We do this thing once a year, my other half and me, all on our own, to get away from the rat race and to explore all the little places out there, we have such a beautiful country and because we tend to stick to the highways we miss most of it. This year we decided Sutherland and surrounding areas would be our destination.
On Saturday morning we left Brackenfell at about 7am, to be in
Montagu in time to have a nice brekkie at 9am. We decided to drive through
Montagu after our last Monteco visit, because we wanted to see where all the dirt roads around there goes to. And we had all day to get to Sutherland (about 4 hrs drive from CT). After some exploring on the dirt roads for a few hours, we ended up in Touwsriver, where I filled Kaspaas up, we got some coffee and we inflated the tyres to tar-road driving spec. From there on it was foot-in-the-hook (120) all the way to the Fountain-of-Little-Carpets just in time for a late picnic lunch and a look around. Here we bumped into Johnny, the local self-appointed tour guide, adn he entertained us for about half an hour or with jokes, and facts about the town and showing us the sights. We ended up in the Bar, with him playing the piano and singing Suikerbossie... Very well done!! We had another cup of coffee, looked around the town, snuffelled in the museum and did some more touristy stuffs for about another hour. The trip to Sutherland from there was just 110km along a nice tar road.
Fountain-of-Little-Carpets
We booked our accommodation on the internet at Rooikloof Guest Farm and we looked at the pictures and thought this would be a nice place to stay, but when we arrived, we soon realised that the website does not do the place justice. The old house we stayed in is tastefully decorated with everything in its place very tidy, cosy and welcoming. Hannatjie Sieberhagen, the owner, arrived a short while later and welcomed us and made us feel at home right away. She told us about the farm, and where the hiking trails were and what there was to do on the farm and in Sutherland. This is an active sheep farm, but currently all the livestock was on the "winter range" at lower altitudes. it was pretty chilly, but never unbearingly cold.
Rooikloof Farm
Our first day in Sutherland (Sunday) we decided to go exploring towards the Fraserburg side. On Google Earth I found some sites indicating a waterfall and fossils on the "Ou Posroete" and we decided to go check it out. We drove for a few hours stopping every now and then to take photographs of just about everything, until we got to a point where there were 3 gates and a farm-house. We stopped and asked the farmer and he pointed us in some direction giving instructions on how to get there, and then he looked Kaspaas over and said... "Ek het ok een van daai.. hulle is al wat hou!!"... and we were best mates...
Wild Wild West
We were on farm tracks over koppies, slate, sharp rocks, boulders, wash-outs until eventually we got to a piece of slate where there was supposed to be fossilised dinosaur tracks. We started looking for tracks, but not knowing what they looked like, how big or small they should be, we gave it up after about half an hour. We had a lot of fun exploring the area though. We drove on a little further until I was afraid of having the tyres cut to shreds on the sharp rocks so we stopped near the waterfall and walked the last few 100 meters. What a site, underneath there is a cave (hollow) where a shepherd supposedly hid from extreme weather with his 800 sheep. Approx 20m high and very wide. Only a trickle of water was falling over the edge, but this was a very nice backdrop for a picnic, so we had lunch. We carefully made our way back out and drove back to Sutherland via Fraserburg, where we bought some cooldrinks and snacks.
Dry Waterfall and Cave
The next day (Monday) we took it easy, booked a tour at the observatory and did some touristy sight-seeing stuff in and around Sutherland. The observatory tour is very interesting and we got a glimpse of the insides of SALT, the largest telescope in the southern hemisphere. Definitely worth a visit. There is also a night tour, but this is pure 'star-gazing", not as technical as the day tour. The night tour is booked out for 6 months in advance though. next time.....
Kaspaas does SALT
Tuesday was our last day to explore around Sutherland and we decided to go see what the Skurweberg 4x4 Route was all about. Unfortunately it was getting cold and windy and the weather was turning bad so we stopped at Skurweberg and chatted with Witjan v/d Merwe for a while and promised to come do the route some time when the weather was better. he is a very friendly guy, as are all the people we met. We stopped in at the Kroonland Tulip Farm, but the tulips were all dead, but once again we had a very friendly reception from the farmer (Oom Lampies) who invited us in from the cold and we talked for a long time. At the end of the day we ended up on the Rooiwal road between Calvinia and Middelpos is pouring rain. The road was one slippery muddy mess, and i had to engage 4wd to make sure we dont slide off the "road" into the ditch. It was a lot of fun though, and took us almost 90 minutes to drive 50km. We slept at the Middelpos Hotel that night.
Mud Wrestling
Middelpos Hotel
On Wednesday morning there was a chill in the air as we got ready to return home via the Gannaga Pass and the Tankwa Karoo. The roads were still in a muddy condition but as soon as we descended the pass the rain stopped and the sun came out in places. The Tankwa Karoo is a very flowery place especially this time of the year. We took the road to Varschfontein and as I had anough time to plot routes from Google Earth we had some waypoints on the Garmin to make sure we see a lot. What seemed like a road on Google Earth turned out to be a 4x4 track, which we ended up doing in the wrong direction, and in 2wd. Only once did I wish I locked the hubs, but with an extra bit of throttle we made it up the hill anyway. When we arrived at the gate of the park we found it was locked. Bummer, as we were already in "going home" mode, and now we had to find an alternative way out of the park. We drove south, and ended up on a road that was so badly washed away that we could not get around it without taking silly risks. We decided to turn around and ended up going out through the Stone Henge private nature reserve.
Washed Away
From there on it was plain sailing (110 km/h) along the "Forgotten Highway" to Ceres and then home. And so another successful September Breakaway came to an end.
Fuel Consumption: Have not worked that out yet.
Distance travelled: 1700 km
Will we do this again? : A resounding YES, but first there are about 2397 other waterfalls and hidden places to find.
Lessons learnt:
1) People in the Hoogland Karoo are very friendly.
2) The Rooikloof Guest farm will definitely see us again. Their facilities are brilliant, and their rates are extremely reasonable. If anybody needs accommodation in that area give Hannatjie a call or visit their website at
http://www.rooikloof.co.za
3) Coke Zero is actually not too bad.
4) Google Earth had the most funky points of interest. You will discover a lot of things you never even knew existed.
5) Astronomy is not all that boring.
6) Helena at the Middelpos Hotel cooks a mean dinner!
7) In the Tankwa Karoo you need good directions, a few waypoints on a Garmin is not good enough.
