march
9 | main index | march
11
Breakfast
was around 9 am and after stuffing ourselves with homemade jams, eggs
and bacon, we took some photos of the property and packed up for the trip
home. We were informed by the owners that in three and a half years of
business, we were only the third set of Americans who had stayed there.
We made sure to sign the guestbook on our way out. Veda wanted to stop
at the caravan park again to reserve a spot for next year so we walked
around a took a few photos while she was haggling with the salespeople.
Since
the clouds were finally clearing up, we drove up to the Heads again for
a better look. The view was simply stunning... blue water and skies with
calm seas. From our viewpoint among the beautiful and large houses, we
could see the Featherbed Nature Reserve where the indigenous blue duiker
lives; also the home of the tiny cape seahorse. We took a drive out to
Leisure Isle for a better view of the mouth of the lagoon and spotted
a few hadedas and some beautiful homes and gardens along the way.
Before
leaving Kynsna, we needed food, so we stopped at the local Fruit &
Veg for some refreshments, snacks and a very tasty tuna sandwich for R6.
I was tempted to get the sushi, but the platters available were a bit
expensive and the sashimi would have been pretty difficult to eat in the
car. At the store, I picked up a braai seasoning grinder and some spiced
cashews along with six kiwi fruit for a dollar. After a photo of the Outeniqua
Choo-Tjoe, we were on the road again.
On
the way back, Veda stopped at a few caravan parks for further research
in Wilderness and Hartenbos. Some were very nice and private while others
were overrun with people. A lot of the places have these little round
huts you can rent called rondawels that sleep two people in addition to
the caravan hookups. We also stopped at Dolphin Point again to get a clearer
shot of the Kaaimans River bridge.
While getting gas in Hartenbos, the attendant accidentally filled the car up with leaded gas instead of unleaded. Apparently cars in South Africa are built to run on either, while the cars in the U.S. would have just died. The nice thing is that while you are getting filled up, it's completely full service meaning they check your oil and fluids, clean your windows and even put air in your tires, all while you wait.
Most
of the rest of the day was spent driving the long trip back to Cape Town.
Around 7 pm we were getting hungry and the first place Veda wanted to
try was closed, so we ended up at the Houw
Hoek Inn about 90 minutes from home. We saw they had savory and sweet
pancakes, so while Eric ordered the chocolate and ice cream pancake for
dinner with a semi-sweet white wine, Veda and I ordered a salmon and cream
pancake each and a bottle of the house red. The red was wonderful, but
the pancake was divine. I'm picky about my smoked salmon, I like the pink
soft stuff not the brown tough kind. I couldn't eat the whole thing after
my bowl of yummy mushroom soup, but I certainly tried very hard. On our
way out, we learned the huge blue gum tree in front of the inn was planted
there over 150 years ago, a few years after the inn opened.
We made it the rest of the way home without incident, downloaded the photos and went straight to bed.