Michael Faye Adventures 2014.: July 2014

Wednesday, 23 July 2014

The markets in down town Cape Town...oh those Ostrich eggs....

As above....note the church....so many like this one.....

As above.....the batik paintings beautiful and the carved animals fabulous.....

Tuesday 22^nd July & Wednesday 23^rd July, 2014…….Walked and walked Cape Town and still the weather is great……saw the coloured houses…this is an area where the blacks used to live before apartheid when they all had to leave Cape Town and move to the outskirts…now these houses are quite a tourists attraction in Cape Town as they have been restored and painted in bright colours……the architecture here is so British…hardly any of the Dutch/Cape architecture we were expecting and oh the English names not to mention the English stone churches….walking the beach pathway the buildings are very tired…all apartment blocks and they would be the original ones in Cape Town….valuable real estate now but they all need a makeover…..some beggars but not a lot and there are signs saying “Support the Shelters, not Beggars”…..lots of very big SA women…they seem to carry the weight more than the men and have big bottoms…it just seems to be the body type they are but we think they eat a lot of carbs in their diet too……KFC, as we said is everywhere here and they eat a lot of it….all through Africa the women have the most incredible hair dos…today we spoke to our maid at our guest house as she has a lovely hair style…she said it takes about 6 hours at the hairdressers to achieve these kind of hair styles and they leave them in for 2 to 3 months and they cost around 300 Rand (approx. US$30)…….reflecting on Table Mountain, so much in the cloud yesterday but cleared by midday so we were so lucky with our visit there on Monday…it is estimated to be the oldest mountain in the world at 260 million years with the Andes in South America 250 million years and the Himalayas much younger!!

Correction….on reading Mandela’s “Long Road to Freedom” Mandela was in prison when Botha came to power…Mandela tried to negotiate with him but no go and it was De Clerk that Mandela got negotiations going with the ANC and the government and it was De Clerk that released Mandela from prison and De Clerk and Mandela jointly shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993……

Tomorrow back on the truck and this will be more remote than the last leg so you may not hear from us for a while….thanks for your emails and comments and sorry we can’t reply to everyone but we reiterate, SA has the worst internet in the world…even their paper says so…….M & F

The coloured houses In Cape Town...

As above.....

Wash day in the coloured houses street......

Coloured houses street....Cape Town...

The only Dutch/Cape architecture on the waterfront with Table Mountain in the background.....

Woman washing herself in the water at Cape Town waterfront and then she got down on her knees and prayed....

Tuesday, 22 July 2014

These guinea fowls are everywhere in SA......
This pic is for you, Dayle and Pete .....every time we saw these birds brought back memories of your emails from the UK and the every decreasing guinea fowl count!!!!

Monday 21^st July, 2014……Still in Cape Town and so exploring again……beautiful day, the weather has been good but today there is not a cloud in the sky so we are off to conquer Table Mountain…a young American girl at our accommodation took the cable car up yesterday and when she saw people struggling on the track she was glad she had made the decision not to walk up…..we went prepared as we still wanted to try but on arriving we took one look at the track and thought no way and also our knees are still recovering from yesterday….and so we took the Cable Car up….amazing…the cable car has a carrying capacity of 65 people, transporting roughly 800 people per hour…..speed, 10 metres per second, weighs 18 tonnes, height of Table Mt is 1,085 metres, the base of the cable cars have built in water tanks carrying 4,000 litres of water used for ballast in the windy season, the cars are round so they can rotate giving 360 degree views (the floor area rotates) they are also round for aerodynamics in high winds……and they have 2 big window openings….our guide told us not to fall out as they couldn’t save us!!!! We couldn’t have asked for a better day weather wise, no wind……we saw the notice saying they blow a hooter if the wind gets up and they try and get everyone down but sometimes you have to walk down if they shut the cable car down……we think many people would be stranded there if that happened as even fit ones struggled on the track…..our 2 fit Belgium boys walked down and they commented how difficult it was and they are 16 and 18 years old respectively!! And at the top we could have spent a day there…it is incredible the walking you can do on top of Table Mountain…..we had agreed to meet at the bottom in about 1 and ½ hour’s time so we tried to cover as many tracks as possible….it really is fabulous up there and if only we had known we would have opted for more time up there…..on the foot hills of Table Mountain Proteas grow wild and they really were a picture today in the sunshine……then we went to a market in down town Cape Town…..so much to buy…the crafts are great but we know we can’t carry anything with the long road ahead still…..and so we opted to come back to our digs and go to a café up the road, which has got to know us, as it is taking 2 hours to down load 27 photos!! M & F

