Monthly Archives: June 2010

South Africa / Travel — Comments Off on Road Trip Day 1: Route 62 to Oudtshoorn
27
Jun 10

Road Trip Day 1: Route 62 to Oudtshoorn

Sunday, June 27

Cape Town, RSA to Oudtshoorn, RSA (420km or 260mi)

As depressed people do, we slept in a bit after the USA loss… USA loss, Celtics loss… It all seemed so much.  We decided to go on a sports-soul healing drive across the entire Western Cape and on across the Eastern Cape as well.  Richard encouraged us that our previous plans of just taking 1 day to drive to Addo (where we had reservations for Monday & Tuesday night) and 1 day back was not long enough to enjoy the drive.  After sleeping off the heavy losses, we hung out with our South African family and made some reservations for Oudtshoorn (official site) for the night – in a place where Richard and Carol knew someone who had stayed there before and they highly recommended it.  Additionally, Richard had a spare cell phone and SIM card so we didn’t have to go buy another one!  Even though we had barely used our previous cell, having one available as needed made us feel so much more connected and able adjust plans as needed.  It was so kind of them to let us borrow theirs and it made everything right with our world again (well, other than our USA loss – wink, wink).

We had heard of the Garden Route before we got to South Africa, and knew that we wanted to drive that one way of our trip to Addo – but when we arrived we learned of Route 62 (wiki).  Richard again highly recommended this scenic drive to Addo.  It was a gorgeous route along the mountains, and the striking landscapes seemed to change drastically by the hour.  We rattled off comparisons we were familiar with as drove.  Here is just a short sampling of some the wildly varied places we were reminded in the quickly changing landscape of the drive:  Grand Canyon, American Southwest, Petrified Forest, Australian Outback (although we’ve never been), the Badlands, Washington State, and West Virginia.

To get to Route 62, first we drove N1 through the Winelands and through a mountain range using the Huguenot Tunnel.  At Worcester we turned East on R60.  R60 follows the mountains to R62 and is a gorgeous drive.  We stopped in Robertson (official site) at the Rooiberg Winery (as Richard had suggested), but they were closed on Sundays so we ate at Bourbon Street and had Rooiberg wine there.  We drove through the super cute towns of Montague (official site) and Barrydale (official site) while listening to the game in both English and Afrikaans on the radio.  We thought we could understand the Afrikaans broadcast well enough to know when a goal had been scored and for which team, but it turns out when we get into range of an English broadcast several goals had been scored for both Germany and England that we had been unaware of!

We passed by Ronnie’s Sex Shop – which is supposed to be an awesome pub – but we had just gotten to a good radio station with the game in English and the sun was starting to set so we didn’t want to miss any of the landscape.  (The sunset was gorgeous!)

Despite our efforts, it was dark by the time we got to Oudtshoorn.  The Buffelsdrift Game Lodge, where we were staying, was  about 7km outside of town.  It was INCREDIBLY lux.  We tried to document the luxury details in the “tent” before we headed to dinner at the lodge restaurant.  We had an AMAZING dinner:  South African wine, ostrich wellington, venison loin medium rare, Afrikaans oven bread and malva pudding with custard.  Over the top ridiculously good.  We can’t say enough about the accommodations or the dinner – amazing.  Jeannette loved her HOT pedestal bath with salts and we loved falling asleep to a cacophony of loud birds. A great start to our road trip inside of a trip.

Our route for the day:


Our first start of the Mountain Route:

We saw baboons!

Huguenot Tunnel:

Cute church in Barrydale:

Canyons, just as the sun was going down:

Our tent at the Buffelsdrift Game Lodge:

South Africa / Travel — Comments Off on Cape Town Day 5: USA out in Stage 2
26
Jun 10

Cape Town Day 5: USA out in Stage 2

Saturday, June 26

Cape Town, RSA

When we got back from the Cape of Good Hope, we made our way back downtown.  We had good seats in The Dubliner like the previous USA win, but it didn’t have the same “vibe” so we decided to try our luck at finding a new locale and more American comrades.  We walked up and down Long Street, gathering a greater nucleus of American fans each trip until we were in a group of about 25 or so.  As a group we decided to head to the Purple Turtle (which we had previously heard was a bit shady).  We paid a small cover.  Inside we watched a great game with lots of Americans.  By the end of the night, the USA had lost a game and we were down a South African cell phone.   Come to find out a pickpocket had worked the whole crowd and scored a few wallets and phones that evening.

