Roadtripping to Joburg

This week is the first of my adventures outside of Cape Town. I travelled up the N1 all the way from Cape Town to Johannesburg. My friend Jen is moving to there to study at Wits university so I came along for the ride, to transport her car and settle her in to her new life. It was a great opportunity for me to see more of South Africa and experience another city. We decided to take the trip slowly, it’s around 900 miles and should take around 18hours to drive straight. We chose to take a leisurely 3 day trip, venturing off the highway at points to visit small and large towns. We travelling through 4 provinces and taking in all the landscapes and terrains.

We left Cape Town early on Tuesday morning with Jen’s white Hyundai Atos, her possessions for the year, snacks and entertainment for the journey. We had a rough plan for where we wanted to go but left it open for adventure. We took the N1 northbound out of the city and drove for about 3 hours until our first lunch stop.

Scenery along the way

Western cape landscapes between Cape Town and Matjiesfontein

We came off the motorway and drove into the small town of Matjiesfontein (pronounced Mikey’s fontain). After 1 ½ minutes we had reached the end of the town and decided to park and explore . Matjiesfontein is a historic village made up of two dusty streets surrounding a train station. It still resembles a Victorian village with quaint fences, tin roofs, pastel walls and even a well kept Victorian petrol pump. We stopped in a beautiful café for lunch and I enjoyed a delicious meal of a Karoo lamb pie and salad with a well needed cup of hot coffee. We took a walk down the platform of the deserted train station which is apparently fully functional and runs to Cape Town and Johannesburg. We discovered a real London bus that had somehow ended up in South Africa and we admired the beautiful gardens and fountains in the Lord Milner hotel.

Karoo lamb pie on a bed of lentils with carrot chutney salad

Old shell petrol pumps

Matjiesfontein train station, taken from the platform looking out into the town

Matjiesfontein train platform

The English girl on a London bus

Ye old post office - The sign says only 745 miles to Joburg

Jen outside the Lord Milner hotel

We got back on the road and headed for our next stop. Passing the Swartberg mountains, we headed into Prince Albert

We hit a more sandier landscape as we entered the Karoo

Many signs in South Africa are written with stones on mountains. This sign greeted us as we arrived in Prince Albert

Surprisingly we ended up with our own cottage for the night on a picturesque farm for  just R250 (around £20) each. After a short rest we took a trip out to explore Prince Albert. The weather was very strange, it was extremely hot and humid and the sky changed from blue to grey sporadically. There is a small stream, which runs all the way through the town with small bridges allowing pedestrians to cross it to enter buildings. The water allows a lot of vegetation to grow and prince albert grows a variety of fruit and plants. We headed for the Swatberg arms as, Di, the owner of Acacia cottages where we were staying had said their chef was excellent and the food was delicious. We quickly regretted this decision after a meal that put us off small town dining for the rest of the trip. I ordered a rare rump steak, which usually fails to disappoint me in this country but this meat was overcooked, cold and bland. I resolve never to trust a restaurant that serves pizza, hamburgers and seafood on the same menu, especially when you’re the only customers at 7pm. On the walk home we discovered the Gallery Cafe which Di had said was overpriced and not so great. It was bustling with satisfied looking customers and appealing menu, I think that would be my restaurant of choice on a next visit. We enjoyed the walk home in the full moon, taking in the charming delights of Prince Albert. 

Our cottage for the night

Jen in the garden with the horses

Prince Albert church just before the rain started

Water flowing through Prince Albert providing lush vegetation

A lock to control the water flow through the town

A rainbow over the town as the rain cleared

Dinner at the Swartberg arms

My very average steak dinner

Walking home in the moonlight

The next day we chose to cover some mileage and get on with our journey. We were no longer held back by the temptation of sampling local culinary delights after last night's dinner and we instead gorged ourselves on rice cakes, avocado, nuts and tins of tuna at the side of the road with periodic hoots from passing truck drivers. We spent most of the day driving through the Karoo which is a semi-desert land with dry orange landscape and luscious green mountain ranges as we crossed the Free State.  Arriving in Gariep Dam in the late afternoon we were again fortunate enough to be offered  yet another cottage to ourselves as it was low season. At View Lodge we had our own bedrooms, lovely spacious bathrooms and a lovely open plan reception space with a balcony and lovely views over the Dam. After a couple of recommendations and inspection of local menus, we chose to cook dinner ourselves in the cottage. We enjoyed a homecooked stew with vegetables, lentils and beans and sat on the balcony as the sun went down.

Karoo landscape

Our first sign to Johannesbug

More Karoo

Our master bedroom

Living room

On the balcony 

Our pool

View of the Gariep Dam from the balcony

View of the Gariep Dam from the balcony 

Homemade dinner overlooking the dam at sunset

Waking up on Thursday morning we realised just how close we had come to Joburg. Despite multiple roadworks all the way up the country, causing us to stop for up to 15 minutes at a time to let oncoming traffic pass down one lane of highway, we made great time along the entire journey. Our plan for the day was to stop for lunch in Bloemfontein and then arrive for dinner in Joburg. We asked the TomTom to take us to Bloemfontein, not the best tour guide for a new city. We ended up in the town centre and decided to get straight out of there. The streets were busy with taxi drivers pulling in and out everywhere and people crossing the street right in front of oncoming cars. We again, ended up eating rice cakes and tuna on a picnic bench by a petrol station. We got back in the car and took the final leg of the journey to Johannesburg. We stopped in a farm stall to buy gifts for our hosts.

One of many stops for roadworks

Bloemfontein

Bloemfontein

Jam selection in the farm stall 

Farmstall

I have heard a lot about Joburg and was very excited to finally experience it for myself. I hear it’s a corporate world where everyone is on the go and driven compared to Cape Town where people refuse to keep time and rush hour is 3pm-4pm so that people can get to the beach. I hear that Joburg people are very friendly compared to cold Captonians who aren’t interested in people they don’t know. I hear that violence is rife and poverty is extreme with beggars at every robot (traffic light).  I was excited to see if these things were true, but first we had a 3 day adventure on the road.

We arrived in Joburg to crazy traffic, large highways and busy intersections. It felt quite comforting, reminding me of London at rush hour. Although compared to what she was used to in Cape Town or the quite highway we became so familiar with, Jen was slightly overwhelmed. We arrived at our friends houses for the night and were able to finally move all of our belongings out of our temporary home on four wheels.

On Friday morning, after multiple queues, traipsing around campus in the rain, getting multiple varieties of directions from different people to the engineering faculty, we finally managed to register Jen at Wits university and get her a parking permit. We had a lovely weekend in Joburg, catching up with friends, getting lost and seeing new things. We explored the town centre with our friend Adam posing as a fantastic tour guide, we visited the neighbourhood market, ate lunch at the bowls club and had a night out on the town. 

After 3 days in the car and about 20 hours of driving, I took the easy route home on a plane and was back within 2 hours. I now speak highly of Joburg, it's a really interesting city with friendly people and a lot to offer in terms of culture and city life. I look forward to returning there again in a few weeks on my way to Kruger National Park.

The reason we came - Jen is successfully enrolled at Wits University with her student card