Grooving the Moving

Following up from the previous post, after our last week of official touring we stayed in Potchefstroom with my grandparents while packing up all our stuff which had been in storage for the last 20 months, in one part of our old house. It was a complicated business and took a lot more time than one thinks it should. First off we had to 'collect' all our furniture that has been stored elsewhere and get everything at our house in preparation for the moving truck's arrival. Then everything already in the storeroom had to be portably repacked.

Packing our hundreds of books into boxes - good thing mom asked both grans if they could start collecting cardboard boxes a few months ago. 

We also had to figure out how to partially dismantle an old, sentimental family piano - it's been broken for a long time and so we decided to see if we could remove the very heavy, cast iron plate/metal frame for easier transport of the antique. Dad cut the strings first (because if you remove the tuning pins while the strings are still taut, the piano will implode), then used his drill to take out the tuning pins, taking breaks as the drill overheated. When all the pins were finally removed however, we still couldn't get the frame out. Eventually my grandfather came to the rescue with his grinder and knowledge of carpentry. 

Cutting strings. 

Believe me, this thing is much heavier than it looks. 

Putting back the keys. 

It was an emotional time for us too, as we were leaving the place where all of our childhood memories were made behind. When we discovered our toddler/preschool artwork and mom refused to move nine boxes of it to Oudtshoorn, we burned it over a period of a few sad sentimental evenings, showing everything to our artist-grandma Elna before we threw it in the flames (she took a lot of the stuff for herself though, haha).

"...And here I dumped string in paint and let it fall on paper." (seriously though)

On May 25th our moving truck arrived, and after everything was first carried onto our sidewalk, the Oudtshoorn Furniture Removal team fitted everything into a part of the truck like a jigsaw (which took a whole morning).

Almost all our stuff on the sidewalk...

A few big wardrobes. 

Packing in. 

Then we drove down (a 1000 kilometres!) to the beautiful old house we are now renting in Oudtshoorn, an historic town in the Little Karoo famous for its ostriches, heat and the annual KKNK ('Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees', Little Karoo National Arts Festival). Oudtshoorn is known as the 'ostrich capital of the world' as well as the twin town of Alphen aan den Rijn (a town in the Netherlands), and owes a large part of its wealth to the ostrich-feather industry booms in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Approaching familiar mountains... the Swartberg mountains (they lie next to the Kammanassie mountains where we lived last year). 

First night in our new house! We slept on the floor.

The next day the moving truck arrived. The unloading went well and everyone was soon unpacking boxes, trying to remember where they put what exactly. Interior decorating was also plenty of fun.

They knew what they were doing.  

Empty corridor, awaiting our many paintings and photos. 

Maneuvering. 

A good example concerning how priorities differ... I fixed up my bed first, while Theuns got out his collection of airplane models.

Unpacking school books. 

One lovely fireplace. 

Our furniture suits the house, don't you think? 

Thanks for reading, and watch out for the last post that will finish off this blog next week. 

Farewell to the Kammanassie and 2015!

It is not only the end of one of the most amazing and unexpected seasons ever in our lives, but also the end of 2015!! Tomorrow we are leaving St. Ancothesa farm and the stunning Kammanassie valley behind, with sadness but also peace of heart, knowing it is time to move on and that there is much still to come.

We love this place, and we love the people too - thanks and thoughts to all the neighbors; the Burgers, the Keysers, Hannes and his mom, the Esterhuizens, and the Minnies, de Jagers and Van Roon-Giffords in George as well as Apools and co.

Places in the valley...

Driving to Uniondale. 

Sunrise on our 'stoep'....

....and the view. 

The swimming spring dam. 

We took so many pictures when going on walks...

Uniondale's unique liquor store. 

Goodbye Kammanassie, and happy New Year!!

Autumn Picnic in the Apricot Orchards

Here in the Kammanassie, we have been right in the middle of the yearly, wonder-filled time called autumn, which pass so quickly that if you're not careful you might just miss it. To celebrate Mother's Day (but also just because we have this cool opportunity to live on a farm for a while, surrounded by orchards), we decided to go on a picnic between the apricot trees. After everyone made their own sandwiches in the kitchen, we 'romped' over to the bright yellow apricot orchard and had our little lunch there.

A few days before the picnic, everything was still mostly green.

But then, from yellow and green...

To yellow and brown.

Two good things combined - family in nature.

 A little bit of sunshine.

It was fantastic, as it was not too cold but not too hot either, the sun came out a few times to light up the hordes of fluttering 'butterflies' around us, and the sandwiches were very tasty.

My always-willing (extremely handsome) young model - adventurous brother Maarten.

My other younger brother Theuns prefers to hide. He also picked the greenest tree for some reason.

I just love this picture - every tree is a battle-ship these days... 

Race!

Next week will have some more autumn photos from a newly discovered little town called Twee Riviere,  so stay tuned...

A (Big) Change of Plans

Two weeks into January, we are still at St. Ancothesa; this is because we’ve made a very big decision concerning our future for the whole of 2015.... A week before we would have departed from the farm, my parents got a most crazy idea. As we are getting into the habit of having crazy ideas (ex. this whole travel year thing), they didn’t write it off as unrealistic, and shared it with us. 

What if we stayed here at St. Ancothesa, renting the house, not for a few weeks, or even a month or two, but instead for a whole year?! The more we thought about it, the more we felt that it’s what we should do. So our adventure will now include ‘living on a real South African farm’ as part of our journey! When we planned the trip we did anticipate staying longer at places if there was exceptional circumstances, but we did not expect it to happen so soon. In this case however, there are a number of goals that we have had in mind for a few years now, and almost all of them can become a reality in this setup. This is definitely more than a coincidence... 

When we spoke to our hosts, they were positive and excited about it as well. They shared with us how it was their dad’s vision to have people who wish to experience farm life, renting on the farm and making their contribution in whatever field they are able to. On their business card there is the saying “You don’t have to own it, to live it.” We see ourselves now as the first people who will be doing just that – living actively on a farm, gaining experience with some farm animals to care for and maybe enjoy a planting and harvesting season as well.  We will still be contributing to the farm work in some ways, but we are not here as volunteers anymore, so our time is our own.

A signed contract later, we are going to rent the house we stayed in December (as well as the field next to the house) for 2015. Our plans for the original trip are simply put off till 2016, and we are ready for a year of living on a farm, something new to all of us. We are already busy planning all sorts of ventures, including little piglets, chickens, maybe a miniature horse or two and a vegetable garden that might provide fresh produce to the shop.

- Written by me, mom and dad. 

We Are Houseless!

The house is empty, the floors have been cleaned and newly painted, and the people moving in have been given the keys today.
As we walked through the massive rooms of our childhood home for the last time, admiring the new beautiful floors and saying goodbye, I think we all experienced sentiment. It was a sad day.

Cleaning off a previous attempt of woodoc. 

The new floors.

Pets Organizing

This weekend's goal was to take care of our pets. Our two dogs are being looked after by people here in Potch. We took Jock and Vlooi to their new home (for a year) on Saturday. They were scared and hiding under our car for about half an hour, then they settled in and were already playing with the other 2 dogs and running around when we left.
We will miss them.

Jock.

Vlooi.

The birds are on their way as well. 

An old, beautiful house....

This is our beautiful, nearly 100 year old house. It has its own personality; it talks and it moves with the seasons. Huge rooms with patterned ceilings, creaky wooden floors, and indoor pillars which creates a special atmosphere. We love our house. We were born here and grew up here; good childhood memories will always stay with us. We will miss you old house - thank you for the special times!