Lu-Gerda's Travels

Before we left for our long weekend I contacted the Beaufort West Tourism Office for information.   They send us information about the Beaufort West Walk.   After our visit to the museum  we went on the walk.   The first three building on the walk was museum buildings. Looking across the street we saw the beautiful Pritchard House, built in 1906. We walked along Donkin Street and passed the Beaufort West Club.   This house was built in 1850 in the Cape Dutch Style. We saw the Coronation Hall.   It was built in 1910 and used to house the town’s first cinema.   We turned off in Meintjies Street and walked pass beautiful old houses until we reached Matoppo House. This house was built for the first magistrate in the early 19 th century. The double storey, Clyde House, is now the Tourism Center and Backpackers.   The Old Public Library is a p...

So far this year was busy.  But a dream also came true. My husband started a new job in January while I was busy trying to complete as many tax returns as I could before the deadline of 31 January.   we were also busy completing paperworj for our new house.  A nd we were also busy packing for the move. February started even worse.   We moved into the new house on 1 February.   We did a lot of unpacking and also some maintenance on a lot of small issues inside the house like replacing the broken locks and fixing broken lights.   Soon after moving in the builders also started to build a wall at the back of the house. It is now about 3 weeks in the new house we are almost done with all the unpacking and it is starting to feel like home.   I think we will be very happy in this house.

We left early on a Saturday morning for our long weekend in Beaufort West .   After traveling about 290km we arrived in Beaufort West at about 10:00.   Our first stop was the museum. The museum consists of 3 buildings:   The old Town Hall, The Old Mission Church and Old Mission Church Parsonage.   Unfortunately the church and parsonage was closed during the weekend and we could only see the exhibits in the Old Town Hall. (And we did not even get discount on the ticket)   The Old Town Hall was built in 1867 and the clock tower was added later.   It now houses exhibits about Prof Chris Barnard and the world’s first heart transplant preformed by him in 1967.   I did not know much about Prof Barnard and the exhibit was very interesting with a lot of information about the transplant, Prof Barnard’s awards and personal live. The Old Dutch Reformed Mission Church was built in 1871.   It houses a collection of historical outfits.  ...

In September 2012 we went away for a long weekend to Beaufort West.       I have been to Beaufort West a few times but is was only short stops while traveling to other parts of the country and I was not sure what to expect.   My memory of the town is the busy main road with many trucks driving on it.   (The main road, Donkin Street, is also the national road between Johannesburg and Cape Town) There is a lot of accommodation available in Beaufort West because many people stop over here when traveling between Cape Town and Johannesburg.   I looked for places to stay that was not in Donkin Street and found “ Die Herehuis ” (Translated it means the Mansion).   Die Herehuis is situated two streets away from the busy N1/Donkin Street but still very central.   This Victorian style house was built in 1910 by Mr. Keiser from England. The 5 self-catering units are found in the converted horse...

A fter the Changing of the Guards Walking Tour we went to the Sherlock Homes Pub for a fish & chips lunch. Next we walked to Trafalgar Square.   It was busy because it was Veteran’s Day and in front of South Africa House there was a protest about the problems in Zimbabwe.   We went to some shops and the back to the bus.   It started raining and we were soaked by the time we could get on to the bus. The traffic was still terrible and the bus drove slowly.   We passed Pall Mall, St James Palace, Hyde Park Corner, Marble Arch, Green Park, Buckingham Palace, Gardens, Westminster abbey Big Ben & Houses of Parliament.   We decided to get of the bus and go for a cruise on the river.   The River Cruise was included in our Original tour ticket.   It was about 15:45 when we boarded the Millennium of Peace boat.   We traveled with the boat from Westminster pier to Towe...

Bland Street is one of the oldest streets in Mossel Bay with lots of old buildings.   I walked from the Church Street side towards the Point and here are some of the buildings along the way.  Vintcent Building Prince, Vintcent & Co Building  The original Vincent Building was built in about 1820 by CF Pohl.   In 1863 Joseph Vintcent bought it.   Next-door is the Prince, Vintcent & Co Building is an extension of the Vintcent building and was built between 1901 and 1903.   It has a large arch for ox-wagons to enter the building.   The Errols Electrogas building was built in 1876 for the ABC Bank. Its neighbour the Stones building was built in 1881 as a shop.   Some of the stone detail was damaged in 2001 during a “restouration”. Next is the Searle’s Manor.   It was built in 1902 as a warehouse for Searle & Co of Great Brak River. Customs House Customs House wa...