Johannesburg

Since our recent bus journeys I have definitely rekindled a love of flying. Livingstone airport was quiet and organised, we waited for our flight in a cool, comfortable lounge, our BA flight was barely half full and even the turbulence on descent into Johannesburg was okay – just don’t put me back on a bus.🤣

Within half an hour of landing we were packed in our hired car and on our way to our air bnb, the Hand built house.We were met by Mary and Buster and shown around their beautiful home which between them they really had built. It was really impressive, our hosts had thought of everything we might need and continued to take care of us throughout our four night stay. I was allowed to be photographed on Busters pride and joy – his 1952 Ferguson (I wrongly thought it was a Massey Ferguson😂) tractor. It very much reminded me of dad and hay making days – I also knew Gosso would like it so this picture is for him.

After a quick trip to the supermarket with Mary, Rob and I did lots of firsts that we hadn’t done since embarking on our trip. We had our first self cooked meal (does pasta count as cooking?), did our first load of washing, our first washing up and had our first chill out on a sofa in front of the tv. It’s funny how you miss some simple things (and not others).

Revived after our evening and following morning of domestic bliss and planning, we spent the next couple of days being proper tourists. We visited Constitution Hill to see where Mandela (Winnie and Nelson), Ghandi and thousands of other political and non-political prisoners were kept before and during apartheid. We spent a day on the hop on, hop off buses around Joburg (I thought calling it this was pretentious but have realised it’s so much quicker), visiting all of the major sites including a two hour tour of Soweto.We really enjoyed the traditional dance display.

and began to understand a little more about the turbulent history We had to book another night to fit in a stroll around zoo lake and a visit to the Apartheid museum. We allowed a couple of hours, stayed at least three and needed much longer. It is an amazing, really well thought out museum which shows the events that led to apartheid, how all races existed through it and the eventual fall out after. The way Apartheid was justified is unbelievable to us now but being in South Africa makes us both feel that there is still an awful lot of progress to be made to create equality.

Our other reason for booking an extra night was a trip to see, The curious incident of the dog in the night time’ at the local theatre in a complex called Montecasino. I’d wanted to see this as a play since I read the book and when it was just over £10 for the best seats we decided to go. It was brilliantly done and although Rob said it was good he has decided he doesn’t really like plays.😩

The Montecasino was an experience in itself. It is a complex of shops, restaurants, cinemas, theatres and a massive casino all set out as an Italian Town. I loved it – particularly the Christmas decorations.

We left Joburg early Thursday morning to head along the Panorama route to Graskop. We had a really good few days, really interesting and educational but as we left the traffic of the big city we breathed a sigh of relief and agreed that we’re definitely country bumpkins at heart.