Road Trip Day 30. Port Elizaberh - memories and history.

We've been in Port Elizabeth two weeks now and have only been to the beach once.

Both Brian and I have lived in PE at some time during our past. We've visited before as we both have family here.
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We decided to go for a picnic to Settlers Park which Brian had not gone to since before we were married. When we got there, it didn't feel safe to us. There were 2 beaten up combi taxis and about 2 other cars.  2 Homeless people (apparently they are called Valley People in Port Elizabeth)sat on two separate benches. We phoned our relatives and were told it probably was unwise to walk alone there. The Donkin Memorial site would be a safer bet.

Facing the Donkin is the Grey Institute building. When I was 11, our family moved to Port Elizabeth and I went to the Albert Jackson School in that building.

In the 1850's a large grant was made for the establishment of a school in Port Elizabeth which became known as the Grey Institute. It was completed in 1859. By 1900 the school had about a thousand pupils.  The building became too small for so many pupils and in 1915 the school moved to more spacious premises in Mill Park.

This building became the Pearson High School (1928 to 1941) and later the Albert Jackson Primary school.
It was sold to the Mediterranean Shipping Company a couple of years ago and restored to its former glory.

We hope to be able to look inside once the New Year festivities are over.

The Donkin Reserve was proclaimed an open space in perpetuity by Sir Rufane Donkin. His wife, Elizabeth, after whom the city is named, died at the age of 28, leaving behind a seven month old baby. A pyramid monument was erected by Rufane in her honour. The lighthouse was built in 1861 and now houses the Tourist Information Centre.

On the way home we passed the Horse Memorial.

Road Trip Days14 and 15. More adventure.

We had realised when we were trying to plug Cubby in at the municipal caravan park that something was wrong. We couldn't get any power even though my egg boiler worked at the plug. (the 4th outlet we tried)

After breakfast we went trying to find an auto-electrician that I had googled. He said he could help with the battery side of things but not the 220 volts. He was busy in the morning and short staffed but we could bring it in during the afternoon and he would try to help us. We asked if he knew of any electricians in town. He directed us to one next to the Pick n Pay parking. There a friendly and  efficient black electrician diagnosed the problem as being in our lead and made a new lead for us.

While we were waiting, we went to look at the Jan Rupert Centre where there was an exhibition of tapestries by Jean Lucrat who revolutionised the tapestry industry in France by cutting down on the number of colours and avoiding the gold and silk threads thus making tapestries more accessible to ordinary people and not just monasteries and castles.

After a hurried lunch in Cubby we went to see the Urquart House which had a collection  similar to that of Reinett House but not as big.

In the same grounds was the Military Museum. Graaff-Reinet was garrisoned by imperial troops but also had experience of the later guerilla warfare with its conco-militant problem of colonial rebels. From April 1901 the trial of Cape Rebels and captured Boers, accused of atrocities, was in the hands of the military.

We briefly rushed through the library museum because time was running out and we wanted to make Somerset East by nightfall. We learned about fracking, saw fossils and bushman paintings and learned about slavery in the Cape Colony.

We had chosen to travel to Port Elizabeth via Pearston, Somerset East and Cookhouse and not via Jansenville and Kirkwood - Brian was keen to show me the town of Pearston as he had relieved as teller/accountant at the Standard Bank branch there for two months at the end of 1972, hadn't been back and wanted also to see how the town had changed. Not only was the branch no longer in operation, but there was very little he could reminisce about. The only interesting thing was the church.

We had identified a place to stay near Somerset East called Die Kaia, from our caravan and camping book. We phoned the number given but there was no answer and so we decided to go there, but after traveling 8 km on a gravel road we found a notice saying there was a private function and it was closed. We phoned again, then followed the farm road a little way towards the caravan park but turned around when we saw how steep and bad the road was.  We thought the owners might even be away for Christmas so we went back into Somerset East and followed a sign to another caravan park. This was another municipal park, very isolated with broken and unattended ablution blocks and lights that didn't work so we decided to give it a miss.

We had passed a Methodist Church (Brian's uncle was at one stage the minister here) so we thought maybe we could phone the minister and ask whether we could just park in the garden and plug into the electricity. It was getting dark by this time and I had just got the number of the Methodist Manse from Telkom when the lady phoned back from Die Kaia. We agreed to meet her at a petrol station and follow her (quite hair-raising in the dark, down a steep and rocky road).

