After surviving leaping off an extremely high bridge our plan had been to get to a quiet little spot for the night called ‘Natures Valley’ right on the ocean. Roly & Sam Kroon had kindly offered us a bed in their holiday house down there and had given us the number of the caretaker to arrange it. However we decided to decline the chance of even more of their hospitality & pushed on a little further down the highway to a very modern & touristy looking place called Plettenburg Bay, realizing we had to cover more kilometers than we first budgeted on. We spent most of the next day on the road, only really pulling up to refuel, check out the occasional farmers markets and a couple of opportunities at sight seeing off the coast at whales etc. After driving through quite rugged terrain for most of the trip and in dry environments, the landscape remained hilly enough but we started to see much more cropping country and many more green fields.

Unfortunately we came across an accident at one isolated intersection where it looked as though a Ute load of young people had T boned another vehicle that had obviously been overloaded as well. There were quite a few people already stopped there to help, including one poor young policeman who I doubt would have had any emergency training at all. Two were still trapped in one vehicle and there were several bodies lying about in the table drain being cared for as best as could be, and others walking around obviously distressed. They quickly stopped us to ask if we had any medical training to help & I was wishing I had, or at least had someone like KA or Heather there as I suspect it was going to be quite a while before anything like an ambulance would turn up. With the thousands of overloaded ‘backy’s’ & buses etc that we’ve seen in our travels, and the crazy driving, this is sadly probably quite a common occurrence. We drove away both feeling quite sick in the stomach & driving decidedly more carefully…

It wasn’t all that much further when we drove into the quaint little town of Gansbay, about two hours east of Capetown & the location of the “White Pointer Shark” capital of the world!

And of course our plan was to add a little more adventure to the trip by taking a boat cruise out onto the ‘big blue’ & do some swimming with the most feared creature on the planet…

Now, I don’t necessarily even like going out onto water that deep so the idea of mixing that up with the very reason why I don’t like the ocean so much in the first place seemed quite illogical to me. But we did it anyway & being inside a cage of course was why we could, which was actually fantastic as they lure them right up to edge of it, making you pull in your fingers and toes quickly (especially when the furry fool beside you grabs your leg!!). Apparently there are literally hundreds of them in this area & with electronic tagging devices they have been tracked all the way to and from Australia. When one of these 3 or 4 metre killers is only inches away they look awfully big and sinister, and they would appear suddenly in a ghostlike way from out of the murky water. Bobbing around in the ocean if a ship sank, waiting to die by shark would be about the most terrifying way to leave this world that I could possibly think of… However our marine biologist host was adamant that they were a beautiful creature in need of desperate conservation measures as they are a critical ‘axis predator’ species. And fair enough too I guess as there is an estimated 100 million a year killed, mainly through illegal or accidental fishing. And as long there is a very strong cage, or preferably much dry land under me, than I’d be happy to support that.

Matter of fact I quickly got quite comfortable with the shark scenario, as I started to develop another fear that overcame it……feeling bloody sea sick!

It had been quite cold all day on the water & there had also been a constant wind blowing us around and producing a very choppy swell. While we were basically anchored in the one spot most of the morning the boat had continued to rock slowly up & down. Not too much really I suppose, for everyone else seemed ok, except that I’m not much of an old sea dog at all & was feeling rather pleased that the sharks started to disappear & we finally headed back to shore. Getting back in was quick enough (just) but then he pulled up within sight of the jetty & we had to bob around there like corks on the huge swell until the captain could pick his wave to sneak in with to the extremely narrow entrance. I’m not a big fan of tractors (what? Sacrilege!) & have possibly seen enough on this Nuffield trip to last a lifetime but the little John Deere that was waiting there to pull us out of the water was a great sight for sore eyes, & a crook belly….

Peca of course was right into me for being weak as he is an old boat loving, fishing loving, jet boat skier and Cadillac driving dude (I kid you not) from way back & spends plenty of time at it.

That’s why he has so many big ‘ol fat dry cows hanging around out at Hanging Rock!

Matter of fact, I think he has gone off now looking for a boat show, or Harley shop or something…

After leaving there we headed on down to Cape Town, arriving here late in the afternoon & finally booked ourselves a room here at the “Hotel Graeme” for a couple of nights….bit more good Karma there I’d say.

We have been looked after by our fantastic hosts on farms etc for a lot of the trip and I hope I can one day get to repay them all for that. However when we have stayed in towns etc we generally stay at B & B’s, which dominate the accommodation market in most areas, with a distinct lack of Motels around such as you find in Australia. Or even ‘pub’ accommodation. Hotel are usually a little more up market & of course there are plenty in the cities and this place we are in now is quite ok, especially at $1180 Rand ($157 Aussie including breakfast) for two nights for the two of us.

Most of the smaller ones we have stayed at have seemed quite cheap to me after Cathy & I owning and understanding the game with Bokhara Hutz, but here they can have 4 or 5 workers for next to nothing, while Cathy has to do it all herself at home. As I’ve said before, if Cathy came over here with me I’d doubt my ability to get her home again… Still, it’s given me a better perspective on how we can change that.

This morning we were up and out the door for a look up at the top of the spectacular & world famous “Table Mountain” which towers ominously over the city of Cape Town.

You go up by cable car once the endless line up eventually grants you access to one of the two cars operating continuously. This one is not as big or long as the ride Cathy & I had in Albuquerque, New Mexico but is just as breathtaking as it looks to go straight up the rock face in one span & then you also look out over the ocean. Fortunately we got a fantastically clear day, without wind & not too hot either and plenty of others agreed as it was almost too crowded up there. Pec was keen to go abseiling off the edge as there was a company there running tours etc & we watched one guy go over the top and disappear. His wife was there taking a photo and waiting & I said “Hey look, the rope just went all slack!” I don’t think she was too impressed & obviously wasn’t too keen on him doing it. We didn’t end up having a go & really it was never going to happen for me when they said that you go down about 100 metres, but then have to walk all the way back up which will take you over an hour.

No thanks…

I’m not fit enough, but hopefully that will change when I get home.

Cheers for now

PS Really surprised to hear about the NRL Grand final score line… Can think of quite a few happy Manly supporters I know that will be glad to have erased last year’s loss off their minds. Great way for Beaver Menzies to go out as well, as he has been a great player for a long time, & I like fairy tale endings like that.