February/March 2022
How beautiful does life become when we make the decision to live it to the max. Over the years, I have become more intuned with my inner soul and I feel evermore guided by my heart. Living with the intention of joy – I am Superblessed!
So, we left Wilderness around the 6th of February – obviously as per usual – packed to the brim with our trailer and workmen and everything we might need… lock, stock, and barrel. Since 2008, this has become second nature to us…
We were happy to start working in Vaalwater as we had a weekend trip planned with our amazing friends, Deon, Marletha, and their children.
I actually don’t even have the right words to describe our weekend away at Klein Stoffberg. It was absolutely, magnificently… INCREDIBLE!
Photo below is the tents that the kids stayed in – much to their delight, each one having their own hanging tent!
Sleeping so close to a waterfall in the most glamorous tented accommodation should definitely be bucket list thing to do. We were absolutely blown away at the breathtaking beauty of it all…
What a visionary this man must be! I was hoping to meet him, but it didn’t happen… maybe next time. He must have obviously also had an awesome team to accomplish such an epic dream.
Everything is in its place and the quality is just something to behold. So much attention to detail. The kitchen is very well stocked, with much more than you might need. We took turns, each couple having a day to make food and WOW… we feasted for the whole weekend!
B was so impressed by this cooking device that he is planning on creating one for us on our farm, as well. We could pop in everything, from a patato bake, as well as all the other meats and even a garlic bread… all at the same time.
This treehouse experience within the bosom of Mother Nature with our beautiful friends is a memory we shall always treasure…
And with no cellphone reception, we could actually connect eyeballs!
It was absolutely amazing to hike to, and swim in the frisky waterfall and even hike up to its top.
At night it was just so peaceful, to sleep with the sound of the waterfall and nature in complete overdose.
Just maybe something to mention… It is a 900m hike to get there, so travel as light as possible, as you – with some helpers – have to carry all your belongings in and out on foot.
Superblessed with gratitude as we definitely started our ‘worktrip’ on a high note!
After that stunning – bucket list – weekend, we gathered some work stuff from the yard in Pretoria and we were off to Piet Retief.
Piet Retief is where we spent Valentine’s Day. http://www.superblessedandloved.org/my-fabulous-friends-my-husband-bethesda/, my Valentine, wanted to take me out to dinner, but as I knew how tired he was, I decided that a relaxing picnic on the bed and a romantic movie after a hard workday, were what would be best for both of us.
Needless to say… we enjoyed it to the full!
Badplaas, a forever resort was our next stop and we were there for about a week. We opted for the budget accommodation as the 1 bedroom chalets were all taken. We enjoyed our stay as we could have a swim in the evenings after work and the spa pools were very good for our sore muscles.
We are indeed superblessed with all our travels, but it can be tiring and sore muscles are the result of always sitting in the same position for very long stints of driving.
We also found a rare day – when the workmen could not work – to have some fun on the river slide with tubes. This turned out to be rather good exercise, as we could slide down on big tubes and then had to carry these back to the top… we had five turns walking up and sliding down. Only around the third time, I felt my body start to relax into it… we both had so much fun together.
Barberton was next on our list and here we saw the full effect of the destruction of Covid. We were very tired when we arrived, but we obviously had accommodations (for our workmen and ourselves) booked.
After we dropped off our workmen at the Chill Inn, we had a blooper with our own accommodation. We could not find the owners, as well as the fact that our huge trailer could not fit into the gate of the parking provided. We were hot and hungry… which made for dire circumstances. We phoned a few places and drove to a few places, but could not find what we were looking for. It was long after lunchtime by then and we had not eaten all day.
Luckily I kept calm and suggested that we find a restaurant from where we could navigate our circumstances while being nourished. This is when we saw the devastation of what Covid had on Barberton. There was only one restaurant – its name Palate – and this was an African restaurant. I convinced B that we should try it out and I can definitely recommend it to anyone. The food was excellent and we had very good service with a smile.
Earlier we had seen an advertisement for accommodation… Pumbas Look Out and I had left a message in their voice mailbox. It was after 16h00 and we really just wanted to settle down. Luckily, the owners of this treasured accommodation phoned and invited us to come and view their space. Pat and Fritz Lohman are the most amazing couple and new friends for life. Our stay with them was simply delightful!
