As our flight began to descend into Durban we found ourselves recognising landmarks as we peered through our tiny window and felt the excitement of returning to the province we had lived in for 22 years. George naming estuaries along the southern coastline of Natal, so embedded in his psyche were they! In turn, memories attached to each place flooded back filling us with the knowledge that this was a sentimental journey.
Kate van Rooyen was at the airport to whisk us away down memory lane… Seventeen nights amongst long standing and treasured friends, picking up as if we had never left! Change naturally happens and we found ourselves eagerly looking out for the differences between ‘our times’ and now! The growth & development in the North Durban area was phenomenal. Kate took us to see the spectacular 70000 capacity Moses Madhida stadium with 106m high central arch – all in preparation for 2010 World Cup; uShaka village; upgrading of beachfront; widening of harbour mouth and high rise developments transforming the formerly run down Point area. We were rapidly caught up in a social whirl that totally took our breath away! Even a supposedly quiet Chinese supper out with John and Kate, turned into a night to be treasured ever after as an unbelievable meal unfolded. So unexpected, no one had a camera to record the evening!
“The Westville Luncheon” in the van Rooyen garden with Loraine and Andy Tribe and Bronwyn and Mike Brett along with Glen Anil’s Ruth and Pieter Smith. George has always referred to Kate, Ruth & Bronwyn as the rowdy trio thus it fitting to have the Glen Anil interlopers join the throng! It was a feast of conversation, laughter and food with no pressure, as each couple provided a course.During time together in Perth with Lynne & John George Osterberg we’d been easily persuaded to have a Durban sojourn and stay with them. When they returned to Durban they discovered a clash in dates for our arrival! Kate and John van Rooyen were happy to leap into the breech. However, when Lynne phoned the van Rooyen household to say they were home, she was stunned to hear a stranger – John, say “GO away, we are having too much fun with the Beggs” which naturally lived on as a most quotable quote. Dear Osterberg’s were around to collect us next day and despite the slight ‘rudeness’ a connection was made between our friends - there is a lot of truth in “birds of a feather”!
The years have marched on since 1967 before finding Tawny Owl Lynne, little Brownie Bronwyn and Brown Owl Lea together again!
To fit in with our hectic schedule and on the eve of going into hospital which would knock her out of action over the following weeks, Bronwyn and Mike Brett had the Beggs and Osterbergs round to dinner with their daughters Clare and Justine joining us. A day was spent with close friends Ruth and Pieter Smith. Ruth had taken leave from work to ensure she’d be available to see us whenever the opportunity arose only to end up searching out fabrics and sewing for Lea, providing her with custom made shorts to suit her Australian lifestyle. How lucky is that? Thanks Rufus!
Dinner at the Mount Edgecombe Club followed a film evening in the Osterberg home with Jeff and Jan Dick. JG and Jeff were George’s Best man and Groomsman at our wedding.
Showing Keith and Colleen’s film on DVD proved a saga in itself as will be evident from the following account recorded by George.
We’ve reached the age of being unable to work DVDs, TVs and video machines, experiencing the worst problems with the Osterberg’s machine! With a large number of people having expressed an interest in seeing Keith and Colleen’s latest film – The Honey Hunters of Niassa – a number of showings were arranged. The first invitees landed up not seeing the film, in spite of JG paying a substantial amount for the services of a “TV doctor” earlier in the afternoon, as neither he nor I could get the DVD to work. Fortunately the Dicks hadn’t seen Snake Killers of the Kalahari which saved the evening as the “TV Doctor” had used it in demonstration!
Feeling panicky with six people expected the following night, the only thing to do under the circumstances was call in the TV doctor again. The diagnosis was not good – there was a compatibility problem which could only be resolved by the time consuming reformatting of the existing DVD player, or buying a new one.
Undeterred JG and I rushed to the nearest supplier and after playing the film in the shop to ensure it had the required capability, a new DVD player was duly purchased and the TV doctor’s team were called in once again to ensure it’s readiness for the big night. Strict instructions issued, for no-one to touch the machine in the mean time, allowed for a successful showing of the film.
