Having arrived in Joburg on Wednesday afternoon (minus 2 bags), we had a frantic 2 days to organise the house for packing, retrieve our delayed baggage (not as easy as it sounds), make a trip to Pretoria to collect Pete’s new passport, and fit in a day of work for Pete! The removalists packed our possessions on Friday morning enabling us to enjoy a farewell drink with our friends on Friday afternoon.
Due to our severe jetlag we were wide awake at 5am on Saturday so commenced our roadtrip to PE just after dawn. We are sad to be leaving our friends (and Jen’s job) behind in Joburg, however the exciting times ahead made the move easier.
We stopped for morning tea at one of our favourite rural towns at the top of the Drakensburg ranges, Clarens. The scenery is so beautiful in the region with the town nestled in the craggy limestone Maluti Mountains with surrounding green rolling hills and field of sunflowers. We proceeded along the South African western border with Lesotho having a picnic lunch overlooking the remote and picturesque countryside of Lesotho. We had tentatively chosen some towns we thought may be ok as a resting place for the night. Well... after driving through the towns we quickly decided that it would be best to keep driving. They were some of the most derelict towns we have ever seen and actually made us laugh!
We made it to Grahamstown, which is just 1 ½ hours from PE (1100km from JHB). Grahamstown is predominantly a university town, housing Rhodes University. It also however boasts numerous Victorian and Edwardian style buildings exuding an air of charm and civility. We were both exhausted after the 11 hrs of driving so collapsed into bed after a quick dinner.
Our excitement levels built for the short remainder of the drive to PE. We passed numerous game parks and spotted lots of wild game along the entire length of the drive including warthog, chacma baboons, vervet monkeys and many buck. PE did not disappoint- we were welcomed with a howling south-easterly wind (well, they do call it the windy city!).
We quickly settled into our new house which has stunning views overlooking the harbour and foreshore. It feels great to be by the seaside again.
Due to our severe jetlag we were wide awake at 5am on Saturday so commenced our roadtrip to PE just after dawn. We are sad to be leaving our friends (and Jen’s job) behind in Joburg, however the exciting times ahead made the move easier.
We stopped for morning tea at one of our favourite rural towns at the top of the Drakensburg ranges, Clarens. The scenery is so beautiful in the region with the town nestled in the craggy limestone Maluti Mountains with surrounding green rolling hills and field of sunflowers. We proceeded along the South African western border with Lesotho having a picnic lunch overlooking the remote and picturesque countryside of Lesotho. We had tentatively chosen some towns we thought may be ok as a resting place for the night. Well... after driving through the towns we quickly decided that it would be best to keep driving. They were some of the most derelict towns we have ever seen and actually made us laugh!
We made it to Grahamstown, which is just 1 ½ hours from PE (1100km from JHB). Grahamstown is predominantly a university town, housing Rhodes University. It also however boasts numerous Victorian and Edwardian style buildings exuding an air of charm and civility. We were both exhausted after the 11 hrs of driving so collapsed into bed after a quick dinner.
Our excitement levels built for the short remainder of the drive to PE. We passed numerous game parks and spotted lots of wild game along the entire length of the drive including warthog, chacma baboons, vervet monkeys and many buck. PE did not disappoint- we were welcomed with a howling south-easterly wind (well, they do call it the windy city!).
We quickly settled into our new house which has stunning views overlooking the harbour and foreshore. It feels great to be by the seaside again.
The quaint Clarens
Rolling green hills...
Picnic lunch with Lesotho in background