Date Season, Stones and a family road trip! ~ Mariella

I needed a family holiday! Throw the kids in the car and go. So when the thought presented itself to go hunting for stones for Moonstone, our Crystal and Mineral shop in Plettenberg Bay at the same time as fetching dates for our Market at Old Nick Village, it was decided! Incidentally these things happen to come from the same place, the Northern Cape of South Africa. Here is a photo essay of our adventure in this utterly stunning country of ours which is filled with lovely people, magical place, and more dust roads than you'd think! 

This is Wuppertal. a small thatch roofed white washed village in the Cederberg mountains in the Western Cape founded in 1830 by two German missionaries of the Rhenish Missionary Society. In 1965, after the Rhenish Mission had gradually scaled down their activities in Southern Africa, a decision was made that Wupperthal should in future become part of the Moravian Church, and it remains a Moravian mission station to this day. Seeing the little town of approx. 3000 people cradled in a small valley just in time for sunset was like discovering our own Brigadoon in the mountains which no one knew was there! Was it a dream? It was beautiful, the streets were clean, the people friendly and we walked around until after dark taking in the wonders of this intriguing little town.

http://brigadoon.co.za/legend.htm  

We met Jason selling fish in Doringbaai, a small town on the West coast and he pointed us to a camp site on the beach in Springfontein where we spent the night. we woke in a shroud of mist, a brief respite from the heat of the inland we were soon to return to. The road from Lamberts Baai to Springfontein is untarred but easy and beautiful with sea views and a sense of riding in the bush, not above it on big intrusive roads 

Springfontein Sunset

Springfontein sunrise!

Our mission to the Henkries Date farm took us along never ending dust roads and Mrs Olivier kept the office open for us long after closing time.

In between selecting dates and making sure we'd had tasters of each delicious juicy batch, she told us about the farm. It's 50 years old. During the Anglo-Boer war, the British hid in those hills and had nothing but dates to eat. Their continued complaints of being hungry, hungry, hungry morphed into the region's name, 'Henkries' and their wide discarding of dates seeds resulted in the first date palms along the Orange River which eventually turned it into a date growing area! 

Mental note, unripe dates do not taste great!

Orange River at sunset.

The little town of Goodhouse, in the Orange River valley. A small flat town baked by the sun with one road in and one road out.

There are still places in South Africa where you can pull off the road and camp without being in fear for your life! We found a hill, black from the relentless sun and camped under the full Northern Cape night. We watched the full moon come up over the landscape, turning it twilight. 

From the hill above where we camped.

I took this photo while my husband was changing a tire! I learned much in the good hour of waiting and trying in vain to be of assistance that there are many ways to do things. I watched my family while we waited. Alluring clouds on the distant heavy horizon seemed suspended at one altitude like a flock of birds, too cautious to land on the piping hot midday ground. My son drew the giant rats in the audio book we listened to and my daughter did ballet in the infinitely empty road to the heavy voice of Lorde over the speakers. No body got uptight, no body lost their cool. There's always a choice!

Amazing haunting Koekerboom Trees on a small alternative route to Pella.

Rose Quartz in the Bush, Bright pink in the sun against the brown rock.

I think I was the only one who thought the advertisement of snake meat was hilarious, no one else seemed to catch the joke! 

On the way home we drove through De Rust, a sweet sleepy town with a pretty main street bursting with creative little coffee shops and galleries.

Breakfast in Oudtshoorn, another sleepy town in the Klein Karoo.

I remember going home when I was a child. I willed the car to slow down, to turn back, to take a little longer! 

But going home to a place you love is different, our country is beautiful and quietly whispers to be explored. We should know what all of it looks like, it's our home!