Nat & Ev

Any fears I had about being the granddaddy of the tour were very quickly relieved as the 7 other travellers on our overland trip arrived at the departure briefing. Overlanders are synonymous with the 18 – 21 year-old drink, copulate and be merry set. Judging by the other overlanders we have seen on the road this mantra rings true but by some stroke of luck our truck is bucking the trend in a major way. For starters the truck is only half-full giving us the luxury to spread out but more importantly to change seats when the blistering sun turns your set into a painfully intense tanning salon. We have a great mix of interesting people on our trip, a older (very funny) German couple, an Australian family of three from rural WA, a 29 year old Londoner and a 33 year old Seattlite. Just the right mix of youth and experience. We get on very well with Leila and Rob, the two kids our age, and end doing a lot of stuff with them including staying up once everyone else has gone to be for some cards and vino in the cool of the evening.

The first few days of the journey was all about getting miles under the belt. Western South Africa and southern Namibia remind me a lot of the Red centre with vast open spaces and an endless blanket of low shrubs although the base colour here is more of a sandy beige than a red ochre and the endless plains are punctuated by massive mountain ranges rather than the relatively smaller ridges that divide the red centre. The similarities don't stop there, for anyone who has driven around the red centre you will no doubt remember the hours and hours of road in-between "attractions". Fortunately in recent years my tendency towards motion sickness has improved dramatically and the hours on the road are being passed effortlessly with a stack of good books. Plus if the books ever get tiresome you can engage in a few minutes of high speed game watching. Most of the time you can spot a bok or two, ostrich or even the rare mountain Zebra within a few minutes. Unfortunately the Namibian Brains trust thought it would be a good idea to build a tall fence along the side of the main highway (with is an unsealed dirt road) to protect cars from stray animals. Trouble is the animals seem to be on the road side of the fence more often than not and as the truck approaches they freak out dashing all over the place and at the last minute they make a dash for the open spaces beyond the fence only to run full speed into it to the horror of all on board especially the vegetarian member of our entourage….

Heading north from cape town we stopped for our first night in Lamberts bay, a small fishing village with a big fishy smell. Fortunately the fish processing factory wasn't in full swing so the stench was barely detectable once unless you were right near the factory. It was a windy night and the temperature dropped well and truly below the expected Africa minimum. Come morning I was ruing the decision to send my sleeping bag home from Cape town.

The next two days were pretty much more of the same, a couple of hundred kms followed by an afternoon of exploration. Our second campsite was at a beautiful campsite on the banks of the Orange river.

Day three was spent exploring Fish River Canyon, the second biggest Canyon in the world. I'm not sure who is in charge of the size based claims to fame but someone has a lot to answer for. Unless Kings Canyon (California) and Fish River Canyon are exactly the same size someone is telling fibs. Me thinks it's time to call in the good people from Guinness to sort this one out. We made camp and after a much needed swim at the camp ground we spent the afternoon walking around the Eastern rim of the canyon which became more and more pleasant as the cool of the afternoon settled in and with a wine in hand we watched another spectacular sunset.

By day four the vegetation was very slowly starting to change. The mountains were getting a little bigger and more frequent and by the time we reached our destination we were in the heart of the Namib desert. With a few hours of sunlight left after the big drive we decided to stretch our legs and test our dune climbing abilities. While the good people of Guinness are down here measuring the canyon they should swing by the Namib desert as I'm sure the dunes here are strong contenders not only for the highest but also the hardest to climb, with one step forward, and then 90% of that step sliding back. With the sun setting at record speed, as it always does when you're racing to catch it, our stroll became a death march to the top to catch the last rays of the day. The thing about sand dunes is that they appear small from ground level, as you reach what you think is the summit you soon realise that they are much much bigger than they appear. After 4 or 5 false summits my legs and lungs were burning, my eyes were stinging with sweat and my boots felt twice as heavy as they should. I finally caught up to Rob who was sitting at the top, looking like he'd taken a leisurely stroll. Nat joined us a couple of minutes later and watched another brilliant sunset. I wonder if sunsets are always this good but we more often than not miss them because we're still staring at a computer or worse, watching tele…

We started the next day the same way with a 5am sunrise from the top of Dune 45, another massive dune. After a hearty dessert breakfast we wandered the dessert for the morning ending up at Dead Vlei which is kind of like the Oils Blue Sky Mining cover surrounded by 300 meter dunes. Very surreal.

