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6th August 2006

Location: Capetown, South Africa

At last we have arrived in Africa! Flying to Capetown last Wednesday was a punishing 14 hour ordeal, but we managed to get through customs with our one way tickets and are now staying with Jeremy’s cousins, the lovely Shillington family, in Capetown.

As expected the ship carrying 3 of our bikes is running late, but it was supposed to have docked last night and all going to plan we collect our bikes on Tuesday. Nick has already picked up his bike (which he purchased here in Capetown) and is working through the paperwork for registration and and a carnet.

Yesterday we climbed Table mountain and checked out some of the stunning views of the surrounding area. We’ve also been out to sample some of the night life on a few occasions, a highlight (or lowlight) was Saturday night at a local house party which culminated in Phill getting too drunk and falling into a hole, no lasting damage though. Despite Jeremy’s persistence we haven’t yet been out for a night on the shanty towns, we might have to leave that for another time...

 

22nd August 2006

Location: Durban, South Africa

We escaped! Cape Town is a distant memory, clouded by 500kms of South Africa’s finest motorway the N2. Although the hospitality shown to us by the Shillingtons will never be forgotten. Thanks alot to all the Shillington family. Once on the road we headed for the Coastal Route beautiful winding roads to Pringle and Hermanus where we caught regular glimpses of Whales cruising the coast line. What a start to the journey.

Never arrive anywhere in the dark. This was to be one of our golden rules, however due to a delayed departure time from Cape Town we ended up landing in a town called Stanford in the pitch black. Every space we saw with a few trees had a no trespassing sign on it so we were a little unsure quite where we would lay our heads, we didn’t really want to be woken by a farmer that looks similar to a springbok prop wielding a shotgun.

Enquiring at a local shop to see if they knew any likely spots to sleep the shop keeper a young Afrikaans guy called Stefan basically took a look at the bikes and decided we couldn’t be too bad and offered us to sleep on the grass behind his shop! What a legend! And so it was the goodness of people allowed us to have a safe nights sleep for the first night of our journey. A big thank you to Stefan, Bar and the biggest dog in the world Caesar for putting us up.

Up early we thanked Stefan and Bar and set out on a race along the Garden Route still on the N2. This was a big day as we had a south westerly front chasing our tails the whole way. Just when we thought we had the better of the front we would stop for petrol and food only for the front to edge a cloudy nose ahead. Finally about 60km from Knysna (nighsnah) we stopped to fix the bash plate on Nic’s bike that lost a screw and was falling off and the front took a convincing lead and we spent the last 45mins riding in the rain. Oh well, all the boys were geared up and handled the weather and roads no worries.

Its good to be on the road.

After chilling out in Knysna for a few days we headed around the Sunshine coast to the surfing mecca of Jeffrey’s Bay. The boys were hopeful for a wave but a combination of mother nature and the boys not being able to function normally at 7am when the surf was ok meant that we stayed dry.

From J-Bay it was onward to Grahamstown to stay with Julian’s cousins Camilla and Robbie Bloomfield on their farm, Rockhurst. We played farm during the day, with Juls shining at the osterich wrestling. We then checked out some fascinating rock paintings in a local cave before it was into Grahamstown for a night out in this student town. An early start the next morning and we headed into the former apartheid homeland the Transkei. Still a very poor area but the people were typically welcoming and we saw no trouble.

Onwards from the Transkei to Durban we arrived at sundown to the delightful hospitality of Gabriella and Antony Elworthy. We are doing some last minute preparation before heading away from the comforts of the first world. On the way to Botswana we will hit the All Blacks vs Springboks test match in Pretoria this Saturday.

We have had a few problems with the bikes. One of Jeremy’s bags melted onto his exhaust, not the safest way carry your gear. Still, it is a lot better than leaving one of your bags in the middle of the highway for the locals as to find; Phill lost all his clothes, sleeping bag and mat after his bag shuffled loose en route to the Kei Mouth. A clutch cable broke in the heart of the Transkei which the boys desperately fixed with throttle cable before powering on.

Big thanks to Camilla and Robbie for their generous hospitality - special mention to Robbies mouth watering Irish stew. Also many thanks to Gabriella and Antony for enduring the kiwi lads.

Capetown to Durban Images

Chronicle blurp

Arriving in Capetown on 2nd August it took 12 days before we at last had all our bikes and were ready to hit the road. We did however manage to keep ourselves busy with the standard climb of table mountain, and checking out some of the other local sites. A couple of days in nearby Pringle Bay with some kayaking thrown in was a highlight.
We followed the renowned Garden Route to Grahamstown and tested out the bikes. There were a few minor hickups like Jeremys pannier bag catching alight, breaking down on the Capetown motorway, Nic dropping his bike twice, Juls once and Phill losing his gear! However we made it through to Durban unscathed!