Happy New year everyone, may 2019 be an especially good year for us all - and may I say especially for those of us living here in South Africa, the elections are in May and may sanity prevail.
It has been a busy time and it has been a hot time! We had a heatwave over the Christmas period so Janet and I decided to stay home and just park off on our back veranda, which is one of our favourite places anyway.
We started the day off with a bottle of bubbly in our spa bath at around 07h30 which was really very pleasant, that is another of our favourite places.
Christmas lunch was a simple affair just for the two of us, I did a whole chicken on our gas rotisserie, of which I ate half (the chicken, not the rotisserie!) and Janet did her famous potato salad with beetroot and tomato, sometimes the simple meals are by far the best.
Boxing day again, just the two of us and again a meal in the gas braai; a lovely roast pork with vegetables;
The sweet potatoes went in early with the pork and then about halfway through the ordinary potatoes and the butternut squash went in, this all took quite a while so I started early.
The meal was exceptional; roasted vegetables with the pork, rice and gravy and just look at that crackling! We ate left over pork for the rest of the week. Saturday we would be traveling through to Tulbagh to meet up with good friends Alan and Gill who were coming from Mossel Bay to spend New Year and a couple of days with us.
My old buddy Alan Brown was coming over from Qatar where he works, for a couple of weeks and had phoned me saying that they would like to do a bike trip from Mossel Bay where they live when in South Africa, could I find some accommodation about halfway for one night because they were not "bike fit" and would like a stopover and perhaps we could meet them on the way.
Halfway between them and us is around Robertson/Bonnievale so I got online and began searching but accommodation for that period (30th December) and only for one night was just not available. I told Alan this and he said he would also look, coming back the next day he said jubilantly; "I found a place, all booked." When I asked where he replied "Tulbagh!" When I pointed out that the place was only about an hour and a quarter from us and that they could have ridden through he just laughed.
We decided to make a break of it so I managed to extend our room for two nights and in spite of the heat we rode through on Saturday, stopping off for a lovely lunch in Riebeek Kasteel with our friends Peter and Amanda at the Pleasant Pheasant on the "Allesverloren" wine estate.
The road into Tulbagh in the afternoon, our accommodation at "HomeAway" cottages was just a little further on the left hand side.
We settled in to our room and then rode "light" (no heavy jackets and boots) downtown to get some supplies and then went to the "bush pub" for a couple of beers and a light meal. Very pleasant and a comfortable evening in our chalet.
On Sunday we took it easy, we got a message from Alan so we knew when they left home, we rode through on the R45 past Wolseley and to a "Spur" diner on the N1 near Worcester for a very mediocre breakfast. We cruised through to Robertson where I had planned to meet up.
It was good to see our friends again, we met way back in the early '90s when we both worked for the Sea Harvest Corporation and had remained in contact even though they have been in Qatar for the past nine years. We led them back to Tulbagh where I had cold beers waiting in the fridge and we set up for an early braai.
We ran into a bit of a problem when it came time to light the fire, none of us smoked and we couldn't find matches! Janet eventually found some loose matches but nothing to strike them on, Alan managed to light some tissue paper in the toaster and eventually we got the fire going. A South African will always "make a plan" when a braai is at stake.
After a bit of a fight over who was going to braai we had a good meal of lamb chops and local boerewors and then we sat drinking and chatting late into the night as only good mates can. Tomorrow the short ride home, a very nice New Year's eve with our friends, we stayed up long enough to wish each other "Happy New Year!" and then we turned in.
They stayed with us until Thursday, we had another braai, some good meals and then we rode halfway down the R27 with them for a breakfast at "Beulah Farm Deli", said our goodbyes and went our separate ways.
Good people, good friends - a front veranda full of motorbikes, see you two soon again I hope.
We settled in to our room and then rode "light" (no heavy jackets and boots) downtown to get some supplies and then went to the "bush pub" for a couple of beers and a light meal. Very pleasant and a comfortable evening in our chalet.
On Sunday we took it easy, we got a message from Alan so we knew when they left home, we rode through on the R45 past Wolseley and to a "Spur" diner on the N1 near Worcester for a very mediocre breakfast. We cruised through to Robertson where I had planned to meet up.
It was good to see our friends again, we met way back in the early '90s when we both worked for the Sea Harvest Corporation and had remained in contact even though they have been in Qatar for the past nine years. We led them back to Tulbagh where I had cold beers waiting in the fridge and we set up for an early braai.
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| No they are not lighting a joint! |
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| Eventually we get it going |
We ran into a bit of a problem when it came time to light the fire, none of us smoked and we couldn't find matches! Janet eventually found some loose matches but nothing to strike them on, Alan managed to light some tissue paper in the toaster and eventually we got the fire going. A South African will always "make a plan" when a braai is at stake.
After a bit of a fight over who was going to braai we had a good meal of lamb chops and local boerewors and then we sat drinking and chatting late into the night as only good mates can. Tomorrow the short ride home, a very nice New Year's eve with our friends, we stayed up long enough to wish each other "Happy New Year!" and then we turned in.
They stayed with us until Thursday, we had another braai, some good meals and then we rode halfway down the R27 with them for a breakfast at "Beulah Farm Deli", said our goodbyes and went our separate ways.
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