Lu-Gerda's Travels

Our trip to Carnarvon was unplanned and we did not know much about the town.   We visited the churches and then walked and drove around in the town. In 1907 a hall was built for the Dutch Reformed Church.   It was also used as community hall until the new community center was built in 1973.   The hall is now used by the Carnarvon Museum.   Like most museums in South Africa it was closed on Sunday and we could only see the outside of the hall. Next to the hall was an interesting hut.   It is called a corbelled house but we had no idea what the hut was used for or who built it.   Back home I learned that the Trekboers (nomadic farmers) built these small domed roofed houses between 1811 and 1815.   Due to the lack of wood the roof was also built using flat stones.   The stones in the roof were used as “scaffolding” while building the house and to reach the roof for repairs.   The corbelled house was moved there from the farm Briesi...

It was still early (11:15) when we reached Loxton and we decided to add another town to our day trip.   Carnarvon was only 65 km from Loxton and after walking around in Loxton for 20 minutes we started the drive.   It took us about 40 minutes to reach Carnarvon. The town was deserted on the Sunday afternoon.   Most of the shops etc were closed and there were only a few people in the streets.   The first church we saw was the Uniting Reformed Church built in 1857 and in 1879 it was enlarged and the clock tower was added.   It is a beautiful church and I liked the big rooster on top of the weather vane .   The congregation was started in 1847 by the Rhenish Missionary Church (“Rynse Sending Kerk”).   The congregation was transferred to the Dutch Reformed Mission Church in 1943 and in 1994 it became part of the Uniting Reformed Church (“Verenigende Gereformeerde Kerk”).   The church is a National Heritage Site.   The next chu...

   Weather vane on the VGK Church in Carnarvon    This photo made me think of a song we used to sing as kids.    It is a traditional Afrikaans song about the rooster on top of the church. The words of the song and its translation: Daar’s ‘n hoender wat ‘n eier nie kan lê There is a chicken that cannot lay an egg Daar’s ‘n hoender wat ‘n eier nie kan lê There is a chicken that cannot lay an egg Daar’s ‘n hoender wat ‘n eier nie kan lê There is a chicken that cannot lay an egg Dis die haan wat op die kerktoring staan It’s the rooster standing on the church tower Dis die haan, Dis die haan It’s the rooster, It’s the rooster Dis die haan wat op die kerktoring staan It’s the rooster standing on the church tower More about all the churches and other buildings we saw in Carnarvon in the next post.

The next town we visited on our day trip away from Beaufort West was Loxton.   We left Victoria west after eating homemade pies for lunch.   We drove about 82 km to Loxton and reached the town after about one hour. This was the smallest town we visited on the trip.   The Dutch Reformed Church started the town when they bought a farm from Mr. AE Loxton. The congregation was started in 1899 and soon a small, temporary church was built.   The funds grew and in 1924 the current church building was completed. We only spend about 20 minutes in this town to take photos of the church and walk around a bit.  

Driving around in Victoria West on a Sunday morning we saw a small rectangular church in Church Street.    It looked as if the church was not in use anymore.   The building and garden looked neglected and there were no people. (It was Sunday morning and we expected people coming to church services.)   We stopped a to take a look.   We admired the outside from across the street and then saw the name board with “Architect – Sophia Gray”.   The first Anglican services in Victoria West were held in 1862 and the foundation stone for the church was laid on 27 December 1869.   Building work was not completed during the huge flood in 1871 and the church was mostly undamaged.   Building work continued and the church was completed in 1874. Walking closer we saw that the gate was unlocked and we went inside for a closer look.   The church door was locked.   We walked around to the back through long grass and dead flower plants in po...

After a drive to a monument just outside of Victoria West we parked the car in Church Street and went for a walk.   We stopped at St John’s Church, the Anglican Church designed by Sophy Gray (I will do a whole post about it later)   We walked in the direction of the Dutch Reformed Church and saw some beautiful old buildings.   The Town Hall with some Cape Dutch Style gables was opened in 1911.   The building is a National Heritage Site. Rev Colin Fraser started to hold church services.   In 1843 the congregation was established and they named the town Victoria after Queen Victoria.   The church was completed in 1850.   The tower was added later and it was enlarged in 1922.   It is a National Heritage Site.

After spending a day exploring Beaufort West in Sep 2012 we decided to take a day trip away from the town on Sunday.    We left early. The first part of the trip we drove on the N1 (National Road between cape Town and Johannesburg).   The road was very busy with a lot of trucks and there were some unplanned stops due to road works.   After passing Drie Susters  we drove on the N12.  This road was a lot quieter and we could enjoy the beautiful fields around us.   Victoria West is about 136km from Beaufort West and it took us about 90 minutes to reach the town.  We arrived at about 8:30 in the morning.   We did not really know what we wanted to see and first drove around a bit to get an idea of what there is.   It is a small town and was very quiet early on the Sunday morning. Church Street has a lot of pretty karoo style houses.   Some are in very good condition and is used for guesthouses but others have been negl...