Cape Road Trip: It's a sign

12/3/2016

Day 13 - Cape Town to Wolseley

DISTANCE: 113 kms

Leaving Cape Town - Kirstenbosch National Botanic Garden
Our last experience in Cape Town is also our best. We caught up with friends in Kirstenbosch Gardens on the eastern slopes of Table Mountain. Beautiful, lush and peaceful, it's a haven from the hot, frenetic city. The winter rains didn't come this year and Capetonians are stressing about drought and dwindling water supplies, but here you'd never know. A pocket of green in a parched city.

On the Road
We're heading back to Johannesburg in a more direct route than we came, even so, we'll be travelling over 1,400 kms. Two whatarethechances moments: another of those Kiwi-meets-South Africa synchronicities when we find ourselves following a bakkie with an All Black sticker on the rear window. And in a vast, empty landscape where we haven't seen another vehicle for miles, we witness a van crossing over a bridge as a train hurtles under it. Surreal.

Overnighted at: Fynbos Guest Farm & Animal Sanctuary
Located: 2 kms from Wolseley.
How we found it: Signposted on the road.
Road Access: Just off the R46 on Boontjiesrivier Road, gravel but no problem in our little car.
Amenities: Boutique-style camping with bush-screened, generous-sized sites, flat and shady.
Cost: NZD28 / ZAR280 for two adults

Our experience
The quirkiness of Ashby Manor manifested in a campsite. We followed the road signs on a whim and what a reward! Turns out this is also an animal sanctuary and after we pitched our tent we wandered around, meeting the inhabitants and exploring the gardens. Back at our private site shaded by pines, we're enjoying mountain views and the stone-built braai, when a peacock comes visiting. This is almost glamping, even the ablutions look like one of the holiday cottages on the property (although I still wouldn't camp right on top of it - why do people do that?)

Soundtrack: Doves cooing, peacocks mewing, mossies tweeting, roosters crowing, pot bellied pigs grunting, distant traffic on the main road, the occasional train.

Highlight: The joy of being back in a tent and delight of finding ourselves neighboured by pot-bellied pigs, lamas and springboks.

Lowlight: None.

Lessons Learnt:

Follow the signs. You may not always end up where you thought you were going, but you will always end up where you're meant to be.

Fynbos Guest Farm & Animal Sanctuary
Some zen moments as we kept coming across signs attached to fence poles and trees, with messages that seem specially written for roadtrippers.