Just everything… from the attention to detail in the exquisite accommodation space, to the gorgeous gardens… And the couple themselves were an absolute blessing. This gorgeous couple has been married for 50 years and looked like they were still very much in love. How blessed and privileged we were to spend our 25th wedding anniversary staying with them. Pat even baked us muffins and tarts. This is definitely our overnight space in Barberton for future trips. They supplied lovely reading material in the room and I found out that the town’s name was given to it in the 1900’s, on the 24th of July, which is my birthday.
The day before our stay in Barberton, we had to travel to Nelspruit and we heard that a friend of ours, Risha, was in the area as well as another friend, Willem.
We are all so very connected and this is why I love to be a soulgrower by occupation!
Risha, who is very much guided by her intuition, recently resigned from her job (she was a lector at Stellenbosch University) for many years and has decided to take a gap year of volunteer work to see what her heart’s desires are. This took so much courage and I simply love seeing her journey unfold. Check her out (on the link on her name) as she already has a new awesome project in mind. She would also welcome any offers for volunteer work.
If you are a succulent enthusiast, check out the link of Willem, as he has recently opened up a nursery in Johannesburg with the most amazing plants. The nursery is aptly named… Suku.
As we did not have much time on our hands driving into the town of Nelspruit, we thought we could just have a quick coffee with said friends. Willem was simply too far away, but we saw on the pin which Risha sent us that she was enroute on our way back when we were finished with our errands. We just had to stop and say a quick hi. Risha was at the Bardolino Artist Retreat and she was just busy finishing up with their story telling group. I was told that she would be done in just a few minutes.
Those few minutes proved to be precious for me as I do not believe in coincidence. My life is living proof of divine timing and the meeting of all the right people at the absolute right time.
So here I met an artist, Marlene Pistorius, who used to live in Knysna and would also like to move back if a work opportunity would become available.
As we chatted for a while, she told me about the tiny town of Kaapschehoop (this is the link to my updated Kaapschehoop post as in we were superblessed to have a whole weekend there after our first visit), close to Barberton. I learned about ‘Die Nagkantoor’ and its well known owner De Wet Potgieter.
We were superblessed to be able to find a space in time to travel to Kaapschehoop on the next Sunday.
This quaint little town should really also be on your bucket list… JUST WOW!
First, we saw the signposts to look out for fairies. Yes, you read it correctly… fairies!
And then also a warning sign to be careful of the wild horses roaming everywhere. They were also the first to welcome us as we rode through this tiny historical town to find the perfect parking under a shade tree. They even live inside the oldest, unused buildings.
We ambled on foot through this amazing little town, alongside the horses. Our first stop was at the Nagkantoor, the pub of De Wet Potgieter, and meeting this amazing legend and his even more famous dog, Potlood.
We had drinks in his tiny, legendary pub with its old-world charm, while chatting to the legend himself.
We were also pleased to make the acquaintance of a new friend, a herbalist by trade, Desmond Bowman. We met up with him again a few days later in Nelspruit, where he resides and have a health shop. He was at a night market and we supported him. He also manufactures his own products and as I was out of stock of my own product, I supported him and I have been using the most amazing face moisturizer since then, complete with frankincense oil. It smells amazing and feels great on my skin.
On B’s birthday, 24 February, we travelled to Nelspruit, where we thought that we were going into fabulous accommodation… never trust the photos, luckily for only 1 night, but it was the birthday evening… we shall not forget it and see it for what it is… just another memory made.
Next day we traveled to Hazyview where we stayed in a lovely space with outside boma type kitchen area. All our needs were met and the owners, Nico and Chantal, are awesome.
After this we traveled to the Blyde River canyon resort where the only accommodation available was a tent… glamping with an awesome view. This is where I made a start with my long awaited project of creating my own Oracle card deck to work with (I have been a card reader by trade for around 9 years), as this has been on my list for the longest time.
Every day when B went to work, I would work enthusiastically on my project. How wonderful it is to work for yourself… it never feels like ‘work’ and the rewards is priceless!
An added bonus on this trip; The AEROTEL:
We were superblessed to be able to take up accommodation in the only Aerotel (reservations@aerotel.co.za) in South Africa. This place is just amazing and the owners can be so proud. They are Martin and Tracy Den Dunnen. We justified this excursion as our anniversary gift.
Superblessed with gratitude as life just gets better. An attitude of gratitude begets even more gratitude.
We are superblessed!