Travel

 

 

Going nowhere slowly

 

 

One does not cross a river without getting wet

~ Zululand

 

We don’t make New Years resolutions. But last year we did pledge to start travelling differently. After years of living in different countries and travelling extensively, long haul travel has largely lost its lustre. Instead we want to explore more regionally. After all, local is lekker, right? Road trips will be a big part of that.

Our first big trip together was a road trip. We love road trips; the freedom, the independence and the improvisation on the big open road. Do you like to travel this way too?

Back then, my dad was still working for a major airline and he said he could get us super discounted air tickets to America. When he called to say he had scored us two return tickets to Houston, the first thing I thought was “Houston, we have a problem”. That was all we knew about Texas at that point. NASA was there. Somewhere. That was a start.

We flew in to Texas, sat with a map, in a couple of bars, and began to plan our trip. Somewhere in those first couple of days, we went to pick up a rental car. We had requested the smallest, economy model.

When we got to the rentals company, they presented us with the keys to an Oldsmobile with cruise control. It felt like a beast compared to the tiny, manual hatchbacks we were used to driving in UK. We found our way to a Taco Bell and ate our take away meals in the car park. All was well.

Or so we thought.

When we tried to start the car, we could not get it to start. My boyfriend became enraged. I suggested we call the rentals company, and explain the problem. He became more enraged. After some amount of fiddling about, we worked out that you had to depress the brake to unlock the car out of ‘park’. It was our first time in an automatic. No one tells you this stuff.

We began our trip the next day. We set off early and went to NASA. I put on a spacesuit, we looked at rockets, then got back on the road. KP remembered a Bruce Springsteen song called Galveston Bay. We went there too.

We went to Corpus Christi, where there was an aquarium. We looked at fish. We went to get back on the road but noticed a parking ticket on the windscreen.

We drove around Corpus Christi until we found the police station, which turned out to be a busy place. We waited. Eventually a moustached guy, who looked a bit like a sheriff out of a movie, called us over. We explained our plight. He listened. And after hearing out these two, law abiding British tourists, he took a good, long look at us and said “This is the U.S of A. You guys are on holiday and you’re in here to pay a parking ticket. I’ve had two God damn fatalities today. Get out of here”. We were off the hook.

We made our way to San Antonio, to go to the Alamo monument. And we wanted to see the bats in Austin, so we hung around till dusk to watch them soar and circle around the old bridge.

We made up each leg of our journey as we went along. We didn’t know where we would be staying and would just stop when we’d had enough. There was always a motel or a 3 star hotel somewhere with rooms available. Breakfasts were typically donuts and coffee, often on the go. Our clothes were in a heap in the boot (trunk) And we used a motel ice bucket as a cool box.

Have you had a trip like this?

In about a week, we covered over 1,110 kms of Texas.

That first road trip was many years ago now. We have done many others since.

We got hooked on the show, ‘Going nowhere slowly’ on South African TV. We would watch and would long to do similar road trips. Like us, the travellers would improvise quite a bit along their journeys, and made an effort to go to less travelled to places.

That TV show inspired us to get on the road and see more of this vast, diverse country. In the winter of 2009 we drove from Gauteng down through the Free State, into Kwa Zulu Natal and up through the Northern Cape. We took in small towns and areas of outstanding natural beauty; Kroonstad, Bethlehem, Clarens, Golden Gate NP, Ladysmith, Kimberley,  ‘off roading’ in the Willem Pretorius game reserve and driving though the magnificent Maluti mountains. They were all fantastically wild places to visit, and we were the only travellers anywhere.

At many times during that trip and countless others, we took risks. We didn’t have it all worked out. We got lost. We took an alternative route. But being open to events, people and places along the road is all part of the road trip experience. And that can’t be planned for in an itinerary.

No itinerary ever.

A couple of years later, we hired an X trail and drove from Darwin to Kakadu National Park, taking stunning in stunning views of Australia’s outback.

One thing is the same across all the roads trips; the drive to get away from urban spaces. Two travellers in search of wild, nature and big open spaces.

We just went on another road trip, a shorter one but no less exciting. We have wanted to touch the foot of Africa, Cape Agulhas, for some time. We have never been. Friends invited us to stay at their beach house near Gansbaai.

