Welcome to 'The Old Crow'!

Well now, I can hear you all thinking.... at last!
And look how the time has again flown by!!

Reading the title, you may think that this is another chat about birds, well, it's not. Although birds do come into it.

You have read about our caravan Hyacinth, if you have been following my rambles closely, and you may remember that we bought her in 2013!! You also may remember that Rob and I did not fit together into the bed, we managed half an hour on the first night before I shuffled off to the other end and re-arranged the cushions and the table.....

What I did not tell you was the frustration with the curtains in Hyacinth!!! Now, as any woman knows, if there are curtains on a window, they must open and close... easily... at the touch of a hand or the gentle nudge of a finger. Not these!! They looked gorgeous, cream with a navy blue trim at the top, small round metal rings in the navy piece that fitted on to a thin metal rod. They had a 'stop' screw at the end of each rod to prevent the whole curtain sliding off. In theory. In practice the metal rings were too small to slide along the rod, they just went sideways and stuck!! Plus, if you tugged too hard, the whole rod just slipped off the bracket which caused a lot of cursing from me! Rob finally became the Curtain Man as he has far more patience than I have, but it took him ages to get them either open or closed as each little metal hole had to be gently moved bit by tiny bit.......

Moving on.....
Last month Rob decided to take Hyacinth to have her yearly service back at the dealer as we were planning to head off for a week's break. So we emptied every cupboard and hooked her up and off we set to Cape Town. While Rob booked her in, Alfie and I wandered round climbing in and out of the New and also the Previously Loved Caravans..... and I fell in love!

Robertson, Donkeys.......and Home!

The day we left Prince Albert was misty and wet! As we drove past the turn-off to the road that we had taken up the Swartberg Pass, my only thought was that no-one would be nuts enough to do it if they couldn't actually see where the road ended and the plunge began!

A misty moisty morning!

By the time we got to Klaarstroom we were feeling a little peckish, so we stopped for pies at 'Ant Dora's Spens'. Now, I am not sure whether Ant Dora was supposed to be Aunt Dora, but it didn't matter because the shop was an Aladdin's Cave! Basically everything in it had been made by the lady who owned the place. (I never did find out what her name was!) Everything from the most exquisite glassware, bead work, hand-made table cloths and napkins, place mats, mosaic work, jam, chutneys, marmalades, pottery, you name it, she made it!

A treasure trove!

Sky, Space, Stars and SALT!

And that just about sums up Sutherland!

After leaving Fynbos, we headed through Ceres and over the Hottentotskloof Pass, where brave men are erecting and wiring new pylons that march like broad-shouldered soldiers over the hills and valleys to goodness knows where!

Turn left at Matjiesfontein!

We joined the N1 just before Touwsrivier, and popped in to the Petroport to fill the car and empty us! Then we bought a few necessities like bread and a couple of packets of potato crisps to take with us to Sutherland. At the Matjiesfontein turn-off, we turned left and headed into the most beautiful, empty, vast, open farmland, dotted here and there with sheep, much to Alfie's delight! And we left the Western Cape behind us near Kruispad, as we crossed the unseen border into the Northern Cape!

Welcome to Sutherland!

Karoosing We Shall Go!

We are lucky living here.

In front of us we have the sea and behind us, not too far away, we have the Karoo. In between, we have mountains! On Thursday we are going to turn our backs on the sea, hook up Hyacinth, load Alfie into the car, head over the mountains and explore the land on the other side!!

Being retired is tough. We have days and days to fill, and all the time we need to fill them! We have places to go, caravan parks to check out and roads to follow, and this time we are heading into the Karoo. That vast, empty, endless-skies and uncountable-stars paradise, where sheep marinade themselves from the inside by grazing on a limited supply of herbs and fynbos.

We have booked our wonderful house/cat/fish/bird-sitter, we have made sure that there is enough food for all the above mentioned species, and we have started to load vittals for us (and Alfie) into Hyacinth.

We shall explore Sutherland, Prince Albert, Albertinia (that may take an hour), and Robertson. We shall find little places to eat and I shall sample the wines of the area.  Morning fry-ups for breakfast and evening braais are the order of the day and we can't wait! I need to do a lot of in-depth research so that my next blog will be the usual informative and witty writing!

