Craven Suid Afrika 2022 TR

[Sprucegoose]

I love a decent braai, wilderness, stillness, the clear southern night sky and, of course, a dozen Castles .............can't beat it with old friends.

 

[craven morehead]

I love a decent braai, wilderness, stillness, the clear southern night sky and, of course, a dozen Castles .............can't beat it with old friends.

Lekker man Lekker!

 

[craven morehead]

Today it's time to head from Ixopo up to Newcastle. This will be my longest solo drive to date.

The intended route:



Now, I knew my way to the "The Windmills" BP at Nottingham Road Estcourt. All I had to do was get through PMB and on to the N3 and make my way to the servo for first break which should have been ~40% of my trip, distance wise I did get stuck in roadworks just out of PMB and this cost me a good 30 minutes.



I've stopped here numerous times and it has that safe and familiar feel. The place still has this outlandish claim to having the cleanest toilets in RSA which cracked me up the first time visited. There are very decent facilities here TBH.









There is a whole other eatery down the bottom of the complex as well with a good variety.



The trusty old X-Trail sans A/C. This was about the only part of the next few days where I didn't miss the A/C



It was 16c when I left here and bizarrely, 30-40 minutes down the highway it was 31c windows down and noisy as hell!



I had grabbed a sandwich and drink and decided to kick on without Google maps because I didn't have an in-car charger and was saving phone for emergencies. Basically, my mate had told me once I left here I had only to turn off at the Bergville off ramp go through a toll and it would lead me towards Ladysmith enroute to Newcastle. Easy peasy he reckons

 

[craven morehead]

What should have been the second half of the trip.



15 minutes after leaving the BP I encountered this massive cough up! Must have taken some doing, getting across the dual carriage way and median strip and ending up on the furthest side of the opposite lanes



A few ZAR$ worth of damage here!



Next up Mooi River toll Plaza.









At this stage, I'm still on track and everything is hunky dory. My only instruction post Toll Plaza was to take the Bergville off ramp, go through another Toll Plaza and this will take you straight to Ladysmith and then on to Newcastle. Sounds easy to me, however my mate forgot to mention there were 2 Bergville off ramps Funny part about this was, I only saw the first off ramp at the last second and cut between two lorries to make the exit. If I had of missed it, everything would have worked out perfectly and I would have completed the entire trip without Google maps. However today I wasn't in sync with the Universe After turning off at what I thought was the correct exit, I noticed there was no Toll Plaza, so I went across over the highway and headed a few kms down the road to see if the Toll booth was on this road. No, it was not (turns out I could have continued down this path through to Colenso and then on to Ladysmith, nah, not today son!) So, I turned around and went back to the junction and rang my mate. Of course, he didn't pick up, so I plugged in Google maps, and it took me in the opposite direction after about 30kms and lots of nothing but farmland I'm thinking what do I do? Anyway, long story short, Google Maps did reroute me to Ladysmith it just took me an hour longer than anticipated. One benefit of this cough up was I got to drive through the beautiful little town of Winterton which, from what I saw driving through, I would happily return for a proper look and at least an overnighter.





The eventual route. I had planned around 4hrs 45 minutes originally, allowing for 2 stops for the trip from Ixopo. With the roadworks out of PMB and the Google detour I ended up taking 6hrs 15 minutes to get to my friend's place in Newcastle. Saw some nice country however

 

[craven morehead]

Righto, so I made it to Ladysmith and pulled in to fuel up and have a quick stretch after my scenic detour



Some random, not particularly informative shots taken driving through Ladysmith KZN. I was losing some enthusiasm after a longer than planned drive without any A/C in the X-Trail.

















Ok, so I've only got ~100kms to go now to make it to my friend's place in Newcastle.

 

[craven morehead]

Finally made it to Newcastle:

Newcastle, the Gateway to the Zulu Kingdom is located in northern KwaZulu Natal. It is the 3rd largest city in the province and sits near the scenic Drakensberg Mountains and also ranks as the 10th biggest city in South Africa.

