2009 July - Wakkerstroom

FREEZING IN WAKKERSTROOM – JULY 2009

Crispy, white summer sheets are amazing – but not when the temperatures are below zero!  The Wakkerstroom weekend was a last minute decision…..

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When we booked our 17^th wedding anniversary holiday, we decided it had to be ‘right-on-the-beach’ and preferably the milder Natal coast area.  A lovely chalet was found in Salt rock, but only from Wednesday, 29^th July. 

Debating over squeezing in a ‘low-budget-weekend-away’ or an expensive dinner in Johannesburg, we decided to drive to Wakkerstroom on Friday, 24^th July 2009.

Leaving Randburg at 3.30pm was not such a good idea …  driving an unknown road instructed by our female GPS in the dark … not such a good idea. 

With numerous trucks on pothole roads, we met the owners, Hannes & Susanne van der Walt, of the Glass Art Studio Guesthouse in Bethal at 6pm.  We still had 134 km to go and it was getting colder by the minute …

At 8pm, we stopped in front of the Wakkerstroom Country Inn – it was already zero degrees!!!  Hein dropped me off to order dinner (except for our coffee machine, we weren’t geared for self-catering), while he fetched the keys.

With a fireplace and green tea to warm me, I checked the menu.  Hein wanted something hearty.  Steak and kidney pie caught my eye (I’m a poet and I don’t even know it – ha ha).  I dithered between a pasta dish and a fish/prawn curry.  And made the wrong choice …

Hein’s dish was sublime!  Hearty, robust and full of flavour.  It came in a soup bowl topped with a small pastry lid.  It looked like the pastry shrunk.  My curry dish – for R80-something – had 4 prawns, 4 small pieces of ‘monkfish’ and a tiny saucer-full of curry sauce.  With rice.  Overpriced, under-delivered and under-fragranced.  

We stopped at the guesthouse after 9pm, with the temperature below zero.  No carport or garage, so poor ole Rissiepit (our 4x4) had to brave it outside.  Hein immediately lit the inside braai cum fireplace with smoky results.  While unpacking, I’ve switched on the wall heater in our bedroom and closed the door to keep some heat inside.

It’s a 4-bedroomed house with 2 bathrooms, for R170/person/night.  Susanne has the glass studio and several examples decorated the house.  The lounge has 1 chair, a 2-seater couch and a 3-seater couch – each one of them lazy boys.  (Or kick-out-chairs).  We moved the 2-seater couch in front of the fireplace, kicked out the legs and watched the flames.

Noticing only 1 average thickness duvet on the bed, I searched and found only 1 big blanket and 1 small blanket.  Imagine if there were 8 people in the house under those freezing conditions …

And then having to climb into bed between freezing cold summer sheets.  Do guesthouse owners not consider things like that? 

Saturday 25 July 2009

At 7am we awoke on Saturday morning.  I looked through the window and saw frost on the yellow grass.  Pulled on a jersey and sheepskin slippers (sooo glad I packed those) and walked outside with the camera.  My poor baby car …  frost all over her!  Hein pledged his love on her frosty window. 

Then we hurried inside, lit the smoky fireplace and had coffee and rusks.

Getting ready for brunch in town, I took a shower but warned Hein the spray wasn’t very good.  Enough of a handyman for a shower head, Hein unscrewed the head and with toothpicks cleaned the holes.  He had a marvelous shower.

One of the owners breed with Arabic horses – we did see horses with fluffy coats.  Were they Arabic?  Don’t know. 

 

From the farm road, we saw the whole of Wakkerstroom.  And then laughed when we saw the outside informal settlement – almost bigger than the whole town.  With a beautiful purple house amidst all the other brown houses.

At the Farm Cheese Stall (a little house) we stopped to have a browse.  Bought some wonderful dried wors (droëwors), saw more of Susanne’s glass work, asked for a nice brunch spot and where the rugby would be shown.  And that’s where the small-town-cuteness wore off a bit … because the locals are very vague in directing you.  And you drive and drive through town, from the one end to the other, without finding the spot.

We decided on The Garret for brunch.  A small coffee shop with high ceilings and scrumptiously good coffee.  Hein had a beer and opted for the omelet.  Probably made with only 1 egg, it was so small.  He liked it though.  

 Their breakfast menu is minute, so I had a choice between an omelet or ‘bacon, cheese, egg & mustard scones’ – and made another poor choice.  The scones were nothing spectacular – if I didn’t see the bits of bacon, it would have been just an ordinary salty-ish scone. But the raspberry jam was divine!  

