Last few days in South Africa
Trip Start
Nov 02, 2007
1
9
29
Trip End
Mar 01, 2008
Plettenberg Bay, South Africa
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Dave and I are in Franshoeck, a town founded by the Hugenots (French protestants kicked out of France a couple of centuries ago). Guess what they brought with them: winemaking knowledge! So we are exploring the very famous South African wine region, its magnificent valleys and numerous wineyards, occasionally tasting the wine with a cheese/cold meat platter. Honnestly this area has everything we need to make us happy: scenery, food&wine, sunshine. Thee are even lavender fields like in Provence!
I must apologise for not having written more frequently in the last week - I knew the blog would create expectations! One the other hand I am happy our loved ones in France and Australia are looking forward to follow our adventures. We have been so busy with friends (Adam&Sally, Greg, Nathalie) that we have forgotten to spend time on the Internet lately.
So in short, in South Africa we have spent some time in Cape Town, travelled along the garden route (hiked in many National Parks along the way) and along the scenic road 62 inland. Now in the wine region, before going back to Cape Town tomorrow and catch our plane on Sunday 16th December for Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The highlight of the last few days has been to visit the Cango caves (grottes) just above Oudshoorn where massive stalagmites (going up) and stalagtites (going down) constructed over million of years sometimes, can be seen. (a great hostel to stay in Oudshoorn: Karoo Soul, it has very nice double bedrooms!) We also to visited a big cat sanctuary that is conducting a very well managed conservation programme for cheetahs, jaguars, lions and other endangered species. In that sanctuary Dave has realised one of his dreams and had a personal encounter with 3 baby tigers - 6 months old - They were all so very cute! The pictures are fantastic, we'll try to put them online on Friday. Last but not least: our only real problem in Africa: the car got stuck on the side of the road and the wheel got bogged in the sand until axle when Dave decided to cross a massive pond of water that was covering the track next to Rondvlei lake in Wilderness! - I, the co-pilot, had said it wasn't a good idea - We managed to get out of trouble (I was sitting ankle deep in the water) thanks to a local family who drove along in a 4x4...We were a bit embarassed, and feeling a little amateurish! A little further we decided the wheel needed to be replaced with the spare wheel because a horrible grinding noise was coming from the wheel that had been bogged....We lost a couple of hours but in the end I was happy this didn't happen to us on one of the deserted Namibian roads!
Coucou Maman/Granny, tout va toujours bien depuis mon coup de tel! Je suis contente que la carte postale ai plu a Granny. Grosses bises pour Tante Aude j'espere qu'elle se remet bien. Je vous envoie plein de soleil pour Noel!
Love/Bisous
Benj&Dave
