scratch patch, simon's town

After a week of flu-induced confinement the girls were champing for an outing. Still not very strong though, I decided to keep it low-exertion and sold them on 'an expedition to find treasure'!

Feels so good under little toes.

Select, fill, discard, repeat.

Frolic.

I'd remembered the Scratch Patch near Simon's Town as badly lit and a little bit stinky, but that was 30-odd years ago.
These days it's nicely laid-out and a very easy outing with kids. You pick the size bag you can afford and have as much time as you like to fill it with treasure. Informative posters scattered around tell you what you're 'hunting', there's a cafe for tea and milkshakes and a gift shop to browse the real sparklies 'look with your EYES only!'.

We weren't even back in car before they started planning the games they'd play when they got home. Those R25 bags of semi-precious stones was one of the best investments I made these holidays.