Day 78 Doringsbaai

Woke to the first misty, cloudy and wet day and some cold with it, and we are leaving it behind, just when I thought winter was a figment of someones imagination. We were up and washed and ready to go when the municipal staff came on duty across the road, drove over to say goodbye to Elsa and return the gate key and get my R160 deposit back, she told me to speak to Jackie in Strandsbaai to organize the campsite their for me.

the cosiest spot to be in

We went into town to do some shopping, no idea what we will find down on the coast so I want to be prepared this time, full water bottles, fridge with food and juice and cash money in the pocket as there are no banks apparently or places to draw cash from at a till point with a Capitec card.

Stopped outside Spur to do some e-mailing and downloading of more 'How I met your Mother episodes', free internet is rare one must take advantage when one can. Had an e-mail from Gissie wishing me happy birthday, not sure where in the world the girls are or what they are up to I hope it's all fun and little work, Cami-Leigh is expecting to come home in November so I do plan to have some kind of accommodation for us by then, can't promise what though, but it will be summer so even just the camper should suffice in a pretty place.

The drive to Ludzville was under cloudy skies but pleasant and only 25 km, small town with nothing to interest us this time round so we kept going, got to a road closed sign on the way to Strandsbaai so stopped to let the dogs out and have a chat to Lorraine, good timing as always when she called we were just alighting for a stretch of the legs.

Lots of cars going around the barrier so not sure what the road closed sign means, had to stop a farmer in his 4 x 4 and ask, he told me the bridge along the road is out and he doesn't reckon I will get across in the camper so had to go back and take a road 3km out of town, not a road on my map but I am finding that is pretty normal in this part of the world. We headed for Strandsbaai and passed a few little places along the way like Ebenhaeser and Papendorp which is basically just a farmhouse from where they do boat trips on the Olifants river. This stretch of road is serviced by an irrigation project from the Olifants River and the mouth of the river is very small and low in water, not sure if that is a lack of water in these parts as the rainy season is just starting or if it is from an aggressive use of water for the irrigation project.

There is some land that has just been given to the community on the banks of the river so they can farm it, but again it is land the council will not give them ownership of, this is what I am looking for, but without ownership it would be a waste of time.

Very flat and over grazed land we drove through before we came apon the town of Strandsbaai all of a sudden, had to turn off the road to drive into it, stopped at the municipal offices to speak to Jackie who turned out to be nothing like the warm and friendly Elsa, she was conservative, unhelpful and unwilling to let me stay in one of 4 campsites, all empty, just because of the dogs, regardless that it was just for one night and no-one will know as no-one is here now in the middle of winter, could not get her to change her mind so we took a drive down to the beach to see the town at least, very larni town this with mostly holiday homes all shuttered up for the winter.

the rich holiday town of Strandsbaai

the beautiful beach campsite where no dogs are allowed

One of those well controlled holiday towns, all the houses built on top of each other, a stunning campsite right on the beach, wow would have loved to spend a night there, but not to be, lovey beach, the town got it's name from the natural spring that was found on the beach by it's first settlers.

So we left this fancy rich town and headed the 5km into Doringsbaai, stopped before reaching the town at a derelict building site that would make an ideal permaculture farm, right on a cliff overlooking the beach about a kilometre out of town, found two local coloured guys hanging around and called them over to chat. I explained what I was looking for half in local lingo and half in English. They very kindly gave me a full picture of the town and it's politics, too much like infighting and squabbling over nothing much it seems, a charity called SCAT had previously helped the local farmers to erect large tents to catch the mist for water for their farms, the project failed, the farmers are all old, the youngsters do not want to farm, the land belongs to the community but the Gov't won't sell it so no investment will take place as investors want ownership, a mishmash challenge and one I don't wish to get involved in.

derelict buildings

old fisheries in Doringsbaai

I was directed into town to the community centre for further info, very poor town, nothing but an old fishing village, the fisheries were closed down in1970 and now the derelict old buildings house a wine tasting and restaurant. Had plenty of interest in the camper and lots of begging, went back out of town to follow the crayfish hiking and 4x4 route down to the wild and woolly beach where I found a campsite for the night, my local friends directed me down here, they told me about a lovely cave big enough to erect a tent in but as I don't have a tent nor do I wish to take the camper over too many km of this rough road, I am happy to stop here in this wonderfully stunning place for the night. It is just a spot on the sand roads that run along the coast and are used by hikers and 4x4 enthusiasts in the season, has a flat area to park on and a braai area but nothing else, no water or shelter, I guess it's meant for picnics and not night stops.

Incredible power in the sea against an unyielding rocky beach full of shells, we had a good view of the lighthouse when we went for the first of many walks. I was going to light a fire for nighttime next to where I could have had a warm bucket bath but could not come up with enough wood from the surrounding fynbos so left what I found for the next camper.

lighthouse

crayfish route

tired of walking

magnificent campsite

Tired the dogs out on the crayfish hiking paths and tramping over the rocks in the spray, Lani had enough after the first one but did still attempt to follow us part of the way for the rest of our walks, she ended up sleeping like a log, as did we all, must be the fresh air, it is good to be back at the sea.

Unfortunately this is not a place for our farm, disappointing but no vibe, no good feelings at all and no interest in the local life, will have to head back to Lambert's Bay in the morning along the 55km stretch of sand road along the coast and hope to come up with another plan one way or another. If the road is too bad to negotiate we will have a long and expensive drive back the way we just came, but it is good to be at the sea we were missing it in Vredendal, the day also cleared up nicely after an overcast start and by the time we got to Strandsbaai the sun was out, so that made it a great day to explore and chat to the locals.

Night, sleep tight.

Peaceful nights sleep, very quiet, could hear a pin drop if it wasn't for the ocean.

Woke to a cold clear morning but had to get up and get done quickly because big dark clouds were coming in off the sea and in the 15 minutes it took me to get dressed and washed it was almost on top of us.

our great campsite

I wanted to do a long crayfish hike as the paths go on forever and this place is so beautiful, the dogs have plenty to explore and lots of funny things to look at but I don't want to be hitting the 55km sand road in the rain so we left ahead of the storm and headed towards Lambert's Bay. We had a lovely drive, good sand road obviously well used, we met up with the road to Vredendal that we had been on, on Father's day, took the turn to Lambert's Bay and headed back to the coast. We could see the cloudbank hanging over the coast that we had left behind us and we hit it 10km out of town and came back into Lambert's Bay under gray skies, headed straight for the campsite to see if they would take us, they have a no dog policy but took us last time so high hopes, and she was very sweet and took us for the night even charged R10 less, must be winter rates, there were a few other campers in as well as us.

clouds coming into dorings bay

Got to spend some internet time at the library, another change of plan, I am now going to Wwoof for awhile, pick up hints and tips and maybe find a thriving permaculture community somewhere where I can just slot myself into and get into the farming life again. So surfed the net for a wwoofers guide and permaculture connections, not much to find but will go to Piket-Bo-Berg and see what life is like there and then from there make what connections I can to other such communities around the country until I find my plot.

The day is cold and overcast, suits me perfectly, could walk the dogs on the beach a long time with no heat stroke and settle into the campsite to relax and unwind, nice to be able to have a hot shower tonight.

lamberts bay sunset

Watched a geat sunset and lay awake until midnight scheming and making plans, Lorraine sms'd at midnight after a night on the town which she regreted in the morning.

Sleep well