Wild flowers is all you can see for hundreds of kilometers along the road side edge which I guess is pretty cool if you have never seen them before.
We left yesterday morning for Durban by road and only got into our accommodation in the early evening about 3 hours later than I had planned for. The reason for this delay was that the roads between Johannesburg and Durban had many parts that were single file due to road works. These are all toll roads and I feel you should not be paying if the roads are not fully functional.
During this stretch which must have been a good hundred and fifty kilometers long the single road was rather painful. We had a truck up ahead which meant we did the same speed as the truck for about 2 hours. This at least gave the passengers in the car to take some photos at my request so I could at least share the sights with you. When you have travelled this route as much as I have there is nothing great, but I guess for the first time it must be fascinating.
Mealies is the local name for corn fields and the Free State where this photo was taken is known for corn and wheat farming.
Up ahead we had a forest fire which the closer we got the darker the day became as the sunlight was blocked by the smoke. By 5 pm it was virtually night time where we were as there was smoke all around us and this is not normally dark until around 6.30pm or so when the sun sets.
The average drive for 570 Km is around 5 hours 30 minutes and that would not be pushing it averaging between 110 km/h and 120km/h which is around 70 -75 mph. This is what time frame I have always been used to as I have driven this route hundreds of times over the years and even have done it twice in one day on a couple of occasions for work. We took a good 7 hours for the drive and another hour stopping off letting the kids play for a bit.
This stop with the foofie slide (zip line) and I am sure there is another term for this, but this is what I have always known it as. My grandson at first was hesitant saying it looks dangerous as there were no harnesses (modern kids) and after he went for one ride we could not get him off and what was originally a toilet break stop turned into an hour. We promised him on the way back we would stop off here again. This was the highlight of the trip down and we tried to make it go faster by pulling it back as far as it would go.
Our accommodation was booked in Umhlangha Rocks which is 15 minutes north of Durban and is now a tourist hot spot. Someone mentioned yesterday for anyone wanting to understand South Africa in US terms. Johannesburg is our New York, The Western Cape is our California and Umhlangha is SA's new Miami. Arizona would be like the northern Cape area which is dry and arid and honestly may be a harsh comparison as the northern Cape is a dump and not much there. I did my army training here and after that stint I am no fan of this region for obvious reasons and is just such a harsh environment.
I knew this place when there was more sugar cane than buildings which is going back 35 years now and obviously plenty has changed. There is no sugar cane anywhere to be seen and the only signs this used to be a somewhat under developed area is the monkeys that still reside in the area. They have adapted to fit in and even where we are staying there are signs warning about feeding the monkeys and this is now a fineable offence.
On the way back things should be quicker as we know where to stop to let the kids play and it should be straight home from there with no other stops. That will be Sunday morning and it cannot come soon enough. We saw the accountant this morning and still have two more meetings to knock off before heading home.
