Endless Summer Road Trip…

Luke and Daniela reporting: After breakfast we went to the Breede River Lodge to investigate hiring a boat with a skipper. We hired a boat for 8 o’clock tomorrow morning. After that we went to fish on a jetty and had lunch by the sea. We put the lures and stuff on the rods. We went to another beach and caught jelly fish and bullies.
(Daniela’s molar came out)

Came home and had a early bath. Had lovely supper and did this blog. Mom made us our egg sandwich for tomorrow’s big day. Got going to bed.

Luke reporting: I woke up late all of us had egg breakfast. I helped Dani do the washing dishes. Did diaries and some work and packed up and went to Witsand we drove the long way round on the tar rode stopped at Swellendam, to have waffles and a drink. We played cat and dog.

We carrieed on driving. Me and Michael had a talk while John was screaming and Dani was hitting him. Came past some wheat filds. Saw Blue Cranes, Ostrich and merino sheep. Came to the camp site and there was a very bad wind. We took out some stuff out locked the bikes. Had a shower and dinner and Nesquik. Then went to bed.

Just heard from Nads’ Mom about the disaster in Japan – very sad. After morning school in the Arniston campsite, we climbed into the bus and headed down to L’Agulhas, the southern most town in South Africa. We drove through Struis Bay – very pretty little town – and arrived at the Lighthouse. The kids went straight up the stairs, which were more like step ladders and we took in the beautiful views from the top.

Then it was a very short drive down to the most southern tip of the African continent. First time here for every single one of us! What a beautiful day with incredible cloud formations.

At a little place at the moment in L’Agulhas town for fish and chips and a proper broadband connection (see how Afrihost has you covered in the pics below at the tip of Africa!).

Daniela reporting: Wrote our diaries and a little bit of work. We all went to the beach on our bikes. We locked up our bikes and went for a walk to find the “Waenhuiskrans” which is the ox wagon cave. We found a cave that led to a another huge cave that had lots of bats in it. It could have fitted 4 of my classrooms in it. On our way out Luke caught a bully,with his bare hands, in the rock pool. We walked along the pebbles and rocks to the swimming beach. We all had a lovely swim and then played on the high rocks. Then Mom came and we went to explore the flat rocks. We found big rock pools that we could swim in and bombed the blue bottles that washed on the rocks near us. Back at the main beach Mikey found a big rock that we made into our “house”. We rode back to the campsite for late lunch.

We rode around the little town of Arniston and ended our day with an ice-cream at the Hotel Arniston.

Our last day in Stellenbosch started with a bike ride down the sand road to the local farm stall near our campsite for breakfast. Had delicious Belgium waffles with egg and bacon! Packed up camp and set off for Arniston near Cape Agulhas. Will probably only be here for a couple of days to see the southern most point of Africa and the town of Arniston (also know as Waenhuiskrans).

Have had a busy day traveling so having an early night tonight and then hopefully hitting the bikes tomorrow morning to explore the town.

Before reaching Camps Bay we stopped off at The Castle (very scary for Dani) and the SA Museum. Anyone going to Cape Town must definitely stop off at the museum – fascinating! The kids wanted to see the jaws of the extinct Megaladon and weren’t disappointed.

Daniela reporting: The Megaladon was 18m long and weighed 45 tonnes almost like a blue wale. His mouth was so big he could eat a Blue Wale. They say he would bite off the tail so it would sink to the bottom of the sea and would eat it down there! We went to the photo exhibition where we found a big globe that showed the world and how it was 300 million years ago.

We left to meet Mom’s cousin Alice and her boyfriend Jules at Camps Bay beach and then had ice cream. I had cookie dough flavour, did you know there was such a thing?

We went to go and meet Daddy’s cousin Lynda and Denton at the Blue Peter in Bloubergstrand. John and I collected loads of rocks to paint. When it was time to go, we went to Mom’s cousin Zlatko and Natalie to have supper at the new house that Zlatko is building. By the time we left it was very late and we all slept on the way home to Stellenbosch.

