TOUR REPORT
A few days before we left Cape Town, several cold fronts hit The Western Cape. This brought anxiety & joy at the same time. Anxiety that enough warm clothing had been packed and Joy that ‘just perhaps’ the cold front would bring snow to Sutherland.
We had marvelous sightings of snow in the Hex River Valley and our first stop at the Veldskoen Padstal for lunch had the mountain tips covered in glistening snow. Glistening because now the sun was out! A joyful lunch with a table of farmers alongside us had the ladies jokingly trying to pair a few of the farmers off with our ‘single ladies’!!
Very soon we were back in our vehicle heading to Matjiesfontein. We stopped there for ¾ of an hour – a few ladies went into their bar and enjoyed a sherry (wards off the cold for sure!) whilst a few discovered the chapel on site and also enjoyed looking at the hotel and gardens.
By 16h30 we had arrived in Sutherland – just over 100kms from Matjiesfontein. Everyone checked into the two guest houses booked for them. KambroKind where 8 ladies stayed and Skitterland where 2 of our ladies stayed!
At 19h00 we were all back in the vehicle and drove down to Cluster d’Hote, a wonderful restaurant. “Good ‘ol fashioned hospitality” is what the ladies said after a dinner of lamb shanks and delicious lemon meringue pie no-one needed much persuasion to go to bed.
The next morning after breakfast we headed up to SALT for their guided tour. They have a video presentation which introduces you to the stars – I believe one of the highlights of the guided tour is the visit up to the SALT telescope – it is very large and on top of a hill which is ever so c.o.l.d. – it is at the same altitude as the Highveld!. You are given lots of information – difficult to remember all though! Another new highlight is the new Photobox application for group photos – you stand on a platform and they add a ‘moon background’ and then email you the photo. It looks like you’re actually on the moon!
The ladies then did some shopping at Pa se Engel a new shop in town! Lovely, quite exclusive goods in this store and they soon parted with some of their money in return for the ‘just-the-right-gift’ to take home.
Lunch was at the Whitehouse Inn – a nice laid-back lunch. A few of us then visited the Louw Museum and the large Dutch Reformed Church in town. A few others walked the very empty streets and even found ‘just what they were looking for’ at Pep Stores!!
By 17h30 we had to go to an early dinner at the Jupiter Steak House. We had placed our orders the day before so we were served a drink and then h.u.g.e. lamb pies and a few lamb curries. One thing about the people of Sutherland is that they know how to produce a huge plate of food (or as the Afrikaans of our community would say – ‘’n Groot Bord Kos”!!!
It was good that our tummies were full of warm food as our next stop was stargazing at Sterland, where Jurg has set up computerised telescopes on a property on the outskirts of town! Here you all gather in his almost boma-like areas to view the stars. At 20h00 Jurg takes you all down for a video presentation of the magic of the galaxy. We then don every bit of warm clothing we brought along and head outside to experience the beauty of the Sutherland night skies!
On arrival at the telescopes the temperature was 2.6 degrees; after our hour and half it had gone down to -2 degrees!! What you actually experience on this evening far exceeds the cold that you feel in your legs. For starters the Milky Way comes alive – we were so very lucky to actually see 2 falling stars – and a host of other important delights in the night-sky!!
By 22h00 everyone was quite ready to get back to the warmth of their guest houses and more importantly the electric blankets!
Early next morning the group all had breakfast at Kambro Kind guest house – what a wonderful breakfast they provide. So very efficient – hats off to their staff, who with an order that is placed the day before manage to get everyone’s order ‘just-as-you-wanted-it’.
We then stopped in at the local butcher in the hope that we could bring home some of their delicious lamb shanks – “All Sold to the Restaurants”…..was the response.
Heading back to Cape Town we had another short stop at Matjiesfontein and then another at the Veldskoen Padstal where the ladies could pick up their purchases from Thursday!
Lunch was delicious and decadent at the Opstal Restaurant in the Breedekloof valley.
We were back at the Cape Town airport by just after 16h00 to meet our transferring shuttles which would take us home.
“WHAT GOOD IS THE WARMTH OF SUMMER
WITHOUT THE COLD OF WINTER TO GIVE IT SWEETNESS!!”