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Post by tod2 on May 30, 2011 12:44:59 GMT
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Post by Deleted on May 30, 2011 17:57:39 GMT
Wonderful to see all that, even if they are not my own memories. (The first two photo are not displaying for me.)
I try to test my mother on images of the past as often as possible.
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Post by tod2 on May 31, 2011 12:43:27 GMT
Thanks Kerouac - You are bound to recognize more of the Cape scenery as we did follow the N1 route for a very long way (I think you also?). We all had a very comfortable night with tummy's full of delicious dinner prepared especially for us by our hosts. She made the most divine leek & cheese tart ! Setting off the next morning for the enormous Gariep Dam we followed the long strip of tar , punctuated now and then by glorious Tuscan Poplar trees in their autumn colours. The dam is absolutely enormous and great care must be taken when out boating as it is very easy to get lost on the water. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gariep_DamWhen the dam was planned it was going to flood the old concentration camp cemetery where so may women and children were buried during the Anglo-Boer War. They removed and re-buried the victims in a new graveyard high on the slopes of a hill - only to find out the water never came anywhere near the old cemetery! This is the new graveyard called Kerkenhof. The main objective was to call in at a quaint little town called Bethulie where I wanted to take my mum through the family museum and little graveyard. The entrance must have been grand in the mind of the architect or builder, but now stands forlorn deep in long grass and is quite out of place.
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Post by bixaorellana on May 31, 2011 13:19:25 GMT
Oh, Tod ~~ I have been waiting to see and hear about your trip celebrating your mother's birthday. I'm going out right now, but just scrolled through the photos and feel like cancelling my breakfast date in order to stay here & take it all in! Thanks for this. Back later to emote & ask questions.
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Post by tod2 on May 31, 2011 15:07:38 GMT
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Post by mich64 on May 31, 2011 18:11:43 GMT
Tod, I find this report fascinating. The antiques, the stories and the landscapes are all intriguing to me. I am enjoying it immensely, please continue. Cheers, Mich
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 1, 2011 2:01:47 GMT
Finally getting to sit down and really take this all in. It's absolutely wonderful, Tod, like being in the car with you.
Boy, that first group of pictures is really the wide open spaces, with people appearing to live in the middle of nowhere. They seem to use horses a great deal in that area. Is that woman after the Mount Fletcher sign washing or selling clothes. Quite a few clothes sellers a bit further on.
After the three boys on horseback, the landscape gets more and more fantastic, looking the way the receding prehistoric seas left it. I fell completely in love with those vistas. And then the approach to the dam and the dam itself -- just gorgeous.
I guess it was a shame to go to the trouble of moving the cemetery for nothing, but the new one is starkly beautiful.
Are the Pellissiers your mother's family? It must have been a strange but good feeling to look down the telescope to the past in that way.
And your mother, what did she think of all this?
pee ess ~~ you couldn't be boring if you tried!
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Post by Deleted on Jun 1, 2011 5:27:52 GMT
I just went through this again and felt as though I were driving those South African roads all over again. The country is such a mixture of modern and ancient that it is always full of surprises. I do admit that I was extremely nervous on some of the unpaved roads, wondering if they would suddenly turn into a track and disappear in the middle of nowhere. At least I had the map to convince me that I was on the way to a town with a better road... sooner or later!
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Post by Deleted on Jun 1, 2011 11:28:45 GMT
Wow, what great scenery, tod. The road just seems to go on for ever. Did you mom enjoy her birthday trip? I don't know much about African life, I was wondering are there many gas (petrol) stations on the route? What would happen if your vehicle broke down? Would help be readily available? Are there many wide, open spaces like this from where you live? Have you traveled to other parts of Africa? How do they compare to your area? You have certainly peaked my interest with your various photo essays and now I want to see it for myself!
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Post by tod2 on Jun 1, 2011 12:20:39 GMT
So many 'thank you's' to all of you! Some questions will be answered with coming photos - others I will attempt to answer.
Yes Bixa, the Pellissier missionary Jean Pierre, is on my mothers side of the family. I know zilch about my fathers side and todate it has never been researched, but his descendants arrived from Holland around the same time I think.
Deyana - Gas stations everywhere but on a long stretch of road through the Karoo called the N1 you must not run on a near empty tank as the next fill up could be 100km away. Our X5 has a large fuel (diesel) tank so can do 500km at a stretch but we made sure we never ran below half. We also have a breakdown service with BMW who come and rescue you no matter where - a person can also join a roadside assistance organisation like the Automobile Assoc. We never saw one breakdown. Wide open spaces like the Karoo are unique, but we don't have cities and towns close together like say, England. Hard to say really. I was born in Kenya but have lived in S.A. since the age of two. Since then I have not travelled north into Africa except one trip to Namibia which was fabulous and two trips( also motoring )- to Mozambique before the war. There is no way I would motor through any of the other countries in Africa. That is looking for trouble. Even our very close neighbor Mozambique since independance from Portugal, has terrible issues with border officials and roadside police who intimidate you mercilessly. Flying in to a resort or nearby islands is OK though.
