Post 11 Build it Journey

BLOG POST 11

I woke up keen to get going out the blocks after a restful day on Sunday (absolutely amazing Roast Mutton lunch with all the trimmings courtesy of our hostess Debbie Phillips – what a chef and so much fun all day – thanks again Jules and Debs !! J), packed my kit and went down to our hosts’ kitchen to make tea for Greg and myself, then banged on Greg’s door only to see him staring at me out of one eye in a daze with hair sticking straight up like Don King’s wanting to know why I had woken him up at 5.30am. I was unknowingly an hour ahead of schedule! Eish… Ha ha Greg must be the most patient and kindhearted man alive and there was no scolding for me, which I so richly deserved. I felt really bad and amongst many failings as a human being that kind of thing is not normally my style. Sorry again Greg !!

The sun had not yet risen and we were bidding farewell to our incredible hosts and headed back along the farm road to Newcastle and then out towards Volksrust.

I was struck by the amount of heavy industry in this northern KZN town of Newcastle with its heavy-duty power lines crisscrossing the landscape and we passed the Iscor plant turn off as we headed out of the town. The road wound through beautiful mountain passes and once again we were in timber and cattle farming territory. After not too long we entered the small village of Volksrust and found the local Build It store in the industrial part of town owned by Kevin Kieser. With Kevin attending to an emergency on his farm I was lucky enough to meet with Gerhard Ellis who was an absolute gentleman. After going through his listing I tried to find Kevin who had come back off the farm and raced down to another of his businesses. On returning to Volksrust Build It I eventually found him and got to shake his hand.

The cold morning air was a big change to our temperate Durban climate and we preceded to our next port of call, which was Piet Retief, approximately 100km further along the freeway.

Once again the wide open spaces on either side of the road with koppies in the distance were a pleasure to gaze upon and after passing some huge grain silos and timber plantations we drove into the wonderfully quaint town of Wakkerstroom and decided as the hour was still early that we would have a 20 minute wonder about which we duly did. There is something really special about South African country towns and walking in and out of little coffee shops displaying treats and delicacies that got our mouths watering even at that early hour. Pies, cheeses and cakes were on display but we only boringly had a take away tea and we were on our way to the attractive rural town of Piet Retief to meet the Ayob family who have been in the area since 1917.

I met Grandfather Ayob, his son Ahrif and then his son Mohamed all of whom were very welcoming to me. After going through both the Ayobs Build It Piet Retief and Dumbe Build It Paulpietersburg stores (the Ayob family own both) we headed for Paulpietersburg with its German heritage and Lutheran churches in the background to meet Maryka the manager of the Paulpietersburg store to hand over posters, pamphlets and to introduce myself.

Greg popped in to the BP garage in the main road and was pleased to find old friends the Ohrtmann family still owned the business and we exchanged greetings promising to catch up later on.

I decided to press on to Pongola and we wound our way through several mountain passes and past many rural villages one after the other for one last meeting at the large and impressive Build It store on the main road through the town owned by Ross Rutherford and managed by the very friendly Kevin Treyvellan. What a good guy and even more luck was in store for us as we were offered a most comfortable cottage guesthouse managed by Kevin’s wife Ilse at Build It rates. The guesthouse is set in a magnificently cultivated and manicured award-winning garden called Koppie Aleen where we unwound, caught up on admin and had dinner.

It was absolutely fantastic to watch reruns of Wayne Van Niekerk’s amazing 400m run today on the guesthouse’s telly. What a proud day to be a South African.