Day 57 Into Cape Town, Happily 30th May

Woke up with the sunrise and headed out of Hermanus, heard some funny screeching noise under the wheels and popped in to see if Nicol could tell me what it was, he was in Cape Town and his sidekick was a bit clueless so I decided to stop stressing and just hit the road. Very windy in Hermanus but dry, we hit the rain as we went along and by the time I got to Kleinmond it was coming down quite a bit so the dogs did not get much of a walk on the pretty beach, by the time we got to Betty's Bay it was a gale force, nearly forcing us off the road on occasion, we stopped for awhile down on the beach, again no walk but a very nice beach, long and white and dune protected, the rain lessened a bit so on we went again, stopped again further up because the camper was all over the road but it lessened again and I finally took the plunge and drove the mountain route towards Gordon's Bay, lots of danger signs about falling rocks, very narrow road but well tarred, lots of pull off points for sight seeing but it was misty, wet and windy so we couldn't see anything beyond the limit of my lights, the road was the 40km is what I would call, a white knuckle drive and I was glad to see Kogel Bay and know I was close to being down off the mountain pass, we found the most stunning campsite there, right on the beach with no-one around them, some house across the road but they had the stretch of beach to themselves, empty of course and not for me now but good to know for future reference.

Kleinmond

Betty's Bay

Gordon's Bay

Came into Gordon's Bay and parked myself on the beach under a tree and felt like I had lost a few years of my life, not a drive I would recommend to the fainthearted and we missed all the stunning scenery which is why I took this route in the first place.

Bought some fish and chips to fill the stomach, had to pay R6 to park and eat it though. We moved on to the Strand, stopped behind a Pick 'n Pay and took a break from the incessant rain and wind, got myself connected, whoopi, and updated the blog a bit, I had not gone through the last few days so it was raw material and not all the pictures were added, couldn't believe I could post that when I read it later, it was a lot of nonsense with bad grammar and worse spelling, will have to fix it when I get a chance. 

our R6 parking spot

Gordon's Bay under a loud

Well here I am in the City of my birth and it is wet, windy and miserable, what a welcome, not even a red carpet.

We drifted into town with the sun battling to shine through the thick clouds, took the N2 into Woodstock and found Kay's place near the harbour, the hood looks a lot better than the last time I drove through here, some nice house, clean streets, parks which we discovered were all locked so no walking the dogs on a green patch, no idea why they are locked at 3 in the afternoon, where do the children play? Got ourselves cozy in the camper and connected and did some more blogging, e-mailing and surfing, Kay came home around 5 and we spent a pleasant evening chatting, catching up, a friend came over to join us for dinner, home cooked, what a pleasure, and we discussed the taxman and the laws and how to go about getting the best from being a freelancer.

The Strand

Kay is settled, loves Cape Town, gained lots of confidence, has been freelancing as an artist in the film industry, not sure of her actual title for a year now after wasting 4 years with a studio, so she thinks, but I think the studio work gave her the tools to become successful as a freelancer, she is very glad she took the plunge and is making enough money to live decently, 5 people share the place in Woodstock, very big place and she basically has the whole downstairs, lounge, kitchen, bathroom and large bedroom come office, excellent rent and very central, so please look her up when you girls come home, she would love to host you and as you no longer have a home to go to, she's a great option.

outside Kay's place

Woodstock

It was nice to catch up with her now as an adult and shed those years when I treated her as my daughters friend, good stop in Town.

I slept in the van as it was easier and I was not fully confident that my van would still be there in the morning, we battled to sleep with all the street noise, and the lights, then finally fell into a slumber only to be woken up by a coloured girl telling me she just got off work, 3;30 in the morning, she is cold and can't get into her house and the policeman down the road told her she must knock on the door of the caravan and sit with the lady sleeping inside, up to that point I thought her story was a bit believable, but then she blew it with the policeman nonsense, my word what world do these people inhabit, I know I'm in Cape Town but that's a bit rich even for them, when I told her (not so politely) to go away, she asked me for a smoke, I sent her packing, that lasted 5 minutes and she was back, hey can you give me a light she asked, told her to piss off, then I heard a match and smelt smoke so she had lit a cigarette she supposedly didn't have with a match she also supposedly didn't have and she must have been about the 6th person who approached me asking for something, a guy wanted a jacket, one wanted food, another was collecting for a school raffle and waylaid us when we took the dogs to the doggie park in upper Woodstock, Kay tells me the same people come around and ask every week.