So, two weeks of meandering, reading, eating and exploring.

Normal service will be resumed around the 4 October!!

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.

What Big Teeth You Have!

Remember the picture from last week?

Leila and Alfie with Rob comparing sizes!

One of the things that I remember clearly from the first time we stayed at Fynbos Farm, was The Dog!! Not just a dog, but a DOG. An Anatolian Shepherd, to be precise, originally from Anatolia (where else?) and bred specifically to protect livestock in the fields.

Just like Leila (Pic thanks to Google)

Leila (her name) would loom out of the darkness like a friendly ghost, say hello, have a chat to Alfie, devour some wors, lie with us for a while, and then disappear. We never saw her during the day, and I just assumed (as would you) that she was off with the horses in the field, doing her job and chasing off predators, keeping her eyes peeled for any danger, before rounding them up and bringing them home at dusk. I had visions of her sitting on the top of a rock with her paw to her eyes, whistling at a horse who ventured too far from her protection, and drinking water from a cool stream running through the field. (I did stop at imagining cold meat sandwiches wrapped in a spotted handkerchief though, but only just.)

A-Camping We Did Go!

I realise that this is a little late, by a day or so, but I have made it extra long, so hopefully you will forgive me!

We have just come back from a long weekend caravan trip! A return trip to Fynbos Farm, where we went for our first caravan trip after we bought our beloved Gemsquash, three years ago now. In fact, that was my very first ever caravan trip!

So, for the last three years, we have been saying 'We really must go there again, it was such a super place........', every time we drove past the turnoff. And, now we have been there twice, but, I am happy to go back every month for a week or so!

So, off we set on Thursday morning. I have mentioned the wind farm near Hopefield before now and as we got closer, we saw what appeared to be a black blob thing on one of the blades.

See the black blob on the blade?

Have a closer look.

People in there!!!

It is people! In a basket thing! Working on the blade and hanging miles above the earth suspended by little bits of wire and string! Doesn't it make the hairs on the back of your neck rise? It does mine!

Heaven in Hopefield!

On Friday we headed back to Brackenfell to fetch Hyacinth. We nearly didn't go actually as on Thursday night we had a storm. When I say 'storm', I really mean 'STORM'. Or should that read 'STORM'.

The wind woke us both, and then Alfie abandoned his bed and clambered onto ours as he was worried about the rattling and banging of the roof. So were we, but we stayed strong for him! A smattering of drops in between the howling and crashing was all we got in the way of rain, as  I think the wind simply blew most of it back up into the clouds! So we lay in bed just after 3 and discussed the merits of ice-cream vs coffee, and also whether it would be clever to tow a caravan if the winds were that strong and we were giving a really wide area to blow onto.

But, by Friday morning proper (by that I mean the sun had risen and the birds were up), it looked good to go, and after Rob had a quick look on 'windguru', we loaded Alfie into the car and headed south. (I think!)

On the way, we passed a lovely farm dam between Hopefield and Malmesbury, and there must have been ten or so flamingos in the water, flapping their wings and showing the pink underfeathers, so I said to Rob that I would like to stop on the way back and take a photo or two. (Were they there on the way back?? You guessed it. All gone.)

Hyacinth Goes To The Doctor!

No, this is not the title of a children's story book, although it would make a good one!

Rob decided that it was time that our caravan Hyacinth had a check-up, brakes and necessary things like that! There is no Caravan dealer near us, the closest is in Cape Town, so at the beginning of December last year Rob phoned them to book her in for the once-over before we use her again. We have had her since August 2013, and goodness knows how long the last chap had her or when she was serviced last. And she does a lot of standing around and waiting! So before we had a wheel fall off and overtake us down a hill, it seemed like a good idea.

And that's not all......... Look at the floor!

Peace and Quiet and the Dog Came Too!!

Wow, doesn't time fly when you are having fun?

