45. Waiting in Cape Town

We have arrived in CT again, still no news about our Landcruiser. Luckily we can stay at Saranne’s place again. Kosta and I can just relax here, do a bit of gardening (as in getting rid of all the trash, rearranging the cactuses and actually showing my friend she has a garden LOL) and enjoy the big (and I mean big!) TV screen. So really nothing super exciting to tell about us hanging around in the great city (btw, if you thinking of going to the Six District Museum, think again. It is the worst museum I’ve ever seen).

IMG_7615

Braai time

IMG_7616

Saranne, her housemate Mandla and guests

So no adventures here…. except maybe the encounter with the black widow in the bathroom! Yes, that is the spider that actually kills her hubby once she no longer needs his services. The bite of one of these ladies can be deadly so not really something you want to have. As we go and check quickly on the internet if it really is a black widow, the spider disappears. And as I am writing this now, the lady has still not reappeared from her hiding place… Just to tell you, my shower was done quickly this morning. LOL

IMG_7626

The lady

We really haven’t had other encounters with venomous spiders… that we know of really. One night when we were sleeping in our tent while travelling the Garden Route we are woken up by a frog trying to climb up the tent. No problem with that, but all of a sudden the bright moonlight reveals a huge spider between the inner and outer tent, and its partner sitting on the outer tent. Now,what does one do in a situation like this at 2 in the morning in a country were they have venomous spiders? You (that is ‘you’ like in Kosta LOL) take the thongs of the braai (bbq) and start chasing them away. Kosta does not kill insects, so he walks in the garden behind the spider with his ‘defence weapon’ to make sure it is at least 5 metres away from our tent. But no squashing the bloody insects. Sometimes I think Kosta believes he’s Dr. Doolittle.

Like when we were staying at a hostel in Natures Valley before reaching Cape Town - they had two horses. One morning Dr. Doolittle here goes with carrots towards them. He is stroking the horses, talking to them like he always does to animals. One of the horses starts to snap at Kosta. Instead of seeing this as a sign to stop hugging it, Dr. Doolittle keeps on talking to the horse, saying it shouldn’t snap and asks what is wrong, you know, like one would do if he would actually be able to speak to the beast. Before Kosta realizes what is going on, the horse has turned around and kicked Kosta! You would never think a horse to be quick like that. LOL
Damage: a nice bruise and pain at the wrist but no real harm done. I got chased by a roaster that same day, just after I had told him not to attack me ‘cos he was nasty. Good thing I had my walking shoes on ‘cos the damn bird ran after me and tried to pick me but just got the shoe. LOL

44. The Garden Route- part 2

Kosta and I have already done a big part of the Garden Route but there is so much more to see that it is the best alternative for the next ten days. Our first stop is Robertson, a superb little place surrounded by vineyards. And of course that means some whine tasting is in order with me as designated driver, Ruth and Kosta as designated drinkers. : ) We end our day at a lovely restaurant. And I have to tell you, I so enjoy not to have to do anything but to savour the food on my plate in a nice restaurant. The great thing about travelling like we do is that something so normal to us at home, you know like having a nice diner out, becomes a real treat.

IMG_7567

The drinkers

After wine it is time for some ostriches again. We head to Oudtshoorn and visit one of the show farms. A different one than we did before, but our evening ends the same as last time: we bake ourselves a nice piece of ostriches meat. Soooo good! And apart from ostriches South Africa has of course more animals to show, so we head down to Addo National Park. It is only half a day of driving to the hostel near the park. That is one of the two advantages of the Tata: not only do we have aircon but we can actually drive faster than the 85 kph we normally do with our car. : )

P1000263

Our room for the next ten days

The Addo NP is a park where 500 elephants roam the area. When it was proclaimed a national park in 1931 there were only 11 elephants left. So yes, they are doing well, and we have witnessed that. At one point some of those great grey animals blocked the road. ‘Oh how cute’, we thought, ‘they are playing’. Little did we know that we are witnessing foreplay. When we past again half an hour later we got to see this LOL:

IMG_7594

And we have witnessed other great things (Yes, I consider seeing elephants mate a great thing. Really people, it only takes about 15 seconds, how lucky were we to witness that LOL : ) ), like two lions getting chased by an elephant, a meerkat on the run for a fox and elephants drinking at a water hole. We have seen so many animals, it was just great! Truly a very nice day!

