Stellenbosch - wine not?! South Africa

We drove for a wee while through the gorgeous green mountains of SA, until we reached a small village named Citrusdal. Pulling into our lovely campsite in the backyard of a B&B, we were greeted with countless citrus (mainly orange) trees, & also two cute dogs that looked Maltese. We set up camp in the upper level of the owner's backyard & played with the dogs for a while. 

Sean discovered a series of rock formations above the property so we decided to climb all the way along. It was more than worth it as the panoramic views from the highest points were brilliant. We climbed, jumped & trekked some more before climbing another giant hill to meet Chloe, before descending towards the Orange trees in the hope of securing a few delicious pieces of fruit. We scored a few delicious, tangy oranges & a few easy peel mandarins. Stoked with our efforts, we returned to the house & were soon into a cold Windhoek lager.  

Everyone chipped in to help prepare our last camp meal, & the end result was delicious Kudu steaks & beautiful vege kebabs with a couple more salads. Stories were shared around the fire as we ate, & after most had gone to bed, Chloe, Sean & I were up late playing cards & finishing our bottle of gin from Swakopmund. By the end of the night, we were pretty tipsy, & sleep was thankfully easy to come by once we crawled into our tents for one last time. 

We woke the next morning to an absolute body shock, fog had thickly rolled over the valley, & the morning was incredibly brisk. We packed up as quickly as possible, had a lovely pancake breakfast, & were glad to be on the truck by 9am for our last drive. The journey to Stellenbosch was picturesque, & ended up taking no time at all (only about 3 hours.) We made it to Stellenbosch by lunchtime, & we soon pulled into our home for two nights, 'Stumble Inn.' We would later learn the appropriateness of the name after our pre planned wine tour the next day! We were assigned a lovely, if a wee bit chilly, double room near the front of the inn & we were quickly settled in. 

Craving a coffee, we set off to the happening block in town, & discovered a funky little wine cellar & bar meets café, 'Brampton Wines.' After ordering real coffees we were delighted to find the tables were completely made out of chalk board, & multi coloured chalks were provided on each one! We enjoyed our coffees which were the best we'd had since Swakopmund, & drew up a pretty mural on our table.

Paying up with the promise to return later that evening, we headed in the direction of the local mall. We had to pick up funky wigs for the next day's wine tasting as it was Katie's birthday & wigs were the chosen theme. We found a short pink wig for me & a multicoloured Mohawks for Sean at a cheap Asian store. After browsing a few other stores for a good hour, we decided to purchase tickets to see Jurassic World in the cinema. The movie had come out while we've been on the road & Sean was dying to see it! 

We headed home for a shower & a quick change, & swiftly headed back out without running into anyone from the group. Walking back up into town, we ended back at Brampton's Wines for dinner. I ordered a soup which was okay if a little tasteless, & Sean ordered a delicious Malay chicken flatbread. We accompanied these with a nice bottle of the wineries own Chardonnay. We paid up, satisfied, & headed back in the direction of the mall & cinema. 

The movie was fantastic. Fun, exciting & very far fetched, we enjoyed it thoroughly. After the film, we decided on one more drink at another bar we had stumbled upon earlier in the day. The tiny garden bar was intimate, perfectly cluttered & the local beer was delicious & cheap. After one pint of ale we were ready to call it a night, & after a quick walk home, we were in bed, lights out, ready for the next fun, & booze filled day! 

Arising at 8 the next morning, we headed out to find a local coffee shop people raved about online as the best coffee in Stellenbosch. We found it, & were devastated to learn that it was closed, so we moved on to the next place which was a massive two storey building on a corner. The interior of the coffee shop reminded me of what the grounds looks like inside, very funky with paintings, plants & a bakery inside. The coffee we ordered for takeaway was amazing, silky smooth & strong. Definitely the best coffee we'd had on the trip thus far & it made us even more excited for the day ahead.

Before long we were back at Stumble Inn, chucking on some nice clothes for the day, & also our ridiculous temporary hair. We met the rest of the gang & we departed on a shuttle bus at 10am. Our first stop was the fancy Tokara estate in the hills. The wines were okay, their house made brandy was quite tasty, & it was a decent start to our tour. Our next stop was Zorgvliet, a picturesque winery (or farm as they call them in South Africa,) where we tasted a few more okay wines, the reds being their strong point.  We then took the opportunity to snap a few silly photos of us all with the mountains as the back drop. 

Finishing up at Zorgvliet, it was onto Frankenschouek where we were to have lunch at a small café. We had preordered what we wanted at Zorgvliet, so the much needed food was quick to arrive. After devouring our basic lunch, it was onto the next farm, Dieu Dionne which was up on a hill with more gorgeous views. Their wines were good, the stand out being the 2012 Shiraz. So good that we were all coming back for more! 

Wrapping it up in no time at all, we bundled back into the shuttle & were en route to our last stop, Fairview Estate which was much anticipated as they provided a free cheese tasting. We pulled into Fairview after a half an hour of driving, & strolled into the tasting room. We tried a few mediocre wines before being offered the chance to taste the variety of cheeses they produced. They had set up tastings of about 7, with the blue & the cheddar being the standouts. We went back to tasting wines which were all pretty disappointing, & we were soon leaving Fairview Estate, not before meeting their two resident goats who lived on site in a pen. 

We headed back to Stumble Inn, & we all literally stumbled through the doors. After a game of pool & a beer, we soon departed our hostel to head towards Brampton's yet again, this time with most of the group for trivia night. Our team name was 'Carmen Mii,' & we didn't do too badly coming fourth. We ordered the Malay Chicken flatbread once again, & after a few more drinks we were more than ready to call it a night so we stumbled back to guess where, & were shortly in bed. Our next morning's time of departure was a painful 5:30a.m, so we were definitely after as much sleep as possible! 

