Me

That's me, last year, in a very pensive mood, at the sea side - Richards Bay - Xmas 2006.

I really like this photo, it says a lot to me - don't know why though. And for some reason it reminds me of my dad..... Don't know why that either. Anyway, it's my pic, my blog, my prerogative.

Salagatle!

Hi Jack.....

I wish this clown crossed my path.

Salagatle!

Koffiefontein Photos

Part of the garden at the farm house.
A citizen of Koffiefontein - in the middle of the road....
The view on the road. This is Karoo territory - miles of fuckall - for as far as you can see. And everything that grows is only knee high, apart from the occasional thorn bush / tree...
Lamb Chops......
Beautiful display...
The lapa as you approach the river side. There is a tent erected under it.

Some of the kids on the boat in the river. See the masses of reeds on the banks.
Another pic of the same scene - more reeds.
part of the garden at the homestead. Takes daily watering to keep it in this condition in this adir land...
The catch. A hodgepodge of fishies, carp, kurper, barbel, a yellow or two..

Salagatle!

Koffiefontein - IV

Koffiefontein - Day 3

I was up early again - can't sleep late anymore. Seems like the older I get the less sleep I need (or maybe I want to make sure I maximize the days I have left). Had breakfast, and chilled for a while. LuckyL came screaming up on the bike, with Nash on the back, and hurried over to us. Seems Nash had been helping to take down the tent, and got stung by a scorpion!

Lucky, Alan was down there already, and had managed to catch the thing and put it into a plastic bottle. This was so that we could identify the damn thing in case the boy got sick. Makes it easier for the doctors to identify the correct medication required. I didn't think it looked like one of the poisonous variety, and it was definitely still a juvenile, so I just kept an eye on Nash. I told him if he felt any side effects to let me know. Would have got him to a doctor in 15 minutes, and could have got a chopper there in 30! He called home and told his folks, who started to stress immediately. Luckily his sister knows someone who works with this and gave us indications of what to watch for. But after describing the scorpion to them we were almost positive it was not a "bad" one. As it turned out, he was ok.

Then down to the river to collect the kids and all the fishing stuff and so on. Cleaned up, and got everyone and everything back to the farmhouse. Stopped off at the labourers home to drop off the fish the kids had caught. They will eat anything.

Then, packed the VW Kombi, and the trailer. Sat around for a while, and eventually set off at about 11am. It was a good ride back home, roads were relatively quiet, and the kids and Princess slept most of the way. Got home safe, unpacked the VW and trailer, N's folks came round to collect him. We retired quite early that night. All in all a very good weekend away!

Salagatle!

Koffiefontein - III

Koffiefontein - Day 2 (Pics to follow)

GMan and Nash were up and away at 4 am. They wanted to get into the fishing early. The rest of us were up by 7 am, except for some of the mom's who kinda came out by 8am. breakfast was
a eat what you can find affair, and the hosts domestic made a popular Afrikaans dish, "Vetkoek", with curry mince!!!

Got the rest of the kids down to the river, and we once again got involved in the game of " chilling, fishing, eating, drinking.....". The boys caught some fish, I never even got a bite. We took our pellet guns (air rifles) with (4 off them) and decided to try our skills. Filled a 2lt plastic bottle, filled with water, tied it to the fuffie slide (LIU),, and let it slide over the water. We now had a safe target to shoot at. The other 3, GMan, LuckyL and Alan had scopes on their rifles, me, I had my trust BSA Meteor, (35 yearsold!), and normal sights. I put my first 5 shots into the bottle! The other guys took a bit longer to hit it, but did eventually!
Later, I took out the Benelli 9mm parabellum! it has been a while since the Princess used the
gun, so I figured time she had some training, and I needed to get rid of the old bullets anyway. She took a couple of shots to get into it, and then hit a target at 10 meters, within 300mm. basically, she could hit a man at 10 paces no problem. Some of the others took turns to shoot. LuckyL was most impressive, hitting the 10m target spot on 3 times. He's got a natural eye, and holds the pistol well.

Then it was time for me to show off. I put 2 slugs into a 44 gallon drum at 150 meters+!!!!!! Not
bad for an old timer hey? Rest of the day was spent chilling, then up to the house for supper which was more lamb chops and the ribs. Wow, what a meal!

Brian shared with us that he had taken a drive around the place to look at the sheep and the
Springbok. Found an ewe giving birth and sat and watched her for about an hour and a half.
Took a lot of photo's. Figures he's now a proud dad, and has the son he always wanted! After dinner a round of Texas Hold'em poker, which GMan won. He took away ZAR250 for his troubles! Took the kids back down to the river for their last overnight there, and for late night fishing, and we retired back to the homestead, warm comfortable beds, etc.

Salagatle!

Koffiefontein - II

Koffiefontein - Day 1 (Pics will follow once this stupid application decides to down load them....)

Up early, as I don't sleep late anymore anyway, and we went down to the river to check on the kids. They were all ok, but the girls were keen to get back to the farm house for the ablutions. There is nothing at the river. It's a bush toilets, and these city girls, well, they just can't!