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Post by onlymark on Jun 1, 2011 13:08:35 GMT
I may have a lesser sense of the problems to you tod as regards driving in Africa.
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Post by tod2 on Jun 1, 2011 14:31:32 GMT
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Post by tod2 on Jun 1, 2011 14:42:15 GMT
I completely understand Mark. We have a friend who spent 3 months driving through most of it BUT, the vehicle they used was the very same 4X4 used in film "Blood Diamonds" - kitted out with everything including the kitchen sink and an 'almost ' hospital! Even so, the two men were releived of money and accosted by the thugs they call police, and put under severe strain at times. Not so much a holiday but an adventure I guess.
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Post by mich64 on Jun 1, 2011 15:04:48 GMT
Tod, your accomodations were lovely. I read almost everything on the link you provided on the Glasgow Pont Hotel and I appreciated the history provided on there site, very interesting as I do not know much about your region.
I enjoyed how the region adapted to the needs and availability of products to find ways to prosper. The information about how they made combs and hats during their history showed how they could change industries.
Cannot wait to see where and what you all did in England! Cheers, Mich
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Post by Deleted on Jun 1, 2011 16:09:11 GMT
I agree, your accommodation looks very relaxing. What was the food like there?
Tod, I've heard that Namibia is a very interesting place to visit, would you ever go there again or would it be too unstable a place to try and be in this climate? Also Zimbabwe interests me, but there seems to be some kind of political unrest going on there or so I've been told? The other thing I'm wondering is what is the electricity/power like over there? Does it come and go or is it pretty good most of the time?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 1, 2011 16:41:14 GMT
Sorry for going off topic. Just ignore my questions if you want, Tod.
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Post by fumobici on Jun 1, 2011 17:27:24 GMT
Absolutely fascinating and quite different from what I would have expected. Another place I want to go to!
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Post by Deleted on Jun 1, 2011 17:35:41 GMT
Fumobici, maybe we can go at the same time? Together with others who want to do this trip, we can meet Tod up there and have a real anyportinastorm meet-up?
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Post by tod2 on Jun 2, 2011 9:34:40 GMT
We have now spent the second night stop and are well and truly getting close to Cape Town. Pepper Tree Cottage was self catering and cost R600 for the night for 3 of us IE; $88 or 61Euros. Two bedrooms but only 0ne large bathroom and not en-suite. That price is still reasonable for South Africans. Joining the main route from Johannesburg to Cape Town, namely the N1 highway we are faced with a long ribbon of tar straight ahead for Km after mile!(LOL). To break the monotony we notice something odd on the railway line running next to us. It's a massive train wreck to say the least. Left just where and how it happened nothing has been moved. The only noticeable thing is they have cut huge gaps in the rail cars to allow the removal of the grain it was carrying. Some still in a big pile, some starting to grow and the rest was enjoyed by birds and a group of baboons which we could hear moving around inside the mangled wreck. On the road again we are delighted when we see little 'ol England in the distance. The completely British town of Matjiesfontein (pronounced - My keys fon tane) has been beautifully restored by the owner of the town and hotelier, Rawdon. What a great job he has done. Notice another pepper tree - they are everywhere in the Cape area! And I'm only 5,760 miles from my beloved Paris! No town is complete without a red London bus. The magnificent Lord Milner Hotel- Mum having a little rest in the foyer- The dining room And there is our "Vicky" sitting and watching patrons at the bar- The famous John Bull The British breakfasts listing Kippers, Kedgeree, Eggs & Bacon, Marmalade and The morning after! We had lovely scones & tea in the little cafe before carrying on with the last leg of the journey - The only Pommy accents we heard were tourists doing the same as us. The scenery changes dramatically as the beautiful Cape mountains come into view. Rolling vineyards cling to the slopes and soon we are driving right through them! To end off, this piece from Rudyard (who's autograph I have )- Kipling, celebrating the romance of the Empire, saw the essence, challenge and romance of southern Africa. In "The Native Born" (1894), he speaks for those who left Britain for the perilous experience of the New Dominions: "To the home of the floods and the thunder, To her pale dry healing blue - To the lift of the great Cape combers, And the smell of the baked Karoo To the growl of the sleucing stamp-head - To the reef and the water-gold, To the last and the largest Empire, To the map that is half unrolled!" This link will tell you much more about a 'must see' in South Africa: www.matjiesfontein.co.za/index.html(The music you hear is a very familiar South African tune about a train ride to Matjiesfontein, made famous by the singer Sonja Heroldt.) Couldn't resist this UTube - Next: Amazing Cape Town , jewel of South Africa.