Minor incident on the way down the main thoroughfare Allen Straat. I had pulled over not far back up the road and keyed my friend's address into Google Maps. So, off I took and only had to travel a few hundred metres and turn right at the next Robot/Traffic Lights. I pulled into the right turning lane waiting for a green arrow and noticed a local, with wildly glazed eyes and an axe handle in his hand coming for my passenger window from the front passenger side of the vehicle. He had raised the axe handle as if to smash the window, so I just gunned it and hung a swift right through the red light (who cares) and barely missed the grub! Imagine the paperwork if I had have nailed him

Made it safely to the house in the suburb Aviary Hill:

Anyway, after all that I was thirsty



These guys have a beautiful garden setting.



That's the granny flat I'm staying in for this visit.





Getting the Charcoal sorted and a brew to go with, the first of many after the day I had had. Cheers



The Potjie is underway:
A Potjie is a three-legged cast-iron tripod cooking pot pronounced Poi-kie and is a dish that is prepared outside. Directly translated as “small pot” from Afrikaans.



Essentially a stew prepared in layers.






The end result served with homemade bread done over the charcoal as well baie lekker kos or very nice food!

 

[N860CR]

Interesting that we ended up in many of the same places this trip! Winterton is worth an overnight. I got lucky with the tolls, they were basically all closed!

 

[craven morehead]

Interesting that we ended up in many of the same places this trip! Winterton is worth an overnight. I got lucky with the tolls, they were basically all closed!

I was 50/50 with Tolls

Whereabouts did you visit on your trip?

 

[craven morehead]

Started off the next day with a lovely breakfast again



My friends have a huge yard and beautiful gardens. Looking at the Granny Flat.





The house has been extended twice over the years and the Granny Flat added later again.











The Maid heading off to visit some friends.



The Maid has her own Rondavel just out the back with all essential services.



Not much of a back yard but the front is huge.

 

[craven morehead]

We decided to go for a drive and possibly a beer so we headed out of town to a fairly recently built golf course resort and country estate called Vulintaba meaning "open the mountains" Vulintaba Country Estate - Northern Drakensberg Mountains

On the way we spotted this little fella. It seemed as if it was struggling with the heat of the bitumen, but it may just have been the way they have 2 toes facing forward and 2 toes facing backwards, anyway we picked it up and put it in a tree. This Chameleon was only about 6" long.

Some info from the net:
Besides changing skin color, chameleons have another feature that no other animals have. Their eyes can move independently of each other, enabling them to look in two different directions at once. Chameleons have a full 360-degree view and can focus their eyes quickly and enlarge what they are looking at like a camera lens.



Appears to be changing colour almost immediately.



Back in the Ford and on our way again.







Golf course on the other side of the cart track.



Looking across to the Golf Club





Cheers

 

[craven morehead]

That night we went out for dinner at the Eagle Peak Spur. Very popular steak house chain and all over the country.





My shout tonight helps when you're getting 11.5 to1.00

My friend Lynette went with a Chicken Schnitzel & Vege and my mate Giepie went with a 300gm Rump with a prawn topper, cheesy garlic sauce and chips



I've run with a medium rare 300gm Sirloin with the same prawns and sauce and salad. One of the best Sirloins I've had anywhere!!



The wine was young but bearable



In true South African style Load shedding (No power) kicked in at 8pm tonight, halfway through dinner. The staff were quick to run out some rechargeable LED fluoro lights so we could finish our meals. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed their meals.

 

[N860CR]

I was 50/50 with Tolls

Whereabouts did you visit on your trip?

Most of the time was work in Cape Town, but I managed a few days away in Langebaan and Paternoster and a night in the Cederberg mountains. Had a week of exploring on the east coast so drove from Josi to Durban spending a few nights in the Drakensburg. Managed a sneaking weekend in St Lucia for a little safari action in Hluhluwe. Amazing to see how quickly everything has rebounded.

 

[craven morehead]

Most of the time was work in Cape Town, but I managed a few days away in Langebaan and Paternoster and a night in the Cederberg mountains. Had a week of exploring on the east coast so drove from Josi to Durban spending a few nights in the Drakensburg. Managed a sneaking weekend in St Lucia for a little safari action in Hluhluwe. Amazing to see how quickly everything has rebounded.

Excellent, a little bit of St. Lucia coming up shortly. First time for me.

 

[N860CR]

Excellent, a little bit of St. Lucia coming up shortly. First time for me.

