From my back yard

Ok so I think its about time I should show you some of the scenery in my yard. A little breakdown. We live in an old farm house which was built around the 1930's. Its situated on a pecan nut orchard. I stand to be corrected, but its about 60 hectares in size. The part of it we stay on is the oldest part of it. You can tell just by looking at the trees. The largest on the farm and they produce most of the nuts. Harvest time is just around the corner. I CAN'T WAIT!! When I go for hikes and to take some pics, I walk about a km or 2 until I reach the Magaliesburg river. It's truly a breathtaking sight.

The orchard in winter

The orchard in spring/summer

The hiking trail goes on for miles. If you have the energy and time, you can go right up to the foothills of the mountain. other than hiking, you can also do it on mountainbike and also book at one of the surrounding lodges to go by horseback. What i still want to try is go on a zipline tour through the tree canopies along some of the gorges.

The clean mountain river water is really refreshing in the hot summer months. The piece of river closest to me is riddled with rock pools. Once again, the birdlife is terrific, a mixture of bush birds and aquatic birds, as well as farely large raptors. I have often found the remains of dead birds from them. What I still have to try and see, are the few leopards and jackals amongst the bushy surroundings. I have found their spoor, but that's about it!

Then, after a good days hike, we like to come home, have a good south african braai, and chill by our outside fire pit, seen below. Life is good right now :)

It is like we are forever on holiday, and I can promise you this, even though I have to commute to the city for work, it is all worth it to come home to this!