Mardouw Country House Swellendam

... rolling valley surrounded by mountains in the distance, were still covered in vineyards: Route 66 claims to be the longest wine route in the world. We needed cash (not as many places take credit cards as we had imagined), and found an ATM in Robertson, a bustling, clean and well kept town.

A quick stop for petrol in the predominantly black township of Ashton, and 20 minutes later we rolled into the deserted but quaint town of Montagu (shops close Saturday afternoon). A quick browse ...

... say they smoke it because it tastes nice. The boy gets out a guitar and I get out my harps and we have a bit of a jam, neither of us know anything the other knows so he just strums chords and I play the blues, Marianne says it sounds pretty good anyway.

When we've played for a while, we all call it a night because they all have work in the morning and we have to drive back to the coast.

During the night it rains pretty hard and the rain on the tin roof wakes us all up.

... House, the oldest house in the town which has been restored and opened as a life-style museum. In 1853 22 year old Pieter Joubert was sent by his father to build the house for the family. I guess I those days one didn't need a degree in bricklaying, he appears to have a made a good job of the build as it is still standing today despite being badly damaged by floods in 1981. It was interesting to see how the early settlers lived, the Joubert family were ...

We set off for Montagu and Route 62, calling in at the Olympia Cafe in Kalks Bay for a take-out coffee and a quick look at the harbour and the local fish. Then we hit roadworks for 30km.... Finally arrived in Montagu late afternoon, which is a beautiful little village set in a gorge. We found a very nice place to stay, wandered around a bit and then found a very nice place to eat dinner, in the courtyard of a Cape Dutch mansion under a 100-year-old pear tree.

... is, and I realized that I would love to come back one day and spend a week there - particularly during the South African winter, when scores of right whales can be spotted right off the coast. De Hoop is easily one of the most strikingly beautiful places I've been - untouched, immense sand dunes (called "Koppie Alleen", or "Head Alone") that contrast with a crisp blue sky, fynbos and rocky coast pounded by turquoise water, many ...

... breakfast, and Priscilla the Pig - Queen of the Karoo presiding over the Medicine Wheel native garden. Leon, our host directed us to the only restaurant open on the Sunday called A Place in Time. He gave us a bottle of 'A Decent Red' a local wine to take with us (and decent it was). Dinner was eclectic again - a homey, eclectic type of place that appeared as though the hosts were more concerned with food than decoration. We confirmed this by being treated to the best meal we have had so far. 

Hello everyone! If you're keeping up with the entries, we had just left Cape Town and were preparing to face the open road. We got on the baz bus in the morning with a few other travellers, including a older man who took about ten minutes to get on the bus and then talked non-stop to the driver all the way to his stop about an hour later. We settled into the four back seats and made ourselves right at home - actually hanging an entire ...

After driving c. 4000KM in two weeks, some chill-out was needed. This was where Swellendam provided the tonic; a beautiful small town 2.5 hours east of Cape Town. Three nights spent walking in the sunshine and reading, supplemented by loads fruit and good food, have now set me up nicely for the penultimate chapter; NAMIBIA! Off to CT tomorrow; flight to Windhoek Sat AM @ 0800. Watch this space folks :-)

... funky brown and white antelope, so I'm gonna check them out. Tomorrow I wanna head out and bike across the mountains to a town called outdshoorn, which has a krapload of ostriches and some awesome caves apparently. That should take a couple of days though, it's about 180 km over mountains. I probably won't have internet access for a while again. alright, you guys hang in there, and keep emailing me, I love it, LOVE IT I tell ya. I'm gonna go chill with bonteboks now. have a good one, and ta-ta

... a few Bontebok, but then we were also treated to a pair of Zebra close enough to get a decent look at. By the time we got back to the rest camp I was completely frazzled, and my arms were numb from the vibration of the dirt road. We drank a big bottle of water while I tried to get the feeling back into my hands. I had also been nervous because the clouds were coming closer, and the sky was nearly pitch black by the time we headed out of the park. I had been ...