We are at a little privately owned “Bushveld” caravan park in Warmbaths (Bela Bela) called San Cha Len. We are enjoying ourselves very much. It is a cleverly designed park where your caravan stands on a tarred extension of the road network & the tent is pitched on a brick paved area. It is designed in such a way that you pull in, stop the caravan next to the paved area and set up camp. When you leave, you just hook up and drive on out. This removes the sometimes heavy job of having to manually position the caravan on a stand. Very clever indeed!

Each stand has its own little private garden area with a braai facility, electrical connection, dustbin and tap.

The security is good, the ablutions are A1. There are hot and cold swimming pools, put-put, trampoline & play-park for children. 

 A nice shady site

 The cold pool

The hot indoor pool

A part of the men's ablutions

During the week the park is almost empty but on weekends it fills up nicely. It has so far been quiet, even on the weekends. They have given us a very favorable tariff because we are pensioners and staying for quite a while. As always, the Lord has gone ahead of us and planned our way. We are so grateful.

While we were still at Drie Berge, I lost my teeth! (a plate I have worn for many years with a few teeth on. It replaces the teeth I lost in a motor accident many years ago.) The plate just disappeared! We are having a new one made here in Warmbaths but I nearly fainted when I heard that it will cost us close to R9000. It will however be a really good quality item and will probably outlast me.

Being close to other people in a relaxed atmosphere makes it easy to make new friends. We have made many new friendships. While discussing our planned routes we have noticed that, God willing, our paths will cross and we will meet again later in the year in yet unseen places. It is exciting to share experiences and learn from each other.

Our plans are very flexible and are constantly under review. As it stands, we plan to stay here until May 18^th when we will go to Pretoria and stay with Peter, Elaine & family. While there I will do the necessary prep for Thalia Durr’s wedding which should take place on Saturday 27^th May.

The next day, God willing, we will leave for Scottburgh. We plan to spend some of the winter there then go via East London, Port Elizabeth & Cape Town to Clanwilliam where we will stay for the whole of August. During that time we hope to see the flowers in Namaqualand.

From there we will work our way back to Scottburgh by the end of November, at which time the grand tour will be over and we plan to move into our flat.

God’s richest blessings to you all. Lots of love, Tom & Lynette.

7 March 2017

We had a very blessed weekend. On Friday we went to Pretoria and picked up Neil, Jeanine, Jenna and Thomas and took them through to Benoni to Malcolm’s house.  Tom’s brother had kindly offered that we could meet with Tom’s dad in a more comfortable environment. Tom then fetched his dad and Anette. 

Dad really enjoyed seeing his great grandchildren and meeting Thomas for the first time. Thomas and Jenna were at their best behaviour. Jeanine had taught Jenna to say Grandpa Bob and this lasted quite well, but later in the day Dad became Bob. It was so cute. Thomas reacted very well to Dad and smiled and tried to chat with him. What a blessing it was for all. 

Dad is getting very frail now and Neil was determined to see him and introduce him to Thomas.

Four generations together!!

On Friday evening we went with Peter, Elaine and Peter’s parents to a concert at Pretoria Girl’s High School where Christy and Rebekah performed. What a wonderful experience this was for us. Then Christy surprised us by playing a solo on her violin together with the string ensemble, in which Rebekah also plays. We were so proud of both these very special young ladies.

Saturday was spent doing washing (thank goodness for Elaine’s lovely washing machine!) Tom finalised his prep for Sunday.

On Sunday we went to Jeanine’s sister’s house where they had invited a couple of friends and the respective families. Tom then baptised Thomas – this was such a special occasion. Thomas was dressed in such a cute outfit which had a waistcoat and bowtie and chinos. Quite a fashion statement! We were so thankful that we could be part of this very important step in Thomas’ life. 

We were then treated to a scrumptious Mexican Salad and freshly baked breadrolls. The ‘doopkoek’ was baked using Jeanine’s ouma’s recipe, which she in turn used to bake for all the baptisms of all her children and grandchildren.

Tom and I had to say our sad goodbyes, as we would not be seeing Neil and family again for quite a while. They leave for America on Thursday.  We went home to Elaine’s house and collected the dry washing, said our goodbyes to them as well and came home to our campsite. It had rained in the afternoon, but what a relief to come back to a site that wasn’t a sloshy mess!

We are now going to pack up and tomorrow we leave for San Cha Len near Bela Bela (Warmbaths). We have booked here for the rest of March and the whole of April. More news later.

God bless,

Tom and Lynette

Since our last post, we have ridden the roller-coaster of conditions and emotions. It started when we got news of a mix-up in USA with the flight bookings of Neil & family & that they would be arriving two days later than expected. Our stay with them at Mabalingwe would have to be shortened by a day. We felt so much better when we had news of their safe arrival in South Africa. Our meeting with them was joyous and our new Grandson is a perfect specimen of perfect!

Back at the caravan it started to rain. It poured down and water ran down the slope and right through our tent. Being on a terrace below other sites water seeped up through the ground and turned the ground in our tent into deep mud. The rain went on and on.

It is amazing how the Lord goes ahead of us and works everything for our good. We were able to leave the whole soggy mess behind and spend three nights in great comfort with the US family. Despite the fact that it was raining for much of the time, we had a ball.

When we got back, we had to face the reality of our sopping setup & planned to move to a higher site as soon as the rain stopped. That never really happened, so we ended up moving in the rain, albeit light. 

We are now dry again & very comfortable.

We planned to visit my dad on Monday to introduce him to his latest great grandson. They differ in age just more than 102 years. When we wanted to leave here, we were told that the local taxi industry had blocked all the roads in protest over the poor state of the roads. A lot of organization had to be cancelled at the last minute.

We have re-scheduled to Friday when, God willing, the big meeting will take place.

Never a dull moment!!

Blessings to you all,

Tom & Lynette.