Friday, March 11, 2011

Learning through Living - the Beautiful Town of Greyton

My sisters and I have had a very full life and we have learnt so much over the past few years. We have lived almost all over Southern Africa and if we haven’t lived in a certain place, we might have visited it on our travels!

We have seen beautiful countryside, long stretches of ocean, busy towns and hectic cities! We have seen so much and sometimes we forget to take moving around the country as a blessing – we have learnt things most of our friends haven’t!

I decided to take you through our travels, showing places in beautiful South Africa that you might not have visited before. I want to show you crazy things we have done but enjoyed so much! So now sit back and enjoy looking at the heap of photographs I have to show you! I know it might or might not inspire you to step out of your front door and tour the beautiful countryside that you live in! But we learnt and we are learning about life and the world around us through living!

Each week I will show you a different place we’ve lived in. So this is....

...Where our story began...

In 1997 I was born. Then in 1999 Nancy entered the world and we were a very happy, little family with the two children, the house, the dog and the cat (a few cats to be exact!) Nancy and I did our first few years of homeschooling, did extra murals and enjoyed family holidays etc.

Beth was born in 2004. We still lived in Cape Town in our little house that we worked so hard on. My dad made the garden beautiful and Nancy and I helped – as much as we could without destroying it and my mom looked after her newest blessing and her home.

Then my mom and dad announced we would be moving to the country – to Greyton, a beautiful little village that my mom had fallen in love with a few years back. We often used to go there on holiday, but now we would be moving there to live in a rented house. I was also to go to school and Nancy too but she begged to stay at home with my mom while I decided to try out school...















Me on my first day of school















I remember it was winter and the grass in the garden was nearly always muddy!  We also never had one good swim in the pool – Nancy and I tried but we almost got what Nancy and I so-called ‘hypothermia’!  It wasn’t THAT cold!















Greyton is such a beautiful place – the main road



















Nancy and I lived on our bikes – Nancy more than me because she was the sensible one in choosing not go to school!















We lived in the mountains, hiking whenever we had the chance!















We followed many trails















My dad would put Beth in the backpack while Nancy and I walked behind him.  My mom would usually stay home to rest!



















Taking a drink of cool water in one of the rivers we visited on our long hikes















Over-looking the town of Greyton from the mountainside



















Nancy loved splooshing in mud pools



















The rainbows were magnificent!















We visited the river every week!



















We walked everywhere in Greyton – to school, to the shop (when I say shop I mean the place that sells essentials like toilet paper, bread, milk, etc!), church, to friends, to the library, to the river – EVERYWHERE!















We also visited surrounding places in the Overberg and had tea at little coffee shops and restaurants.  Mom and her girls at one of these places we visited!

















Beth celebrated her first birthday in Greyton



















She also learnt to walk!















Mom and her girls on my last day of school – praise the Lord! I hated school and I was so relieved when the time came to start leaving Greyton! I settled down to homeschooling while my mom packed up the house. We were glad to move back to our house in Cape Town where we would see my dad everyday! You see, my dad commuted from Cape Town to Greyton. Greyton is two hours away. He would work all week and come home on a Friday. That is why we so enjoyed hiking because it was our chance to relax! Greyton was such a beautiful place to live - So quiet and peaceful and we enjoyed living there a lot!

Till next time,
Kelly-Anne

3 comments:

Tess said...

Wow what an exciting life hey? Our family has also done alot of travelling in our time. A couple of years ago, we spent a year & a half on the road travelling the entire of South Africa, visiting every little historic museum in every little small town that crossed our path. By the end of our travels, we had learnt so much! -like how to pack a house-hold in 5 mins, (If everything else fails, Kate and I could always find a job one day in the Stufferford moving company:-P) But seriously it was an amazing experience that none of us will ever forget! -(I must admitt though, that you will never find me in another small-town museum again!)Tehe;-P

I enjoyed the post...
xxxx

Anonymous said...

Hi Kelly!
Thats sooo cool! I've stayed at Greyton as well!
I think its soooooooooooo beuatiful there!
xx
Sarah

Kelly-Anne said...

Hi there Tess...thanks so much for stopping by...I had a had a good chuckle at your wish to not see another small-town-museum ever again! I fully understand! Just think what stories we have to tell our kiddos one day! Hope to see you soon!

Hi Sarah...my mom couldn't agree with you more...Greyton is her favorite little town ever! It really is beautiful there! Thanks for stopping by and for taking the time to leave a comment - it is much appreciated!

Love to you both -
Kelly-Anne