I’ve been thinking about the desert a lot lately. Maybe it’s the solitude, the clumsy, uneven dirt roads that go on forever or the lack of cell phone reception you get upon entry, but I feel like the Karoo is calling me, yet again.

This I suspect, could be owing to the fact that I (not so recently) visited one of the Western Cape’s tiniest and most obviously charming towns – Matjiesfontein. Described as an “outpost of Empire from a bygone era”, this town is straight-collared colonial and, according to local fables – haunted too.

The perfect place for a wedding of two of my most favourite people, you can basically have the town all to yourself, with the right amount (around 110). Matjiesfontein consists of: a hotel (pictured below), a motel, a coffee shop, a pub, a gift shop and a museum. That’s about it. And to be honest, they wouldn’t have it any other way. 

We arrived on a 37 degree day, had some champagne with the bride-to-be (for the nerves), got ready and sat, sweaty palmed, in the little pink church, flapping our fans and waiting for the lovebirds to get hitched.

After the ceremony, we enjoyed gin and tonics and a bus tour of the town. This consisted of 1X tour guide (comedian),1x BIG and very old red bus and ten minutes of driving 5km per hour – up the one street in the town and back.

After another G&T stop at the bar, we were taken down to a grass lawn where a marimba band entertained us while we drank home brewed pale ales. 

 As the sun sank, so we made our way to the courtyard for the reception. Delicious local food like Karoo lamb and Cape Salmon accompanied our plates and then our bellies as we laughed (and maybe shed a tear or two) during the speeches. 

 After the first dance, the night quickly escalated to something out of a movie! Wedding cake piñatas that exploded with little bottles of vodka, an amazing fireworks display as the clock struck 12 (with cake) and a secret glowstick dancefloor under the trees from 2am, where we drank red wine from the bottle and chatted until early morning. 

 Matjiesfontein is under 3 hours away from Cape Town, which means that it qualifies as a weekend away destination (well, to me, anyways.) It is just so PERFECT for a wedding venue, a big birthday, a weekend away with friends, or family, or just for two. It ignited a love for the desert that I never knew I had and I cannot wait to visit Matjiesfontein on my way to many more tiny towns, which I know are ready for me.

Man, I’ve made a big deal about turning 30. When I was 16, I thought that by 30, I would be married with kids, a home, a dog and probably some debt. We all thought that, didn’t we?  Either that or I would be living in some European city with a high powered magazine job, wearing Prada heels and sipping on champagne. Just me? Ok.

Well here I am. Light years away from either of those ideas I put in my head and never shook off. But this is where I am, right here. What I do have is two arms and two legs and ten fingers and ten toes. I can walk to the kitchen. I can see my computer screen. I have a little bit of money that, even though I should be spending it on adult things like curtains and bonds and paying off university fees, I use most of it for eating at restaurants and buying wine. And with the rest of it, I am going to go on a holiday I don’t really need, but I want. So I will go.

Right now, I have no one to look after besides myself. I can go anywhere and do anything. I can be selfish and this is probably the last time I can be selfish until my kids leave home, if I ever have any.

So, I am not going to sit here and reflect on my 20s because, goddammit, I’ve had some flipping weird times that I am happy to not look back on. And when you can’t look back, the only thing you can do is look forward. So here’s to the things that might or might not happen. New careers, marriage, children, relocation. Who knows, none of these or ALL of these could happen in my 30s. How mad is that?! I am quite excited over the fact that I still am yet to meet my partner (cheese I know), see the world, work my way up. It’s not all bills and admin and break ups and stuff. There is good shit in there too.

Everyone has told me that when you’re in your 30s, you just care less, but in a good way, and damn – that sounds good!  So I'm going to celebrate in the most mature way possible - by dancing on a table and drinking champagne out the bottle because I can.