We thought, road trip.

Our cool box is no longer a pilfered ice bucket from a motel. We bought a good one for trips in the desert years ago. How grown up! We filled it with beers, wine and cheese, all of life’s essentials.

We set off.

I always enjoy the unexpected on road trips and that freedom to pause and take a better look at something.

We stopped at Houw Hoek Hotel, right by the Houw Hoek pass. It has an interesting history. The original inn was built in 1779. It is in the Kogelberg Nature Reserve, just off the N2 freeway. We enjoyed stunning mountain views, the warm welcome from staff and delicious, hot chips!

I read about Lady Anne Barnard. She stayed at the inn back in May 1798. She was an intrepid traveller, who had crossed the original, far more dangerous pass by a wagon with eight horses. An extract from her published diaries, ‘Cape Journals’, was on display alongside various old photographs.

We got back on the road. And after miles of wild, we passed through the busy resort town of Hermanus and then Gansbaai.

It was around here that we began to see smoke in the distance. We kept driving, but soon realised that we were driving directly into the area where the fire was.

We had known about the Overberg fires which has devastated the area in recent weeks. Homes were evacuated in Franskraal, near Gansbaai, some houses burned down in Betty’s Bay and thousands of hectares of vegetation were destroyed.

Everyone was monitoring the winds, as gusts up to 94km/hr had helped to spread the bush fire.

We continued, approaching slightly nervously but also optimistic that if there was any danger, the roads would be closed off again. We passed firefighters working to contain the fires. We looked at mile after mile of scorched, barren ground. Blackened trees were bleak but beautiful.

We got through the area where the fire was still raging, stopped the car and looked back. Toxic fumes filled the skies. We needed to keep moving.

We reached our destination, Pearly Beach. We stopped to fill our lungs with clean, sea air. We looked at the photos of the bush fire.

That evening, we sat out in the garden, enjoyed a braai and listened to the night sounds of this beautiful coastal village.

Beers. Braai. Chat. We all slept soundly.

The next day we set off for the tip of Africa. We took two shortcuts; long, bumpy, gravel roads. Red earth. Dust.

We passed through the heritage village of Elim, quaint cottages with thatched roofs. After some time, and another pit stop for hot chips, we reached Kaap Aghalus.

Most people like to think that the Cape of Good Hope is the Southern Tip of Africa. But modern geographic knowledge states that the southernmost point of the continent is Cape Agulhas.

The national park had completed many upgrades to the area. We followed the new boardwalk and reached the true point where the Indian and the Atlantic oceans meet. We stood at the tip of Africa and recalled 18 years of journeys on this incredible continent.

Nearby there is a fantastic new Africa structure. There’s no signage or edging saying “don’t walk on the installation”, so we assumed it was meant to be interactive.

We all hopped on, four travellers, ‘exploring’ this vast, luminous continent.

We found mountains and rivers that we could remember visiting and others that we did not know. Our wanderlust was re-ignited, for the upteenth time!

I thought to myself,  I want to see more of this unique continent. And I doubt I will ever tire of travelling in Africa.

That night, back at the beachhouse, we enjoyed sundowners on the deck, watching out over the thick fynbos. We listened to the waves crashing into the rocks, on this beautiful beach, one of the longest on the Western Cape.

Cheese. Stars. More chat.

The next day, we headed towards Hermanus, in search of wine. The Hermanus wine route boasts over 20 wine estates, producing many excellent wines.

We visited the Wine Village, the largest wine shop in South Africa. It is impressive. There we were treated to an assorted tasting of the 9 vintages being showcased. We chatted, we quaffed and we bought wine.

Our next stop was at the contemporary tasting room at Hermanuspietersfontein. More chat . More quaffing. More wine.

We stopped again at the peak of Sir Lowry’s pass. We gazed out at the winding road ahead and Somerset West below. We were in no big rush to get home.

Finally we reached the peninsula. We turned into our neighbouhood to see smoke filled skies. Again.

There was a small fire on a kopje nearby. It took a couple of hours to get the fire under control and for the smoke to subside.

It had been an eventful few days.

We returned to the peninsula with a 3 cases of wine, a car covered in red dust and new memories.

Where was your last road trip?

 

 

 

 

©Maggie M/Mother City Time