The End of the Road, but not the Journey

It's been a long two years since I first started this blog for the purpose of recording and sharing our experiences and travels... and now we have finally arrived at the last post. What a journey it has been! We've seen, done, and learned so much; we've grown as individuals and together as a family, despite things not always working out as planned. Countless memories have been made, and we're all a little wiser (and slightly older too).

But just because this season in our lives is coming to a close, doesn't mean the adventure is over. We are settled in a new town and a new house, with new opportunities, new friends, and new memories to be made laying ahead. It's a good reminder of the saying,

So without further ado, here follows some of our individual reflections - check out the full pieces on Parents' Thoughts, Elna's Musings and The Boys' Corner.

Of the 20 months we didn't know where we were going to end up, for about eight we were nomadic and living out of bags and boxes (bags for clothes, boxes for books and food, literally), or working as volunteers on workaway.info farms. The other twelve months we lived on a farm in the Kammanassie. Therefore highlights will be separated into these two categories.

Highlights during our 8 months of travel: 

• The 3 farms where we volunteered – the people, the work we did and to experience farm life
• Being together and getting to know each other as a family in every new adventure or exploration of the unknown
• All the interesting people that we met and got to know better. Our whole understanding of what ‘normal’ means changed radically and we discovered that people are unique and choose their specific lifestyles for a reason they consider ‘normal’

Dad
~  While doing a treetop tour near Stormsriver I happened to see chameleons in the wild for the first time - a few small and large ones in the treetops very close to us – that taught me to always be on the lookout for the little interesting things you may discover unexpectedly on a journey!

Mom
~  Every hike (whether short or long) in forests, on mountains, seasides, ‘veld’ or ‘vlaktes’
~  Having coffee in a jail cell at the Provost in Grahamstown
~  Camping on the sea at Stormsriver
~  Reading to colored children in Piketberg

Elna
~  Listening to Nama stories around a campfire, seeing the moon come up, and go down again (when you wake up), having splash wars with Michael (our guide) on the Orange River
~  The Strand's giant ice creams (best in South Africa, if you ask me)
~  The single, gorgeous Disa flower we saw at the Groot Winterhoek Nature Reserve, and the scenery too

Theuns 
~  I'll never forget the spectacular New Year's Eve fireworks at the Cape Town Waterfront

Maarten
~  We saw a lot of fantastic places, but the Knysna Lake really made a big impression on me. [when we drove into Knysna, Maarten's first comment was that he'd like to live there] 

Highlights during our year-long stay in the Kammanassie 

Dad
~  Enough time to really spend hundreds of hours focusing on developing better trading skills
~  Simple farming experiments where the plan is easy and everything makes sense, and then the reality turns out otherwise and usually more complex than planned!

Mom
~  The view from our stoep on the place where we stayed
~  Experiencing four seasons on our doorstep!
~  All the animals we had – the ponies, the pigs, the chickens and little Nassie the kitten who grew into a cat
~  To have met wonderful people of different cultures and building relationships with them

Elna
~  The safety on the farm – I could take long walks all alone, wherever and whenever I wanted to
~  The quiet, the wind, the mountains, and the darkness at night (one can see millions of stars there)
~  Really developing and practising my photography skills, despite not having a proper camera (it goes to show that it's the photographer that counts, not some fancy camera)

Theuns
 ~  I really enjoyed to make such good friends with the local workers' children, particularly Brendon, Brayton and Jaylin

Maarten
~  Having JanDiesel as a 'little brother' (though not biological) was really special for me

Lowlights in General

Dad
~ Process of figuring out a new career

Mom
~  Sometimes we did not have enough space to pack out and find things
~  Sometimes we worked on each others’ nerves in confined spaces and being with each other 24hours per day
~  The over-commercialization of some tourist spots
~  Stopping projects that are not working out according to plan

Elna
~  school chaos in a tent at PE,
~  seeing the after-New Year's Eve-party mess and the huge amount of garbage being blown into the ocean at Cape Town's Waterfront, despite trash cans standing everywhere(!)
~  being exhausted but I don't even know why
~  friendship disappointments

Theuns
~  I missed Potch (the known), and the stability it'd always represented for me
~ All the hiking (I don't like hiking)

Maarten
~  I missed our old house a lot. [both boys were born in that house, by the way – thus much sentiment]

What Could We Not Do Without?

