LIVE TO WORK OR WORK TO LIVE  |
| Definitely a work to live moment!
This photo starts the beginning of an addiction - the need to have more work to live moments.
Aaahhh, excuse our rudeness, we are Jon and Angelique Harris, pleased to meet our future readers. A weekend getaway started an adventure which we hope will never end. As all couples we had reached the point where we needed a weekend away - seems silly as the children have 'flown" from the nest, we've downsized to a "cottage" for two and kept the pet ratio one to one ( Fishstick and Lady ). We'll leave it to our readers to guess their species........ Anyway, to get back on track, we had decided a getaway was much needed and so the search began as this had to be done on a budget............ After extensive googling, I came upon a hidden gem, it had everything we were looking for - no cellphone coverage, no dstv, no internet, 65 kilometres from the closest town and best of all WELL within our budget. Mateke Game Farm |
We arrived at Mateke in the late afternoon, drove up to the main house and were greeted by the beautiful site of two buck serenely grazing close by.
We were then greeted or rather bombarded by a four legged frenzy that battled to decide whether to warn, lick, jump or let his masters know there were guests at the door, sadly he never kept still long enough for a Kodak moment until I had packed the camera away, once I had he promptly threw himself down and insisted on a tummy scratch.
After getting our keys, directions to our house on stilts and the umpteenth tummy scratch we headed down the dirt road to our " home " for the next two days.
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| Bathroom |
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| Lounge / Dining Room |
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Kitchen
We won't bore you with all the mundane moment to moment details of our two day stay, but just share with you the moments that stood out.
After unpacking the car and settling in I decided that a walk would be in order. Now this is a concept my husband cannot grasp - walking - why walk if you can drive. After much sweet talk and fluttering of the eyelashes I convinced him that this would be a new and delightful experience. Needless to say the trip to Oz and back " home " took only half an hour, the excuse being that it was getting dark BUT I did get a solemn promise that we would venture further the following day - using our feet of course and not Dunlop! Having had a long day we lit the fire in our lounge, had dinner and then headed for bed. The bedroom barely fit two sets of bunk beds and a small fridge which we barely noticed as the sounds of the night, the ink black darkness and the sense of peace was well worth it. We woke up the next morning horrified to realise that it wasn't even six am yet, how was this possible, surely with no alarm going off we should still have been sound asleep............. But what a beautiful morning, our one concession to civilisation was a kettle, when I went to put this on I stumbled upon mayhem................ some of the local inhabitants had paid a visit and had proceeded to unpack the dust bin. The culprits had not ventured far though and were now curiously watching me from the safety of a tree close by. After breakfast we made sure that everything was safely stored away from nimble little hands and decided to take a drive. A picture tells a story and all that I will say is that the drive turned into a walk ( for me ) to get help.   Thankfully all ended well and we continued our drive ( in the other direction of course ) with me chuckling and hubby threatening to push me out of the car. The rest of our drive consisted of far better moments as the following photos will tell.        With more Kodak moments than expected we headed " home " for lunch. Once lunch had been had it was now time for hubby to fulfill the promise he had made the day before............. no surprise - he suddenly suffered from amnesia! After painting a picture of me falling off a cliff or becoming a mid afternoon snack for a hungry over sized cat ( we were in a game park after all and I had the photo to prove their presence ) he agreed it would be better if he joined me. We set off with me clicking away at everything and hubby asking every five minutes if the walk was over yet. Then we came to this - and my eagerness became dread and hubby's turn to chuckle:  Three attempts later by me to even put one foot on what I saw as the beginning of a nervous breakdown convinced hubby that it would be best if he came back and helped me across. Amazingly we came across a grave yard! How they had managed to carry the coffins over that bridge........ whew! 
We continued our walk with some beautiful scenery until hubby mentioned that there was another bridge up ahead.............. I think we should turn back I responded............... it is getting late............... a chuckle is all I heard.
    We dragged our weary feet back " home " for a well deserved cup of coffee and a much needed rest............... Being the type of people who cannot just sit around, with coffee drunk and faces washed we decided that a night drive would be the perfect way to end our last night at Mateke.    
AMAZING!!!!!
