After a week of beaches, parks, Sunday afternoon music fesivals, good food, water fronts, markets, hiking, galleries and museums we had a good handle on the city and a good week or so of Cape Town holidays. The tough stuff had to begin.
The idea of road tripping around Africa stalls pretty quickly without wheels. We'd read blogs, forums, websites and brochures. We consulted the AA (not the rehab kind), tracked down mechanics and by the time it came time to get a car, about 950 ads for 4wds had been analyzed. We sought advice from the backup pit crew at home (special mentions to Karl, Levi and Joel!) With some help, we knew what we wanted and got the list to 12.
Car number one was a cruiser on the coast. A pain to get to in a crazy cab, but with stunning views of the mountain from a distance. It was an amazing car, but ultimately over resourced and way above our price range.
Car number two was another cruiser, with a decade of time on the first and at the opposite end of the pricing schedule. A phone call determined that she was in good nick and ready for the road. The word 'bargain' was music to our ears. The fact that she was 4 hours away no problem - we bought tickets on a bus and headed north.
This turned into a good lesson: always always read the terms and conditions. If you don't, you'll end up stuck on a bus for 4 hours getting a looooong sample of 'Christian materials'. The good lord must have known we were on board and needed an extra dose, because the bus broke down roadside.
Thankfully, not too long waiting around and the driver decided that overheating wasn't so bad. Ignoring the flashing, red, beeping on the dash, he loaded us up and moved us on again. I don't know how it ended for the others on board, but we got off at the next town and the cruiser was waiting.
Turns out the words 'ready to go' and 'in good nick' are relative. This beast was a little rough around the edges. I don't know much about cars, but when the odometer hasn't worked for a few years and the broken clock already reads almost 400k, she's done some hard yards. The people and scenery were delightful, but unfortunately we were back on the Christian bus, headed through The Overberg and back to town.
The next day we were up and at 'em again, checking out not one but two prado's. Number one had a massive lift, a crazy number of extra's and buttons none of us knew what to do with. While the option of backseat dvd players was tempting, we decided that they weren't really necessary either, and another car was scrapped. It's probably a fun thing for some people, but in all honesty this car hunt thing was stressful!
By this stage the picture of what we wanted and needed was crystal clear, and the list was down to just two: a pajero, and the second prado. The second prado was perfect in terms of condition, price and accessories. We wanted to get a mechanic to check it out before we parted with the cash, but the owner wasn't as keen. In the 4 days of to-ing and fro-ing over the arrangements, we checked out the pajero. It had prayer flags in the back so it was off to a good start before we saw it. The owner needed to sell her as he was off to India. All good omens, and in the end, we ended up with.....
Up Next: find out what happens to get guy, girl and goat moving!