Sussman Rewind-Roadtrip January 2006*

I had just finished a two year stint working in Johannesburg and it was time to head back to Cape Town. I had done the Joburg-Cape Town trip quite a few times in the past, but each time it would involve a different route.

Zach Nossell would accompany me on the trip, Zach a few years younger than me had seen his fair share of South Africa, but we decided to go to some places where we had never been, let alone any of our friends of family.

21st January 2006 Day 1

We left early Saturday morning, I picked up Zach who lives in the same neighbourhood I had worked and lived in for two years. The drive from Johannesburg to Bloemfontein is boring, very boring, despite the many mega garages which line the road and the many traffic cops, there is little beauty in the journey, one only feels like you have left the open road when you leave Bloemfontein and you start approaching Colesberg in the Northern Cape. The Northern Cape is far and above the biggest province in South Africa and the province with far and above the lowest population. It is incredibly sparsely populated.

Colesberg is the traditional half way stopping point between those who travel from Cape Town to Johannesburg. Excessively busy during the holiday period, the town was very quite, even it was a Saturday.

We traipsed along the streets of Colesberg. Colesberg has some impressive churches, a Dutch Reformed Church built in 1863, an ornate Anglican Church built in 1854. We walked along some of the side streets and came across the brilliantly named Flossy’s House of Bling Hair Saloon… you could not buy hair, but you could sure get your haircut. Soon a dog fight developed, and we snapped away taking photos and in a matter of no time, some eccentric old, mad English speaking lady came running after us accusing us of an invasion of privacy and trespassing and that she was calling the police, she tried to set her dogs in our direction, but we were more scared of her than her frothing dogs.

We started making our way to Graaff Reinet and soon we were in uncharted territory on to the N9 We soon saw the signs to Noupoort. Noupoort is infamously known for one thing, it’s drug rehabilitation centre which used biblical principles to cure the inmates. One patient died whilst under their care after being chained up around his neck in a detention cell.

The centre had closed but an offshoot had opened in the town. This town is possibly one of the saddest, worst towns I had ever seen in South Africa. Driving into the town one sees murals depicting kids who chose drugs and kids who chose Jesus. There were many ramshackle buildings, and on the outskirts of the town was the Noupoort Christian Care Centre, the building looked like an old reformatory or an old infirmary, incredibly eerie, we saw the guides who were high on the bible taking the patients who were becoming high on the bible but still high on drugs. I asked the locals about them, but they were even hesitant to talk about what happened in that building back then and what happens in that building now.

I did not want to see or hear a patient being beat or someone escaping and trying to hijack my car, so we headed off.

We drove through a dreary Middelburg and at about 15:30 we pulled into Graaff Reinet. It is one of the oldest towns in South Africa, this was my third visit to the town in 15 months.

It was late afternoon, and it was very quiet. We checked into our bed and breakfast at the Red Geranium, owned by the doting Clare Sheard. The room was huge and for just under £7 (R70 per person) we had a massive room with two bed rooms, kitchen, stoep (patio), and bathroom.

The town is beautiful, many buildings built in the Cape Dutch style, it was amazing to see people sitting outdoors on their stoeps on their swing chairs watching the day gone by, this kind of thing does not get done in the city anymore.

We were very close to the town centre and in a matter of no time had walked through much of the historic part of the town.

The Karoo has unbelievable cuisine and lamb chops are staple diet, I knew I could not leave Graaff Reinet without having eaten lamb chops. We found the Lemon Tree, the bar and restaurant was all but empty despite a woman with hideous curls, a drunken biker and barman who liked he had just hit puberty.

We saw that they did chops, despite our first impressions, the food and drink was excellent. However, just as I was about to bite into my second chop, a beanpole of a guy who looked 20 years old strutted in and sat down at our table. Without a shadow of a doubt he was wearing the most hideous shirt I had ever seen in my life. I know little to nothing about fashion and dress sense, but even I could tell that this was unbelievable.

Kobus, was an iron soulderer, what ever we said he laughed at, I started to wonder whether he was even 18. I did not know where this was heading.

It turned out, Kobus was celebrating his 36th birthday, and that is why he was wearing the shirt.

Even though it was an unbelievable experience meeting Kobus, the next man we would meet would be local legend, Jacques Laubscher, Jaques is a businessman, owner of the Lemon Tree, pilot, biker, musician and UFO spotter.

Zach and I became dubious of his claims that he had spotted UFO’s and in a matter of no time, his elder son had run home to get the tape. Carte Blanche, a very renowned current affairs programme in South Africa had done a 20 minute story on the Laubscher family and their UFO sightings.

I wanted to leave but could not as the younger Laubscher child was being scolded by his mom in the bar for being found drinking on the streets. He must have been about 13, and I could hear him pleading to his mom for her to understand that there was nothing else for them to do in the town.

The documentary finished, and I was captivated. Soon Jacques showed us newspaper cuttings and I could not help notice that there was a drum kit and guitars in this tiny lounge area of the restaurant.

Before I could ask any questions he shoved these magazines in my face about planes and about pilots and lo and behold there was a story on Jacques Laubscher and his antics as a pilot.

Jacques and his son walked into the lounge area and soon Albatross minus the bass guitarist were doing a gig for us and Kobus,

It was sensational, I could not help notice that Jaques was playing under a signed film poster by actor Hillary Swank. She was the lead actor in Red Dust, which was filmed in the town and she used to dine and drink in his restaurant/bar every night. They closed the bar for her.

Albatross is an actual band and it was a great gig.

We bid farewell to Kobus and the Laubschers, and asked Kobus where the vibe was going to be later that night.

After his advice we headed to the other place, and went to a bar full of English speaking farmers. After a few beers we went to Die Kraal (cattle pen), it was a behemoth of a club, it was on the outskirts of the town centre, playing terrible techno beats, and there on the dance floor by himself was Kobus, doing moves which were modelled on those of Gareth Keenan in The Office.

While playing pool, Kobus came up to us and asked us if we were new in the town, he did not recognize us, an hour before that we were sitting on the same couch and yet he failed to register who we were…

You have to love the larger than life characters of the small towns in South Africa….

We had to get an early start the next day so we headed off to bed.

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Sussman Rewind- I believe that blogging is a very powerful tool for one to record past experiences, this roadtrip might have happened about 12 months ago, but I believe that it is better late than never to record and document those past amazing experiences.

Pics:
1) Noupoort Murals-It is your choice Drugs or Salvation!
2) Kobus in his special birthday shirt
3) Albatross performing for us