We located the spot for rugby - ‘De Oude Stasie’ (Old Railway Station) outside town and went back to the house for a nap.  After 2 hours we lit the fire again, read some and then I went to have a lovely shower.  What a difference it was from my morning shower.

Arriving at ‘De Oude Stasie’, we saw this funny ‘bicycle-tram’ contraception.   

Good leg exercise.  The big screen was waiting for the game, the beers were cold and cheap and I had a most comfy chair.  I itched to read my book, but with that particular crowd and no lighting in the room, I thought it best to leave it in my handbag.  And watched the game.  But I firmly refused to dine there.

With the final whistle, we rushed to the car and I started to phone around for dinner.  In Wakkerstroom’s newsletter a few mentions were made of ‘Xmas in July’ at local restaurants.  First I tried the Mucky Duck, but the owner closed the kitchen and was on her way home.  Then I phoned the Country Inn, but they were fully booked.  Realizing we might have made a mistake in not booking dinner, and dreading having to celebrate our anniversary with crisps, chocolates & coffee, I was referred to The Bistro.  They had a table for us.

Stopping outside The Bistro, I was first confused to step outside to read the sign - which said ‘Metamorphosis Studio’.   And then we entered the inner sanctum of gloriness!!

A lovely old house, doubling as art gallery and restaurant.  We entered the room and were embraced in warmth, ambience and conversation.  A skeleton dragon hangs from the ceiling, 4 small dining tables close to each other, a hearty fire, 2 lovely couples and Lizzie, the cook/owner, arty with long earrings in the one ear, studs in the other.  Xmas decorations tucked around statues and big, fat red and green chillies on the tables.  And the menu …

For starters we had pickled herring with olives, baby tomatoes, Wasabi mayonnaise and greens.  Light, subtly flavoured and tasty.  Conversations were flowing to and fro, while my eyes flitted around the room to all the artwork.  The whole atmosphere was too precious for my camera.  You will have to experience it yourself.

Hein chose the fillet, flambéed with 3 different liqueurs, and loved it!  I had rabbit with chorizo sausage, beans and olives.  Robustly flavoured, soft and juicy.  Lizzy nearly had a fit when she took my plate – why didn’t I finish my meal?  Because I had to save some space for dessert … she was happy.

The three dessert choices I can remember were:  Christmas bombe (fruitcake with ice cream, I think).  Nougat with rose-flavored-yoghurt.  The lady having it was urging me to choose it.  But from the start my eye was on the 3^rd choice:  hot chocolate pudding with berries.  And for the 3^rd time in one night, I made the right decision.  Sublime!!!!  Hein had a lovely bottle of red wine and we toasted everyone, talked, laughed and had a most memorable evening.

Until we slipped in-between those darn sheets again.  Hein was soon fast asleep – I tossed and turned, cold as anything. 

Sunday 26 July 2009

Waking on Sunday morning, I was so tired.  Hein made coffee and then we packed.  Looking forward to a nice breakfast, we thought we’ll skip Wakkerstroom and head to Volksrust for a Wimpy. 

Heading to town, I squinted when I saw something white and glistening next to the road.  A water pipe had a hole in with a thin stream of water bursting into the air – and it formed icicles in the grass.  Nature’s own art gallery.   

In Volksrust, about 30 km from Wakkerstroom, we refueled and saw this absolutely gorgeous explicitly explained notice:

The Wimpy was still closed, so we pushed on to Standerton, another 70 km.  I decided on a cheese burger, no chips, milky coffee and Hein ordered the Dagwood.  And for a few moments, I was totally blank when he ordered it – I could just not picture what a Dagwood looks like …

When my burger arrived, I squirted mustard & tomato sauce on the inside, lifted it with both my hands and chomped.  Absolutely divine!!!!  Exactly what I wanted. 

After breakfast we headed back home … and to our cosy winter sheets.

2007 - July - Sodwana Trip

 SODWANA – JULY 2007

For a total of 6 days, I didn’t wear any make-up (i.e. mascara, eye shadow) nor washed any dirty dishes!  Didn’t have to worry about food, except choosing from the menu.  No making the bed, sweeping the floor …

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Wednesday 25 July 2007

For our 15^th wedding anniversary, at  06:00 we left Joburg for Sodwana Bay.  When we passed Nigel, the temperature was -1 oC!

