Die Roete van die Cloetes

Ons het weer veilig aangekom op die plaas, na 'n heerlike dag deur die groen middeland. Eerste stop was Hilton waar die kids 'n wens gemaak het in 'n wensput. (Ons het eintlik net koffie gesoek, dis hoekom ons daar gestop het). Hulle was so opgewonde oor die nuwe ding dat altwee vergeet het om te wens voor hulle die geldjie ingegooi het! Gelukkig het Pieter nog bietjie muntstukke gehad en hulle het weer 'n "beurt" gekry. Charma was onmiddelik teleurgesteld en gesê hulle het sekerlik die ding verkeerd gebou want haar wens het nie waar geword nie. Toe ons vra wat sy gewens het, toe sê sy haar wens was dat ons daar by die stop plek vir haar 'n klomp paas eiers koop. By Howick het ons natuurlik na die waterval wat 95m hoog is gaan kyk en die kinders was behoorlik disgusted toe ek hulle vertel dat daar 'n seun in 1940 daar afgeduik het want sy vriende het het hom ge"dare" vir £20. Van daar af is ons na die Karkloof waterval toe wat...

Ons was nou heerlik vir 'n hele week in Umzumbe, naby Hibberdene. Son en see en heerlikheid! Ons bure - Paul en Zelda het vir ons hulle week gegee hier, hoe wonderlik! Ons het lekker gewerk en gerus, oppad hierheen het ons die eerste deel van die anglo-zulu slagveld roete gery volgens ons boek en ons het Isandlwana en rorke's drift besoek. Dis waar die Zulus die Engelse laat les opsê het. Bo-op Isandlwana  Wat 'n amazing ervaring om op die grondpaaie te ry in zululand. Aan die einde van daai dag het ons by Fugitives drift lodge gestop om ietsie te drink. David Rattray het die plek begin en sy seun het dit by hom oorgeneem. Hulle het ongelooflike werk gedoen tov navorsing oor die zulu oorloë en hulle het 'n pragtige plek waar mens kan oorslaap en begeleide toere saam met hulle doen. Ons het laat die aand eers aangekom by ons huisie by die see en heerlik geslaap. Die week was ook vol opwinding: Port Shepstone was ons eerste lokaas want die man en die kinders...

Ons is veilig op die plaas! Dit was 'n vreeslike storie om alles in te probeer kry in ons pajero (dink net as ons nog net die polo gehad het hoe hectic DIT sou wees!) Gepak!! Maar mnr Cloete is 'n tetris-kampioen en hy het tjoef tjaf elke dingetjie ingepas gekry. Ons het effens op 'n knop gesit heelpad hierheen want baie goed gaan sommer op die plaas agterbly. 'n Groot verassing was dat ons met alle wiele op die fietse hierheen gery het, maar op die plaas gekom het ons met die afpak besef een wiel (van my fiets) is skoonveld.  Die rit hiernatoe was ook nogal besaai met emosies soos karre op die pad. Almal oppad langnaweek toe: Jammerte dat ons nie by almal uitgekom het om koebaai te sê nie, bekommernis oor die jaar wat voorlê,  onsekerheid oor ons huis wat nog nie huurders het nie  en diepe denke oor wat alles dalk gaan verander in die tyd wat ons weg gaan wees. Maar soos tyd meeste dinge heelmaak, so het 'n rustigheid oor ons gekom soos die pad...

If this were a pregnancy, the third trimester would now be almost over. We have now been on our roadtrip since the 26th of April. Today is the 17th of July. It feels like we can go on doing this forever. The nice part is that we have missed some of the coldest days in Pretoria... while our friends were posting pictures of their gardens freezing over, we were on the beach in our swimming costumes. Scenes from the Richards Bay Parkrun We are still in KZN - the province that keeps on giving. I have seen places I have never seen before in my life. We have managed to get through all the necessary school work as well as all the office work. It feels like we can conquer anything. We feel so privileged to be able to do this! I think we have actually done quite well in terms of packing. We have not packed anything that has not been touched during the first 2 months. (I do still think we can make do with less clothes though.) We have managed to fit in a broad spectrum of things t...

