2008 SA JOURNEY

page 43, February 16

MATJIESFONTEIN

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We had two enjoyable days and nights at the Karoo National Park but did not relish the thought to have to get back to Capetown in a single day. The evening before we left we had a nice swim and met a Dutch couple who - based on Dutch accent only - I placed within 10 kms from their home near Bornerbroek where I had vacationed at the age of 5 !
We got up at 05:30, packed the car and had our last free breakfast at 07:00. I paid the rather steep R 560 environmental fee for 4p x 2d, but considered it a worthy sacrifice. We took off at 07:55 and the last exciting moment was seeing Barbara mail some last minute postcards and stamping her foot as soon as she realized she had not put any addresses on yet ....Soon we were on N1, the main road from Joburg to Capetown. 0919 Laingsburg and Great Swartberge, and not only a railroad track but even a train!
Following Bro Gus' advice, we stopped at Matjiesfontein at 10:26, where we took picts of the Lord Milner Hotel which occupies the entire town, plus the London doubledecker bus, + two or three museums (see separate pages) and a pleasant coffee shop. Historically, some 7,000 British soldiers had been hospitalized here during the 1899-1902 Boer War.
At 11:30 we were all done and had fueled up for the last stretch, including the mountains and Huguenot Tunnel before our beloved Paarl...