Date: 12/11/13
City: Krueger NP/ South Africa
Kilometres ridden: N/A
Cumulative kilometre: 66015
Street: Highway
Weather: Hot, sunny, cloudy

The trip we booked included the transfer from Johannesburg to the Krueger National park. It was a four five drive and our first break was at a petrol station.

At the back of the petrol station was a huge window overseeing a large plain. And here we saw our first Rino and a group of Wildebeest. We were exited.

In the late afternoon we arrived in our accomodation, settled in and went on our first spotting trip.

This is the type of car we used for the spotting trip.

Here we saw our first elephant, hiding in the bushes

and our first water buffalo.

We were exited; we are really in Africa and seeing all the wild animals that we saw before only on TV. The plan for tomorrow was to get up early and have a bushwalk.

Date: 13/11/13
City: Krueger NP/ South Africa
Kilometres ridden: N/A
Cumulative kilometre: 66015
Street: N/A
Weather: Hot, sunny, cloudy

In the morning we drove out into the bush and two rangers showed us around. They showed us how to read the prints in the sand. For example below they found a foot print of a Rino.

Not far from here we could hear some noise. It sounded like two huge animals were fighting. It turned out there were two Hippos fighting in the river. The hippo on the right tries to get up stream where the girls are, the hippo on the left doesn’t like that idea.

From here we walked for a while and saw a warthog, a red billed hornbill and an impala.

On our way back, we passed a water hole, were an Elephant was just taking his’s moring bath. He had a short look at us but decided that we were of no interest at all and continued minding his own bussiness.

In the afternoon we move to anthother reserve, this was closer to the entrance of the Krueger National Park. We booked the tent option for this trip, I must admit is was more comfy then I thought.

And this was the view from our bed.

Date: 14/11/13
City: Krueger NP/ South Africa
Kilometres ridden: N/A
Cumulative kilometre: 66015
Street: N/A
Weather: Hot, sunny, cloudy

Today we toured through the Krueger National Park. On the days before we were in different Game Reserves, which were connected to the Krueger National Park, but this was the real thing. As soon we entered the park, we saw a group of wildebeest crossing the road.

Below are some pictures from the Animal we saw during the day.

At one point we saw two giraffs drinking at a water hole. They drank in shifts, one was watching the otherone was drinking. Looking a bit closer we could see why. The Croc was not far from them, but it looked like it wasn’t hungy at this point of time.

Later on we saw a group of Elephants, with a jung one just playing around.

And finally we found a group of Linons, laying in the shade. One was watching the corps of a young hippo that they must have killed not too long ago. In the tree were two voulchers waiting that all Lions were asleep, so they could get their share of the corps.

Later on we saw again two giraffs and a Hyena with her baby.

Well that ‘s a selction of the pictures of what we saw, it gives a nice overview. Today was our last night, tomorrow we will be leaving Africa and getting back to Australia.

 

Date: 15/11/13
City: Dubai / Emirate
Kilometres ridden: N/A
Cumulative kilometre: 66015
Street: N/A
Weather: Hot, sunny, cloudy

In the morning we had a last bushwalk, on our way we found a group of monkeys in front of our tent and on our way to the reception we passed a monkey and an nyala.

On the pool was a male nyala, but when Sigrid went for a swimm it disappered.

On our morning walk we saw the resedue of a meal a couple of days before.

Anyway, after breakfast we hopped into the bus and drove towards Johannesburg, with a short stop at the beautiful mountain range.

Here is a picture from our group at the airport, I really enjoyed the time in Africa.

In two days we will be back in Australia.

Date: 03/11/2013
City: Cape Town/ South Africa
Kilometres ridden: 0
Cumulative kilometre: 66566
Street: N/A
Weather: Sunny, cool

After a stopover in Cairo we arrived in Johannesburg and here it struck us, we are close to Christmas!

When we arrived in Cape Town, Reni and Julian were there to pick us up. First I thought Reni has a new friend, but it turned out it was Julian, her son. He has grown so much that I didn’t recognize him.


