Wednesday 27th March 2013

Today we were going to follow the advice of our host regarding our sightseeing activities. But first we wanted to see the falls again. We knew we would not see them as high as they were two years ago, but we heard that the flood damaged view points were repaired at last and wanted to explore these. We were also able to see further upstream this time and see the remnants of a bridge which used to span the gorge. I think the bridge was destroyed in the floods of 1986 as there are photos showing the bridge still there during that flood but looking very vulnerable. Hard to imagine that the water got as high as where we were standing taking photos into the gorge which looked so far away. But then there is still debris sitting high up on the rocks. L: I took a photo of Steve with the debris at the highest point.

The advice we got was to just go and see the viewpoints over the gorge and not to do the whole park. There are three of these along the gorge and all offered spectacular views.

L:  The views were amazing, and not quite as hot as yesterday so we spent quite a bit of time in the park and saw springbok, baboon and monkeys as well as quite a few birds as well as some colourful lizards.

We then left the park to travel to Riemvasmaak Hot Springs.  We had to cross the bridge over the Orange River to get there and wow, what a journey, a real 4 by 4 track, which did not have much done to it.

We eventually stopped on the top of the mountain under a little “afdakkie” (shelter – for those who can’t understand Afrikaans) to have a very basic “on the road” lunch of tinned tuna and Provita, with a dash of mayo.  It was over 40 degrees and we still had a way to go.

S:  We decided to drop the tyre pressures down to 2,2 Bar at this point as the road was very corrugated and the ride had been quite jarring.

We arrived at the office for the campsite of Riemvasmaak hot springs and paid for the car and us to get in and climbed down a short distance to the Hot Pools and then the Not-so-Hot Pools, which we really enjoyed, along with a whole bunch of Vaalies – all out on a 4 by 4 holiday with all the bells and whistles and a lot of bragging besides….”I have 4 cars, and I have the best camera”…..It was a lovely dip, though.

We then had the drive back to our overnight spot, Augrabies Falls B + B again.  We had a little rest, showered and went off to supper at Augrabies Falls Restaurant, which was really lovely.  The spot-lights over the falls are switched on between 8 and 10pm, which was great to witness, along with a spectacular lightning show, with a peppering of rain and thunder.

S:  We are off to Pella tomorrow to start our Namaqua 4x4 Eco Trail along the Orange River.

L:  Lovely day with such beautiful sights, off to bed now zzzzzz – night all.

Tuesday 26th March 2013

Today was a longer drive to Augrabies and we wanted to stop off in Loeriesfontein, or rather I did, as it had one of the largest collections of wind pumps in the world. If that is the case then there are not many of these collections as we only counted 30 in this one. They stand in a windswept yard behind what was a Baptist church and which now is a museum building. We elected not to phone the mobile number on the board for Tuesday to get access to the museum as we did not want to stay too long.

There was still a long drive ahead and it was very hot standing outside. Loeriesfontein is something like Verneukpan, been there, seen it, no need to do it again.  L:  Hear, hear.

The air conditioner in the Colt is still not working properly yet. It has been a two year saga trying to sort it out. I think it is time to change the service technician. L: Thought we weren’t allowed to mention the air-con!!  Or lack thereof……

Just outside Nieuwoudtville we stopped off to look at the Quiver tree forest. A lot of quiver trees but not really a forest.

So….. travelling the hot dirt gravel road to Brandvlei was interrupted by frequent squirts of Lesley’s water spray bottle in a bid to keep cool.

L: 30 degrees Celcius at 9am!! 

We filled up in Brandvlei and it seems the Colt is also getting very thirsty. It might be because we are quite loaded and we had a headwind but we were averaging 7.2 km per litre.

Trying to spot birds while travelling is very frustrating as being newbies we have to try and get a photo, then enlarge it and try and identify it using Lesley’s new bird book. We can fly past a bird on a pole at 100 km/h but when we turn around and try and approach it slowly it flies away. We were almost into Kakamas when we found a goshawk (Southern Pale Chanting Goshawk!!) that decided to play ball and pose for us. Lesley was delighted.

We are nicely settled in at Augrabies Falls B&B which is in fact a self catering place. The owner’s great grandfather used to own the land that Augrabies falls was on, he bought it from the Queen in 1893, but sold it to the state in 1907. He was quite useful in suggesting the things for us to do tomorrow to make the most of the day. Aside from going to see the falls, which we will do tomorrow night, there are three viewpoints over the gorge and then a trip to Riemfasmaak hot springs.

L:  It is our second trip here, some of you will remember that we celebrated our 25 wedding anniversary here, 2 years ago

Monday 25th March 2013

L:  Well.  Holiday time is finally here. 

The packing seemed to go so well, so either we are getting good at this or……..now here is the worrying part,….maybe, we are leaving a lot of what we need, behind.

So, we were up at 5am and ready to go at 6.15am as Steve decided it was best to go with him to work, as he was handing over standby, but taking the day off so we could start earlier.

We had decided not to delay with breakfast at home so by the time we got on the road and had a quick stop for breakfast, (at the Engen 1 Stop, Wimpy on N7) it was 10.30am so we were starving as we had been up and about for over 5 hours. S: Chatted to an Australian couple who had come over to do an overland trip from Cape Town to Nairobi. The reason I started a conversation was that I thought the vehicle registration was British and I was curious as to what route they had taken to South Africa if that was the case. Turned out to be Kenyan registered.

L: We left there to drive on through to Vanrhynsdorp, past Clanwilliam dam – which is really empty. 

The view was lovely, although no flowers at this time of the year.  There were loads of trucks on the road, and of course, the ever-growing, road-works.

I started to get very hot, and sunburnt as we were reaching 40+ degrees. S: Sitting on the right side of the cab has its advantages.

On the way through, Nicole (our eldest daughter) was booking accommodation through her company, SafariNow for us, which was really convenient. 

We have not really done many bookings as we wanted to be fairly spontaneous, but obviously we need to book certain times, especially over Easter weekend and on the Namaqua trails……

We reached Vanrhynsdorp at about 3pm and were really hot, but the places we tried for accommodation, were full.  We decided to see about the hotel – Namaqualand Country Lodge, which we settled on.  It was a bit more expensive than we are used to, but oh so lovely, to have air-con, en-suite, pool and restaurant etc, oh and secure parking.

When we hit the room, we both had a lovely afternoon nap and I only woke Steve up as supper was 7 – 8pm and didn’t want us to miss it. 

I had been taking sunset photos for 20 minutes by then and what a treat that was.

We had supper next to the lodge pool in the balmy evening air.  Supper was very good too.

I suggested that we go for an evening stroll, and to walk off the pudding.  That turned out to have been a great idea.  We strolled up to the church and took amazing photos of the church steeple with the moon and trees around it. 

Also, found a little old shop with an old wreck of an Austin motor car outside. 

On our way back to the lodge, we popped in to the church grounds to see the Wall of Remembrance, and got such a fright when the church bells pealed nine times for nine o’clock.

Back to our lovely air-conditioned room.  What a great start to a holiday full of promise.