This weekend called for a short trip up to the Drakensberg to meet up with family and breathe in some country air. Now I must admit, I am very much a city girl - I like to have my comforts and shopping malls and 'nights on the town', but I also like to get away now and again to appreciate the mountains, the rivers and nature in general. We were blessed enough to stay in beautiful accommodation at a place called Mount Champagne where I hurriedly chose the loft bedroom. I find that lofts, for some reason, always provoke in me the urge to read, write and daydream. It's almost magical. On our first day, I went on a bit of a photography mission, attempting to capture all the beauty that surrounded me - the flowers, the water and the rustic bridges ( the mountains were unfortunately concealed by heavy grey clouds). I then decided to challenge my mom to a game of tennis. Turns out I should just stick to playing squash.
The next day the weather was a bit kinder to us, so we grabbed the opportunity to go on a short hike, and when I say short hike, I actually just mean a long vertical walk. The day moved at a fast pace after that and we landed up going tubing down the river. I ended up getting stuck on every possible rock that there was to get stuck on and almost did a nosedive down a small waterfall, but I survived with a smile on my face. The day ended with some afternoon canoe-ing, an early evening braai, a few games of scrabble, and lots of conversation (my family is Italian - we talk A LOT).
Our final day began wondrously with a trail ride on horseback through mountainous terrain, open fields, and a whole lot of wild life. I had the opportunity of cantering through a field whilst zebra and blesbok watched me pass by, and I just felt so free and peaceful. The feelings I felt in that moment were incomparable and would never be felt in the city, and as I was finishing off my ride on Moonshine I decided that being a country girl wasn't such a bad thing after all.
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