8th- 11th February 2013

After the wedding in Khayelitsha we hung out in Stellenbosch with Janet for a few days and then we decided we should really go and see a little more of South Africa while we were there.

We woke up excited at the prospect of heading out on another adventure but were soon disgruntled at the turn in the weather! Torrential rain poured down and soaked the tent through.

We had no idea what to do as when you put away the tent the sides lay ON the actual bed and sleeping bags inside so it was inevitable that the whole thing would be soaked through when we put the tent back up that night…it didn’t bode well for the first day of a new adventure!

We went over to Janets and had moody faces on…she immediately invited us to stay with her at the B&B for the night and we snapped her arm off at the offer of a dry nights sleep!

We spent the day together pottering around Stellenbosch and decided to go out for a pre-birthday dinner (Janets Birthday was in a few days time) and invited another of the guests from the B&B who was there alone.

A restaurant had been recommended and we had booked a table and wandered out armed with map to go and find it…we looked and looked, we asked and we asked and we called and called…but no joy.

In the end we gave up after being told it had closed years ago! It turned out that the restaurant had relocated to Cape Town but failed to mention this on their website!

Luckily in Stellenbosch there is no shortage of places to eat and we laughed as we settled down to a table in the fish market. We had a great night, full of excitement as per usual, the bar we went to had an electrical box nearby our table that kept exploding and showering nearby people with sparks due to the rain…none of the staff were alarmed by this but I couldn’t help but jump out of my skin every time the shot like sound went off!

The next day after our great nights dry sleep we decided we could not delay leaving Janet any longer.

We said our farewells and hit the road to Franschhoek, a gorgeous little town with quaint little houses and independent businesses. We decided to carry on a little further and sailed through the gorgeous scenery. We drove along flanked by fields filled with fruit trees, the air was sweet with ripening pears and they hung in their hundreds like bright red baubles on over-decorated Christmas trees. Grapes grew around every corner and I stuck my arms and head out of the window as we flew past trying to suck in as much of the air as I could! I felt free again, as free as a bird on the open road.

We eventually got tired of driving and stopped in a small town called Montagu, apparently the home of the apricot!

We had seen the trees as we drove in and enjoyed the smell of the small fluffy fruits on the air. We found a campsite which was right near a tree full of Ibis squawking at each other and we stood and watched them for a while. The tree was dripping with weaverbird nests and we watched them zipping in and out of their perfectly formed little homes.

We set up camp and wondered at the Apricot stone drive way. It crunched strangely underfoot but what a great way to use something you would normally throw away! We watched the Ibis that came onto the site as we made a pan of soup.

They are so methodical in their hunt for food they almost hypnotised us both, watching them work their way back and forth over the grass in an organised fashion. The birds that were so amazing to watch turned out to be a nightmare once the sun went down. It was like trying to sleep in a menagerie!!!

I really wanted to introduce the Ibis to the enormous mating cockroaches in the shower the next day but couldn’t decide which I despised more! We hit the road again bright and early, we (well, I) wanted to visit the Cango caves and we had 350km to cover to get there.
The rain closed in and the clouds wrapped us in a grey blanket completely obliterating our view of the scenery surrounding us.

We did manage however to catch a glimpse of the famous landmark – Ronnies Sex shop…which is actually a bar…but after Ronnie called it Ronnies Shop his friends decided it would be a good prank to call it Ronnie’s Sex shop and in a drunken jest spray painted it across the small bar…and it stuck!

We also stopped several times to adjust the aerodynamics of the camper…it was so windy that the wind whistled through the frame that held the table and the tent onto the van, we set up a nifty fix (a piece of industrial sellotape to redirect the wind) and carried on our way.

We eventually made it to the Cango Caves in Outdshoorne and found a campsite nearby so we could get there in the morning to go look around. We booked into the site, set up camp and got out of the van to go have a look around…within seconds we were covered in huge ants!

They were running up our legs and all over our feet! We slapped them away while running around like idiots! We both ran towards the path and found that the path was crawling with ants too! the place was over run! It was like a scene out of Indiana Jones and the Crystal skull!

We looked around for a less infested area from inside the van but gave it up as a bad job and left as quickly as we had arrived! We found another site and settled in, we had the place completely to ourselves.

We set up our little rain shelter and cooked a chicken casserole in the pouring rain under a huge black cloud! We do always make the best out of every situation though!

Skip to the next blog to see our video diary of  how every cloud and empty camp site has a silver lining!