I packed hard-boiled eggs, left-over tjops and wors and some chicken sandwiches.  We drove slowly – all the small back roads.  Then through Pongola (quite close to Swaziland border) and the last 60km gravel road through little black villages.

It was quite impressive how they managed to keep their areas clean.  No plastic bags (the national flower) anywhere to see.  And the women were all busy cutting the grass next to the road with mean-looking panga’s.  The children also just waved.  All of them neatly dressed in their school wear.

After about 8 hours’ drive, we arrived at Mseni Lodge (www.mseni.co.za).  Before registering at the lodge, we tested the beach sand and Rissiepit took it all in her stride. 

All the chalets are separated from each other by trees, shrubs and bushes.  Ours were the honeymoon chalet and had a small patio, 1 bedroom, bathroom and small front area with 2 lounge chairs and coffee/tea facilities.  And a daily cleaner.  We did take our coffee machine with! (But had to buy fresh water on the 2^nd day, because the chloor content was horrible!)

I’ve mentioned to them about our anniversary, so a chilled bottle of JC le Roux, Le Domaine, was waiting for us. We kept it for later.  Also a bunch of wild flowers, a card and little orange flowers arranged in a heart. Quickly unpacked the clothes and went in search of a cold beer.

You could see the ocean from the upstairs pub, not from the restaurant.  We met Benson (not Hedges) at the pub and had a nice chat with him.  Our rates were dinner/bed/breakfast, so the menu was limited but changed every day.  We had very nice chicken livers, lamb chops (Hein) and fish and rice (me).  Hein tried the crème brulee, but it was quite a different version. 

We sat on the patio and drank the sparkling wine.  It was quite peaceful.

Thursday 26 July 2007

Glorious weather! We had coffee and decided to walk to the beach.  From the restaurant, it’s about 500m – down all the way! – through dense trees and shrubs.  

The beach was amazing!  Smooth and we were the only ones!  But boy!  The walk back left me totally out of breath.  Good exercise, though.

We had a choice of croissants, muffins and the usual English breakfast.  Then we just relaxed at the chalet with our books.  For lunch I had some divine chicken curry and steak, egg and chips for Hein. 

Later the afternoon we had coffee on the patio with quite a few small silver-blue monkeys running around.  I went inside to fetch some Woolworths mixed nuts (the plastic pouch), put it on the railing, took 3 steps into the chalet, turned around and the monkey had his prize!  Of course they managed to open the bag and had an absolute ball jumping around the trees, shaking the pouch.  We just laughed.

While Hein sat on the patio’s steps, he noticed this hole in the wood next to him.  And the little eggs.  Probably from gecko’s?!

Our dinner was a bit disappointing.  The shrimp cocktail was only mixed with tomato sauce, the beef schnitzel was bit oily and the chicken breast very salt.

Although the food wasn’t of a very high standard, most of the meals were adequate.  Must admit that I’ve had a lot worse in some fancy restaurants.  Like Hein called it – ‘koshuiskos’ (boarding school food).

Friday 27 July 2007

Morning (not a cloud in sight) - I was a bit stiff, especially my calves.  We had a nice breakfast and drove out to Mbazwana for some more fresh water.  It’s a little village, but with a nice Spar.

After a very nice vegetable curry and cheeseburger lunch, we had a nap.  Then we walked to the beach again, but this time I intended to get wet.  Luckily no-one else was there, so I actually went into the sea with my bikini.  Just at the shallow waters, though, not keen on the waves.

The photo (far left) is what a worm shed (I think).

After a nice dinner of fresh salad, fresh rolls and beef lasagna, we sat in bed reading.  (Yes, it’s a typical Hein-Alma holiday – no strenuous activities, just relaxing, resting and being.)

Saturday 28 July 2007

On Saturday morning (quite hot weather, again) after breakfast, we walked to the small supermarket close-by.  Well, 1 km away from the chalet.  So, once again, we had some exercise.  This supermarket is filled with just about anything – crocs sandals, floppies, t-shirts, bikini’s, fishing gear, food, fresh bread, children’s toys, etc etc etc.

Round about lunchtime we drove to a nearby pub, called “Maak ‘n Jol”.  (Remember this name, because it played a significant part at the end of our stay).  From the outside a bit scrappy, but very big inside and clean.  2 Young white girls behind the counter with a, very obvious Bull-supporter, older white man.  We had a few beers, some popcorn and he even offered us some giraffe biltong.  (Or so he said).  We wanted to stay for the rugby, but didn’t feel like driving back in the dark.

