Mike and Draad, a question that you might be able to answer

This is not a rugby subject, nevertheless I'm posting it here because the Trumpet is probably not read and when it is it sparks controversy with the trolls... so please excuse me.

Many years ago around 1978/79 there was a very quaint fishing village hotel in Stilbaai called the Bellevue Hotel, I think that's what the name was and as a very young rep I used to stay there as one of my routes was the Plettenberg Bay run. In those far off days SA had a lot of these very comfortable hotels and apart from the Holiday Inns in Oudtshoorn and Wildernis and the Beacon Isle in Plett, I used to prefer these hotels, like this one and the Arniston Hotel in Arniston when Jock Dichtmont used to own it.

Quaint little hotels with sea food that you never see today...even the Radissons cannot produce.

I now see that there is a dreadful Bellevue Holiday Resort but cannot recognise it.

We did stay in a quite nice sea side hotel at Kleinmond, overlooking the Mond sometime back but I see this too has been changed into apartments which I loath.

There was a really nice hotel further down in Simonstown over looking the harbour which we liked, albeit very expensive and apart from Matjiesfontein in the Karoo which we love...I've stayed there often when I travelled the Karoo...was probably at one stage the most comfortable hotel with the best pub in the world...don't know what it's like now, probably inf ested with the nouveau rich...which kills the atmoshere and vibe.

Seb

The Hotel Bellevue is unfortunately no more.   We used to go dancing at the Hotel, but in the 1980's the dance hall burned down and was never rebuild.   The Hotel deteriorate further in the ensuing years and was then turned into a flat for rent facility.

There are at present no other hotels in Still B ay and I think there really is a need for one.

Thanks Mike, these little hotels are things of the past...I remember they had a small restaurant with fishing nets and bouys and corks hanging from the ceiling and you dined on fresh line fish, mussels and calamari...sad ending of a quaint little gem that had such an ending.

The Arniston Hotel is still there however but completely renovated but some how that atmoshere has gone and it's a bit on the costly side now. Did you ever go there in the old days when Jock Dichmont had it...there was a character...he was an attorney in Cape Town with an elite background, a Bishops old boy that said goodbye to a lucrative practice...Dichmont and Dichmont and bought a little fishing village hotel when he was relatively young...when asked why...he simply replied; "I prefer fishing to law"incredible man when in his late sixties he outdived the youngsters and speared huge fish which often landed up on the menu...he was something of a legend in the Cape...all those relics that today you see displayed in the hotel were dived out by him...that is relics from the famous HMS Arniston...a troop carrier that sunk therein 1815...where all lives bar 6 out of 372 were lost...British soldiers headed for England from Ceylon carrying wounded soldiers from the Kandyan Wars...he was a kind of Hemingway man...the old man of the sea.

Yes, pity the Bellevue is no more. Mike, I recall dances upstairs from the lounge and bar, well into the 1990's and then the place burned down. Are you sure about the 1980's? And where was the dance hall back then?

I went camping in Stilbaai the first week of October last year...after an absence of about 12 years. The place did not change that much, but it was off season...I suppose you'll get trampled in Dec/NY and Easter. Will give that a miss for now. Gonna try Witsand next. Hopefully this year.

You are right about the dancehall because I wet rarely to Still Bat during the period 1981 to recently - so I do not know when the dance hall burned down.  The lay out was exctlt as you describe it/  

There was a funny story about the Bellevue hotel.  My mother's one aunt  -six years older than her was an army nurse during WWII  in England.  She married a chap by the surname of Patterson and when the couple visited Riversdale - he struck up a friendship with a neighbor of ours/   The started going every evening to the Bellevue Hotel,  During the day they slept and then off for the next drinking binge.   After 14 days when coming out of the Bellevue - drunk as per normal - they started the car and put on the lights - but could not see anything and thought the lights gave in.   Getting out of the car the lights were fine.   It took the two an hour to work out that the problem was not with the ligh ts - but with the windscreen that was totally blocked up with sand and dust,  

My great aunt divorced the bugger shortly thereafter.      .       

OMG Mike!

Do you just randomly know about every person and place in this country?

