The longest town name in the world is:

Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu. It is a 1 000-foot hill near the township of Porangahau, in the north of New Zealand.

Our closest town to Botrivier is Hermanus. The town was originally called Hermanuspietersfontein, and Google tells me that it was shortened to Hermanus in 1902, as the name was too long for the postal services at the time. Personally, I just think it was named as such to create another tongue twister, such as Bloukopkoggelmandermannetjie. The easiest way of telling if a person is local, is to ask them to pronounce Bloukopkoggelmandermannetjie, or agt-en-tagtig. You need local genes to pronounce either word. For my English friends, the words translate to Blue Headed Lizard and 88, respectively.

The history behind this naming of Hermanus goes back to when the local Dutch farming community recruited their own Dutch teacher from the Netherlands, to educate their children. They did not like their children being taught in English. This teacher was called Hermanus Pieters, and the town was named for him long after he had passed on. His legacy lives on, however, as Aunty Google tells me that the town is still mostly Afrikaans speaking, with a smattering of English. The town is on the Whale Coast and is a popular spot for watching Southern Right Whales and Great White Sharks. In researching Hermanus (so I could share some trivia with you), I came across a snippet about Betty’s Bay (our new town) having had a whaling station, and so not a friendly place for whales at all. Again, that is fortunately history, and Betty’s Bay now also offers great whale watching sites.

But back to Hermanus.

Since arriving in the Western Cape, I had to make numerous trips to Hermanus. Some were out of necessity, such as the friendly town planner being based there, and others were for shopping. At the best of times, it does resemble a sleepy little town. During the December holidays, the narrow road into Hermanus resembled the N1 highway between Pretoria and Jo’burg, and the predominantly spoken language became English. After too many trips into Hermanus, I reached a point where I announced that I had had quite enough of the town and could simply not understand why people would want to go there in the first place. I proudly announced that the town would not see me too often in future.

Until last weekend. With the holiday makers gone, Colin and I took a drive into Hermanus, but decided to explore other parts. Surely there must be more to Hermanus than country markets, beach front restaurants and holiday apartments. And we discovered the many faces of Hermanus. And we fell in love. Not with each other-or another (I will return to this topic), but with the town.

Driving into town, you could mistakenly think that you may have taken a wrong turn and ended up in a small coastal Mediterranean town. The sea, the salty air and delectable food at small restaurants (once you get off the main “drag”) where the owner is also the chef and waiter. Very few tables in crisp white tablecloths and for table décor: a brinjal and a lemon on a small white ceramic plate. And olives. Olives on trees, olives in jars or minced into tapenades. On the wall and on a chalk board is the menu for the day. Limited options, because remember, the chef also waits on the tables. The upside is, whatever you order, your advice will be asked on how you want it cooked. Extra garlic, or fresh basil. And olives. Always olives. After your second visit, you become a friend, and they know you by name.

Having been to the harbour area previously on our many trips into town, we on this occasion ventured to another part of the coast, where we walked along the shoreline, promising ourselves to be back later in the year, hoping to see the promised whales. We have already marked a few spots where we will return to, because surely, we will see the biggest whale from this little bench, sipping coffee from that little coffee shop. I hope it lives up to the promise.

At this time of year, it is too soon to see whales, but there was no shortage of locals enjoying the beach. We passed the pod of old uncles with hairy chests sunning themselves, in the mandatory speedo. (No! I saw that face. Remember there was a time when they were young and a hairy chest poking over a shirt was manly!) No Hawaiian baggies here. Hawaiian baggies must be the give away that you are a visitor. They sit on the grassy area, not on the sandy beach. I guess sand gets into wrinkles and other places. I was amazed at the number of “moms” that swim with body boards. Middle aged women, in their cossies not deterred by anything other than to surf with their body boards. I guess Colin and I stuck out like sore thumbs! No speedo and no body board, with our walking shoes and lickey cones. Sometimes I wonder: are we starting to look like locals, or do we still look like intruders?

To the right of where we were sitting was the bikini squad. That is looking from the front. From the back, they look like the bum squad. This is where we need to get back to “And we fell in love. Not with each other-or another…” On the same beach, was a Granny, chasing her little grandson around the beach. Grandson was in a nappy, which by now was so full of beach, that it flopped around his little legs, Granny has a small rugby ball, and she would toss it to him. When she took too long to pass the ball, he would tackle her and scrum the ball away from her. I was watching Colin, ready to catch him out peaking at the bum squad. Instead, I found his eyes glued to the little rugby protégé. And in that tender moment, not only did I fall in love with him all over again, but it also made me wonder if he did a good job discussing the “birds & bees” with our sons. Soon, we will be living in Betty’s Bay and we will be watching whales: Colin in his speedo and me on my body board – doing the things grandparents do. Problem is just this: we are not grandparents yet, to another human being. We are proud grandparents to a few furry and feathery children, but that doesn’t count. Not really.

I have a cheeky son who at this point will probably ask me to prove my readiness to be a granny on a body board first…

And Domino? He is doing a spot of whale watching himself, by keeping a close eye on that Charlotte. All of this from a safe distance however, in case Tigger is in the area.