A weekend in the countryside

When I mentioned last week that we were going for a company weekend away, I had no idea that it would involve absolutely no work at all. Yup, no meetings, no planning, no laptops, no conference - nothing.

We spent the weekend at a place called Kloppenheim, which is somewhere between Dullstroom and Belfast, and about 250km outside of Jhb. Arriving at around 5:30pm on Friday afternoon, and having checked into a magnificent room, overlooking a trout dam, we didn't quite know what the weekend held in store. That was quickly changed, when at dinner that evening, the big cheese at the company I work for announced that this was a weekend of "relaxation" for all the hard work put in over the past year. Yup, that's exactly what I wanted to hear.

I took my bike with, so got up early on Saturday morning (around 4:45am early), and went off with Andre and Anton on a 30km off road trail. The rest of the day was spent fly fishing (in the trout dam pictured above), eating, reading, sleeping and picnicing. This morning, K and I were both treated to a facial - something that I have never done before, and given my experience today, will probably not do again. I can handle aromatherapy and back massage's, but oily face, mouth and nose...not for me.

The place is definitely recommended - probably best to go during winter, as that particular part of the country gets really cold. All the rooms are equipped with lots of duvets, underfloor heating and a fireplace - so it could get nice a cosy during the cold winter evenings.

I guess I complain about work quite a bit - this weekend seems to have made it all worth it (well, some of it at least :-)