All The Way Down to Cape Town

October 26, 2011

Wednesday, August 31st: We left Sesrium at 7:00am and headed down the gravel road (C19?) to the paved section (Maltahoe) before Mariental. The gravel roads weren't too bad, but we were glad that we weren't going all the way to Fish River. We passed by the Mariental split at 10:45am, but we didn't get gas because there were two other places on the map within the next 200km. The first place with gas was 5km off the road, so we decided to try our luck for the second place. Well, that was a bad idea, because that gas station was not in operation. We kept driving until the gas light came on and then put in our 5 liter gas reserve with about 90 km to go. There was a lot of praying going on, so that we would make it to a gas station in Keetmanshoop. To save on gas, we didn't turn the A/C on or open the windows (I guess that makes the car less wind resistant and uses gas. Not my idea! ;) Luckily, we made it to a gas station in time. After circling around town a few times trying to find our way out of the one-way-street mess, we got back on the road and vowed never to get that close again. We didn't have hotel reservations, so we just kept driving towards the Namibia/South Africa border. We passed through Grunau and made our way to Noordeweir for the night. We found a camp called Felix Unite and they let us set up our tent for the night. They usually don't take campers other than large groups, but since it was in the middle of the week and they weren't busy, they let us stay. It was really nice! We had our own lighted gazebo with outlets, a sink and bathroom close by. It was only R100/person. They also had a bar and restaurant with an internet cafe that was open 24 hours. It was R1/minute. Tomorrow we will cross the border back into South Africa.

Thursday, September 1st: We headed out of Felix by 6:30am and were across the border in 20 minutes. We headed down the N7 to Cape Town. This was one of the most beautiful drives I have ever been on. On our way we stopped at the Namaqua National Park. We were there during the prime time for wildflowers, so we payed the entrance fee and wandered around the national park for a little while taking in the extreme orange with some other colors blended in.

The drive to Cape Town was amazing. There were wildflowers everywhere with the mountains covered in green and a river running alongside of the road. We drove until 4pm and decided to stay in Citrusdal, which was 200km outside of Cape Town. We didn't have a place booked for the night, so we just found a place off of the road. We stayed at Uhulu Hostel for R60/person. There was an overland truck there staying in the dorms, but we decided to camp. There was a fully stocked kitchen, living room with a fireplace and a TV room. The owner was nice and was working on fixing it up. It was a pleasant experience until it it started raining. We ran out to our tent when it let up and slept in the freezing cold rain. It wasn't the best experience, since our air-mattress finally gave in to its demise, and we ended up on the cold, wet ground by morning. This was the place we threw our beloved air-mattress away. Bummer!

Friday, September 2nd: We headed out by 7am to drive to Cape Town. We stopped in town for breakfast and coffee, and then headed down the N7 to sit in a little bit of construction. We made it to Cape Town by 11am. Once in Cape Town, we parked and explored for a few hours before going to our hotel. We walked through Green Market Square, and I bought a purse at one of the stands. After that, we strolled through Company Gardens.

For lunch we stumbled upon this alley that had all sorts of Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Italian food. We had the most amazing curry for so cheap! I think we both ate way more than we needed to in one sitting. It was delicious! We stayed at The Ritz Hotel (not the same chain as in the USA). We were by the waterfront and had nice views from our room!