Austin View

Austin View, Midrand

This is small holding country. Probably one of the few spaces around Midrand that is little enough developed that you can get a keen sense of what it must have looked like when all this was Highveld and wide open spaces.

Austin View lies to the east of the M1. East of Buccleuch, Midrand and Vorna Valley. A little further east of here is Tembisa, but Austin View manages to retain its country living authenticity by dint of the fact that there are few developments, and the roads although tarred do not even have the requisite verges or yellow lines sported in the more densely populated areas of Johannesburg. There is a sense that you live on the edge of things, away from city lights.

It is so underdeveloped by comparison to suburbs around it that roads only venture out into the veld hesitantly, stopping at quiet cul de sacs - the usual grid format of roads so prevalent in the city not yet a part of the fabric of life here.

A stay in Austin View will offer you not only easy access to Midrand, Centurion and Sandton, but you can spend your evenings staring out over the city, and your daylight hours keenly aware of being away from it all. Drive to the corner of Terrier and Republic roads and you'll even spot the odd vegetable garden (the envy of the average Johannesburg suburban home).

Spend your weekends at the Midrand Urban Market, visit the Lory Park Animal and Owl Sanctuary in Kyalami or go on a Mapitiza Underground mine tour in Crowthorne.