And that is exactly what we had, plus peace and quiet and the knowledge that I had three unread books on my kindle! It's funny, but if I had to sit and read all day here at home, I would feel incredibly guilty that I wasn't pretending to be busy cleaning, or dusting or cooking. But to sit in a camp site and read doesn't carry the same guilt at all! Well, not in my book!! (No pun intended!)

Absolute bliss, a river, a dog........and a book! Or kindle!

Now, I don’t know if this is true of everyone, but the minute we head off on a trek, I start planning our eating stops! So a couple of hours later, close enough to lunch time to be lunch time, we pulled into a little restaurant close to Hermon, called ‘du Vlei’. We have stopped there several times, either to meet friends, or on the way to or from somewhere, and we know that the food is fresh and tasty, and Alfie is welcome! Fortified with quiche and salad and a coffee shake that was so good we had to have another to prove it, we headed off to 'Fish Eagle River Lodge' to be met by the owners and their dogs.

The camping ground at Fish Eagle River Lodge.

What a fantastic place! We had the pick of sites, and we tucked ourselves into the corner, under huge shady blue gum trees, and close enough to the Berg River to simply sit and stare as it burbled past.

The Berg River, We could hear the Fish Eagles calling.

After getting the tent up in a howling gale, we decided not to braai as the wind was just too strong and would put the fire out before it was lit.

Nicely set up and ready to do........nothing! (Pic thanks to Rob)

We had booked for three nights, but we ended up staying for five. It was peaceful and quiet and for us wrinklies, the best part was the fact that no under eighteens are allowed, so it is for mature campers only! Our Malmesbury friends came for a lunchtime braai one day and every evening we walked around part of the farm. They grow olives and courgettes for the local market and their olive oil is delicious with a lingering taste of freshly mown grass. The dam is home to two Egyptian Geese mums and their combined tally of fourteen babies, all bobbing about together and Alfie finally made friends with the farm dogs.

Look carefully and count!!(Pic thanks to Rob)

And then we moved on! Read on!

Normal Service Will Be Resumed......................!

As I write this, the wind is howling and making the roof rattle! We have had some fierce wind in the last few days, the kind that fills your eyes with dust and your house with, well........dust!
But, we are heading away from the howling and walking with heads down and eyes closed for a while because we are going away with Hyacinth for a week or two.

A month or so ago we decided to take a break before the school holidays began because once that happens, we stay here! So Rob did some searching and googling and we found a lovely spot near Riebeek Kasteel, on the river and pet friendly! And, wait for it, for 'mature campers only' and that means no children under eighteen!!! Perfect! And they had space for us, so that is our first port of call.

And it may be our only port of call at this stage! None of the other camp sites emailed back to Rob! So, we may just arrive to find that there is no room for us! Never mind, we shall simply play it by ear.

Because we are away for a longer time than our usual mid-week few days, we asked a friend to come and house sit for us so that Basil especially will have some company! She is an animal lover and so I feel happy and relieved that she is keeping an eye on things. I have already told her that she may or may not see Dill, but we showed her a photo of him so she will recognise him in case he arrives in a rush one evening!

We packed the van today and tomorrow morning we shall borrow a neighbour or two to help us push it out of its shelter! Once we have hooked it up, put Alfie in the car and made sure that Basil is not stowing away, we shall head for the hills!

So, there will be no new reading material here for a couple of weeks.

But, I shall take lots of photos and normal service will be resumed as soon as possible!

Trains and Boats and Planes! (Not really Planes though!)

Well, here I am, better late than never! Home again after a wonderful few days lazing on the banks of the Berg River. We arrived on Thursday morning after a journey of 45 minutes, and were unpacked, tent up and relaxing, an hour later! Alfie stayed in the car until everything was in place and then came out to inspect, and find a convenient tree!

All set up and ready to do nothing!

What a beautiful spot. We identified 54 bird species without moving away from the campsite! The list contains 180, so we didn't do too badly! From the large flamingos to the tiny mossies and everything in between, they can be seen here.

Iron ore heading to Saldanha Bay.

On the Road Again!

Well, we have Christened our new caravan! Both figuratively and literally! Read on...

