Elaine Verster: I was born here 45 years ago. My dad still lives in the home I grew up in on Townsend Road. I was explaining to someone the other day about the sugar cane burning back then. We had sugar cane growing from the border of our property inland. Every Sunday, we would go and get a couple of loaves of fresh bread from the Greek corner shop where The Waffle Society is now. It was the best bread!

Sharon Wessels: The Ballito Drive-In. Riding down Leonora Road on horseback to the beach, then along the beach to the Tongaat River and back through the sugar cane. The Salt Rock Hotel. Dance nights with coloured ribbons for the girls and lads who kept them behind their lapels. I still remember the dirt roads to Hluhluwe. The foam parties for the kids on Friday nights at the lifesaving clubhouse. The first Dolphin Striders marathon at the Salt Rock clubhouse.

Juanita Lisa Scott: I was born in Ballito in 1971 and lived there until I was 28. It was a small, beautiful town. My late grandfather, Giovanni Veschini, and my late father, John Veschini, built many of the beautiful Spanish-style homes around Ballito. My dad was also instrumental in the fight against high-rise developments in the town.
I still have videos of my grandfather building the old Ballito Shopping Centre. Those are some of my most treasured memories.

Gavin Wright: We moved to Ballito in 1973 and built our house in Madeleine Drive. We could see all the beaches, and there were beach cottages before the apartment complexes. We had a sand road, and behind us were sugar cane fields. On a clear night, you could see the Coca-Cola sign on the Durban beachfront. I lived in Ballito until I was 25 and come back every year to see how it has changed.
We used to go to Chaka’s Rock Hotel or the Salt Rock Hotel on Friday and Saturday nights as teenagers. It was a fantastic place to grow up and we knew everyone.
I remember the Greek man with the corner shop and his dog. We shopped at Umhlali Spar and Thompson’s Butchery.

Karen Louise Delport: Good grief, the days of Mini Chef at the entrance to old Ballito. The days before La Montagne, all the numerous holiday flats and housing estates. Going to the Ballito Drive-In was a regular occasion – there was limited or no television in those days. Ballito Pharmacy at the bottom was owned by a dear friend’s father, and there was the old tearoom.
Mariner’s Restaurant was the go-to spot for a great meal, and one cannot forget the old Chaka’s Rock Hotel, with its Sunday lunch buffet and the late Stanley. Great memories.

Read all the comments here