As we wanted to go past Plooysburg on our way home we left
the park at 08:30 after breakfast at the restaurant.
My great-grand parents were married in Plooysburg as was
many of my grand-mothers brothers and we were hoping for some photo’s of the
church and surrounding area. We were
sure, on several occasions, that we had missed the town. Only as you are literally at the entrance
with “Hoofstraat” (Main Road) on the left do you see any buildings. We did not encounter any traffic in town and
only spotted one other vehicle. The town
is literally 7 houses, a post office, small police station, School, Church and
a small cash Shop. It was initially, in
the 1880’s, a farm belonging to a Du Plooy, he set aside some land for the
Church, under a servitude and this eventually lead to the Town being
established. We took the photo’s we came for and left town towards Kimberley.
After 2 weeks of the red Kalahari sand the green grass in
Northwest almost hurt the eyes. From
Klerksdorp onwards the road was exceptionally busy and 2 long stop and go
sections delayed us even further, we only reached home at 17:00.
Overview – The Northern Cape is a vast province. In 13 days we travelled 5,008 kilometres over
71 hours straight driving time. We did
not manage to see the tip of the iceberg.
People are very friendly and most anyone will start a chat with you in
the local pub and we met some fantastic people as we stayed mainly in guesthouses
and really small towns. The sun set’s
very late over the desert making for long days and extended time after work for
most people to visit, relax and reconnect.
We also did not self-cater often
during our trip and ate supper and breakfast at the local restaurant or the
guest house where we stayed. Barring one
or two mishaps, the food overall was well prepared and you definitely got value
for money, especially at the coastal towns, the seafood was ridiculously well
priced. Even out of flower season the
landscape is breath taking and the sand dunes of the Namib Desert will stay
with us. Many more places we would like
to see like Heunighvalley, Vioolsdrift, Boesmansgat, Luderitz and many others. We will be back for a visit.