A 4am departure on a road trip to Johannesburg meant that I was just south of the Karoo town of Cradock when the sun started to lick at the horizon. It wasn't long for the clouds to be on fire and I couldn't help but to pull over to take a picture with my phone which I Instagrammed immediately. The Karoo always has something breathtaking to offer visitors on a plate.
Olive Schreiner (24 March 1855 – 11 December 1920) was a world renown South African writer and is best remembered for her novel The Story of an African Farm which has been highly acclaimed ever since its first publication in 1883. She was born in Wittebergen and grew up Healdtown from the age of six. Between 1868 and 1870 she lived in Cradock with her brother who was the headmaster of the local school and two other siblings. Although Schreiner only lived in Cradock for…
Farm stalls all have their unique points and quirky bits. Daggaboer Farm Stall outside Cradock has this sign by the gents.....
Back in the old days distance stones were used to indicate to travellers how far they had to go to the next town. These days there aren't a lot of them around and often they are found on old and back roads. But trust Geocaching to take me to one of them on the N10 on a trip to Cradock. This stone indicates 27 miles to Cradock and 80 miles to Grahamstown.
On my last visit to Cradock I went in search of the grave of Harry Potter. Harry Potter, you ask? Well, Cradock's cemetery holds the grave of one Harry Potter who was a ‘beloved husband’ and died on July 27, 1910 at the age of 46. Was he magical? Who knows? I unfortunately didn't find him. I did find this scene of this car track through the grave yard that I especially liked. Since coming back home I have discovered GPS coordinates…
I'm not a regular flyer. The first time I got to fly was in a Jac (similar to a Harvard), a flight I would never forget as the pilot did two rolls with this very nervous and acrophobic passenger in the back. Since then I have become a lot better and over the last seven years got to fly a couple of times a year on passenger planes both around South Africa and internationally. All that said, I still haven't been up…
The Karoo is known as blue sky country. That means when the thunder clouds start to pack together after a hot day there is lots of sky to watch the approaching storm in. Like this one I witnessed just after leaving Cradock on my way back to Port Elizabeth. I can just smell the drops splashing down on the hot tar road again. Its one of my five favorite smells along with the smell of cut grass, fresh bread, the ocean and a…
I often wonder how many people who have visited Cradock would never have stayed over in the town if it wasn't for the Tuishuise. The Tuishuise on Market Square was built between 1840 and 1870 and housed artisans like harness makers, wheelwrights, smithies and carpenters who made a living from the horses, oxen and wagons passing through on their way north. Unfortunately by the early 1900's oxen and wagons where replaced by trains and cars and the artisans started to loose their livelihood. …
The Dutch Reformed Church at the top of Church Street in Cradock is probably this Karoo town's most imposing landmark. The first Dutch Reformed congregation in the town was established in 1824 and the church was the town's first. Paul Kruger, who went on to become the President of the Transvaal Republic, who was born on a farm near Bulhoek south of Queenstown in 1826 was christened (by a Welsh pastor) in the original church and his name appears in the register. The present building,…
Cradock is one of the main towns in the Karoo Heartland and this year celebrates 200 years since being founded. By the late 1700's Graaff-Reinet had been established as a magistrate district and Dutch farmers has settled in the area. In 1814 Sir John Cradock decided to build a series of forts along the lower Fish River and all the way up to present day Cradock to try to contain the Xhosa people to the East of the Fish River which by then…