Frontier Farms

Our next excursion (weekend of March 5^th) was located by Adalaid, or what is supposed to be a nonstop 3 hour drive northeast of Port Elizabeth. We were going to Frontier Farms, farms who host students for a weekend through NMMU. We were very anxious to get there as when we left PE the water was out because of municipal problems so no showers nor water to drink. There was a lot of gravel road driving on the last part of the drive, which made the drive seem even longer than it was. We finally got there after about 4 hours. When we did we immediately were greeted by the owners of the first farm and welcomed into their home. We had an extremely late lunch: sandwiches with some dessert. We hung around the farm for a bit, looking at the views surrounding it and relaxing; very peaceful as compared to the sounds of traffic passing our flats. The owner of the farm then took us on a tour of the land he owned. We saw an cow, goats, turkeys, roosters, and last but not least an elan. It was a very interesting looking animal with long antlers and this extra flap of skin under its neck.

Elan

After he took us to where the cows were milked. We each got to milk a cow and taste the milk right out of the utter. It was very warm, but wasn’t too appetizing at all.  The owner of the farm decided that it was humorous (which it was for the most part) to spay each of us with the milk after spraying it in our mouths. With me (Luke) he decided to give me a milk shower spraying me on the head.

Direct Hit!

We then headed to this reservoir not too far away from the farm. On the way there we stopped by a tortes of which was making its way down the road. We didn’t get to see it sprawled out with all four legs and head out, but it was still fun to hold it.

Nothing Like Brothers Fighting Over a Tortes

We got to the reservoir and first went up on top of hill to take some photos. The view of the reservoir from here was breathtaking. After we headed back down and swam. The water was warm, plus it was nice to once again swim in salt-less water. Not too long after we headed back to the farm.

Repping the NMMU Rugby Jerseys

The rest of the day consisted of relaxing, drinking a few brews, eating a wonderful dinner, and heading to bed. Our group of 30 stayed in three different houses, each of which had been in the family for around five generations.

The next morning we had breakfast at one of the houses: toasties with tomatoes, ham, cheese, and this amazing sauce in it…. great meal to begin a busy day. We then took a tour of the sheep shearing shed. We got to see the shearer demonstrate cutting the wool off the sheep. Then whoever wanted to take a stab at it got to try. We both tried it; it was tougher than we thought it would be. We not only didn’t want to literally stab the sheep with the scissors, but the wool itself was tougher to cut off than we had planned. Needless to say it was a fun experience trying it.

Master Sheep Shearer

Next the hosts took us up to the second tallest mountain/hill in the area. It took about an hour to drive all the way up there on the 4-wheel-drive vehicles they had, but the hour was worth the wait. The views were scenic and you could see for miles. We stayed up there for a while taking group/individual photos. After relaxing for a bit longer we made our way back down the mountain for lunch. Lunch passed and before we knew it we were back to the houses chilling. We had some drinks with the group while playing some cards. We taught a bunch of people how to play ‘O hell’ before dinner began.

The Top of the Peak

The dinner came and was fantastic to say the least. The lady who cooked all of it had worked for a catering business a couple years ago and was very good at what she did. The dinner consisted of steak with an awesome gravy, pasta salad, potatoes, salad and home-made bread. We ate dinner and by the time we were done it was 10. We each headed back to our houses and headed to bed.

Before leaving back to PE the next day we went on a hike to where this ‘secret’ waterfall. This involved swimming through gorges in order to even have a chance at seeing the waterfall. Nobody brought their camera so I (Luke) figured why not take the chance and bring the camera. When we got to the back of this gorge that we had swum through, there was no waterfall. Turns out that it hadn’t been flowing over for some time because of the drought this region had been in. Nevertheless we still got some good photos of all of us standing back in the inlet where the waterfall would have been falling. After swimming/hiking back to where our buses were we were once again on our way back to PE. The excursion was a much needed time to relax and fun experience.