A Gentle and Quiet Spirit

OUR WONDERFUL WEEKEND

We left quite early on friday morning, right after we had dropped the kids off at school. We drove through to Belfast and stopped there for breakfast. We were both really hungry by then and it was yummy. Had a lovely cup of coffee - much needed, and were off again. We got to our destination by about 11:30 am.

We were greeted by the old woman who lives and works on the farm, she cleans the cottages for a small fee and runs the place. She handed us our keys and told us what we needed to know about the fishing, the fire wood and the cleaning services. We unpacked our food etc in the kitchen, because it is a self catering place and were off to explore the farm. It is so beautiful, the veld is so pretty and there are no black-jacks or grasses that stick to your clothes and everywhere you go there are the most beautiful wild flowers, I took some pictures of them. I wanted to take more of each different type but hubby would tell me with each one that we already had pictures of those. We didn't, but I didn't argue. At least I got these - they all look the same to him anyway.

Hubby went and did some fishing that evening and I stayed in and did a bit of reading. When he came back we braaied some meat and had a wonderful supper on the wooden deck of our cottage. The picture below is the cottage we stayed in, pretty hey. There are three cottages and a fourth is still being built. They are named Oudekraal, Ribbok and the one we stayed in is Arum, I dont know what the fourth one will be called. The one we stayed in and Ribbok sleep 6 people and have only one bathroom. The other Oudekraal and the new one sleep 8 people and have two bathrooms. All the cottages have seperate bedrooms each containing two beds. A loung/dining room with a fire place and a kitchen and an outside braai area in each one. Fully stocked with oven, fridge, microwave, kettle, toaster and more than enough crockery and cutlery.

This picture was taken from the a koppie overlooking the farm, we climbed up there on friday afternoon, it really is beautiful. There is also a huge flock of geese and they add such a wonderful atmosphere to the place. The main farmhouse which is now used as a barn was built in 1865 and the whole place is fed by underground springs. Everywhere you walk you find little streams bubbling out of the ground and each little trout dam feeds the next one, either through a little stream or waterfall or through an underground source.
Below the wooden deck of our cottage there is a small dam too, but there is no fishing allowed in that one. Each cottage has a dam in front of it and they contain beautiful golden trout - but they are all "no fishing" dams, much to my hubby's dismay.

On Saturday after breakfast and some fishing we decided to do one of the walking trails that go to a beautiful waterfall. Well, what we thought was a walk soon turned into a hike. We hiked up to the top two dams - and I mean up and then from there you follow a small stream to a cliff that drops down into a valley where there is a waterfall. When we got there we decided to go down into the valley to the waterfall - we never once thought of the climb back out of the valley, did we. Anyway, it was really beautiful and I actually enjoyed climbing up and down a rocky valley wall. The waterfall was worth it too, look, this was taken from high up, before we headed down. When we got there it turned out the valley had a waterfall on each side.

We were a bit unprepared for such a hectic hike and one of the few things that kept me going back up was knowing that back at the top dam there was a natural spring with a spout that we could crink from. Ice cold, crystal clear, sweet water from underground - I couldn't wait to get to that spring.

Needless to say by the time we got home - after stopping to drink water we were starving and exhausted, all in all it was only about a six kilometer hike, but it was the steep up and down climb that was so tiring. We braaied again and I ate the biggest steak I have ever eaten in my life! It ws delicious, hubby sure knows how to braai a good steak.

At this lodge there are no t.v's, radios or anything - none allowed, it says so in the rules. So we had to think up ways to entertain ourselves. On saturday night we sat in front of the fire playing charades, and another game wher you have to try and guess what movie the other player is giving you clues about - we were rolling with laughter at each other.

On Sunday we were up quite early and went and tried some fishing. Hubby caught 9 fish in total and kept two cause you pay per kg to keep the fish you want - 50 bucks per kg. I had one fish on, but it got off the hook, and my line came flying out of the water so fast it wrapped the fly round and around and around my rod. So I caught nothing this time. But I also didn't go out as much as hubby did. It is amusing though to see how the other fishermen look at me when they see a woman fly fishing - they literally stare at me - very strange for them to see obviously.

We left on Sunday after a hearty breakfast at about 11:00 am. And headed home. We were both so tired - probably from the hike the previous day. It was such a wonderful weekend neither of us wanted to go home, we could happily have stayed another week or two - but for our budget. We have decided we will definitely be going back there this year again. I cant wait, I loved every minute of it.