Day 13 The Final Destination ;)

For the first time, this trip felt like a road trip today. We left De Opstal Country Lodge in Oudtshoorn shortly after 10 this morning, and we finally arrived at our hotel in Cape Town at 7:30 this evening. Tiring!

A day at De Opstal wouldn’t be complete without something that makes you scratch your head (see our host’s details about Swartberg yesterday…), and so it was this morning as we checked out. Yesterday, one of the staff suggested that we put any laundry in the bathroom tub, and it would be washed while we were out – free of charge. Today, as we walked to the car for the final time, Madelein, our host, ran out of her office as she had forgotten to charge us for the laundry. Now, the laundry bill was R100, which is roughly equivalent to $15 Canadian, so we didn’t challenge it. After all, the final bill (including laundry) for the three of us, including breakfast both days, dinner one day (including a bottle of wine), a picnic lunch yesterday, snacks for the road today, a bottle of wine when we arrived, and accommodations was around $400. Nevertheless, it was a little absurd.

The next several hours were filled with an awe-inspiring, beautiful, unchanging drive through desert mountains…

Problem is that even those get boring after a while when there are no baboons to liven up the trip. To be fair, the drive wasn’t entirely unchanging. Roughly two hours away from Oudtshoorn, and hours more away from anything else, we came upon:

World famous? Who knew?!!

Then it was a very long drive to Cape Agulhas – the most southern tip of Africa!

It was crazy windy!! Who would have thought that the ocean could produce so much wind?!? ;) Ok, maybe all the sailors whose ships have been lost off the Cape knew that – more ships lost there than anywhere else on the coast of Africa. Probably right up there with the southern tip of South America for most ships lost anywhere in the world…

In its inhospitable and rugged way, it was very beautiful!

As far as we know, this ship was not lost off the Cape….yet….

The town of Agulhas is a rather isolated but friendly community. They were very friendly at the grocery store as we purchased most of their decent produce….they probably don’t eat that stuff anyway. I was reminded again why restaurants are so inexpensive here – good food is cheap! :) I’ve decided I want a job where I continue to be paid in Canadian dollars (and at Canadian wages) but I get to live and spend in South Africa. That would work out well, I think….

Nothing else particularly exciting as we made our way to Cape Town – our final destination city for this trip. I will be sad to leave this beautiful country…unless something happens in the next few days to help South Africa live up to its reputation. Let’s hope that it doesn’t!

We may not be the only ones staying here, but we have once again found a fantastic place to stay in Cape Town – the Harbouredge Apartments. Our concierge, Henry, is exceptionally nice and friendly, and the suite itself is great! For those who know, similar to Minto Suites in Ottawa….only nicer!