The Great South African Escape

Starting with Family

It's not every day that a family is able to take flight together for whole six weeks and .... two days, to be exact.

Marilyn, by far my better half, will be returning to South Africa after an absence of more than 25 years! Our 24-year-old daughter Georgia, will be visiting my country for the first time and she'll be meeting most of my family in the flesh for the the first time.

As the title of our blog indicates, our initial focus will be spending time with the family. We'll start north of Pretoria on Leon and Marietjie Peense's (My sister and brother-in-law) farm where we'll be treated to Marietjie's splendid cooking and being spoiled by Leon's excellent BRAAI* under the thatched roof of the family LAPA**.

Leon's Lapa as I saw it last, before I built a "koppie" and waterfall..

We'll see Berdine and her husband Mani, as well as Leonard, Rozanne and their boy, Tristan.

We look forward to spending time with my older sister Christine, her husband Tom and their son John, daughter-in-law Des and their daughter Lexi.

After visiting a number of family members (as well as friends) in and around Pretoria and Johannesburg, we'll head to Cape Town to start the next phase of our adventure,

More family and friends ...... 

In Cape Town we'll meet my brother Ben, his wife Janet and hopefully their daughter Simone. It'll be just for a day and then we'll meet with our dear friend David Curry, who out of the kindness of his heart, is providing a vehicle for our round trip to Oudshoorn.

Stand by to meet and hear about the most amazing friends anyone could ever wish to meet......

Not to mention the fauna and flora.

LEAVING TORONTO

Thanks for Pieter v. Niekerk for the ride to the airport

To be honest, we were a little tired after preparing for this little family venture. Will we ever be ready for a cross-Atlantic flight in "economy"?

Our first African sunset in a looooong time - Image by Georgia.

 

The first full day was spent at Berdine and Mani's lovely home together with Mani's Mom, his sister and her husband. A wonderful spread delivered with unrivaled hospitality.

MORE TO FOLLOW .....

Dec 23 - One week down.... By Marilyn:

In many respects, returning to South Africa has been like putting on an old slipper - comfortable and completely familiar. We have had so many reunions and remembrances. Meeting us at the airport was Phillip’s nephew Leonard, who was about four when we left. He is now a delightful father of a delightful 16 month old toddler called Tristan. We’ve been lucky to have Leonard and his young family with us on the farm which belongs to his Mum and Dad - Phillip’s younger sister Marietjie and her husband Leon.

Marietjie making my favourite: Curry tripe.

The farm has not changed one iota since we used to spend Sundays here all those years ago, except that now there are a lot more animals - cattle and goats. And Georgia has reveled in having FIVE dogs that vie for her attention!! (Sorry Sophie!) We’ve also had tremendous hospitality extended to us by niece Berdine (Marietjie’s daughter) and her husband Manny when we spent last Sunday afternoon at their beautiful home in Pretoria with more food than the army could handle.

Not much has changed on this farm ... just greener.

This weekend we rented a car and ventured to Johannesburg to see our dear friend Terry Pryke who is the Queen of Creativity! Tears flowed as we saw each other for the first time in 25 years, and introduced Georgia.

Leonard and family.

Back together again with Terry and our friends in Johannesburg.

Many moons ago Terry taught me to do basic needle work. She has gone on to do the most extraordinary work you can imagine - quilting, embroidery, etc. We walked through the house taking photos of her many projects. But that’s her part time passion - most of her time is spent as an event planner, doing everything imaginable for dinners for 500, weddings, book launches. The pictures here show Georgia and me with Terry and the two characters she lives with (some might call dogs, but....) called Lulu and Harry.

Dinner on Thursday night at Terry’s brought more tears as we were reunited with our other dear friends Tony and Vicky Harrison, and as we toasted and reminisced about the unforgettable Nick Pryke, whom we lost last year. A collection of everything Ferrari and Lancia keeps Nick’s passion for Italian cars very much alive, including the “Red Beast” in the main garage and a fully restored 1960 Lancia in the garden room called “Nick’s Folly”. Also joining us for dinner were Terry’s star “Cake Man” Franco, and friends from England Linda and Jeff.

Leaving Terry’s lovely nest, we then headed to Pretoria to collect Phillip’s older sister Christine and her husband Tom to spend a weekend at Hartebeespoort Dam, at the stunning holiday home of our friends Ray and Elize Abrahamse. We watched various animals from the house’s front porch - blesbok, guinea fowl, monkeys, springbok, and so much more. It was an amazing treat!

We are now back at the farm, where we will spend Christmas with Marietjie’s family, by the pool! The weather has been lovely and hot.......dry heat, so these Canadians are loving it! On Boxing Dy, we head to my second home - Cape Town! Cannot believe I will soon see that Table Mountain again....stay tuned!

* Believed to be the only true way to barbeque meat anywhere in the world.
**Lapa is a Zulu word meaning "here where we sit"