When Time Was Short
For many years, our regular road trips to Johannesburg were more about the destination than the journey — getting to where we wanted to be as quickly as possible.
In those years, I was still working, and time away was always limited. Holidays had to fit into the time we had available, so getting there quickly was part of the plan.
Our trips usually started at 2 a.m. — although sometimes it was closer to 4. We would pack the car, head out while it was still dark and drive straight through.
There were regular coffee stops and opportunities to stretch our legs, but otherwise we just kept going. By around 7 p.m. we would finally arrive in Johannesburg after a very long day on the road.
Looking back, I realise how much those journeys reflected that stage of our lives. We were always conscious of time — trying to make the most of every day we had away before it was time to return to work.
But when time was no longer quite so precious, we began to wonder why we were still doing it this way. Why spend an entire day pushing through when we could break the journey in two?
So we decided to stop halfway, spend the night somewhere along the route and continue the next morning. What started as a more relaxed way of travelling soon became something we looked forward to — choosing different places to stay and discovering little corners of the country we had previously simply driven past.
This was when the journey to Johannesburg became part of the adventure — with quaint farmhouses, unexpected places and some unforgettable birding along the way.
And so, our stopover adventures began.
Where the Stopovers Began
Our first stopover was a quaint farmhouse that turned out to be far more than simply a place to spend the night. It gave us our first taste of what we had been missing by always rushing through — time to explore, enjoy our surroundings and, of course, do a little birding.
Our Home for the Night,