The Osterbergs invited their friends John & Anthea Cotterell and Kingsley & Christine Went to this showing and we had Alison & Bob Cassells come over. By quirks of fate George knew Anthea from the Rhodesian Stand at the 1970 Rand Easter Show in South Africa, while Lea had met Kingsley in Bulawayo back in 1964. Jeff Dick slipped in to view the film too.The next showing was a pre-luncheon affair. Imagine my disbelief when it was time to show the film and all that could be seen on the TV screen were the words “No Signal”! JG was called away from socialising to aid me go through our carefully written notes… Two well educated men were dumbfounded and yes, you guessed it, the TV doctor had to be summoned yet again! The team arrived in the middle of lunch and all that Jabulani the TV technician had to do was press the ON button on the video recorder! Problem solved - the sheepish looking expression on JG’s face proved my undoing. I returned to the lunch table where my suppressed laughter soon became uncontrollable at the mere thought of this fiasco with tears pouring down my face. My predicament eventually set Lea off, and we were forced to retire to the kitchen to pull ourselves together. We may have dined out several times on the strength of The Honey Hunters of Niassa film, but doing so came at great cost to our obliging hosts.
Within a twelve month period we’d seen Alison in Parramatta, Ros in Perth, Marianne in Betty’s Bay and now to complete the four sisters from the Howman/Jackson 3 generation association Coralie and her husband Hilary Squires came round for lunch. They were the unfortunates to be subjected to the final DVD fiasco!A Northlands School Reunion hosted by Jacquie Westerhof in her beautiful home was a special highlight for Lea. The gathering of 12 teachers from yesteryear went down an absolute treat. As most had moved on to other schools or retired, it was the first time all had come together since Lea’s departure for Australia. The wonderful camaraderie that had existed in the 1990’s was picked up with ease and Lea felt such a sense of dismay when the luncheon was over. Almost taken aback to see Sam and Nikki, the young teachers she had mothered – rush off to collect their many offspring they had farmed out for the occasion. Such a pity that her visit had coincided with school holidays and Michelle Brown had gone away. As it was the contact she keeps with Lea that had unexpectedly initiated this delightful occasion while speaking to Jacquie. Photos were taken but they have yet to come in…
Unfortunately the Durban July Weekend made socialising difficult with all the sporting activities scheduled. We certainly didn’t want to miss seeing George’s former secretary - Heather and her husband Rob Finlay who kindly drove in from Amanzimtoti to meet us for morning coffee.
Heather & Rob Finlay
From there we dashed to Durban North to lunch with the Charter family before Wimbledon tennis finals, rugby and horse racing took over the afternoon. From tennis mornings and babies evolved a long friendship with Shan & Graeme Charter continuing with an abiding friendship between our daughters Saxon and Keryn
The Charter family line up – Crispin and Keryn with their daughter Taya, Graeme and Shan with son Craig.
Time running out on us, we borrowed an Osterberg set of wheels and headed inland for the next few days spending a night in Camperdown at Enaleni Farm with our nephew Richard Haigh. From the moment we turned in the gate we sensed something special and different as our eyes darted here and there taking in the scene. Zulu sheep – izimvu and Inguni cattle with distinctive colours and descriptively apt names, Africanus dogs and free ranging poultry all intermingling as we made our way towards the cheerfully bright orange homestead adorned with birds etched into the plasterwork and a peahen carving on the roof.
Gathered together for a memorable evening at Enaleni Farm was Richie’s Dad John with Christine from Australia (Never thought we’d be reunited here!), Lea and David Brennan, Richard’s partner as Richie strides off to show George his biogas unit and sustainable farming practices.
We spent the night in their unusual and beautifully appointed Farm Stay accommodation. How easily we could have lingered longer… We had to drag ourselves away to be in Pietermaritzburg in time for our lunch date with Heather and Peter Irons. More fast talking with friends that became like family when we all immigrated to Perth and by chance, ended up living a couple of streets away from each other. They have since returned to South Africa to be in close proximity to their aged mothers with the bonus of their son nearby. With an eye on time racing by we continued up in to the chillier climes of Hilton for a night with Henry and Sue Davies.
