Well, the time came for Ruth and I to have another weekend away. this time we decided to head off to a place called Parys which is about 128km sout west of Johannesburg. we left Joburg about 11:30am and jumped on the N1 South heading towards Bloemfontein. Not long out of Joburg, we encountered a huge Highveld thunderstorm which was quite spectacular as we had huge lightening and thunder. Shortly after the Grasmere toll plaza we entred the eye of the storm and it was eerily dark and with big rain and noise.
After about 35 mins, we drove past Vanderbijlpark, which is where I grew up, was schooled and studied 3 years at the Vaal Triangle Technikon. We turned left onto the R59 and headed for Parys (Paris on the Vaal). The Vaal River is one of South Africas largest rivers that acts as a natural border betweeen Gauteng and the Free State.
After about 35 mins, we drove past Vanderbijlpark, which is where I grew up, was schooled and studied 3 years at the Vaal Triangle Technikon. We turned left onto the R59 and headed for Parys (Paris on the Vaal). The Vaal River is one of South Africas largest rivers that acts as a natural border betweeen Gauteng and the Free State.We stopped in Parys for some lunch at a great place called Hoi Polloi. We left Parys at around 3pm and headed for Schoemanshof, which is a farm where we were going to stay for the weekend. We ended up doing a bit of a detour as we followed the signs to Schoemansdrift from the tar road and ended up on aoubt 30km's of dirt road. Mini Coopers are not designed to be driven on dirt roads, but hey this one handled it quite well. I am sure it put some of those 4X4 to shame that have never even seen a dirt road!
We arrived at Schoemanshof at about 4pm. There was nobody in sight, so we headed off to our cottage and promptyly unpacked all our stuff. Man, this place was wonderful. The cottage we rented was about 50m from the Vaal River and was set in a wonderful position surrounded with Acacia trees.
That evening we went for a short walk and then lit the fire for our "Braai"...
Seeing as we went to bed early on Saturday night, we woke up early and went for an early morning walk along the banks of the river. There was a great variety of birds in this area, so I could brush up on my South African bird recognition.
We didn't do too much on Sunday apart from walking and reading. There are about 3 other places to rent on the farm. Our place was small with a double bed, kitchen and ensuite. The other places accommodate up to 8 people, so it would be a great place to come away with friends and family.
Seeing as we went to bed early on Saturday night, we woke up early and went for an early morning walk along the banks of the river. There was a great variety of birds in this area, so I could brush up on my South African bird recognition.
We didn't do too much on Sunday apart from walking and reading. There are about 3 other places to rent on the farm. Our place was small with a double bed, kitchen and ensuite. The other places accommodate up to 8 people, so it would be a great place to come away with friends and family.
We had another Braai that night and went to bed early again. Seeing as it was Sunday night, all the other guests staying at the other places had left. Also, the owners had gone away for the weekend. We had the owners dogs sleeping outside the cottage and at 1:30am they started barking. Ruth woke up with a start and said "There is somebody outside...", this made me a bit nervous seeing as we were the only ones around. I had thoughts of a recent book we had both read by J.M Coetzee, called "Disgrace". The book is set in South Africa and something bad happens to the owners on a their farm. Anyway, all was well as it turned out that the dogs were barking at some Jackals howling in the hills......
