Having learned our lesson from our last stay at Caledon Hotel, we actually set an alarm to wake us up in time so that we could actually sit down and enjoy breakfast for a change and as with the last time, The Blue Crane restaurant provided the perfect buffet start to the morning! :)
Sausage, eggs, pancakes, homestyle bread, the works – sheer indulgence I assure you. From there it was back to the room because Chantelle had to get ready for her booked one hour long full body massage therapy while I got to grips with entertaining myself with some of the reading material (comic s!) that I had brought along for the trip. An hour later and a very relaxed and beaming bokkie came waltzing into the room and after a short little lie down in order to recover a little, it was time for the pools!
The Caledon Hotel & Spa complex taps into a wonderfully rich and warm natural spring and dotted around the complex is a variety of pools, both natural and shaped for a person to relax, soak and enjoy. Of course, seeing how much Chantelle loves these natural warm baths, we had to try out every single pool (except for the ice cold ones of course!), going right through from the Victorian Spa to the Jacuzzi rock pool.
After a long satisfying, and thoroughly relaxing romp in the water, it was back to the room for an afternoon nap from which I eventually awoke but Chantelle remained trapped within the confines of for a good couple of hours more :) Eventually the sleepy head did awake, and immediately set about abusing room service by ordering up one of the best looking toasted sarmies I had ever seen!
Anyway, as with all good things in life, time was passing by rapidly, and I found myself unusually enamoured by the movie that was showing on MNET for the evening, namely The Departed, quite frankly a gripping piece from Martin Scorsese that features Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson and Matt Damon in the leads. Despite having seen the movie before herself, Chantelle indulged me this rare occasion of actually watching a movie showing on television for once and surprisingly I was thoroughly entertained by the time the final scene came to a close.
From there it was time to break out of our room and hunt down a late night supper, being at last able to crack the previously impenetrable Black Sheep Diner as our eating spot of choice. Surprisingly enough, I broke all moulds of tradition by ordering a salad for myself while Chantelle wolfed down a delicious looking burger and in all honesty, despite our grumblings over the lack of service the previous night, we had to admit that the place was actually pretty damn good, from décor to food, a definite winning combination.
You know, we must be the only couple that stays at a casino complex and doesn’t actually go gamble – instead, having sated our hunger, it was once more time to grab our swimming trunks and head out in the deep dark midnight to invade the hot pools and soak up every bit of the atmosphere that we could. There is something magical to bathing at the stroke of midnight under the stars and we were making sure to make the most out of the facilities available to us.
It was well after midnight once again when we finally got to bed, freezing cold and soaked to the bone, and it was with much sadness at the thought that this was our last evening of living the high life of unparalleled luxury that the two of us drifted off once more to a blissful state of sleep (well, at least I did. Ms Montgomery once again struggled to sleep – at least she didn’t blame my snoring for a change!)