the now.
I was so excited for this weekend firstly because I've never been to St Francis before and secondly because when the whole group of us get together we always have so much fun. We planned to all meet at the petrol station at 9am on Saturday and then all leave together. I'm not sure what happened but my alarm didn't go off that morning. Emma walked into my room to see if I was ready at 8:45am and I was still fast asleep! Luckily I had packed the night before and so I just had to get dressed. We arrived at the petrol station and ended up waiting about 15 minutes for the boys. I did my make up in the parking lot (super classy) while everyone stocked up on snacks for the trip.
We stopped off at Courtney's home in Port Elizabeth (just over half way), picked up Cat and Courts and then went for lunch. 17 hungry varsity students all trying to place different orders left the entire McDonald's a bit frazzled. Once we'd all filled our bellies we were off again, passing through Jeffrey's Bay and Humansdorp. The drive wasn't that bad at all and we arrived at around 2pm.
Once we had all unpacked some of the girls went shopping for the weekend's groceries. The boys wasted no time and started playing pool and foozeball. As the sun began to set we took a walk along the jetty before playing a few rounds of 30 Seconds around the fire pit. That evening the girls made salads, garlic rolls and potato bakes while the boys braaied for us. Pudding was ice cream and homemade Bar One sauce. It was such fun to have such a full and happy house with some of us in the kitchen, some setting the table, some pouring the wine and some stoking the coals outside. After supper we turned on some music and spent the evening in the entertainment areas. The punch flowed, the laughs grew louder and games of pool became more and more rigged.
Once our little party had simmered down we ended off the evening in the lounge chatting about any and everything over cups of tea and the sound of one or two punch-scented hiccups coming from the couch. After a long and happy day we all went to bed at around 2am.
The next morning we woke up and were amazed over the fact that the boys had taken it upon themselves to cook us a breakfast of egg and bacon. We spent the day on the beach and exploring the little town of St Francis. Once we got home we made burgers for lunch before some went upstairs to watch the football in the lounge while the rest of us took up our usual spots at the pool and foozeball tables. Once one of the boys had decided it was a socially acceptable time to crack open a beer we played games of Jack Slap, Kings and some other ridiculously silly game that I kept losing at - the name escapes me.
While a few of the guys and girls started making dinner the rest of us started a spontaneous dance party in the kitchen. We thought we were hilarious. We all gathered round the fire pit and made s'mores. It was the best time just sitting their around the fire, laughing and enjoying each other's company while our music played in the background. Our poetic little moment was ended rather abruptly when Tanna initiated a water balloon fight. Again, I completely lost this war.
The entire weekend was full of laughs and moments that only we would really find funny... Like the time Rob and I absolutely could not wait for the potatoes to cook any longer and tucked into the garlic bread, only for me to end up with a dollop of garlic butter up my nostril after trying to smell the delicious loaf. Or when Emma kept offering Kiri more dinner. Or how Bandile confidently tried some Titanic move on Tony and almost ended up snapping him in half. Definitely one of those "you had to be there" things. But they are memories I never want to forget. Before I got to Varsity, I would day dream of times like these. I'm so blessed to have these friends in my life. Life is so, so good right now and I need to make more of a conscious effort to stop willing the future and to simply enjoy the now.
What an awesome trip - so much fun and so many memories!! You are looking gorgeous my Shan x
ReplyDelete