Northcliff The Hidden Jewel of The North
- Why I live Here
Captain Granny’s Log. Blog No 2. Jozi 2am 6 July 2021. 2020 vision, baby!
It is Monday 2 August 2021. I am grumpy and depressed. I played tennis at Fairland Tennis Club on Saturday afternoon and had a blast with my terrific tennis tribe. I then went to our local Woolies at Mountainview to hunt and gather some fish and fresh salads … and had a vender bender. The hints of Spring and warmer weather in my step lock stepped and so began the onset of a thoroughly rotten, inconsolable mood.
I am sick and tired of this lockdown, I am sick and tired of misinformation and fear, I am sick and tired of corruption from those we entrust to steward our money and resources, I am sick and WHOA STOP!
By Monday morning I know my mood is starting to exasperate my beautiful, better half time to arrest this Downward Depression Spiral by putting myself into Block A, Negative Thought Chookie. Freddie Mercury’s “I want to break free” echoes from the imaginary LP player in my head. I crank up the good old trusty red Italian Roastery and contemplate our beautiful view from the side of the Hill where we live. I consider the beautiful windy roads that wend up Frederick and Anderson to the highest point replete with the odd annoying as yet to be repaired pothole and break the funk of negativity that has kept me imprisoned the past 2 days. My goodness we live in a beautiful part of Johannesburg. Never mind Johannesburg, Northcliff is comparable to the most beautiful parts of this beautiful country we all call home.
I decided to do some historical digging to continue the fight against this dastardly depression that has nearly vanquished my usually upbeat, happy, grateful soul and research how this beautiful suburb I have raised three awesome daughters came about and why I call it, The Hidden Gem of Joburg.
A TINY BIT OF BACKGROUND INFO – NORTHCLIFFSTORY
Northcliff Hill is also known as Aasvoelkop (Vulture Ridge) as the cliffs were predominantly inhabited by these birds of prey before becoming urbanized. Apparently humans have inhabited this hill for over 250 000 years but I am not an Historian nor an Anthropologist and this article is simply an opinion piece as to why I have so happily lived and loved here almost 2 decades.
At 1807m, Northcliff Hill is the second highest point in Johannesburg being a metre lower than Observatory Ridge both offer entirely different perspectives on our Great City. The Central District is viewed from the one side of the Hill and the leafy Northern slopes from the other. It is a beautiful vantage point from both sides of the Hill and our exquisite Ecosystem is a majestic vantage point for picnics for weary urban dwellers.
SHOP TILL YOU DROP
Northcliff boasts a regional mall located on the border of Cresta and Northcliff with easy access from the N1 and major arterial roads Beyers Naude and Republic Road. Cresta has attracted most Blue-Chip Retailers and a widely diverse array of smaller line shops and a vibrant entertainment centre packed with movie houses, fabulous eateries, ten pin bowling, and speciality stores.
Northcliff also offers many suburban shopping centres offering easy access and excellent tenant mixes for a more convenient shopping experience. These include Heathway, Blackheath Pavilion, Verdi Centre, Mountainview Centre and Blackheath Super Spar, as well as many strip line hardware and home living nodes.
SCHOOL YOURSELF AND CHOOSE A CAREER THAT MAKES YOU HAPPY!
My daughters were all superbly educated at Northcliff High School (one is still finishing up her Grade 11) where many of the HOD’S, teachers and staff have meticulously run this well-oiled educational machine for decades. All our local schools boast loving, caring environments where many of my children’s peers have flourished and gone onto successful happy lives. My eldest daughter is making terrific inroads into the Northcliff Fairland areas as a highly skilled residential real estate professional heading up an equally passionate, professional team who handle the surrounding suburbs. Northcliff is a super mix of expansive exclusivity, smaller modern neat easy living houses and clusters, and high density, towering apartments that reach for the sky. Recently Northcliff developers catered for small affordable flats ideally suited to the student population looking forward easy access to institutions of higher learning.
Residents of Northcliff are also fortunate to be within 12-15 minutes easy access to our universities in town, as well as many other tertiary educational institutions offering more practical courses. And there are an abundance of beautiful pre-school educational pre-schools for our young families.
Recently our area saw the completion of the international Reddford House on 14th Avenue offering a superb private facility for all learners from 3 months to 18 years.
NEEDING CARE
We are fortunate to have highly specialized eye clinics, an NHS medical centre, many private Doctor’s and medical practitioner’s rooms and easy access to Flora Clinic as well as Milpark if you shoot all the way along Beyers Naude, through Melville not more than 15 minutes away. Dischem has deigned us important and sufficiently populated to warrant 2 outlets in a 2 km radius and Medicare, Local Choice all offer dispensaries and nurses on site for every day “Pre-I need a doctor” checks to make sure the old ticker works, bp is contained and the sugar levels remain constant!
POLICE AND SECURITY
I have always felt safe in Northcliff and thoroughly enjoy walking amongst the energetic runners, and fighting with the cyclists for a table at Olivia’s on a Sunday morning! We have excellent private security companies offering their subscriptions to our suburb and I was joyful yesterday to find our local Fairland Police cheerful, helpful and eager to help me as I grudgingly went to report the vender bumping mishap from Saturday. I walked into the Police Station nervous, masked and sanitized only to find happy, helpful Constable Maabe who professionally and calmly helped me with my statement, gave me my case number and sent me on my way all in 15 minutes. I would imagine there is a friendly cooperative relationship between our Police and Private Security Companies because the KZN GAUTENG riots of 3 weeks ago were handled and dealt with. Community broadcast systems were quietly and strictly handled so as not to disseminate false information and if there were any signs of skirmishes or criminality, we didn’t hear a peep. Thank you to our local Police, SCP, for keeping us calm and safe.
Time has flown since I started this self-therapeutic piece at 9am. It is with gratitude that I have contemplated this fabulous suburb I call home. It is lunch time, the birds are singing, the sun is shining. I must confess to whomever happens perchance upon Granny’s Log this week, my upbeat, happy, grateful soul is back ready to tackle the rest of my day and week, grateful to be living in this hidden gem of Northcliff I call home.