Blogs from Oudtshoorn, Western Cape, South Africa, Africa

We awoke to frost on the ground, though the day warmed rapidly as the sun rose in a cloudless sky. We took a walk down the dirt road outside the farm, spotting birds and flowering plants – well, observing rather than identifying them as we have no idea what anything is called! The farm lies on a plain surrounded by the Swartberg mountains, which looked beautiful in the early morning sun We were passed by two English, leathered-up motorcycle tourists who had stayed overnight in the farm, on their way to who knows where. The farm itself grows alfalfa and lucerne which is turned into animal feed. We had booked to visit one of the ostrich farms nearby but the map we had been given was clearly wrong. It wasn't far but we were a bit ... read more

The temperatures have cooled again this morning, because the direction of the wind has changed. This weather pattern is really identical to the Australian Great Ocean Road which runs from Melbourne to Adelaide. We continued our journey towards Cape Town, following the Garden Route in the South Westerly direction. We will however not yet drive directly to the Cape, but turn at the end of today inland towards the Little Karoo Desert area, and visit Oudtshoorn. On our way before leaving the Tsitsikama area and passing through Plettenberg Bay, an upmarket holiday town, we stopped at the bridge spanning over the majestic Bloukrans Gorge. Nenad wanted to give Nui a special present; a bungee jump from this bridge, apparently with its 216m the highest bridge jump in the world. Well do we need to write what ... read more

Had to leave our really nice accomodation in Cape Town to start our road trip. We were going to try to do the cable car to Table Mountain this morning but the clouds were dirty and the winds even worse. The web site said closed and we knew we weren’t going to get there. Correct, so off he headed into the direction of Outdshoorn. Route 62, major highway but before long we were stopped by roadworks. The traffic coming into Cape Town was just like home, Monash car park material, but for 20 kms. Finally out into the bush and open roads, oops, stopped again for road works. This time 40+ vehicles in front of us. Waited about 10 minutes then the line started moving. Understand now why the hold up. Had to travel about 2 ... read more

Up at 6.30 am, and already my first bug bites of the trip. Breakfast at 7 am and whilst we were breakfasting our suitcases which had been put outside the doors were collected and loaded onto the coach. Jeff made sure that we started the day with a lovely breakfast of eggs, tuna, salads, cereals and fruit and of course bread. But much to the chagrin of one of our party - no yogurt. Eventually Jeff managed to rustle up some. This turned out to be a daily occurrence. We made a lunch, boarded the coach and set off. By the time we were underway, we were getting to know each other and there was much chatting and exchanging Jewish geography. The entire group was only 21 people including the AACI tour leader (Miriam) and mashgiach ... read more

As an impromptu event this morning, we stopped at the Sedgefield Craft and Farmers Market. The air was cool with the sea mist enveloping the landscape. Hundreds of people were parked in the large market area, and most seemed to have come to eat at the many food stalls. Even the vegetable stalls mostly seemed to have bagged and processed foods, like jam and chutneys. The craft market was much more interesting. Booths ranged from semi-permanent artists’ shops to plastic tarps on the ground. At one of these latter I glanced at the stone carvings and spotted a tiny hippo. Immediately my imagination put it with the other tiny souvenirs at home. The carver’s larger works were elegant, unusually textured and lightly abstracted. As we chatted, he revealed that he had toured from Vancouver to Toronto ... read more