Sand dunes & canyon moons, Namibia

We woke with a slow start, we hit up the supermarket to gather supplies for the next three nights on the road. With just a brief lunch stop at solitaire, the entire day was spent on unsealed roads so we were stoked to finally arrive at Namib Naukluft around 4 to set up camp at Sesreim. A group of us then decided to head down to Sesreim Canyon to explore, sighting a beautiful sunset and the most magical full moon over the distant mountains. Back at the camp, a big feed of chow min later we called it a day and headed to bed. 

We woke to the alarm at 5, darkness still surrounded us as we packed down our tents and staggered up onto the truck. About half hours drive down the road we pulled into a car park at Dune 45 and began to climb the massive sand dune amongst many other tourists. We were climbing up the spine of it as sand tricked away from under my feet I began to feel uneasy and stopped half way to take in the majestic sunrise whilst Sean rallied to the top. The sky was alive with a variety of colours, & after we descended back down, we threw down breakfast & were back on the road. 

We weren't done with dunes however, our next stop was the picturesque Deadsvlei - a massive salt pan sprinkled with 900 year old bare 'petrified trees.' We had to take a 4x4 across the sand to get to the carpark, & follow it up with a walk over gently sloping dunes to reach Deadsvlei. The pans were surrounded by giant dunes, the highest of which, Big Daddy measures over 300 metres! We walked around admiring the world's oldest ecosystem, & decided we needed the birds eye view. So we agreed to climb up a steep, massive dune the hard way, & our legs burned as we made our way to the top. What a workout! Reaching the top ,- & somehow not collapsing - we took in the incredible views, snapped a few photos & then we were suddenly running down the dune as fast as we could without toppling over! 

We moved on to the next sight, Soussvlei, which was unfortunately not as pretty, however it's said to be best seen during the wet season, when there's water in on the pans. Returning to the truck, we were quick to take off with our next stop Fish River Canyon & Ai-Ais, however not before a transit stop at an eerily empty camp just outside of the small town of Brittanie. 

We were only a few hundred metres from the camp when we came across a car accident on the side of the road. The badly injured man told Vee that one of the wheels on the ute he was driving popped unexpectedly, & the whole vehicle flipped off the road. He was incredibly lucky to not only survive, but to come off without any serious spinal damage. 

We arrived at camp just as the sun was setting, quickly pitching tent & enjoying a nice hot shower. Sean cooked an amazing - if a bit spicy - venison curry on mashed potatoes. After a bottle of delicious Malbec & a game of Monopoly Deal (a new card game Chloe taught us all,) we called it a night early, & were straight to bed. 

The following morning we were up & ready to go by 8am. We were on the truck, & within a few hours we made it to Fish River Canyon. The canyon is said to be the the second largest in the world after the Grand, however, there is controversy as it could technically be called a gorge. Either way the place itself is incredible. It's amazing that geological processes millions of years ago could leave such a significant gash in the earth's surface!  The width of the canyon spans 27km, & the depth is 550m, at the bottom you can make out the winding green fish river. 

After strolling alongside the cliffs of the canyon, stopping to take some heart stopping pictures, we reached the rest area where the truck was parked & decided to eat our delicious tuna salad lunch. Not long after that, we were back on Eeyore, & ready for some geothermal therapy in the hot pools of Ai-Ais.

Mid afternoon rolled around and we eventually pulled into a massive valley camp, surrounded by giant rock slopes. The place was rammed full of tourists, there were kids everywhere, our peaceful dip in the hot springs certainly looked to be compromised! We set up camp near the hottest spring, the water temperature reaches 65 degrees celsius, needless to say we couldn't swim in it! We could however swim in the indoor pools for a small fee, & as we walked through the doors we breathed a small sigh of relief as there weren't as many children inside. Most of the group, Sean & I found a nice spot to lay back & let the water work it's magic, & after an hour or so, we decided to check out the cooler, yet still warm, outside pool which we splashed about in for a little while before it was time for a hot shower & for me to start helping with dinner. 

Dinner consisted of traditional German sausages, mashed potato, & sauerkraut (a vinegary cabbage that came in a can.) Both sausages were delicious, however the company not so much, & Sean & I decided to spend some alone time in the campsite bar. After a few cold draught beers, we decided to call it a night & head back to our tent for some shut eye. It wasn't long after our heads hit the hay that we were asleep, ready for our last day in Namibia the following day.

Arising early the next morning, as the sun begun casting its glow down the slopes, we were back on the truck shortly after a simple breakfast.The drive to the Orange River was fairly easy & didn't take too long, even after a detour to a supermarket past the camp we were to be staying at, & we pulled into 'Felix Unite' just before lunchtime. 

Our afternoon was occupied by helping Vee clean down every tent in the truck, & also washing our clothes. We then went for a short walk down to the lovely Orange River to hunt for some pretty stones. After a couple of ciders at the bar, & one over a dinner of veggie pasta, we were showered & in our tents within no time, ready for an even earlier start & to cross over into South Africa.

We woke drearily the next morning to the sound of our alarm ringing out at 5:15a.m. Rising out of bed slowly, we routinely packed up, devoured brekky, & were on the bus by 6. The crossing of the border into South Africa was the easiest thus far. Needing no visa, we were stamped & straight into the country that promised more beautiful landscapes, & also the conclusion of our African journey!