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emmelinemayFeeling well rested after sleeping in, the plan for the day is to head over to the other side of the mountain to go to Warmwaterberg - hot springs!
We head over the mountain via Tradouw Pass - Tradouw is a Khoi'san word the 'women's pass'. The pass was built in the 19th century, and you get the most incredible views of the mountains and the valleys. There are stop of points along the road with some of the most impressive views.
Once through the pass, the weather is noticeably hotter - this side of the mountain is much warmer than our side! We'd picked up a (rather good looking) hitch-hiker in Suurbrak, the town before you go through the pass, wanting to go to Barrydale. Suurbrak is a old Dutch missionary village, and one of the few places in South Africa that when Apartheid began, the white people had to move out and the black people could stay. It's a beautiful little place, with an incredible variety of houses in all sorts of styles, and time seems to have halted in the late 50s. It's like journeying though time, driving through the village.
Barrydale is more built up, and there is evidence of the old days of Apartheid in a chop which is still called (i can't remember the Afrikaans word) 'Beer hall' - which is the place where black people were 'allowed' to drink when restrictions on their movements was very tightly controlled.
Seeing as we were to drop our hitch-hiker here, we popped into Barrydale Hotel, which is reputed to have an, um, eclectic art collection. I took lots of pics of some of the items we saw, including this naughty chair:
being the curious young lady that i am, i obviously HAD to get a photo of this chair sans cushion...this, depending on how strict your workplace is, may not be safe for work....
The bar looked like it was straight out of the 60s:
After this, we headed to the Blue Cow coffee shop in Barrydale, which is really cute and is right by the prettiest little pond, where we saw a whole bunch of interesting birds. I have no idea what any of them were, but they were definitely interesting. I also saw a mongoose on the other side of the pond, about which i was very excited. When i was very little, I'd somehow got it into my head that a mongoose was a sort of moose. When i read the Redwall books, i had a hard time trying to picture a mongoose in my head as my head still persisted in seeing it as a moose, even when i knew it was a small furry thing. Now I've seen one, hopefully it will get that mental moose image out...
As we drove along the road, with nothingness behind, in front, and to either side - just expanses or scrub desert ending in mountains at the horizon, we pass this place:
It's actually a pub - but Ronnie, the owner, thought if he added the word 'sex' to the sign, more people might come in, and then laugh, and then stay for a drink. It does actually seem to work. We didn't stop here though, as it was closed, so we continued on to he hot springs.
When we got there, we saw some very odd looking peacocks - they seem to have had all their tails trimmed off. I wonder why?
When we go to pay for the springs, we are informed that it's R20 (about £1.50) per person, but R10 for children, she says, looking at me. We laugh, and Mum hands her a R100 note, and gets R50 in change o_O I clearly either look very young without any make-up, or 'child' is a very loose definition here meaning 'anyone who comes here with their parents'.
The hot springs were beautiful, so warm, like a bath. I spent ages just sitting in them in the sun reading my book. I refuse to let pictures of me in my bikini see the light of day, but here is mum and dave in the springs:
We then head home, and it was so warm and i felt so relaxed, that i fell asleep on the journey home, and missed the view on the way back...
full gallery is here
We head over the mountain via Tradouw Pass - Tradouw is a Khoi'san word the 'women's pass'. The pass was built in the 19th century, and you get the most incredible views of the mountains and the valleys. There are stop of points along the road with some of the most impressive views.
Once through the pass, the weather is noticeably hotter - this side of the mountain is much warmer than our side! We'd picked up a (rather good looking) hitch-hiker in Suurbrak, the town before you go through the pass, wanting to go to Barrydale. Suurbrak is a old Dutch missionary village, and one of the few places in South Africa that when Apartheid began, the white people had to move out and the black people could stay. It's a beautiful little place, with an incredible variety of houses in all sorts of styles, and time seems to have halted in the late 50s. It's like journeying though time, driving through the village.
Barrydale is more built up, and there is evidence of the old days of Apartheid in a chop which is still called (i can't remember the Afrikaans word) 'Beer hall' - which is the place where black people were 'allowed' to drink when restrictions on their movements was very tightly controlled.
Seeing as we were to drop our hitch-hiker here, we popped into Barrydale Hotel, which is reputed to have an, um, eclectic art collection. I took lots of pics of some of the items we saw, including this naughty chair:
being the curious young lady that i am, i obviously HAD to get a photo of this chair sans cushion...this, depending on how strict your workplace is, may not be safe for work....
The bar looked like it was straight out of the 60s:
After this, we headed to the Blue Cow coffee shop in Barrydale, which is really cute and is right by the prettiest little pond, where we saw a whole bunch of interesting birds. I have no idea what any of them were, but they were definitely interesting. I also saw a mongoose on the other side of the pond, about which i was very excited. When i was very little, I'd somehow got it into my head that a mongoose was a sort of moose. When i read the Redwall books, i had a hard time trying to picture a mongoose in my head as my head still persisted in seeing it as a moose, even when i knew it was a small furry thing. Now I've seen one, hopefully it will get that mental moose image out...
As we drove along the road, with nothingness behind, in front, and to either side - just expanses or scrub desert ending in mountains at the horizon, we pass this place:
It's actually a pub - but Ronnie, the owner, thought if he added the word 'sex' to the sign, more people might come in, and then laugh, and then stay for a drink. It does actually seem to work. We didn't stop here though, as it was closed, so we continued on to he hot springs.
When we got there, we saw some very odd looking peacocks - they seem to have had all their tails trimmed off. I wonder why?
When we go to pay for the springs, we are informed that it's R20 (about £1.50) per person, but R10 for children, she says, looking at me. We laugh, and Mum hands her a R100 note, and gets R50 in change o_O I clearly either look very young without any make-up, or 'child' is a very loose definition here meaning 'anyone who comes here with their parents'.
The hot springs were beautiful, so warm, like a bath. I spent ages just sitting in them in the sun reading my book. I refuse to let pictures of me in my bikini see the light of day, but here is mum and dave in the springs:
We then head home, and it was so warm and i felt so relaxed, that i fell asleep on the journey home, and missed the view on the way back...
full gallery is here
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Date: 2007-04-18 10:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-18 04:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-18 06:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-19 08:50 am (UTC)The Tradouw pass is INCREDIBLE! Some of the roads round here just have the most beautiful views.