Part 1:Johannesburg to Hanover…
We head out on the N1
Johannesburg, Bloemfontein, Springfontein,
Gariep Dam,Colesburg
and finally Hanover.
In 2009, in my “new” second-hand Jeep,
I drove my daughter, Jayne, to her new life in Cape Town.
It took us nine days to get from Johannesburg to our destination.
We stayed over in Winburg( a BIG mistake),
Graaff-Reinet where we had an entire house to ourselves.
We stopped fro 3 days in Oudtshoorn, where my Dad grew up
and finally to Paarl, where we discovered my Mom’s childhood home.
Time for Jayne to head back to Cape Town
And that meant only ONE thing…
*ROAD TRIP*
*ROAD TRIP*
I offered to accompany her as co-driver/navigator.snack dispenser
This trip was only going to be over two days.
The 1400 kms split exactly in half by a stop-over in Hanover
We never did find out what the “Hazardous Objects” were!
With the amount of load-shedding, power shortages we are currently experiencing
perhaps these will, one day, be obsolete?
The N1 was clean and well maintained.
We did come across several cleaning crews.
This unfortunate Dragon-fly became a “hood ornament”.
However, we did stop to remove it from the wiper blade.
It was alive when I gently placed it on a blade of grass.
Our hope was that it survived…
I noticed several dilapidated houses along the side of the road.
Who lived/lives there?
Is the electricity still connected?
Sitting in the passenger seat gave me the opportunity to take photos.
Some of the truck drivers were well behaved…
Others would hog the fast lane in an attempt to overtake other trucks.
On several occasions Jayne had to drive into the emergency lane
to avoid oncoming traffic.
“A dream is a serious thing”
Yes it is!
Motivational truck messages?
A business opportunity perhaps?
Rain clouds build…
I really thought that we would miss this HUGE electrical storm
But no such luck…
It crept up on us with speed.
Now I know what “storm-chasers” feel like.
And then the rain came.
One of the few vehicles who turned their headlights on.
Well done to this driver.
The passing kilometers could be counted in windmills.
The iconic “emblem” of the Karoo.
We reach our overnight destination.
We made good time…stopping along the way for both snacks and petrol
This was to be our “home” for the night.
What a wonderful surprise it turned out to be!
The Bun Clody Guesthouse will be covered in depth in another posting.
I need to do it justice…and to introduce YOU to the couple who own it.
Before having supper we were entertained by this flock of Lesser Kestrels.
A summer visitor from Europe, they can be found throughout the area.
At night, before roosting, they command the air space.
Some interesting facts about this tiny bird.
They leave their European homes( Siberia and Kazakhstan) in October/November.
They stay in the Karoo until March when they start their 10000 km return trip.
It might only be a tiny town,
half-way between Johannesburg and Cape Town,
but the Christmas lights are still up.
Trivial car fact #1: Not sure which side your petrol cap is?
The needle of your fuel gauge always points towards it.
We survived the day and the music.
Jayne drove like a seasoned professional.
And the car behaved really well…
Thanks to “Honest Mech” for servicing it
and making sure all was in order before we set off.
We survived the day and the music.
Jayne drove like a seasoned professional.
And the car behaved really well…
Thanks to “Honest Mech” for servicing it
and making sure all was in order before we set off.
Seeing my daughter was driving, she got to choose the music.
Not all of it was what I would normally listen to on a long journey.
She did have 34 Queen tracks though…
But THIS is the track that I like to hear at least once on a road trip…
“Travel & Things” was an entrant in this competition.
Not a winner, but one of 24 travel Blogs that entered
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