Day 1
Cape Town - Gouda – Tulbagh – Ceres – Oasis Cederberg
First of all I want to apologize for all the pics of the first few days' posts. We are 3 people with a variety of devices for capturing awesomeness! I have brought them down from almost 1000 to 50. I promise to lessen the pics as the days go by.
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| Our Dog tags! |
Wow! What a day - with tons of mixed feelings!! Doing some
last minute needlework till 1am was not quite in the planning, but if things
suddenly don't work, what’s a girl gotta do?!
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| Yep, that's me with a needle and thread!! |
On the other hand, were it any
other capable woman, the job would have taken half an hour and not two and a
half hours!! Then again, give me a bike and some dirt roads rather than a needle
and thread! Although being awake since 5.30am we did not get away till 8.30!
All thanks to me, of course. Once again packing and repacking, then not finding
things and then having to get loaded and all the different luggage
arrangements. Sighhh…
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| First day of our trip and ready to leave! |
Toni and I slept over at Abie’s, so that we could all leave
together and get an early start – we hoped!
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| Toni repairing my power output in Ceres |
Just as we were kitted and ready to leave, I found my Helmet
camera kept shutting down. Then discovered the battery was flat!?! How was that
possible? I had charged both the battery and the spare just before I left for Cape Town! I decided we
must rather hit the road and I would replace it a little later when we stopped
again.
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| The very last time Brutus or I was clean!! |
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| Snow capped mountains in the distance |
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| Curious cows |
What a beautiful ride through the Durbanville hillside,
green pastures everywhere and white-covered mountains accompanying us till the
end of the day.
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| Happy and fooling around |
When we made a stop, I replaced the battery with the spare and
discovered it too was flat!! Devastated, I had to ride on without the much
anticipated cam! The reason being that the cigarette lighter charger Toni had
installed for me to give direct power to my (many) devices – hubby says I am a
gadget freak! – broke the day before the trip started.
The crisp, cold morning air was refreshing and I felt alive.
Felt like jumping and bucking, because I was at last on the trip of a lifetime! Passing a pasture with sheep I saw one of the most fascinating sites…
Steam was coming out of them, each individual, but from their whole body. So
the whole field was full of little white clouds with white air rising out if
them. If ever I was heartbroken about my cam’s flat batteries!!
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| Behind the Tulbagh mountains |
The Porselein road between
Wellington and Riebeek Kasteel almost had me
buying some pretty expensive property as I nearly came down in a stretch of
mud.
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| Almost buying some property! |
Brutus came through for me and we passed it with flying colours – ok ok,
by the skin of our teeth, but hey, no dust was eaten, ermm… I mean mud!
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| First (of many!) refueling on the trip - in Ceres |
Toni used his socket and started charging the cam in the
meantime. We had the R20 Wimpy breakfast at Ceres and I went to fetch my
charger so that it could get a bit of a power boost while we were eating and
get a new power socket for me. Lo and behold! I had managed to forget my wall
charger at home!! Highly stressed, yet relieved country folk are so prepared to
go out their way to help, I managed to get a cigarette lighter installed again.
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| Ceres from the Gydo pass |
From Ceres we went up the Gydo pass, where we had to take
pics of the valley and the snowy mountains and on to Op die Berg. Although the
snow had been melting for the last 4 days, it was still close and low enough
that we could enjoy every moment of its beauty.
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| Just came from here |
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| And going here |
There we turned east and headed
for Oasis in the Cederberg, passing fields of orange flowers, rock formations
and a stunning pass.
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| Oasis - literally!! |
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| Abie trying to get away from the muggies (insects/bugs) eating us alive! |
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| Toni happy with his new orange KTM beanie! |
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| Great ribs and chips |
The first day was concluded with of the best Spare Ribs I
have eaten, good company and good conversation with Gerrit the owner of Oasis. What
an awesome place!
Thus my first day ending on a high as I got to ride of the
most beautiful areas and the recent snow adding to its beauty!
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