15 –24 January 2010 – Cape Town – Cape St Francis
Well, we did the tourist thing. Took a Big Bus tour all around the city, hopping on and off and learning something of Cape Town’s history. Took the cable car to the top of Table Mountain before the cloud came in – we were luckier than you with the weather – Gerry and Corrie!! We visited the aquarium and wandered through the shops, restaurants and bars of the Waterfront. What’s good about the Waterfront is that, despite the trendy wine bars and shops, it is still a working port. With people from all nations milling around it is hard to believe that there was a time here when slaves were traded and when even the street side benches were designated “whites only” or “non whites only”. Two benches have been left to remind people of those times. The colourful houses around the area are a tribute to the slaves too. They were never allowed to wear colourful clothes and so, when they were freed, and got homes they painted everything in brilliant bright colours!
A bit breezy up here.................... Lions Head and the City below..... Bit too near the edge for me.........
The excitement of World Cup 2010 is building up and there is still a lot of working going on around the new stadium. As we looked down upon it from Table Mountain, as German tourist wondered aloud “ do you think the roof closes up?”. JC replied quickly – “it doesn’t matter – England is used to playing in the rain!!”. People without tickets will be watching on big screens in the square opposite the Fort.
Will England play here???????? All over town its World Cup fever.... The big screens will be here if you can't afford a ticket............
JC was in his element on the Waterfront, with over 11 weeks of not much choice of food, he was faced with such a choice he was like a small boy in a sweet shop – couldn’t make his mind up, that is until he spotted Der Ander with its Belgian specialities including, mussels, frites and mayonnaise! He was in heaven, drank too much Belgian beer and suffered for it the next day!
Despite the shops, tourists, German breweries,
souveniers............... Nobel square, this is still a working port.............
We enjoyed our rest in Cape Town, playing at being tourists and letting the staff at the Cullinan Hotel pamper us as much as they liked!! However, as you can imagine, himself was getting itchy feet and ready to move on again.
We said goodbye to the staff the following morning and headed out to Stellenbosch and the famous wine route. As we left the coast the temperatures soared and we knew we were heading for some curvaceous roads by the number of bikers – it was like being at home on a Summer Sunday with them whizzing past us as we meandered through the vine covered hillsides. All along the roadside there were hundreds of wine producers offering, breakfast, lunch, wine tasting – far too tempting when you’re driving – perhaps we should have taken a coach trip – only joking JC! We stopped at a shop and stocked up on some Cape Wine before following the tourist route through the Franshoek Pass and then back towards the coast, driving through the arable farmlands towards Cape L’Agulas – the most southerly point of the African Continent.
This is the point where the Indian and Atlantic Ocean meet. We followed the signs until we could drive no further!! Access to the stone marking the spot - only 50ms away - was for pedestrians only! All this way and we couldn’t get a “family shot” with the Toyota!! Gerry will never believe that we made it without photographic evidence!! Disappointed, we still celebrated with a glass or two of pink champagne as the sun went down and laughing about our message from Rats – the Virgin pilot – yes, I guess we had more fun in 11 weeks than he did in 11 hours!!!!
The following morning, the sun was shining, the rollers were rushing in from both oceans and we spent the day lounging about, rock pooling and enjoying this peaceful corner of the world, before heading to a small bar (where else??). The plan was that we would have a couple of drinks and then head to “The Most Southerly Fish and Chip Shop” for supper. No chance, once in the bar Bev, the barmaid, kept the drinks coming, we chatted to the locals and then Greg, the owner, invited us to stay on for “snackies”. It was his girlfriend, Jackie’s birthday and she arrived with trays of food. Trying to get away, we were warned that they would all be offended if we left! What to do? I think I have mentioned before that South Africans like to party – we rolled out of there a few hours later after unsuccessfully trying to keep up with them all! Missed the fish and chips though and ended up with a mega headache the next morning. With the wind howling around the tent and the rain pouring down, we decided just to sleep off the hangover, stay another night and hopefully JC would get to try the fish and chips.
Later in the day, in the fine, warm rain, we explored the beach again, commenting on how much like the west coast of Scotland it is here, with its quiet beautiful coastline and friendly locals. We also discovered that one of the posts, barring vehicle entrance to the point was loose and that if JC lifted it out, we could just squeeze the Toyota through – food for thought. Sadly the fish and chips were not up to Brandesburton standard but our new friends did tell us that we were unlikely to get fined if we quickly moved the loose post for a photo shoot! The next morning there we were, post out, drove onto beach, took a couple of shots, drove off the beach and put the post back in before anyone could have noticed – not many people up at that time of day. Thanks for the tip Hermann! we met some great people at L’Agulas and hope to see some of them in the UK sometime!!!
