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4th September: Mountains and More Mountains!: I have had a couple of e-mails from folk who wonder if I've fallen off the edge of the earth. Well not quite, although at times it felt as if I had been to the edge and back.

We've just returned from a month away, except for a brief four days at home in the middle. We first travelled westwards to Cape Town. En route we spent an enjoyable couple of days with our son Stephen, daughter-in-law Hannelie, and their gorgeous new pup, Zoe.

Each page of photos contains thumbnails.
Click on these to see a larger picture.

Click on the road to see a selection of photos taken between Port Elizabeth, our home town in the Eastern Cape, and South Africa's Mother City of Cape Town in the Western Cape.

For a change this time we cut up from the national road (N2) at George, and drove through the Outeniqua Pass to the interior. We travelled through the magnificent Meiringspoort Pass, which we had never seen, and took many photographs. We got onto the national road between Johannesburg and Cape Town, (N1) which took us across the Hex River mountain range. The scenery here always takes my breath away.

Cape Town gave us a reminder of the cold, wet weather it's famous for at this time of year. Nevertheless it was a good time. We were able to spend a fair amount of time with our friends, Ken and Pam Laughton, and it was great to see Lesley Scott once more. The Scotts and Laughtons are friends from our Hatfield, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) days.

The scenic city of Cape Town is the second most populous city in South Africa,as well as the legislative capital, where the National Parliament and many government offices are located.

Cape Town is renowned for its harbour and Waterfront as well as its natural setting in the Cape floral kingdom. Well-known landmarks include Table Mountain and Cape Point. It is one of the most popular South African destinations for tourism. (Click on picture to see more.)

When we left Cape Town, we drove home to Port Elizabeth, with a brief visit to Steve and Hannelie where we enjoyed lunch under the gazebo in their developing garden. Then we set off for home. Because we stayed on the far side of the Cape Peninsula, the trip took us just on 11 hours, including our lunch break.

Four days later, we set out once more, this time travelling eastwards. Our first stop was in East London, where we spent the weekend. We lived there years ago, and it was great meeting up with friends from the days when our children were all at school.

Our hosts, Bob and Barbara Burton, invited a large group of friends over for supper on the Saturday evening. Rob preached on Sunday morning, and we visited friends in the afternoon.

Monday, we set off for the Drakensberg mountains. The drive through the 'old Transkei' was stunning, if tiring. There are no fences, and animals roam freely on the winding mountain roads. We travelled for long spaces without seeing any sign of civilisation. Every now and then we would come across quaint African huts, or children walking along the roads to or from school. They walk miles every day on their bare feet.

Click here to see a selection of photos of the wild but beautiful Transkei as the area used to be called. The name literally means "the area beyond the Kei River". It is also the name of an Apartheid-era Bantustan (1959–94) corresponding to this territory.

The Transkei is bordered by the Umtamvuna River in the north and the Great Kei River in the south. The Indian Ocean and the Drakensberg mountain range of the landlocked kingdom of Lesotho where our daughter Debbie and family lived for five years, serve as the Transkei's respective eastern and western frontiers.

The main language is isiXhosa, which has distinctive click consonants, although there are a number of other hybrid languages.

We spent five wonderful days at the Castleburn Resort situated in the Drakensberg range. It was a great family time, enjoying quality time with our younger son David, daughter-in-law Pam, our two youngest grandchildren and Mike, Pam's dad.

Click on this picture to see some spectacular scenery of the Drakensberg Mountains, or uKhahlamba (the Barrier of Spears).

This range is a 200-kilometre-long mountainous wonderland and world heritage site. The largest proportion of the Drakensberg area falls in the province of KwaZulu-Natal.

Timothy, now 4 and Samantha, 2+, are gorgeous kids, crammed full of energy and fun. The fact that Sammy had just been discharged from hospital after 24 hours observation for concussion didn't cramp her style one iota. We played "kiddy-tag" constantly, making sure they were under adult observation at all times, especially as our beautiful cottage was on the shores of a dam.

It was a true holiday time which was really what we all needed. Walking, boating, mini-golf, snooker, horse riding . . . there was something for everyone all the time.

On Friday we visited a cheese factory where we marvelled at the sight of three baby calves aged one-day, two-day and three-day-old. The difference between each baby animal was incredible. And we think our babies grow fast? We also saw a heifer about to give birth, and I felt truly grateful our babies are so tiny! We spent our last hour together at a photographic studio before parting company.

Click here to see some snaps of our family time together.

David and family spent the weekend with a friend before returning home to Krugersdorp (outside Johannesburg).

Rob and I stayed with good friends, Chris and Carol Breytenbach from our time spent in Krugersdorp.

Many of you will remember praying for Chris when he fell victim to a dreadful shooting incident some years ago. He is fully recovered and we spent a great few days with them. Carol and I spent hours making cards together, while Rob and Chris kept track of the shabby results of the S.A. team at the Olympics.

We visited a fascinating rehabilitation centre for raptors (birds of prey) and spent a day at the Durban seafront. Durban (eThekwini in Zulu) is the third most populated city in South Africa, forming part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. It is the largest city in KwaZulu-Natal and is famous as the busiest port in Africa. It is also a major centre of tourism due to the city's warm subtropical climate and beaches.

Click here to take a look at the last of the holiday pics, a glimpse at Durban and Pietermaritzberg, and some birds of prey.

On Tuesday evening we met up with more friends from our Hatfield days, Rob and Denise Rix and their younger son, Donald and family.

How strange that we adults don't seem to change, but the youngsters give away our age. Donald used to play with David when they were small boys. They are now both fathers of children the same age as they were in those days. Amazing.

Thursday morning saw us back on our travels through the Transkei. We spent Thursday and Friday nights in Gonubi, outside of East London, with Doug and Margaret Rampling, also ex- Krugersdorp. Then on Saturday we returned home to try and pick up the threads of our busy life in beautiful Port Elizabeth.

I do hope you have enjoyed reading this and looking at some of our holiday photos. Here in South Africa we are blessed by the most spectacular scenery. Yet, sadly, we tend to ignore it as we concentrate our energies on the high crime rate and escalating cost of living.

Thank You Lord for the beauty of this country. Thank You for the ability to travel and visit these sites, and for being able to share it with friends across the world.

Remember, I love to hear from you. Drop me a line at shirley@shirleycorder.com