Day 196 & 197 – 19th & 20th April 2010 (Gweru, Zimbabwe - Tshipise, SA)
It turns out Nesbitt Castle is safe, yay! for Mr Nesbitt. However, we decided to head straight for the border today – we have enjoyed our time in Zim but thought best not to push our luck. So, as night fell (timing is obviously not our strong point on this trip) we entered South Africa – to a traffic jam and a large truck by the side of the road … on fire. Hmmm, nice welcome. Despite some rumours we’ve heard to the contrary, war has not broken out in SA and, with its abundance of fast food joints, coffee shops and shopping malls, we were pleased to be in civilisation again. That was until we reached our accommodation for the night … a caravan park. Oh yes, it turns out a large proportion of the Afrikaner population appear to love “caravanning” – Jeremy Clarkson tear your hair out, these guys would probably weep at the sight of a perfectly serviceable caravan being dropped from a large crane just to see whether it can reach 120mph.
Miles travelled: 327 miles (total 19,538 miles)
Highlight of the days: Ness making an awesome comeback on the crazy golf course winning on the final hole by 3 shots v’s 12… oh yes, there should be more crazy golf in this world
Comment of the days: No idea, everyone kept on speaking to us in Afrikaans
Days 198-202 – 21st-25th April 2010 (Tshipise – Kruger NP)
Whilst Europe was being brought to a standstill by some dust from an unpronounceable volcano in Iceland, the team’s animal spotting in South Africa’s famous Kruger National Park was being similarly thwarted by unseasonable rains and long grass … 5 nights and still not one cat, really?? Although, it was quite a novelty being one of the only Europeans in a National Park the size of Wales… they seem very proud of that little factoid.
Miles travelled: 622 miles (total 20,160 miles)
Sighting of the days: 10 rhino’s in one day … even without the cats, that’s pretty cool
Comment of the day: “is today today or is today yesterday?” either a very deep or very stupid question – I suspect the latter
Day 203 – 26th April 2010 (Kruger NP – White River)
Today we were kindly invited to lunch by Mike & Andrea, the cousin of a contact back home, who are building a self sufficient eco house – a truly amazing feat in South Africa where, surprisingly, even solar panels seem hard to come by. You can check it out at http://greenroadtrip.blogspot.com.
Miles travelled: 77 miles (total 20,237 miles)
Highlight of the day: Trying to buy a nice bottle of wine for lunch to find the most expensive bottle in the shop was less than £5 – gotta love South African wines
Comment of the day: “It’s a national pastime for most South African’s to try and qualify for a second nationality”
Tune of the day: Worms, glorious Worms - is that a song or a poem?
Days 204-208 – 27th April-1st May 2010 (White River-Pretoria)
When you find somewhere nice to stay that’s convenient, it’s easy to lose a few days on this trip. Pretoria was one of those places for us, not for its remote beautiful location or the African cultural experience (we’ve done a lot that) but for its shopping malls, Apple Store, Land Rover spares, lemon meringue pie and rugby at Loftus Versfeld – a proper grudge match between Bulls vs Sharks featuring the best comb-over in Super 14, oh yes sports fans … our very own Andy Goode (who was actually a bit of a star).
Miles travelled: 348 miles (total 20,585 miles)
Highlight of the days: Gotta be the lemon meringue pie
Comment of the days: sitting in Loftus Versfeld surrounded by Afrikaners not being able to understand a word “its like watching rugby in Wales”
Days 209-212 – 2nd-5th May 2010 (Pretoria-Rustenberg-Sun City-Rustenberg)
The small town of Rustenberg will probably become a household name over the next few weeks as it hosts England’s first World Cup football game but, really, there is not much there. Our reason for this little expedition was Sun City – South Africa’s mini Vegas – “Sun City baby” … Hangover style (if you haven’t seen the film, do, it’s hilarious). But to effect this plan properly, we had to await the arrival of the third Sun City amigo … Oli. What to do with a spare rainy morning in Rustenberg, like true pikeys (and students) we obviously went for the 11am showing of Iron Man 2 (hands to the sides, palms down – let me hear a “shwaaaaar”).
