So the builders have left and our guests also left, which gave Bryan and I a little down time, so apart from me doing some sanding, and varnishing of a little drawer unit for my office and Bryan building our TV and audio cabinet, we had some time to go and explore Highmoor Nature Reserve a little more.

It was an absolutely beautiful day! The sun was shining, the fish were biting and the sky was a deep gorgeous blue!

Bryan caught a few rainbow trout, although they were not big fellows, so they were returned to the dam pretty sharpish!

I also did some fly-fishing (well, a lose definition of the sport), but unfortunately I didn't catch anything. It was probably due the large splashing as the fly and line hit the water and my curses at in the next cast as my line got hooked round a bush! But, by the end of the day, I had improved at least!

As well as my attempts at fly-fishing, I also went for a short hike so that I could take a few snaps of the views on this truly spectacular day.

I have shared a few images below and also thought this may be a good opportunity to share a bit of information about Highmoor Nature Reserve, to any of you that do not know the area well.

Highmoor Nature Reserve is a stone's throw from Kamberg Valley Hideaway. You follow the steeply winding road that reaches towards Mount Lebanon and Cleopatra Mountain for 9kms and then you have arrived!

Highmoor Nature Reserve is situated in the Ukhahlamba Drakensberg Park's Central Region and is bordered by Kamberg and Lotheni in the south and the magnificent Giants Castle in the north. Highmoor Nature Reserve is known for having the widest panoramic views of the Drakensberg and iIt is also one of the only places where you are actually walking on top of the foothills.

Highmoor Nature Reserve forms part of the Mkhomazi Wilderness Area, which covers roughly 15,000ha. The terrain is mainly mountains, grasslands, streams and dams and there are a huge variety of rare, endemic and endangered species found in this region.

So, as you can see Highmoor Nature Reserve has a vast amount of activities for you to do. There is spectacular scenery for the budding photographer and nature lover, great birding, wonderful hikes, superb fishing and is basically well worth a visit.

It also, as I mentioned above, happens to be part of the Drakensberg Mountains, one of South Africa's UNESCO World Heritage sites.

So, what are you waiting for... come and stay at Kamberg Valley Hideaway and add Highmoor Nature Reserve as a "must" do!

The view this morning was very dramatic! Come and visit Kamberg Valley Hideaway to have the chance of capturing some dramatic shots!

Steve and Rose arrived on Thursday afternoon and were booked in to stay at Kamberg Valley Hideaway for three nights. These were the first 3 nights of their 4-week adventure in South Africa. They booked a 4-week fly-drive holiday through www.clicketyclicksafaris.com and our self-catering accommodation kicked off their holiday.

During their visit, Steve and Rose visited Highmoor Nature Reserve, Kamberg Nature Reserve and enjoyed a few venues on the Midlands Meander. They also thoroughly enjoyed relaxing on their private patio with a spectacular view of the mountains. Rose commented that she was happy to stay the rest of their trip at Kamberg Valley Hideaway!

Steve is running The Comrades Marathon on the 29th May 2016 and so he also enjoyed some morning and afternoon runs up to Highmoor Nature Reserve.

​We wish Steve all the best in his first Comrades Marathon!

Yet another busy week of renovations, but we are now seeing light at the end of the tunnel.

We had Mark and Charlene Travis stay one night this week, so we needed the majority of the inside of Kamberg Valley Hideaway to be presentable for guests. Here are a couple of shots of the inside (sorry I didn't smooth the bed covers down, but I promise to do so in the final website photos!)

We still need the skirting boards to be fitted, and the walls need a few pictures and mirrors to be hung, but so far we are extremely pleased with how everything is starting to look. Bryan and I finished off varnishing the skirting boards today, so we are hoping they will be fitted on Monday by our fabulous builders!

The final massive project that we accomplished this week (well Bryan accomplished it), was to extend and fix the concrete "monk", which is basically the overflow area from the main dam. We had discovered a significant leak, which meant that a lot of water was being lost from the dam. Bryan, firstly built a barrier to hold back the water, then he and one other guy hoped reeds and cleared the area of grass and rocks and then Bryan and two others spend the day on Tuesday concreting the monk so that it would stop leaking and we wouldn't lose a lot of our water!

The autumn colours are now blooming and the Kamberg Valley is looking quite beautiful! We have a couple of stunning trees in our garden. Here is a quick pic of one of them!

Another busy week, but only a few more days to go and we will have the Guest House of Kamberg Valley Hideaway finished and ready to welcome our future guests! It is all so exciting!

So the end of our third week with builders at our home everyday came to an end on Thursday last week. They had finished the roof, the outside walls, the barge board and the windows and I have to say Bryan and I are absolutely thrilled with the result. What an incredible improvement to the house we moved into just over a month ago. 

On top of that we have also finished decorating the two bedrooms in the guest wing. All we need now are the skirting boards and the light fittings to be put in, then we can move the beds in and we can start posting some inviting photos of our beautiful hideaway! Hopefully next weekend's blog will contain these photos!

The other evening we arrived back at the house after an afternoon in the workshop and sat in the sunroom with a coffee, only to see some guests had arrived unannounced. We watched them squeeze under the fence and enjoy their afternoon tea next to our dam! They obviously like the new look of Kamberg Valley Hideaway!

Our second week of building work was just as busy as our first week and we have had some great progress made!

The builders continued working on the outside of the house and roof and it is certainly looking a million times better! Don't worry though, the patchwork roof is just the primer!

Whilst the builders were working on the outside, Bryan and I were busy painting the inside bedrooms! After a lot of preparation, we had a mamouth day of painting on Wednesday and were very proud of our efforts. Our builder even offered us a job! Hahaha! 

And on top of all that we also had a trip to Pietermaritzburg to buy yet more paint! Sold the Ford Ikon and Bryan has been working on trying to fix the leaks in the dam! So, all in all another busy week.