Instead of heading back to the main highway we took the gravel road looking for the last remaining hand pulled pontoon that would take us across the river Breede to White Sands - a small detour that had been recommended to us by Gustav at Cape Point. Gloria didn’t know where it was and our map was not detailed enough, so we ended up in the wrong place at first – we knew from the wide open neck of Infanta Bay that it would be impossible to hand pull a pontoon across. We headed back up the road to Malgas and there it was – she had already slipped off the river bank with two other vehicles on board, but, when they saw us, the crew pulled her back onto the bank so that we could join them. Just two men pull the pontoon and vehicles weighing about 10 tons across this stretch of the river. Once back on the main road JC’s interest was taken up with the farming again and here, as well as the usual livestock, we saw our first farmed ostrich, before heading for the coast again and the Indian Ocean at Mossel Bay.
Some farming shots for CMC - it is wool on the truck honestly.....................................................................................................
This is the start of South Africa’s famous Garden Route and we after checking out various camp sites we headed for Matt’s suggestion of The Point Caravan Park S34.11.016 E022.09.422 at only 130ZAR per night it’s a good spot right near the ocean with excellent facilities and was made even better when the lady in the office offered JC pensioners discount at 50%. I know he will be 60 this year but despite the discount, I think he was a bit upset at being taken for a pensioner!!!!
I at least am enjoying the slower pace of life as we wander our way up to Durban. Sitting in the sunshine, watching the surfers, taking our time and meeting people – our UK number plate and Union Jacks still draw attention. JC is definitely enjoying the food on the coast – he is making sure he eats as much seafood as he can here!
We stayed a couple of days at Mossel Bay and packed up in a bit of a grey morning, but the weather was still warm and the surfers were up and out before 6am!! We had breakfast at the point and watched the boys enjoying the “tubes” and the ocean roaring in amongst the rocks of the inner pool. As we headed over the mountains away from the coast and en route to Oudsthoorn, the ostrich capital of the world, the clouds disappeared, the sun shone brightly and even in the strong winds it was 36C! This is the area known as the Karoo, a veritable dust bowl, after a long period of no rain. Every farm was breeding ostrich and there were hundreds of them – they even sell ostrich eggs alongside the normal eggs in the supermarket. I don’t think we have a pan big enough to take one of them!! As well as the normal farms, this was obviously a tourist route with lodges and farms offering ostrich racing, ostrich cooked in any way you fancy along with the usual wine tasting and unusual crocodile wrestling!! Not our thing I’m afraid and we headed high into the mountains to cross the amazing Swartberg Pass – a twisting turning gravel road that wound up and over the mountains with fabulous views down into the valleys below. From there we turned coastwards again and came back through the Meiringsport Pass which was quite different – a tar road cut through the base of the mountains following the route of the river. Different in their own ways, there were both fantastic feats of engineering in this very dry, very dusty landscape.
As we dropped back over onto the coast we were surprised to be in temperatures of only 18c with a light drizzle – not used to this!! We made our way to Wilderness a small town on the coast and alongside of a river giving plenty of outdoor opportunities for the sporting types – that’s not us either at the moment!! We camped at Ebb and Flow one of the many camps inside of the South African National Park network and because of the damp weather I decided it would be nice not to have to get wet putting up the tent and that it would be different to stay in a rondavel for only six pounds more. With all linen provided, fridge, small two ring cooker and our own toilet and shower it was fully equipped but I think we both missed our own space in the rooftent!
Not liking to mess up the inside of the rondavel with cooking his bacon – JC sorted his breakfast out in the usual way the next morning – he tells me he is going to stop eating bacon sometime soon and dipping his bread into the pan! I think it must be the fact that he didn’t have any for so long in the early part of our trip that he feels he has to make up for it now!
Packed up, we headed off along the Garden Route and I am sorry to have to say that we were disappointed. We had expected a lot of colour along the way but I don’t know whether we are here in the wrong season or the place is just suffering from a lack of rain. There have been signs all along this route asking everyone to save water.
Finally the sun came out again and we headed off the main highway to follow the small country road to Cape St Francis. This part is South Africa’s dairy farming stretch and JC enjoyed watching the numerous cattle grazing in the sunshine. In the late afternoon sun we arrived at Cape St Francis Coastal Resort (t4a) which looked nothing like a camp site from the outside – more like an hotel but the sign did say camping, so we checked in at the reception and they directed us to their campsites which are nestled amongst the large thatched homes just below the dunes. Once we were set up we climbed up over the dunes to see the most amazing white stretch of beach and crystal ocean. With very few other people around it was like paradise. Once the sun had gone down a little, we went for a wander and a bit of a paddle. Don’t be fooled by the beautiful blues of the Indian Ocean - the water was surprisingly refreshing!! The restaurant served up excellent calamari – apparently this stretch of coast is famous for this fish and exports it all over the world, the staff are fantastic and the view of the ocean wonderful – another reason to stay here for a couple of nights.
Heading for the Drakensberg Mountains next!!