P1000306

P1000459

One of the chased lions

P1000404

Kudu chilling in the shade

The next couple of days are all about making our way back to Cape Town without sitting in the car all day. We stop at Plettenbergh Bay, have fresh fish for lunch at Mossel Bay before going on to Swellendam and finally enjoying a nice afternoon walk in Stellenbosch. And then it is time to bring Ruth to the airport in the morning. 14 days have gone by very very quickly. It was a pity for Ruth that we lost almost three days with the car breaking down. But this is what travelling is: unexpected adventures waiting around the corner.

P1000366

Mother and son in search of animals

We don’t know yet what the next days will be bringing us as we are still waiting for news of our car. Two days ago they still had not found the problem with checking a couple of things, so they were going to get the gear box out and open it completely… Fingers crossed!

43. The road to Namibia… and back

As we drive off in the morning, we are excited to start our trip to Namibia. Yes, the blog is called ‘Cruising to South Africa’ and indeed we have arrived but we have decided to visit another country before going home. It is going to be a long way cruising towards the border but we are ready for it! So we drive and drive and all of a sudden the oil light lids up while an unmistakable smell fills the car: oil has splattered all over the engine. Are you having a déjà-vu, ‘cos we certainly are?! Nothing to worry about, we had it once in Turkey and just like then we will drive to a garage and have the oil filter replaced. At least this time we are in a little town and not in the middle of the mountains, needing to drive 200 km back! So we find a garage and about an hour later we drive off again. We drive and drive and all of a sudden the oil light lids up again while under the car it drips and drips. Ok, not so funny anymore and certainly too much of a déjà-vu! As we just passed a bigger town 36 km ago we decide to drive back slowly, stopping a couple of times along the way to make sure the oil doesn’t get overheated. Now you have to know my friends, not only is this not funny but on top of that it is mega, and I mean mega, hot! As it is too late to do anything we check into a guesthouse and start our evening, hoping it won’t be one of the last with The Cruiser.

IMG_7564

The road to Namibia: a hot and dry area

Next day we drive to the next town a bit further to find a Toyota garage. After two hours of waiting it is made clear to us that we need to go back to Cape Town, 300 kilometres in the opposite direction of our destination. The Cruiser has a gear box problem and as it is an automatic we need to go to a guy who specialises in that. If anyone can help us, it would be him. You see, in Europe they probably wouldn’t open an automatic gear box but this guy does. Funny thing is while we were in Natures Valley we met a couple that also had a problem with their automatic gear box and they mentioned the same garage. That gives us a bit of hope….

We slowly slowly make our way back to Cape Town. When we finally arrive it is about 7 o’clock. Time to look for a place to sleep but that’s not always easy in a popular city like this. Hostels and guesthouses are fully booked, or don’t have safe off road parking. Luckily we are able to find a little apartment a bit out of town. So after a couple of ‘we are fully booked’ phone calls we book a place, happy we found something. The three of us are tired and a good nights rest will do us some good. Now I am asking you how long it took you to first share a room with your partner and his mother? ‘Never’ I can hear you say, and that would normally also be my answer but sometimes things turn out differently then you expect. As we arrive at the guesthouse and at the ‘apartment’ it becomes clear that the description of an apartment is not the same for us than for guesthouses: the place is a cute studio. Yes, you read it right, that is studio like in ‘one open space where we all sleep together’. And so my friends this is how I end up sharing a room with the mother of my guy after we met 3 days ago! LOL

P1000371

The timing of all of this couldn’t be any worse. Just now Ruth is here we have a problem and no more car. And this is what travelling is also about: finding solutions. Next morning we rent a Tata (isn’t that the cutest name for a car! LOL), book a plane ticket for Ruth from Cape Town to Windhoek (Namibia) for in ten days and we start a different journey than planned, a trip in the Garden Route.

