A Night In Hermanus

5/29/09
Today was Jamie’s last day at RCCH. Shame. We were kept pretty busy at the hospital with theatre and dressing changes. Jamie offered to remain in the treatment room while I sorted out some other referrals. One of the OT’s from the other wards ran into us in the morning to tell us about an expected patient. The pt was a burn survivor being admitted for an AKA on Monday. The pt had not been prepped at all and they were asking for our involvement. Two other children requiring support would ALSO be having theatre on Monday. A full agenda for my first day on my own. Fantastic.

After work, Doug picked us up for our overnight in Hermanus. Hermanus is a beach town just past Cape Point. His family has a beach house there and we talked about spending Jamie’s last night in Cape Town on the beach. On the way we stopped at Houwhoek Restaurant in Elgin for lunch. We had paninis and salads. On our way out we passed under a doorway that heaps of people had written on. I suggested we add our names, and they both thought it a great idea. After debating which nicknames to use and where to right it, Jamie started in on her own name. She got as far as “Jami” before a man came in and swept his hand over Jamie’s proclaiming, “No no. I’m sorry. You can’t write on the wall.” Oops. In our defense, that rule is a little gray..

Before arriving at Doug’s, we stopped off on the beach to have a walk. It was absolutely frigid up in Hermanus and the wind was howling. But it didn’t stop us from running on the dunes, playing with the (teal!) waves and doing “twirly-whirlies”. We then went on to his house which was about a half of a mile from the shore. The house was cozy and looked out onto the ocean. What more do you need from a beach house?

After settling in, we headed into town for dinner. We first stopped by the drive-up cliffs overlooking the bay. In the spring time (or maybe winter?) this is apparently the number one place for whale whatching. You can drive you car right up to the cliff or sit on the ledge or a park bench and be mere feet from these giants of the sea. Since we are off season, our only views were of the waves. However, this still made for an exceptional sight. The waves were enormous and absolutely marvelous; sweeping in and crashing against the rocks creating nautical fireworks. As the water pulled back in, it poured back down the rocks in massive waterfalls. It was mesmerizing and we stood there for a while just talking and watching. I mostly watched. As we walked away I tasted the salt on my lips. MMmmmmm.

We first went for drinks near the water. A place called Shummi. We were the only patrons in the spacious venue. Jamie and I had a Shandy (I love that I found a drinkable drink! I only hope it will fly in the states).

We had a proper dinner at Harbor Rock, a sushi bar. We ordered a variety of rolls and nigiri and sashimi (which I tried for the first time; eh), and the prices were unreal. The bill was about 50 USD and we consumed about 50 pieces of sushi and a bottle of wine. Unreal.