13th February,2009
Today thank goodness the weather has been bright and 37 degrees Celsius. A wonderful change from the rain and heavy mists we have had up until now.
This afternoon we drove out into the Midlands Meander district. A beautiful area of hills with luxuriant vegetation and the distant Drackensberg Mountains as a backdrop. Along the way we saw fine quality horses and cattle.
The purpose of the expedition was to visit one of Donnette’s daughters who is considering working as a receptionist at the Nottingham Road Hotel the oldest in Kwazulu-Natal built in 1854. It is a building which retains it’s atmosphere with old photos, prints and antique furniture. The room and their accompanying bathrooms are period, restrained and tasteful.
Donnette’s daughter’s colleague told us that the hotel is haunted. There is a legend that a lady of the night, called Charlotte either jumped from the balcony when her lover failed to appear or was pushed to her death by her lover. She is said to haunt one room. Even before I entered room 2 there was absolutely no doubt as far as I was concerned that there was a very nasty presence inhabiting it. I had a feeling which I had never experienced before of a heaviness in the upper part of my chest.
Room 10 was also definitely inhabited by a less malign energy. The receptionist who accompanied us also felt the very unpleasant atmosphere. Apparently the kitchen is so badly haunted (voices, doors opening by themselves, temperature changes etc) that even the male kitchen staff will not go there alone at night. I gently suggested that the rooms needed to be spiritually cleansed.
Most of the time we sat at a table in the garden. At frequent intervals long goods trains passed by on their way from Durban to Johannesburg. The picturesque old railway station has fallen into a state of extreme dilapidation. The town itself was built to protect the Afrikaners from the Bushman.
A lot of locals came in for drinks. The Afrikaner farmers looked like people from another century, dressed and looking like their forefathers.
The area offers visitors a great deal - horse riding, fishing, hiking, good food, craft villages, golf, leather work, canopy tours, and hot air ballooning.
On the way back to Hilton we stopped at a farm shop because Donnette wanted to check out the Biltong (dried meat) on offer. The produce included fresh meat, fruit and vegetables as well as very tempting jams, pickles, sweets, cakes and biscuits all home produced. There was also honey and homemade lemonade and ginger beer all at very reasonable prices,
After this stop we continued on our way. By now it was dark. A long stretch of road was undergoing repairs and was clearly marked with lights and signs. Suddenly we were shunted from the back by a chap in a BMW who was driving too fast. He had tried to avoid us by swerving to the left and onto the section of the road cordoned off for repair. We also pulled over onto this section. His right headlight was damaged where it hit us. Donnette’s rear bumper on the left side was deformed. I think our guardian angel looked after us because although the car hit us at speed it did not cause us to spin nor were Donnette and I thrown forward against our seat belts as we would have expected. Thank God for that because both Donnette’s three and a half year old son and ten year old daughter were sitting on the back seat without seat belts.
Donnette exchanged details with the other driver who it turned out knew people known to Donnette and her father. After this we continued on our way uneventfully.