Sunday 20^th July, 2014…..in Cape Town so exploring the area and surrounds…first drove out around the wealthy suburbs where the houses are built above the sea and all their car parking is on the house roof tops as the roof tops are at road level……an absolute cliff top road that reminded us of the Amalfi Coast and oh the cyclists on this treacherous piece of road for biking!! The mountain range they call the 12 Apostles but there were many more mountains than 12…we stopped at a view point, Maidens Cove, to take pictures as impossible out the window from our moving truck ...then again it was like the Thames Coast Road as there were no houses but a narrow windy road along the coast…..then we came to Llandudno Beach then Hout Bay where we made a stop again…..Hout Bay wanted to be a republic but the government wouldn’t allow it but they still have signs showing Republic of Hout Bay…we explored the Mariners Wharf there…lots of old fishing boats tied up and again an interesting area…then onto the Chapman’s Peak scenic drive and again more ocean views and granite mountains, again like the Amalfi Coast and still the cyclists…..the Chapman’s Peak scenic drive route was built by the Italian prisoners of war….the scenic route ends at Noordhoek……then on to False Bay which had the original port of Cape Town, then it was an English Naval Base and today it is the SA Naval Base…..then on to Simon’s Town which has some Dutch and English Architecture…..then on to Boulders where we went to see the SA penguins…Boulders is a national park between Simon’s Town and Cape Point……the penguins were so cute….from just 2 breeding pairs in 1982 the penguin colony has grown to about 2,200 in recent years….then we went on to Cape Point and walked to the Light house…quite a climb but worth the effort and then we walked from Cape Point to the Cape of Good Hope…..getting there was fine but coming down we lost the track at one point and had to go back and it was slippery boulders on parts of the track, not to mention the wooden steps……the steps would never be allowed in NZ…they really were lethal but we made it down and we wouldn’t have missed the experience even if our knees were complaining bitterly……then we came back to Simon’s Town for lunch…it was lunch at 4 pm and we were all pretty buggered….then we went down to the Waterfront area in Cape Town…very much like the Viaduct in Auckland but the waterfront area here also has the biggest mall in SA…..a great spot and so much to do and see and so we all opted to stay there until 7 pm and have dinner whilst we were there and then head back to our accommodation….lovely restaurants and lots of people but Sunday night, we guess one had to expect that….and so good to see black and whites enjoying this place……and so it was a long day…..M & F

Saturday 19^th July, 2014…….A little more leisurely start this morning, at last…..on the road at 8 am and sorry to leave Hermanus, a great spot and it was great accommodation…..we took the R44 route and it was the Atlantic Ocean on one side with granite mountains on the other side….first town we went drove through was Kleinmond and where the SA’s holiday….beautiful homes, lots of beach holiday homes and the ever present shacks on the outskirts! Leucodendrums (yellow ones) grow wild here…..they make such a picture of yellow on the landscape…..then we drove through Betty’s Bay and oh the granite rocks….then to Rooiels Bay where we stopped and took pics…this whole coast is so picturesque but so hard to stop as it is very like the Thames Coast Road…..then on to False Bay where at last we saw a marina with yachts and again beautiful homes…..the Western Cape is definitely where the money is in SA….then we were back on the N2 to Strand which is really a satellite city of Cape Town…..then we got back on to the picturesque R44 route and drove to Stellenbosch, finally surrounded by vineyards and apple and pear trees…..some Dutch architecture but not all the Dutch architecture like we had expected …….we did a wine tasting at Morgenhof Winery…tasted 5 of their best wines and they sure give you a good measure to taste….we have fallen in love with Pinotage wines since we have been here and at this winey we had a very good one….Fantail and we bought more for $6.90 US a bottle….and they seem to export everywhere in the world except NZ…..then we went onto another winery for lunch ..Neethlingshof Winery…..there is no irrigation in the vines here as their rainfall is sufficient we were told….then it was our drive on into Cape Town….there seemed to be kms and kms of shacks on our drive between Stellenbosch and Cape Town but as our guide said in the apartheid days all the blacks had to leave the cities…there was evidence of the government houses being built but it will take them a life time to try and rehouse all these people…..really a tragic sight! Coming into Cape Town, pointed out to us was the hospital where Christian Barnard did the world’s first heart transplant….our digs are in Seapoint which is a nice area of Cape Town and we are central to everything but unfortunately the internet is still a disaster!! And so in the evening we went out to an African Restaurant which was good and to see blacks and whites dining together and it was great music……M & F

