August | 2015 | Vastrap Farm

After all the activity around our auction, we took a few days off to recover and celebrate Quentin’s birthday. The timing was perfect as it was also the start of Ashley’s school holidays so we could really spend some quality time together as a family before the new baby arrives. We love road trips and driving through remote areas of the country. Our trip took us through the heart of the Karoo to Graaff Reinet and then on to a beautiful game farm run by friends of ours near the citrus valley of Kirkwood in the Eastern Cape.

On the way home we stayed at another beautiful game farm just outside Graaff Reinet called Mount Camdeboo, which was a real treat. Our wonderful guide, Les, took us on lovely kid-friendly game drives and we even managed to track one of their resident cheetah on foot. Livia absolutely loved being outdoors and seeing lots of different animals for the first time. On our first evening a big family of giraffe provided lots of entertainment as we sipped our sundowners and the mountains faded into pink silhouette. We were also lucky to see a pair of young rhino brothers who have become inseparable since their mother was poached last year. Ashley was fascinated by their remarkable story of courage and survival. Sadly, they have been de-horned for their own protection.

Our trip home took us through some amazing scenery on a long stretch of dirt road between Patterson and Craddock. We didn’t encounter anybody else on the road for over 100km! It was a bit bumpier than I would have liked, but so worth seeing the spectacular mountain landscape dotted with livestock and game. After a long day on the road we arrived home happy and relaxed and excited to tackle the next challenge of getting the house ready for the arrival of our baby boy at the end of September!

Birthday boy with his girls!

It’s been an extremely busy and exciting month on the farm. We hosted the 3rd annual Vastrap Auction on 14 August, which is always one of the highlights of our year. It is a huge amount of work, but so rewarding when everything comes together on the day. Our auction preparations start early in the year, but really step up a gear about two months before the time. Quentin takes care of all the logistics to do with the animals and I coordinate the marketing and catering side of things. We work really well as a team because our completely different strengths and interests create a natural division of labour. Apart from endless shopping and to-do lists, I spend a lot of time updating our website (www.vastrapboran.com) and Facebook page and compiling the marketing information for each animal.

In the week leading up to the auction there is a huge amount of shopping and cooking to do. We host an informal dinner at our house the night before, and on auction day we provide snacks and refreshments in the morning and a lunch for 80-100 people. This year I needed a lot of help with the catering because I was already 33 weeks pregnant and wary of being on my feet too much. Thankfully I had an amazing team of helpers who embraced the challenge with gusto! Since our very first auction my half-sister, Beatrice has come to the farm from Stellenbosch to help with the catering and this year she was joined by my dad, John. My niece, Sibella, was also on holiday and stayed with us for the week. It was such fun having them all here and Livia just loved all the action and attention. I really couldn’t have done it without them.

Our partners in the auction are also a great help and Debbie Johnson from Frontier Boran in Fort Beaufort always does an amazing job with the flowers and table decor. This year she brought a whole lot of baby pineapples and echeveria which were artfully teamed up with barbed wire and hessian on the tables. We couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful blue-sky day and there was a great turn-out with quite a few new faces. We are incredibly grateful for everyone who travelled from far to be with us. What a pleasure when work is so much fun!