When I took this job at the end of last year, I knew that I would have to move my entire life from Bloemfontein, where I had lived for more than 20 years, to Gauteng – a province I only knew from visiting family.
That being said, I relished the opportunity, and within two weeks of accepting the job, my wife and I were on our way to Pretoria, having packed up our apartment in what felt like record time.
Given that neither of us had ever lived in Pretoria, nor had any family that had, we booked the most affordable Airbnb we could find on short notice – a R7,000 stay 20km from work – to see the city for ourselves.
Getting to know Gauteng was a unique challenge, coming from the Free State, where a 20km drive takes you out of the city in under half-an-hour, driving 20km to work took some time to get used to.
During our first month in the province, we made several appointments with various estate agents to see many, many homes before we finally found one we both liked.
That’s where the real challenge started. See, we had left our packed-up apartment behind thanks to a deal struck with our generous landlord, and that needed fetching.
I started phoning around to gauge the costs this move would incur, from moving companies, truck, trailer, and bakkie hires, and at the end of the day, I stubbornly came to the decision to move it all ourselves.
In retrospect, paying a moving company may have been the right way to go.
It cost more than money
For reference, the most affordable quote I got from a moving company was R7,500, while the average was closer to R10,000.
Looking back, I should have jumped to pay any one of them.
Instead, we rented a single-cab Toyota Hilux bakkie, for which the company required a R13,000 deposit and paid R3,500 for its rental period.
Since we could not load a two-bedroom apartment on the back of a bakkie, we also needed a six-meter trailer at a cost of R2,500.
My father graciously offered to be the bakkie driver from Bloemfontein to Pretoria, allowing my wife and me to drive our own cars, and not need to worry about leaving either in the City of Roses.
That is, however, not how it transpired. My father had injured himself and needed medical care, leaving me, my pregnant wife, and my younger brother to facilitate this move in a single trip.
My brother lent his strength as we loaded our apartment onto the back of a bakkie and trailer, and in preparation for the predicted poor weather in Pretoria, covered our furniture and appliances with a tarpaulin.
This was not without its frustrations; seemingly endless trips up and down a flight of stairs, one piece of furniture, or one box at a time, felt like it took the whole day.
One big problem became apparent right before we set off – my brother has just matriculated and does not yet have a licence.
So, leaving my car with my injured father in Bloemfontein, we set off with 99% of our stuff.
The trip was slow, because although a Hilux is a powerful bakkie, a fully-loaded six-meter trailer is a heavy thing to tow, and renders fuel economy numbers essentially non-existent.
Following a seven-hour drive, with many stops to buy more rope for the tarp that kept trying to escape, and more than one storm on the road, we finally arrived at our new apartment, in another thunder shower.
Unloading was by no means fun, but it had to be done, so with the help of more family members who drove up from Alberton to help, we managed to move ourselves in.
The bakkie and trailer have since been returned to their respective Gauteng branches, my car is still in Bloemfontein waiting for me, and I am officially never moving again.
All in all, with fuel, toll fees, rental fees, and some unnecessary expenses, the total cost of moving to Pretoria cost us, minus the deposit and Airbnb, around R9,000, a lot of blood, sweat, frustration and tears.
Was it worth it? Absolutely. Will I do it myself again? Not a chance. The next time we move, I will accept any moving quote.
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