Last week we decided to go to Stellenbosch to a caravan park called Mountain Breeze. Rob had contacted them a month or so ago to make sure that we could take Alfie and they said that as long as they didn't see him then it was ok! Rob explained that he was very very well behaved and that he was a celebrity in his own right. Rob stopped short of telling them that they should be honoured to have Alfie gracing their property, but I think they got the gist!

In the meantime, I had been racking my brain to think of a name that conjured up the van's personality, and finally came up with 'Hyacinth'. Let me explain further. There is a TV sitcom called 'Keeping Up Appearances' that we just loved when we watched it, and the main character is a lady called Hyacinth Bucket (pronounced Bookay). She is large, tries hard to be correct in everything that she does, and is a bit of a snob!! Not that our van is a snob, but she is larger than Gemsquash, and more up-market! She is also blue like a hyacinth, and, wait for it, this is the best part and comes from Rob.......'We had to make the carport higher sinth she wouldn't fit!'. Get it? A play on words there! (Try saying it out loud, lisp and all!)

Basil ready to come too! (Pic thanks to Isabel)

Camping in the Driveway!

There are some sounds that are 'recogniseable' (is it possible to recognise something that you cannot see?) without difficulty, hah-de-dahs taking off at the crack of dawn, the hum of bees in a bruin salie, a rooster crowing in the middle of the night, owls hooting at dusk..........and metal tent poles falling on a hard surface!

Yesterday, because the caravan is standing in the driveway and there is lots of room, we decided to do a 'dry run'  and put up the tent! We wanted to make sure that the tent was complete and that we were able to erect it without a struggle! There is nothing worse than arriving at a campsite and having an audience of veteran campers sitting with their braai fires set up and smouldering, a glass of wine or a beer in hand, sniggering and shaking heads as the newcomers heave and perspire and try not to shout at each other too much. After all, these are the neighbours for the next few days!

Rob found instructions on the internet, complete with a diagram, for erecting the framework of the of the tent, showing that each pole is colour coded, so he printed it and I spent a happy few minutes with my koki pens going over each line with black, orange, green, red and yellow, corresponding with the diagram. (A minor problem, the 'G' actually stood for 'gold' and not 'green'!) Off we set and hauled out the bag of poles and the tent. So far, so good. But the coloured dots had worn off the poles and had been replaced with odd bits of masking tape with numbers 1 or 2 and bits of words like 'mid' which we presumed was 'middle'.  We managed to lie them out on the drive in their correct positions, placed the first three into the correct holders on the side of the caravan and then proceeded to fit the rest into the very nifty 'spiders' that held either four or two poles, depending where they all fitted! A bit like a metal Lego set! Sounds easy doesn't it?

Caravan Chaos!

Last week was a very interesting one! We decided to put our beloved Gemsquash on Gumtree, the site where you can literally buy and sell anything that is buyable or sellable! There was nothing wrong with her at all, but we decided to upgrade to a slightly roomier one, and as she was thirty two years old, we thought that we could find a more modern one. We also decided that we were in no hurry and if she didn't sell, well, we would simply keep her. Well, we could have sold her fifteen times! We had several calls from Cape Town and one chap from MagGregor sounded so desperate to buy her that he was ready to do an EFT and literally walk here to collect her! The first person who came to view her handed over the money, hooked her up and drove off! We stood in the drive and waved goodbye to our old friend and we both had tears in our eyes!

So, that meant we had to find another caravan! Rob found a beauty on Gumtree (where else?) and phoned the owner. I was at the Hospice shop by then, so was on tenterhooks to find out whether it had been sold or not! And as it turned out, it was waiting for us to go and see it!

Friday morning we bundled Alfie into the car and snuck out so that Basil didn't see us go and set off to Worcester in cloudy, cold, very windy and occasionally wet conditions! The shorter route was closed due to flooding on the road, so we had to go the long way round via the tunnel in Paarl! The mountains had lots of waterfalls cascading down them and every farm dam and small stream was full to overflowing.

Snow and clouds!

On the Road Again!

