Did we not want to take everything, thinking that if we got rid of something we might not be able to replace it wherever we went to?
Then, once on "the other side", we either realized how lucky we were to have taken all those "special" things or how stupid it really was.
I for one remember that is was very difficult to part with all the things we had gathered over so many years.
But some of the things .......really!!
I can just think of the SEVEN braais we took! There was our Cadac gas braai (with every conceivable attachment!), our Weber, spitbraai, large cast iron braai, another (smaller) Weber, our gas bottle with the large cast iron top......just to mention some!
All we have used in the end has been perhaps one or two of them. The rest stands in the garage collecting dust!
And those are just some of the many things we could have left behind.
In this part of our newsletter we are inviting you to write in telling us what YOU took with you when you left.
These may be things you really need right now or things that you could have left behind and were really totally unnecessary to have taken along.
We will have a small
Competition to see who writes in with the most unusual item that they dragged with them across the world!
We will be running this competition until the end of the year so submit your entries as soon as possible.
The person with the most unusual item (and we will want to see a picture of it!) will get one of
Rockey's 5kg Home Biltong Makers!
So, here we go!
This one is from Nico Botha in Australia
We bought a very old antique French bed, in France, then packed it all up moved with it to South Africa, and that with my inheritance furniture is now here in Australia.
I have three braai dromme, a smoker, a 4x4 Camper Trailer,about 20 fishing rods from RSA a few cast nets, enough ander kakkas for camping and even our Venter Trailer the 6 ft Venter Camel here in Australia!
If I have to list all Skippy's kakkas, the newsletter will be just a bit too small to list everything!
From Lorraine and Derek Austin in Brisbane
We emigrated and wondered what to take with us to Brisbane Australia, so we took everything with us, plus two new fridge/freezers.
When we got here, one fridge packed up, so we thought we would make it into a tool cabinet, and it even has a built in lock so when the second fridge packed up just at the end of last year, we did the same with it.
Now in the shed we have two lovely KIC fridges that no longer work but are our two lock up tool cabinets. The neighbour asked us one day why we have a fridge in the shed so we joked with him and told him to keep the beers cold.
So that's what happens to lockable fridges from South Africa!
From Paddy Johnson in Australia
Great newsletter !!!
I have been in Aussie for 8 yrs. now and whilst unpacking an old tool box the other day came across this most unusual " BRINGALONG".
Just in case not everybody knows, this "deadly" piece of weaponry is a pair of BIDIZZOS!
They are for castrating young bulls and turning them into oxen.
My partner (Aussie-City girl) thinks that this little operation she wants to perform comes a little too late. I have twin sons (22 year olds).
They came for the ride as we stopped farming in South Africa 33 yrs ago. I am 50 now and my Dad had these before I was born. I guess they are just part of the family.
From Kerry Booysen-Finch in Holland
The strangest thing I "HAD TO" bring with when we left SA in 1999 (and I will be surprised if anyone has anything stranger) is approximately 1 kg of dried rose petals which came from the garden of the first home we ever owned.
I had them in a bowl on the coffee table in SA for 6 years before leaving and now they proudly (and a little faded) sit in the same bowl on a different coffee table in The Netherlands (and NO I am not smoking some good stuff)!!
Let's see if anyone can beat that!!
From Tanja Köhn in Dushanbe, Tajikistan
As for the strangest item that we took: Bruce is absolutely boat mad and had started building boats in Cape Town. He always collected bits and bobs for boats for future use, so in our driveway in Hout Bay we had this massive 7 m square wooden mast lying around.
He promised me to get rid of it before the movers would arrive, but when they stood in the door and he looked at the container, he decided to take it along, because it fitted in!
I was not amused, and I am still not - it is now lying around in our driveway of the little oriental townhouse we are renting here in Dushanbe!
Tajikistan is an inland country with no sailing boats in a 500 km radius! - I already considered cutting it up and using it as braai wood... Maybe we should put it up as a flagpole though and fly the South African flag high above the roofs of Dushanbe!
From John and Mel Berry from Loxahatchee, Florida, USA
We first moved from Johannesburg to Virginia 3 years ago before moving down to Florida at the beginning of this year.
We have some items that have made it all the way to Loxahatchee with us. We used to go off-road in our 4x4 in SA, so guess what came with us?
The hi-rise jack!
I'm not quite sure what John plans to do with it and it lives with our gardening tools, our gun safe, all our "Get Away" magazines and of course our Staffie dog Angel.
From Jacki Martin in New Hampshire in the US of A
I was reading your newsletter from last month and saw the section about the
strangest things moved from SA.
My parents brought the top tier of their wedding cake. They had kept it for 20 years and were determined to have a piece on their anniversary!
Well, after dousing it with brandy, the cake was just short of cement and they managed a small bite ...... but the rest was history!
I love the newsletter - thanks for the great stories!!
From Gavin van Heusden in Durban, South Africa
After eight years of living in the UK it was time to return home to South Africa. Leaving as a bachelor in 1997 I was returning a married man and my wonderful wife was expecting at the time!! This is where the plant in my life (Henry) comes into the story.
Before meeting my wife to be (April 1999) I moved to Windsor, it was late 1997 and there on the dining room table was this rather sickly plant. After adopting it and nursing it back to health it followed me from house to house, which included 3 moves over 7 years. Now this is one hardy little plant which has gone for 4 weeks at a time without water (on a number of occasions) and by all means should have gone back to dust a good few times.
After deciding it was time we go back to our roots in South Africa the BIG MOVE got under way in November 2004. After everything was moved and all our suitcases for the last two weeks stay were packed and booted I was walking out the door for the final time with Henry in my arms. He was to be given to my cousin for safe keeping. This I believe was preoccupying me, and low and behold my jacket got caught on the door handle as I was walking through. I stumbled, found the lip of the step, slipped and launched into the air……trying to get my balance meant letting go! Watching the pot tumble through the air in slow motion was sickening but at the same time it felt like a fitting end for my plant.
One smashed pot later, and a plant that had snapped at the root system and leaf system I was cleaning up the mess before the new owners moved in. I actually found a few leaves still joined together and thought I would drop them in some water and see what happens. Well, what did I expect, after a few days there were a few roots off the bottom of the leaves. On the day of leaving we wrapped him in wet cotton wool and stuffed him into my golf bag. Expectations of survival were highly based on past performance and as expected we now have Henry on our balcony looking healthier than ever before.
I dragged a doomed plant, which I have known longer than my wife all the way across the world!!
Come on all you SAers out there you still have till the end of this year to submit your entries!
One of the most incredible things you experience when you live in Europe is how the different seasons are so absolutely defined.
But the shedding of the leaves is preceded by a spectacular colour show. Formerly green leaves turn to brilliant shades of yellow, orange, and red.
along the rails.
Pork Sausages
Doctor's orders!
and you can have a choice between Beef, Chicken and Lamb.
