New Year in New Place with New Boy

P.S. I have to add a post-script to alert you to the warthog family sighting I just witnessed. One big mamma and 3 babes, I attempted to get my camera, but I will have to learn to be more sneaky so they don't scamper away from the sound of my loud clomping walk!




























After a 5-day journey up the east coast, Johannes and I have at last made it to our new home on the grounds of Kwa Zulu Private Game Reserve. We arrived yesterday with plenty of time to unpack before his first day of work (today). He is now busy on the 18,000 hectares (44,000+ acres!) of land collecting trees for his upcoming furniture making projects. At times I can hear the chain saw echoing across the masses of trees.
























I’m thinking of Virginia Wolf today and women of times past. I’m feeling a bit like a young bride. I’ve looked out the door a half dozen times, wondering when and if Johannes will be here for lunch. I’ve now swept the floor, washed every last dish, chased a wasp or two, fixed the gap in our twin beds, checked a week’s worth of emails, edited my photos, dug up dirt, planted 2 pots of basil, prepped some chickpeas and lentils for sprouting, toasted butternut seeds and just started cooking dinner our dinner of risotto with butternut squash and chickpeas. And it’s only 1:10pm! In and amongst all that I chatted with Mike, one of the farm managers who stopped by to fix our geyser (hot water heater). He confirmed what I thought: I must keep busy!!! These next few weeks will be a bit boring, he suggested, until I find something to do. And in my housewifely-ness, a girl who has done all her chores and more, I await knowing how my time will unfold here on this beautiful farm. For the rest of the day it will be washing clothes by hand while avoiding the nearby wasp nest and touching up my latest batch of paintings.

Now, I don’t mean to paint a picture of doom and gloom! I’m filling a new pair of shoes and uncertain how to maneuver in them. We drove into the game farm just after noon yesterday, having slept in the rain by the side of a dirt road the night before. The road through the farm to the house is long and windy, full of small hills but rather well maintained for a South African dirt road. We were greeted by a warm, reddish plaster house, tidied and cleaned up just for us. The managers on the farm saw to it that our house was completely equipped with dishrags and soap, dishes and bed linens. There’s a spacious garden, complete with a huge granadilla (passion fruit) hedge and a pawpaw (papaya) tree. There’s a wire fence running the perimeter of the garden to keep the lions and other beasts from trampling through. Johannes and I have plans to make a garden and hopefully a chicken run (no free-range due to hawks)….there’s certainly plenty of space!









Our drive to KZN was roughly 1,600 miles and it took us over 30 hours to drive! Our fully loaded bakkie (truck), kitted out with our clothes, Johannes’ work tools, his motorbike and surfboard, my art and teaching supplies, plus camping material, must have weighed a ton! Mind you, we

didn’t pick the shortest route, which runs through Johannesburg, and we made a couple of detours along the way. Nonetheless, it was a good choice to take 5 days to make the drive. We revisited a campsite we stayed at over Christmas, in Wilderness. From there we went to Ganubi, next to East London, where we stayed with my cousin Paige and her family. After a nice night on a bed, we made way for more camping in the Transkei.

The Transkei is also known as the “Wild Coast” and boy is it wild! Originally, it was a “Tribal Homeland” dedicated to the Xhosa people during Apartheid. The tribal aspects to it remain very visible today. The 45-mile dirt road from the N2 to the small town of Coffee Bay took us well over an hour and half to drive. The roads are plagued with monstrous potholes and the traffic is slow with cows, donkeys, goats and shepherds consistently owning the right of way. The Transkei seeped into my pores, I swear. The sights are unbelievable: All along the coast, the trees weave in and out of each other in majestic groves reminiscent of Tolkein’s lands. The myriads of green hues illuminate each other, creating a Technicolor spectacle. Tree boughs sweep the grounds of the beaches, talking to the rocks and the ambling, mystic cows. Dotting the landscape are mud and cow dung huts, painted electric aqua and peach, making the eyes pop as they trail the hilly horizon. Parts of the coast reminded me of the Cliffs of Mohr and parts of Scotland, dreamy and rambling hills, cliffs tall and austere…but for a second and then you’ll spot women clad in stripes and plaid and floral prints, flashing bright colors, donning large vats of water and lengthy bundles of firewood atop their heads, small babies poking their heads out of swaths of cloth on their backs - and you know you’re not in Scotland.

While in the Transkei we weathered unseasonable rain and lightening storms in Johannes’ sturdy tent, but spent the overcast days rock scrambling along the coast. Over 3 days and 2 nights we stayed at 2 different backpackers’ where it was safe to leave the bakkie unattended, one in Coffee Bay and the other in Umbumvu. We dined on fresh mussels caught by some locals and drank minty, buhu tea that we picked in the Western Cape. Not to mention filling the gaps with strange sheep liver meat wrapped in bacon (Johannes’ choice), some old cheese and crackers and of course, celery with peanut butter!

I see here in this blog today I’m jumping around like a fish out of water, but literally, it has been well over a month since I’ve written in this neglected web journal. I’d like to make mention of a tough last week in Cape Town, during which I was provided with ample love and nourishment from my friends and family there. It was a tough decision leaving Cape Town, knowing that Johannes and I have shortened our agreement for me to stay in KZN. At one point I had thought I’d be coming here for a lengthy year, but after much ado in our newness, we decided one year was a bit too much to chew on for the moment. Too much pressure, too little knowing of one another. And so I left Cape Town not knowing when I’ll be going back, if at all. Not knowing, again, what lies ahead and that KZN might just be another short-term arrangement.

With a lot of flair, I spent my last week in Cape Town delighting in the close-knit group of friends I have collected over the past 12 months. I had the opportunity to go “kloofing” (for which I have no photos) in Suicide Gorge, which consisted of hiking and rock scrambling for about 9 miles, wading through pools of water in a valley, and eventually jumping off of tall cliffs from waterfalls into pools. It was insane and it was incredible! I haven’t ever tested myself in such a fashion and did rather well, I think, despite the ridiculous ass-smacking I got when I hit my tail bone at a rather peculiar angle (it’s still hurting me to sit, after a week in a car!). As you will see from my photos, I was blessed with a lovely last night gathering in my friend Amit & Steffi’s rather crazy banquet style dining room! And so I left Cape Town, fully pumping, grabbing onto the edge of my seat a bit, but in such a way that I am here, HERE, HERE, now, and ready to see what lies next.

One last piece for this epic entry: at dusk last night Johannes took me on a motorbike ride through the dirt roads outside our cottage. Because it was just beginning to mist with rain, I think much of the game had gone into hiding. We saw the usual guinea fowl, but also many Rooibok (red buck), Impala, and as we rounded a corner we surprised 3 gracious, genteel giraffes. I don’t know if anything has ever caught my breath quite like that - we were so close, so bare, so much in the same space. We stood looking [in awe] at each other for the span of a few minutes until they galloped away. I immediately received that moment as a gift rarely given and look forward to sharing more of those with you in the coming months!