When I downloaded this photo of me sitting in the road near Jansenville in the Karoo Heartland from my camera onto the laptop and saw it, the first thing that came to my mind was "The road is long..." from He ain't heavy, he's my brother by The Hollies. The tune, melody, words, everything. It's probably also the best description of my life lately. Between work and personal life it's been busy, busy, busy with lots of time spent on the road…
No visit to Graaff-Reinet will be complete without a visit to the Valley of Desolation yet I wonder how many people actually realise that the Valley of Desolation is located within the Camdeboo National Park, which actually reaches all the way around the town, and that you can also go game viewing in the park. On our long weekend in Graaff-Reinet we spent our Saturday exploring the town's historical heart on foot and kept the Sunday to explore the Camdeboo National…
History buffs totally love Graaff-Reinet, what with it being the oldest town in the Eastern Cape (fourth oldest in South Africa) with about 220 listed historical buildings. Best of all, you can see just about all the best ones on a relatively short walk around town. And obviously, that is what we did otherwise I wouldn't be writing about it. We parked our car in front of the Graaff-Reinet Tourism office, grabbed a map from the friendly staff in the…
Getting lost somewhere doesn't always have to mean you don't know where you are. Sometimes you are so in awe of where you are that you lose track of time and literally get lost in your own mind. While exploring Ira's Antique Shop in Graaff-Reinet while looking for the oldest cake in South Africa, I spotted this guy down the passage looking totally lost in himself.
The Russell Road Cemetery is another of Port Elizabeth's historic grave yards dating back to the early days of Port Elizabeth. As the town grew the increased demands on the St Mary's Cemetery next to the Baakens River became too much and a solution had to be found, not just for another cemetery but also to accommodate the different religious affiliations. Small pieces of land was allocated to the various Christian denominations on the town margins in the late 1830's…
One of the first things Karoo Girl asked me when she heard I was going to visit her hometown of Graaff-Reinet, as if I was going to go and see the oldest cake in the country. Now I know most of Graaff-Reinet's attractions, but the cake was a first for me. She directed me to aunty Ira's Antique Shop next to the Graaff-Reinet Tourism info office and that is where we headed on the Saturday morning of our visit before…
I have always had a love for cacti and succulents. Perhaps because there are so many different species, because they often surprise you with the most beautiful little flowers or because they don't need much looking after or water. But nothing I knew about succulents could prepare me for what I encountered at the Obesa Cactus Nursery in Graaff-Reinet. We were in town for a long weekend and had a couple of hours on our hands to explore, so when…
Graaff-Reinet in the Karoo Heartland is often referred to as the Gem of the Karoo. Spending a long weekend in the town just again proved to me that this gem isn't one buried deep under ground somewhere but rather has been unearthed and is mesmerizing those that get to visit it. Located in a horseshoe created by the Sundays River and totally surrounded by the Camdeboo National Park, Graaff-Reinet is situated about three hours north of Port Elizabeth and the…
The last two months have been an absolute blur. Don't ask me where it went, I just know it's gone and I am exhausted. But things are getting back to normal and hopefully I will get my blogging mojo back as well. The pictures from our Graaff-Reinet weekend is lined up and just waiting for the words to be added. In the meantime here is one I took of the Groot Kerk at the top of the main drag into…
I'm finally busy going through and editing the pictures I took in Graaff-Reinet a few weekends ago and will start posting about our visit shortly. One of the photos I found was this one of Miggie standing in the door at the Reinet House museum looking up towards the Drostdy Hotel. She clearly likes being outdoors a lot more than going through museums.