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Published: October 13th 2009
Hi everyone
Well we've now finished the truck tour and have moved into our very flash backpackers in Capetown....it's kind of nice to get out of the tents and into nice beds and have an ensuite bathroom but I do miss it a little.
So when I last wrote we were into our second day in Swakopmund in Nambia. We had a fantastic time out on the dolphin cruise, saw so many dolphins off the back of our boat...it was amazing. They were doing acrobatics and swimming alongside. There were also a massive amount of seals and a few jumped into the boat and provided us with a bit of entertainment....especially when there were 2 at once and one was trying to hug one of the other people on the boat. We were treated to a wake up glass of sherry when we first boarded and then bubbles with lunch and a beer on the way back so by the time we got back to shore we were well oiled.....and then we headed off for a spot of quad biking in the sand dunes. Which was fantastic....I'm thinking I'd like to buy a bike when I get back to NZ....I just need to find some sand dunes!!
We had a group dinner that night at the Lighthouse restaurant and I had the biggest steak I've had in my life! (Comment on food included just for Alan!) We then headed back to the bar for a couple of drinks before a reasonably early night as we had a big day of driving the next day.
Our next stop was Sossuvelei which is an area of the most amazing sand dunes I've ever seen. There's iron mixed into the sand so the colours are fantastic. We woke up early the next day to climb Dune 45 to watch the sun rise which was beautiful.....although I didn't make it to the top!! Climbing up a dune is harder than it looks!! After our bout of exercise we went back to the bus for brekkie and a hot cuppa before we went on a guided walk through the dunes with a local bushman. He told us that the dunes never get smaller, they only ever accumulate more sand from the coast and after a while the dunes join up so that the area in between will no longer get any water flowing through in the raining season. This creates areas of dead space. We visited a dead area that had trees that had been dead for 1000 years and were burnt to a crisp.
In the afternoon we had a walking tour through a small canyon near the camp which was a great example of the layering effect of the sand and limestone brought through when the rains come.....which doesn't happen every year.
The next morning it was tents down again and we were off to Fish River Canyon....second only in the world to the Grand Canyon. We were up at the canyon for sunset and had a few sundowners as we watched. And once again entertained all the other tourists with our behaviour!
Next up was a visit to Orange River which involved our last border crossing from Namibia to South Africa, we were exhausted by this stage from lots of early mornings and late nights so chose to pretty much do nothing....a great chance to catch up on the last 10 days of the trip in my diary. The bar at the camp ground is right on the river and serves very cheap drinks...and there were 2 other trucks in the camp so it was a huge night and our tour leader had to shake everyones tents at 5 in the morning!
From Orange River we drove to Highlanders Vineyard to camp. We had a wine tasting session in the afternoon (very nice!!) and afterwards moved to the pool with a few bottles to continue with.....yes another big night was in the making! The other 2 trucks from the night before were also staying there so we all had dinner together and continued the party from the night before!
We woke up in the morning after our last night of camping to rain rain and more rain so we pulled our wet tents down, settled our massive bills from the night before and started driving towards Cape Town stopping to have breakfast on the way. It's amazing what Irvine can serve up while we're sitting beside a petrol station on the side of the road.....sausages and eggs never tasted so good!
We arrived into Cape Town and sadly unloaded all our stuff off the truck but as soon as we saw the comfy rooms we had in the hotel we were all smiling again. That afternoon I went for a wander down to the waterfront before we had our final dinner in the hotel restaurant.....from what I hear it was yet another big night however I had hit my limit and was tucked up in bed by about 10pm!
The next morning we had the first of many goodbyes with Craig who's family had their personal jet waiting for him at the airport :-) There are still a few of us in town and we're all still sticking together quite a bit even though we're staying all over the city.
Anyhoo I now have my memory cards with me so am going to upload some photos for your viewing pleasure......
bye for now
Trace
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TraceyB
Tracey Brittain
Small Problem with the photos....
Hi again I've just tried to use the USB connection on this pc to upload my photos but it's not working so it may have to wait until I'm in Doha and can sneak some time on Trudi's laptop :-) Oh and also I meant to say a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Michael for the 5th!!