42. Cape Town

When you travel you meet so many people. With some of them you spend an afternoon, with some maybe a couple of days but very few of them you’ll meet again after the trip is over. There are a couple of great people I saw again though. Like Victoria who I met in Mexico and, almost 2 years later, had a lovely Christmas evening at her families house in Buenos Aires with. Or Sharon who shared the amazing trip to Antarctica with me and who invited me to her home town Dublin a year later (where I also met up with Christine who I met in Thailand the first time). And then there is my South African friend Saranne. We met in Mexico and travelled (or should I say chilled) in Guatemala together for a week. I told her one day I would come to SA and so, 4 years later, we arrive at her doorstep!

Now, as we all know HIV/AIDS is a big issue in Africa, and South Africa is no exception. My friend Saranne works for the Western Cape Department of Health as the manager of the global fund. She runs the projects regarding anti retro viral medication, the program to educate children and communities and the project to provide support and care for families and HIV positive people. Super interesting!

IMG_7404

Last time meeting up with ‘our’ Dutch family Kamp

IMG_7437

Saranne, a penguin and me :)

We spend a couple of days in Cape Town. Kosta gets a new tattoo, we defrost Saranne’s fridge (trust me, that needed to be done LOL) and enjoy a lazy afternoon with my friend. No touristy things yet as Kosta’s mother will join us for two weeks soon. And the first day here is enough to make me love CT! It is truly love at first sight: I love the vibe of the city, the Waterfront, the view of the Table Mountain and the proximity to the beach. Yes, if I were South African, I could easily live here.

IMG_7444

Kosta and mom

IMG_7492

Chapman’s Peak

IMG_7481

At Cape Point

On Sunday we leave Saranne’s apartment to get ourselves settled in a cottage. Kosta’s mom Ruth is arriving and so we have rented a nice place to spend the first couple of days at. And then it is finally time to be the tourists we are and do some site seeing. We drive down to Cape Point to stand at the most south-western part of Africa. It is truly a great day with amazing scenery along the way. I tell you, South Africa is such a beautiful country! We also visit Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela and many other political (and criminal) prisoners were held. Only black, coloured and Asian men were imprisoned on the island. White men and women were brought to a prison in Pretoria. The inmates of Robben Island had a very rough time, working in the sun all day long without any shade or sunglasses to cover their eyes. Many of them had eye damage because of this. Nelson Mandela for example can not cry any more as the tear gland got damaged while working in the blistering sun. In 1991 all political prisoners were released and in 1994 they closed down the prison. Nowadays it is a museum and many of the people that live on the islands were former political prisoners or even guards. They live side by side now and some of the political prisoners work as tour guides.

P1000137

On Robben Island

IMG_7530

After the interesting tour on Robben Island we spend time in the Kirstenbosch botanical gardens. Saranne told us it was a nice place and truly it is a must see. Just incredibly beautiful, peaceful and relaxing.

P1000167

In the must see botanical garden

IMG_7545

Nice one : )

And then it is time to get ready for Namibia. Kosta and I have seen what we wanted to see in fantastic SA, now we go and discover the beauty of Namibia with Ruth. She will fly out of Windhoek and we want her to have an unforgettable trip toward Windhoek.

41. Feeding the fish

Do you remember the big hit movie Jaws, you know the movie about that big fish having a taste for human flesh? And would you since then ever consider to go near these animals, be in the same water they are swimming in and looking for a nice piece of meat to chew on? Well, I do! You must be thinking now that I have gone totally mad but meeting the big white is not as scary as you think. I am up for a ‘up close and personal trip’ with big Nemo and do some white shark cage diving.

