Heather's Hat Box: June 2013

Tom and I went to Wakkerstroom which is approximately 3 hours drive from Johannesburg. Wakkerstrooom is 27 kilometers from Volksrust and Newcastle and Piet Retief are about 80 kilometres away.

We stayed in a wonderful GuestHouse: Wakkerstroom Lodge and were spoilt rotten there by Emma. Two meals a day, made for the times that were convenient for us and my goodness the menu was amazing.

Tom would go off at about four in the morning to do bird watching while I slept on and woke up to read until he returned and then we enjoyed a marvellous breakfast. We drove around during the day and later returned for our three course dinner.

I took photographs around Wakkerstroom and also at the Lodge. Tom did a charcoal drawing of one of my photographs and used elements from different scenes for a pastel picture.

We decided to visit the Retirement village in case we wanted to move there in future. It was very impressive, but I’m unsure whether I would survive the cold winters there!

I believe that there are Art weekends run in Wakkerstroom by some well known South African artists, including Ina Millman.

If you enjoy visiting little dorpies in South Africa then I suggest you pop in to Wakkerstroom.

This is peaceful, tranquil Wakkerstroom!

Peak hour traffic in the main road.

Visit the beautiful stone church and learn some of the history of this little town.

Birdlife is abundant and brings many visitors to Wakkerstroom. A book is available from the little shops to help visitors identify birds correctly; Written by Phillip Tarboton.