We have been staying at some pretty swish campsites thus far. It's all very civilised with plush toilet blocks overlooking rivers and swimming pools surrounded by deck chairs. It's not the roughing it in Africa one might expect. The food has been good, we're making friends and loving Africa thus far. Nothing else to report other than I'm getting a wicked truckies arm and Nat is still trying to work out what a hundred men from mars (aka a million men or more) has got to do with Africa….

It's supposed to be a challenge, it's a shortcut! If it were easy it would just be the way.

Lots o' love,
Ev and Nat

Cape town is Sydney in a parallel universe, they speak English (very helpful if it's your only language), the wine is good, the climate is spectacular, toilet paper is soft and plentiful, they care about the world cup and their super 14 team sucks (but at least you get to watch the game!) One would think that being so similar to home would give us Sydneysiders a shot in the arm, a little piece of home before the long journey. To a certain extent it has done the trick but feeling so close to home yet not being home is probably the cruelest trick of all. Never the less we have thoroughly enjoyed recharging the batteries as well as checking out a few of Cape towns gems.

We had planned to start with the quintessential CT experience of climbing Table mountain. Sounds crazy after 30 odd hours on a plane although I have heard that exercise is the best way to counter jet lag. Unfortunately our plans changed when after 30 minutes by the carousel we discovered Nat's bag was still at Heathrow. Of coarse this is a dream come true for Nat. BA gave us 35 pounds to buy a new set of clothes but with nothing but the clothes on her back 35 pounds was never going to be enough. Fortunately our insurance also covers luggage delays and so rather than spending our first hours in Africa climbing a mountain we spent the morning searching for the perfect little top… I shouldn't jest. I'm a bit of a fan of shopping myself and with Nat in a state of euphoria we managed to stretch our budget to sneak a T-shirt in for me.

We hadn't planned too much for our first few days so when we awoke to find the table cloth covering Table mountain on Thursday and Friday we took the chance to spend a few days getting our gear in order and exploring the city. Friday Arvo we decided to head over the back of table mountain to go for a swim and to watch the sunset over the very snooty Camps Bay. Camps was out of control with a massive cross shore gale blowing so we headed up the coast to Clifton for a dip. Nat was feeling under the weather so I had to brave it alone. Despite the unseasonably warm dry weather very few people were venturing into the water. I was worried it was a shark thing but as soon as the first wave washed around my ankles the reason became very apparent. Describing the water as cold, invigorating, freezing, bitterly cold or frigid wouldn't be doing it justice. I'm not sure what the temp was but the Atlantic seaboard cops the currents from Antarctica and on this particular day it wouldn't have surprised me if chunks of ice started washing up on the shore. The cold shower after I got out felt like it was burning my numb skin. I found out later that the other side is much warmer but it's also much sharkier. I think I'd rather take my chances with hypothermia rather than one of South Africa's leaping great Whites…

Saturday morning was our last chance to climb Table mountain and with the top clear of clouds and all the shopping out of the way there was nothing holding us back. It's a gruelling hike, only a few kilometres but it's pretty much straight up so it's like climbing uneven stairs. Add to that the blazing midday sun, a temperature somewhere around 35, a lack of shade and a serious underestimation of how much water we needed and it made for a very tough climb. We had calculated that based on the number of people we had overtaken on the way up we were about the fourth slowest climbers. We comforted ourselves with the fact that if you take into account all the people who catch the Cable car we rocket up to the top 10%. I'm sure most of you follow the same hike duration philosophy as we do, that is – if the sign says 3 hours it should take less than two hours even if you dawdle a little. Everyone knows the duration signs need to cater for the lowest common denominator. I believe strongly in this philosophy and so with two kms of flat terrain to cover and only 30 minutes to cover it the last half an hour became a dash for dignity. I made it by 2 minutes, Nat scrapped in with about 3 second to spare by my watch. Still not ready for Kili but I think we're making inroads!

