After a good night’s sleep in a dark and fresh-air environment and listening to the sound of the rapids, we set out with anticipation towards Vredefort. We were hoping to see and learn a lot about the geological and other history of the area. After all, the Vredefort Dome was created by the impact of a meteorite estimated to be 10 km across resulting in the largest known energy release in the earth’s history!
It would be safe to say that it was the most disappointing experience on our travels to date. The Interpretation Centre we had heard about was closed and clearly had been so for some time, judging by the weeds growing through the paving stones.
We decided to find out what was going on so went into town, about 2 km further on, to find the Information office. Every town has one, right? What an absolute shocker: the town was totally rundown and clearly had not been maintained for a very long time, the streets had more potholes than tar and there was no Information Office in sight. At the Police station we were sent to the Municipal Office and their response was “we know nothing about the Interpretation Centre, try asking at Parys”. We left feeling disappointed and depressed…
A few weeks ago Roger received a call from Jan Oberholzer who is a sheep farmer near Ladybrand. Jan is interested in acquiring a motorhome and contacted AC Motorhomes. He had some questions so they gave him Roger’s details. As we were planning to pass through the Eastern Free State soon, Roger promptly made an arrangement to meet up. So Ladybrand was our next stop.
The drive through the Free State via Kroonstad, Senekal and Clocolan did nothing to lift the mood; it was hot, very hot, and very dry. The atmosphere was hazy with dust from dry ploughed fields blowing across the road. The gusting wind made keeping Ufudu on the narrow tar a challenge, and there were constant ‘dust devils’ making things worse.
Our mood changed when we spotted the Cabin Farm Stall & Deli just outside Ladybrand.
What an absolute pleasure it was to stop there. The artistic and creative flair of the owners is visible in every object on display and we spent a considerable amount of time just browsing; they must have such fun creating this stuff!
We left with some goodies from their Deli and hoped we would be able to return for a meal at another time.
We got to the Little Rock Campsite in Ladybrand at about 5 pm and had supper at their restaurant, the Little Rock Saloon, while listening to the Country and Western channel on DSTV. What a pleasure; the place is family owned and run, the food was good and the people friendly. We decided to stay for two nights.
We went to bed looking forward to meeting Jan for breakfast the next day and finding out about the places of interest in the area…