When we first saw this beautiful creature we weren't sure what it was, hubby turned the car off as at first it was just sitting there on the side of the road staring at us........... and then as curious as cats are it started walking towards us, our windows were wound all the way down at the time and when he started walking towards us - well, I had suddenly forgotten how to close my window, anyone watching us would have been in hysterics.............. we were trying to close windows, take photos and stop ourselves from turning into jelly................ thank goodness hubby managed to lean over and close my window just as this beautiful, curious but very wild and dangerous cat got to my door................. On an adrenaline rush and full of joy at this wonderful sighting we headed " home " to have dinner.  
" Magies vol ogies toe " as they say in Afrikaans we headed off to bed still in awe at the rare and beautiful animal we had seen.
The following morning we packed the car and headed home with heavy hearts but some funny, scary and amazing memories.
We can definitely recommend a visit to Mateke which is located 65 km from Thabazimbi and thanks to our addiction to now experience more work to live moments we will definitely be back to find our curious kitty again.
Well, little did we know when we took our trip to Mateke that we would be privileged to do quite a bit more travelling.
Hubby had started a new job a month or two before which meant he did a lot of travelling, although up to now it had only been close to home.
He came home one evening and asked if I would like to take a road trip with him as he had quite a bit of travelling to do which meant he would have to be away for one night.
Naturally I barely let him finish his sentence and said yes, yes, yes!
Not even being told that I only had the following day to book accommodation, pack and arrange for someone to take care of Lady and Fishstick could dampen my enthusiasm.
I spent the evening googling accommodation close to our last stop the following day, sent off quote requests to a few places that appeared to be within our budget and crossed my fingers.
The following day was spent arranging with the neighbours to take care of the " kids ", packing a suitcase and obsessively checking my email for responses to my requests.
The following morning we set off! It was still dark out ( not even the roosters were considering to start their crowing yet ). It was freezing cold outside, the sky looked like a black velvet blanket with millions of diamonds on its' surface.
Now that we have decided to start this blog I wish I had taken photos of every town we had to stop at............ this of course will now happen, hope my camera doesn't grow legs and run off, hubby already shakes his head at the amount of photos I take already.
Our first port of call was Bela-Bela, then Polokwane and Ellisras, our last port of call would be Thabazimbi.
By the time we finished in Ellisras I had still not heard anything from any of the Bed and Breakfasts I had emailed. Hubby was ahead of schedule and decided that he would quickly do the store in Thabazimbi and then we would head home as it was only about 170 km.
Ha ha ha...........
It was now lunch time, the road seemed endless and then....................
With much " poetry " passing hubby's lips, the tyre was changed.
This mishap had been nerve wrecking though as it had happened with no warning and a split second after we had overtaken a VERY big truck.
By now time was no longer on our side and Thabazimbi was still an hour away. Just as we hit the outskirts of Thabazimbi hubby took a sudden left turn onto a dirt road - he had seen a sign that said ICE COLD BEER.
Phil-Mari
We drove through the gate of a farm and stopped in front of a lovely stone and thatch building..... I was sure that he had turned into the wrong gate and that at any moment a huge dog followed by a huge man with a shot gun was going to come out and chase us off his property.
We got out of the car, still no one made an appearance, we approached the building, the door was open and hubby walked in first............. if a huge dog and it's master were around I would have the advantage.
Instead we found ourselves in a pub, I went off to find a bathroom, by the time I came out hubby was sipping the ice cold beer he had seen advertised.
As the afternoon shadows were getting longer we realised that we would have to find accommodation for the night and hubby would then visit the store the following morning.
We had by now learnt that the friendly lady that had been serving us was the Mari half of Phil-Mari, we asked if she knew where we could find reasonable accommodation, she then told us that they offered accommodation although they were renovating the rooms she did have one available, we had a look and gladly took it.
As it was a week day and they were very quiet she very apologetically informed us that she couldn't offer us a meal as her kitchen staff had been given the day off. We really didn't mind as Thabazimbi was ten minutes away so we just popped out and got KFC.
Upon our return we discovered that Mari had already set out two plates for us with cutlery and condiments.
After dinner we met the Phil half of Phil-Mari. We spent the rest of the evening chatting away with Phil and Mari and two of the tenants renting cottages on their farm. By the time I headed to the room I felt as if I had known Mari forever, she sent me off clucking like a mother hen that I get a good nights sleep and insisted I take some home made rusks to have with my coffee before bed. Hubby was deep in conversation with Phil and by the time he joined me I had had a lovely hot shower and was dipping a rusk into my coffee cup.
