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Of course it's taken me just shy of three months to get a blog set up...nothing like rushing through life! I better start way back in early March when we left a table full of empty booze-bottles at our Wellington flat after packing last-minute with a hang-over only free booze on the pre-emerging flights could cure!
After a brief stop in Bangkok airport reminiscing about excellent massages and Asian delights I soldiered onto the next half-day flight to Jo'burg.
After running into Mignon (an old friend who I travelled with in Europe) who actually owned the hostel we were staying in, we ventured around Jo'burg as much as you could by foot. I'm sure some of you have been there before and loved it, but the limitations of where you could walk (even some locals thought we were crazy just walking around the hostel area) and the expensive taxis made the whole experience a bit boring.
Cape Town - what a relief to be able to walk around this beautiful city and enjoy the balmy autumn days! Even though we did hike up and down Table Mountain with a German couple who are also travelling around Africa on
motorbike, not much of the near-month spend there involved sight-seeing. Literally only 4 days were spent being a tourist in Cape Town, but I had an awesome time getting to know local people organising the motorbike trip.
Organising the trip - well, pretty easy in retrospect....things could have been made a lot harder, and the fact that we were even able to organise all the bureaucratic red-tape not being in our home country was an added bonus. For those of you who have travelled with me before, you'll know I'm good at organising other peoples trips but very blase about my own!
But what a great way to experience a peoples genuine hospitality by buying a vehicle and organising a trip....about R5000 on beers I reckon!
We ended up buying a BMW F 650 GS Dakar. It's a motorbike by the way. It's a few years old but really affordable and a beast for the trip it's going to take us on!
Cape Town is truly a beautiful city, and climbing Table Mountain is definitely the best way to appreciate it! The steep almost two hour climb offers rewarding landscapes similar to Santorini Island in Greece, and people leave
the coin-operated viewing binoculars running so you can pick out the bottle stores to head to upon descent!
The first test-ride was around Cape Point to the Cape of Good Hope, which is the south-eastern most point in Africa. The beautiful scenery reminded me of Castle Point in the Wairarapa NZ, except there's no Baboons in the Wairarapa (not that I've seen anyway), and I haven't had Agoutis (small furry vicious tooth-bearing bastards) try and steal my lunch there either!
One of the great things South Africa produces in fabulous wine, with grape varieties unknown to man or beast in NZ...well, I never professed to be a wine connoisseur. Who better than a local lad Allister (who's an old friend that I'd previously travelled with around Europe) to show us the ropes! There's no random breath-testing in S.A which is lucky for Allister as he steered us around seemingly on auto-pilot through the consort of vineyards in the Stellenbosch and Franschoek area.
I swallowed my pride and joined a tour whilst in CPT...I know what you're thinking, but sometimes it's the best way to get the most out of it...especially when there's no way in hell you'd
come out unscathed entering one of the Townships without a guide! Of course it was really interesting...bad timing for the resident who had just smoked a joint and had to hide under a blanket as we ventured into his shack! Interestingly, if you set up a shack and stay there for more than 48 hours, under the human-rights act, the government has to supply you with electricity (20 kwh/month) ,water and toilet facilities (communal long-drops).
Stay tuned.....
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gem the corporal :-)
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way to go bro
hey my brother just got out of the army for my weekly outing, a day out yep it goes down a trick. loved your pictures of Africa, dude you have an awesome way of seeing the world and i always admired it.... your wheels are great and i am sure it is a beast on the road as well. how long are you planning for your trip in Africa? are you going to Europe? I would love to se you at some stage somewhere.. the military is going sweet. i make it work for me. do as i am told and dont stand out of the lot he he he :-) thats the way to go here my brother. i do miss my freedom though but thats something i will truely appreciate when i come out of army. especially living as a fugitive in NZ for a few years as you know.... i do miss travelling and i miss Aetearoa brother.. thats all for now as i have a little time. do take care out in Africa and cherish thy freedom.... Give my love to Gwen. Chur to the chur Gem xo