Beeno, Draad and Mike :
Does anybody know Gansbaai (near Hermanus). It looks like a great place to live. Great coastline, Great White and whale watching, white sandy beaches, horse riding on beaches, fynbos nature, and away from trouble.
Gansbaai Photos - Featured Images of Gansbaai, Overstrand - Tripadvisor
We are looking at a place there. I used to know it quite well many years ago.
Has it got a low crime rate...it seems that way but not sure...Hermanus has had a bit of trouble.
Hi Seb...Gansbaai is much better than it used to be. Less than 20 years ago, the locals was a very rough lot who didn't behave very well, especially with "outsiders". I've been there a few years ago, much calmer...nice place.
The only time I went to Gansbaai was in 2 000 when I took my then 90 year-old farther there, He and my mother due to family problms were married in Bredasdorp and they went to Gansbaai for their honeymoon. My parents spent their honeymoon in the hotel there. Maybe it is still there - but my father said it was extremely nice in 1938.
For the rest I do not know much about Gansbaai - but from what I heard it is a nice place.. Another nice one is Kleinmond.
The best thing I did in the past 20 years was to get out of KwaZulu -Natal and move to the Southern Cape. It is like moving from hell to heaven.. In Riversdale there are many families from KwaZulu-Natal who moved here. When I bought the House in 2015 I paid R910 000 for it. The people moving in are so many - there is only about 20 vacant housing sites in town and one of those were sold recently for R1 million. The lowest price for a 3 bedtroom home is about R1 750 000 now. Most more luxurious homes are in the range R2 to R3 million.
By the way did you ever got hold of the book about Nicholas and Alexandra i advised you to get?
Mike that makes you 12 years younger than your father!
Thats pretty impressive!
My father was born in 1910, got married in 1938 and I was borne in 1942. Satisfied now.
Gansbaai is great but if your budget allows, look a few kilometres north at De Kelders. Close enough to Gansbaai to go do a shop but much better whale and dolphin viewing. There are also some beautiful walks around the cliffs including some fantastic caves inside the nat ure reserve, and if you drive a few kilometeres inland you'll come to the little town of Stanford which has one of the best micobreweries in the country, the Birkenhead.
One of my favourite parts of the country.
Hope that would not happen - a century is just 10 to 15 years too old. The Good Book says 3 score and ten is the age to be expected. "en die uitmenenste daarvan is moiete an verdriet."
Thanks chaps for your comments. Why do you say it's rough Draad? I remember it in my youth being quaint, a little fishing village, we used to dive there for perlemoen and fishing for galjoen. Looking at Betty's Bay too which I really like but it's more expensive. Arniston used to be my favourite but it's getting too expensive and it's not the same when the old Arniston Hotel owned and run by my dear late old friend Jock Dichmond was there, in the seventies and eighties.
Mike, yes I have the book from the library and it's very interesting to read and tells the story of the Tsar and family by his intimate letters/meticulous diary entries, right up to the day the family were murdered.
Anyway back to the subject, yes as much as I love KZN but only the Nottingham Road, Midlands area which we are considering too, this part of the Cape and the Boland and West Coast, especially Paternoster and Yzerfontein is in our sights too.
With all the trouble in this country, people are leaving the suburbia and looking at country abodes and it's pushing prices and demand. Should have done this years ago. Some businesses too can run online too so they don't need to be close to cities and big towns.
Thanks - I agree with you about what you wrote. I used to regard KZN as my favored area of residence too - but since moving to Riversdale I think I have been less worried about the crime and living co9nditions. I think the cosyt of living generally is lower in the more rural towns and villages too. For instance I used to spend about R1 500 a month on meat purchases in KZBN in 2015 - and when I moved to Riversdale expected to spend a similar amount. It never reached more than R1 200 a month even 7 years later in Riversdale.
Municipal services are much more efficient and less costly as well. Where I used to have a monthly municipal account of circa R4 200 per month in Tinley Manor Beach my account now is still about R3 400 7 years later.
By the way - that book is very interesting. Alexandra was accused of being german and a traitor by many - but whe was in fact moore English orientated than German and her letters and diaries were all written in English. How did your good wife regard the book as well?
Why do you say it's rough Draad?
About 20 to 30 years ago, at the Sea View Hotel...and some other establishments in town, everybody left when the local fishermen arrived...same for club rugby matches. You might win the match, but you will definitely lose the fight... almost like the Etzebeth brothers at the Central Hotel in Parow...but those days are long gone. I holidayed in the area a few years ago. Very nice area.
Thanks for that Mike and Draad.
Municipal billing s are less Mike, ie what is the meterage cost of electricity and water?
Interesting.
" what is the meterage cost of electricity and water?"
I'd say about 2K for electricity and less than R500 for Water...and that's probably included in R3400 Maaik mentioned.
Thanks Draad.
Mike...no she has not read it yet.
But she read this one which is very interesting...Memories of the Russian Court - a book by Anna Vryubova on last Imperial Family of Romanov Russia
Apparently you can download it.