We were pretty dejected as we had to walk the length of Long Street to get to our car through super happy and singing South Africans (they were cheering for any African team at this point).  One favorite though came from a European fan (can’t recall which country though) who yelled at us: “What do you say now, USA?”  I just replied, “Next World Cup”, with a wry smile.  This immediately made them smile and say, “Yeah, us too.”

In conclusion, The Dubliner > Purple Turtle.

South Africa / Travel — 1 Comment
26
Jun 10

Cape Town Day 5: Cape of Good Hope

Saturday, June 26

Cape Town, RSA

After seeing the penguins, we headed the rest of the way down False Bay to the Cape of Good Hope.  There were all sorts of signs for baboons and Josh finally got to see some on the way into the National Park (Jeannette was taking a cat nap).  The old lighthouse was beautiful and we had a good time exploring around Cape Point.  It was SUPER windy (as will be evidenced in the photos below).  All in all, this day out on the Cape of Good Hope was a very successful trip for Josh’s inner child to finally see where Prince Henry the Navigator dabbled in exploration, as it had fully captured his imagination when he was a boy.  When we left the park, we decided to go home the “quick” way so that we could catch some of the Round 2 Uruguay-Korea game.  We were able to do just that and watch the second half at home before heading back downtown to watch the USA play in the second round.

Our drive from Kalk Bay, to Simon’s Town, to Boulders Beach, to Cape Point:


Inside the Cape of Good Hope National Park:

The old lighthouse:

Hold on to your cap, Josh!

Needless to say, we needed a comb after we left!

You’re looking at the southernmost tip of… Cape Point! (They have determined that Cape Agulhas is farther south on the African continent, though most Cape Towners still talk about the Cape of Good Hope as the southernmost tip.  When you remind them it isn’t, they say “Well, it’s the symbolic southernmost tip of Africa. They have no need for L’Agulhas. Haha!)

This is the modern beacon for the Cape Point.  The old lighthouse is no longer functioning.

A story of the bad hair day to come:

Looking North:

South Africa / Travel — 2 Comments
26
Jun 10

Cape Town Day 5: Simon’s Town & Boulders Beach

Saturday, June 26

Cape Town, RSA

From Kalk Bay, we drove to Simon’s Town.  Jeannette was feeling pretty poorly by this point so we stopped in at The Meeting Place for cappuccinos and tea.  This little pick-me-up did the trick and after a quick walk around Simon’s Town, and a pet of their beloved hero dog, we drove down a bit farther to Boulders Beach to see South Africa’s penguins (according to the postcards we bought, these are called Jackass penguins).  We had a great time walking through their habitat on the special elevated boardwalks that allowed us to get so close!  They had hundreds of numbered, little plastic homes for them, though some had clearly made nests in the brush and roots of trees.  As we walked back to the car, there was one penguin that had gone on an adventure and was exploring a drainage pipe out in urbanity.

Simon’s Town:

A hero dog:

Penguins at Boulders Beach:

Other birds at Boulders Beach:

Swimming:

Coming in from a swim:

Hanging out on the beach.  You can see here some of the babes aren’t so much babes anymore – they are losing their baby fluff in stages, some adult feathers and some downy ones in patches.  Ah the awkward preteen years.

Looking right at us!

Hanging out at home:

We watched him come out of the pipe, look around, and then start to head back in!


South Africa / Travel — 1 Comment
26
Jun 10

Cape Town Day 5: Kalk Bay

Saturday, June 26

Cape Town, RSA

This morning we followed Claire and Ali to Kalk Bay.  We saw fun wildlife signs:  “Caution Porcupines!” and just simply “Baboons!” Sadly, we didn’t see any porcupines or baboons.  We had an amazing breakfast at Olympia Cafe – Jeannette even grabbed a pastry for the road.  We walked around the pier at Kalk Bay before driving further down False Bay with Claire.

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