Yesterday morning we were up early again, but with a heavy dull cloud hanging around, we decided to go back to sleep - not much point trying to photograph sunrise with cloud cover like that! The plan for the day was to head out to Pilgrim's Rest, with our first stop being just outside Graskop, at the Natural Rock Arch Bridge, where the Mac Mac river has carved a path under the rocks to form a natural bridge. This bridge was used more than a century ago by the Voortrekkers and later by transport riders to cross the Mac Mac river. We didn't spend that much time there, I would happily have used up the best part of the day taking a few long exposures there, but maybe another time instead.

From the Natural Bridge, we made our way through the winding roads over to Pilgrim's Rest, about 25km away. It has easily been fifteen or more years since I was last out there, so some things I remembered well and the rest was all new. Pilgrim's Rest, with it's colourful history, is probably the most picturesque and charming village in the the area, and founded back in 1873 when Alec Patterson came across alluvial gold in the stream that flows through the valley. Once that news started to spread, it sparked off the biggest gold rush of the time. Mining continued until 1972 and today Pilgrim's Rest is a living museum, preserved in the exact architectural style of the gold rush period, boasting various buildings that have remained unchanged externally for more than a century.

After lunch we made our way uptown to the Royal Hotel, which was built in 1894 and proclaimed a National Monument in 1986. The bar adjacent and part of the Royal Hotel was once the Roman Catholic Chapel of the St. Cyprian's School in Cape Town. After it was bought, it was dismantled and loaded onto a boat, offloaded in Maputo Harbour in Mozambique, and then transported by ox-wagon to Pilgrim's Rest. The ox-wagon journey took six weeks and when the building was finally re-assembled in Pilgrim's, every screw fitted perfectly - ready for the first toast! The signpost hanging outside the bar states "It is tradition that every visitor who passes through Pilgrim's Rest has a draught in the famous Church Bar", and since we definitely didn't want to break tradition, we popped in there for a nice cold draught. Plus we got to sign a Randela and pin it up on the wall :)

After leaving the pub and before heading home, dad wanted to quickly head up to the Old Cemetery, which was just up the road. We're not sure quite exactly which road, but we certainly struggled to find it! After a few attempts at following the sign posts and basically going round in circles twice, we decided to stop in at the Information Desk and ask them, who successfully managed to direct us up to the darn cemetery. At least finding the 'Robbers Grave' inside the cemetery turned out to be a lot easier than finding the actual cemetery :)

On the way out of Pilgrim's Rest, we briefly stopped in at the Old Diggings Site, which was fairly quiet but they do run tours there earlier on during the day. From there we made our way to the Lone Creek Falls, which involves a walk through an indigenous forest before coming out right at the bottom of the falls. The 68m high waterfall is also declared a National Monument. The spray at the falls was a bit too much for me to get any decent photos, so after a bit of walking around the soaked paths at the base, we headed off to the Sabie Falls, which turned out to be a lot more peaceful and easier to photograph - even though we got there late and just before the gates had closed. After some photos at the Sabie Falls, we hopped back in the car and headed home to Mogodi Lodge for some evening sundowners and a braai!

This morning we attempted another sunrise, and at least the sky was clear, the heavy dull clouds managed to keep away. We had decided to try head over to the Panorama Chalets and get a sunrise photo from there. I managed to get a few which I think came out alright, then from there we headed back, after first going for a quick spin around Graskop, which was just starting to awake. It was then back to the chalet to pack up and head back to Joburg.

We landed up leaving Mogodi around 9ish and quickly stopping off at the Graskop Falls, and then into the Mac Mac Falls, about 20km away from Graskop. A steep walk along a cement pathway takes you to the viewing platform above the falls, which are 65m high and also declared a National Monument. The waterfall was originally a single stream, but gold miners blasted it with dynamite to divert the river in an attempt to work the rich gold-bearing reef over which it plunges.

After the falls, we passed through Sabie and then over the Long Tom Pass. The Pass was built between Lydenburg and Sabie as an alternative route for the waggoners of the 1800s to get through to Maputo for trade, which took them about 10 days to cross. At the top of the Long Tom Pass is a large cannon called The Long Tom. That was the British name for this Boer-operated field gun that fired a 38kg shell for 10km and was the bane of British generals and their brigades. We stopped off at the top briefly, but with the coffee shop closed up there, we decided on carry on. A bit further along the pass we decided to stop in at Misty Mountain which sounded nice rather nice and figured we could do with our coffee break then. It's a 280 hectare South African Natural Heritage Site along the Long Tom Pass up at an altitude of 1,700m. The views from the balcony and infinity pool are amazing, looking out across the escarpment and Lowveld all the way down below. Can't go wrong with a good cappuccino and stunning view.

After our coffee break, we continued along the Long Tom Pass, through Lydenburg and then to Dullstroom, where we'd planned to stop for lunch. Unfortunately the weather was miserable and windy, so walking around wasn't the most pleasant, but we managed to stop in at a few of the stalls and get a really nice cappuccino too. So that made up for the lousy weather.

After Dullstroom we headed through Belfast where we were certain not to stop off at, then onto the Alzu Petroport again for a quick stop. However, after being so lucky the first time with all the animals, there wasn't one, not even a zebra or buffalo hanging around. And then a rhino appeared, just on her own, and did a quick lap of the watering hole before heading back off into the distance, which is a bit bizarre but at least there was a bit of activity going on. After filling up with petrol, it was back in the car and headed home back to Joburg, getting back just before the rain and storm.