Thanks
As most of you will realize, most of Monday was spent preparing the blog for the previous four days at Mazeppa Bay. However, in the background, we spent the whole day watching the 5th and final ODI (one day international) cricket match between SA and Pakistan. The series was 2-2 so this was the deciding match for the cup. SA batted first and never really got the run rate going and set a fairly easy target for Pakistan to achieve. Pakistan were 
cruising to an easy victory and we would have left to post the blog had it been ready, assuming the cricket result was a foregone conclusion. Fortunately, the blog wasn’t ready so we were still working on it when SA took a couple of quick wickets and then Pakistan totally collapsed and amazingly SA won the match and 
the series to great jubilation all around. Later that evening we went with Barry & Anne to Miranda & Riaan’s for dinner and we were joined by Shaun & Nikki for a “Potjie” (try Google!) farewell dinner. A reunion (a day later!) of the Mazeppa Bay team. It was a fun evening.Tuesday – Moving day. Goodbye to Anne at 7.30 – she was off to work. Packing and breakfast with Barry. We were meeting Wout & Vilia at “The Glen” north of Graaff Reinet, but they were traveling from Port Elizabeth, while we were going direct from East London. We drove via King
Williams Town, Alice, Fort Beaufort, Adelaide, Bedford to Craddock where we had lunch, checking in via cell to see how W&V were progressing. The land we were traveling through is known as The Karoo and is mostly farming of sheep and goats (for mohair). We arrived at the farm about 1 minute before W&V, both of us having driven about 250 miles! We moved into our “cottage” 
on the farm and our accommodation was delightful. Our hosts were Anthony & Marion De La Harpe who had built and lived in the cottage when they were first married and Tony’s parents lived in the main farm house a hundred yards away. T&M now live in the main house and have turned the cottage into a small commercial venture. In the afternoon we took a walk through the veld and returned for dinner – bobotie traditional SA dish. We were woken in the middle of the night by the crash of thunder and intense rain but by morning, the sun was shining again and there was hardly any evidence that it had rained at all.
Williams Town, Alice, Fort Beaufort, Adelaide, Bedford to Craddock where we had lunch, checking in via cell to see how W&V were progressing. The land we were traveling through is known as The Karoo and is mostly farming of sheep and goats (for mohair). We arrived at the farm about 1 minute before W&V, both of us having driven about 250 miles! We moved into our “cottage” 
on the farm and our accommodation was delightful. Our hosts were Anthony & Marion De La Harpe who had built and lived in the cottage when they were first married and Tony’s parents lived in the main farm house a hundred yards away. T&M now live in the main house and have turned the cottage into a small commercial venture. In the afternoon we took a walk through the veld and returned for dinner – bobotie traditional SA dish. We were woken in the middle of the night by the crash of thunder and intense rain but by morning, the sun was shining again and there was hardly any evidence that it had rained at all. 
Wenesday we got up for an 8.30 breakfast. I should mention that although there is a self catering option, we elected to go with the dinner & breakfast option so we had our own “chef” who came down in the morning and cooked a full breakfast for us and in the evening also came and cooked dinner, leaving it in the “hostess tray” so that we could eat at our leisure. The “fully catered” 
option was R20 for breakfast and R60 for dinner about $11.50 per person!After breakfast we made our way on 26 miles of dirt road to Nieu (New) Bethesda, described as “an oasis in the Great Karoo” (http://www.nieubethesda.info/). The main attraction is “The Owl House”, where an eccentric lady named Helen Martin
made hundreds of cement sculptures of owls, camels, lambs, sphinxes, serpents and naked men and women, which (in my opinion) would be considered as rubbish when viewed individually, but collectively are considered to be an art form. By 
chance, we also happened upon “The Brewery”, which must be the smallest brewery in South Africa if not the world. The draught tap comes out the side of a fridge (see photo). We had lunch at the “Village Inn Restaurant and Karoo Kitchen” and then toured the village on foot. We returned to the cottage and I climbed to the 
top of a high vantage point to take some video of the area. There was no path up the side the koppie, so it was a bit of a hard slog and harder coming down. We had a very nice chicken pie and vegetables for dinner.Thursday – another full breakfast – diet will start on our return. We drove into Graaff Reinet, which is fourth oldest town in South Africa (Cape Town, 