Reunited with Oli, the team headed for Sun City and, in true Hangover style, the Palace of the Lost City - reputed as one of the best hotels in the world, exclusive hangout for the rich and famous blah blah blah. We soon discovered this is a bit of an exaggeration on the part of Lonely Plant and the hotel (as evidenced by the welcome committee of the SA equivalent of Cosmos’ corporate retreat). We still splurged and, after a good night on the blackjack table for the Wilson’s, we would have left Sun City pretty much evens … if we had left Sun City the next day that is!?!
Miles travelled: 250 miles (total 20,835 miles)
Highlight of the days: probably not the 5am attempted “assault” on the rooftop flamethrowers … or being escorted back to our room by security
Comment of the days: “Sun City baby”
Tune of the days: Viva Sun City, original score by Elvis [remixed for South Africa by the Charlie Mouse team]
Days 213 & 214 – 6th & 7th May 2010 (Rustenberg-Pretoria)
Slight déjà vu as we find ourselves back in Twana Lodge in Pretoria but it’s just so easy here! And they had a TV that we could watch the live UK election coverage … am I getting old or what!?!
Miles travelled: 96 miles (total 20,931 miles)
Highlight of the day: Reunited with Argyl the Great Dane and his friends, PJ, Blacks, Benny the Beagle and Jacks the Jack Russell – really getting into the African wildlife over here!
Comment of the day: Ness “I
think we should stay in a hotel tonight so we can watch the election”
Days 215-217 – 8th-10th May 2010 (Pretoria – Sabie – Hoedspruit – Blyde River Canyon)
A trip down memory lane for Ness with a visit to the Hoedspruit Endangered Species Centre to play with the Cheetahs!
Miles travelled: 427 miles (total 21,358 miles)
Highlight of the days: Josmacs bush pub!
Comment of the days: From the lady owner at one of the campsites “I’ll just get one of the servant girls to come and clean up” … did we go through a timewarp to the 1800’s and no one told us??
Days 218-221 – 11th-14th May 2010 (Blyde River Canyon-Dullstroom-Middelburg)
We decided to head back to a pretty little town we’d passed through a few days before called Dullstroom, the Trout Fishing capital of South Africa. This quaint little village would not look out of place in rural North America with lots of little boutiques, galleries and cosy pubs complete with whisky tasting (Scottish heritage apparently) and chocolate tasting. We stopped at the very helpful tourist information where the lovely ladies sorted us a 3 bedroom self-catering cottage to stay in town aptly named “Cosy Cottage” (which actually worked out cheaper for the three of us than the camping the night before!). We were very excited to have our own little house with a cosy fire, satellite TV, comfy beds and our own little kitchen to cook up a storm. The plan was the boys would go trout fishing the next day while Ness had a leisurely day smooching around the boutiques, maybe a sneaky hot chocolate tasting. As we walked to the village pub that night, something of a rarity in itself in Africa, we commented at how safe Dullstroom felt - no-one had big fences around their properties and everyone seemed so friendly.
Bet you can see where this one is going ….
We awoke the next day to find both William and the Surf had been broken into and the little thieving s**** had gotten away with 2xGPS, 1x video camera, 1x ipod, 1x satellite phone and various other items. However, the thieving little s*** was obviously not blessed with a huge amount of intelligence –- I suppose if he was blessed with any intelligence at all he would be out working and not being a thieving little s*** but still -- 1. he forgot to steal the chargers so pretty much everything will run out of batteries within 24 hours and 2. most of the electrical items were pin locked and I somehow doubt that there is a techie whizz kid in Dullstroom that can unlock a satellite phone. Our little safe haven in Africa was ruined and we spent the next 24 hours dealing with the police and fingerprint analysis – all of which I suspect was a complete waste of time. We then spent the next couple of days in the armpit of this part of South Africa, Middelberg, getting the car windows fixed. On the upside though, the Surf now has been indestructibly checker-plated!
