Christmas 2012 Road Trip, Limpopo

Christmas 2012 will be remembered s being yet another Road Trip Adventure. This time destination Limpopo for Christmas with the family.
This time I opted to travel via the Old Road from Modimolle (Nylstroom) skipping out the Bela Bela (Warmbaths) section. In hindsight I should have stuck to the highway. The roads between each town where fairly quite but once in each town I hit traffic nightmare in small dorpies. I diverge from the real reason for taking the off the beaten track route, that of getting a photo of the Fruit & Veg sellers along the roadside.

Christmas day was a true treat as my mother had booked for us to have lunch at Mosaic in Duwielskloof. Mosaic is based on the Alon farm which is a Christian Kibbuts. The restaurant is such fun and the menu although very long offered some delectable food. Three starters, a main and a dessert all eaten over a 4 hour period so a slow and leisurely lunch. For my main I opted for the Venison Fillet which I have to admit was divine. 

The images below are just a few of the venue and decor. I hope to get back soon and shoot a wedding at Mosaic as the venue lends itself to some amazing photo possibilities filled with the aroma of Frangipani.

I loved this water feature with the water slowly dripping over the rocks

The view across the pool to the lowveld

View back towards Mosaic

Interior of Mosaic

The divine passion fruit and lemon syllabub trifle

Pygmy Kingfisher I spotted on our way home.

Lesser double collared sunbird enjoying my mom's garden.

An Mpumalanga Road Trip to Chrissiesmeer

Early on the morning of 17th of November I took to the road and headed out of Joburg for the green hills and pastures of Mpumalanga. To be more specific I was bound for Chrissiesmeer and the annual Frog Festival. Which this year would take place on the banks of lake Chrissie at the Genesaret Camp grounds. We had secured accommodation at the camp ground in a delightful little chalet which sleeps 10 and has all the mod cons you need for a chilled weekend at the dam.

Some of my time was spent exploring Chissiesmeer and having a picnic Lunch at the old Dunbarton Oaks Hotel (now in a state of neglect and needing some serious TLC.  As we were picnicing we had no problem all we needed was a comfy spot on some soft green grass free from cow pats. The afternoon was spent relaxing on the patio of the chalet watching the fishermen and sipping on a brew.

As the evening and the main Frogging event drew nearer so did the weather. It became more and more ominous and eventually the storm broke which exited everyone as this would bring the Frogs out. The storm also took out the power which caused chaos as there was then a mad dash to get a generator so that Jerry Theron - A herpetologist with a speciality in the field of amphibians could do his presentation before taking us out to catch frogs.

At this point I became distracted by the sunset and missed Jerry's talk while keeping my shutter clicking catching the after storm sunset. You will probably agree that the distraction was worth it.

After a hearty meal provided by the Vroue Federasie the frog hunters set out to a nearby pan in search of frogs. At this stage I opted not to tag along as I have been on many previous frog hunts so I turned in for the night so I could be fresh for the next day's visit to Florence farm and the Venue which I blogged about last year while "The Venue" was being built. Now I was going back to see it in all it's glory.

Lake Chrissie

Some totally awesome cattle that I spotted alongside the rood on route to Florence Guest Farm. 

Just had to stop and do a few photo's especially of this stunning black & white cow.

Ane and Nico have truly outdone themselves with "The Venue" and the extended rooms they have added to the Florence Guest Farm. Ane kindly took us round to show us all the new additions and the completed Venue. If you or anyone you know is planning a wedding this is a venue well worth considering as it is just perfect in evryway. Ane and Nico will make you feel like family while you are there and everything will be perfect for your special day. As there had been a wedding the previous evening I could not get pictures of all the room ( an excuse to return) and of The venue but I did manage to get a few just to give you a feel of how amazing The Venue and Florence Guest farm are.

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