Next port of call was just outside Plettenburg Bay, about 50 k's down the road to a lovely site on the banks of the Keurboom River. The keurbooms or blossom trees (Virgilia oroboides) were all in flower and laden with pink sweet-pea shaped flowers. The campsite itself was huge and is surrounded by a nature reserve. Have been very lazy of late so forced myself onto the bike until my bum couldn't take any more - why do they insist on such crummy saddles?
Plett itself is a bit OTT so didn't spend much time there but did a morning in the impressive Robberg Nature Reserve. There was a lot of mist hanging about so the views weren't that great.
After a downhill toddle to the "Neck" I think it was called - really need to write things down - the trail climbs to what is probably the highest point in the reserve. Blowing like a stranded whale I eventually made it and hurled myself onto the very thoughtfully provided bench. I was just getting my breath back when here comes kippie RUNNING up the trail, I wonder what he does for fun. My legs were definitely not going to make it around to the lighthouse so I took the shortcut down to something or other island and was gratified to see huge swathes of Swift Terns loafing around on the beach - the grey areas in the foreground. The protected marine areas must be doing a really good job as I've never seen numbers like this before..
Of course what the trail map doesn't show is the horrendous climb back to the car park that all but finished me off and of course the mist was clearing by then so it was blazing hot as well, no pain, no..........yeah well.
Jane, a friend from Cape Town wanted to do some galavanting to exotic paces and asked if I could house sit for 10 days, which was fine by me. So I moved on to Lake Pleasant Resort (and it is) just outside Sedgefield and checked in for a month. It is right on the border of Groenvlei, one of the many lakes in this area. A 3 k drive takes you to 14 k's of pristine beach where I walked for 2 hours and didn't see another soul - and yes I did take my clothes off. A large blob on the beach turned out to be not the plastic I suspected, but a large jellyfish - which I felt sorry for but couldn't do anything about. Then it was time to head for Cape Town but had to stop to take this shot of Swartvlei close to Wilderness - what a stunning country this is.
And this is what I had to put up with for 10 days, which actually turned into two weeks as I had my bakkie serviced and they found some problems which they didn't have parts for. I'm just under 1 200 K's from where I had the last service but have managed to run up 15 000 on the clock, I didn't think I'd do that in a year. The sad thing is that the service plan is history so might have to start looking for another one........
Kirstenbosch, which as it was Tuesday was free for pensioners - there are some benefits......
.......and found these two Wild almonds (Brabejum stellatifolium - had to look it up) leaning on one another like a couple of drunks. Talking of which they have built the Boomslang - an aerial walkway - that sways alarmingly as you walk along it. They assure you that this is how it's meant to be - just like it's namesake, flexible.
I was unfortunately too late for the Namaqua flowers but did find great bushes of these weirdo's which I vaguely recall hail from Australia.
Strandfontein sewerage works were, as usual, a birding bonanza but the ponds were so full from recent rain that the flamingos had to swim for their supper. Always great to see huge numbers of ducks of all shades as, apart from Yellowbills, they are largely absent from most of the countryside.
Driving back to Marina da Gama along the coast road I was intrigued to see fishermen hauling in a huge net and thought to myself that this was likely to get ugly, so pulled over to watch. Imagine the surprise of seeing a couple of the guys pulling sharks out of the net and releasing them - even going so far as to redirect one that was swimming the wrong way. Even more surprising was the number of smallies chucked back and near heart attack when the entire contents of the purse were also released, I assume because of size issues. And all this done with nary an official in sight. After some gesticulating and shrugging the guys simply set out to do it all over again - marvelous.
Notices all round Muizenberg announced the forthcoming kite festival and seeing a number of things hanging in the breeze from the lounge one morning, I went along for a closer butchers. Some very weird and wonderful things were wafting around bur really once a kite is up where's the fun? Fortunately the incessant Cape Doctor which had been howling since I arrived, decided to take a couple of days off or they would all have been shredded.
An inexplicable desire to drive up DuToit's Kloof Pass saw me heading for Paarl and while driving back near Tygerberg I caught a glimpse what I thought was a novel view of the mountain. Unable to get a clear shot from the highway I headed for suburbia but unfortunately this was the best I could do.
On a drive through Kommetjie and on round to Cape Point I stopped at the beach and took this, which reinforces the fact that I'm privileged to live in an amazingly beautiful country. In fact driving to Cape Town from Sedgefield made me realize that there was absolutely no way I was going to reach it by Christmas, which was the plan as I'm meeting Sally in Dubai. But who cares - plans are made to be broken.
Continuing to Cape Point I noticed fields strewn with white rocks which when seen up close turned out to be the charmingly named Cape Snow (Syncarpia vestita), sadly my camera battery died and the close up I took with the phone not up to my usual standard!
Cape Point was a nightmare crush of busloads of tourists so I only stayed long enough to get a picture of the mouth of False Bay. Fish Hoek's roads are being dug up, which has been the case for as long as I can remember, so I spent an amusing half hour at a stop and go. I recognized Rhodes' cottage even though the sign had been blown down and decided to take a nostalgia tour, as the last time I was there, I was ten.
Boyes Drive provides a spectacular view of Muizenberg Beach which is probably the best place in the world to learn to surf. However I only found out on my last day there that you can hire wet suits and long boards, but have something to look forward to when I return. I really need to visit the mysteriously named Casa Labia, which Jane informs me is not a bawdy house but named after an Italian family - imagine the jokes.
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