I don't think so Plum...SA is a small society relatively, well it used to be...Mike has just, it appears to move about  from one town to another, from Ballito to Riversdal...LOL

I've just asked him a question about Jock Dichmont (a legend in the Cape)...everybody either knew him or heard of him in the Western Cape and even much further abroad but then Mike appears to not heard of him.

My late Grandad when farming Rooibos tea in the Pakhuis Pass in Clanwilliam, was visited by the Lawrence G Green, the well known SA author, he was successful even in the USA and UK, he wrote about extraordinary characters and places and to do so got about quite a lot.

Green wrote many books, non fiction... a photo and a short account of grandad appears in his book In the Land of the Afternoon.

As a matter of interest both Grandad and his brother Clifford went to SACS then in the Gardens in Cape Town. They were from Irish immigrant parents (Cork) and my great grandfather was a doctor in Colesburg...they had 8 children but that was quite common in those days. Clifford was a Springbok rugby player and achieved other accolades as well.

Seb

I returned to Riversdale after an absence of nearly 55 years in 2015.    I lost contact with most people  in the Southern and Western Cape in the process.  

However, the last time I went dancing at the Bellevue Hotel was in the 1980's.   From 1961 to1995 my parents went camping in the camp site in Still Bay East.  They always camped in the same place and so did there friends  - Matt Louw - the father of Rob Louw and a lot of others.  

However, back to the dance.   My mother made a huge pot of chicken pieces and sandwiches and coffee.   When we got back from the dance everything was gone.  The next morning we found 32 people sleeping on site and in cars around the site.

Plum

I was borne on the farm Zeekoegat outside Riversdale.  The Cape Dutch homes on the farm are now national monuments - the oldest buildings being built in 1768, 1795 and 1804.  The farm was famous in the Southern Cape and the owners highly respected in society, even though my parents were not wealthy.

They were very influential in society and they were respected especially by the local Coloured community.  My mother was a liberal person who insisted that all the C oloured children on the farm received proper education and most turn out to be professionals - teachers, policemen and property owners, etc.

In that environment I met many people in the Southern Cape and even from the rest of the country.  Regular visitors to my father's farm were rugby players like Jannie Engelbrecht, Mannetjies Roux, Rob Louw and many others.   

My parents were also famous for parties on the farm - I can remember a function on the farm attended by five members of the cabinet and about 200 other people in 1966.   When I was working for Water Affairs in Pretoria I had to attend a tea party by the Minister of Water Affairs.  I am rather averse to that type of thing and eventually went to meet the Minister.  His first words after introduction was "I met your parents in Riversdale last week - they sent their regards."

When I left Pretoria in 1974 to go to Durban I gave a party to whom 150 people were invited.  On the list was the then Governor of the Reserve Bank, the Chairman of the then Public Service Commission, the President of the Pretoria Womens's league and her husband, who later became the Chariman of the Rand Water Board. To my horror all accepted the invitation.       

There are many other cases I can mention.   Be it is it may my family connections brought me into contact with many people - famous or infamous.   Others like the Huletts and Stransky, and Zuma I met in KwaZulu-Natal.         

Looks like we may have been neighbours Oom Mike.

I grew up on a farm near Umhlali when it was just a Standard bank, Spar and Thompsons butchery next ti the railway station. Spent most Sundays in Ballito and Thompsons bay.

Ol' Maaikie, like you my growing up was split between Western Cape and Natal. My fathers side from the Cape and my mothers side Natal Drakensberg/Midlands (farming stock). My grandad was a magistrate that was posted in many towns in SA...they did that in the old days. He was magistrate in Carolina (Tvl) then Colesberg, Kimberley, I think , (he also played rugby for Griquas) then Clanwilliam, Bellville, Wynberg and when he retired he bought a farm "Kleinkliphuis" in the Pakhuis Pass in Clanwilliam "for a song" as he once described it...he was one of the first to produce Rooibos tea, together with a Russian Jewish man, Mr Ginsberg who he knew from SACS days...together with Dr Frans Nortier (a French Botanist) developed what today is a huge farming enterprise. The Cederberg is the only place in the world where Rooibos tea grows...they have tried it elsewhere in the world in similar enviroments but it just won't germinate.