Cute little town. Feels a bit retirey (Port Macquarie etc). The sushi train at John Dory is very good (half price on Wednesdays I think so it’s almost a giveaway!) and the Ocean Griller isn’t bad. Take the cruise on the estuary at sunset and go for a drive through iSimangaliso. Cheap entry (less than $10 park fee) and good tracks that even a small car can handle. Managed to see 4 of the big 5 in 10 minutes (including a Leopard crossing the road)

 

[craven morehead]

Managed to see 4 of the big 5 in 10 minutes (including a Leopard crossing the road)

That is fantastic!

 

[craven morehead]

Today it's time to drive from Newcastle to St. Lucia on the East coast for a few days on my own. Once leaving Newcastle and driving to Vryheid, I had an option to go one of two ways. Option #1 the shortest route by ~50kms was to head towards Nongoma, down to Mtubatuba and then continue on up to St. Lucia. Option #2 was to head towards Melmoth, down to Empangeni, up to Mtubatuba and on to St. Lucia. After a discussion with my good mate, it was decided to take the longer route as he considered it would be safer and knew it to have continuous mobile phone coverage should I need help.

Overview of the area and eventual route.



The 2 potential routes discussed. #1 ~350km & #2 ~400km



I headed back out of Newcastle and up to the highway and turned left heading for the Utrecht/Vryheid turn off where I would then turn right.



Utrecht is only around 50km from Newcastle, and I have visited here twice before, and this was where I initially met all my friends at a long weekend get together years ago. I decided to drop into the filling station and grab a drink and take a few photos just for the hell of it.



An upgraded bottle shop from my last visit in 2019.







Righto, quick stop done and dusted. Time to head for Vryheid where I would fuel up and have a break.





Next stop would be Melmoth. The roads up until this stage had been really quite good but coming into Melmoth that all changed, and it was a rough trip thereafter for the most part. Not to mention heaps of trucks. The need to concentrate on the road conditions and trucks cannot be understated. So, after this stop, I neglected to take any more photos. Next stop St. Lucia I have a feeling I'm going to be thirsty when I get there

 

[craven morehead]

St. Lucia is almost an island and there is only one road in over a bridge. The estuary feeds into an inlet or river I guess you would say, which in turn becomes the massive Lake St. Lucia. They tell me the crime rate is only around 1% as once an alarm goes off, they shut the boom gate at the St. Lucia side of the bridge and it's a long way for any criminals to get away due to this unusual isolation



Not far before the bridge into town



Crossing the bridge.



My lodgings for the next 3 nights: Safari Lodge: Homepage | St Lucia Safari Lodge



This place is in the main street and an easy walk everywhere. Once checked in, I was directed around to the back street (Flamingo Straat ) where the B&B units were located. Bed & Breakfast including Wi-Fi was ~AUD$65 per night. PIN number for gate access.







I remembered not to unpack before taking photos this time





First look at the pool area and the thatched roof Lapa where breakfast would be served.

 

[Quickstatus]

What does the blue sign with 3 stars and a circle signify?

Very interesting TR. Living vicariously…

 

[craven morehead]

What does the blue sign with 3 stars and a circle signify?

Very interesting TR. Living vicariously…

I tried to research that blue sign and came up empty. I'll keep trying.

Many thanks and hopefully enough to come to keep you interested.

 

[craven morehead]

So, after that fairly rugged drive and after unpacking, I was very thirsty. My friends in Newcastle had recommended the St. Lucia Ski-Boat Club as a nice casual place to relax. Google basically took me to the wrong end of town, so I ended up asking a local for directions. Turns out it wasn't far at all from my lodge.







Grabbed a beer and sat down to enjoy this peaceful view over the estuary.



Some of the neighbours playing around



A beautiful set of blue swingers!



It wasn't hard to sit here and relax.



A beautiful evening sky.



So, 7pm ticks over and, you guessed it. Load shedding again no big deal, they just couldn't use the fryer for chips etc.
I told them I was happy with some bread & butter to go with my steak and egg



I really enjoyed a few stress-free hours here and then wandered back home. FYI 6/11 beers were takeaway total price, just under AUD$30




Once I got back to the lodge, I parked up at the outdoor setting to enjoy the evening. A tour guide was staying next to me. We struck up a conversation and enjoyed a few beers. Turns out, we were the only 2 people in the B&B section. He was leading a group of 11 from the UK the next day up to Swaziland. I am happy to recommend the Ski-Boat Club if you happen to be in St. Lucia KZN