Cape Trip - August 2018

We had heard that the flowers were excellent this year after the rains. (We hear that every year.)

Therefore we loaded the 4x4 and set off.

The first overnight stop was at Red Sands in Kuruman. Experience told us that the public showers always had hot water but the private ones did not always have this luxury. Therefore we decided to not book a private campsite. (We did have hot water.) That evening we had dinner at the restaurant. Dinner i always excellent. We ordered a port cordon bleau dish and as is often the case my eyes were bigger than my stomach. The electric blanket and three down sleeping bags helped make the night comfortable.

We had wanted to get a water filter for our new home and knew that they were available from people we know in Kathu. Well the shop had moved and if anyone wants to experience the shortcomings of satellite navigation Kathu is the place. After three phone calls and loading a few different navigation apps we found the place when the shop assistant came out alongside the road and waved. We bought the filter we wanted.

Now the decision was where to stop next. We set off in the direction of Springbok. As we traveled we came to the decision that Augrabies Falls National Park would make a nice stopover and we would have time to see the falls and carry on the next day.

On arrival in Springbok we took on fuel.

Goegap Nature Reserve was full so we continued on to Kammieskroon. The signs showed a caravan park to the left in the direction of the hotel. We never found that one and eventually arrived at Skilpad. Here we managed to get a beautiful campsite. After parking the vehicle I decided maybe a little walk might be nice. I imagined a short hike and we headed down a path that was probably not made by humans. Then we went along the road up the ill. Cars passed us and we waved. No one offered us a lift. We trudged on while taking in the view. I had taken a SLR camera. When we arrived at the rocks Sylvia said maybe we should not climb them. I immediately accepted this decision thinking maybe we could go back down the hill. Sylvia suggested we proceed further and I imagined us having to complete the whole loop usually - in fact almost always - driven in a vehicle. My fear was we would not find a path back but Sylvia was right and eventually we found a path that led back directly to our campsite. On arrival I received a message from a friend that he would like to meet up with us. I contacted The Baths in Citrusdal and managed to book a camp site for one night for the following night. My friend assured me he would be there quite early. He had no tent and we explained we had not arranged to cater for a group as we were traveling alone. I also mentioned that swimming costumes might be a good addition to their wardrobe. We would have approximately double the distance to travel.

The next morning quite early, having made a special effort to get out of bed and pack up, we drove on. There were flowers on the side of the road but we had seen more in the past.

On arrival at The Baths we set up our vehicle and also a tent for our friends who did not have one. How on earth they planned to camp tentless in winter was beyond my comprehension. On seeing no sign of them we phoned them and were told they were just about to leave. I did one of the few things I am good at and took f the waters in the hot outside pool. Eventually our friends arrived. That night we had a braai and went to bed. During the night it rained hard I was told. I tend to sleep when the stars come out - probably something to do with stardust in the peepers.

The next morning I set off with our two friends to the jacuzzi where you add your own fresh warm water. Here the three of us eventually found out how to make the water bubble. Sylvia arrived after a while and our friends got out. As a matter of courtesy I remained in the water longest. On rising out of the water my friend began to look slightly unwell. After I short while I thought it was extremely likely he would die - that is unless he was already dead. His eyes resembled the x's shown in old comic books when the character had demised. Eventually he came back to life slowly. We had to vacate the campsite by midday but we knew Natures's View was just up the road and we had stayed there before so we went there and set up camp again. Just after lunch our friends decided they had had enough and went home.

The weather looked good so we set off in the direction of where we thought there might be flowers. This resulted in a trip to Lamberts Bay where we saw the gannets and enjoyed a lovely Snoek and Yellow Tail lunch at the harbour. On the way back we took a few wrong turns before returning to our campsite.

You have to book the previous day to be a day visitor at The Baths and I had done that so we visited again. It was Sunday and the third child in a nappy helped me make the decision to leave the outside pool and head for the jacuzzi with private water. Sylvia and I bubbled away for a while.

Langebaan has always been an excellent flower destination and we thought we would head there. The weather however was extremely overcast and cold so while thundering along we thought we might visit dear fiends in Wellington. A phone call and it was arranged. We would arrive just after midday and take them out for lunch. The previously mentioned sophisticated satellite navigation systems had calculated the time of arrival. No doubt had there been no road works they would not only have been correct but we would have even been a bit earlier. On arrival we were told Wellington is closed on Mondays. Our friends served a lovely lunch and I had wine so Sylvia would drive to wherever our destination would be that night. Sylvia exchanged a jar of figs for wine and cheese which was a bargain.

On leaving we looked at a map. Montagu looked good. More road works and we arrived around sunset and after a short wait at the gate we were granted access. The caravan park was lovely with friendly ducks and geese which came to visit in the morning. They also have two warm water pools and we enjoyed some time lounging around in the warm water the next day.

From there we went to Victoria Bay Campsite just outside George. Once again I decided on the cheaper campsite with sharing ablutions and we were the only people there and only the ladies showers and toilets were available so we enjoyed a large private suite. That night a guard patrolled the campsite which was reassuring.

A phone call secured us a campsite for three nights at Addo National Park. We have been unsuccessful in the past but this time unusually the campsite had quite a few vacant spaces for tent sites although we had a caravan site. As usual we travelled around a lot and enjoyed our visit.

On the way back we stopped at Bloemfontein to have lunch and refuel.

The weather was cold during this whole trip and maybe the daily runs could have been shorter. We travelled 4300 kilometers on this trip.

Click here if you would like to see some of the flowers.