Had breakfast in Gordons Bay overlooking the sea – eggs, sausage, mushrooms and wholewheat toast – yum! After that we made our way slowly along Clarence Drive, following the winding road through the mountains that fall into False Bay. We stopped briefly in Pringle Bay for a run on the beach while John slept in the car.

Went through Onrus and Betty’s Bay for a quick look. At this point, Luke was saying the campsite was a much better place to be because he could swim and ride his bike – the breathtaking scenery apparently did not do it for him.

Arrived in Hermanus in the afternoon and it was still quite busy even though it isn’t whale season. Walked around the town and found a great spot overlooking the bay for pizzas while the kids played on the jungle gyms. Then it was an hour’s drive back to the campsite at Stellenbosch. Been so great here, we are going to stay another night and make it a solid week!

Nads reporting: This home schooling thing is not as easy as I had hoped. Writing diaries and doing some work in the mornings is not something Dani and Luke are doing naturally, it is a forced issue at the moment. So after getting that out the way this morning we got going at 11:30am.

Started a trip through Kayalisha and to the coast to St James, through Fishhoek onto Kalk Bay. The fish and chips and calamari there at Lucky Fish on the pier made all morning frustrations disappear. Yummy lunch!

Then after the fish we went to see some birds… the African Penguin type. The Boulders in Simon’s Town let us see these placid sea birds just chilling in the sun. Then over the peninsula via Chapman’s Peak Drive to Hout Bay. What a road, engineering at its best. Drove on past Llandadno, Noordhoek, Camps Bay all the way on the coast till the V and A Waterfront.

The Two Oceans Aquarium was definitely the highlight of the day for the kids. The variety and size of the sea life had them running around tanks and corners calling us to the next cool thing. What a great learning centre! We were there for just over 1 and a half hours, and probably the last visitors to leave as it was 6:00pm.

Our 5th night in the Mountain Breeze camping site in Stellenbosch tonight, its so comfortable and beautiful here. Its been 2 weeks since we left home, done over 3000kms, and still looking forward to so much more.

Had a fantastic time with the kids learning to surf at the Strand this morning. Mark organised wetsuits and boards for everyone and we paddled out and had such fun! The two Lukes were surfing together, Dani and Mike caught some great waves and John got up on his knees.

Then met up with Kevin and Mira Gamberana to have a late lunch at Dornier. What a beautiful estate with fantastic views of the mountains.

This evening we went to Nads’ Uncle Jo’s home in Klein Zalze for a couple of drinks while Chad played soccer with the kids to ease the Man United loss of today. A beautiful place right in the middle of the vineyards! Jo took us out for delicious pizzas and we will be sure to report on the best places we stayed at Jo! So far Langebaan and Stellenbosch are right up there!

Nads reporting: Today was hot! After breakfast and diaries we got going into exploring a bit of Stellenbosch town. We made a pass through the University ground where the kids were subtlely encouraged to think what degree they would like to do there. Then being a Saturday we found (to Daniela and my delight) a flea market. We walked around, the boys feeling exhausted by the heat and the girls being energized by the shopping. We ended off our visit there with a pita for lunch and granadilla ice-creams.

Then it was the boys turn to be energized at the Franschhoek Motor Museum at the L’Ormarins Wine Estate. The collection of cars was amazing, from Buggatti a century ago to the Maclaren F1 and plenty of Ferrari’s including the 250 and the Enzo (that last bit Greg wrote).

The drive continue onto Franschhoek which was so beautiful. There are huge Plane trees and rows of vineyards surrounded by majestic mountains. Our walk down the street with Italian Gelati almost didn’t feel like Africa at all (except for the overload of souvenier shops to cater for the many tourists here).

After walking around and being in the car in today’s heat, we had cheers of approval when we suggested a swim back at the campsite. Which is what we did. Now all is quiet and well on this warm night in Stellenbosch under the Pine trees.