Friday 18^th July, 2014…Mandela’s birthday date…..correction…his saying was “You think it’s impossible, until it’s done”… we had a couple of hours of wind and rain last night and going out to a restaurant for dinner we couldn’t see anything which was a pity….but this has been the case all the time as it is dark by 5 pm…..Knysna is a great spot with its lagoons…our accommodation has been on one island and each night we have gone to another island for our restaurants……and so we were up at 5 am again this morning for a 6 am start…..and then left yet again in the dark….first we drove through Sedgefield which is a great dairying area and is known for its lakes…we couldn’t see anything though and then onto Wilderness which is known for its bird watching and walking…..then George which is where President Botha was born (he was the president that had Mandela sent to prison)….then Mossel Bay which was settled by the Jews originally and they established a trading station there but now there is a big oil refinery at Mossel Bay……then it was farming and cropping…acres and acres of wheat and the canola oil plant as far as the eye could see….rolling green countryside with those mountains always on the horizon….then we stopped at Albertinia where they have a factory shop that makes all sorts of aloe products……one could have shopped and shopped there but we always have the road ahead in mind and carrying everything!!!! Then we passed through Swellendam which is one of the oldest towns in SA….after Swellendam there was a turn off to Cape Agulhas where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet but we kept travelling on the N2 and then came of the N2 road and drove out to Hermanus on the Atlantic Ocean…what a great spot but unfortunately there is a howling wind here today so not very pleasant…lots of white caps on the ocean so no good for whale watching as this place is known for whale watching and where the whales give birth…Hermanus has developed as a resort town and whale watching and become very popular over the last 10 years…some lovely properties here too and a railway station with no tracks going into it as they found it too hard to lay tracks through all the granite mountains which we encountered on our drive from the N2 road to Hermanus which was about 70 kms….lots of grape vines along the way so we are finally getting into the wine area of SA……we had lunch on our arrival at our accommodation which is lovely as we are just about on the beach and have a great view of the Atlantic Ocean from our room and then we went into Hermanus township and wandered the shops and talked to the locals…as Michael and I do…..there is a good path around the rocks but the wind too ferocious to attempt that today….and so back to our digs and then out to another restaurant tonight to try some more of the local seafood…had some oysters last night and probably not quite the flavour of our Bluff oysters but they were so meaty and delicious!!......M & F