Dad
~  My laptop and smartphone, definitely.

Mom
~  The portable washing line and a kettle
~  A cup of tea or sometimes a glass of wine
~  My really warm jacket and buff (for the cold) and
~  always having a book to read!

Elna
~  my camera (during most of the trip, it was a Samsung Galaxy S3 smartphone),
~  my earphones (ATTENTION, this is a lifesaver), and
~  my 'kamerjas' (so fluffy)

Theuns
~  A place that I can go to, to be by myself.

Maarten
~  My soft toy 'Perdjie', which I got when I was 2 years old.

What We Learned About Ourselves

Dad
~  I realized how bad I actually knew myself, as the times the real person inside come out is when you are in different, challenging and sometimes stressful situations

Mom
~  I don’t enjoy cold weather
~  That I enjoy beauty around me and function better in wide open spaces/areas – small spaces makes me moody
~  Things can work out ok even without a longterm plan for everything
~  Sometimes unplanned experiences are the most exciting

Elna
Getting to know myself, I realize that I loved:
~  watching a whale leap for joy from one end of the horizon to the other,
~  tapping my foot to a colourful musical fountain,
~  the Kalahari and it's different beauty, with red dunes and plains of waving golden grass ('goue grassies') in the evening sunlight,
~  pasta the proper Italian way (made by an Italian – we visited them on a farm near the Kammanassie)

Theuns
~  I didn't know I could row the Orange River. That was quite a personal victory for me.

Maarten
~  I didn't know I could operate a TLB machine – that was awesome! ['oom' Jan let them work with the TLB once on the Kammanassie farm] 

Some Lessons Learned

• One’s attitude will determine your experience!
• One needs very little stuff to experience things
• People are very adaptable – whether to adapt to living conditions (we stayed in  a variety of places ranging from shacks, tents, flat, houses and even in an industrial area) or food or clothes or routine.
• You design your own lifestyle by how you spend your time and your money
• Sometimes you can be really lucky (as in the Kruger National park when we saw all the animals in one day)
• You have to reach out to people, they seldom do
• Men don’t pack logically 
• You have to be prepared for change – it's an attitude, and a skill. 
• When you start something new, it's exciting and fun, but after a certain time it's not as wonderful any more and can get too much. 
• To notice and appreciate the little things in life is precious

An interesting realization I(Elna)'ve had is that a lot of people have this 'travel dream', in which they want to see the world (maybe with a couple of friends) and have a romantic, happy-go-lucky, careless and flexible kind of lifestyle for a few months, or maybe a gap year or two. I was one of those people, but I've now realized travel, especially as a lifestyle (not just vacations), is rather overrated in this context. It's not just one big vacation (though some people probably think what we did is exactly this). In reality, it's life. You get your ups, your downs, lessons, fun, disappointments, worries, pleasures. You learn, you grow, you change.

Life is a million little things, not one big thing. Once you realize that, and start living out each day as your own, the journey begins. 

Our journey is not over, but we hope that this season in our lives will inspire and encourage others. A final THANK YOU to all the readers, we really appreciated your comments! 

Mpumalanga Explorations

After the Kruger National Park, we toured Mpumalanga and saw the biggest tourist attractions in this province over a few days, including places such as Pilgrim's Rest and the Blyde River Canyon. It was  an exciting (albeit exhausting) week and officially our last 'tourist-hat' days for a long time....Here follows what we did.

One fantastic Baobab Tree (Kremetart Boom) next to the road. We stopped spontaneously, as these trees are usually more north and we'd never seen one before.  