We've just returned from a lovely few days away in Gemsquash. I say 'lovely' because it's always great fun to camp, behave like tourists, be lazy, read and generally loll about. However, the campsite was in the middle of the town of Montagu, a beautifully kept, tidy and pet friendly park. The ablution blocks were spotless and the grass was green and lush.

They visited us daily for Alfie's food!

The only other people around were pensioners, like ourselves!

Rob showing a few photos to our neighbours!

So, what was wrong I hear you asking? The noise from the traffic was unbelievable! Remember, we have about twelve cars passing us on a busy day here, so we forget what it is like in town! We were directed to a corner of the park that was next to a road that went up a hill and had a sharp turn at the bottom, so we had brake noise, revving noise, hooting noise, radio noise, general engine noise and the odd shouts of drivers to pedestrians noise! Add dogs barking and you have some idea of what it was like. Apart from that, it was super, and we met some really nice people who all fell in love with Alfie!

Stick Family Robinson!

I have a confession to make.

I bought those little cartoon stick-family stickers to put on our caravan! I first saw them when I was in Dubai last year. A friend of my daughter had her family ranged along the rear window and I thought 'how cute'. Then I forgot all about them.

There's a whole range of them!

So, when Rob (jokingly) said that we should have two old toppies and a dog on the back of Gemsquash, I thought 'why not?' So yesterday I tracked them down at the Mall on my way to work at the Hospice Shop. And guess what? Grandparents have just been added to the range! Just as well because none of the other slim, computer holding or fishing rod clutching figures would have worked for us! I bought a trousered gran wearing a hat (I don't, but the other choice was a skirted, handbag-toting gran and that's really not me), and a grandpa holding a cup of coffee. They even have wrinkles, spectacles and a saggy midriff!

Wrinkles, spectacles and a 'boep'!

Choosing an ‘Alfie’ was the most difficult! I was hoping for a dog with a tennis ball, but the choice was plain standing dog, plain sitting dog, dog with a frisbee, dog with a bone, or a fluffy poodle-type dog. So I chose the sitting dog. I debated getting cat stickers and a tortoise one too, but the cats never travel with us and I have no idea where the tortoise is right now!

Now the debate is this: should Alfie be placed between us, or should it be Rob, me and then Alfie?

'Him, Her and Me' says Alfie!

Decisions, decisions!

Superstition to Super!

You know how things come in 3's? You hear about an accident and then another one, and until you hear about a third one you stay at home? Or you drop a glass, then a plate and almost throw a bowl onto the floor to get it over with! Well, at the beginning of May, we decided to go away in Gemsquash. Rob found a perfect place only a couple of hours drive from here, pet friendly and away from 'civilisation' so we spent a happy couple of days sorting out and packing and organising food and bedding and making sure that Alfie's toys were ready.

Then, the day before we were due to go, Rob's glasses broke! They just cracked across the bridge of his nose and fell off! Thank goodness he had his old, heavy ones as backup!

Then, we decided to switch the caravan fridge on so that I could simply transfer from the kitchen just before we left. Nothing, it was dead. No reassuring hum, nothing. Rob checked the wiring and the plug, and even fitted a new plug just in case!

Now, remember we had given Gemsquash a facelift and that involved moving the fridge, so Rob pulled it out and found a loose wire! But, he wasn't sure where it went and rather than make things worse, he did the right thing and called an electrician who promised to call round early the next morning.
That was the second thing, and we just knew that there would be a third waiting for us! The next morning the electrician arrived dead on time and fixed the fridge in a matter of minutes. Phew, it rattled into life and we were set to go. Packing completed, we loaded the dog into the car, and put our shoulders to the caravan ready to push.

Then, the fates laughed and sent number three! The jockey wheel jammed solid and we couldn't move it! It would go backwards and forwards but would not allow us to turn left or right. Rob did a spot of DIY with a four pound hammer and managed to break the handle too!! By now I was wondering if there was a message hidden in this somewhere and was ready to unload and unpack!

Just then a black cat crossed my path.......not unusual seeing that we have two of them!

We decided to take a chance and go! We heaved and shoved Gemsquash into the drive and Rob reversed the car with precision, thanks to my perfect hand signals! And we were off!