Miles travelled: 231 miles (total 21,589 miles)
Highlight of the day: It’s been a bad few days for the team L
Comment of the day: At the end of the police statement “I
confirm that I did not give permission to anyone to break my car window, enter
my car and take my possessions”. Nothing like stating the bleeding obvious
…
Days 222-224 – 15th-17th May 2010 (Middelberg – Mlilwane, Swaziland – Sodwana Bay)
Determined to put the last few days behind us, we headed for the coast via a quick trip into Swaziland – not much different from SA really, apart from more speedbumps than is healthy in such a small country and some amusing signs such as “drive slowly, parliament in session” – really, how is my driving speed going to effect Swaziland’s parliament?? Anyway, after less than 48 hours in Swaziland we found ourselves back in SA and the very chilled out Sodwana Bay – full of surfer/diver types with barely a pulse in low season that say “dude” a lot … we decided to stay for a couple of days!
Miles travelled: 387 miles (total 21,976 miles)
Highlight of the day: Big braii around the camp fire
Comment of the day: B&B owner “you know, the Chinamans” … the eye impression that followed was
completely unnecessary for us to get her gist
Day 225 – 18th May 2010 (Sodwana Bay-Hluhluwe Imfolozi N.P.)
We decided to leave Oli to go diving with the Whale Sharks and headed for Hluhluwe Umfolozi N.P. where we broke our record for the number of Rhino’s seen in one day, 14, and, finally got to see some lions fairly close up! To celebrate we drank far too many beers around the campfire with Dave, the owner of the campsite, and his two mates who ran a pineapple drying business down the road.
Miles travelled: 119 miles (total 22,095 miles)
Highlight of the day: Rhinos, lions, and Dave’s dog, Nelson, who sat by the side of William, guarding him from the moment we went to bed until we woke up the next morning.
Comment of the day: Some classics from Dave’s mate eg “This ain’t Disneyland you know, this is
Africa” and, to the Swedish guests who arrived after we had had a few beers
“ah, I have a very nice knife from your
country”; Swedish girl “I think you
mean Switzerland…”
Days 226 & 227 – 19th & 20th May 2010 (Hluhluwe Imfolozi N.P. – Dundee – Ladysmith)
Another game park ticked, we headed for the Zulu battlefields of Isandlwana and Rorke’s Drift. For anyone that hasn’t seen the 1960’s Michael Cain classic Zulu, firstly – what have you been doing with your life? And secondly, this is where the Zulu Army in January 1879 firstly comprehensively annihilated the British at the Battle of Isandlwana and then, hours later, 139 British soldiers successfully defended the small mission station at Rorke’s Drift from around 4,000 Zulu warriors – earning 11 VC’s in the process. Now, piles of white stones mark where the British soldiers fell at Isandlwana - very poignant stuff.
Miles travelled: 356 miles (total 22,451 miles)
Highlight of the days: Free afternoon tea at the lovely lodge at Fugitives Drift and finding a lovely (and cheap) B&B after a long day at the battlefields
Comment of the day: James’ take on South African cuisine “it’s like a beefy cheesecake”
Days 228 & 229 – 21st & 22nd May 2010 (Ladysmith (SA)-Sani Top (Lesotho)-Liphofung Caves (Lesotho))
And so we headed towards the Kingdom of Lesotho and the mildly infamous Sani Pass – at 2865m (and a lot of hairpin bends), it is the highest pass in South Africa although it’s officially in no-mans land between SA & Lesotho. Nothing compared to Ethiopia being only about 5 miles long instead of 5 days of equivalent Ethiopian terrain! But we thought we might be in for a bit of a challenge as firstly, a random 50 year old man called Matthew followed us in his Land Rover for about 60 miles to gives us some “tips”, secondly, one mile off the main road, we encountered our first problem … roadworks and thirdly, we were under time pressure to catch the Lesotho border post at the top before it closed at 4:30pm, otherwise we would be stuck in no-mans land. But William made it look pretty easy and the Surf made it look like a sedate Sunday drive in the park by towing some Aussies up who got stuck in their 2WD SUV. So much for the Sani Pass … but f*** it was cold when we got to the top! We ditched the camping and booked into a nice chalet with hot water bottles and a fire in the room J
We found Lesotho very similar to Ethiopia actually – very mountainous and much poorer and remoter than its neighbour … and full of Americans from the Peace Corp having a big party in the middle of nowhere!?!