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Post by mickthecactus on Jun 2, 2011 12:33:31 GMT
Tod2, I've only just caught up with this. Absolutely, absolutely wonderful and fascinating. Thank you so much.
So pleased that you quoted Kipling - my favourite author and poet, highly misunderstood and highly underrated (IMHO).
The pictures on the wall -
Euphorbia stellaespina (Irecently posted pictures of seedlings in the C&S thread) Hoodia bainii (bit of a giveaway as the name is on the picture....) Pleiospilos sps. (not sure which one though)
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Post by tod2 on Jun 2, 2011 13:16:19 GMT
Thanks Mick - just seen your reply!
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Post by tod2 on Jun 2, 2011 14:50:20 GMT
Oh dear - some of my photos have disappeared! Could this be because I deleted them from my Imgur upload after posting them here? Looks like I have lots of repair work to do......
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Post by mich64 on Jun 2, 2011 14:52:30 GMT
Tod, that is such a charming town. That has to be the most ornate Post Office I have ever seen! The Hotel is magnificent. The antiques there, oh wow, the cash register alone...
Where did that circular iron staircase lead to?
The Shell gas pumps must be antiques as well, they do not look anything like what we have here. My husband actually worked for Shell Canada for 9 years.
Your mom must really have enjoyed this trip.
Cheers, Mich
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Post by Deleted on Jun 2, 2011 19:44:33 GMT
Your mother looks really happy to be making this trip, tod. I just wish that my mother could remember a few things because every time I take her around, I always wonder "Is this the last time she is going to see this?"
The abandoned train wreck is incredible.
My vision of "Victorian England in South Africa" was in Port Elizabeth. It is so strange for us visitors to see such faithful recreations of England so far away.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 2, 2011 20:39:10 GMT
Oh dear - some of my photos have disappeared! Could this be because I deleted them from my Imgur upload after posting them here? Looks like I have lots of repair work to do...... Tod, YES, that is why! Everything is showing now. You must have been really busy. This is so wonderful, I can hardly begin to tell you how much I'm enjoying it. You all had lovely accommodations. I had to laugh about the pepper trees. You would LOVE it here, as they're all over the place, sometimes used to closely line both sides of the roads into rural towns. As always, your pictures are great. That middle one of the train wreck, the one with a single car in it, is stellar. You said that the owner of Matjiesfontein restored the town. Was it abandoned before he got it? Also, how does one own a town? (just in case I want to buy one - ;D) The town is darling. If I'd seen those photos with no explanation, I might have guessed it was somewhere in Australia. That tall gas pump was a blast from the past. They had those in Spain when I was a kid. My brother & I couldn't wait for the car to need gas, so we could watch the little propeller thing going around. That picture of the hotel's foyer, with your lovely mother in it, has exactly the same configuration as in old houses where I'm from, in "English" Louisiana. The ceilings, the bar, and the fireplaces are just beautiful. And it was fun seeing the hotel in the spooky ad, too. Magnfificent mountain vistas! Kipling ... highly misunderstood and highly underrated (IMHO). Ditto! Did I ask you this already -- how did your mother like the trip? Was she really excited? I guess you all had to pace yourselves to keep from tiring her out.
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Post by tod2 on Jun 3, 2011 12:29:31 GMT
Kerouac - If you thought Port Elizabeth was Victorian wait till you see my 'lil old town! I will do a photo-essay sometime and show everyone around (revealing the good, the bad, and the ugly!) Yes, I am pleased that my mother, although quite frail at times, still has a mind as sharp as a needle - OK, not ALL the time as she does get confused slightly from time to time, but can appreciate her surroundings and what is going on in the world. To my way of thinking your mum has her feet in both this world (YOU) and a prison(HERS). It is very sad but maybe one day they will discover a cure.
Thanks for your input Mich!
Bixa - I am going to leave the re-uploading till I have finished the rest of the photo-essay. I am foxed by you being able to see all except 1, but I have at least 25 missing!??
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Post by Deleted on Jun 3, 2011 13:08:56 GMT
I only have picture #16 in the first post missing at the moment.
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Post by tod2 on Jun 3, 2011 14:06:32 GMT
Same as Bixa - so I wonder why I cant see so many......
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Post by Deleted on Jun 3, 2011 16:47:33 GMT
Just facinating. I like that sign indicating just how far other places are. Nice touch. The trees give it away! It's not the real England after all The mooseheads in the wall look so similar to what you would see here. Really enjoyed this photo essay, thanks, tod.
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Post by tod2 on Jun 6, 2011 12:40:23 GMT
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