By now it was so late that we decided to eat biltong rolls for supper and go to bed. leaving the setting up for the morning.

So here we are now on a beautiful farm, on the banks of the Fish River. We have spent the day recuperating and catching up with business and just enjoying the view, the bird-life and the peace.

Tomorrow we head for Port Elizabeth. I won't be doing daily posts - I'll only post when we have been somewhere interesting.

Road Trip days 13 . Graaf Rienet

 Cubby managed the steep incline very well. We nearly had to change down from 2nd gear to 1st but we got to the top of the hill just in time.
Graaf Rienet is a charming Colonial town . It was established in 1786 and was named after the first governor general of the Cape, Jacob van der Graaff and his wife, Cornelia Rijnet. As usual there is a church in the middle - but what a church! apparently it is modeled after Salisbury Cathedral.

The Congregation was established in 1792.

Inside is just as beautiful with stained glass windows and beautiful wood.

We went to a nursery, The Bue Magnolia, for breakfast and I indulged my craving for a scone with jam and cream.

Then it was explore time. We parked Cubby in a quiet street and went further on foot. There are a number of museums and historical houses. We bought a combo ticker for 4 and Started with Rienet House. This was once the parsonage of Andrew Murray. He was called from Scotland to be the minister of the Dutch Reformed Church. First he went to the Netherlands to learn to speak Dutch. I suppose today we would regard him as a missionary. He married a young girl of 16 from Cape Town who he had met two years before while attending Synod. They had 16 children of whom 11 survived. All the boys became minister and the girls married ministers. they lived in the house for 40 years.

Outside was a water wheel that could be activated with a R2 coin.  I think it started a pump which caused a stream of water to flow over the vanes.

Dolls house made of porcupine quills

Stove made in Norway

Typical 4 poster bed.

There was so much to see and so much to read! I liked the story of a wax doll that was given to a little girl. Her mother warned her not to leave the doll outside or it would melt. The little girl forgot and left it outside and it melted. She cried so much that her mother flet so sorry for her that she bought her another one. This time she looked after it so well it was donated to the museum on her death.

I even found registration certificates for two Graaf Rienet Girl Guide Companies.

We only got to do the one museum but decided to spend two nights and see the others the next day. Even the town itself is so pretty.

We had decided to stay at the Nature Reserve which we had identified on our way in. However, when we went to sign in we found out that it would cost twice as much as our budgeted amount including the conservancy fees. They told us about another caravan park in town and although we had been advised by our motor-home club members not to stay in the park in town, we did. It is your typical municipal park - used to be good but now fallen into disrepair.  Construction workers stayed in the cottages and trucks and cars were constantly coming and going although there was only one other caravan. In the bathrooms there were broken showers, cracked and stained baths, broken electrical plugs, constantly drizzling taps and even a door that looked like it had had a fist through it at some stage. On the plus side, there was hot water. We decided not to set up camp but just have our braai, go to bed and head out in the morning.  We could still continue our site seeing and then make for Somerset East in the afternoon.

Road Trip Day 12. Nieu Bethesda

I ran out of data so I couldn't do yesterday's post yesterday.

We moved from one extreme to the other as far as caravan parks go. At Gariep it took us more than half an hour just to get from our caravan site to the entrance of the resort. After some fairly hairy mountain passes we got to Nieu Bethesda and a caravan park that I could walk across in less than a minute.

It could take 6 caravans but we were the only one there. Again bathroom to ourselves with hot water and everything we needed.

From our campsite we walked across the foot bridge to visit the Owl House. It was the house of a school teacher, Helen Martins who was born in Nieu Bethesda and then returned after her marriage failed, to look after her aging parents. Her mother passed away and then after her father died she seemed to have been in a dark place in her life and started decorating her house to let in as much light as possible, replacing some of the windows with panes of coloured glass. She was an artist and with the help of workers from the village she filled her garden with cement sculptures, many with religious themes although owls, snakes and mermaids also feature prominently. She became something of a recluse, eventually taking her own life  by drinking caustic soda. I found it a fascinating place to walk through.

It was also interesting to see some of the old furniture and household items that were used in those days.

After visiting the Owl House, we tried to get to the fossil centre before 6 but we couldn't find it and then time ran out. Nieu Bethesda is a little Karoo town that seems to have managed to stop the clock and still does things the old way. The church has no electricity so doesn't hold evening services except once a year Carols by candlelight and some services by gas lamps.  

