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Twee Riviere (Two Rivers) is situated 3km from Joubertina. Twee Riviere is situated at the point where two rivers from the Tsitsikamma Mountains flow together. The original loan farm was given to Jac Scheepers in 1765, but was later handed over to the family Oliviers, which is still a surname in this region (Erasmus, 2004).
The tarred road along which this cache is located, served as the main drag between the Cape Colony and the Eastern Frontier - from the early 1700's to the early 1900's, when the alternative route (N2) opened along the coast.
The SA Institute for Objects Conservation maintains a campus in Twee Riviere, and these campus grounds are also home to the historic building that once housed the original post office agency. The Belfry Kitchen marks the site of Twee Riviere's orginal general dealership and post office, which operated along this pioneers' road from 1869 - 1939 (70 years), thereafter falling into disrepair for a second spell of 70 years.
The Post office was operated by the local post master, storekeeper and schoolmaster, “Meester” Denis Samson Schreiber, between 1869 - 1921. Following Mr Schreiber’s death in 1921, the responsibilities of the postal agency was initially assumed by the new shopkeeper, Mr Harold Strimling. The Strimling family had arrived in South Africa some twelve years earlier, part of a notable influx of Jewish Lithuanian immigrants whom sought to escape rising persecution in their home country. Some time later, the record shows, a son of the original post master re-assumed the postal agency, which for many years would then be successfully conducted from a portion of his family home.
The general dealership, in turn, continued to thrive in its original premises under the ownership of Mr Strimling. In the early years of the 1900's, a well-funded civic and church initiative gave rise to the comparatively overnight emergence of the nearby, larger Joubertina.
The rising fortunes of Joubertina consigned Twee Riviere to a gradual decline as banking and strategic services abandoned the town. Regrettably, Twee Riviere’s school soon closed, as Joubertina’s larger and more progressive school gradually gained the advantage.
The R62 tarred road followed in the 1950's, bypassing Twee Riviere altogether and leaving its former Hoofstraat high and dry. Despite this - and to its honour - the South African Post Office dignified its own history in this town by permitting the postal agency to continue serving the community for an additional 36 years. Inevitably though, even its doors finally shut in 1989, yielding to Joubertina’s fully-fledged post office and broader range of services.
This loss of mail services simultaneously suspended Twee Riviere’s passenger bus service (a shared transport which accompanied the postal routes), also bringing an end to public transport to and from the town. Perhaps even more crucially, the closure discontinued Twee Riviere’s postal code - and along with it, severed the last remaining link with the preceding, 120 years of postal service by which the town had served the district. This final fracture with the past permitted the little pioneering town’s long and undaunted history to be gradually forgotten, all the more so as the presence of witnesses and living memory steadily fell away... The current revival and reinstatement of this historic postal agency, rekindles the essence of Twee Riviere’s crucial, early role in opening and servicing the Langkloof district’s postal route. In particular, it calls to mind its sustained and noble contribution during the 1800's - a century during which it single-handedly carried the torch for this district. The original building, which had housed Twee Riviere’s postal agency in 1869, has now been restored by The South African Institute for Objects Conservation, and is poised to resume its postal services to this community following an absence of more than two decades.
One of the original agency’s, leather-bound store journals (dating back to 1879) is in the curatorship of the Institute, as well image records of the original Twee Riviere post office cancellers (accompanying) from that time, and extensive archival records. Note that the post office is inside the Belfry Kitchen itself, while the postbox hall is outside, open to the sidewalk.
The cache is a letterbox cache, however there are a few steps in order for you to get your cache stamp. If you do not collect cache stamps no need to collect the stamp and you can simply log your find, The area is worth exploring though. At the first location you will need to find the cache tool needed in order to retrieve the cache log. The logbook will also indicated how to get the stamp and is within 10 meters from the final coordinates, very close to the start coordinates.
Please bring your own stamp and stamp the log book! Don't forget to get your stamp! Enough space to leave track-able items or trade-able items.
The official post office is closed on Saturdays, however there might be someone inside, thus should you want to get the official stamp and maybe something to drink or eat, Saturdays might not be the best day to visit. Check out the related website for a video with some highlights of the area.
FTF Honours go to Bakoorjakkalse! 28 June 2013 - day before my Birthday!
Voted number #1 Letterbox cache in the 1st Annual PE Geocachers Awards 2014.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Va beqre gb ergevrir lbhe "yrggre" sbez gur "yrggreobk pnpur" lbh jvyy arrq gb svaq gur pnpur gbby jurer zbfg yrggref fgneg gurve wbhearl! Lbh jvyy arrq gur ahzore 2 va beqre gb hfr gur pnpur gbby.