We drove through the Drakensberg, stopping off at Dullstrom for cushion covers, and pancakes at the slowest restaurant in the World.
We arrived at the OR Tamba Airport, Jo'Berg , with plenty of time to spare (a Whittaker tradition!). Helena caught the plane back to the U.K.
Pete and Carole walked across to the Airport Hotel and booked in for the night.
It was very sad to say goodbye to Helena.
Thursday, 2nd December 2010
Pete and Carole caught the flight to Cape Town. The girl in the seat next to Carole was chanting from a book and swaying backwards and forwards as she did so. Carole was quite worried and wondered if the girl had a rucksack......Pete realised the people she was with were Jewish so that mollified concerns.
Once in Cape Town it transpired that all the airport cars had gone, so we caught a shuttle bus to Long Street and checked into the Urban Chic Hotel. Long Street is the party capital of Cape Town, and although the Hotel was lovely with great staff, after a night of no sleep we decided to move on.
Also a guy turned up to show us a chalet he was letting in his garden; the guy was weird, his driving was dreadful and the chalet was hideous so we wanted to avoid further contact with him!
Friday, 3rd November 2010
We moved down the road to the Strand Hotel; the walk in price was 1400 Rand, (£130) but the Internet rate was 600 (£58) rand, so we went down the road, booked over the Internet, then went back in the Hotel to check in!
We booked the car hire to commence on Saturday, then walked into the V & A Waterfront to do some shopping. We had lunch at a fab Italian Restaurant, right on the front.
In the evening we watched Notting Hill!
Saturday 4th December 2010
We picked up the car only to find it was a hatchback and our luggage would not fit in, so we had to drive to the airport and pick up a saloon car from there. Then we decided to drive to Hermanus to pay for our rondavel for last week of December; there was no-one there to pay as it was a Saturday! Really quite an unrewarding start to the day!
The guidebook described a lovely drive along the Brede Valley to a place called Greyton, so we decided to drive it and stay overnight there. The journey did not disappoint and Greyton itself was gorgeous. We booked in at the Old Post Office and then sat in the bar to watch the Rugby with the locals; we were served bar snacks and lager and treated as though we were friends - it was a really great experience.
All the rooms are named after Beatrix Potter characters, with a copy of the book in each room. We walked along the main, chestnut lined road, past Jacaranda trees and rose gardens; it was a little slice of England in a remote corner of South Africa!
The next day, we walked up into the reserve and along the river; the scenery and flora were stunning. Then we returned to the Old Post Office for a drink before departing to overnight at the Bontibock Reserve. (See next blog).
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