adventure 1: Midlands to Clarens
What is a road trip without a pass, a burger and cold coke … While gazing over the rolling hills of Kwa-Zulu Natal (Province 1) we enjoyed a refreshment stop before crossing Oliviershoek pass and hitting the Freestate. (Province 2)
“One more night up in the canyon … Maybe this year will be better than the last… Now the days go by so fast “
The song was doing a loop in my head, round and round trying to make me dizzy. This was only rivalled by my constant head craning and stretching, to try and see all the angles of the landscape and not miss a single view.
With those views, that light and amazing start to the day who would not want to celebrate a beautiful ladies birthday!
To carry on our New Years resolution of always taking an ice cold swim if we can (this started with a 31 December sunrise swim in Dalebrook – Kalk Bay – Cape Town), we took an early morning easy hike / extreme stroll up the mountain stream near our accommodation … Golden Mole Cottage.
Now for the main event – the reason we were all in this little “bubble of beauty” the BIG four oh.
To me, the evening will be forever remembered for the colours and venue. The table colours matched the outside light perfectly. In the evening the rocks turned a light shade of pink with a shimmer of silver.
adventure 2: Clarens to Glen Harry (Game reserve outside Graaf-Reniet)
Into province 4 (Eastern Cape) after briefly passing through Province 3 (Northern Cape) Being part of the authentic karoo landscape was something that I found most awe-inspiring. The beauty that envelopes you and coats you with an excited peace was quite over whelming. It is a place that looking at a photo brings back feelings of the surrounds.
Glen Harry has no dangerous animals and on our short morning game drive we saw herds of springbuck, gemsbok, giraffe, eland zebra and black wildebeest. And lots of beautiful flowering cacti ….. And a small family of Blue Crane,
We got to crush the pepper corns from the trees outside our cottage and smell the fresh pepper …. We had to swerve (slowly) to miss a big old (looking) tortoise crossing the road… We had a family competition (I was more a spectator) identifying the range of horns tastefully displayed in the boma…
Very roughly translated the scientific name for the blue crane means “like a Human of Paradise”, referring I think to their angelic appearance and graceful nature. You just have to see a mating pair doing their “bird-ballet” full of passionate pirouettes and graceful leaps to convince even the strongest sceptic. The wide open spaces of the dwarf-scrubland of the eastern Karoo in central South Africa is home to the second major population of this national treasure. Also know as “the grassy Karoo” (during years of descent rainfall – the grassland flourish), this area offers the perfect banquet for these “Blue Angels”.
adventure 3: to Knysna we go ….
Welcome to the Western Cape (province 5)
A week of family, fun, and lots of sun ….skiings and sunsets… coffee and croissant … braai’s and salads… wine and water …
adventure 4: THE BAVIAANSKLOOF
The Baviaanskloof is a World heritage site and one of the most bio diverse sites in South Africa. Along with this, it still has the rugged appeal of adventure and exploration. One of the Thomas Baines passes it is a must for any 4×4 enthusiast, biker or pinkfarmchick looking for adventure…. that about covers us all …..
Our start of the Baviaanskloof was from Hankey and Patsie and through the beautiful, productive and highly organised Gamtoos Valley, this is the epicentre of the citrus farming in The Eastern Cape. We had entered the “valley of Gulivers travels’ – everything was so big and clean from big fruit sprayer to big fruit packing sheds, lots of tractors, bakkies and fruit workers. The huge expanse of shade cloth clothed the steep hills up into the moutains. And as we went deeper into the Kloof the valley winds through wild mountain scenery coming straight up from the river. Scenic beauty on steroids.
“Ja, it is only 10 am you have enough time to drive the Kloof – 197 km’s in 5.5-6 hours” the friendly lady from the padstal told us. “take your time” she said “no rush” she said …. as we exit her shop loaded with padkos for our adventure. Fresh Patensie frozen orange juice (perfect for the heat) , dehydrated fruit and the ever-present koeksister (I have crowned myself Queen of the koeksister, and have to taste every home made recipe during my travels, hoping to find THE ONE ….) ….
“Ha” we said, “we are farmers from the Natal Midlands in our SUV not townies driving a polo vivo, we will be much faster than that” we said ….
4.5 hours later, with a camera roll full of picture to try and capture the beauty, but bones a bit weary from the bumps the Baviaanskloof finally spat us out on the N9 heading into Willomore and Graaf Reniet in the distance. The HF (who had to be reminded that the H stood for Happy and not huffy) called the Kloof the gift that kept on giving – a bit like his credit card!
We drove into Graaf Reniet, a bit battered and bruised but beaming at the beauty of our country. And so grateful that we have taken the opportunity to explored this stunning region.
Pink Farm Chick 