Drakensberg - Bushman's Nek

Early Friday morning, we left Jozi for the Southern Drakensberg. Bushman's Nek to be precise. Not too far out of Johannesburg, we passed the Grootvlei Power Station. Ruth took a picture depicting man and nature at work, with the sun rising in the background.


Five hours later, we pulled into Howick to visit the Falls. I haven't seen the falls in years and years and Ruth has never seen them, so it made a nice break in the journey.The whole journey to the Bushman's Nek Berg and Trout resort took us approximately 8 hours. Quite a distance for a long-weekend!

Below is the view from our log cabin's veranda.

Early on the Saturday morning, we set off for Bushman's Cave and Ngwangwane Pass. We first had to go through the border gate at the Bushman's Nek Police station.

After an hour or so, we came across this waterfall. The water was crystal clear. In the distance, you can see the "Devil's Knuckles".....

Nice shot of me posing on the trail with the Devil's Knuckles in the background.

Below is a good example of Natarajasana, or "Lord of the dance" yoga pose......

Early on Sunday morning, we set off to find Langalibalele Cave. We parked the car at the National Parks Board office, bought our hiking permit and set off up the steep climb to the top of the mountain. I was surprised to see frost halfway up. By that time my lungs were heaving and we had built up a sweat, so we didn't really feel the cold.

I broke the cardinal rule of hiking here. "Leave only footprints"....... I am sure over the next few hundred years the rain will wash away any evidence of 'civilisation'.....
Below is a great shot of Langalibalele Cave. You can see Ruth sitting a the cave's entrance. For some history, go to: http://www.berg.co.za/langalibalele_cave.htm

There are a few caves around Bushman's Nek. Most you can sleep in. However, it is forbidden to sleep in Langalibalele Cave because of the Bushman paintings below....

The above painting looks like hunters and the one below looks like an Eland buck.

The photo below is another shot of the "Devils Knuckles" from a different angle on our way down from the Langalibalele Cave.

Blue Bulls vs. Crusaders at Loftus

Last night we drove up to Pretoria to Loftus Versveld to see the Super 14 match between the Blue Bulls and the Crusaders.
We were quite fortunate as we had some drinks at the Australian High Commission that afternoon, so we managed to park there too. It is only about 10 minutes walk from the High Commission to Loftus.
This was the first time for Ruth and I to go to Loftus. The match was awesome. Some say it was the best Super 14 match in history. We had excellent seats too, second row from the front.


Below is Viktor Matfield's try.

We had a really great time. Ruth was hollering for the Crusaders seeing as she is a Kiwi and I was hollering for the Blou Bulle......YEEEEHAAAAAAAAAA.

Needless to say, the Blue Bulls won 40 - 35. Shame, Crusaders, I am sorry for you....

Koos Kombuis....

On Saturday night, Ruth and I went to "Die Blou Hond" (The Blue Dog in Afrikaans) in Linden (a suburb of Jozi that used to be called the 'Afrikaans Sandton'), to see legendary Afrikaans Musician, Singer, Songwriter - Koos Kombuis. The venue was very intimate, only seating around 100 guests.
When I was younger, English speaking South Africans never used to listen to to Afrikaans singers like Koos Kombuis, probably because a lot of them were banned in the old South Africa because of their political lyrics. Anyhow, Afrikaans music was not regarded as being 'Hip' to English speakers.A few years ago, a friend of mine introduced me to Koos Kombuis' music and I have been listening to him ever since. Koos Kombuis is heavily influenced by Bob Dylan and Neil Young, but his lyrics are contemporary South African, all of which are sung in Afrikaans.....

For more info on Koos Kombuis, please follow the link below:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koos_Kombuis

Easter Weekend in Mpumalanga

An old school friend of mine, Ian was over in South Africa from the UK on a holiday with his partner Emmanuelle. We arranged to meet up over the Easter Weekend in a town called Sabie, which is situated in Mpumalanga and is a fantastic base to view the wonders of the Lowveld.

Below is a Boer canon called the "Long Tom". Germany sold many of these guns to the Boers during the Anglo Boer War from 1899 - 1902. This canon was photographed in the Long Tom Pass situated between Lyndenburg and Sabie.
Ruth and I left Jozi at around 4:15am on the Friday morning, to try and miss the traffic. Traditionally, Joburgers depart the city in droves over the Easter weekend and try and enjoy the good weather before the winter sets in. Unfortunately, rain normally spoils the weekend.

the trip took us about 6 hours from Jozi to Sabie. On the way we stopped at Lydenburg for breakfast and then on to Long Tom Pass which is a magnificent pass over the mountains, but unfortunately it was very foggy and the views were not so spectacular.

We eventually met Ian and Emmanuelle in Sabie where we had lunch on the Friday afternoon. We had planned on doing some hiking, but seeing as we had not seen each other for around 3 years and Ruth and I had never met Emmanuelle before, we decided to extend the lunch with copious amounts of grog.

