Road Trip: Laingsburg

Laingsburg is more than just a small country town to hurry through on your way to somewhere else. It is the smallest municipality in South Africa. Most people of my generation will immediately think of floods when they think of Laingsburg. On 25 January, 1981, when our oldest child was only a baby, a flood wiped out three quarters of the town.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYWg5v3pL-s&t=174s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Al9SbdhhQG0

We took a bike ride this morning to look at the Flood Museum.

WHAT HAPPENED?

Professor Dereck, of the Civil Engineering Department of UCT, calculated that 8,000 tons of water a second flowed through the town at the height of the flood.

Rain since the Friday had saturated the catchment area and both the Wilgehout and the Baviaans rivers had come down in flood, bringing debris which blocked the narrow area of the bridge. When the Buffels river also flooded as a result of another cloudburst, there was nowhere for the water to go and it flooded back into the town, virtually making it a dam. 104 people died and 72 bodies have never been found.

The story that affected me the most was about a local family, the Koens.  Pieter, the Postmaster, and Lina had five children. The four oldest girls worked in Cape Town. Marinda was going to be married in less than a month and her sister, Liana was due to be married in June.

The flood swept away Pieter, Lina, their youngest daughter, Jeanette and their adopted son of 10 months. Only the baby’s body was ever found.

“Now my father won’t be able to give away the bride when my sisters get married,” said Lisinda. “Instead we will all have to buy mourning dresses.”

There were other exhibits in the museum. I was fascinated by the old switchboard,

 and saddened by the soggy school suitcase.

After visiting the museum we went to a quaint coffee shop where we ate triangular cheesecake.

On the way back we passed the NG church which survived the flood.

The top of the signboard shows the level of the flood.

The pastor at the time was Dominee Malan Jacobs, a well-loved man who lost his life while aiding the elderly in the old age home. The sermon he preached that morning was remarkably preserved in his notebook in his flooded study. In it he speaks of death and ends with the verse, “I am the resurrection and the life…I give you life eternal.”

Trying something New.

Our internet is very iffy here so I have downloaded Open Live Writer and I hope I’ll be able to assemble my posts off-line and then post them.
Monday was a stressful day. I was navigating with Google maps which usually only gives you one move ahead. The Cape Town highways have many exits, sometimes about 200m apart and it is stressful trying to find the right one and not knowing which lane to get in.
When we got to Fish Hoek Caravan Park, we saw nobody camping there. We asked the friendly lady at the reception if it was safe and she said, “Fairly safe” She recommended, however, that we should rather go to the Simon’s Town Caravan Park. This is about 5km beyond Simon’s Town. When we got there we were informed that we would have to go back to Simon’s Town and pay at the library. A very efficient security guard wouldn't let us in without an invoice but gave us the phone number of the lady to contact. The bad news was that although there was space during the week, the park was booked up over the weekend. We wanted to stay for 9 nights. We have booked a car from tomorrow and if we have to move on Friday, we will have two cars to sort out. We were quite stressed by this time, especially as it was approaching rush hour traffic time which everybody had warned us to avoid.
After praying for guidance, we went to the tourist information. Another helpful lady phoned the Muizenburg Caravan Park which required booking 7 days ahead.
At last she remembered a newish resort called Froggy Pond in Simon’s town itself and they had space for us and here we are.
We have a view of the sea including stunning sunset displays.

road Trip Day 66. Weekend in Bellville

Yesterday we did a bit of exploring nearby. We walked to the Parow Centre, had lunch and then went to see a movie. We chose Megan Leavey because we like movies based on true stories. We both thoroughly enjoyed it although I wet three tissues with tears.

Today we cycled to the Bellville Baptist Church. (BBC)  What a lovely experience. We were welcomed by Eric from the Congo. He seems to be on the council. He gave us a tour of the church and told us all about it. It is a multinational church with 40 different nationalities represented with people from 15 different countries on the leadership council. Countries include Australia, America, Burundi, Germany, Congo, Nigeria and other African countries.The church supports missionaries and runs outreach programmes. English and computer skills are taught to refugees to give them skills to be able to get a job and to integrate them into the community.

Although I love my home church, it has been very refreshing to visit different churches and to see how active God's people are in different areas. This church is a great mix of people worshiping God together and I think heaven will be a bit like that.

We were welcomed by Joshua and Chioma Oghenetega.

Everybody was very well dressed and we felt a bit scruffy in our holiday clothes. However, we were made to feel very welcome and the sermon was challenging. The start in a four week series on Revival, it was called "The Next Step" and encouraged us to step into a life of purpose.

We left promptly as we had lunch arrangements with family and spent the rest of the day with other Youngs.

Tomorrow we relocate again, this time to Fish Hoek.

Road Trip. Day64? Cape Town Suburbia.