You can find Rooibos for sale in every country, even Russia but it's big in Germany, USA and Sweden and Denmark. It's extremely healthy.

Anyway Grandads farm was next to Dr Louis Leipoldt, the Afrikaans poet...my grandad knew him well and they were good friends...unfortunately I only remember my grandad vaguely as I was a tiny tot before he died suddenly from a massive heart attack...it was a shock to the family because he was such a healthy living man but he was a big man with even a bigger heart I was told.

I started my schooling at Bergvliet Primary School then SACS in Newlands but left there and went to school at Merchiston Prep then Maritzburg College. Most Christmas holidays were spent in the Cape in Somerset West/Firgrove and Clovelly however.

Seb

When I was on holiday in Russia a number of people asked me about the special type of tea from SA.   I had some Rooibos tea with me - since I expected some questions about tea being popular in Russia  

I dished all of it out and came back hoping to promote exports of rooibos tea to Russia.  However, although I phoned a number of institutions about it - I am not sure whether ultimately anything came of it. 

Which farm near Umhlali?  Karibo perhaps?    

LOL Mike, my wife Elena only drinks Rooibos/Buchu tea...she loves it...this brand is called Biedouw Valley...it comes in a green box...there are quite a few blends as well with sugarbush, chamomile or just plain dry or green. It's an acquired taste and extremely healthy but we both love it. Instead of sugar we use honey.

She took some back to her family and friends in Russia but she said they said it was ok but did not rave about it...but I'm sure some of the posters hear know Rooibos.

We find the best blend is Biedouw valley...it can be obtained from Dischem stores.

Xavi, then obviously both you and Mike know the Slevins (Nigel, Val, Andrew Craig, Mark) Ian Deetlef and the late Michel Rey and his beautiful charming wife Penny...who at a grand old age is still beautiful.. .amazing woman, she won Miss World in in 1958 at the age of 18...very sad about Michel. Penny was the most beautiful Miss World ever, imho...true beauty...she would have beaten Grace Kelly.

One of my best friends in Ballito is Johnny Rey - the brother of Mickey.   When I first met Penny she was still fabulously beautiful.   However, I had to laugh - when introduced she said - "O, you are the famous Tokkie Saayman"

I often had lunch with the Reys.   Johnny is a race horse owner - he even phoned me last week about one of his horses running in a race.   I was supposed to back it - but end up not doing so and I would have lost if I did.  Seb - you are wrong about Mickey Rey passing away - I just spoke to him on the phone - he is well with some medical problems.

Mickey Rey' s Goodluck Farm was sold to Tongaat-Hulett for development of a luxury housing area behind Tinley Manor Beach.  

Karibo farm belongs to the Slevins and I often met with them when working in Ballito.   The other family I know very well is  the Roberts - but they were further inland from Shakaskraal and their father owned some property round Compensation station as well.  

I know a number of Huletts as well - Bruce - the father-in-law of Stransky, Craig - the owner of the Salt Rock Hotel, Brett - the developer of the Brettenwood township behind Sheffield Beach, to name but a few,          

Mike, hell I'm sorry, I don't know what gave me that impression, I think I got this mixed up and something tragic did happen but that was their son had a bad accident, I recall, off a horse, polo game but I don't know them but know Nigel Slevin well and I think many years ago we had a braai on the farm and met them but Slev I know well as he is an old friend for many years...he played in College first team and Ntl Schools, I think prop, he was also a fundi in judo...nobody could put him on the ground...he was not particularly big but he was very strong and few juggled with him...heck man I must be losing my mind...I've got a pretty good memory but this is frightening me. Thank God you corrected me.

Mickey's and Penny's son who had the accident I know well as well.   When Mickey sold Goodluck Farm - the son who was paralyzed from the neck down and his family as well as a  caretaker - moved from Goodluck Farm to Johnny Rey's house in Ballito after Johnny built a new house on his property on the 8 hectare site he owns there.

The son started and is involved in a Trust helping seriously injured jockeys and polo players injured in polo and racing accidents.  

Bambula Mike but my grandfather also managed Cartref behind Umhlali primary school aswell as La Vigi and Antoinette farms along the Umhlali river. He  built the hanging road along the krans above the river and there was a spring we used to scramble down to for a drink everyday. Bambula was nearer to Compensation and you could see the trees lining the drive from thw golf club.