Miles travelled: 314 miles (total 22,765 miles)
Highlight of the days: a nice warm cosy fire in our chalet next to the highest pub in Africa (I think that is a slightly dubious claim myself)
Comment of the day: Oli “just
for the record I think this [Lesotho] is a very bad idea”
James “just for the record, I
think you’re a pussy”
Day 230 – 23 May 2010 (Liphofung Caves (Lesotho)-Bloemfontein (SA))
After falling asleep to the sounds of 50 Peace Corp Americans having a Frat party we decided to leave the mountains of Lesotho behind and head back into SA and arrived in Bloemfontein … at another caravan park, joy! Still it had a trampoline which was a bonus.
Miles travelled: 237 miles (total 23,002 miles)
Lowlight of the day: Trying to relive some of our Sun City luck at the tables at the Windmill Casino … and failing miserably!
Comment of the day: Randomly stopping at a marquee where a lot of young people were gathering thinking it might be a club or a concert (this being a big student town), being welcomed by a couple of locals, usual introductions blah blah blah and being invited to join them at which point we asked “what actually is going on tonight?”
Girl looking a bit blank “oh, it’s
church”
Oli “oh, um, so what do you do?”
Girl looked even more blank “er,
well, we believe that Jesus died for our sins and was born again. We’re about
to start so please do come in”
Ness, apologetically “oh, we were actually looking for somewhere to eat so we better go”
Today’s useless fact: J.R.R. Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein
Days 231 & 232 – 24th & 25th May 2010 (Bloemfontein – Hogsback)
After a hell of a drive, much of which was in the dark (will we ever learn??), we arrived in Hogsback - a lovely quaint little village in the Drakensberg mountain range that, again, wouldn’t look out of place in Canada with its log cabin pubs and … lots of pubs. As we checked out our aptly named lodging “Away with the Fairies”, we were greeted by 1 x hippy and 4 x young overland truckers drinking tequila and dancing to very loud trance music in the otherwise empty bar - given that it was only 6pm, James almost turned around and left. But we were here to meet Jules and Gabby, also newly weds and overlanding from Islington, who Oli had met in Botswana – they greeted us with a mug of red wine and some yummy cheese – we immediately liked them! And so began 72 hours of pretty much constant teasing for Oli from the smug newly weds … sorry Oli!
After a few too many beers and dancing merriment in one of the local log cabin bars, we decided to stay an extra night in Hogsback at “the Edge”. Whilst Jules and Gabby splurged (loving their style here) on a beautiful cottage on “the Edge” of the canyon, we went for the cheapest 2 bed cottage they had – still, a nice break from the tent – and went for a long brekkie at their lovely cottage instead!
Miles travelled: 328 miles (total 23,330 miles)
Highlight of the days: Watching Oli’s protestations as Big Oli, gay owner of the log cabin bar, tried to get him to take his top off (taking tops off seems to be a popular past time Hogsback … see below)
Comment of the days: Hippy in Away with the Fairies “Two hours until topless 10:30, wohooo” …. we promptly left
Tune of the day: Dancing
Queen by Abba [rendition by
Big Oli]
Days 233 & 234 – 26th & 27th May 2010 (Hogsback- Chintsa)
Jules and Gabby joined us on a trip to the Wild Coast village of Chintsa home to, apparently, the best backpackers in SA – this turned out to be a bit of an exaggeration but it was a very nice bay for body surfing (top tip for girls trying body surfing – be careful of one’s bikini top!!) and it had a beach volleyball court … Top Gun-tastic.