Our journey from Montagu went faster than I thought it would. We passed beautiful mountain

scenery

...and travelled through the Huguenot Tunnel.

The fluffy lion cub is our mascot, Cubby. He travels everywhere with us.

We are staying at a suburban caravan park in Bellville called Hardekraaltjie. Some history.....the site of the park formed part of one of the oldest outspans in South Africa, dating from the 17th century. For about two centuries this outcrop was the only suitable outspan near Cape Town, located along the highway across the sand dunes of the Cape Flats to the interior. It lost its importance only after 1849 when a hard-surface road was constructed.
The park is very reasonably priced for pensioners. I think there are a number of permanents here and we have everything we need. Across the road are two superettes and two ATM's. Half a block away is a public swimming pool although it is closed because of the drought. Next door is the Stormers High Performance Centre.
We chose this caravan park because we have family and friends in this area. Last night we visited Brian's brother, Mike, and sister-in-law, Louria, for supper. This afternoon they took us to a lovely nursery, Cape Gardens Centre. I was struck by the sculptures made of artificial grass at the entrance,

besides a wide variety of plants, beautifully displayed,

This hibiscus looks like it's made of wax

mini succulents artistically arranged

There are also garden ornaments,

art works,

and a lovely restaurant where we had some cappuccino and a bite.

This morning we also went out for tea - with Mike and Elma Nunns, good friends we've known since before we got married. It was such fun to catch up. They also have children and grandchildren in other countries like probably most South Africans our age. We went to a lovely coffee shop called Cherry on the Top where we had the most delicious savoury muffins. I didn't think to take photos though.

The drought in Cape Town is really serious. There seems to be no bottled water for sale in containers larger than 500 ml. People have been stockpiling and as fast as stocks of five litre bottles come into the supermarkets, they get grabbed up. At Tygerberg Centre, where we bought some groceries, the taps in the bathrooms are switched off.  Instead of washing hands, one uses hand sanitiser. There are articles in the newspapers about getting ready for Day Zero when the taps will be switched off eg https://www.thesouthafrican.com/day-zero-shopping-guide/  . As a Christian who has prayed for rain, it is hard to decide whether to make contingency plans. Most do.

We are trying to use as little of Cape Town's water as we can.  We've bought a basin and a bucket. Every second day we shower. The bucket is for collecting the cold water that runs before the water gets warm. This goes into Cubby's water tank. We stand in the basin and wet ourselves then switch off while we soap ourselves, then switch on again to rinse. The water collected is used to flush the toilet. This is more or less standard for Capetonians. Toilets are only flushed when really necessary and then usually with grey water. Boreholes have to be registered and monitored. A record is kept of how much borehole water one uses and a limit is set on how much can be used.

Our motor home has a 40 litre water tank and  a gas geyser. Water from dish-washing, hand-washing etc is collected in a container at the outlet pipe and is also used for occasional flushing in the ablutions, putting out braai fires and so on. We also have a cassette toilet which only needs one flush when it is emptied every four or five days and only uses 2 litres, with chemicals for each new start-up. We are probably luckier than most local home owners.

Tomorrow we are hoping to do some nearby exploring by bike. The pavements are wide and we should be able to stay off the busy roads. On Monday we are relocating to Fish Hoek and the sound of the sea again.

Road Trip Day 50. Montagu

Yesterday was too hot to do anything but laze around the pool and jump in frequently. Today was much cooler (by at least 15 degrees) with patches of drizzle every now and then. We decided to do a bike trip into town, find somewhere for breakfast, do some exploring and buy some groceries.

Not far from this view we found the Joubert House, the oldest existing home in Montagu.  The original mud walls have been plastered over but one section was left and protected by a piece of glass with a frame so we could see a man's hand print in the original mud wall. One wall in the bedroom, the west facing wall, was made of stone instead. This was so that it would retain the heat of the late afternoon sun into the evening. The kitchen floor is laid out with genuine peach pips.

As usual, I was attracted by the dolls, .....

                                                            ....especially the large wax doll.

2 Victorian corner chairs

The Montagu Hotel was built in 1875. In 1880, Paul Kruger, the president of the Transvaal, visited Montagu with a large entourage, including General Piet Joubert. At the last moment, the owner of the hotel, who did not agree with Kruger's politics, decided not to go ahead with the planned sumptuous reception in his hotel. General Piet Joubert was a relative of the owner of the Joubert House and the reception was held there, catered by the local women-folk.

In the back garden we saw what were apparently original herbs planted by the Koi San. Most of them I had never heard of before but I did find this one interesting.

Wormwood is used medicinally for various digestion problems and is also used in some alcoholic beverages like Absinthe and Bitters.


We had breakfast in the garden at Mystic Tin. At the back was a very interesting garden, incorporating  some old relics and newer garden decor.