Stellenbosch and Swellendam being the first three). We dropped Vilia off in town, where she would spend time taking photographs of old buildings, and Wout, Alison and I drove on to “The Valley of Desolation” a national monument. The main feature of the valley is a series of precariously balanced dolerite columns which rise as much as 120 meters above the 
valley floor. These rock pillars have withstood 200 million years of erosion by wind and water. We walked the trail, returning back to GR where we met Vilia for lunch at “The Drostdy”, a hotel since 1878, but originally (for about 40 years from 1806) the administrative quarters of the landdrost (magistrate). Vilia was not impressed by the fact that they did not have a menu in 
English, only an Afrikaans menu! After lunch we went to see an art exhibition of the Johannesburg Station Panels by well known SA artist, JH Pierneef. This was followed with a visit by us to the Military & War Museum, where we were particularly interested in the Anglo Boer War section. Meanwhile, Vilia enjoyed another part of the museum complex, and Wout went to refuel his car and then rested in it while waiting for us to be done in the museums. We were all tired when we got 
back to The Glen Cottage, and spent a relaxing time on the stoep watching the sun go down. Our final farm dinner just had to be roast Karoo lamb, and we were not disappointed when a lovely shoulder was produced along with a variety of veggies and gravy. A good sleep was had by all, with no thunderstorm to keep us awake this night.
Stellenbosch and Swellendam being the first three). We dropped Vilia off in town, where she would spend time taking photographs of old buildings, and Wout, Alison and I drove on to “The Valley of Desolation” a national monument. The main feature of the valley is a series of precariously balanced dolerite columns which rise as much as 120 meters above the 
valley floor. These rock pillars have withstood 200 million years of erosion by wind and water. We walked the trail, returning back to GR where we met Vilia for lunch at “The Drostdy”, a hotel since 1878, but originally (for about 40 years from 1806) the administrative quarters of the landdrost (magistrate). Vilia was not impressed by the fact that they did not have a menu in 
English, only an Afrikaans menu! After lunch we went to see an art exhibition of the Johannesburg Station Panels by well known SA artist, JH Pierneef. This was followed with a visit by us to the Military & War Museum, where we were particularly interested in the Anglo Boer War section. Meanwhile, Vilia enjoyed another part of the museum complex, and Wout went to refuel his car and then rested in it while waiting for us to be done in the museums. We were all tired when we got 
back to The Glen Cottage, and spent a relaxing time on the stoep watching the sun go down. Our final farm dinner just had to be roast Karoo lamb, and we were not disappointed when a lovely shoulder was produced along with a variety of veggies and gravy. A good sleep was had by all, with no thunderstorm to keep us awake this night.Friday morning we were up for an 8 o’clock breakfast and soon after 9:00 we were on the road 
heading back to Port Elizabeth. We stopped for “elevenses” in a little place named Kleinpoort at a “padstal”, and in addition to our having tea/coffee and rusks, Alison purchased some mohair hiking socks for me in a small special mohair products section of the shop. We arrived at Wout & Vilia’s home in PE early afternoon and had a restful afternoon—Wout & I working on Sudokus, and Alison and Vilia sorting clothes and doing laundry. In the evening we went to an old favorite restaurant for dinner, the Old Austria, which is close to W&V’s home. Great Austrian style food.
heading back to Port Elizabeth. We stopped for “elevenses” in a little place named Kleinpoort at a “padstal”, and in addition to our having tea/coffee and rusks, Alison purchased some mohair hiking socks for me in a small special mohair products section of the shop. We arrived at Wout & Vilia’s home in PE early afternoon and had a restful afternoon—Wout & I working on Sudokus, and Alison and Vilia sorting clothes and doing laundry. In the evening we went to an old favorite restaurant for dinner, the Old Austria, which is close to W&V’s home. Great Austrian style food. (Incidentally, Friday PM, we were intermittently in touch by email and phone with Melanie & Clare at our home--Melanie, David, Indigo Wen, dogs and cat are currently visiting Myrtle Beach--regarding an unusual task, which we will write about in our next posting, but meanwhile, thanks "kids" for all your efforts).
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