At Seb.

I was only a little kid then so alot of those names are before my time.

I remember the Couves , Avises and Dr McCloud (spelling).he set my collarbone for me when I was 12.

Well Mike, talking about rugby again and maybe an interesting point ...I was discussing with Slev scrumming techniques and mentioned the Georgian front rowers who are probably some of the best front rowers in rugby coming from country whose top sport is wrestling and he fully agreed with me, it's not size or weight but balance co-ordination, technique and ofcourse strength, which you learn in wrestling, judo etc.

Maybe those front rowers should take lessons in these arts...Nigel is convinced that this will help tremendously.

Cool discussion dudes. When can I buy you lot a beer in Stilbaai?

I've only been as far south as Port St Johns but wheb I'm next in SA I will deffo be visiting the Cape. I will hold you to that then.

Xavi

When last did you go to the Ballito area?   I know about Bambula and Cartref - but the area is changing rapidly - not always for the better.    Cartref has been approve4d as an area for construction of affordable housing and Bambula has already been developed.

Most of the people Seb and I mentioned are still living and very active in the local community - they are also very wealthy.

I am surprised you have never been to Cape Town and the Southern Cape.    If you come this way I will definitely buy you a beer in Stilbaai as well.               

Mike, did you know the Rutherfoords further up...Mkuze...Ghost Mountain Inn...Boxer Stores, Peter, Mike and the Balmers, Powells, Leisegang, Foss...Empangeni, Mike Farquarson a mate of Kevin Putt (Empangeni Rugby Club.)...in the good old days Mike and Kevin used to give us a seat or 2 in the Empangeni Rugby Clubs box at Kings Park...in those days it was a real pleasure watching the Sharks from a position of comfort...it was a nice position too and you always had a good view. Sadly those things don't happen any more and one loses contact. I don't know what happened to Putty but I recall he was a NZ'er (or had played there) and he went to Ireland...can't remember but I think he had Irish roots, I think his wife or his sister had a distinct Irish lilt to her voice. Pete Rutherfoord and Anthony Balmer and Nicky Nicholson all played for College and got Ntl Schools, along with Nigel Slevin, Tony Egner and Andy Van Der Watt (Springbok) they all went to my old school.

You don't get these in Stilbaai, pity the man in the street can't really afford these any more. This one is probably worth more than R1000 on the legal market.

My grandfather was shot in 95 and we left the farm the following year end of 96 xmas holidays before I started Std 7. You might have known my gramps. Walter Schwikkard but every one called him Uncle Bill.

I was last in SA in 2011/2012 xmas and new years and went fishing at Thompsons bay. I saw that the rock pool was gone.

Never really had a reason to go to the Cape all family on my moms side were in KZN or the Highveld and on dads side were Secunda/ Vanderbyl park. Port St Johns was the furthest we went to visit relatives.

Xavi

I just phoned Mickey Robert and asked him about your grandfather and he said he rememberws him.   

Xavi...you also an angler. Where are you based now?

What type of fishing you do...rock and surf, fly fishing, boat etc.

Thompson's Bay and all that coastline was quite different in the 80 ies when I used to fish there often...caught a big kob (salmon) in the bay there once...in fact the fishing was good, pompano, natal silverbream (stumpnose)...lots of garrick and shad.

Hi Seb. Not as much as Id Like to be. Used to fish Durban Harbour mostly. Grunter, sandies, kingies. My brother had a cobracat we used to go out for garric couta and dorado. Caught some juvenile kob in the  bay as well as barracuda suprisingly.

I worked with a lot of Indian lads so we always had good spots on North Pier outside Joe Kools for the Shad and rays.

Tugela rivermouth was also favourite spot.

My wife used to coach gymnastics at Cental Gymnastics Club  next door to the Royal Yac ht Club and I used to do some dropshotting off their back lawn while I waited for her.

Currently I live in the Midlands of the UK. Not many beaches around me.lol. Have tried my hand at course fishing but the goings been rough. 

Take up flyfising Xavi...chalk and cheese mate.

Here's a clip on the river Dove

https://youtu.be/GynEXjbakZs