Sutherland - July 2010 By George & Susan Due to the extra interest in this trip, a second group was made up and Greg asked us to lead the group. As the arrangements worked out, we actually ended up going to Sutherland before the original group. We were accompanied by 16 adults and 6 children and extended a special welcome to 3 new member couples and families, namely Danie & Esme, Ronald & Christie-Mari and Christiaan, Louise and their Children who all fitted in very well with the group. It was also good to see some regular older members again such as Theo & his family, Jorg & his Family, Terry & his family as well as Pierre & Trudi. We all left on the Friday afternoon and eventually arrived at Blesfontein farm, just after dark to a very warm reception from Nicol & Marina v/d Merwe who were our hosts for the weekend. After quickly sorting out the accommodation we all met up again and enjoyed a communal braai, some drinks and a late night chat till we all retired for the night to our rooms. The rooms were all individually decorated and we found them to be quite comfortable and also well equipped for the cold with electric blankets, heaters and extra bedding, although it was not as cold as we expected. The next morning we all enjoyed a leisurely breakfast prepared by our hosts and their staff in typical Karoo style. After that we had some spare time to explore the town of Sutherland as well as the farm before we met up again in town to do a tour of the S.A.L.T. telescope that afternoon. Due to some misinformation by our guide, Willem we only did the R20 tour which was rather disappointing, also because of maintenance work being done on the telescope that prevented us from seeing much. I have done this tour before and saw much more that time. I would suggest that the next group rather opt for the more extended tour. After that we took a drive back to the farm and relaxed with some of us taking a short drive to the escarpment to watch the sunset over the beautiful Tankwa Karoo. There was also some interesting animals to see on the farm, including a group of South American Alpakkas, rabbits , a pot- bellied pig and a cross between a donkey and a zebra !!?!! We also saw a fairly large herd of blesbokke on the farm. That evening we were also treated to traditional Karoo fair which obviously included lamb chops expertly prepared by our hosts. After the meal, Nicol treated us to an interesting session of star gazing though his telescopes on the farm in his little observatory. His astronomical knowledge was impressive (pun!) and entertained us with facts about all the planets and stars of the Southern hemisphere. Eventually, however the cold got the better of us and we all retired back to the dining room for warm coffee. After another hearty breakfast we all packed up, bade our hosts farewell and then took all the back roads of the Karoo on our way home. We descended the escarpment via the impressive Ouberg pass and crossed the Tankwa Karoo via all the gravel roads towards the Theronsberg pass just before Ceres. One interesting place that we encountered on the R356 was "Die Skerm", featured in the latest edition of Weg magazine. This is a large shelter made of heather bushes that contains a self-help "padstal" selling biltong, konfyt, fudge, and all kinds of other interesting goodies. The payment of these goods rests entirely on the honesty of the clients and the money (hopefully the correct amount) is left in a "melkkan". It is unbelievable to think that in this day and age you still find people that rely on other people's integrity and it could only happen in the Karoo!! We eventually stopped for a lunch-break at a nice picnic spot under a grove of poplar trees just before Theronsberg pass. Here we eventually said our farewells to everybody after a very pleasant and relaxed weekend. Once again thank you to all who accompanied us as well as to Greg and Susan for making the arrangements. We hope that you all enjoyed it as much as we did. Regards George & Susan Warren