Everyone we knew or had spoken to said don't get a Land Rover. We said we wouldn't get a Land Rover. We were reminded by everyone we knew NOT to buy a Land Rover. We said we wouldn't buy a Land Rover. In the end, we bought a Land Rover.
It played out like a dream, or a 'how not to buy cars 101' guidebook. We strolled into a hostel, asked around for expats or backpackers who owned cars in South Africa. Met one called Will. Talked about how to beat the stupid system. Looked at many pictures and videos of his Land Rover . We said we didn't want a Land Rover. Were convinced that there was a good Land Rover available. Were told to go look. We went and looked. We drove it for about 3 mins. Said we'd buy it. When we left the workshop, having committed to buying this Land Rover, we turned to each other and said "How many k's on the clock?". Don't know. "Is it petrol or diesel?" Don't know. "Tyres ok?" Don't know. BUT by this stage, it didn't matter. After being beaten by that stupid system, we found a bunch of people who were able to keep the dream alive, and for that we owe them a million thanks! Not only did they get us a car that was in good nick, they also fitted her out, gave us loads of advice, even more contacts and a really great price. On top of that, they're a super lovely bunch of people. So, we are finally on the road grin emoticon Thanks 7 Landies - you guys rock!!! And you've made a guy a girl and a goat incredibly happy!! Can't wait to do the Landies proud!! :) Since the day we said we'd get the 'Landy' we'd taken Cape Town tourism seriously. With time to spare while the car had a few modifications, we picked up a few 'day trip' brochures to see what things we hadn't seen, and went through the list. Museums (some), parks (most), historical buildings (many), townships, water front, Table Mountain, beaches, the famous Long Street, Mzolis, sunset on Table Mountain and a few others too, but there was one we'd been saving for celebrating. A train trip down the Cape is quite special - the train itself is the closest thing to the sea for the best part of the journey. At some places, waves lap against the platform and in others the train actually brushes against sand dunes. You can't get closer than that! Another town that looks like it walked out of Europe and landed in Africa, Simons Town is the southernmost train station on the continent. We got off there - only an hour from Cape Town central. If ever we've been unsure of where to go, passing tour buses have always set us straight. This day was no exception!! Boulders Beach is famous for its penguins, and everyone wants a piece of them, so we followed the buses.
First impressions were of one lone penguin working it for a mob of camera toting Asian tourists. One leaned over a rail to try and grab it, and the penguin promptly disappeared. With no other birds in sight, we were thinking we'd made a mistake; A trip to a tourist trap with one lonely penguin.... Persistence paid off though - rambling through the maze of bodies on an impressive piece of boardwalk resulted in reward. By the thousands! Watching these guys waddling up a beach, braying like donkeys, preening, picking fights or lying flat out, getting stuck on boulders, swimming, scratching, digging, shagging....there's few verbs we didn't see, but let's just say penguins are AWESOME no matter what they're up to, and we dedicated a whole day to watching them. Other days we've spent investigating the inside of a hospital ward, sampling an array of antibiotics and exploring the 'bland food' diet. We've also been to the South African version of Costco (twice!), a place called 'plastics for Africa' and 4x4 Mega World...all adventure wonderlands in different ways! We've bought many many necessary things to make the adventure comfortable, including some amazing fabric to cover the car seats in guinea fowl and african safari images, some rainbow beach towels and a few traditional music CDs.
Up next: we really truly do get going....