After we arrived at Reni’s house, we settled in and went out again to have some lunch at a beach restaurant. The weather was awesome!

The next day we planned to conquer table mountain.

Date: 04/11/2013
City: Cape Town/ South Africa
Kilometres ridden: 0
Cumulative kilometre: 66566
Street: N/A
Weather: Sunny, cool

After breakfast, Reni drove Julian and us to table mountain. Well, when we saw the mountain we redefined our definition of conquer, and took the cable car instead of walking 😀

Off we went.


Julian was our guide and he showed us around. The view was marvelous.

We walked for a bit and when we looked down, we could see one way getting up to the mountain. Well, I wasn’t sad that we uses the cable car 😉

After a nice lunch we glided down again. Momentarily we were thinking about walking down, but we rejected that idea pretty quickly.


Not long after we arrived at the bottom Reni picked us up.. At night we had a BBQ, so Julian and I were busy.

What a great day. We sat around chatting until the early morning and decided how to change the world.

 

Date: 05/11/2013
City: Cape Town/ South Africa
Kilometres ridden: 0
Cumulative kilometre: 66566
Street: Road
Weather: Sunny, cool

Today, Reni had a nice plan for us. First we had a delicious breakfast at the oldest wine estate in South Africa, the Groot Constantia.


It is hard to belive that this winery lays in a suburbs of Capetown.


After the breakfast we continued towards Cape of Good Hope, passing Simons town.

On our way we encountered a group of monkeys. We made sure that all the car window were closed, otherwise it might end up in a disaster. One monkey was playing with a glass bottle; it was fun to watch him.


Another one was playing with a plastic bottle, but in the middle of the road.

Not long after we arrived at Cape Point, the most south western point of the African continent. Great we have been to the extreme points in the Americans and now we get one more in Africa :D.

The view from the lighthouse was stunning, see for yourself.

.

During our walk we also found a chamelon taking a sunbath and ignoring all the tourists.

After a short lunch Reni drove us to a Ostrich farm, where we had a look around. Some Ostrich were keen to see what we are doing. On the side we found something else, a hippo family 😀


Now we were on our way to a restaurante with great food and an exceptional view. This was the view from our table  🙂


And this is the view from mountain nearby looking at the same beach, isn’t that great?

On our way home we were using a road chissled into the mountain,


and then there was that beautiful sunset.

What a day, we really enjoyed that thoroughly.

 

Date: 06/11/2013
City: Cape Town/ South Africa
Kilometres ridden: 0
Cumulative kilometre: 66566
Street: Road
Weather: Cloudy, stormy, rain

Reni and Julian were going to the gym, so we decided to take a rest day and write another blog and organize some things. Julian was proudly riding his scouter. It is affordable and made him independent from other forms of transport.

The weather was cloudy and stormy and around lunch time it started to rain heavily.


We stayed put and had a nice relaxing afternoon with plenty of time to talk with Reni.

 

Date: 07/11/2013
City: Cape Town/ South Africa
Kilometres ridden: 0
Cumulative kilometre: 66566
Street: Road
Weather: Sunny, warm

In the morning we went to a shopping centre at the harbour with Julian to buy some gifts. After all the hard work was done we had some breakfast in front of a massive Christmas tree.


Before Reni would pick us up again we spend some time looking around. Here we found this sculpture against violence.

And then we arrived at the Nobel square, where the scupltures of the four South African Nobel Laureates are standing. Well on the picture are five, can you find the newest edition?

We found as well some nice souvenir stalls, where we bought what we needed. Reni picked us up, we had a great Sushi lunch and spent the rest of the day at Reni’s house. Below are Reni and Julian thinking about buying some trendy head fashion items 😉


Date: 08/11/2013
City: Cape Town/ South Africa
Kilometres ridden: 0
Cumulative kilometre: 66566
Street: Road
Weather: Sunny, warm

Today Reni suggested to have look at some wineries, not a bad idea we though. So off we went. On our way we passed the Universal Cape Town Film studios, maybe they could like to employ one of us?