Early the next morning (Saturday), Ruth and I went for a walk which took us to the hills above Sabie. We found an old train track to walk along. Fortunately the track hasn't been used for the last 4 years.

Once Ian had wiped the sleep from his eyes and we all had breakfast together, we clambered into the car and headed of to the Forest Falls hike. The hike to the falls only took around 45mins each way. As you can see, the falls are quite spectacular.

Ruth kneeling and posing on the edge of the Forest Falls.

Emmanuelle and Ian. And here is a picture of yours truly and his darling wife, Ruth.

After we had finished the hike around Forest Falls, we headed to another magnificent viewpoint called "God's Window". Situated high up in the mountains

Halfway between Sabie and God's Window is a rock formation called the "Pinnacle". Yet another wonderful scenic area.

No visit to the Lowveld is complete without going to Pilgrim's Rest. Pilgrim's Rest is an old gold mining town popular with visitors to the Lowveld. Unfortunately over the Easter Weekend, Pilgrim's Rest is full of bikies, so it was a bit busy, so we headed off to Graskop for lunch instead. Every town in South Africa has a Royal Hotel by the way.

On the Sunday, we drove out to the "Blyde River Canyon". I haven't been there for nearly 20 years and had forgotten the awesome beauty and vastness of the Canyon. The photo below of the "Three Rondavels" does not do the Canyon justice.

Ruth and I with the "Three Rondavels" in the background.

Johannesburg Zoo

The Johannesburg Zoo was established in 1904 and encompasses 54 hectares of beautiful landscaped gardens and over 2070 animals and 365 different species.

The last time I had been to the Zoo was in 1978 on a family outing to Johannesburg when we lived in Vanderbijlpark. This was Ruth's first time at the Zoo. The Zoo is only about 3 blocks from where we live, so we thought it was about time we went for a visit.We arrived at about midday on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. The carpark was packed and the streets outside the Zoo were full of cars. Still a very popular destination for Joburgers...The Cheetah enclosure was the first destination. Unfortunately the male was separated from the females as they only put them together during the mating season. the Cheetah above is one of the females.The Wild Dogs were quite cute too, but I wouldn't trust them with a 3 year old....

Above is a stunning example of South Africa's national bird....the Blue Crane.
The The South African National Museum of Military History borders the Zoo and the above monument is to the Anglo Boer War Memorial. I see this monument every afternoon on my drive home from work.
The above statue is a memorial for "Max the Gorilla". In 1997, an escaping burglar jumped over the Zoo wall and into the Gorilla enclosure. The burglar was promptly attacked by Max. Max was shot twice by the burglar and was taken to Millpark hospital where he was successfully operated on to remove the bullets. The burglar in turn was shot and arrested by the police.

I remember it well. The newspapers had a field day, as at the time, crime in Joburg was at its peak and everyone was applauding Max for doing a better job than the local police in fighting crime.

Sun City

Ruth and I decided to visit my Niece Tanya and her boyfriend George in Rustenburg which is about 48km from Sun City.

The last time I went to Sun City was around 1993. The Lost City and the Valley of the Waves didn't even exist then.

We left Jozi on Saturday morning at around 11:30am and took the slow and meandering R24 to Rustenburg.

Just as we arrived in Rustenburg, we decided to stop for a bite to eat at the roadhouse pictured above. Ruth has never eaten at a roadhouse as they don't exist in New Zealand. So, it was a first and novel experience for her. The food was really good, which we washed down with a wonderful strawberry milkshake. This is the kind of roadhouse I remember from years ago. Today, people suffer by eating the likes of shoddy 'food' at Mcdonalds and Steers.

We had a great 'braai' at Tanya and George's place in the evening. Lordy, Rustenburg gets hot. It must have been around 35 c that afternoon.

We left Rustenburg at 08:30 and headed off to Sun City on the Sunday morning. After parking your car, you jump on a monorail which takes you to the main hotel. There are around 3 hotels at Sun City and also the self-catering 'Cabanas'.

Ruth and I would like to go back sometime and stay for a few days. Fantastic place to relax and enjoy all that they have to offer. Gambling is huge here, but we are not really gamblers, so there is no interest there.
After we arrived, we headed straight for the the Valley of the Waves. Man, this is really impressive. Waterslides, wave pool, more waterslides. There is a waterslide called the "Temple of Courage". Not for the feinthearted. George didn't blink and eyelid before plummeting down this near vertical slide. Apparently you drop for around 17 metres before rejoining the slide. Took me a little while to build up the courage, but after a little while I thought "what the F$%*" and just did it. Was quite quite a thrill and ended up with my swimming trunks nearly slicing me in two!

We left Sun City just before 3pm, parted ways with Tanya and George and headed back to Jozi.

Only in South Africa

Not far from my parents in Umkomaas, there is a train station which has this sign erected on the platform. For years I have been meaning to take a photograph of it, so over Christmas I did just that......