Cape Town 20.5.06 Hello there! How are you all? I hope everyone is well and the summer in England is beginning to take shape. Is the male population getting in a frenzy over the world cup yet? So what have we been up to? Well after living it up pretty well in the Big Blue hostel and swanning around in the nice Nissan, we were still in search of our vehicle and realistically new that money doesn’t grow on trees! That meant we needed to reduce our spending on wheels and digs for the foreseeable future while we were still getting the truck organised. As if by magic the perfect solution was found in the Big Blue, stuck on the notice board. So we are now in possession of an ageing VW campervan with camping equipment included which we have parked up in a campsite in Muizenburg which is about half an hour from CT. Now just to get the picture clear, we have a bed in the van, a little gas cooker, pots and pans, and essentially all that we could need to be self sufficient for awhile, plus a means by which we can still get around. Excellent! Admittedly ‘Suzie’ as named by the owners, has seen better days (sho is over 20 years old), but she does go from A to B quite adequately if a little nosily, with a dodgy handbrake and only 4 gears! The only down side to this little treat is that after the initial hot start to our time in SA - which we have found out was not the norm for this time of year and even S. African’s were bowled over by how hot it was - only hours after we had found a nice spot in the campsite, the real weather started. All I can say is it doesn’t rain here it pours!!! Imagine the scenario (a common one in England!), cold winds, persistent torrential rain, grey skies, trying to cook outside and soggy clothes and shoes! Yep that’s what we’ve been enjoying for the last 5 days! Camping…..we love it!! We have been very impressed at how much it can rain here. Honestly we’ve had a couple of dry spells for less than an hour each since Monday! Stay tuned though as we have had a real turn of fortune which you’ll hear about in a minute. Now back to the truck bits. Up ‘til now we had seen quite a few things and had a good idea of what we could get, and all in all we were fairly confident we could find something suitable. We ended up looking at a landrover (the one vehicle I had said I didn’t want to have!) which was all kitted out with virtually everything we could need for our trip. Now it was quite abit more money than we wanted to spend, but considering it was such as good truck, only a couple years old and we wouldn’t have to spend further time getting the extras it already had, we thought it needed some consideration. We took it for a test drive and the guy who was selling it (a landrover mechanic called Mark) also took us to a 4x4 off road drive track to show us what it could do, which was very impressive! So after immense discussion and deliberating we decided to say yes (like the man from Del Monte!) and arranged for the bank transfer to start. There were a few bits and bobs that Mark needed to do to get it completely ready and so we arranged to go back on Thursday and finalise things, as well as go through some important maintenance tips. All is good and we can get excited about nearing the point where we can set off! YEEHHAAA. But we all know life can take unexpected turns when you are least expecting it! And this was just such a turn, on Thursday we get a call from Mark saying could we go and see him straight away. HMMM ominous we thought, but didn’t think too much of it. We get there and he tells us that he’s had a problem with the guy who he is selling the landy for. It appears that the guy who owns the landy hasn’t actually finished paying the finance for it and if we buy it, the bank still really owns it and can take it away, so he can’t sell it to us. Boy what a bombshell, especially as the money is winging its way into his bank account as we speak! What are we to do? Luckily Mark is a really nice guy and has been really helpful right from the start, and he says he is very sorry, and to make it up he is going to get us another landy of the same spec and fit it out with all the bits the other landy had and all for the same money. He also says that his mother owns a B&B in a posh part of CT’s coastline (Camp’s Bay) and he’s arranged for us to stay there until it’s all done (4/5 days) free of charge so that we don’t have to stay soaked through in the campsite anymore! So we are now, living it up in a really lovely apartment overlooking the ocean, with TV, on suite, big lovely bed and out of the rain! What a turn around in such a short time! Mark is hopefully going to get this other landy up together and we could actually end up with a better deal than the first one because all the bits he is adding are going to be brand new, not second hand! But being cautious now we’ll wait and see if it all works out before sitting back and celebrating! We’ll let you know how it goes!...... ……Well we are now the proud owners of a green giant of a landy with lots of nice kit on it! In the next blog we'll tell you all about it and have some snazzy pictures aswell! So we will be back in touch in a while to give you an up date before the adventure really starts and we get on the road to Namibia! Take care all and we hope to hear from you soon! Love Kate and Jas xx PS. We have managed to do a few non truck things too!! In between the rain we have climbed up Lion's Head, which is a very big hill across from Table Mountain. Seen The Davinci Code, very good! Gone back to the penguins a couple of times, still very cute! And been to a huge shopping centre called Century City for a little look (you know how girls are!!). PPS. The weather is still wet and cold, but we are getting used to it!