Hein watched the rugby in the pub and we had an average dinner of salad and calamari.

Sunday 29 July 2007

When we woke up Sunday, we just didn’t feel like dressing for breakfast.  We had a few cups of coffee in bed and then decided to drive to St Lucia for lunch.  About 154 kms.

We went to the Estuary first and then decided to buy pizzas and have them on the beach.  Very good idea.  Except Hein’s pizza wasn’t cooked through, so we spent about 10 min on the beach, bought Hein a cheeseburger-pie and drove all the way back. 

Dinner was a very mediocre chicken salad and nice beef curry.

Monday 30 July 2007

Monday morning (we paid till the Tuesday) we had a nice breakfast of croissants, muffins and eggs.

But I liked the tealight-candle idea.  It’s just sea sand in a brandy glass.

After reading for a bit, we felt like a different menu for lunch.  Remember the pub “Maak ‘n Jol”?  By 11:30 we drove out there, but they seemed closed.  We drove around for a bit and realized they are not open during the week.

Hein suggested that we pack and stay over on the way back home.  I said:  “But we’ve already paid for Monday night and then we’ll lose that money”.  But then after 2 seconds, admitted that I’m ‘gatvol’ and yes – let’s do it.

I packed half of our stuff and then went on-line to search for a guesthouse.  Literally looked on the map, saw Piet Retief.  Hmm, sounded historical, there’s bound to be some nice guesthouses.  Then saw the name “Dirkiesdorp”.  Now, that sounded very quaint. And they had quite a few lodgings.

But then my eye fell on ‘Wakkerstroom’.  Saw a lovely country inn there, reasonable rates and booked.  By 12:30 we were on our way.  It was a very nice, relaxing holiday, but I don’t think we’ll go back to Sodwana.  Been there, walked the beach, got the tan (or t-shirt).

Drove through Piet Retief (what a dull, yucky town) and then through Dirkiesdorp.  We shook our heads and laughed. It’s just a small black village.

With a bit of anxiety we drove into Wakkerstroom just before 5.  Filled up the tank and went to the inn.  Well, well, well.  For R240 per person b&b, what a pleasure. (www.countryinn.co.za)

 

Small lounge that’s part of your room with lovely old wooden floor (but polished a bit too much).  Bedroom (queen-size bed) with electric blankets and then an en-suite bathroom with corner bath and ‘fluffy white towels’.  (I always wanted one of those baths, but realized they are not so practical.  2 People cannot really fit in it and you can’t really stretch out, cause it’s too short).  But very nice, anyway.

The dining room area very tastefully decorated with carpets against the wall and loads of straw baskets.  They also have a coffee machine (Illy), so I was in coffee-heaven!!  Also some safe parking for Rissiepit.

Dinner was quite a surprise (although they mention on their website that the owners are ex-London chefs).  Started off with a tomato, mozzarella and basil pesto salad (bottom left).  We were totally blown away.  The taste…  And the presentation!  Hein had chicken, ham and lemon sauce with a pastry on top, potato croquettes and pumpkin (bottom right).  Absolutely yummy.  My ostrich carpaccio was nice, but my potted blue cheese with melba toast, just a tad too rich!

Wakkerstroom has a few outdoor activities, the main attraction the birdlife.  While we waited for breakfast, 2 big white men and a youngish girl walked in for breakfast.  One of them had a strange accent and when we questioned them, the one guy and the girl actually stays in New York.  The other guy stays, hang onto your seats, about 1 km away from us in Sundowner, Joburg.

They are on a pilgrimage to visit their great-grandparents’ graves.  Their grandparents came from Afrikaans as well as the British side.  So they actually fought against one another during the war and then ended up marrying.  The one side started the town Volksrust (just a few kms away from Wakkerstroom) and the other side started Wakkerstroom.

What a wonderful story!

After breakfast we checked out and drove through the town and took these photo’s. 

Bottom photo is the FNB Bank.  And what a quaint garage! Top photo.

We were back home by 12.  Unpacked, did some washing, fetched the kids and guess what was for dinner – BRAAIVLEIS!  Lovely lamb chops, chicken sausages, tomato-feta-basil salad and jacket potatoes with cottage cheese.

And what did I drink?  JC le Roux’s Le Domaine. 

Everything back to normal again.  Dirty dishes, dirty floors, washing, etc etc.