IMG_7391

In the cage

As we get on the boat and start the engines I am confident the sea sickness pill will get me through the morning. And so it does… for about the first 15 minutes. LOL While we sail out I feel fine and feel pity for the two girls who already look very pale. But from the moment we stop and the anker is thrown out I turn as green as the grass that looks better on the other side. I don’t know if you ever been sea sick but I’ve been, several times even but NEVER EVER have I been so sick as on this trip! I have the feeling I have spend more time hanging half overboard than on board. LOL

IMG_7384

Nemo

But I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t go in the cage, sick or not sick. While I am climbing in the cage I am sure I’ll be better once in the water, like I always am whenever I go diving. You know, from the moment you are under water, you feel fine. But that is the catch 22 my friends, you feel better when you are under water…. and the cage does not go fully under sea level. So, as the cage rocks along with the boat I just rock along feeling not better at all. When I climb back on board the first thing I do is take my mask of, walk three metres to the other side and feed the fish again! LOL (just so you know, the sharks are not fed by these cage diving companies)

IMG_7388

After the cage dive and just after feeding the fish LOL

Anyway, we’ve seen several great whites, swimming not even a metre from the cage. It was an experience I am glad I had but I’m sure it was more thrilling for the people that weren’t sick. As excited I was getting on the boat, the happier I felt getting of it. LOL

40. At the most southern tip of Africa!

This is what they call ‘a moment’ my friends: after 25.000 kilometres and having crossed 19 countries we have arrived at the most southern point of Africa! Welcome to the point where the Indian Ocean meets the Atlantic Ocean, welcome to Cape Agulhas! (oh yes, not to be mistaken with the famous Cape of Good Hope, the most south-western point of the continent)

As this is a great day for us, not so many words but just our happy pictures that we made it this far : )

IMG_7369

The two of us : )

IMG_7382

Hugging the car that brought us so far ; )

IMG_7377

Yeah baby, yeah!

39. Bungeeeeeeeee

As we leave the mountains of Lesotho behind us we make our way down to the coast of South Africa. We start our trip towards the Wild Coast. A lot of driving brings us to a nice backpackers place, on a hill near the beach. It is just an amazing place. As it is not so easy to get there, the place is not packed and this is how we like it. In South Africa it is not really possible to wild camp anymore. It is of course always possible but not really recommended. We have always felt safe camping in the middle of nowhere along the way, but this beautiful country has a rocky past and that past still lingers here and there….

IMG_7275

Anyway, so we get to this great hostel where we enjoy three days of walking with the Ridgebacks, going to the beach with those two dogs and cuddling the dogs, cats and even geese that stroll around. Although we are really enjoying it we leave after three days as there is so much to see along our way to Cape Town. We drive further south towards. We are invited to stay at Michnus and Elsebie’s place. They have never met us but because Kosta has a mutual friend they open there (I must say amazing) house to us. It is great to spend time with people that also like to travel like we do. Well, they travel on motorbikes but there spirit is as free as ours. : )

IMG_7283

And slowly but surely we arrive at the famous Garden route.  There is really not that much to say about it. We’ve seen amazing scenery, had nice walks and had a great laugh at an ostrich farm. Ostriches are really funny animal (and unfortunately in the wild they always run from you so you never get to see them close by). Their brain is smaller than their eye and so no, they are not the brightest of animals as you can imagine. They lay an egg every two days (only from November till March) and after they have popped 15 fertile ones out (they get rid of the non-fertile immediately)  they start nesting. The ostrich  actually does not even know that she has in fact 15 eggs, she does it all on instinct. An ostrich egg is as big as 24 normal chicken eggs, a little cholesterol bomb. ; )

IMG_7356

IMG_7352

But, THE happening here in the Garden Route was Kosta jumping of the highest bungee jump bridge in the world!!!! The bridge is 216 m high and the bungee fall itself is about 180 metres! And what profound last words does one say when he is brought to the edge just seconds before the jump and for the first time looks down: “Holy shit” LOL

IMG_7295

Kosta and Liesbeth (from Antwerp) ready to jump

DSCF2291

Feet tided up

DSCF2292

Almost time

DSCF2295

Here we gooooooo!!!!

DSCF2300

And gooooooo!!!!

IMG_7305

180 metres lower

DSCF2311

Safely back on the bridge