NB. Have you read the post from Pretoria 6.5.06 Cape Town 11/5/06 …… We have arrived in CT save and sound! We hired a nice Nissan saloon and spent a day and a half driving down. We stopped at a place called Kimberley which was very much a stop, sleep and go situation, so we can’t really tell you much about it! It was dark when we arrived and just dawn when we left – you can tell we were on a mission to get to CT super quick! The scenery as we drove was very flat and arid semi-desert, which did get a bit monotonous after awhile. However, our interest was greatly lifted as we spotted our first really wild animals of the trip! Lots of rock dassies (very large hamsters who live around the rocky bits) out in the early morning sun, and then ostriches hanging about just off the road (they are pretty big birds I can tell you), then a meerkat exhibiting its ‘on hind legs looking around’ pose perfectly! So from then on we were driving around as if on a safari drive straining our eyes to see what we can see! As we got further on towards CT the landscape becomes more mountainy and the road twists around the rocky outcrops, we like that, makes the driving much more interesting! Then we find ourselves in some of the wine making areas and for miles there are lovely vineyards with people selling grapes along the side of the road, very nice! The plants are all very luscious now and it is a beautiful region and we will come back this way to see more and taste some too! Now in CT we are staying in a hostel called the Big Blue (Rach and Jas know this place!) which is right near the coast and we can walk down to the Waterfront in 10 minutes where there is a lovely area of shops, restaurants, cinema (Hoorayyy got to see MI:III yesterday which I am very pleased about!) and generally a nice place to hang around. We’ve got straight on to the truck hunt and have been driving around all over the place to look at what’s available. Three days in and things are going quite well, we’ve found a Landrover Discovery that is completed kitted out with everything we need for the whole of our trip and we are going to take it out for an extensive test drive to see how it goes. Fingers crossed it works out because it would save us the hassle of buying everything separately. It’s early days yet though and there are a few other options as well but this is by far at the top of the list at the moment. This morning we took a rest from the hunt and got up a 5.30am!!!!!! Jas’s idea to go right down towards the southern most part of the Cape and see the sunrise over the bay where the penguins are. I was a little dubious about the early, early start, but was totally impressed when we got to Simon’s Town and parked up near a sign for penguins and got out of the car to see one of the little things running around the car park! They are very cute and we walked along to the waters edge where there were loads of them bobbing in to and out of the water. There were also a few that had chicks and they were lovely to see. You could sit and they would walk right past you it was great! After Jas managed to drag me away from the cuties, we went on to Table Mountain National Park where the actual Cape of Good Hope is. It’s a lovely drive through the park, lots of greenery and rocky hills and cliffs. We went down to the sea and did some expert tracking of Cape clawless otters (those of you who know about Jas's odd week-end habits know about this!)and while we walking along the beach enjoying the sun (it is really hot and the locals are saying it is very unusual because it should be quite cool this time of year – so much for acclimatising, we’re straight in to hot hot hot!) when there were suddenly 3 baboons joining us! They casually trot by not bothering to give us a second look, whilst we stare at them completely impressed at how close we are to them! Then we went for a walk to the Cape and took some touristy photos of us to prove we were there and during the walk back saw some elands (big antelope) and ostriches, that we decided to give a good berth just in case they wanted to come and see us up close! It was quite an odd sensation walking about when they are only 20 metres away! By the way before you all get worried, this park doesn’t have any of the big 5, so walking around is quite safe, we just need to check around our feet for the snakes!! Now we’re going to head out for some well earned grub, an excellent Mexican is just down the road, we went there yesterday and suffice as to say we’re going back again tonight! Love to you all, hope you are all very well and hope you’ve enjoyed the first ‘in country’ instalment of Kate and Jason’s on tour tales!!

