Beaufort West

We left the nature park early to get into town to find somewhere to sort out Cubby’s noise problem. On our way out we came across some buck.

We parked at KFC (because we couldn’t get under the Drive Through entrance) only to find it was too crowded. I had seen a sign saying “Breakfast” almost next door so we left the motor home and walked to “Youngs”

What a serendipitous decision! The place was done out in a Scottish theme with tartan upholstered chairs and matching table cloth. (Brian tells me we do have a Young Tartan). Along the walls were Scottish golfing pictures and the menu had the coat of arms as a background motif.

Breakfast was delicious and reasonably priced.

On to the business of the day. We tried Dunlop (they don’t do exhausts anymore), Trentyre (their welder had gone out to a breakdown) and finally landed up at Swartberg Motors. They said they could hear we had an exhaust problem and the word “manifold” came up. We left Cubby with them with some trepidation because all the mechanics seemed to be from the older generation. We went exploring Beaufort West.

First point of interest was Spinwiel Antiques and Museum. It was like walking back through time. We saw old petrol pumps,

Juke boxes,

a cash till,

gramophone and plenty more.

Next we went to visit the Chris Barnard Museum.

One whole section was devoted to Chris Barnard, his achievements, awards, family life and training.

Next door was a display of how the local community had been affected by the Group Areas Act. It brought home to me once again the evils of our past history.

The third building was the Old Pastorie where Chris Barnard had grown up. His father, Adam Barnard was a missionary and later the Dominee of the Beaufort West DR Missionary Church. It was one of Chris’ great sadnesses in life that his father died shortly before he carried out his first heart transplant operation.

We learned so much about the famous surgeon that we didn’t know and it was all very interesting. All his gifts, awards and presentations were totally overwhelming.

We were just enjoying a yummy milkshake at Karuchi, when the phone call came through to say Cubby was ready. For all our misgivings, we were very happy with the service they gave us (perhaps age and experience counts for more than youth and strength). Apparently the problem was a flange gasket and the cost was less than we had been anticipating. On with the road Trip