Skipping XMas in
Clarens
December 2009
I
said ‘skipping XMas’ - not skipping ‘pleasure!’
Thursday, 24 December
2009
We arrived in Clarens, Free State,
around 1pm. It’s about 3-4 hours’ drive
from Gauteng. With most places fully booked or asking
ridiculous high prices, we found Lake
Clarens
self-catering. Years ago we spend a
weekend at the Lake Clarens Guesthouse and enjoyed it immensely.
The self-catering unit or ‘annex 5 & 6’ as
they call it, is quite big inside. 2 Bedrooms
with queen-sized beds (1 en-suite), open plan lounge and dining room with 2
more single beds in the lounge area.
Square-sized kitchen with table and another bathroom. Lovely old sewing machines are on wooden
armoires, even a small one (Hein said for underwear.) We chose the en-suite bedroom, which proved
to be a not-so-good-choice. The shower didn’t work properly.
Outside, down a few steps, is a typical English
garden. Roses and other flowers all
mixed up – absolutely lovely!!
A big
lawn with a lovely old tree and a braai - made from a wheel rim.
With our 2 crates for clothes & kitchen
stuff, we sometimes load shirts and tops hangers-and-all in the car. Packing them in wardrobes are then
quick-quick.
Driving into town, we drove around the town
square and parked at Clementine’s Restaurant. Years ago, we were sitting inside the
restaurant, when a lady parked outside in a Cabriolet Audi. She was quite fetching and stepped out of the
car with a glass of white wine! It made
such an impression on Hein and myself.
Wolfgang, the owner, sat outside on the patio
and greeted us warmly and with a very firm handshake. Of course, a cold beer first. When the waiter brought Wolfgang’s lunch,
Hein ordered the same. Grilled fish with
mash & veggies.
I
ordered steamed asparagus with salmon & Hollandaise sauce. And some seed bread. It was
lovely!
Before I ordered my lunch, I saw ‘orange and
ginger flan’ on the dessert menu, but of course! It wasn’t in stock. When the waitress showed me the dessert menu
again after lunch, I decided on a ‘lemon meringue ice cream cake’. Gosh it was
good! Tasted just like a lemon meringue,
but all frozen up. Yum.
After a nap, we read some and then Hein started
the fire. It was lovely outside. You could see the mountains through the
garden trees. The wind started up a bit
later and realizing dinner won’t be prepared on the fire, we showered and
ducked into town.
Vito’s Italian Restaurant looked cosy, so we
stopped. The benefit of being a party of
2 is that a table can be arranged very quickly.
With a festive pre-XMas feeling all around,
people were laughing, taking photos and having a merry time. Crackers were on the table and we ordered
tiny bottles of wine. A red wine for
Hein, Rose for me – but mine was quite ‘soury’, so I just added loads of
ice. With both in the mood for pasta,
we decided to share snails and a small garlic-mozzarella focaccia bread as
starters. It was absolutely lovely and
the Rose wine tasted quite good with the food.
Hein decided on penne with a tomato, bacon
& chilli sauce. I also had penne
with a creamy tomato and veg sauce. Both
pastas were superb! But we only managed
half portions …
With no space for coffees or dessert, we
retired to bed.
Friday, 25 December
2009
Carrying our coffee and camping chairs onto the
lawn, we enjoyed the fresh morning smell.
Wet grass, flowers and birds
singing.
We exchanged gifts a few weeks
earlier. I bought Hein a set of ‘24’ DVD’s
– we watched it one whole weekend.
(The story of 24 is presented in the semblance of real time. Each season depicts a 24-hour period
in the life of Jack Bauer (played by Kiefer Sutherland), who works with
the United States government
as it fights fictitious terrorist threats to the United States. Bauer is often in
the field for the Los Angeles Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU) as it tries to
safeguard the nation from terrorist threats. The show also follows the actions
of associated CTU agents, government officials and terrorists).
With the DVD’s, we could watch the whole
‘Season 1’ together - and we were absolutely spellbound for the whole 24 hours!