Our second month was just great. We found a nice little flat in Kingsburgh, right on the beach - (for such a bargain) for the whole month. We booked through Airbnb, which seems to be a little overpriced these days, but still has very good deals every now and then (especially for new listings). Staying there made us feel like royalty - and life became very slow and relaxed. Some "highs" were  Declan had the opportunity to learn how to surf! The kids made some friends and we visited some old ones We went rock climbing in the valley of a thousand hills! Something I have realised was that homeschooling is not so hard to do afterall. The kids are busy with schoolwork everyday for 3 to 4 hours and on most Fridays we skip the rigidity and do something relaxed like reading or playing boardgames. I suppose the real test will be when we're back again to see how they cope with normal school again. For now though, everything is working out fine.  😊

“The hills and valleys of Natal are the face of a beautiful woman, destined to watch the deaths of many of her suitors. In her smile is a compassionate understanding of the enigma of man’s inhumanity to his fellow creatures in a land large and rich enough to sustain them all. -Reader’s Digest Illustrated Guide to Southern Africa, page 334 “The Blood-Stained Eden” Ncandu Falls, close to Newcastle Our first month on our 12 month long roadtrip has passed by so quickly. So many things have happened and we have experienced so many different things ...so therefore I have the need to record some thoughts. Our roadtrip through South Africa is one heck of a task, firstly because this country of ours is so vast and beautiful. Kwazulu Natal is proving to be a great place to start, but I fear we are struggling to move on to our next circle. Instead of spending one month per circle, we will now be spending the second month in the same circle.However in the second month, we have...

The Anglo-Zulu wars are not something I knew of before, or learnt about at school for that matter. We learnt mainly about the Great Trek of the Voortrekkers and a little about the Anglo-Boer war. I have read that our minister of education is planning to include more African history in our school curriculum and I think that it will be a good thing, unless the pendulum is just swinging all the way to the other extreme by not including the history of all the peoples in South Africa (Afrikaner, English, Zulu, San, Xhosa... so many to mention!) So on our way down to the coast, we decided to follow a route in this book of ours: The Anglo-Zulu Battlefields route. In the book it consists of 3 days, but we only managed to do the first day. Our first stop was the battlefield of Isandlwana. The battlefield at Isandlwana - the white rocks are strewn far and wide around this hill and mark the places where the British fell. Apparently the British gave the...

In Zulu, the word "isivivane" means to "throw your stone upon the pile". Our book "Op Pad in Suid-Afrika" ( http://www.loot.co.za/product/b-p-j-erasmus-op-pad-in-suid-afrika/xhjf-2791-g650 ) also available in English ( http://www.loot.co.za/product/b-p-j-erasmus-on-route-in-south-africa/jvws-2791-g480 ) had a very short little paragraph under the section about Umzumbe (where we spent a week) telling the story of how King Shaka's "isivivane" was still at the spot where he made it in 1828.  It said that Shaka picked up a stone in his left foot, muttered a prayer, took it with his right hand, spat on it and put it on the ground. All of his men then followed suit and they created a huge pile of stones. This was in order to gain favour from the ancestors for his next invasion. (into Pondoland) We were immediately curious about this interesting place and I started googling for some more information. I came across this article on the Umz...

So the last month that we stayed in our house (April) was very hard :-( The thing is, when packing up and moving.. even when it is into storage, we still experience it as trauma. We listed our home in February already to rent it out, and we had had some viewings, but no takers. Mr Cloete asked one of the agents what the people were saying about the house, and she said that they do not like the kitchen and they think it is too much money to ask for a place like ours. The thing is, we have been living in our house for almost 4 years now, and we LOVE it! And obviously we no longer saw all the things a tenant would see as "wrong" when viewing our house. We had worked so hard at transforming an old neglected house into something we loved. and we felt that it was BEAUTIFUL :-).... obviously they didn't share our opinion. Anyway so in the very last week that we were still in our circle, we decided to do some paint touch-ups a...

The start of the road into Gamkaskloof. If you go straight, you carry on with the Swartberg pass (which is also amazingly beautiful) Warning sign at the start of the road The memorial to the guy who arranged for the road to be built Suddenly none of us had anything left to say. In absolute silence we struggled down the last 10 kms of the 400 metre drop into the kloof. I kept on thinking how great it was that we had bought the Pajero... the Polo would have made the ride a little more...er .... ominous. The winding road down into the kloof Breathtakingly beautiful scenery surrounded us. The barren mountaintops of the Swartberge had transformed into something magically fruitful in the kloof. Beauty on the outside with trembling on the inside made for a feeling of ecstacy only unventured roads can bring. Contrasts everywhere. Nerve-wrecking to say the least. I hate to admit it, but I was glad tha t Mr Cloete ended up coming with on this trip that was mea...