Horse, as he is affectionately known as, was at school with George but the close friendship between the Davies and Howman families began way back in the early 1930’s with our fathers.
Sue and Horse Davies with their poodle, Charlotte
Next day Horse guided us over the freeway to a newer section of Hilton where we spent time with John and Maureen Pattrick seeing over their new home they’d had built.. We meandered in the Natal Midlands, recalling memories of the friendship between our sons and their school days together at Clifton, Nottingham Road and Michaelhouse, ending up with a bratwurst lunch in a delightfully German setting!
We popped into Michaelhouse for old time’s sake- Maureen, John & Lea with the new statue of St Michael in the distance.
Life became a route march as we just didn’t have enough days left. Count down had begun – sadly THREE sleeps left! We arrived ‘home’ at the Osterbergs – (YES, home is where we hang our hat) and promptly prepared for our big night out at The China Plate with JG & Lynne celebrating their 43rd anniversary, Piet & Ruth Smith, Jeff Dick minus his wife Jan as she’d gone to Cape Town and of course, John & Kate van Rooyen who had introduced us to another way of eating Chinese at this incredibly pleasant venue. Nothing came off the Anglicised Chinese menu! The personal touch of the owner George Hu and his wife’s cooking was a memorable beginning and end to our Durban visit.
A private room at The China Plate with fine food and close friends made us very aware of this ‘unordinary’ night!
TWO sleeps
We’d planned to go out to Raymond and George-Anne’s farm beyond Maidstone thus it was with mixed feelings we ended up meeting them at La Lucia Mall over a quick cup of coffee. In retrospect it was probably as well, as George and Lea were feeling below par with all the late nights and busy days. Never-the-less with a freed up afternoon Lea couldn’t resist a quick ride around old haunts of Durban North, popping in to find John Bedford and feeling better for it as he’d been the husband of a dearly loved friend of hers- Eileen, who sadly died some years back yet Lea sorely felt her emptiness, being back in Durban. That night we’d been invited round to the historic home of John and Anthea Cotterell. My goodness, little did we realise we’d be stepping into a time warp of grandeur with dinner superbly catered by Anthea. Unexpectedly bumping into Dallas and Rose Reed with whom we’d lost touch was a most pleasant surprise to start the evening. Living in a caravan smaller than the magnificent table we found ourselves sitting around proved to be a concept and way of life beyond many of the guests we chatted to that night.
LAST sleep
The Strovers were home on the Mt Edgecombe Estate after weeks away. JG and Lynne couldn’t wait to introduce us to their friends and we shot over for morning tea with Paddy and Pam Strover and their array of garden birds which put on a an acrobatic display in return for freshly bred mealworms. Lea was particularly intrigued to meet Paddy as it was his father, Dr Minto Strover, a famed Rhodesian doctor of note, who had safely delivered her in the Fort Victoria Nursing Home. That evening Paddy & Pam came over to watch The Honey Hunters of Niassa. We hoped it would be an untroubled showing and all went well until the sound went out of synch!
We endured it as no one knew how to rectify that!
After an emotional day of farewells both in person and over the phone it was good to retire to the Country Club for our last dinner. We’d come full circle!
Paddy, Lea, Lynne, George, Pam and JG.
Full of thanks for the high flying sociable time we’d had, we flew out to Johannesburg to be met by another Smook member – unbelievably we’d missed Ted and Ann Smook this time round in every city during our time in South Africa. However, their daughters Bronwyn Brett in Durban and now, Tanya Jessop in Johannesburg helped ease the disappointment. Tanya took us home to her husband Dale and grown up children Saxon and Kyle for the night. That evening, Holly and Bernd came over to the Jessop’s for supper, bringing our Mozambique luggage – far more than we’d expected, thanks to additions slipped in by Keith much to our shock!
A happy gathering of Worties, Jessops and Beggs!
George slept soundly that night while a mixture of excitement churned with trepidation within Lea’s mind, before the early morning flight out to Mozambique. WAIT FOR IT- we have yet to write this journey up!
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