What a wonderful place it turned out to be. A citrus farm with the camping area right on the edge of the Olifants River. We parked on the grass under huge trees a stone's throw from the water.

Taken from the water's edge.

A little manoeuvring was necessary to get the caravan into position before Rob unhooked it as the jockey wheel didn't miraculously unjam itself on the way, but as we were the only people there, there was plenty of room to do this.

Facelift for an 'Old Girl'!

No, I am not the 'old girl' in the title, although I really feel that I could do with some sort of re-vamp, having had my 65th birthday last week! At the time we were away in Gemsquash, as we were last year, so we have started another family tradition, let's hope there are lots of birthdays ahead to carry it on. But, as usual I digress, and my next blog will be all about the wonderful time we had.

The 'old girl' is actually our dear old Gemsquash herself. She is a vintage caravan really, (or is that veteran? Or classic? Or simply old?), as she first hit the road in 1981. So, we decided to do a couple of things to spruce her up. I had already made new blue and white striped curtains for her, cleverly made from a huge, quilted bed cover that we brought with us when we moved and had never used! After much unpicking and measuring and cutting and sewing, voila, brand new curtains. And they made a huge difference in brightening up the interior. So, our thoughts turned to the walls which were plain marine ply. Sturdy and brown and  boring! Off to the paint shop where we chose the palest of grey for the final coat, and armed with sandpaper, undercoat, rollers, brushes and paint tray, we headed home to tackle the job!

Still smiling at this stage!

Alfie was horrified as we literally stripped everything from inside and he refused point blank to return until the cushions were replaced and the bed was made!

Alfie left soon after this picture was taken.

The bed has gone!

Suddenly we were faced with acres of wall to paint and what seemed a good idea at the time started to fade a little as we strained our shoulders and neck sanding every piece of wall and getting into and under all the nooks and crannies that a caravan has. Plus, a caravan is not the largest of spaces anyway and Rob and I were doing soft shoe shuffles every time we wanted to change ends! I was doing the twiddly bits around the windows and cupboards and he was in charge of the roller. The undercoat looked ghastly, patchy and thin and I was wondering whether we would manage to cover the wood properly. We left it for two days to dry properly and then we did the first coat of grey. What a difference, we just loved it. The second coat went on the next day and the walls shone with pride! So did we, and aching muscles aside, we were very pleased with the result.

Compare this picture to the 'before' shot!

But, we were not yet finished! The knobs on the cupboard doors needed replacing as there were two different kinds. As the original plastic knobs had broken over the years, they had been replaced with wooden ones, so off they all came and we bought lovely stainless steel ones to match the grey walls! See, we planned it all very carefully!

Alfie approves! See the new knobs?

But, we were still not finished! The curtains had originally been on stretchy wire and although it is practical, it isn't pretty, so Rob bought curtain track instead and we used proper hooks!

But, we were still not finished! Off we went to track down new flooring and found the perfect one, a soft yet tough floor covering in a mock limewashed wood pattern which would bring out the colours of the walls and reflect the new door knobs. It was perfect and we enquired the price of just 3 metres. We gasped, gulped and left!

Who needs a new floor, the old one is perfect for the next 30 years!!

Klondyke Cherry Farm

(I posted this story last week, but gremlins got into the blog and I had to delete and start again!! So, I lost the lovely comments that had been sent to me............and that's the worst part!!)
A couple of weeks ago we had the wheel bearings on Gemsquash (our caravan) replaced, so, of course, we had to try them out! We have just returned from a wonderful few days at Klondyke Cherry Farm. Just north of Ceres, the fruit capital of W.C., the farm is tucked under the Matroosberg range and enjoys cooler summers and colder winters (often with snow up to the front door!) than much of the surrounding countryside. The actual Matroosberg peak is the highest in the Western Cape. It doesn't look it though, but when you add the height of the peak to the 1200 metres (3720 feet) above sea level of the area, well, it is so! Table Mountain is about 1100 metres all by itself and it has it's toes nearly in the sea!

The Beautiful, stark Matroosberg range.

Moonrise behind the pine trees.