Coming out of the Kruger Park, we drove to Pilgrim's Rest and stayed in the caravan park that night. We arrived late afternoon and were just in time to check out the different museum buildings. 

Pilgrim's Rest are famous for the buildings made from sink, originally built by gold prospectors. 

Gold was first discovered by prospector Alec Patterson in 1873 who, when he grew tired of the nearby MacMac diggings, went out and explored the area on his own. He found gold in Pilgrim's Creek and soon more than a thousand people were panning for gold, resulting in a sudden village: Pilgrim's Rest. It only lasted a few years however, and then bigger companies moved in with proper equipment in order to mine the deeper gold ore. In 1986 the village was proclaimed a National Monument, and it is now mainly a tourist attraction as living memory of the gold rush years. 

Part of the museum, these are the kind of tents the gold prospectors lived in before they could build more solid dwellings. 

After a demonstration of what gold panning entails, the boys were in the freezing water and looking for gold themselves. They found flecks of gold, but it was so small it looked like misplaced glitter. 

In the transportation museum. Pilgrim's Rest is located between 2 passes, and thus in the old days it used to be very hard getting a car there. Cars and trucks had to be hauled over the mountains by horses/donkeys. 

The General Dealer store. Gold panning is very hard work - this guy was obviously a bit smarter than the rest of them, and got his gold by trading food and essentials with the panners. 

One of the old switch boards used when making telephone calls, in a museum. It was the first time we saw a machine like this. 

At the old Post Office museum - a Post Box really is a handy thing you know, how about a bit of appreciation?

One of the churches. 

Although the Pilgrim's Rest caravan park was a bit rundown, we decided to camp there as this 300-site park is beautifully situated amongst massive autumn trees with a lot of atmosphere. So, after looking for somebody to help us get permission and unlock the facilities, we camped there all by ourselves for one night.  

It got very cold as the campsite is next to a stream, but a local helped us with stacks of wood, so a good old campfire was made and it kept the cold at bay! 

Running amongst the huge autumn trees.

Pancakes for lunch the next day! 

Magical mirrors - I know you have a big brain and a long neck, but please shut your mouth. 

 We visited Echo Caves and enjoyed an hour-long tour of this surprisingly large underground network of tunnels and formations. Echo Caves were used by a black tribe as a hideout long ago, and when a farmer discovered it on his land in the middle 1900's, he found the evidence of their presence among the stalagmites and stalactites. He opened it as a tourist attraction soon after, however a big part of the caves (about 16 km) remain inaccessible to the public.

There were many interesting formations including a Madonna, an ostrich head, an ostrich body separate from the head, an elephant head, etc. Can you spot the ostrich head here? (It's upside down and just left of my dad's head).

Tree roots growing down more than 200 meters from the surface. 

Elephant skin rock (fascinating texture).

Apparently, some of the tribe members sometimes used stalactites as weapons/spears.

Red or blue, which to choose? 

We passed through Graskop (a town) and continued on to see some of the most popular sightings in Mpumalanga. The Lowveld Panorama Route (what the area around Graskop is called) is known for its spectacular views and many waterfalls, and we alternated between these, sleeping over at Blyde River Canyon Lodge. This is what we saw on route...

The Pinnacle, named for obvious reasons. 

Scouting the West Coast

What does Saldanha, Langebaan and Paternoster have in common? Besides being weird names, these three towns are all found in and close to Saldanha Bay, a natural harbor of the West Coast. We've recently had a day-long road trip with fellow German volunteer Dana on the farm, starting through Goedverwacht (good expectations) to the little town of Hopefield around to places like Langebaan, Saldanha, Paternoster, Stompneus Bay, St. Helena Bay, and Aurora (quite a mouthful).

Passing through an area called Sandveld, our first stop was at Kersefontein out of pure curiosity. A beautiful and old guest farm near Hopefield, Kersefontein dates back to 1770 and is still in working order.

