Articles by Verne Maree

Born and raised in Durban, South African Verne is a writer and editor. She and Roy met in Durban in 1992, got married four years later, and moved briefly to London in 2000 and then to Singapore a year later. After their 15 or 16 years on that amazing island, Roy retired in May 2016 from a long career in shipping. Now, instead of settling down and waiting to get old in just one place, we've devised a plan that includes exploring the waterways of France on our new boat, Karanja. And as Verne doesn't do winter, we'll spend the rest of the time between Singapore, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand - and whatever other interesting places beckon. Those round-the-world air-tickets look to be incredible value...

Outing to Armadale, 6 January

Festive season family catch-up; outing to Armadale

We’ve been in Perth WA since 20 December, having come here as usual to join the family for Christmas: son Carl, his wife Carrie and our granddaughters Mia and Holly; daughter Wendy, who’s visiting from France; and younger daughter Blaire, who now lives just up the road with her husband Colin and their delightful  new baby, Samuel John Cartwright.

Here are some festive season photos to introduce the cast for my next few blogposts, so to speak:

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A Day’s Meandering

It’s not often enough that my beloved sister, our BFF Julie and I get together, what with Dale living in London, Julie in Durban and me all over the place. When we do, revisiting the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands Meander has become a tradition – even if we have only one day for it.

And so the Three Mustgetbeers of old, with trusty Julie at the wheel of her Toyota RAV4, set off early one weekday morning for the KZN Midlands. The mission: to revisit a couple of favourite haunts and possibly find a few others.

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Lunching Out

The Brasserie at The Edward; Fig Tree at Simbithi Eco Estate Golf Club; curry buffet at The Oyster Box

While in Durban, Roy and I tend to eat out nearly as often as at home. For one thing, it’s relatively affordable. For another, I seem to become lazier by the year when it comes to the sort of dinner-party entertaining I used to do so effortlessly (as I remember it, anyway). Let someone else do the kitchen slog.

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Big 5 Nambiti Game Reserve, 18-21 November 2018

Going to “the bush” – meaning a game reserve or something similar – is a popular pastime for South Africans. How did Roy and I get so lucky as to crack the nod to Idwala Private Lodge in the Big 5 Nambiti Game Reserve?

Well, our friends Brigid and Clive have been coming here for more than ten years. They own a fractional share of the lodge, which they generally use to host family and close friends.

This time, when one of the five villas became available for the last few nights of their stay, they invited us to join them there.

Verne and Roy on Idwala Lodge’s viewing platform

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Cape Road Trip: Part Four – The Garden Route, 31 October to 3 November 2018

Extreme hosting in Hermanus; kind cosseting in Knysna; hanging out in Uitenhage, Morgans Bay and Kokstad

From Cape Town it was a quick 120km drive to the lovely coastal town of Hermanus, famous for whale-spotting and for being the home of old friends Paddy and Zoe Probert.

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Cape Trip Part Three: Cape Town and Franschhoek, 29-31 October 2018

Ghosts of Cape Town past and present; catching up with friends; side trip to Franschhoek

 Within a couple of hours of our arrival in Cape Town from the scorching Karoo semi-desert, the wind came up, the weather turned cold and a foggy blanket covered Table Mountain. On cue, I developed a snotty head-cold.

To cheer things up, here are some memories of past trips to Cape Town, some even featuring sunshine.

Ghosts of Cape Town past

The classic view of Table Mountain from Bloubergstrand – Roy, 1992

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Cape Road Trip Part Two: Prince Albert, 26-27 October 2018

It’s  a 335km drive from Graaff-Reinet to Prince Albert in the Central Karoo, where we were to stay for two nights. Apart from it being famously karaktervol (full of character), the main attraction for us was my old school friend Linda and her husband André, who 14 years ago retired to a smallholding on the edge of Prince Albert.

“Do stop for lunch or tea at Sophie’s Choice in Willowmore,” Linda texted me, so we did. Below is Sophia with Roy, in the gorgeously eclectic antiques store and restaurant she’s been running for 13 years.

Sophia says the Karoo has been good to her

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Cape Road Trip – Part One: Durban to Graaff-Reinet, 23-25 October 2018

For a Durbanite like me, the “Cape trip” is probably part of your travel history – something you feel called to do every few years or so. Mostly, you drive the roughly 1,800km each way, because – magical as Cape Town is – it’s as much about the journey as it is about the destination.

Durban to Cape Town via the Free State; we’ll be driving home via the coastal Garden Route, Port Elizabeth, East London and the former Transkei

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Le Kiosque de l’Uvarium, and au revoir to Moissac

 

After almost four months on our Dutch replica Piper barge “Karanja”, cruising the Canal de Garonne and enjoying our home port of Moissac, it’s almost time to fly south for the winter. Before we go, here’s  a tribute to an interesting local restaurant with a unique heritage – Le Kiosque de l’Uvarium.

It’s located literally three minutes’ walk from our mooring, on the esplanade that leads along the bank of the Tarn river to the Hôtel Le Moulin.

Promenade along the river Tarn, leading to Hôtel Le Moulin

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Wild-mooring on the Tarn with “Artemis”, 20-23 August

It’s been a hot summer, and I’ve been dying to swim. Officially, you’re not allowed to swim in the Tarn River. But there’s a way around this: you can wild-moor your boat in a spot where no-one is looking.

That’s what Roy and I did for a couple of days – we  on Karanja and our Dutch friends Jack and Sanne on their beautiful, 124-year-old Dutch barge, Artemis.

(I’d like to say they invited us to join them, but that wouldn’t be entirely accurate. Rather, they didn’t say no when we invited ourselves.)

Wide and lovely, the Tarn River

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