Days 241 to 250 Diary Index
Days 261 to 270 
I woke to the throbbing reminder that I had drunk too much the night before. So after a big breakfast and a couple of cups of tea my head was straight enough to get on with the rest of the day. I had arranged to be at the Land Rover Service center after 11:00, so I was in no rush and spent the time getting a few on jobs done. I then set off for the drive to South Field and along the way Mum and Dad called. I pulled over to the side of the road and spent a while chatting to them, before carrying onto South Field. I eventually arrived around 12:00 and picked up the remaining parts I had been waiting for and also replaced some spare parts I had used. I then started the drive back toward Sea Point, but along the way stopped for lunch and to do some food shopping. So by the time I got back to the Aardvark backpackers it was around 15:00. Never the less I decided I would change the front brake pads. This job went smoothly and so was all done with in an hour. So I also decided to fit the replacement steering damper. It was a little tricky to remove the old one, as there was not much space to work with, but it eventually came off and fitting the new one was straight forward. Satisfied I cleared my tools away and went and enjoyed a dip in the deep pond which they call the pool at the Aardvark. I then had some dinner and drove down to the Water Front to the cinema. Where I spent the evening watching the Bourne Supremacy. It was a great film, with lots of twists and turns to the story.
The first job off the day was to get more cash out to pay for the four new tyres I had arrange to buy. I had decided to buy Continental 235/85 R16 TL All Terrain tyres, as I would be seeing a lot more tarmac from now on. Along with the fact that the Michelin Mud Terrain tyres I have been using are even more expensive in South Africa than in Europe. The guy I had arrange to meet to get the tyres turned up early and after a chat he lead me across Cape Town to a garage near Century City shopping center. They where flat out with work and said they could not change the tyres until later. I said that was OK and arrange to come back at 13:30. I then went down to Century City shopping center to kill the time. It's a massive place and it was not hard to spend a couple of hours there just wandering the shops and getting some lunch. When I arrived back at the garage they had not done anything about fitting the tyres and where now saying I would be luckily to have them fitted buy the end of the day. After a while waiting they arrange to have the tyres fitted down the road at another garage. So the tyres where put into the back of one of their pickups and I was lead down to the new garage. There I had the tyres fitted and balanced, which took around an hour. While I waited I got chatting to a bloke who used to be an off road instructor for Land Rover and had also been on many overland trips round southern Africa. With the job finally done I took the old tyres back to the original garage where there might be the possibility of selling them to a remold factory. Feb up of a day of listening to excuses, I drove back to the Sea Point area and the Aardvark backpackers. Once back, because of my late decision to stay, I had to move my gear to another dorm. I then chilled out on the terrace chatting and reading, until it was time to make some food. After which Verena called. It was nice to hear her voice after the day I had had and our conversation took my mind off the frustrating course of events. Then I continued to read until I drifted of to sleep.
After a lazy start to the day, I again had to move dorms. I then settled in for a day at the keyboard. It took me all day to finish of writing up my dairy and sorting out a picture page for the gallery. By the time I had finished it was late afternoon. So I wandered along main road, toward Cape Town, until I came across an internet cafe I could up load from. I then spent an hour or so sending the update and checking my mail. With my main job for the day done, my stomach reminded me it was dinner time. I fancied something different and settled on Indian take away. I went for a classic, chicken korma. With my tummy satisfied I settled down in the TV room and spent the evening watching a video, The Recruit. Good story with a nice twist at the end.
Again I spent the day at the keyboard. My own fault for fall 20 days behind with the dairy. But by the end of the day I had knocked out another 10 days worth and updated the site from the internet cafe. I spent the evening relaxing with a few beers and read for a while until going to sleep.
As soon as I was up and ready I got on with my task for the day, sorting my papers for a replacement passport. I filled all the necessary sections in and gathered all the relevant bits of paper. I then walked into the city center and to the British Consul. There I checked that I had everything in order. They pointed out another section I needed to fill in, with the details of my parents. Once back at the backpackers, I phoned home got the relevant details and filled it in. I then arranged for the courier to collect the documents and take hem to Pretoria, which is where the British Embassy is based. I spent most of the afternoon hanging around for the guy and he eventually turned up at 15:00. With the passport papers safely packed up they were on there way. I then turned my attention to what to do tomorrow. I fancy doing something fun and so booked to go diving. After dinner a had a couple of beer's in the bar before shying off to bed, so not to get involved in the nightly drunken games.
I was up early, had breakfast, and killed sometime reading before walking down the road to the diving shop. After the introductions, we got kitted up and drove out to the dive site. Once there my instructor bottled it, canceling the dive on the grounds that the swell was to big. The fact that most of my training had been carried out in swell twice as big didn't impress me much. So we drove back to the drive shop after a wasted morning. To salvage something from the day I jumped in the Landy and drove out to Llandudno, which I had been told was a good surf spot. There was indeed big waves, but no good corners. So you either flew down the face and made it out front, or got munched. So after an hour of battling with the waves I came out. Once back at at Aardvark I just chilled out for the rest of the day, and enjoyed another quiet evening.
