Sunday 15 March 2015

On the Road Again............and Again.............and Again!

We have just returned from a week's adventure in Hyacinth. It wasn't planned as an adventure, we had booked to spend the week in one park, but we ended up going to three!

There must be something strange about caravanners. Here we have a lovely three bedroomed house with private bathrooms and showers, all the mod cons, and we choose to live in a 'room' smaller than a single garage! Plus, to share bathrooms and loos with total strangers, cook over open fires, sit under a canvas sheet that gets hot in the sun and cold in the wind, spend ages unpacking and repacking, and praying that it doesn't rain or the tent will be too wet to fold and put back into the bag and place under the bed again! And we just love it!

So, our week went something like this:

Monday morning we loaded up, dodged Basil and headed off towards Cape Town. We had made a booking at a Caravan Park overlooking a golf course, that we had found in the Caravan Magazine. It had a good write up, so Rob phoned. To be fair, they did tell us that they didn't usually allow dogs as they had two large ones that roamed the park as security, but that we could take Alfie, so we headed off. Well, the minute we drove in we could see that it was not for us. No view of the golf course, but a lovely view of a huge pylon and right on the approach path for Cape Town Airport. I love to watch the planes but not every few minutes and so low!! To add the final touch, a lady staying there had parked her car in the only bit of shade in our 'row' and then told us that the dogs were vicious and would rip Alfie to pieces! So, we did the right thing..................we left! They refunded our money with no problem and we headed towards Stellenbosch and 'Mountain Breeze', one of our all time favourites. Yes, they had room, so in we trekked and set up camp. Alfie spent a happy time watching squirrels and we sat back and decided that this was perfect! We should have gone there in the first place.



A gentle start to the day.....coffee in bed!

Tuesday dawned Bright and Beautiful (in the words of the Hymn) so after breakfast we decided to go for a lovely drive along the coast. We noticed that there was a fire behind us in the Jonkershoek Nature Reserve, but it was small and contained. We got as far as Rooi Els and as we had never been in to the village, we swung a right and explored. The village is bigger than Jacobsbaai, but every house bar half a dozen were locked and shuttered with chains across the driveways. That means that it is crowded and chaotic in December!

Some of the rock 'sculptures'.

With the most beautiful rock formations that I have seen in a long time.

As it was 11.40, Rob wondered whether it was too early for lunch, but as there was a little restaurant there, we pulled in and thought not.

Called 'Something Else'...and it was!!

Well, it certainly wasn't too early, because our food finally arrived at 13.00..............over an hour later!! I had ordered calamari and salad, so five little strips arrived with a mound of lettuce and tomato!! Why is it that you just know that salad means lettuce and tomato only?? I should have thought, but we didn't want chips, the only alternative!! Rob's plate had four strips of calamari and five anorexic mussels plus the mound of lettuce! And a 'special' sauce that was basically seafood mayo out of a jar!!

This sign was on the door:

I wonder if the baboons have learned to ring the bell!!

But I wonder if the baboons could be bothered to wait as long as we did!! As we were leaving another couple of cars pulled up, I bet they waited till at least 15.00. So, off we set again and stopped at a little shop in Kleinmond that sells the most wonderful pies, bread, cakes and jaffles! Rob nipped in and as we were still a tad peckish and it was time for afternoon tea, he bought two red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese topping (my mouth is watering as I write this bit!!) and a mince jaffle. We sat in the car and devoured the spoils and felt better. Guilty, but better! I hopped out of the car to brush the red crumbs off my shirt and jeans! You cannot eat a cupcake tidily! Well, I can't.
Winding our way back, we rounded the afternoon off with a soft, smooth, velvety, vanilla soft-serve cone from Uncle Barries in Gordon's Bay. We didn't braai on Tuesday evening....... we had beef and veg soup that we had brought from home! And felt righteous!

During the night I woke several times and could smell smoke and by Wednesday morning the air was thick with smoke and ash and we could hardly see through it. The car and caravan and tent were covered in ash and we heard on the radio that the fire had flared up during the night.

The air was thick with smoke and ash.

What to do? The problem is that there are huge pine tree forests around the area and the wind was blowing in our direction. Better to leave than hang on and be another person who has to be rescued by the overworked firefighters. The University had evacuated some students and had cancelled all sporting activities.

Fire at Jonkershoek. Taken from the Franschoek road.

We went for a drive towards Franschoek and could see the huge pall of smoke hanging over Stellenbosch, so we took a decision to go back and pack up and leave for cleaner air.
I think we broke the record for packing up, but they were very understanding and refunded us for the nights we weren't there.

And off we set!

Third stop....'Fynbos Farm'! I phoned ahead to check if they had space and yes, all was well, so by 14.30 we were on our way. It was like coming home, we pulled in and found a lovely site and were greeted like long lost friends by the chickens!!! Even Alfie remembered where we were.
So, we unpacked and put the kettle on!

Nearly there!

We were visited by the chickens and peacocks and Leila the Anatolian Shepherd, and the 'elephants' were there to keep an eye on us.

Peace, perfect peace!

And I couldn't resist taking the following two photos!

Still Life.
Still Life With Chicken!


We basically had the place to ourselves and the bonus was........

We stayed an extra night!

And decided that we should have gone there in the first place!

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Those dreadful fires. We used to think the same thing re caravanning 'what are we doing here with no home comforts....' especially the time on the south coast when it was scorching hot and we had forgotten the fan! Spent the good part of a day trekking round trying to buy one! Lovely blog!

Anonymous said...

Love the pic of you with coffee in bed - and ALFIE peeping over your legs! Miss our chats at the gate xxx

Pauline said...

If you are who I think you are...........yes, I miss the chats too, but hope you and the gang are well, happy and thriving!!!! How about an email hmmmm?