Lightleys Newsletter November 2008

Lightleys Newsletter November 2008 Captain of Your Own Holiday

Dear Aunt Agony: My wife wants to go on a family holiday this summer and the kids want us to hire a boat – but I can’t afford to do both. How do I beat the recession and keep the peace all at the same time? – Worried

Dear Worried: I can make you Captain of Your Own Holiday in three words: Lightleys Holiday Houseboats! – Aunt A (and p.s.: remember to go to their web site www.houseboats.co.za and check out their Last Minute Specials – which they usually post every Thursday. You could get a weekend away at a price that’ll astound you. And your first mate…).

Lightleys Holiday Houseboats Newsletter – November 2008
Don’t get yourself in a knot! (and at the end of this newsletter we’ll tell you how…).

Lightleys now offers FOUR fabulous destinations for house boating in Southern Africa:
• Lightleys Knysna
• Lightleys Port Alfred
• Lightleys Vaal River
• Lightleys Swaziland – our newest location (just south of Pigg’s Peak on the Maguga Dam).

Which one are YOU gonna book for YOUR summer holiday?

Visit our web site – www.houseboats.co.za – for more information about these fabulous destinations. And, of course, for all our exciting packages and special offers.

School’s Out For Summer! – and if you remember THAT as a song, you’re old enough to have kids of your own. So to celebrate (the song, the summer and the kids) Lightleys is offering a special 2+2 package for bookings of 2 nights or more between 1 to 15 December 2008 and 16 to 31 January 2009.

2 Adults + 1 (or 2) school-going children for just R 1195.00 per night (that’s the same as you’d pay for two adults sharing. So if you’d done your homework you’d know that that’s a saving of… well, that it’s quite a big saving for sure!

Subject to availability; This offer excludes fuel and a refundable breakage deposit; Only available between December 1 and December 15, 2008 and January 16 and January 31, 2009 . Valid only for bookings of 2 nights or more. For this special offer

For this special offer available at all our bases – mail us – or call Central Reservations on 0861 HBOATS

Lightleys Holiday Houseboats has gone international with the establishment of our first across-the-border harbour at Maguga Dam near Pigg’s Peak in Swaziland.

You want to go to Maguga Dam – because it’s beautiful and because there’s so much to do there. Visit our Swaziland Activities page for more about horse trails, visit to the local Birds of Prey Centre, quad biking, Treetop Canopy Tours, trout fishing … and, and, and…

Oh, and one other thing: Lightleys Swaziland offers one thing that none of the other harbours can: the services of a skipper (all our other harbours offer self-drive service. But remember that you don’t need a skipper’s license to drive a Lightleys Holiday Houseboat).

To book your Swaziland house boating holiday now contact Lightleys Swaziland or Lightleys Holiday Houseboats Central Reservations

Knysna – our original harbour (and still the site of our biggest fleet) – is probably South Africa’s ultimate holiday town. It’s central to all the attractions of the Garden Route and the Klein Karoo and almost half-way between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth. And it’s got that wonderful and romantic Lagoon – which, by the way, just happens to be a National Park.
You’ll want to stay for ages – which is fine, because Lightleys Knysna is right next door to another product in our portfolio – Phantom View River Resort – with its self-catering accommodation in luxury log chalets (so luxurious, in fact, that every single bedroom has its own en-suite bathroom).

So – take advantage of our Stay and Play in Knysna Package, which includes :
• Two Nights at Lightleys Holiday Houseboats
• 3 Nights at Phantom View River Resort
• Canoe Hire – with picnic basket – for 1 day

	High Season
2 People	R4811.00
4 People	R6591.00
6 People	R8371.00

Subject to availability; This offer excludes fuel and a refundable breakage deposit; Not available during December holiday season; Valid until the end of February 2009 and during long weekends and school holidays.

For this and many other packages and special offers in Knysna go here – mail us – or call Central Reservations on +27 (0)44 386 0007

Port Alfred – right there in the middle of the Eastern Cape Coast (half way between Port Elizabeth and East London) – is also right there in the middle of Eastern Cape game viewing country. It’s a great place to experience Africa…

Our Stay and Play in Port Alfred package includes:
• 2 Nights on a Lightleys Holiday Houseboat (self-catering)
• 3 Nights at the Halyards Hotel (bed & breakfast)

	High Season
2 People	R4,973.00
4 People	R8,316.00

Subject to availability; This offer excludes fuel and a refundable breakage deposit; Not available during December holiday season; Valid until the end of February 2009 and during long weekends and school holidays.

Call Central Reservations on +27 (0)44 386 0007 to take advantage of this special offer – or mail us and we’ll get right back to you.

Lightleys Holiday Houseboats harbour on The Barrage on the Vaal River has access to 55 km of one of the country’s most exciting waterways. And it’s just a short hour’s drive from the country’s most exciting city (which is exactly why you want to go there – because the River may be exciting, but it’s also tranquil and very, very relaxing. SO much so, in fact, that Best Life magazine recently voted Lightleys Vaal River one of South Africa’s Best Holiday Experiences)

Check out our colourful map of the river here. And remember that with the summer holidays coming up, the best place to be is on the water (- especially for the New Year’s fireworks display. And don’t forget our annual Stonehaven Carols by Candlelight).

There’s more about Lightleys Vaal River’s rates and special offers here

What makes Lightleys Holiday Houseboats unique is that it makes boating accessible to everyone – whether you’re a sailor or not (if you’ll pardon the pun).

But one thing we think all our guests have in common is that they love the IDEA of being on the water, of ‘simply messing about in boats.*’ And one way that sailors have always amused themselves is by playing with rope – and by making knots both useful and decorative.

But knots aren’t always easy to tie, that’s for sure – which is why we’re excited by our new find: a web page called Animated Knots By Grog. It’s a great resource for sailors – and for fishermen and climbers and householders and scouts and crafters and…

You mouse over the knot that catches your eye and the site gives you a description and tells you what it’s used for; and if you click on the thumbnail, the knot ‘ties itself’ (and the animation’s really good and really simple).

So – bookmark the page. And bookmark Lightleys Holiday Houseboats, too. You’ll need them when you’re sitting at your desk and dreaming about your next holiday aboard …

*As Ratty said to Mole in the children’s book ‘The Wind in the Willows’ by Kenneth Grahame (1859-1932): “There is nothing – absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. In or out of ‘em, it doesn’t matter. Nothing seems really to matter, that’s the charm of it. Whether you get away, or whether you don’t; whether you arrive at your destination or whether you reach somewhere else, or whether you never get anywhere at all, you’re always busy, and you never do anything in particular; and when you’ve done it there’s always something else to do, and you can do it if you like, but you’d much better not.”

Ahoy Captain!
With Best Summertime Regards
From the Lightleys Holiday Houseboats Crew

www.houseboats.co.za

Telephone
Knysna & Port Alfred +27 (0)44 386 0007
Vaal River +27 (0)16 973 1729
Swaziland Pigg’s Peak 00268-6024054

Mail
Knysna & Port Alfred info@houseboats.co.za
Vaal River info@oldwillow.co.za
Swaziland Pigg’s Peak infohawane@realnet.co.sz

Central Reservations
+27 (0)44 386 0007
info@houseboats.co.za

PO Box 863, Knysna, Western Cape, 6570
Lightleys Holiday Houseboats, Phantom Pass Road, Knysna

* PACKAGES & SPECIAL OFFERS: except where otherwise stated, packages and special offers are not available during school holidays and long weekends. Prices exclude fuel, refundable security deposit and, where applicable, car hire contract fee of R23.00; car hire rate includes 200 kilometres per day; additional kilometres are charged at R1,21 each.