Our Holiday That Went Haywire

I dont like this hotel they keep putting things into me !!

My daily workout - wrestling with Hippoboy and yes that is my foot they stuck a needle into !!!

Hey everyone - look what they have done to my other hand

Feeling much better thanks !!


So who changed the plans? Obviously a higher power decided that we weren’t supposed to carry on with our holiday to the Drakensberg…….we were supposed to go to the Central Berg for 4 nights, but Natalia had different plans install for us.

After leaving PE we spent a night at a game farm near the Addo Elephant Park. Natalia woke up last Friday morning with a temperature of 38.2 deg. Immediately I was worried as I don’t believe there are any good hospitals in Umtata if the need arose. We went to a GP in King Williams Town and she gave us over the counter medication to give her, saying that it was nothing serious. We monitored her the whole time and once again on the Saturday morning her temperature was up. We were on our way to Uvongo now to spend 2 nights with my Mom and a friend of hers. Saturday was also Kim’s birthday so we went out for a quick dinner but Natalia temperature was still 38 deg. so we watched her like a hawk. She had a very restless night and finally fell asleep at 1.30 in the morning……..

Sunday morning, Valentines Day, at 4.30 Kim measured her temperature at 39.9 deg. We were out of there like a shot, and to the nearest hospital in Margate, luckily 5kms up the road. She was immediately admitted – and so our holiday took a different turn…..

Natalia is still in hospital and is expected to be discharged tomorrow. It was difficult to diagnose her at first. Her blood results revealed that her infection count was 138, where it should be under 5. None of the intravenous antibiotics she was given were working. A 2nd blood result indicated that her infection count had risen to 178 on Tuesday and she was finally given an ultra strong antibiotic drip which did the trick. She had pneumonia, bladder and kidney infections, ear nose and throat infections and tonsillitis! Just about her whole body is an infection. Finally on Thursday, the 3rd blood count result was better with a count of 45. We think she acquired the Super Virus Bug when we took her to UNITAS when Harlan was born. Although she didn’t go into the ward, she did go into the hospital. Super Bugs bread in hospitals……

So now Natalia is just finishing her course of intravenous antibiotics and we will be on our way home!! I’m sad we didn’t get to the Drakensberg, but we were not meant to go… Someone up there had different plans for us and we are thankful that our little girl is okay. We will be seeing the Drakensberg in April again.

Thanks to everyone for the prayers and well wishes….

Regards, The Pomario Family

On The Road To Everywhere

mango face

lunch on the road

cutie passed out

Bloem guesthouse view

happy travelling

bum change in Ladismith

ferry accross the Breda River

with auntie Dom

pretty dress

with great uncle Robert

flying with Dad

L'Aguhlus - most southern point of Africa

with uncle Tim

with uncle Brett

with tannie Tania

with Granny & great uncle Mike

Okay, so the main purpose of this holiday was to go to Brett & Tania’s wedding at De Hoop Nature Reserve on the Cape Coast… So we figured, if we are driving that far, we might as well make it a road-trip. So here’s what we’ve done so far…

We left home in the afternoon on the 3 Feb and drove to Bloemfontein where we stayed in a lovely guesthouse. Poor Natalia got attacked by mozzies that night and her face was covered in bites, shame…

On the 4 Feb we traveled on down to Beufort West and stayed on a lovely guestfarm and olive farm, mmm yummy! Shoo, the Karoo desert is really dry and hot!!

The following day took us all the way down to De Hoop. You can imagine my surprise when we had to drive 50km+ on a dirt road to get there…all our stuff was covered in wonderful dust!! Here we got to see all Kim’s family from all over – and everyone got to meet our gorgeous Natalia!!! We got to spend 2 nights here….

The next day was the much awaited wedding. Natalia got to wear a dress that I bought her before she was born, lol. A fantastic day was had by all…and the happiness and wine flowed.

On the Sunday we packed once again and moved ourselves off to Pearly Beach +- 60km north of Hermanus. On the way there we saw where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet at L’Aghulus. We got to put our anchors down here for 3 nights, staying in a beach house overlooking the ocean.

Finally yesterday morning we left at sparrow fart 4am to make the long trek up the coast to PE. No accommodation was booked and we found ourselves driving up and down looking for a nice guesthouse, but they were all fully booked. The Courtyard Hotel apartments gave Kim and excellent deal and we have a nice room overlooking the sea!

So this morning takes us inland to a larny private game reserve, which will come in the next post…..

For now, we are chilling in our spacious room. Natalia is watching Baby Einstein as I type and Kim is taking a shower. Our road-trip has been fantastic so far, with more places to come…… But looks like 3 of the mozzie bites might be infected on my poor gorgeous girls face – not happy about that!!

Love P X 3 xxx

Places we have stayed:
Bloemfontein, Beufort West, De Hoop, Pearly Beach, PE

Places we have seen:
Oudtshoorn, Ladismith, Barrydale, L’Aghulus, Napier, Bredasdorp, Hermanus, Gans Bay, Mossel Bay, Wilderness, Knysna

Brett & Tania Get Married - 6 Feb

The Clan

The 4 Pomario Sista's

Finally, the last Pomario sibling gets married. Congratualtions to Brett & Tania who tied the knot on Saturday, 6 February at the De Hoop Nature Reserve on the Cape Coast. It was a great day and a lot of fun was had by all! Tania welcome to the P family....