Woke about 05h00 due to a combination of noisy bird song and a competing rooster. It also gets light VERY early in this area of the world! The full dark also only arrived at about 20h00 last night. Snoozed until 06h00 at which point I got up because I wanted to say good-bye to Nelita, Elme and Jonelle. Renier had left much earlier to help a man with a hot air balloon which we saw floating past! The morning was wonderfully cool and I was not inclined to stay in the house, so I borrowed Renier's bike and cycled with the two girls to their school. After seeing them off I cycled back to the house where I showered and then caught up on some of the blog writing.
By the time James woke up Renier was back and cooked us a huge English breakfast so we felt terribly spoilt. We eventually left at about 10h00 only stopping at the supermarket to buy supplies for the road. I bought myself an ostrich egg there too. I wanted one to do some carving on and they were simply being sold as foodstuff right next to the chicken eggs! It should keep until I get back home, but I might still have to figure out who to invite for breakfast when I cook it. As we left Oudshoorn I took some (very bad) photos of ostriches through the car window because it just didn't seem right to not have one on the blog.
Our next stop was Calitzdorp, a beautiful little town tucked away amongst the mountains. It boasts three wine farms in a very small area. We stopped at the Boplaas vineyards. We bought far too much port and some pinotage and shiraz. It also felt really strange to be doing a wine tasting in the morning.
We spotted a sign that said "Secondhand books for sale" and stopped to investigate. It was at the Calitzdorp museum so we took the opportunity to see the museum and browse the books. After asking permission and explaining about my masters topic I also had a good look the collection of product containers they had there. To my excitement I found one of the products that had been advertised in the Transvaal Advertiser in 1880!
We continued our trip west to Ladysmith and then south to Barrydale, Zuurbraak and a number of tiny settlements. We briefly stopped on the road at a picnic spot for lunch. It was in Zuurbraak that I first notice certain building "types" which I'm inclined to describe as pioneer-style dwellings. Look a bit further down for the picture of the church in Struisbaai to get an idea of what I'm talking about. They all have walls that look to be about a foot or more thick and the symmetrical shape is usually interrupted by a chimney on the one side. This type of building was present all the way down to Struisbaai, and it's only when we got closer to Cape Town that I realised why they look so familiar. They look almost exactly the same as the Dutch Gable houses, but without the ornamental gables!Hit the N2 again at Swellendam and then passed into completely different country again. With the rugged Klein Karoo mountains behind us we descended into a sea of rolling golden hills. I'm still amused at how abruptly South Africa can change in the space of 40 kilometers! Bredasdorp was our destination as it was our intent to visit the Maritime museum of shipwrecks. Interesting as the artifacts were I think it was the chance to read some of the histories of the shipwrecks that was fascinating to us. Here I also found an enormous collection of glass and ceramic bottles which I oohed over and photographed until they chucked us out at closing time.
We did the last stretch to Struisbaai where we booked in at the backpackers. Very plesant indeed. We had a room to ourselves, with shared bathroom facilities and a communial kitchen. Outside there was a bar, swimmingpool and a large comfortable relaxation area.
After checking in we went shopping for dinner ingredients, and then drove on through Struisbaai to reach Cape Agulhas.
Stopped for some photos at South Africa's most southern part and for a paddle in the sea.
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