n this episode of All Things Vuma Garden Route, we dive into the lives of South Africa’s cherished cycling duo, exploring their deep affection and enthusiasm for mountain biking amidst the breathtaking Outeniqua Mountains.
Next, we connect with a local culinary enthusiast, whose serving up of home-cooked meals goes beyond mere nourishment—these dishes are crafted to comfort both body and soul.
We conclude our journey with a visit to a Wilderness-based artist, whose unique work transcends ordinary boundaries.
Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:48 Ben Melt and Yolandi Swanepoel presented by Helly Hansen
05:37 Bailey Schoeman presented by Jakkalsvlei
09:37 Ashleigh De Villers Herselman presented by SkinLogic
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Thank you for joining us for this week’s episode of all things vuma if you want to send us an email please do so info@ vumat tv.co Za and please go to our website for more info on our sponsors vumat tv.co Doza in this week’s episode we have a chat to South Africa’s beloved
Cycling couple and their love and passion for m Viking in the OTA mountains we meet someone with a passion for literally serving people with home-cooked meals that not only nourishes the body but also the soul we end off the show with a wilderness-based artist who loves exploring different dimensions that manifest through her Art so my name is Mel swano married to to we uh we both born in the Free State and then we lived in hadberg Shing and recently moved down to the Garden Route living in George now for the last year and a half boat started cycling when we
Were fairly young I was 12 years old um I started on the road bike and then I moved across to mountain biking I think when I was around 22 that’s also when I met Mal good influence yeah very good influence and uh yes I’ve been loving it ever since
I started mountain biking high school so that was a long time ago basically when mountain biking started and just uh fell in love with the sport and I’ve never actually found anything else to replace it with it still gives me um I wouldn’t say an adrenaline rush
At times it does but it’s just uh it’s one of the the best things you can do just encapsulates everything outdoors Fitness um thrill yeah and and I got to meet my wife wife I was out training in idleberg and uh yes the next moment I felt this hand
On my back and it gave me the Fright of my life and it was actually him that cycled up next to me and he actually just he didn’t want to give me a fright so he just touched my back and that’s actually how we met and then uh yeah we
Saw each other more at events and yeah that’s how our story started yeah I suppose in cycling most people if they if they ask to list their achievements they would go on and say theyve won certain titles and races and although those things for me at least they they
Obviously they are important because at the end of the day that’s what sponsors need to uh to justify their sponsorship and through that we get to make a living I would say like my maybe you would agree with this my biggest achievement is actually just having a fairly long
And consistent career first of all and then secondly also that most of the sponsors that I got involved with along the way um I’ve managed to keep and even in a post career I’ve still had very good relations with them to the point where I can phone them up ask them for
Anything most of them and at least I think it is um for me that actually if somebody had to ask me that that’s that’s a pretty big achievement I feel the same as M um I’ve literally started my professional career when I left high school and uh I’ve been
Professional for I think it’s 22 years so it’s hard to say there’s one specific result I think there’s so many um highlights throughout your career and um I think for me the biggest achievement is when I set out to do something and I actually accomplish it and strangely
Enough I think on the on the road scene it was I really wanted to to go overseas and ride for a professional team which I managed to do I wrote uh for lotto belly Soul a Belgium UCI registered team and strangely if I think of one thought now
On the mountain bike I really wanted to be able to um yeah do a jump and for me that is quite a big Highland in my career to actually a to do a job I think it’s a way of living yes I must say if I think about mountain
Biking I immediately think like Mel said it why so much it’s you get to explore you get to see new places you get to be in nature you get to meet like-minded people so I think it’s a way of life it I won’t say it completes you but it uh
Yeah if you don’t have it in your life it definitely leaves a hole in in my life that’s for sure if I like you miss it if it’s not there it’s hard to put a finger on exactly why um but it’s um yeah it’s just a lot of
Positive things about it and very little negative things about it so um yeah it’s a I suppose it’s almost in our DNA at this stage maybe maybe we just used to it but it’s uh it’s comforting to know that there is something that that we can that there’s always something to fill
That hole I’ve learned that uh you have to appreciate every moment y appreciate every moment and live for the moment you never know what’s coming next so um enjoy and appreciate what you have because you don’t know how long you have it my name is Baby I moved to the Garden
Route uh about 4 years ago um I grew up in PE and then spent um some tiome years in Jurg and during Co we uh decided to um we could work from anywhere so we po back to the Garden Route and it has been the best decision that I ever made um we
Live right close to the mountains and I just think that being in this area is the greatest privilege in the world My Philosophy for life is Simplicity I think that we get so caught up in the notion of more is better um and we over complicate things and I
Think that perhaps it’s as I get older but I’m realizing that the real Beauty and the only place you can really find fulfillment is just just um really immersing yourself in in what what you have um and what is naturally abundant in life uh I have a servant heart that
