For years, we have been enthralled by tales of the American frontiers men who, battling wolves and bears, settled the Wild West.
Who could ever forget John Wayne sporting a black eye patch in True Grit?
But these celluloid heroes and heroines can’t hold a candle to the larger-than-life families who settled on the South Coast line of KwaZulu-Natal.
I was privileged to spend an afternoon with Estelle Mountjoy and her cousin Barbara du Plessis recently and my coffee grew cold beside me as I listened intently to tales of travelling to and from school in Port Shepstone, aboard the ‘Pont’ which ferried the family vehicle safely from shore to shore.
Or, spending family holidays together at ‘Uncle Jacks cottage’ where gillies provided ample crayfish for both the table and bait.
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Barbara has tender memories of the family’s helper, Annie, cooking delicious mielies over open coals.
The ferry service was started in 1935 when the storekeeper of Banners Rest launched a boat in order to attract customers from the south of the river.
In 1943, a proper vehicular ferry service was commenced about 1.6km above the mouth of the river. this was later moved to the current site of the Old Pont Caravan Park.
Manual labour was used to move the pont carrying vehicles across the river.
When the CH Mitchell suspension bridge was completed in 1966, the ferry service ceased operations and the ferry was taken apart and sent to the then Rhodesia, thereby losing precious memories of a bygone era.
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