There are some beautiful gardens and interesting houses.

We felt a little sad to leave this morning - almost as if we had left part of ourselves behind. We were also a bit apprehensive about how Cubby would manage the steep incline out of town.

Road Trip Day 11. Gariep

We can see the harbour from our site

There is nobody between us and the water

This morning we woke up in holiday mode. We got up late, had a late breakfast and later went for a swim and ice cream.

The swimming pool was not very busy

This afternoon we got back into tourist mode. I had phoned to find out about a cruise on the dam. The lady told me that we had to be at the restaurant outside the Forever Resort to pay by 10 to 4 and then the boat would leave at 4pm. We thought if we left at 3.30 we'd be able to get to the restaurant by 3.50. We miscalculated the distance ( and the map we were given is obviously not to scale.) At 3.45 a different lady phoned to find out if we were still coming and it seemed that we were not going to make it. When we got to the security control of the resort we decided to split up. Brian would go the the restaurant and  pay and I would go down to the yacht club and tell the captain my husband was still coming and please not to leave before he got there.  The yacht club was back in the direction we had come from and again further than I thought. I saw I wasn't going to make it so I started doing scouts pace (20 running steps and 20 walking steps that we used to do at Guides) until I caught up with a group of people heading in the same direction and then I could finally slow down (and breathe)
At about 4.15 a car came down the slope and Brian got out and the boat could depart. We apologised to the other passengers.

The trip was very interesting.
The dam is currently 57% full. Cnstruction began in 1966 and was completed in 1971. The purpose is for irrigation, domestic and industrial use and power generation. It is the second largest man-made dam in the southern hemisphere after Kariba. The dam wall is 88m high and almost a kilometer long.
The electricity generated is fed into the grid and is annually 889 GWh.

After all the talk of drought it was lovely to see so much fresh water in one place. The perimeter is surrounded by nature reserves in an effort to help keep the dam unpolluted.

We turned around where 3 provinces intersect - Free State, Eastern Cape and Northern Cape.
Once again we drove through the harbour and admired the boats.

Brian and I could see Cubby from the jetty so we decided to cut across the low-water-area instead of going the long way around. 

We had a lovely braai and watched night fall over Gariep Dam. Tomorrow we hit the road again.

Road Trip Day 10. Philippolis and onward

Philippolis, the first town to be established in the province, was founded in 1823 as a mission station to reach the local Griqua people. It was named after Dr John Philip who was the superintendent of the London Missionary Society. Adam Kok II, the Griqua leader, settled here with his people in 1826. The kraal where he kept his cattle and horses can still be seen. In 1861 the Griquas left for Kokstad.

The Dutch Reformed Church was built on the spot where the original missionary church stood. During the Anglo-Boer War the church was converted into a fort and the windows of the spire were blocked with sandbags.

Other famous people who lived in Philippolis were Emily Hobhouse and Laurens van der Post, the author. Emily Hobhouse helped improve the lives of the Boers during the Anglo-Boer War and founded the first spinning and weaving school after the war  in 1905. 

Yesterday evening we climbed up a small hill to view the two naval cannons. They were presented by the Cape colonial government to Adam Kok III in 1840. They may have been used during the various wars between the Griqua, Basotho and Boers.

On the way back to the Kanon Guest House we saw The Shop - and it was open (6.45pm on a Saturday evening?). We looked around at some lovely antiques and art works. I was given a glass of port to sip while I browsed.

This morning we packed all our overnight things back into Cubby and spent some time looking around Philippolis.

We saw the Emily Hobhouse memorial garden......

......an interesting street sign......

....and the old jail.

Martha was our guide. Back in the main street we saw the Laurens van der Post memorial garden through a barred gate

and then we were on our way to Colesberg. (We decided to take the longer route to Gariep.)

We passed again the interesting old houses and old trucks on our way out.

The road to Colesberg was a main road between two country towns and this time we had to be careful of goats on the side of the road.

Colesberg is a slightly larger town with a choice of supermarkets and autobanks and petrol brands.

Like many other towns it is built around a church.

From Colesberg we got back onto the N1 and backtracked to Gariep.

 We decided to stay in the Forever resort even though it is slightly above our budget. It is a very well run resort, a cut above the average, and we are going to use the laundry facilities to do a load of washing tomorrow.