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Diary - South Africa - Cape Town to Home (16th Feb to 22nd Feb)
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After our celebration lunch we decided to have a drive about the town to reminisce about when we were here before. The day was getting nicer and nicer with Table Mountain starting to reveal its full wonder. This meant we could sort our final photo from high on Signal Hill, along with seeing how huge the new football stadium is compared to everything around it.
Our first nights in town were spent staying with Heather and Richard, some fellow overlanders we met back in the awful times of Northern Kenya. It was really nice to catch up again with people who really understand our elation at reaching the end.
It was a weird feeling knowing that we were on our last day of fun with Gweneveer so we felt we should make full use and take her to see the penguins at Boulders Beech. It is always nice to see ducks in tuxedos and even better when they were surrounding the car park making it free to see them. The drive also took us along the twisting cliff road of Chapmans Peak towards Hout Bay and further on to the waterfront for lunch.
Whilst we were in Cape Town we ended up eating food from every level that the place has to offer. From breakfast of a cheap cake in the local seven eleven, to fancy lunches in the waterfront, and pizza slices from Pick And Pay after several drinks. It really is a place that you can eat anything and at any standard, so we basically stuffed ourselves.
The day came when we were to lose the car and put it in the container. This time the roles were reversed and Katie was the slightly more emotional. It was a strange feeling and possibly the most risky ten kilometres of the entire journey with all of us swerving over the middle of the road, issues with other cars at junctions and a few times coming very close to crossing through red lights. I guess all of our minds were somewhere else and thinking of the past months of the trip.
The container was already on the back of a truck, with a ramp leading to the massive gaping opening ready to gobble up the two cars and motorbike. In fact we had the largest container possible that is extra high so neither of the vehicles had any problem getting into the container without any adjustments. We were last to be loaded and it was reassuring to watch the guys lash down the Land Rover extremely well. I even think you could turn the container upside down and the car wouldn’t move. We had thought it was going to be a bit of a cowboy affair but we were shocked to find so many BMW and Mercedes outside the Project Shipping offices.
Once we had said goodbye to the car and kindly got dropped back into town we went about finding a place to stay. Our first hostel was not great but they sent us round the corner to a very new backpackers, Ashanti Lodge. Unfortunately we ended up in separate dorms for our first night, but being rubbish backpackers we didn’t fancy lugging our backs about the place so stayed put. Having barely spending more than an hour per day away from each other the thought of being behind separate doors was very odd. However we survived the night, just and then were back in a mixed dorm putting up with each others snoring again.
Not having the car really made it feel like the end, but it was made worse by everybody that was in the hostel seemed to be at the beginning of their own adventure and made us incredibly jealous. To keep us busy we had a game of Putt Putt (crazy golf) on our old course. The result was clear from the start and Steve was relieved he hadn’t lost all his golf skills, winning comfortably. We then took the local mini bus into town to go and see the ‘BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year’ gallery. Now we thought some of our photos were really nice but these photos were unbelievable and showed us a thing or two. |
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And so we came to the final day of being away and time to race around in one of South Africans most popular motor, a Citi Golf (a mark one golf from yesteryear). It was great to get some wheels again and we soon realised why we had so much fun in one when we lived here. After brunch in the Newport Deli and long lunch in the waterfront we got ourselves together ready for the final adventure. It seemed like a long drive from England just to watch a rugby match (Stormers v Waratahs) but one that was worth it. The game was not great but the atmosphere was great with crazy locals painted blue and some wild singing Argentineans.
The flight was a nice social time of day but unfortunately it was far from direct. We ended up taking about 22 hours to get back to the UK. We had to stop in Johannesburg, made worse by technical problems, then an hours stop in Abu Dhabi in the Middle East. Save to say the return journey was far from matching the enjoyment of heading in the other direction.
As we emerged into London in the early hours we got a smack in the face from the chilly breeze that we had missed. Add to this the fog and constant slow traffic for the drive home and we realised how wonderful being away is. It was a surreal feeling as we drove passed miles of things we recognised with nothing being different, making it feel like we had never been away. |
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