Weekend at Mtunzini Lodge - 30 April 2015

BIG HEADLIGHT WEEKEND
We were privileged to spend a weekend with our hosts, Kowie and Carol, at his private lodge on the banks of the Mtunzini Estuary.
We departed from Vryheid on Thursday and we had a trouble free journey down to Pongola where we booked into the Rosegarden Guest House.   Shortly after booking in, we departed to the homestead of Arthur and Elize Duvenage for a braai and sundowners.
The arrangements for the following day, being Friday, were to meet just outside of Pongola on the N2 and thereafter travel in convoy to Mkuze to refuel and proceed further to Mtunzini.
Our group, namely Harry and Diana, Arthur and Elize, Kobus and Riekie, Terry and Pam, Kowie and Carol and Des, comprising of mainly big headlight vehicles had an eventful trip with the only hiccup from Terry's Austin A40 overheating and suffering from fuel starvation.   However, we made our destination timeously to unload and settle in.
The order for the afternoon was a late sundowner's cruise along the estuary.   This cruise was accompanied by perfect weather, making for a very pleasant afternoon.
The remainder of our weekend, accompanied by superb weather, revolved around leasurely cruising up and down the estuary and endeavouring to land a kingsize crab or fish.   On Saturday we were very successful in catching two very large crabs, which were later prepared and enjoyed by both Kowie and Terry, as can be seen from the pertaining photos.   Further our thanks to all the ladies for providing wonderful food throughout the weekend.
Sunday morning we travelled to Mtunzini village and enjoyed a breakfast at the farmer's market, where we met up with past members of our club, namely Colin, Derek and partners.
Monday morning saw the departure of our group to Empangeni to visit Dave Watkins' collection of vintage and classic vehicles.   After a  most enjoyable couple of hours, we departed with Arthur and Kobus heading back via the N2 and the remainder of the group via Eshowe, Melmoth back to Vryheid.
About 7kms outside of Vryheid, our beloved Austin ran out of fuel.   But, true to tradition, Terry pulled out his standby 10L of fuel and after a short delay, we headed home.
Our heartfelt thanks to Kowie and Carol for a very pleasant and enjoyable weekend.
Submitted by Des Lemmon-Warde