J & J Kerkhoff: May 2006

Joe and his cousin Phillip Kerkhoff went for a "Sundowner" horse ride in the mountains...

An owl (forgotton the name!) but apparently you're lucky to see one.

Phillip with his horse. He will also be riding the Forysmith 3-day endurance ride.

"Dont interupt us while we're eating ok!!" Enjoying the lekker T-Bone steak that I braaied while they were away riding. (yep...i can braai!)

Agg, shame. Joe showing us where he fell off the horse and hurt his leg. They came galloping back in the dark, Phillip told Joe to watch out for the left gate, and Joe crashed into the right gate. (say no more...)

During our weekend at Meiringskloof we went to Lesotho for the day. Lesotho (prounounced le-soo-too), is a seperate country in South Africa. We had to get our bakkie searched and show our passports before they would let us in. It is a very very poor country, but absolutely stunning!!

You dont see many cars, most people ride donkeys and use horse & cart, or in this case, cattle & cart!

There's donkeys everywhere!

The shepherds in Lesotho are always wearing colorful blankets to keep warm. There's no paddocks, all the animals have a shepherd or are tied up.

In Fauriesburg, there's mealie (corn) fields with 'dagga' (marijuana) growing in-between. But in Lesotho theres dagga growing with mealies in-between!! This is a green house FULL of dagga right next to the road!! (ok...we'll just plant it here!!)

Yep...thats a hut in the middle of nowhere! You have to look really carefully when you're driving to see them. Most of the people live like that. No power...a long walk down the mountain for water....and its VERY cold in the winter, all the mountains will be covered in snow soon. brrrr.....

The ski lodge. There was only patches of snow, but still very cold!!

Little bits of snow...

While we were standing at the highest point (3,222m) it started to "kapok" its sort of like hail, but soft - not quite snow. (Joe was trying to be tough wearing shorts!) We met some other people there and drank some champagne...lekker!!!

Lots of steep hills and hair-pin bends

Surrender Hill. I hope you can read the plaque! This is the spot where 4,300 Boers surrended to the british soldiers during the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902).The british burnt all their weapons, and that is why there is a big dead patch of ground. You can still find bits of bullets and shrapnel.

Clarens (near Fauriesburg). We went out here for the day. Its such a cute little town!! It reminded me alot of Denmark a bit, lots of art & coffee shops.

We had a nice long weekend (again!) Joe & I went camping at Meiringskloof in Fauriesburg. Joes Oom is the camp manager there. Its a really beautiful spot, very close to the border of Lesotho. It was very cold weather, we bought two bags of ice on Thursday, and it was still frozen on Monday!! All the horses you see is at the camp; Joes cousin Fritz Kerkhoff breeds the horses.

This is Fritz's stallion. He will be riding him in the Forysmith 3-day endurance ride in July. At the moment he is training him for about 6 hours a day!! Lots of hours in the saddle (what a life!).

Looking down at the horse yards from the top of the mountain.

Looking down at the Meiringskloof campsite. Very nearby is a really big cave in the mountain where all the Afrikans women used to hide during the war.