And so the story ends...

Our final week and what an ending!

It all started with a drive of 180km to Sun City north of Johannesburg where we stayed in a timeshare appartment with Basil and Penny. The first day we spent wandering around the lush oasis with its opulent hotels, golf courses, swimming pools and lakes. It was 37C every day we were there but a very dry heat and thus quite bearable in the shade. We wandered in to the Palace of the Lost City and saw this amazing statue of Shabu a bull elephant that died in the park aged 80 yrs.

Then we were up at 5am the next day for a dawn game drive through Pilanesberg National Park which is based inside a huge ancient volcano. We saw lots of elephants bathing in the river and wallowing in the mud. There were white rhino around every corner. Giraffes and Zebra mingled with impala, springbok, kudu and many other species of antelope. We saw hippos grazing along the edge of lakes and a large eagle with a snake in its mouth. It was very hot and there were 6 of us and and a 3 month old baby in Basil and Penny's 4x4 which was luckily airconditioned. We drove for about 6 hours before returning to the appartment for lunch and a rest. Then later in the afternoon we went out again and saw more elephants and rhino. The elephants were browsing on the road and we had to wait a long time for them to finish and move away. One elephant didn't like how close we were and decided to charge us so we backed away quickly. The next day was even hotter so we went down the fantastic Valley of the Waves where there is a wave pool that generates 2m high waves to surf on. It was very crowded with young kids as you can imagine. In the evening we went on a night safari with a tour operator and had the highlight of our African adventure.

At first we saw only a few lone bull elephants in the distance but then we stumbled on a herd of elephants on the road and one particular one called 'Steroids' took an exception to us and charged us. Luckily we were near an electrified hide and we took shelter there until he moved away sufficiently for us to break out at high speed. Then shortly afterwards we came across two very large male lions sauntering down the road. We stopped and one went one side of the safari vehicle and the other brushed past us on the other side before disappearing. And then if that was not enough a few minutes later we spotted a leopard crossing the road ahead of us. Our guide told us he had not seen a leopard for 6 months and on the last night drive he had done they only saw impala.

On the way back we were held up by a white rhino grazing on the road and then the guide spotted a spotted genet (a medium sized cat) in a tree. So we had three cats in the safari and our guide told us it was the best night drive he had ever done.

Then it was alas back to Jo'burg to catch our flight to Sydney where David's cousin Cyndy was waiting to meet us and then onto NZ and the end of a great holiday and adventure.

And that our friends is the end. The end of a great adventure through Eastern and Central Europe and South Africa. We will be back again in 2009 when we will head south into Belgium and into France winding by river and canal to Strasbourg and then follow the Rhine and the River Main through Bavaria and down to the Blue Danube before returning down the Rhine to Ossenzijl. If any of you will be in Europe next year then get in touch with Wendy and I, because we would love to see you, and show you the beauty of the European waterways from the decks of Le Fabuleux.

Until next year this is David and Wendy signing off.

North to Johannesburg

This week we have spent relaxing in the Eastern Cape and driving up to Johannesburg where we are now.
After relaxing Monday walking along the beautiful Boknes beach on Tuesday we headed inland on a slightly drizzly day to Addo National Park where we hoped to see some of the elephant herds that are there. We saw our first bull elephant just as we went through the gate and then lots of kudu and warthogs. The terrain is quite bushy and its difficult to spot game amongst the 2m high bushes. We were despairing of seeing more elephants and were heading for the exit when we spotted dozens of elephants near the road and indeed two elephants were blocking the road for some time. Alas the giraffes and other wildlife including lions and leopards were not showing themselves that day.

The next couple of days we relaxed and went for some local drives. On Friday we left for 'The Hogsback' to stay in the house (now a hotel) where Wendy's parents used to live. It is very English like and very beautiful with thatched houses and the most glorious azaleas everywhere.

The gardens of Nutwoods House where we were staying are delightful with roses and Azaleas everwhere and we enjoyed a lovely meal in the old house.


Then we were up bright and early for the long drive to Johannesburg where we arrived late afternoon to meet Penny and Basil's daughter and family who had just flown in that day from England.