Thursday 17^th July, 2014……left at 7.30 am this morning and went up into the wealthier suberbs of Knynsa which also gave great views of the Indian Ocean (they have viewing platforms up there) and we even saw at a distance, the whales splashing around out there…..some fabulous homes and something else we have noticed in the Western Cape province is that hardly anyone has the razor wire on their fences….also there is no burning of the land here in the Western Cape province…..Knynsa…as the story goes, George Rex, said to be the illegitimate son of George III of England and a Quaker named Sarah Lightfoot settled here in 1797 after being banished from England….and the lagoon here was formed by the sea originally coming in closer years ago so it is not a manmade lagoon as we thought it was, and they say Knysna is the most important town on the Garden Route…..formerly it was a centre for the timber industry supplying yellowwood and stinkwood for railway lines, shipping and house building….something else we read today is that the Eastern Cape province is the poorest of the 9 provinces in SA but I think we have come to that conclusion……we then drove back on the road we had been on yesterday but this time we stopped at Bloukrans Bridge which is in the Tsitsikamma National Park on the Garden Route…..the Bloukrans Bridge is the biggest in Africa and they do a bungy jump here which is 216 metres and the highest in the world now we’re told…..Hannah, our Ethiopian/Swedish girl decided she wanted to do a jump so we spent time here…..lots of local craft being sold and a very picturesque area…interesting that you could not pass through this area before 1983 as there were no bridges to cross these great valleys….awesome looking through these big valleys to the Indian Ocean….. then we drove on to another area of Tsitsikamma National Park, the Stormsriver Mouth……a great spot on the Indian Ocean where they have built a big board walk and then put 3 swing bridges in the area….we went and walked it all and then had lunch at the lovely restaurant in the area, right on the ocean…..we had 2 mains and 2 shandy’s for $20….last night’s dinner was awesome…the fish here is great…we had 2 mains, 1 bottle of bubbly and 1 dessert for $43…..then it was a drive back to our accommodation at Knysna…..we stopped off in Plettenburg Bay and what an upmarket place that is…..lovely sandy beach and great shops…P/Bay is a resort town and one of SA’s top local tourist spots…..forgot to mention that Jeffreys Bay yesterday is the top surfing beach in SA…….Western Cape province certainly is very different from the Eastern Cape province and it is reflected in the life style here in the Western Cape province……sadly again today though we went passed all these absolute wooden shacks on the outskirts of Knysna and Plettenberg…such a contrast to the beautiful homes that are in both these towns…we are told that the government is slowly building the match box houses for the local natives and there is evidence that that has started as in one area we saw all the box houses in a row, all identical, such uniformity with no imagination whatsoever and just another slum waiting to happen down the track…… reflecting back on Port Elizabeth yesterday…..apparently the city centre was really run down but the world cup there in 2010 and the building of the Nelson Mandela Stadium gave the place a boost…(we had the stadium pointed out to us) ……time to go for dinner to another restaurant…another culinary adventure……M & F

Wednesday 16^th July, 2014…….6.30 am this morning and we were on yet another game drive in the dark!! Nothing exciting this morning though and so we left the park about 9 am…..we headed on down the N2 which we are driving on which goes all the way to Cape Town……it is a fairly good motorway in parts and then parts are little better than our old Great South Road…the speed limits are 100 and 120 km per hour and there are a few toll gates…..and so it was more of the barren landscape we have got used to in the Eastern Cape Province with the odd cows you see grazing….all have big horns….nothing gets dehorned here….. then we drove through a small settlement called Colchester….all these English names….I forgot to mention yesterday the beautiful cathedral type churches in Grahamstown…very English….I would loved to have gone inside one of them to see how they are being maintained but from the outside they looked well maintained……very few white Africans in this Eastern Cape Province and that is why you wonder what the future will be for all these beautiful buildings…..and then we drove through a small resort area with massive sand hills between the Indian ocean and the resort…..then we lost the coast for a bit until we got to Port Elizabeth…coming into PE we passed the biggest port in Africa ….Port Ngqura in the settlement of Coega…PE had quite a lot of pollution as there was a big coal power station and another power station….some beautiful homes though and then the middle class suburbs….the council flats, very tidy, and then on the outskirts all the local settlements….the first we have seen today…..all the match box houses here built in wood but lots of bricks used to build all the better homes…brick houses everywhere… PE has big car assembly plants for BMW and Volkswagon so we guess that creates some employment… .it got greener as we drove south……big farms with very large dairy herds but still lots of irrigation but we were almost into the Western Cape Province where they have winter rain…..we drove down to the ocean at Jeffreys Bay and what a great spot….good beach, lots of interesting shops, we would love to have stopped there for a longer period of time but as always one has to keep moving…..leaving here there were lots of windmill turbines on the horizon…..our next stop was Tsitsikamma where we had our lunch stop…truck lunch in a park area….after lunch we walked to view the oldest tree in Africa…a Yellowwood tree and supposed to be 1,000 years old…..and this is where Western Cape Province begins and where the white SA’s live (we go that impression)…..we have seen a noticeable change in how the roads have improved and the facilities along the way….Tsitsikamma is where the Garden Route begins and goes down to Mossell Bay…we don’t know why they call it the garden route as it was kms and kms of pine forest and then farms and more tree lined roads…..lots of gum trees, one part of the journey, you felt you were in Australia….the next area we went through was Plettenberg Bay and pretty upmarket with a very upmarket gold course where Tiger Woods has played we were told….but once again the local settlement en route out of the town…at least these local settlement in Western Cape Province are not miles from anywhere like the local settlements in the Eastern Cape Province….but they are real slum areas sadly….even though there seems to be more wealth in the WCP than the ECP…..then on to Knysna to our accommodation for 2 nights….once again the slum area as we drove into this town was very sad but there are some lovely homes and accommodation where we are on the edge of a lagoon with the ocean in the distance….and so tonight we are going out to a restaurant for dinner to taste the local seafood which we are told is very good…..M & F

