Countdown to Cape Town
Trip Start
Nov 07, 2005
1
70
75
Trip End
Nov 04, 2006
Orange River / Clanwilliam / Cape Town,
South Africa
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Arriving in South Africa was a relief. Despite the fact that the heat was still suffocating us, we'd reached the final part of our trip. Everyone was getting to the end of their tethers. Kiri had been hoping an express bus to Cape Town would suddenly whisk her away, Ruth was becoming more and more confused: "What time is ti tomorrow?" and the truck was becoming a prison. Musical tastes were clashing, with certain songs being played to death.
Mel: "If Luke plays Bernard Fanning one more time, I'll pull out every curl in his head."
Leaving Namibia took ages. Aside from having to wait for hours to get our exit stamp in a room where the air-con was clearly broken, we had to wait longer whilst people claimed their vAT back and the customs staff made them unload all their products from the truck.
The South African side was a lot quicker, and much more amusing. For some reason they had decided to start a visitors book, so while I was waiting in the queue I had a quick flick through it to see what kind of things people write in border control visitors book. There were a few boring comments from people taking it too seriously (like they're really going to make any kind of evaluations at their monthly meetings), saying things like "slow service, unacceptable" and some slightly more positive notes: "I love it here!"; and then I caught sight of a scrawl from a fellow UK citizen:
"I killed a bunch of people once." Thank you Rob Nando for giving everyone a laugh. You'd better hope they don't make evaluations based on that book or they might be tracking you down.
After a brief swim in the river, with only a few metres separating Namibia and South Africa, almost everyone except me went to the bar. I stayed with Romy, reading and sorting out PC problems and by the time dinner was served, most of the bar goers returned rather merry. They returned to the bar after dinner but Morgs then came back to camp an hour os so later absolutely hammered and Jules helped put him to bed. Within 5 minutes he was out for the count and Jules thought it might be a good opportunity to give him a hair cut. She grabbed her razor and a bowl of soapy water and we shaved a strip of hair down the middle of one leg. He didn't even flinch.
Bart and Emma stumbled back wasted and Lindsay, being a good friend, kindly vacated her tent for them.
The next morning everyone teased Bart something rotten, as he'd previously been calling everyone else sleazy (his new favourite word), so we played him songs such as Ros Stewart's If You Think I'm Sexy and Wham's I'm your man along with some other, slightly more crude songs.
It was scorching hot when we arrived in Clanwilliam so we immediately jumped into the lake/river/whatever it was. The campsite was packed full of South Africans on a weekend break and it felt something like a British caravan park, only with less Brits and better weather. One guy even had a portable sattelite TV that he was permanently plonked in front of. Really, why bother leaving home?!
After our last camping dinner, which was a bizarre South African speciality - a concotion of beef mince, custard and bread - we all tried to pack everything we'd acquired over the past 11 weeks and had shoved in our lockers, back into our backpacks. Not surprisingly mine didn't fit in the slightest but I'd already prepared myself for this eventuality and had purchased a huge supermarket bag to contend with my overspill.
We headed off for Cape Town the next morning, and a few tears were shed by Romy when Table Mountain came in to view. I don't think it was the sight of the cloud covered mountain that moved her but more the thought of us all departing and the realisation she'd miss us. That's what I like to think anyway.
After we'd all checked into out rooms, a few of us started to feel rather lost now that the tour had finished. What should we do now? How do we function without a tour leader telling us what to do? Can anyone remember how to look for accommodation or transport? Who's going to decide what's for dinner?!
Kiri actualy started to feel physically sick, although I'm not entirely sure that wasn't from something else.
We overcame our PTS (post tour stress) and Ruth and I managed to make it to the supermarket on our own, stopping to look at some lovely houses in an estate agents window on the way. We were astonished at how expensive they were, even for South Africa - 8 million pounds for an 8 bed house!?!
A closer look revealed that the houses were in fact not in Africa, but in Marbella, Spain.
For some reason we thought this was hilarious and couldn't stop laughing about it.
