The Start of the 'Slow Way Down' trip.

The big day has arrived. Caretha left Cape Town this morning to drive up to Jhb where I will meet her at the end of the tour I am presently on. I received a phone call this morning from Caretha telling me that although she had plugged the fridge in to power and switched it on yesterday it was not cold, she stopped off at Campworld  to have them check it out, as yet I do not know the outcome, but I have contacted National Luna and am waiting for a reply from them.

The plan for the holiday is to be in Jhb for Mandy's wedding on the 4th of May, do some of the touristy bits around there, like The Cradle of Human kind, SOWETO and Aprtheid Museum, Inner City Walking Tour of Jhb. Then to do the "Slow Way Down" back to Cape Town over 12 to 15 days, travelling on as many dirt/gravel roads we can find and stop off in the little dorpies along the way.

The Randalls are Travelling Again!

One cannot believe that it was already a year ago that we were travelling all over South Africa for 102 days. I am not totally sure what happened to the time in between, however we are going to be off on a little holiday at the end of this month, only 3 weeks this time.

Mind you, come to think of that, we have not done nothing in the year gone past. We arrived back in July and then had to settle back into home life, whatever that means. Our house sitter did such a fantastic job that the dog and cat was very “Oh! we see you are back” on our return.

Our first outing in the spring was a weekend away with the photo club to Loeriesfontein, the town known for the Windmill museum. It was just a fun weekend with a drive over a few farms in the mountains and then a traditional fun evening with a braai and a local Afrikaans artist. There were wonderful flowers out and the journey back to Cape Town offered many a photo opportunity.

 The Windmills at Loeriesfontein Museum

 Spring flower

At the end of September we were off to Hermanus for a week end to help our good friend Carl, celebrate his birthday and to assist with the planting of his vineyard in Stanford. Life is not simple in these matters and we had to eat a lot of fish, drink a lot of wine and generally have a good time doing all this celebrating and planting a vineyard. It was also midst the Rugby world cup and we had to fit in the watching of games at early hours and lunching at Marianna’s Country kitchen. Those who have been there will understand that this is an experience not to be missed.

On the 5^th of November we celebrated my birthday and on the morning of the 6^th we were off to Johannesburg for Dick’s nephew, Simon’s wedding on the 11/11/2011 not at 11! The week flew by with visiting friends and celebrating more Scorpio birthdays in Pretoria and we had some lovely family time. It was the first time that Dick and Felicity (his sister) and all 6 children, with partners, were together (the whole of the Randall / Edwards families).   What a wonderful time we all had.  Before Felicity went back to the UK she came down to Cape Town to do some touristy stuff with us. We went off to Hermanus and stayed in friends’ house in Onrus, which is close to the Caravan Park and the beach where there are the best walks and pathways. We picnicked on the beach at Agulhas and took photos and just generally enjoyed the life of the retired person. Dick did a couple of trips in between and I had a contract job in October, though.

The beautiful Overberg area

A Dog’s life is a Dog’s life when on holiday with humans!

Picnic at Cape Agulhas.

One of the victims of the Cape Seas

The Agulhas Light House

With December came a trip to Klein Tafelberg with the 4X4 club. There is a lovely campsite with excellent facilities and we enjoyed the 4X4 trip as well.

Klein Tafelberg

On our return Dick got a call from a guy in Malaysia wanting him to arrange a trip for them. That brought a fair amount of excitement, as they were close to arriving in Cape Town. Before getting in touch with him, they had booked and paid for their air tickets. He then put the rest together at short notice, with many a midnight email or phone call to confirm or change the arrangements. None the less, they arrived and had a good time. Then it was Christmas, which was celebrated with friends.

The day after Christmas we were off to Ceres to go and house sit for friends. That was a new experience for us; however it offered the opportunity to explore the Ceres area as a tourist. Yet again we had a great time. We went Cherry picking and Zip sliding and wine tasting and museum visiting.

The Mountains surrounding Ceres

The freshest cherries possible

The Cape Sugarbird.

Ready to Zipslide, rather anxious looking!

Zipping and Sliding…………..

…………..and stopping!

Before we knew it the week was over and it was time for the next adventure.  We were off into the Cederberg and the Tankwa Karoo for a bush camping New Year week end with other friends. We stayed on the banks of the Doring River, it was just the four of us and the river and the stars at night. It was a very special way to see in the New Year and we felt very blessed. On the way back we spent another night in Ceres just to consolidate the beginning of the New Year.

The road into the Cederberg

The extremely rocky road on our way to the Bushcamp.

Sundowners on the Doring River.

 

 The New Year Summit meeting!

Bush Camp on Doring River

The view across the Tankwa Karoo on New Years day.

 Then it was back home and the joy of starting a contract social work job for 3 months. The real joy was that the job was Tuesday to Thursdays every week, so no Monday blues and a Thursday that was a Friday every week, followed by another Friday. What a pleasure. To work as a Social Worker again after 29 years was a humbling and enriching experience.

Dick was also well booked up for tours from mid January, so we had nothing planned for the immediate future, other than a quick week end down to the Glentana area to spent time with old friends from Pretoria before they had to head back. It was the ideal week end, with stunning weather and beautiful sunsets and our 25th wedding anniversary to boot.

Dramatic Sunset at Dwarswegstrand

25^th Anniversary

Well that all changed on the night of the 23^rd of January when Dick had an accident and fell of his scooter, broke his collar bone and 7 ribs and ended up in hospital for 5 days. That was the easy part. Coming home was a bit more of a challenge. He was strapped up and unable to wash or dress himself and obviously he could not drive. Well, we are all made of tough stuff and lots of determination and we adjusted and worked around the presenting problems and soon we were managing quite adequately. The fact that he had just started a tour when the accident happened and was booked for another straight after it also caused some complexities. Well those are all things of the past and we only have the empty bank account as a reminder of the loss of this. The mending process is slow and frustrating, but we are getting there. He did a tour in March and is about to go on another mid April and then we have our HOLIDAY!!!