Since they were not interested in our talent, we continued to the first winery, the Murati Wine Estate. Established in 1685, which makes it one of the oldest wineries in South Africa. Judging by the windows, they must have sacked the cleaner a couple of hundered years ago and forgoten to hire a new one 😉.
All the old relics created an awsome atmospere. Again, on the right picture below, pick the newest edition 😉


After sampling some nice wines, we continued to our second winerey, the Delheim Estate. I liked the sign for the toilet, Palazo Pipi 🙂


Here we had dinner and sampled some wines. Well the three glasses were all for Julian, of course 😉

We spent the whole afternoon there, chatting along and sampling some wine. That shows how hard life can be :). On our way back we saw table mounting trying to hide in a layer of clouds, it just looked beautiful.

 

Date: 09/11/2013
City: Cape Town/ South Africa
Kilometres ridden: 0
Cumulative kilometre: 66566
Street: Road
Weather: Sunny, warm

Today was a rest day, not much happened, except when Reni came back from picking up Julian, the car had a flat tyre. Well, we are going to fix that tomorrow.

Date: 10/11/2013
City: Cape Town/ South Africa
Kilometres ridden: 0
Cumulative kilometre: 66566
Street: Road
Weather: Sunny, warm

So in the morning we put the spare tyre on. Problem was that Reni didn’t have a jack, so we used the jack from Karls 4WD, which was too high to get under the car. No problem, we put a plank under the car and lifted it until the jack fit.

After fitting the spare tyre, we were ready to roll. Our plan for today was to get to the Strandlopers, which is a restaurant one hour north of Cape Town.

When we arrived, the lady told us that there would be a ten course menu. We were surprised; this place didn’t look like a ten course menu restaurant but Reni told us before it is a special restaurant and we should bring our bathers??? When we saw the seats and tables we realized why. The eating area was at the beach and the table area was covered with shade cloth and the food was prepared on a charcoal fire, awesome.


So we started with the first couple of courses, then I needed a rest. The good thing is that nobody cares, the atmosphere is relaxed and everybody does their thing. Some went for a swim between the courses. We dipped our feet into the ocean, well it was, let say, fresh.


Then we continued with the next courses, that way of eating is just great. One course was Waterblommetjiebredie which is a stew with lamb and a water plant. The plant tasted a bit like green beans, but the consistency was different. In the picture on the right I hold the waterblommetjies.


The end last course was some sweet pastry desert with coffee. The coffee had a slight gumtree taste, which came from the fact that they put some hot coal into the coffee pot before it was served. We took our time before we left, what a beautiful day that was.

 

Date: 11/11/2013
City: Cape Town/ South Africa
Kilometres ridden: 0
Cumulative kilometre: 66566
Street: Road
Weather: Sunny, warm

Another relaxing day for us, we are on holidays after all. Visiting all these great places is tiring, so we decided to send Reni to work and we had a plunge in the pool. Somebody has to do it, right? 🙂


Date: 12/11/2013
City: Johannesburg/ South Africa
Kilometres ridden: 0
Cumulative kilometre: 66566
Street: Road
Weather: Sunny, warm

It was time to say good bye to Reni, we could have easily stayed another week without getting bored, but our next target “Krueger National Park” was calling.

So Reni and Julian dropped us of at the airport and off we went. When we were approaching Johannesburg, the captain mentioned that it might be possible that we get diverted to another airport, due to heavy rain, winds and lightning.
Eventually his first landing approach was aborted, which was the first time that I experienced an aborted landing attempt. The rain on the outside was so heavy that we couldn’t see the landing strip at all. Later on we heard that it was not rain, it was in fact hail we saw. Anyway, after taking a large loop we were on our second attempt, this time it worked. In the end we landed, but with all the delays we arrived an hour later, which meant that our transfer to the hotel was gone… Normally it wouldn’t be a problem, but we didn’t have a working mobile phone, so it was difficult to reach our host to get a description how to get there. We ended up using the free Skype available on some spots at the airport, took a taxi and arrived late at night at our accommodation.

Tomorrow we will see our first wild animals; I’m looking forward to that.