Tag: 2019 roadtrip

We’re back

Posted on

Well… that was a wonderful family adventure. I’ll try to find time before my next trip (Tuesday) to organise some thoughts on the places we stayed, ate and visited but generally, they were really great, we met some lovely people and we had some amazing experiences.

I’ve not really had a chance to have a good look at the photos, but my first impression is that there is nothing remarkable in there. Not that this was a ‘togging trip, but that’s still a little disappointing.

QUICK BREAK HERE AS ENGLAND WIN THE CRICKET WORLD CUP.
My fok, Marelize. That was amazing.

Today has been all about those little jobs that stack up when you are away for a while. Some plumbing, some electrics, some washing, and sorting the kids out ready for school tomorrow. It’s all done, we’re all ready, and the last whirlwind week sadly seems an age ago already.

More tomorrow, maybe some photos (although maybe not), and maybe even some exciting live blogging of the ironing as I get ready for an eye-wateringly early flight on Tuesday morning.

I know you can hardly wait.

The long drive home

Posted on

If all has gone according to plan, we should slip gently over the 1,500 km mark today on our way back to Cape Town. Plenty of driving, plenty of sights… I guess.

I’m writing this a week ago, so I’ve no idea how our road trip went.

We’re straight out partying this evening, but tomorrow will likely bring a plethora (or more) of photos uploaded to Flickr.

Thanks for your patience.

Look at the stars…

Posted on

Please hold thumbs, cross fingers and make sacrifices to your given deity that we get some clear skies this evening.

If all has gone well (yes, I wrote this last weekend), we’ll be in famous (and infamously chilly) stargazing location, Sutherland, and I’ll definitely by braving the sub-zero temperatures tonight, assuming there aren’t any clouds between me and the sky.

So if you’re happy for your favourite blogger to risk hypothermia in order that I can try to create something beautiful, pray for a cloudless sky, and I’ll promise to share any results once we’re back just 6000 miles from civilisation…

Stay warm, folks.

Destination: Mikey’s Fontane

Posted on

I’ve never had a formal Afrikaans lesson, but I’ve lived here long enough to (as with my German and French) learn just about enough to not quite get by.

We’re heading into Mikey’s Fontane today. That’s what the locals call Matjiesfontein, when they’re not calling it home.

With a name like that, you wouldn’t expect that the town was founded by a Scotsman, but it was. He wasn’t even called Mikey – he was James Douglas Logan. In fact, Matjiesfontein means the fountain (or spring) of the little reeds: the sedges used by the original inhabitants to make mat flooring for their huts.

Steeped in colonial history, it’s allegedly like stepping back in time, back to the days when it was a popular Victorian spa town, and sprang up mainly as a stop off on the main railway line across the Cape.

The town also has connections to the Jameson Raid and the Anglo-Boer War.
Plenty to fill our eager minds, then.

Party weekend

Posted on

It’s been a very busy weekend, with the mother-in-law’s 80th yesterday and the daughter’s 11th today. Mrs 6000 has done an incredible amount of work in planning both parties and consequently they both went wonderfully. Seriously, such fun.

Have you ever seen such a grand table for an 11 year old?

Me neither. We are completely knackered though.

Tomorrow, after a very good night’s sleep, we head out north and east into SA (mainly because you really can’t go very far south and west from here).

Blog posts will continue (they’re written). Road trip photos will be shared when and where I can. The ‘gram should be your first stop.