Sandveld scenery.  It is literally sand. 

Kersefontein  has been in the possession of the Melck family for 8 generations, and is now a National Monument.

In Hopefield we stopped at a recommended weekly Market for a drink, and then checked out the Simply Bee Center next to the market. It proved rather interesting with a display of a living/working hive behind glass.

At the market everyone was friendly, as so typical of small towns where everybody knows everybody else (and usually what they're doing too).

Watching the bees at work behind the glass. Safe from stings, you learn a lot more this way. 

Big church tower in Hopefield. 

A very old 'hartebees huisie', a specific type of house the first settlers in this region built. 

Onwards to Langebaan, where it's common for people from Cape Town to have a holiday house. We took a short walk on the beach - it felt more like walking on the shore of a lake though, as there were almost no waves (because of the natural harbor shape of the bay).

Just before Saldanha (the town), we drove past the Saldanha Works Steel mine. As a result of the mine everything in the area is reddish (I didn't edit this picture). 

Further on, we had a light lunch in Paternoster, possibly the quaintest fisher's village in the area.

Maarten approved of this sign at the restaurant. 

So Long, Somerset West

Our seven weeks of renting a garden flat in Somerset West came to an end last week, and it's been great. We've worked hard and our first school term is practically over. Here are a couple of photos taken during our stay.

We've been to the Strand's beach a couple of times, and got to know the neighborhood on our family walks.

Notice the way the wind is blowing the sand. 

The boys preferred to walk on the dry sand in order to collect 'treasures'. 

I prefer the wet sand (thanks for the picture, mom). 

Beach clouds. 

A delightful swing about halfway on our walking route. We stopped almost every time.

The palm tree where we stayed. Palm trees make really cool silhouettes. 

Weekends have been quite busy, and we've ticked a couple of activities and places off our bucket list (see some of the previous posts on these). Overall, it's been a necessary and productive two months. So long, Strand and Somerset!

My personal favorite picture from the Strand. 

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!!

Multiple Walks and Italian Ancestors

In this week's blog I will share about a very nice outing we had with ouma Elna during February.  Nature in many forms (such as ocean, mountains and forest) are both very close to us and we made a day outing of exploring the variety. Thursday February 26^th we left at 7am for George, our first stop on a one-day tour of Victoria Bay, Wilderness and the Knysna forest with my gran. We popped in at Vic Bay just so my gran could see what it looks like; she thought it very cute and cosy, and adored the houses right next to the beach. We had a nice and short stroll along the paved walkway.

Smile!

 The pier.

Vic Bay.

Next we drove to Wilderness, which is very different from Vic Bay with it’s loooong white and sandy beach.... After a delightful walk along the coast (skipping stones on the water, getting wet and dissecting Cnidarians, Gastropods and Bivalves (jellyfish, ‘sea snails’, and mussels and such...sounds impressive though doesn’t it)), mom, dad, gran and Theuns drank tea at the fancy beach restaurant and Maarten and me went for a swim.

Wilderness beach.

Onwards we drove to Knysna, where we had KFC for lunch, and then departed for Gouna, located in the beautiful indigenous Knysna forest.

In the Knysna forest, we hiked a part of the Terblans Nature Walk on Kom se Pad, an area made famous by Dalene Matthee in her Forest Book ‘The Mulberry Forest’ (1987) in which Gouna and Kom se Pad features. Her other Forest Books include her most famous book, Circles in a Forest (1984) as well as Fiela's Child (1985), and Dream Forest (2003).  The Mulberry Forest book bought publicity to the fate of several Italians who came to South Africa in 1881 in hopes of starting a silk industry. Persuaded by government under using false pretences, the Italians who arrived here were shocked when they realized they were expected to cultivate mulberry trees and start a new life in the untamed Knysna forest, which in those days still had lots of wild elephants!

Into the forest on Terblans walk.

 Moss.