Is the honest truth um I was involved I’ve always been involved in hospitality and um whilst I enjoyed the Leisure space um when I moved into corporate Hospitality I was absolutely fueled um by just being able to whether it’s feed or um organized for someone but from a
Corporate space you’re really able to let’s take it a restaurant from a restaurant perspective you’re able to nourish someone so that they can get on with the rest of their day they don’t have to worry about it Etc so I I really uh enjoy that and I think that I mean
I’ve always been giddy about food and cooking Etc but I’m I’m more enamored with the the service part of it and the nourishment and maybe even nurturing part of it um I think that there’s no greater gift to cook a wholesome meal from scratch and serve it to someone
That you love and know that that is going to nourish them so that they can get on with the rest of the the rest of the day I think that’s very special it’s a gift so when we were growing up my mom had um we were three wild children and
My mom had one unbreakable Rule and that was to come around the table the three of us every night well the five of us actually every night and have um have supper um sometimes they were chaotic sometimes simple you know sometimes very Sullen uh lots of lots of screaming shouting Etc
But either way we all got around a table every night my we lost my brother to suicide when when we were teenagers and it really shattered my folks and um the one thing that I’ll never forget is that even though my mom could hardly face the world every single night she knew that
What her family needed was to continue to come together and she dragged herself up and made a meal and forced us to come together sometimes in silence sometimes they were awful but that really got us through is that every day we were still forced to come together and and share a
Meal together and I think that it’s just look moms are amazing but I think that I think that life is really busy and regardless of what people are going through I mean the data doesn’t lie better mental health for for family suppers and um um lack of depression less depression if you’re eating
Together Etc but I think at the end of the day I just like to make it a little bit easier for moms or dads um or just couples to to come together and have a wholesome meal and it’s just you know Nar cheat nourish each other so get your
Family together around a table for a wholesome delicious nourished meal six steps 30 minutes um and yeah check us out and and order some meal kits we’d love to serve you website is hell supper. today uh our social handles are helloa grr H go and have a look and have a Like hello my name is Ashley dman I am a artist here in the Garden Route I love being in the Garden Route because we have this incredible abundance of Nature and just beautiful things to do that don’t require you to go into a building or walk around on T
There’s a lot of just immersion into nature that can happen and that’s really incredible and very inspiring as an artist cuz that’s what we draw from in general for us at least I think for the most part in The Garden Route we really get a kick out of being in nature and um
Trying to portray that love to the general public I’m originally from amus and then I spent a little bit of time in Cape Town a very short stint in Kimberly um where I studied photography um but yeah growing up in a monus was also very inspirational place
With all of the whales and the mountains and the walks and the beaches I require a lot of time in the sea our family needs time in the sea to be 100% okay with life art I have a variety of different art forms that I like to to explore I do
Mandalas which started off about 10 years ago when I was studying photography I was getting stressed out by the maths and uh I turned to mandala to soothe myself and from then I’ve been doing it sort of perpetually it’s always a way to calm calm the mind I do
Paintings of sort of Fantastical scenes with lots of flowers and the Pathfinders is a series I’m busy with which is these imagined ancient beings and the idea with them is that they show us the way back to Nature back to Healing ourselves within natural spheres it’s I think it’s
A um a direction that we Society are moving towards and I I like the idea of being able to portray that and help people see the the comfort in it I also I studied photography and I do abstract water photographs which I like to think
Is a way that also we can see the beauty within ourselves when we look at it it’s a reflection of light and Shadow and we ourselves are always a reflection of our light and Shadow and um yeah it’s just absolutely beautiful and we are as humans absolutely beautiful so it’s a
Nice way to try and show people that they have that inside of them what does art do for me it calms me down it allows me to focus it is a way for me to share what I love with the general public with touching people when someone comes in
And they they like something it’s It Feels So seen and it just it’s incredible to have that feeling and to to share a vision with someone when someone sees something of yours that you’ve created up and they come in and they they feel it it’s it’s Indescribable feeling to to connect to
People like that and I also have a huge passion for poetry it comes from growing up in a home filled with poems um my grandmother’s sister was ingred Yona I wrote this poem for a town in the northeast of Brazil as Lush and leafy as Wilderness it goes like I named it Jer
Quara after the town anonymity steeped in excitement ventured the new city streets palm frons and vagabonds sway for the breeze everything colored in music covered in sand pilgrimage for the sunset create as much as possible not everything is going to be amazing and you just got to even if something pops
Out and it’s not beautiful just try again and Carry On And even if you don’t think some something is nice chances are someone else is going to see something beautiful in it so yeah just keep putting your work out there don’t be afraid to create so we have this ephas Gallery um
We’re open from Tuesdays to Sundays I have a Instagram page which I’ve just started up again after a long time of it being down um that is Ashley dvh thank you so much for watching this episode of all things vuma see you next time lift simply travel lights and always see the Wonder