Miles travelled: 117 miles (total 23,447 miles)
Highlight of the day: Finally using the wrought iron panini maker which we have been carrying around with us since London
Comment of the day: “the panini
maker is awesome!”
Tune of the Day: Playing with the Boys by Kenny Loggins – in fact beach volleyball to the whole Top Gun Album … on repeat
Days 235-237 – 28th-30th May 2010 (Chintsa – Jeffrey’s Bay - Knysna)
Jeffrey’s Bay – surf capital of South Africa and lots of people saying “dude” and “gnarly” (not really sure what that means …) a lot. We decided to stay a couple of nights primarily because we wanted to watch the Super 14 Final and got waylaid in a coffee shop drinking lattes for too long to get anywhere else. Still, J-Bay is a pretty chilled out place and, with the campsite right on the beach, we were happy to stay an extra night. Our day in J-Bay involved a spot of shopping at the Billabong discount store, starting drinking at about lunchtime, meeting some cool locals, eating Mexican food and finishing off the evening in an Afrikaans “club” shaped like a barrel watching the locals dance “sockie” – for anyone who hasn’t seen this classic South African phenomenon, it involves young Afrikaaners dancing two-step to modern pop music such as P-Diddy. We almost got escorted off the premises when James and Oli took to the dance floor.
With slightly sore heads, we headed down the Garden Route to Knysna. We’re trying to get to Cape Town for a week before the Football World Cup madness begins on 11th June so we’re rushing the Garden Route a bit but it’s one of those places that we can come back to again hopefully one day. We ended the day in one of the nicest restaurants in Knysna, Mo’s Pub, but we were all a bit too jaded to eat the massive portions!
Miles travelled: 309 miles (total 23,756 miles)
Highlight of the day: Getting a lift home in a police car (no, we weren’t being arrested) via the local garage for kebabs and pies
Comment of the day: Glyn, J-Bay local who we met whilst watching
the rugby, to James “You are the coolest
bloke I’ve ever met, [to everyone else in the bar] he’s the coolest bloke in the world”
Day 238 – 31st May 2010 (Knysna – Arniston Bay via Cape Agulhas)
Today we hit the southern most tip of Africa, Cape Agulhas. And so today we can rightfully claim slash boast slash jump up and down shouting loudly that we have driven from the northern (in Tunisia) to the southern most tip of Africa, Yay! Feeling very proud of ourselves (and a bit windswept) we treated ourselves to a night in a B&B, a meal in the local hotel restaurant and a bottle of Arniston Bay rose wine … call us the last of the big spenders!
Miles travelled: 288 miles (total 24,044 miles)
Highlight of the day: Reaching the southern most point in Africa – still in one piece!
Comment of the day: “well, that was a nice drive wasn’t it?”
Day 239 – 1st June 2010 (Arniston Bay - Strand)
Refreshed from a big B&B bed and breakfast at Willeens Arts & Crafts shop stunningly located on a windswept beach, we headed to Strand to catch up with Tanya, an old friend of Ness’ from the Cheetah Research Project. After a welcoming shot of Sambuca (Ness suspected she might be in trouble at this point), we had a lovely evening of spag bol, champers, red wine and catching up – up until about 9pm when it all gets a bit fuzzy! Thanks to Tanya and her Sis for their hospitality and a lovely night xx
Miles travelled: 157 miles (total 24,201 miles)
Highlight of the day: Catching up with old friends!
Day 240 – 2nd June 2010 (Strand - Cape Town (yay!))