Breakfast was a big thing, with lamb's liver grilled or fried and onions, and scrambled egg, and great bread... pot's of coffee.... aha.. all good! The rest of the day is a bit of a blur, as it was spent fishing, snoozing, driving around on the farm, fetching and taking kids and food and women, and just chilling and drinking a couple of beers and talking shit and resting and life was just good.

That night, a curried lamb neck, pap, and other good Afrikaans dishes were consumed. Brian was the chef of the day with the curried neck stew, and he did a good job. We got to bed very late, but a storm had come up so everyone was sleeping at the house. However, many of the mattresses were down at the river, so the kids were all over the couches, sharing cushions and stuff. No problem though.

Salagatle!

Happy Christmas

Somewhere in South Africa, every minute of every day, there is a child / woman / man being molested / raped / murdered.
Somewhere in South Africa, every minute, there is a crime being committed, violently.
Somewhere in South Africa, someone is dying.

Happy Xmas.

Salagatle!

Koffiefontein - I

Koffiefontein - Day 0

A few weeks ago, when we had out "Xmas braai" with some friends, we decided that it would be a good idea if we could go away for a long weekend together. We used to do so often until a few years ago. Anyway, I suggested the farm at Koffiefontein, cause it's a really remote location, where the kids could just be outside all the time - safely, and the is minimal / no cellphone signal to be had. Also, there is fishing in the river, and space for the kids to ride the motorbike, and so on and so on.Everyone agreed that if we could go it would be great. I called our friends who own the place, and they confirmed no one else had indicted they would be coming down for the weekend, and we were all welcome! Great!
I also asked them to slaughter a lamb for me then, so we would have good, fresh Karoo lamb (LIU) for the weekend, and didn't have to take our locally bought meat with us. Anyway, their price to me is way lower than the butchers price, in fact 55% less!!

Saturday morning, and we got away as early as we could, which in this household was 8am! It's over 600km to this place, and at least 6 hours driving.... We were in contact with the other two families by cellphone. One of them had left their home at the same time, and our paths would converge about 100km down the highway.

Anyway, Koffiefontein is / was a little diamond mining town down in the South West of the Free State. It's semi desert / Karoo country, where you are guaranteed to get some of the best lamb anywhere! if you search for Koffiefontein on Google Earth, it's there.....The town was also the site of a 2nd WW concentration camp, and many Italian soldiers (among others) were incarcerated there. Unfortunately not much remains of the camp, apart from these two murals (which I really would like to steal!) and this "Guard Room", which is unaccessible. I have, once before, managed to get through the gate and had a look through the windows and there are some photos and letters / notices / posters on the walls. But overall very badly looked after. I'm surprised it hasn't been turned into some bushy's home!

On the way down we go through a couple of toll roads, and we always stop at one of the big roadside filling station to get fresh / colddrinks. It was at the first stop that we waited for the first of out friends. And from there we rode the rest of the way in convoy. (I suppose 2 cars a convoy does make...?!)

On arrival at the farm, our "Hosts" were very glad to see us, and we quickly unloaded the cars and trailer and stuff and got settled in.
The farm house had been added to over the years, and modernised, and so on. It now has 4 big bedrooms, and a seperate "flatlet" / 4 sleeper room. But only one bathroom! But thats ok. It has a nice big kitchen, and after the last extensions, a massive lounge / dining area, with big sliding doors which open all the way which makes it look even bigger.
The other family left after 1.30pm, as the wife had to work the morning. They kept me upto date with their progress, and when they were 10km from the town of Koffie, I drove into town to meet them and bring them out to the farm. It's 10km to the farm from town, and it's a tar road (only been tarred in the past 3 or 4 years), so it's a quick drive.

In town I agreed we would meet at the only filling station. i got there, bought 11 bags of fire wood (all they had) and met with the other lot, and 10 minutes later we were on the farm. The road from the tar road to the house is not so good, but then, it it is a farm road. And this is Africa. So take it or leave it.

So, there we all were, on the farm. We took the kids down to the river to show them what was there. A lapa, nice and big, with a tent under it. And the Lean to at the water front. It's a very very safe location, and immediately the kids all decided they wanted to sleep there. Much to GMans dismay, as he and his friend had decided the two of them wanted to stay there so they could fish through the night, and now with this lot there would probably be such a disturbance... But they didn't know the effect all that fresh air has on one, and how tiring it can be, and how you just seem to doze off..zzzzzzzz.

Back at the house we had a braai with the first of the lamb chops. And everyone was blown away. I mean this meat is really tasty. it's because of the food they eat. the veld grasses and shrubs in the Karoo are, well... herbal, and so this has a very positive effect on the sheep / lamb meat. In fact, for some people it's too herbally!!
Anyway, it was all good, and some beers and other forms of alchohol were consumed, and the kids were all at the river and we just chilled....

It was Alan, and his wife Margie, and their 3 kids, Bronnie,Dylan & Tristen.
And Brian, and his wife Michele, and his two kids Simone, and Sasha.
And me and the Princess and GMan & LuckyL & GMan's friend Nash.
And our hosts Fanie & Marlene!
A couple of dogs, plenty sheep, and a herd, about 120 strong of wild, roaming Springbok.

Salagatle!