On first impressions Cape Town seemed a lot safer than Jo'burg, but it turns out that crime is still rife here. As Ruth was innocently strolling through the supermarket, perusing amongst the fruit and veg, someone nicked one of the baskets out of her trolley.
We all met up for dinner at a game restaurant where we were served by the rudest waiter ever. We'd decided there was no way in hell he was getting a tip from us but he'd obviously foreseen this and added a service charge into our bill anyway.
Romy had thoughtfully arranged springbok shots (creme de menthe and amarula) for us all to down along with an award of something particularly funny or memorable we'd done on the trip. As far as I can remember it went a little something like this...
Dustin: For being the first person to give Romy a present on arrival
Morgan: For constantly revealing his glories, on request or not
Me: For helping to compile the list of awards and for keeping a secret
Julia: For making sure the plates were hygenic with copious amounts of dettol
Mel: For being the biggest lightweight on the truck
BJ: For constantly packing and repacking all the backpacks (when BJ's award was given everyone gave him the finger, much to his amusement)
Claire: For letting most of Africa pass her by whilst she was sleeping
Michelle: For discovering a new species - the Hollish. Is that an animal?
Luke: For having the scariest haircut when we straightened it in Swakopmund
AP: For being the most helpful and nicest person on the truck
Bart: For endless renditions of Circle of Life
Lindsay: For giving shelter to a friend in need
Emma: For making the most of that shelter
Brent: For the sandboarding incident
Andy: For joining Len and Ribo in the snoring chorus
Alice: For giving Morgan the soaking with water he deserved
Len: For being a repeat guest
Damon: For learning the meaning of speed and gravity
Zoe: For bravery when almost charged by a rhino
Troy: For keeping track of time and schedules
Ruth: For amusing everyone with her weird dreams and having so many angels dancing down her throat
Kendra: For being ballsy enough to eat a ball of fire
Marisa: For her wild night in Vic Falls
Kiri: For being the Doxy alarm clock
Ribo: I can't remember what his was but no doubt it was something like surviving the trip without significant injury
We retired to the hotel bar after dinner but most people went to bed early as they had to be up early the following morning. For some reason I chose to stay up until 2am but had stopped drinking alcohol much earlier and so the next morning I was feeling fine for our early morning wine tour.
Ruth, on the other hand, having consumed much more alcohol than me, was not. When asked what she wanted for breakfast she responded:
"I'll tell you what you don't want for breakfast - chuffing wine at 10am!!"
Despite still reeking of last night's beer, Dustin was remarkably upbeat about the prospect of going on a wine tour. As we neared the first vineyard he pointed and said excitedly: "Look, there's wine bushes!"
We were taught how to taste wine (properly) at the first vineyard and asked whether we could explain the smells of the wine. Ruth took a big whiff and said it smelt like grass. I informed her that she might be getting that smell from the grass they were cutting next door.
We visited a chocolate shop and a cheese tasting place as part of our tour as well and arrived back at the hostel merry, but not completely legless, much to the surprise of those who hadn't gone on the tour.
Ruth, Kiri and I ventured on a shopping spree at the V&A Waterfront, rounded off by a lovely alcohol free dinner and then got a taxi back through Honk City. They sure do like their car horns in Cape Town.
The next morning, whilst I was at the beauty salon with Romy, Ruth and Claire wandered around town and then decided they needed a taxi to the waterfront. Not knowing where to hail a cab from, they walked into a nearby hotel to ask there. The receptionist beckoned over the concierge and before they knew it, Claire and Ruth were whisked away in a posh silver car. Free of charge.
To top it off, arriving in a flash car meant that they got doors opened for them at the shops.
The majority of us met up for one final dinner as most people were heading off the next day and it was a bit of a sad occasion after we'd spent so much time together the last few weeks. We'd never all be together again. It's making me sad just writing it. I'll miss you all a lot.
There were a few cac points but mostly it was lovely.
HAPPY DAYS!
