for lunch, spent the arvo and evening in the hostel watching 3 soccer
games with Aussie Greg then went out for pizza. oh, the western world!
Next morning i went for a walk to the beach and the pier and to the
sand dunes on the edge of town.
We made our way through the desert and to the Tropic of Capricorn. Saw
our biggest live snake, a 2 metre python, complete with the flat neck.
Driver Gav did his Steve Irwin impression and stalked it, while we
watched from the truck. At night i camped outside, next to the
gone-out campfire. A bit chilly but certainly keeping it real and no
messing about with a tent! I lay there slightly tipsy and sentimental,
listening to my tunes and watching the Southern Cross and the Milky
Way in the Namibian sky. How cool!
At Sossusvlei we walked a few kms in the sand and then climbed these
huge sand dunes. 200 metres high or something. Pretty hard work. From
the peak we then ran and rolled down the other side to this dried out
lake where they have skeleton trees that have died. A bit otherworldly.
Next day we went to Fish River Canyon. Very spectacular, the second
biggest canyon in the world, after the Grand Canyon. We didnt have
much time there but hiking isnt allowed at this time of year anyway so
after an hour of looking and taking photos, we left.
On wednesday we cooked bbq snags and veggies. Next morning we went
kayaking on the Orange River, South Africas longest river. There were
only a few rapids and it was a bit tame really but nice views. It is
the border between Namibia and South Africa.
Crossed into South Africa. Went to the supermarket and bought pies and
chips. Everything is modern! Arrived at Gekkos hostel.....a proper
hostel, with a pool table and hot showers and a kitchen. So spoilt. I
went for a walk down to the river. Only got a bit lost. But it was
good to get away from the gang for a bit and dip my toes in the cool
river water. More soccer in the arvo. Its been great to watch live
games in the last week or so, since i dont hardly get to do that in
Oz.
Before we left Gekkos we cleaned the truck in side and out. Took us
about 3 hours, we are very efficient now. After that we took a
beautiful drive down to the wine region of Stellenbosch and stayed in
another luxury hostel. Its also been strange meeting other travellers
and having to consider them. Its always been just us when bushcamping
and we dont have rules about polite behaviour or noise or
anything........we also met our first racist who just kept going on about
'the coloureds' even though we were ignoring him.
The wine tour was great fun. A bit cliched and aimed more at
backpackers (i am such an overlander snob now!). Lots of dance music
on the minibus and the guide being 'crazy'. After a quick lesson on
how to make wine which i dont think any of us was really listening
to, we got stuck into some tasting. We went to 4 farms, and at one
they also had cheese tasting. I am not that much into cheese but some
of it was really tasty especially with the red wine. Needless to say
we were all pretty hammered and i think Mayumi and I would have won
the piggyback race across the lawn if i hadnt dropped her before the
race actually started.
Back at the hostel we drank more beer and played pool. After pizza was delivered we drank more beer, put on some tunes and sang karoake style to Bon Jovi, Bryan Adams and Cyndi Lauper
(i am sure you can guess which songs). Then the police arrived. They
were very friendly and let us know that the locals had complained.
Fair enough, my singing is pretty bad. So we turned the music off,
drank more beer and jumped into the pool. Then we broke the party up
and got changed to go out, just as another couple of police guys
turned up. About 8 of us went dancing, to cheezy dance music. About 2
am we were asked to leave for the crime of 'dancing on the
stage'....??? Still, given the hangover i had to endure yesterday it
was probably a blessing. Unfortunately, the same night, someone broke in to the hostel and stole one our groups backpack, with camera and laptop in. And we found that another of our guys had his credit card ripped off in Namibia to the the tune of 2000 quid.
Arrived in Cape Town at lunchtime. Proper backpacker hostel this one.
A few of us went out to the supermarket to get dinner. Only take out
the money you need and dont take a camera! That was the advice from
the guy who got mugged the day before.
This afternoon we got the cable car up to Table Mountain, which you can see from all parts of the city. The views were of course spectacular, the ocean and the city and the new soccer stadium for the world cup. Also some flora and fauna to check out.
Thats all. Off on a 2 day road trip along the coast tomorrow.
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