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.

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

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.