I always enjoy going to see local sport especially when you get to go to an iconic venue. My passion is rugby grounds. I guess it's like visiting famous battle grounds you've seen on TV time and time again. At present the list is a little light on but it was with childish
excitement that we entered Newlands, with it's table mountain backdrop. As formentioned, Capetownians have the same sporting affliction as us Sydneysiders, a rugby team that promises much but generally delivers little. As someone who feels this pain more than most (being both a Sydneysider and a Capetownian) Scott Tubman was the perfect spectating companion. We wer'nt really expecting a big crowd or a good game but we got both with the Stormers upsetting the Lions in front of a long weekend crowd. On a side note, Biltong is good. We also had the chance to hang out with Hayley and Ben Tubman a little over the weekend which was fantastic. It's was really cool to see them although playing with Ben made us realise how much we 're missing Hughie. Easter Sunday was pretty chilled out. We headed back over to Scott and Hayley's for Church and dinner on Sunday night. It was awesome to worship with so many people after not having a formal church service for three months. Thanks for taking us in and showing us a good time.

Monday Morning we took in the second quintessential Capetown gem. We went to Robben Island which is where Nelson was held for 18 of his 30 odd years of his incarceration. It's a barren harsh place and hearing of hardships political activists faced under apartheid from a former political prisoner certainly makes you wonder how such a policy was tolerated until so recently. Inevitably these kind of thoughts quickly brig you to the problems that plague the world today and it's hard to see how things are ever going to improve. I guess it's one step at a time and for South Africa the first few steps have been taken. Let's pray they keep walking in the right direction.

We rented a car and headed south along the beautiful Atlantic cost the views are absolutely magnificent (apparently). Once again visibility was to rob us of visual splendour. Fortunately the Pacific coast was cloud free and so we decided to check out the local African Penguin colony. Despite the fact that African penguins have had a rough trot over the past decade there are still plenty of the little guys and as a result there is only loose protection. We arrived in the late arvo just as the penguins were returning home with bellys full of partially digested fishies for the wife and kids, hmmm smells yummy. We watched from a distance for a while but curiosity got the better of us and we decided to see if we could get a little closer. it got to the point where I was seriously tempted to pick one up but fear of vicious penguin mauling kept my hands at bay.

The next morning we got up early and drove the last 30 kms or so to the tip of Africa. I was prepared for disappointment. I'm always a little sceptical about attractions of geographical significance (despite my love of geography) The most budget of these attractions would undoubtedly be the tropic of Capricorn. Very disappointing. Fortunately the Cape has much more to offer than a geographical claim to fame. We also walked around to the Cape of Good hope. There was something stirring about standing on the headland and envisioning Cook and then the First Fleet rounding the bend and heading for Australia. It must have been tempting for them to stay in Cape Town enjoying the good life rather than venturing out into the unknown.

After a leisurely drive around false bay we headed inland to the Cape winelands for a few days of fine wines and hearty meals to make the most of the wine before we venture out into the land of poor viticulture. I have always been a big fan of town planning and the guy behind Stellenbosch (Mr Stel) did a might fine job of crating the perfect little wine town. We only had time for one Vineyard in the afternoon but with 12 different wines to taste and a generous guide I don't think I could have made it through the second vineyard. After a brief arvo sleep we headed out to a restaurant that specialises in local dishes. Safe to say anywhere that takes such pride in it's wines is bound to take a similar amount of pride in there food. And of coarse every good meal needs a healthy glass o vino to bring the flavours out. we left feeling very contented and ready for some serious snooze time.

I have some other, more confronting, thoughts about Africa that I'm going to post on my old blog site http://evsnow.blogspot.com/

Tonight we meet our travel companions for the next three weeks.
Fingers crossed...

Cute and cuddly boys, cute and cuddly...

Lots of love,
Ev and Nat

P.S. Only had to drop my pants three times in Cape Town.