Tried to get back to sleep but 20 minutes later an idiot came flying up two cars away from me hooting, hooting, hooting enough to wake the whole neighbourhood, finally 3 people came out of the corner house and chit chated together, that took about 15 minutes to resolve before he drove away and that was the end of my sleep for the night.

Woke up irritable, dressed in the dark and went in to have coffee with Kay, I had left my utorrent running overnight as I was tapped in to their free wi fi and downloading 'How I met Your Mother', not sure if I still want to watch it as it got silly last time I watched it, but it will be something to laugh at when I get a little bored on the road, hasn't happened yet but a girl must be prepared.

the closed park

Took a walk across the road with the dogs because I saw the park gate open, only to get there just as the guy came out with his ladder and locked it, well where the hell is the sense in that, he simply said rules are rules, locked for the day, no wonder their parks look so clean and neat, they don't get used. Chatted with Kay until after 9 and then hit the road again, took the M3 to Kirstenbosch and parked at their main gate, NO DOGS, was directed by the guard to their top gate where one can walk ones dogs, drove up their and could have got in for free if I was a member of the Botanical Society, that one skipped me by unfortunately and I was not prepared to pay R42 for a walk that did not include the gardens themselves so we asked a local for info and he showed us a walking path in the forest so we hightailed it along a wet path that took us nowhere but into the bushes, so back to the camper and we drove further up the hill and stopped at the tree planting entrance and took that path up the mountain, was able to walk for about a kilometre straight up which took us about an hour what with Lani stopping to sniff EVERY plant in site, lovely view of the cable car, the suburbs and the beauty that is the Cape.

climbing table mountain

the dogs loved the walk

obscured cable car

Then we took the the road to Hout Bay and Llandudno and headed for Chapmans Peak, paid my 33 ronts to drive the pass which pissed me off a bit to start with until I started driving, wow one forgets how stunning it is, the day has turned fresh and blue and we could see for miles, what a fantastic view, we are blessed to have this magnificence in our country, even if it is costing us to maintain it, they have done a lot of work on the pass in trying to stop the rock falls, building up tunnels, lots of viewing sites, an awe inspiring drive.

Chapman's Peak

Came down the path onto the Kommetjie side, wanted to go and spend the afternoon there to see the growth but road works, traffic jambs, new roads and unfamiliar places all deterred me so I took the Glencairn Expressway instead, pretty town Glencairn, came onto the coastal road and followed it around to Simon's Town, to Boulders, I wanted to see the penguins but of course no dogs, so I decided to keep my memories of playing on the beach and swimming around them back in the days before the boardwalk was erected, intact, before a ton load of gawking tourists were attracted to the site as well, the road is littered with busses today.

We drove along the coast until the turnoff to the Point, definitely no dogs allowed there so we turned around and retraced our steps. Got as far as Fishhoek and came to a dead stop turned out to be a traffic jam stretching 6km, I parked on the beach and caught up with my blog for 2 hours, then back on the road as it looked like the jam was easing, my mistake, they were simply allowing a whole long stream of cars through and then holding them up for 30 minutes while they did the same on the other side, it took me an hour to get through 1km, the road is being upgraded oustide the harbour in St James so it is a single road at that point, the drawback of living on a coastal road in towns with one entry road and one exit road, a nightmare now can't imagine if this had to happen in season.

We wended our way into Muizenberg looking for the campsite someone told me was here, finally found it near the lakes but they would not take dogs long empty campsite, running along the edge of the lake, no-one in sight, could have parked anywhere and I would not have been found, but would not take us even for the night, so we went next door and parked in the street next to the green belt surrounding the lake and this is our sleeping spot for the night, lovely, dogs had a ball all afternoon with the ball.

our spot in Muizenberg

another lovely sunset

the town has mushroomed since I was last here

Jos guarding the portal and keeping all other dogs away

The park was full of dog walkers, none happy with mine repelling all their efforts to join in and play with them, my three girls were in and out of the water and I regretted that as soon as they climbed back into the camper, because they all stink.

We got comfortable and I got connected and managed to add another day, very slow process this blogging and I'm not getting much done before I'm tired or bored, no food today so had to make do with coffee and biscuits and brie, oh and I found a packet of cheese and onion chips for dessert.

Looking forward to my bed tonight I'm still buggered from last night,see you tomorrow guys.