There is a lot of accommodation around town and we did notice a couple of foreign tourists. One Dutch couple said Montagu was their favourite spot!

After our shopping we rode back to the caravan park. The birds around here seem to think we exist to feed them.

Tomorrow we make for Cape Town with our water tank full and 53 litres of water in bottles.

Road Trip Day 58. Jongensfontein to Montagu

We enjoyed  our stay in Jongensfontein enormously. It was so nice to be able to walk to the beach in a minute. I could go on my own and feel safe. We found out a bit more about the town. There is a spring that originates not far from the camp site. They call it "Die Fontein" and it supplies all the water of Jongensfontein. Hence the second part of the name. A plaque along the beach told us about the first part.

There are also fish traps - tidal pools built by the Koi San in such a way that fish are stranded in the pool at low tide.


Something else I haven't seen before along a beach.

I hadn't notice the slip slop when I took the photo. Hope that's not all that remains after the shark attack!
There is a little museum on the beach. The chairman of the residents association opened it up for us. They have a very active residents association. They built the children's playground and exercise area on the beach, as well as a lovely walking path along the edge of the rocks. There are even containers of plastic bags for doggy messes at both ends of the path. Every year before the holiday season, they organise a bulldozer to level the beach and push sand into the tidal pool to make a more pleasant sandy floor. There is a very strong sense of community.

The museum showed photos of the old mud houses farmers had built. I noticed the ostrich eggs that the San had hollowed out for water containers so it seems they were in the area a couple of hundred years ago. Otherwise I was impressed by the hand-made, wooden implements and the old paraffin lamp.

We had just been commenting on how safe the village seemed (low or no walls; people don't lock when they go out), when the following day we found out there had been a murder at 4 am that morning right across from the caravan park. Apparently the Stilbaai police found the perpetrator(s) at 9 am that same morning, in the car stolen from the person killed.

We had a day and a half's worth of rain but as often happens, it was a beautiful day when we were due to move on.

We bought some groceries in Riversdale at a SuperSpar right opposite an interesting little church with a huge white bell support and a grave yard in its garden.

There have been quite a lot of road works along our route. The one near Montague had the most beautiful rock formations to look at.

We are now surrounded by mountains in Montagu, together with geese, ducks, guinea fowl and I am not sure what else. There is a indoor warm pool and an outdoor  cooler one, a dam with paddle boats for hire and a beautiful view of the mountains.
The town itself is very quaint. Even the bank looks picturesque.

Across the road from us

Unusual ducks foraging right behind our motor-home

We will be staying here for 3 nights before finally making our way to Cape Town.
Today (Monday) has been especially hot and we spent a large part of the day at the swimming pool. News24 warned that today would be 40 degrees in Worcester which is not far from here.

Road Trip Day 54. Through Mossel Bay to Jongensfontein

We woke early to be able to do a load of washing and still leave at 10. It was drizzling and overcast so we opted for the tumble dryer method.
We wanted to stop at Mossel Bay and look around. We took a turn-off that said Mossel Bay but saw a shopping mall almost immediately and went in as we had to buy groceries. First a stop at Mugg and Bean and then Brian wanted a statement from the bank. I saw the best idea for bank queues in Langeberg Mall branch of the Standard Bank (which actually turned out to be in Hartenboss rather than Mossel Bay)

A barrier made of the usual barrier stands and tape interspersed with stools to sit on. 

When we finally did get to Mossel Bay,

We went to see the Diaz complex including the Post Office Tree.

Then we went into the Maritime museum and saw the reproduction of a caravel like the one Bartholomew Diaz sailed in. It is a life-size model which was made in Portugal and it sailed from Lisbon to Mossel Bay in 1988 to mark the 500th anniversary of Diaz's landing.

There was also a model in icing sugar!

We moved from Mossel  Bay and arrived at Jongensfontein caravan park just after the office had closed, so we selected a site intending to pay this morning. It is a beautiful place and we will be staying here four nights.

My internet ran out last night. I've bought more but I'm going to be sparing until the end of the month so I won't post another entry until we get to Montague.

This morning when we went to pay, we found out that somebody else had booked the site from today  so we had to move - but only to the site next door!

By the time we'd moved, had breakfast and settled again it was almost lunch time so we went for a short ride on our bikes (not much more than the distance from our cottage to our gate at home) to a pub-type restaurant where we had some lunch.

Later we explored by foot, following a beautifully maintained path along the sea. The scenery continues to be stunning.

There is a lot of red in the rocks (iron rich?) and dassies were sunning themselves on the rocks.

One was particularly brave and came quite close to investigate us.

I think we are going to have a lovely relaxing time here. There's a tidal pool, beach walks and of course I have books on my kindle.

The owners make no bones about the fact that they are Christians.

There is a large white cross on the beach and behind the toilet doors, instead of graffiti, are scripture verses on different coloured wooden plaques.