Today we have visited Gold Reef City and gone down a gold mine and enjoyed some of exhibits and rides that Gold Reef City has to offer. Johannesburg is a pretty city and the jacarandas are out everywhere. It is hilly and green with a lovely warm dry climate.

This week we head about 150km north west of Johannesburg to Sun City where we will visit the fabulous Lost City there and visit the Pilanesberg Game Park where we hope to spot alot more wildlife inside the rim of an extinct volcano. Then alas the final chapter of this blog will be written in Auckland where we return on Sunday.

The Garden Route

What a week this has been! We started on Monday with a lovely tour along the coast from Cape Town to Hermanus, which is the centre for whale watching for SA. We drove along the side of the sea cliffs with spectactular views across to Table Mountain until we reached Betty's Bay where we stopped to view the colony of Jackass penguins. On the way back to the car we saw our first Dassies or Rock Rabbits. An unusual animal and not a rabbit; it is actually most closely related to the Dugong. Then after another stop for fish and chips for lunch we arrived in Hermanus to see the whales. Unfortunately the only ones we could see were about 1 km off the coast. The ones we saw in Cape Town were closer and more numerous. Over the course of this week we have seen scores of whales all along the coast, sometimes further out, other times just beyond the surf line.

On Tuesday we drove some 400km to Wilderness, a town right smack in the middle of the Garden route that we were to spend the week exploring with our marvellous hosts Peter and Cherie. It was a lovely fine day as we crossed the wheat fields of the Southern Cape to get to Mossel Bay where we stopped briefly to visit the Bartholomew Diaz Museum and see a replica of the boat that he sailed to there from Portugal in 1456.

The next day was wet and misty. Together with Cherie we were headed inside for the day in the Cango Caves near Oudshoorn. Normally they are reached by a spectacular mountain pass called the Outeniqua Pass, but today we could see no further than 20m ahead in the cloud and mist. We arrived at the caves in the pouring rain and elected to do the Adventure Tour through the caves. This was a 2.5hr guided walk through the vast caves crawling through passages just 35cm high on our stomachs and then wriggling up the devil's chimney, a narrow (very narrow) tube going vertically up to another set of caves. How we got up I don't know, but we managed to finish the tour with only one casualty - a broken camera. Some of the caverns were truly spectactular with beautiful stalagmites and limestone formations. There were only six of us in our group which was very enjoyable as in the peak season they can have 40 or 50 in a group.

On Thursday we drove further along the coast to Knysna and its lovely lagoons. We had a lazy lunch at the Knysna Oyster Company. Beautiful fish and oysters washed down with the local Mitchells beer. After lunch we drove up to the viewpoint overlooking Knysna Heads where the waters of the lagoon enter the sea. Dramatic cliffs and rough water.

Friday saw us driving to Plettenberg Bay for another busy day. We drove to Robberg Peninsular which is a beautiful nature reserve defining the western side of 'Plett' Bay and did a short circular walk along the cliff tops. We spotted whales cavorting in the surf. It was a perfect day with hardly any wind at all. Then later that afternoon we drove out of Plett to the Buffalo Hills Safari Game Park. Friends of Peter and Cherie own the reserve and their ranger Jacques drove us around the reserve for several hours as we spotted wilderbeest, springbok, eland, zebra, giant tortoises and giraffes. There had been a problem with the giraffes as one of their number had been captured to be transported to another reserve. It was tranquillised and blindfolded for the road trip but unfortunately escaped from the truck and headed up into the bush still with its blindfold on.
We spent some time looking for it but alas we could not spot it.

At the end of the drive we drove up to a lovely viewpoint overlooking the safari park and had a drink. After the safari we did some tasting of a local spirit called mampoer which is a kind of distilled alchol infused with different fruits or berries. We tried peach, strawberry and chilli! They were strong. The owners of Buffalo Hills had invited us to join them and 4 other guests for a braai dinner and around a blazing campfire we sipped wine and chatted until the meat was cooked. There was kudu (venison), grilled lambs livers, and succulent chicken. The party went on until the wee small hours of the morning.

