Those who know me well will know that my greatest love is travel (followed closely by tequila). I spent much of my childhood wishing that I had been born into a gypsy family - going to sleep at night in a caravan and waking up the next day in a new town. The closest I ever got to that is having a mother who essentially looks like a gypsy with her bright headscarves and flamboyant jewellery. There was also the much-looked-forward-to annual road trips from Zimbabwe to Durban via Kruger National Park. Leaving at 4am in the morning in the dark and stopping off at interesting spots along the way started a love affair with road tripping that has never died.
Now that I am bigger and can do as I please (OK, most of the time), I am free to be a gypsy of sorts. I have obligations (car payments and credit card bills) and grown-up commitments (dogs, cats and fish) so I can’t travel as much as I would like to, but thanks to my daytime job, I get to travel a reasonable amount. So I have decided to add “Tart goes travelling…” to my blog adventures. And what better place to start than my recent visit to Cradock, an Eastern Cape town steeped in Boer War history and once home to one of the most brazen women of her time, Olive Schreiner.
I was chauffeured to Cradock by Intercape. It has been a long time since I used a bus to go somewhere (I arrived in Cape Town 20 years ago on a bus) and was pleasantly surprised to see that nothing had changed. Especially that smell of chicken that permeates the air from the minute you step aboard. Everyone’s tupperware containers seem to hold chicken and even I joined the you-win-when-you-eat-da-chicken movement by scoffing a chicken sandwich. Our first stop along the N1 had everyone in Steers buying chicken n’ chips and I was secretly relieved that the KFC was closed by the time we got to Graaff-Reinet. The chairs were covered in the same colour fabric as 20 years ago and the DVDs shown for our on-board entertainment still got stuck half-way through. Nevertheless, it wasn’t too shabby – more space than a plane and much cheaper than driving.
I got to Cradock at 4.30am and got picked up by Vernon from Die Tuishuis (only to discover I could’ve walked around the corner to it). After a cup of tea, a brief snoop through my beautiful Victorian lodgings and a nap, it was time for the day to begin. At breakfast I opted to share a table with another lass who was on her own and I am glad I did. We quickly became friends and thanks to her good Afrikaans heritage (including family having been in the Boer War concentration camps) she proved to be an excellent Afrikaans interpreter and a lot of fun. My next big road trip could very well be to Ellisras.
What followed was two glorious days filled with books, authors, poetry, readings and open-mic sessions (where Ellisras Friend read some of her poetry too). Etienne van Heerden told us about his latest novel based in Matjiesfontein, Barbara Mutch went into the history behind the Housemaid’s Daughter and Margie Orford gave insights into how she knows so much about the gangs and the inside of a morgue. I went on a walking tour of the town where places mentioned in books were brought to life and listened to an organist play in a church where Jan Smuts was christened. I feasted on kudu schnitzel and lamb shanks. I sat on the pavement drinking wine and indulged in stoep-sitting under the Karoo sunshine. I met fellow Zimbabweans and a missionary-turned-winemaker. I had a cigarette and chatted about life on the road with Margie Orford. I spent a morning in Olive Schreiner’s house listening to readings from her letters. I listened to a once-stuttering magistrate read a poem he had written without so much as a stammer and a professor who was inspired to write a book about the Boer War concentration camps thanks to finding bullet casings in her garden in Phillipolis.
It was possibly three of the best days of my life that went by faster than a tumbleweed in the wind. I met inspiring people, kind people and famous people. Most of all, I met Karoo people. Real, down-to-earth people that embrace life in the Karoo and love every inch of it. People who don’t just hang out their laundry on a Sunday, but hang the biltong out to dry at the same time. People who invite you into their homes for Sunday lunch and entertain you with stories about the ghost of the Boer War soldier who stands on the stairs and of the local folk who keep lions as pets.
As I wound my way back home on the bus, I nibbled on a leg of chicken and thought about all the stories I had heard. I really can’t wait to go back for the next chapter…
Where to get tequila in Cradock
I never had time to visit the liquor store, but the only tequila available at The Victoria Manor was Olmeca Silver. I gave it a skip and became a Wine Wench for the weekend.
No comments:
Post a Comment