Road trip - Durban to Johannesburg, South Africa
Lily's Cottage keeps hubby and I real busy, but we take little getaways during the off-season, having excellent staff to take care of the daily running.
The toss-up was between a road or air trip from Durban to Johannesburg, and in our new role as bnb owners, we can juggle time during the low season, so decided to take a leisurely road trip on the N3 and take in the sights along the way.
The once thriving Rainbow Chicken farms which were brought to their knees by cheaper imports. Sadly 'For Sale' signs were seen at their other premises as well.
One cannot help but wonder what happened to the people whose livelihood depended on this industry that offered housing to their staff at some of their farms.
A quick stopover in the legislative capital of Kwazulu Natal, the city of Pietermaritzburg. This once was the administrative capital as well, but was moved to Ulundi. This city also is home to many tertiary institutions, and still has many colonial buildings giving it a kind of English country ambience; no wonder some still refer to it as 'the last outpost of the British Empire'.
A quaint church building
And we're off again to the green hills of KZN; part of the great Drakensberg mountain range seen on the horizon.
Farmlands with the homestead hidden among the trees.
Turned off the highway for a quick stopover at the Howick Falls, quite breathtaking with a height of approximately 95 metres.
Driving past the gracious Howick Falls Hotel makes one wonder just how many ghosts wander the corridors here.
Local artists selling traditional African arts and crafts.
Back to the highway and we're starting to climb, getting closer to our halfway mark, the town of Harrismith, in the Freestate.
This is a major stopover for many tourists as well as truckers.
The area also is the centre of one of five wool producing districts in South Africa.
Fields of hay bales in preparation for winter.
The Platteberg outside Harrismith
We've entered the province of Mpumalanga and all we see are maize and sunflower fields.
Cattle grazing in the still lush fields.
Another homestead among the trees.
VKB grain silos in Villiers.
A Highveld storm brewing as we get closer to Johannesburg, windmill doing its job on the horizon.
We seemed to drive away from the storm, everything is calm again. A beautiful church statue seen from the highway.
We're on the outskirts of Johannesburg, law enforcement at one of the Toll gates.
We reached Johannesburg with peak traffic just starting to build up!
We've finally arrived at our tranquil destination, our son's home in Carlswald, Midrand, just north of Johannesburg.
Hope you enjoyed travelling with me :)
!steemitworldmap -25.989319 lat 28.095669 long Carlswald, Gauteng d3scr
It's interesting how you leave a tropical zone and end up in an area that looks geologically very high up. I wonder weather or not your lungs notice a difference.
You're right @simivalleyjeff53, Durban is at sea level, hot & humid and Johannesburg very much higher with a dry heat. My hair and skin always feels it, fortunately not the lungs!
That's good that the lungs are not effected.
Thanks for sharing the lovely scenery. And your son's house looks interesting. I'm wondering about the material used in making the roof. It looks very unusual!
Hi @anise, nice seeing you again :)
My son's cottage has a grass thatch roof, quite popular in Gauteng, possibly an abundance of material. Most game reserve lodges have thatch roofs as well. Very popular all over South Africa is a thatch gazebo for entertaining outdoors. Have a look at this link courtesy of homify for nice examples and also what it looks like inside. Excuse the adverts that pop up when you go there.
I see I am not the only one curious about that roof! Nothing that exotic exists here in Canada..although I have seen thatched gazebo in southern US.
You really took some beautiful images along the way. Enjoy your break and safe travels home.
Thanks @jusipassetti, we're safely back, had a lovely break with the boys & Andi :)
What an amazing road trip you went on..scenery breathtaking, to say the least. Everything is so lush and green..really revives the spirit!
You and your hubby must have needed that break after such a busy and lengthy season.
credit -my own art
You're right @dianadee, much needed! We are blessed to live in such a beautiful country, let's hope for better things now that the Zuma era finally ended!
Some real neat scenery you shared with us,, what is the roofing material used on you son's house, couldn't tell from the picture? Just curios as usual .
Hi mr Papper, we do live in a beautiful country & KZN is always green, someone once said she's sure if one sticks a broomstick in the ground, it would grow here :) Just extremely hot & humid at the moment, we're back in Durban!
My son's cottage has a grass thatch roof, quite popular in Gauteng, possibly an abundance of material. Most game reserve lodges have thatch roofs as well. Very popular all over South Africa is a thatch gazebo for entertaining outdoors. Have a look at this link courtesy of homify for nice examples and also what it looks like inside. Excuse the adverts that pop up when you go there.
Enjoy your day!
thanks, I'll check it out
Really must have felt amazing to be seeing all that instead of the usual city views :).
Thanks @snrm, it was lovely. We are fortunate to live in a lovely green valley with a stream running through the valley, so should always have a green belt, but still nice to get away and experience the countryside. My son lives in a city but their suburb has large plots of land so looks and feels like one is in the country. Thanks for stopping by :)
Beautiful images, how long did the trip last?
Hi @yesslife, it's about 600km so normally takes about 6-7 hours with a halfway stop, but we stopped more than once so took much longer & we landed in Friday afternoon peak traffic.
If friend you're right, a very long trip but it's worth it
Very beautiful those landscapes, they needed to go to the countryside I think it is a good option to get away a bit from the routine and the city
For sure @andrina, we all need a break from the daily routine:)
This looks beautiful. I want to take a dip in that waterfall!
Looks very inviting especially with the heat we're experiencing currently! One can hike to the bottom of that waterfall. Thanks for stopping by @jpgaltmiller, will definitely upvote your comment when my VP goes up :)
Beautiful pictures @lizelle. makes me want to go on a trip too.
We need to do a road trip together @artywink, would be awesome!