Then it was time to leave the Garden Route and head to Wendy's home town of Port Elizabeth. We passed the highest Bungy jump in the world at 219m over a river. On the Saturday night some 20 old friends of Wendy met up at an excellent restaurant for a great meal and the next day we met up with Wendy's sister and her husband, Penny and Basil at a braai that was hosted by Kathy and Dave at their lovely clifftop home near Port Elizabeth. From their deck we saw dozens of dolphins surfing in the waves below. Then as the sun set we drove for a couple of hours to Penny and Basil's beautiful beachside home in Boknes where we are staying for this week before heading up to Jo'burg at the end of the week.

A Whale of a Time in Cape Town

Whilst the weather has been variable this week in Cape Town, the scenery has not! It is magnificent. On Monday we drove along the southern edge of Cape Town to False Bay and along the coast as far as Simonstown, the big SA naval base. Along the way we spotted whales cavorting in the sea just 20 metres off the coast. Everywhere we looked we could see whales jumping; whales swimming; whales blowing and whales just swimming. You could almost reach out to them from the land. Amazing! A bit further long the coast we saw a group of penguins walking around on the rocks.

On Tuesday we explored Cape Town City visiting the Castle of Good Hope and the Company Gardens. In the afternoon we took a drive along the Atlantic Coast beaches past Camps Bay (below) and along to Hout Bay.


Lovely sandy beaches and beautiful homes on the slopes of the Table Mountain National Park. After picking up our car we went for a sunset drive to the base station of the Cable Car to the top of Table Mountain to see if we could get up but it was closed so we drove up Signal Hill and watched the sun set from there.

The next day we set off for Cape Point, the extreme South West corner of Africa. It was drizzly as we drove down but cleared up a little at the Cape and we took the funicular railway to the top of the Cape where nthe lighthouse is, and looked out on the stormy waters that stretch all the way to Antartica. We drove to the Cape of Good Hope just around the corner. This is not as dramatic as Cape Point but is the true most south westerly point of Africa. The most southerly is further east and called Cape Aghulas. That is where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Indian Ocean.

On the way back we encountered a troop of Chacma Baboons wandering along the road quite oblivious to the cars stopping to observe them.We were getting hungry by now so we called into the famous "Brass Bell' restaurant at Kalk Bay for a lovely lunch of fish soup and pizza. We had a window seat and from here we could we watch the whales just metres away in the bay and the fishing boats coming back from their fishing grounds with the catch of the day. After lunch we wandered down to the fishing harbour and saw crate after crate of crayfish being offloaded. Then a bevy of seals sauntered into the harbour hoping for some scraps. They were big!

On Thursday we visited Wendy's cousins and Aunt for morning tea. Wendy hadn't seen them for 20 odd years so it was grand reunion for her. In the afternoon we went to Canal Walk, a modern shopping centre on the way to Paarl. Without a doubt it ranks as one of the biggest and best malls in the world. It is HUGE! Then as the sun dropped further in the sky, together with Peter and Colleen we drove to the Cable Car and went up to the top of Table Mountain and as the sun went down we sipped a glass or two of champagne. A magic moment.

Cape Town has incredible extremes of wealth and poverty. Whilst we did not feel threatened in any way you have to be on the guard all the time. All of the restaurants, hotels, car parks etc employ attendants to keep an eye on the cars parked there. Every house has electric gates and security grills on all doors and windows and alarms that when set off will have an armed guard around in minutes. Many houses have electrified fences around the perimeter. Like most cities you just have to be sensible. You don't go walking alone in quiet areas. You don't venture into the wrong sort of suburbs and if you see suspicious characters you keep driving or turn around and walk the other way.

On Friday Wendy was off to a reunion with some of her Port Elizabeth school friends whilst I babysat Rocky, Peter and Colleens's 7 year old golden labrador. Then it was time to leave Cape Town (sigh) and head off to the Wine Lands around Stellenbosch where we celebrated Peter's birthday in an olive farm owned by old friends of Wendy until the wee wee small hours of the morning.

Next day we went wine tasting and called into Fairview Winery where the famous Goat wines are made. The off to Backsberg where we had lunch. Wendy had the Roasted karoo Lamb on the spit (a whole lamb). Then we headed for Franschoek where we stayed the night in a lovely old period house in the middle of the town. We had a lovely meal at the French Connection including the best tagliatelle we had ever had. On Sunday we drove to Somerset West, about 40 km away to visit another old friend of Wendys. This week we head along the Garden Route to Port Elizabeth.