We are on the road!

We left Cape Town at 4pm on Saturday (29/11) in a light drizzle. Packing took us a little bit longer than expected, but so far we haven’t found that we forgot anything.

Four hours and 450km later we are at Rivendale, Pat and B’s farm just outside George. It was an easy drive on the good South African national roads. This was just as well as we were quite tired after a week of hard work and late nights.

We have been here for 5 days. Farm life has slowed our progress down to an average of 50km and four coffees per day. We have been making final preparations in between helping out around the farm and relaxing with Pat and B.

We decided to install another leaf spring to the rear of the car which is sagging a bit under the load.

Friday should see us heading for Cape St Francis. We will then slowly make our way up the coast, with the idea of reaching Mozambique and Maputo around December 12.

Steve enjoying farm life.

Cloudy skies over the farmlands around George. In the background, the Outeniqua Mountains.

On Tuesday (02/12) we took a drive to Victoria Bay (no surfing, unfortunately) and had tea in Wilderness with Helen and Hugo. Ten years ago they welcomed Caro in their home for her first Christmas in South Africa and we have remained friends. Helen grew up in Uganda and Kenya, and we will be sending her smiles from there.

On Monday (01/12) the sky cleared and we were fortunate enough to witness Jupiter and Venus aligned with the moon for a few hours. We agreed that in ancient times this would have been seen as a special omen. The next day we saw this article in the local paper.