50km out of Cape Town and we still did not have anywhere to stay – with the Football World Cup less than 10 days away, this is not an enviable position to be in when wanting to enjoy a weeks rest in Cape Town. After a long 2 hour session on Tanya’s internet trying to find an apartment in Cape Town (prices ranging from the ridiculous to just plain stupid) we finally found a perfect place that ticked all our criteria, had a view of Table Mountain and was right in the midst of action on Long Street AND was within our budget at R900 per night … although our “budget” had doubled in the course of the morning. However, when we went to book through the internet for 7 nights the total cost came out at R11,500. Now, even my basic lawyer maths (lawyers hate maths) could figure out 7 x 900 did not sum up to 11,500! After a bit of internet elimination, we figured out that after the first three nights the apartment cost went up to the “World Cup Price”* of a whopping R2,200 per night! It seems that many South Africans are hoping to retire after the World Cup by tripling their prices and generally fleecing the football fans**. We e-mailed the owner to ask if he would accept the normal price for the 7 nights (given that the World Cup would not start for another 2 days after we left!?!) and waited with little hope but all fingers and toes crossed! A nail biting 45 minutes later he came back with a … YES! We have an (almost) penthouse pad in Cape Town for a week, yay!
And so, after almost 8 months, over 24,000 miles through 2 continents and 17 countries, a few arguments here and there, some amazing memories (and a few we’d rather forget to be fair) and meeting a lot of mad slash stupid slash awesome people … we have made it to Cape Town, yay!
Miles travelled: 51 miles (total 24,252 miles)
Highlight of the day: Reaching Cape Town … can’t say more than that really
Comment of the day: From an conversation with the owner of an
apartment in Cape Town: Ness “how much is
it per night?”
Apartment owner “how much do you
want to pay … 3, 4, 5?”
Ness “probably the lower scale of
that - 300?”
Apartment owner “no, that’s 3000 per night not 300” … yeh, right mate
* this is now legitimately part of the South African vocabulary
**usually this wouldn’t bother me too much but a) it has started to seriously affect our trip/bank balance and b) it is a shame since usually SA is actually quite a cheap country – typical African foresight in play here
Days 241-246 – 3rd-8th June 2010 (Cape Town)
Our week in Cape Town just flew by – it was so nice having our own swish little apartment on Long Street over looking Table Mountain, we even cooked a full on Sunday Lunch with Yorkshire Puddings … heaven, and by all accounts, much safer than Cumbria it turned out! Dawn and Joakim, who we travelled through the Omo with, had also just made it to CT so we had a couple of nights out on the town with them, mostly in the Irish/Cuban Bars of Long Street.
But I am ashamed to say, it was so nice having our own pad that we didn’t venture out much to see the sights of Cape Town … there was a day spent at the Victoria & Alfred Wharf (yes, Alfred not Albert?!?) – this was primarily so the team could all get some much needed hair cuts, which for Ness also involved having a full on manicure and pedicure as well … pamper me up baby! Then there were sundowners at the Twelve Apostles Hotel followed by dinner at Blues in Camps Bay (a bit of a Cape Town institution) but it was raining so heavily that we couldn’t see anything. So by our penultimate day we realised we hadn’t really done anything touristy so we decided to climb Table Mountain. Ness, who had been stupid enough to do this about 10 years before (and I think I remember saying then if I was ever to do it again, I’d get the cable car up and walk down … sensible approach) did mumble that this was a rather stupid idea on a pretty miserable day but no-one was listening … and 2½ very puffy, very wet and very-cold-but-sweaty-at-the-same-time hours later, we made it to the top. Fortunately, the Table Cloth i.e. the very rainy cloud that followed us up, had cleared by the time we got to the top of the mountain so there were some wonderful views of Cape Town. Unfortunately, Ness dropped the camera so we don’t have much evidence of that!
Miles travelled: 0 miles
Highlight of the days: having our own place in the centre of Cape Town for a whole week, complete with kitchen, big comfy beds, satellite TV, sofas, Wi-Fi, a massive bath tub and a view of Table Mountain, yay!