Tuesday 15^th July, 2014……Left Kei Mouth on the Indian Ocean at 6 am…yet again in the dark….(they call this area the Wild Coast and we wished we could have had more time there)……when we got daylight it was the usual landscape….so much land and so barren with all the match box houses, and so colourful in the Eastern Cape, with the local settlements always on the horizon…we’ve come to the conclusion that they are in these remote places because of the “outhouses”…no sewerage here and so all these long drop toilets must really smell in due course…..also water is like gold here and yet we are amazed that even on the better houses they have no spouting to collect the rain water into tanks…..also all the stones/rocks that are on the roof to hold the roof on but they still always have that satellite dish!! An so our first town this morning was East London…coming into East London we saw this big sign “Southern Sun” and there was a shopping complex that would rival Sylvia Park in Auckland and then approximately 1 km down the road are all the local settlements…….often there is real uniformity with the match box houses in that they are identical and all in a row which means the government have built the houses…..today we have bought Mandela’s book “The Long Road to Freedom” which we hope will enlighten us more with things in SA…….it really has got us thinking compared with what we have seen in the other countries, SA is very different and as tourists we feel apartheid is still alive and well here….these local settlements on the hillsides have no roads, no house numbers, we just can’t imagine how you tell someone where you live!! We did a comfort stop just south of East London and all of a sudden we couldn’t believe our eyes as there was a golf course so there must be white SA’s here somewhere…that is also what has amazed us is that there are hardly no tourists and we seldom see a white face when we stop in these towns….particularly this Eastern Cape region, it really is all black/native people…….quite a good train track most of the way today be we never saw a train…..just some very derelict and unused stations but the railway line looked to be in pretty good shape….next stop was King Williams town and so many British architectural buildings there……but some of the streets were like the terrace houses in Sydney….then on to Grahamstown which the British settled in in the 1820’s and set up a trading post….everything still oh so British here but again we hardly saw a white face….we spent 2 hours here…went to a bank and changed money and that always takes about 30 minutes, the paperwork and questions are incredible…..we found a nice little French restaurant for lunch but it served Italian food…as usual we nearly walked out as the service was dreadful, as always in this part of the world and when you have a time frame to work to it gets a bit frustrating…..(just watching the maids at Benmore Lodge yesterday, they have all day and just take all day…one was cleaning out the bird cage and one was preparing the onions for pickling…labour is so cheap here you don’t do anything yourself……then it was cacti’s and euphoria trees on the landscape to our destination at Addo Elephant National Park…..school holidays here and the park is busy but the weather is still good…got very hot today…..as usual we have a cabin/chalet in the park, surrounded by trees but told to keep our windows closed because of the baboons......Michael and I went into the park shop which is awesome, so much good camping gear and wonderful souveneirs….then it was a game drive in the park until dinner…this park is about 40,000 hectares and we can’t believe how the money tree (the smaller leaf variety) is an absolute weed in the park…..it is everywhere…we had some close encounters with the elephants tonight but still not a close up of a male lion…that is the only animal we haven’t had a close up with yet, they are so lazy…but we have had some really good encounters with the female lions so perhaps we will have to settle for that…..M & F