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so back on the road again, the itrip working its magic and the tunes a blasting. off we went along the 'alternative garden route'... the Route 62. very pretty it was too. up hill, down dale, through vineyard and around the mountains. we even stopped for a spot of tea, scones and cheescakes at a farm shop in a village along the way. so beautiful was the landscape that it was again a testament to the humour of the south africans to find 'ronnies sex shop' plonked in the middle of nowhere. now a backpackers stop off and a thriving pub where people leave their underwear as memoriablelia, ronnies sex shop started off as a mere grocery and farm store. this was until, of course, the inevitable happened and his mate got drunk one night and added the 'sex' in between 'ronnies shop'. and i guess it just stuck. it was probably the best mistaken busines decision thats ever happened. who knows what would have happened to ronnie had it not been for the addition fot that little 3 letter word.

needless to stay we stopped off for a drink and to donate some worthy goods... namly micks patriotic silken austrailian flag boxer shorts that we all signed and pinned up on the wall. haha.

onwards to outshoorn, our destination for the next day.

the hostel was very nice and we had osterich steak for dinner... it was tender and juicy and delicious. the next day we were up early to go to the kango caves for an adventure tour. the cango caves are a set of limestone caves extending over 5km underground in 5 different chambers. they hold spectacular stalagmites and stalagtites forming giant structures that look like greek pillars and church organs. one of the best ways to get round the caves is the adventure tour.. where you have to clamber through narrow grooves and slide on your stomach through impossibly small openings (the post box being the smallest... only 19cm in height!). very fun but not for the claustrophobic, faint hearted or big boned! and it was v v hot and humid down there. but awesome.

next it was on to one of the highlights of the trip. the osterich farm! this part of s africa has some of the best areas in the world for osterich farming due to its arrid conditions, just what the birdies like. their farmed for 2 reasons... meat and feathers. and sometimes their leather too. we had a mini tour (we were the only ones there) watched feather dusters being made and fed them (not the dusters, the birds!) , being told by the woman that they didnt bite.. then being snapped at.. no no, bitten! by their big old beaks. here's a good fact for you. an osteriches brain is smaller than its eye. they are really dum animals.
so we went to the surrogate nesting area and got to stand on the eggs, just to prove that osterich eggs are so stong that they will never break when full.... they dont!but it was scary standing on them anyway. then we went off to a different part of the farm to ride them. yes.. we rode osteriches. it was only round a little pen, and usually only 3 people at a time can ride them coz they get a bit stressed, but there was only 5 of us that day so they let us all have a go. it was v funny. they put a hessian bag over their heads whilst their in these stands and you get on, so that they cant see whats going on, then you just hang on to their feathers, lean really far back and they take the bags of and they go running off. you have to hand on for as long as pos. most people fall off but we did very well and noone fell. after that we saw an osterich race, again, v amusing.. and they get exercise so its all good.

ok, well, this very nice thai woman has told me that she needs to go to the doctors so she needs to close.. i guess thats my que to finish for this blog.

over and out all
holly

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