When Hein was in London a few weeks ago, he bought me perfume
at duty-free – Coco Chanel. Mmmmm, so
spoilt.
After phoning our families, Hein started the
fire. Boerewors of course.
When we shopped for groceries the previous
day at the small supermarket, Hein found this divine pepper relish! Filled with green chopped-up chillies.
After breakfast, we realized one of the guys
washed our car. We gave the other roll
& boerewors and some home-baked banana bread to him.
We were ready for … Golden Gate National
Park. With a friendly guard at the
entrance, we signed in and gave him some Oreos cookies.
The Golden Gate
National Park is a Free State Game Reserve located in the north
eastern part of Free State
and derives its name from the brilliant shades of gold cast by the sun on the
sandstone cliffs, especially the imposing Brandwag rock.
Not even photos do justice to the absolute
beauty of the sandstone cliffs. Although
we drove around for a few hours, we couldn’t see any wild, except baboons.
While driving and gazing at the cliffs, a
movement caught my eye. Stopping to look
through the binoculars, we were amazed to see white goats under an overhanging
cliff, right at the top of a mountain.
Too far for our camera, we just shook our heads in wonder.
Back at the house, we had pastrami and turkey
rolls with cheese and coffee for lunch.
Later the afternoon Hein lit the fire.
With no wind threatening the flames, we had a lovely steak and spare
ribs with veg for dinner. Followed by a
heavy downpour of rain.
Saturday, 26 December
2009
Sipping our coffee on the patio, my eyes
focused on arum lilies – green on the outside, white on the inside. I have a soft spot for arum lilies – when we
grew up on a farm, arum lilies were wild in the veld. They just have such an understated elegance
to them.
After a bath shower, we stopped at the ‘Valley
Cats’ coffee shop in Clarens for breakfast.
Lovely shop filled with jams, honey, sweets and relishes. We took a table outside and ordered. My cappuccino arrived in cinnamon splendour!
Sipping our drinks, a small German child engaged
Hein in play. In-between the cats played
with little plastic cones, but scattered before the child.
With table numbers stuck to a little toy with
Prestik (re-usable putty-like adhesive),
I was the receiver of small amounts of Prestik pulled off. Then Hein stuck the number to his knee and the
child mimicked it perfectly. It was sooo
funny.
Hein’s scrambled eggs and bacon on Panini
looked good. My choice was a bit too
saucy – bacon, blue cheese, onion marmalade and mayonnaise in a wrap. They should have left out the mayo.
I walked all around town, browsing through
every little shop. But didn’t find
anything I wanted to buy.
We drove to Fouriesburg (about 25 km from
Clarens), a town just before Ficksburg (where
the cherry festival happens annually).
Lovely old sandstone houses and buildings, but really just a small town.
Back in Clarens, we visited the Street Café for
a burger. Sitting on the covered patio,
we had a lovely time watching by-passers through a light rain. Loads of overseas tourists, but no hunks or gorgeous
gals.
Reading our books, we passed a quiet
afternoon. No napping.
Wanting to leave early the next morning, I
decided on a chilli-mince pot with Portuguese bread for dinner. Squeezing sausage meat out of the casing, I
mixed it with a tin of butter beans, tin of green beans and a tin of
tomatoes. Added a small tin of tomato
paste, salt, pepper and 2 heaped tablespoons of pepper-chilli relish. It simmered for a while and was absolutely
lovely with the heated-up bread. Though
a bit fierce in taste, we drank milk and had some more.
Sunday, 27 December
2009
After a quick cup of coffee outside, we packed,
showered and drove off. In Bethlehem we stopped at
the Wimpy for a quick breakfast and milky coffee and arrived back home just
after 11.
Unpacked, loaded some washing and when we
joined our cats on the bed for a nap, Hein embraced his pillow, whispered sweet
nothings to it and promised to take it along next time.
Although exploring is in our blood, it’s always
nice to be back home again.
ooooooooooooooooooooooo
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