Comment of the days: “the next person I see blowing one of those damn vuvuzellas, I’m going to punch him and snap the horn”
Tune of the day: is there a song about Cape Town … answers of a post card please
Day 247 – 9th June 2010 (Cape Town - Melkbos)
As our week in Cape Town drew to a close, the vuvuzella horns were steadily escalating in annoyance – it was time to leave. We had a bit of a belated Formula 1 style fizzy wine celebration (too cheap for Veuve these days) in front of Table Mountain overseen by some local workers who must of thought we were bonkers. Next stop Melkbos – a lovely little bay side village 30km outside of CT and home to Graeme and Luiza, who we had met in Malawi during a particularly charming tent infringement incident with an overland truck. Beers started flowing at about 3pm – over 12 hours of beer fuelled frivolity later, we passed out in their kids bunk beds. Thank-you to Graeme and Luiza for their awesome hospitality – we must get you over to Blighty for a rematch?? Xx
Miles travelled: 37 miles (total 24,289 miles)
Highlight of the day: Good company, amazing hospitality and the most amazing steak of the trip expertly braaied (aka BBQ’d) by Graeme
Comment of the day: Graeme “Football’s boring and gay”
Tune of the day: Jack Johnson … on repeat
Days 248-250 – 10th – 12th June 2010 (Melkbos – Stellenbosch – Franschoek)
Feeling more than slightly jaded, we said goodbye to Graeme and Luiza and headed for the wine region … but we decided to leave the wine tastings for the next day. Unfortunately, we didn’t plan that too well since the next day SA’s Bafana Bafana were playing in the opening game of the World Cup. This meant most of the Wineries were shutting down (along with the rest of the country it seemed) at lunchtime to allow their staff to witness this much billed ‘historic’ occasion. Still we managed to squeeze in 2.5 wine tastings and a spot of lunch before being subjected to the irritatingly over excited vuvuzella blowing once more ... the fact that they drew against Mexico did not really help the whole horn blowing issue.
The next morning it was time for a proper game … oh yes, rugby fans, Australia vs England. Regrettably, England played shockingly bad particularly in defence – an unfortunate seemingly contagious skill passed on to the goalie of the English football team who let in a clanger from the USA later that day! A poor day for English sports fans … but we find ourselves in the mini France enclave of Franschoek, the food and wine is flowing nicely so it’s not all bad … it’s pretty good actually J
Miles travelled: 92 miles (total 24,381 miles)
Highlight of the days: Free wine tastings, yay!
Comment of the days: Francis, who we had the misfortune to meet at our hostel in Stellenbosch and then joined us for an evening “I did bad things phew the Chinese kicked me out phew bad cars phew …” this gibberish continued for hours. Certain contender for the oddest most incomprehensible supposedly English speaking man of the trip, I suspect he was on something
Tune of the day: Come
on Africa, tell me how ya’ doin
- SuperSport’s World Cup ditty … very irritating
Days 251 & 252 – 13th & 14th June 2010 (Franschoek – Vanrhynsdorp - Springbok)
The Northern Cape is really not a particularly interesting part of SA, barren landscape with very few inhabitants other than the odd cow or two. We were trying to get through it as quickly as possible to get to Namibia but driving into a ridiculous wind didn’t help. William showed his displeasure with a split turbo intercooler pipe – handily we were carrying a spare so after a very windswept roadside repair, William was as good as new and back on the road once again. We couldn’t take much more though and arrived at the ghost town of Vanrhynsdorp – after not being able to find the campsite or the backpackers or anyone else actually we checked into a little house (we have become a bit soft since Cape Town on the camping front so maybe we didn’t search too hard). The next day didn’t fair better – it was absolutely tipping it down so we decided to hanker down in a B&B with electric blankets … hmmmm, maybe we are getting soft!
Miles travelled: 381 miles (total 24,762 miles)
Highlight of the days: Getting cosy with the electric blankets!
Comment of the day: “here’s your room, the bed has electric blankets and there is tea and coffee and, of course, your sherry” … free sherry in your B&B seems to be quite common in SA oddly