Calvinia & Carnarvon

Calvinia is a typical Karoo town. It is dusty, with sparse greenery in gardens, if there is a garden at all, and the church is in the centre of the town with the streets built around it. Even the golf course has no grass; the “greens” are gravel, coated with oil and look like tar from a distance!

We spent the night in the caravan park which used to be municipal but has since been sold. It is now managed by Anton, who flew Harvards in the air force in 1966, so needless to say Roger and he spent a very long time chatting about all things aviation…

The next morning we went to explore the town. First was the giant post box which measures 6.17m high and has a circumference of 9.42m. According to an IOL News Post by Ashley Smith who tracked down the local doctor, Erwin Coetzee, for the story behind it:

“The post box was in fact an old water tank which had been situated at the Dutch Reformed Church’s grounds. Coetzee said the area around the water tank started looking messy, but instead of demolishing it, he took his wife Alta to the dilapidated monstrosity. He asked her what it looked like and she answered curtly: “A post box.”

Coetzee said he got the local business chamber members together, consulted the residents, and a decision was made to convert the water tank into a post box. The Post Office supplied the paint and a sign-writer was roped in. An official opening was held and every letter that is posted from the post box now gets a hand-stamp with a flower as an emblem. Calvinia is, after all, one of the main attractions when veld flowers bloom spectacularly during spring in Namaqualand. The official opening was held in 1994.”

We also went to the Museum which is housed in the old Jewish Synagogue. One of the more unusual exhibits is a stuffed merino sheep with a fleece that grew to an astonishing 38cm in length. Belonging to a local Roggeveld farmer, the sheep went missing in the hills for a number of years and consequently missed its seasonal fleecing. We also spent quite some time at the display of the Lombard Quads from Loeriesfontein who were born in the Calvinia Hospital in 1951. Imagine having 4 identical boys!!!

After having lunch at Williston we stopped at the municipal caravan park in Carnarvon for the night. The town did not look promising in terms of tourist attractions but turned out to be extremely interesting. The managers at the caravan park encouraged us to take a drive to the SKA site office on the off-chance of getting a tour. We did not get a tour, but Pieter Snyman spent over an hour talking to us about the SKA project, including a Power Point presentation. It was most enlightening. If you are interested in the Square Kilometre Array radio telescope project check it out on http://www.skatelescope.org/

The area is known for its corbelled houses which are built entirely of stone with flat stones protruding from a domed roof. These beehive-shaped stone structures were built by the Trekboers as they lacked wood for trusses. One such house is on display at the Museum. We were guided by George, an unofficial guide and municipal employee, who grew up in the town. George was extremely entertaining and informative. His passion and knowledge of the history and the displays made the museum come alive. The best we have seen so far, thanks to his presentation!

We left Carnarvon after lunch. It was almost 400km to Kimberley, much longer than our normal daily travelling distance!

We stopped at John Dory’s for their Wednesday special before getting to the Big Hole caravan park at 8:30pm.

From here we plan to overnight at Bloemhof Dam tonight (18th), in Rustenburg with Eugene and Marlene on Friday, at Hartebeespoort Dam with Francois and Adri on Saturday, getting home on Sunday the 21^st of September.