Things have been fairly hectic of late as I've been moving frequently as I was caught out by the long weekend among other things. The site in Grahamstown was below the office and when I went to return the keys I noticed that the Beast's roof was filthy, so one morning I moved the bakkie close, climbed on the back and set to work. Only problem was I could not reach the centre so was eventually forced to scale the roll bar and ease my bum onto the roof. Moving very gingerly and keeping close to the edges I eventually managed to remove the muck, not sure whether it was a lifetimes or just since I set our - time will tell. My last night in Canon Rocks the electricity went off just after 5 pm and when it didn't come back on after two hours it was obviously not load shedding. It was still off when I started packing up to move and rain made it even more fun. When I finally got plugged in 18 hours later, I checked the freezer for damage and the ice cubes hadn't even melted!
............and right next to the river.
Just after 3 pm, the power went off again so had to find a pub to watch the Boks against Japan - shouldn't have bothered. Before I went to the pub I was having a sun-downer when a boubou started calling right above my head and next minute his mate decided my bike was worth investigating and spent the next five minutes hopping around on it not more than 2 m away. This was about when it dawned that a long weekend was nearly upon me so the search began. I started by going inland to the village of Addo but the park there was on a diabolical road which, the copious rain we've been having, really messed up, so I went into Addo Elephant Park on the off chance - full. While not quite as spectacular as the west coast, the flowers were doing their best, like this swathe of aloes on the way to the park.
Spent a couple of hours driving around but it is a poor substitute for Kruger and the vegetation is very dense so not a lot on show. From one lookout spotted this traffic jam caused by a herd and was sure that I had the best view.
Later found this big chap with the most impressive tusks I've ever seen on an Addo elephant, they are smaller and carry less ivory than their Kruger cousins.
There were a lot of dazzling "scrambled egg' bushes (Rhigozum obovatum) in flower - most impressive.
On the way back I passed Uitenhage, which looked really neat and tidy so followed the arrows to the information place and asked about a caravan park, nothing here said the lady but have you tried Van Staden's or The Ferry near Jeffrey's Bay. Phoned and the first was full but the second had sites available , so shot down the next day to check it out and the long weekend woes were over. This left me time to explore locally and on a bike ride I found that Pearson's extended all the way to the Sundays Mouth, with another extensive dune field on the opposite shore..............
Was sitting having breakfast one morning when a visitor popped in had a look around then proceeded to sunbathe on the lawn.- not quite the sort of "bird" I would have preferred.
Drove around PE and was impressed at how neat and tidy it is in the main, one addition since my last visit was this OTT flag in Donkin Park.
It has often amazed me that for one so apparently bright, the simplest things often take the longest for me to twig. When I went to hook up the Beast before departure I started reversing the bakkie up and a light went on. Wouldn't it be easier to bring Beast to bakkie rather than the other way round, after all it is equipped with these amazing "movers' so it is essentially a giant RC toy. My life will be much easier henceforth. The road I picked to leave PE was not the best and when I stopped to get an apple out of the fridge the TV was lying on the dining-room bench, undamaged fortunately. Pop rivets holding the bracket were not a great idea of the previous owner and it is now firmly bolted in place. So to The Ferry Hotel on the banks of the Gamtoos River about 20 k's outside Jeffrey's Bay and the hordes descended. There are over 60 sites and there were only two or three empty ones, needless to say I headed for the hills most days. Realized I didn't have a pic of this place so took this and as you can see it's been raining solidly for the last 20 hours. Lots of history here as the original hotel, which dates back to the late 1800's is gradually being renovated.
Van Staden's Flower Reserve was one of my refuges and it was amazing, three different colours of Watsonia.......
...............hordes of protea...............
Plus a novel view of the Van Staden's Bridge - magical place. Was atlassing and saw a bulbul fly past so duly noted it, but when the card was submitted I received and out of range form......for a Dark-capped bulbul? On checking was embarrassed to see that I'd left Dark-capped behind somewhere north of PE and was now in Cape Bulbul territory and I hadn't even noticed the white eye rings - Old timer's strikes again.
Went to check the surfers riding the tubes in this superb bay, might yet be brave enough to try out my boogie.
And a bike ride to the Gamtoos Mouth turned up a new species for the trip - Avocet.
Went to check a camp site I'd once used about 30 years ago in Bavianskloof and was pleasantly surprised to see it in good shape and all of R48 per night. Would have loved to spend a few nights there but the final 3 k's of road to the camp would probably finish off the Beast for good. Nice to see that Eastern Cape Parks are still looking after their assets but the roads......... To access Bavians you drive all along the Gamtoos Valley and as the orange trees were in bloom the smell was overpowering.
Next hurdle is school holidays so am going to escape to Willowmore in the Karoo, then return to the coast when the dust has settled.
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