Pretoria 6/5/06 Hi everyone! Welcome to the first S. African instalment of our ‘on tour’ season! We have only been away for a couple of days but it has already been an interesting start and we are instantly finding ourselves in situations that we can only put down to being in Africa! Let’s begin with our flight. What a palaver that turned out to be! Firstly we were 11/2 hours late leaving Gatwick and as all the shops were shut in the airport that late at night we were getting rather hungry as well as being tired. So we depart at 12.30am and everything going fine until about half way through the flight the captain tells us that the oil pressure in one of the engines is too low and we have to make an unscheduled stop in the Central African Republic for it to be looked at. He is very reassuring and says that there is nothing to worry about but we do need to stop. Well no need to panic just yet and I do reassure Jas that we don’t need to worry until the air-stewards start panicking! Then we were trying to think actually where we are, we hadn’t even heard of the Central African Rep (a bit embarrassing eh!) but as we were flying we could see nothing but trees and a river, and we thought that we could be over the Congo and the captain did confirm this. We landed in CAR and were very pleased to find that the whole of the runway was made of tarmac! We were in the middle of nowhere and the airport buildings seemed to be the only things around. We were not allowed to get off the plane and now we were just hoping that our pit stop is not going to take too long. As time goes by we realise that the plane is not stocked with much extra food or drink and the longer this wait is the harder it’ll be on our stomachs! Not good! Well after 2 hours the captain tells us the engine has now been fixed and we will just refuel and then we’ll be off and that is certainly music to our ears. However, all is not well in the land of CAR. We are told next that the captain carries a BP fuel card to pay for unexpected refuelling, but the fuel suppliers here are Total and the airport will not accept any other payment apart from cash! Naturally the captain hasn’t got quite enough cash on him and we are informed that until an agreement can be reached over how to pay, we will be staying put! The lack of food and drink torture is taking hold fast and people are getting restless now, understandably! We carry on sitting around and sleeping if we can, while the time ticks on, slowly. After another hour the captain says that he isn‘t getting very far with the officials and that in fact some UN officials that were in the area have come to try and assist us! Wow we’re in a country where the UN is, is that good or bad news we’re not sure! Awhile later the captain, who is sooo apologetic tells us that the computers in the airport are having problems, one is not attached to a printer and the one that is has a different set up and they are having to sort this out too. He gracefully says ‘Welcome to deepest darkest Africa!’. Finally after 41/2 hours amid rapturous applause the plane takes off and we’re back on our way. Its all looking good now, only another 4 hours of flying ‘til we get to J’burg! Boy are we all tired, ready for our breakfast meal at 2pm and glad to be airborne again! So we land in J’burg 6 hours later than expected! We are hurried through customs etc and Jas and I are so tired and distracted by the whole thing that we forget to collect up one of our bags! We get right out and have met the people who are picking us up and taking us to the hostel (who found out we would be late and came back later for us – thank god!) and as we put things in the van I realise that oh my god we have left my bag with all my clothes and stuff in the baggage bit! How could I forget the most important bag of all! I was obviously too busy worrying about whether Jas’s camera equipment was all there – won’t let that happen again! So I race back through explaining to the staff whats happened and thankfully get to the place just as they are carrying my bag off never to be seen again! So I get it back – phew, and then we get off to the hostel in Pretoria at last! The hostel is lovely and just what we need to rest and relax after our arduous journey! The weather is lovely and warm during the day, but a little chilly at night. We have found some nice places to eat not too far away, and we can now sort out getting our train tickets to Cape Town. Well that’s what we thought….. the sleeper train that we planned to get, we find out stopped running from Pretoria last week! It only goes from J’burg and we have been told it’s not wise to go into central J’burg at all and we should find a different way of getting to CT. So you find us now investigating the other options. We can get a bus that takes 16 hours and costs twice as much as the train, not an appealing alternative. We can fly but that means waiting a few more days here and again costs a lot more money. Or we can hire a car here drive to CT and leave it there. We’ve been looking in to this and it seems that this might work, it will cost us a bit more than the train, but means that we can get to CT in our own time and a lot more comfortably. Plus we’ll have a car to drive us around CT for a few days to have a look at some 4x4’s. So this is as far as we’re got and tomorrow we’ll check out prices and hopefully is they are ok we’ll set off to CT in the afternoon!.......