Another week and another holiday comes to an end, well not completely as the trek home is just another part of the holiday in that we don't just rush up the road home, but rather poodle ever so gently along stopping for over-nighters all along the way.
We left Fish Hoek behind and headed 415 km up the road to Prince Albert - the town we stayed in on the way down but not the same guest house.
This time we stopped at Karoo Khaya ( khaya in Swahile means house or village ) owned by the town's Doctor and his wife, the good Doctor incidentally makes the most interesting accessories such as lamps for the cottages from all manner of scrap metal and wood.
A short stroll into town saw dinner again at the Gallery restaurant at the Seven Arches.
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| Karoo Khaya |
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| Karoo Khaya |
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| Karoo Khaya - Bedroom |
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| Karoo Khaya - Standing Lamp |
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| Karoo Khaya - Kitchen |
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| Karoo Khaya |
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| Karoo Khaya - Table lamp |
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| Karoo Khaya |
The next day we drove on-wards to Graaff-Reinet a mere 290 km(where Pam's sister Heather and her husband Vos own Heather's B&B, as usual this included the prerequisite stops along the way such as the waterfall on the Meiringspoort pass for a quick refreshing swim and then a stop at a small restaurant called Sanitas in a town called De Rust for food and refreshments.
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| Meiringspoort |
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| Meiringspoort |
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| Meiringspoort Waterfall |
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| Sanitas Restaurant |
And so we get to Graaff-Reinet
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| Reneit House |
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| Museum |
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| Museum |
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| Church |
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| Church at night |
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| Devils face (above clock) created by the spotlights shining onto the church |
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| Example of the local architecture |
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| Example of the local architecture |
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| Heather's B&B (A National Monument) |
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| Heather's B&B (A National Monument) |
We took a rather pleasant if not hot walk out of town on the one afternoon
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| On the walk out of town |
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| On the walk out of town |
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| Street scene |
Nieu Bethesda was the next stop on the journey, the main reason for our stop here was to visit the Owl House, and with this we had the added bonus of a small paleontology museum followed by a live demo of how fossils are laboriously removed from the stone they imprisoned in and then a half hour walking tour out to a nearby river bed to view actual fossils still in situ.
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| Owl House |
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| Fossils in situ |
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| Riverbed |
Disaster - As we were about to head off to the local Brewery and two goats deli for lunch it was discovered we had left Rickety Bridge Teddy Bear in Graaf Reinet at Heather's B&B, so back on the road and off we go to Graaf Reinet (90 minutes journey)to fetch said abandoned Teddy!! - no lunch for the boys!!!
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| Rickety Bridge Teddy |
For interest I have added a separate Owl House blog post.
Final stop on the road - Gariep Dam, now you will have read in a previous entry that we stopped there on the way down at the de Stijl hotel, well they were full so we stayed at an excellent little B&B called View Lodge.
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| View Lodge B&B |
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| Room with a View |
As they did not serve dinner we decided to wander on down to the de Stijl for dinner. Now to elaborate on the dinner saga, they had on the way down informed us you can't book for dinner as it is a "first come - first served" basis.
So we duly arrived, and lo and behold we are told it is full for dinner and why didn't we book, well as only happens here in the good ole SA we ended up in a rather protracted and totally illogical argument:
Us: "Good evening can we have a table for 2 for dinner"
Reception: " Did you book"
Us: " No you told us last time we couldn't book, it is first come first served"
Reception: " Sorry you must book - we are full"
Us: " but you said we couldn't book, it is first come first served"
Reception: "iYes, but you must book"
Us: " but you said we couldn't book, it is first come first served"
Reception: "iYes, you spoke to me you remember"
Us: "Yes"
Reception: "iYes, but now you must book"
And so it would have continued way into the night........
Back to View Lodge feeling a bit dejected and not to say hungry while frantically searching on the internet for suitable or for that matter any establishment that can serve us food.
We eventually ended up at a small rustic pub/grill restaurant called Tjailatyd which basically means going home time - Excellent!!!
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| Tjailatyd Pub and Grill |
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| Tjailatyd Pub and Grill |
And then the next day it was on-wards back to Johannesburg and on that I will say no more.........
Random Statistics:
Total distance covered: 3942km
Total time away: 23 days
Average Temp: in Fish Hoek 25C / 77F
Highest temp: in the Karoo 36C / 96.8F
Experience: Priceless
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