Once up and about I had a good breakfast and went down the dive shop. There I met another guy called Nathan who I had been sharing the dorm with for the last few days. Again we soted out the kit and were joined by another experienced diver, make us four. We drove out to False Bay and to Miller's Point, where we met the other divers with the boat. We got changed and put our gear on the boat. It was only a short ride to the dive site. The first dive was great. We swam down to a wreck of a fishing trawler, along it's deck and under the stern. We had just reached another wreck neither by when our air was low and we had to return to the surface. Once everyone was backon the boat, we went back to shore to change tanks and then went back out on the boat to another wreck. This time however when our leader descended quickly I lost her in the gloom. I searched around the bottom for a while and then went looking for the wreck. But found neither. So I surfaced and found myself 200m from the boat. At this point I was starting to get very worried about white sharks, as False Bay is full of them. I couldn't help thinking how much I must look like a seal (white pointers main food) from underneath. I had been told that the bubbles and the sound of the air going through the regulator scares the sharks. So I continued breathing through it even though I was on the surface, and then done my impression of a human torpedo back to the boat. To round the dive off, the last guy to come to the surface said he had just seen a 6m white shark go flying past. He was untangling the anchor when a seal swam past the other side of the wreck at top speed, closely followed by the shark. We were soon packed up and drove back to the dive shop. Where the cheeky boss had the gaul to ask me for another 100R for the boat. When it was them who first cancelled the shore dive, and then managed to loose me on the second dive. I didn't pay the extra and walked out. Once back at the backpackers I spent the evening enjoying a few beer's and chatting the night away.
After breakfast I moved my stuff back to the Landy and checked out of the Aardvark backpackers. The drove down to South Field and the Land Rover Service center as they had phoned the day before to tellme they had the indicator I wanted. Once I had picked that up, I continued down to Muizenberg. I stopped in at the internet cafe for an hour and then had some fish and chips for lunch, while being sat on the beach. I then drove on along the coast and by mid afternoon had arrived at the sea side town of Hermanus. After having a wander round the town center I managed to get a local map and found my way to the Hermanus Baclpackers. It's a nice place set in a quiet estate, with nice owners and good facilities. I arrange to camp on there drive way and spent the rest of the day relaxing there chatting to various people. I also booked a place on the sea Kayaking tour for the next day. I spent the evening have a couple of beers and chatting the night away, as well a learning a new card game.
I was up with the lark, had breakfast and walked down to the old harbour to go sea kayaking. There I soon saw a Irish couple who I had been talking to the night before, and after introductions and a explanation of where we would be going, we got on the water. It was a lovely sunny day and the water was warm. I soon got chatting to the guide who was into surfing and had been working as a river guide for quite some time. He was also interested in doing his own overland tour, and so had many questions. Toward the end of the paddle we had a crack at trying to surf the open topped sea kayaks we were in. It all went wrong when a freak wave broke early. I managed to catch it, but my paddle blade broke away from the shaft and I rolled into the wave. I was OK and managed to get most of my things back, but lost my good sun glasses. Another offering to Trident! Along the way we did see one big wave tale disappear into the depths and a lot of seals lazing around sleeping on the kelp weed. We paddled back to the harbour and after a quick jump from the rocks, relaxed with a cup of hot chocolate and bickies. I then went with Dietris to the internet cafe for a while and then went to find a cheap pair of sun glasses to replace to ones I had just lost. He then dropped me back at the backpackers. After a short while he returned to go surfing. So I chucked my gear in his car and we went to a few different spots looking for good wave. We settled on this place with a nice set of corners coming in close to a reef. It worked out well, as it was just like a merry go round with the rip running along the rocks back into the corner break. We spent an hour or so there just catching corner after corner. It was late afternoon by the time I got back to the backpackers, where I just chilled out watching video's and reading, until it was time for dinner. After a great BBQ'ed T-boned steak for dinner, I spent the rest of the evening playing cards until bed.
I had decided to move on again, and the mission for the day way Cape Agulhas. This is the most southerly point of the African continent, the meeting point of the Indian and Atlantic Oceans and my half way point. It was a straight forward drive from Hermanus to the point and I followed the coastal dirt tracks to get there. Once I had arrived in the car park it was only a 150m walk to the headland marker. There it clearly shows the dividing line between the oceans and a compass with many directions and distances marked on it, giving details of a lot of the big cities around the world. So I posed for the obligatory photo and then texted a few people to let them know. It left strange to be standing there, after 25,000+ miles of driving and 260 days on the road, and a whole lot of interesting experiences. I stood there thinking to my self, well there is only one thing for it and that's to drive back. I then headed back into the little town and fuelled up the Landy and had some lunch. I then decided I would drive up to Bredasdorp, Swellendam and over the Tradouw Pass to Oudtshoorn. It was a beautiful scenic drive and I arrived in Oudtshoorn late afternoon. I stopped to buy some essentials and then decided I would drive the remaining 30 Km to Cango Caves, which was the reason I had driven up. I arrived at the entrance to the caves at 16:30 and the tours had finished for the day. So I drove down to the bottom car park and set camp for the evening. I then spent the remaining hours of light reading, before going to bed.
Days 241 to 250 Diary Index
Days 261 to 270