Retirement: Where in SA?

MickeyD

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Oct 4, 2010
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Stemming from a general discussion elsewhere, the question of retirement choices arose.

Where would you like to spend your retirement?

- Limited to South Africa.
- If you want to roam, where would you base yourself?

My choices:
1. Sedgefield/Wilderness
2. Hogsback
3. Jeffreys Bay
 

poffle

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Apr 21, 2007
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1st choice hogsback but i think you would lose your mind after about a month.

probably Wilderness.
 

BobsLawnService

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Jun 18, 2010
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Sedgefield/Wilderness. Although I would like to retire within about 100km of family to get the opportunity to be part of the lives of my grandkids if I have any and provide support to my kids (Babysitting, looking after sick grandchildren when mom and dad have to be at work, etc.)
 

MKFrost

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Oct 23, 2012
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I bought a place on the beach near Robberg in Plet and will be moving there end of next year. My reasons for Plett were:

* Weather.... winters are very mild,
* Daylight hours, slightly shorter than the Cape but still loooong so lots of daylight hours,
* Lies between George and PE so large airport and city close by should you need to fly or for [gadget type] shopping,
* In the heart of the garden route, this area can keep you busy for years with everything to see and do,
* Not a large city although it does get busy over holidays. Area where I bought is secure (inside an estate) and not busy during holidays,
* Semi private beach so no over crowding and always clean. Also borders on nature reserve and no further construction to take place,
* Have an airfield (I fly gyro's) within 5 km from my house,
* Golf course 7km from house and several others (Fancourt, Penzula etc..) within 30/60 minutes,
* Good resale value on properties in this area should I go push daisies or kid can keep it as a holiday home.
 

MickeyD

RIP
Joined
Oct 4, 2010
Messages
139,117
I bought a place on the beach near Robberg in Plet and will be moving there end of next year. My reasons for Plett were:

* Weather.... winters are very mild,
* Daylight hours, slightly shorter than the Cape but still loooong so lots of daylight hours,
* Lies between George and PE so large airport and city close by should you need to fly or for [gadget type] shopping,
* In the heart of the garden route, this area can keep you busy for years with everything to see and do,
* Not a large city although it does get busy over holidays. Area where I bought is secure (inside an estate) and not busy during holidays,
* Semi private beach so no over crowding and always clean. Also borders on nature reserve and no further construction to take place,
* Have an airfield (I fly gyro's) within 5 km from my house,
* Golf course 7km from house and several others (Fancourt, Penzula etc..) within 30/60 minutes,
* Good resale value on properties in this area should I go push daisies or kid can keep it as a holiday home.

Awesome area as well! I think I know the complex... How's the broadband access?
 

OMB

Mountain Man
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May 6, 2010
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the Drakensberg, already got the place, it will be main base of operations for travelling elsewhere
 

akescpt

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anywhere near the sea. want to sit on the stoep, sip vodka and post on mybb.

anybody know anything about st helena bay?
 

MKFrost

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Oct 23, 2012
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Awesome area as well! I think I know the complex... How's the broadband access?

I was able to get very good connections/speed on mobile while looking at the house. AFAIK 4Mbps ADSL is available, will see what is available once I take ownership.

I also love Knysna and Wilderness. Almost bought a place in Wilderness. But as stated, I fly, canoe, golf and wife loves the beach so Plett was the best place as it had all of that on my doorstep. In Knysna its a 20/30km trek to get to the airfield. No real decent beach close by and golf course also a bit of a trek depending on where you stay.

In Plett I have all of that within 5 odd km from me and the beach is a mere 80m away.
 

Paul Hjul

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Aug 31, 2006
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a hell of a lot of people have retired to Jbay
On the whole it has a hell of a lot of potential as a spot for semi-retirement and a lot of the infrastructure is in place, although a Telkom Mobile tower and scheduled flights would really be a big bonus. The biggest threats for the town are: lack of economic activity and a culture of corrupt municipal governance. And then of course it is horribly close to Uitenhague and well is locked in with Humansdorp.
O it also has the largest residents association in the EC and last year it had the sexiest chairperson of a residents association on the planet.
:)
 

blunomore

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Would love to live in CT (now already, not at retirement age only!), but the weather would probably prevent it - look at the terrible rains they had just recently and I cannot deal with the cold and the snow.
 

Alton Turner Blackwood

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a hell of a lot of people have retired to Jbay
On the whole it has a hell of a lot of potential as a spot for semi-retirement and a lot of the infrastructure is in place, although a Telkom Mobile tower and scheduled flights would really be a big bonus. The biggest threats for the town are: lack of economic activity and a culture of corrupt municipal governance. And then of course it is horribly close to Uitenhague and well is locked in with Humansdorp.
O it also has the largest residents association in the EC and last year it had the sexiest chairperson of a residents association on the planet.
:)
I would not retire in Jeffrey's bay. Never. Its extremely busy during the holiday seasons nowadays.

Unless of course you want to retire there and then go visit family or something during holiday periods.
 

Alton Turner Blackwood

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Would love to live in CT (now already, not at retirement age only!), but the weather would probably prevent it - look at the terrible rains they had just recently and I cannot deal with the cold and the snow.
Well, FWIW, the snow and rain only really hits here around July and August. The rest of the year the weather is mostly glorious...if the wind doesn't blow.
 

Seriously

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Nov 29, 2012
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Stemming from a general discussion elsewhere, the question of retirement choices arose.

Where would you like to spend your retirement?

- Limited to South Africa.
- If you want to roam, where would you base yourself?

My choices:
1. Sedgefield/Wilderness
2. Hogsback
3. Jeffreys Bay

That old Already?

Knysna comes to mind.
 

Paul Hjul

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Aug 31, 2006
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14,902
I would not retire in Jeffrey's bay. Never. Its extremely busy during the holiday seasons nowadays.

Unless of course you want to retire there and then go visit family or something during holiday periods.

some people actually do that
sadly season in the last 6 years has really shrunk from almost 8 weeks in Summer (mid November - mid January) to 2 and the other peaks have been wiped off (we used to have a fair number of Dutch tour groups coming in late August early Sept). When we moved here December was madness with regard to traffic etc ... but last three years not really.
 
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