We had a wonderful nights' sleep on the widest and most comfortable bed we had ever come across. After coffee and a quick shower we took a walk around the farm with Mari.
Mari had told me the night before about all the animals they had inherited when they had bought the farm. I spent the following hour happily taking photos wishing we didn't have to leave.
        
This little cutie had been born the day before, I was most distraught when hubby said I couldn't take it home:
There was a huge dog, but she was the most loving and adorable animal........ I wanted to take her home too.
Hubby was now ready to leave and I begged just a few more minutes to snap a few more photos.
      
We left Phil - Mari feeling wonderfully relaxed and pleased that we hadn't had a response from our emails, if we had we would never have come across this welcoming haven with it's friendly and welcoming hosts. Phil - Mari offers accommodation and also a beautiful venue for weddings and functions. We will definitely be putting them on our list of places to revisit.
Unfortunately Phil-Mari don't have a website but I am sure that if you contact the Limpopo or Thabazimbi tourism offices they would gladly assist you. Our rating: * * * * * COUNTRY ROADS 
On the road again.............................
Not all that long after our last trip - Phil-Maris', the ice cold beer and the zoo, hubby had to do another one night away trip.
Leave me behind? Not a chance!
This time around I had a bit more warning and was able to book and pay for our accommodation BEFORE leaving home.
The route this time round would be Giyani, Tzaneen and Mokopane. As Giyani was about 500 km from home the stop over would be Tzaneen.
By now Lady had started recognizing the signs of mom and dad leaving and expectantly she spent the entire day before we left looking at me with utter disgust.
Once again we were on the road before the roosters and this time we were guided by a full moon lighting our way. Hubby saw to his work at two stores and then we headed towards Tzaneen.
Hubby did most of his South African growing up in Phalaborwa and up until 4 years ago while his father was still alive we would travel to Phalaborwa at least 3 times a year to visit so Tzaneen was familiar to us.
What a beautiful part of our beautiful country.................
On arrival in Tzaneen hubby went and attended to his allocated store and then we headed off to our accommodation.
Tarentilos Self Catering Rooms
The rooms were beautifully done, the kitchen and bathroom were separate, I didn't mind having to leave the room to use the kitchen but would have preferred the room to have had it's own toilet and shower.
Hubby had mentioned to the gentleman at the reception desk that we had tried to book in at the lodge for that evening but had not received a response. He told us that they did not have internet and that everything went directly to their head office and they were then informed telephonically, sadly they were not informed of our enquiry.
While hubby sat on the balcony sipping his beer I naturally went for a walk with my trusty camera in hand.          While on my walk I came across an interesting piece:
While enjoying our drinks we discovered that they had a game machine which we used to play with hubbys' Dad whenever we visited.
Needless to say we had to have a go for old times sake............. Two hours and a lot of poetry passing my lips this was the result......  Oh.......... I also suggested that we revisit Letaba River Lodge and he take a swim........ Remember the sign..................  Anyway, with me smarting and hubby smiling we head off to a restaurant one of the locals had suggested. The restaurant looked lovely and VERY expensive...... we opted for the Spur. After a good steak we headed back to Tarentilos'. As the bathrooms were located off the sitting / dining area hubby had to play " body guard " and sit outside, there were two gentlemen sitting in the sitting area which made me feel a little uneasy as the bathrooms did not have a main door. Showered and shampooed we headed off to bed and enjoyed a good nights sleep. The following morning we enjoyed our cereal and coffee in the dining area, what a beautiful morning and the view we had was amazing.   Of course we must not forget the local mischief makers...............  Although not clearly visible there must have been up to twenty vervet monkeys in this tree. Just before leaving I had to do my ritual........... photos!     Car packed and photos taken we climbed in the car, put on our seat belts and hit the road heading home. Tarentilos' was lovely and beautifully maintained and we would highly recommend it if you need a quiet stop.
They unfortunately do not have their own website, I discovered them via Safari Now:
www.safarinow.com/go/TarentilosSCRoomsOur rating: * * * * * |
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