After months of preparations, the final ingredient on a very long recipe list had been fitted to our roof rack ( our bed aka roof tent) and the day of our departure had come! Many a night leading up to this day had been spent discussing which route to take up to the Namibian border and as would become a trend throughout the journey, we would change plans at the very last minute. Instead of heading north on the N7 out of Cape Town up the West Coast towards to Vooilsdrift, we decided it would be wise to head South to test the setup for a few days in more “familiar” territory. We decided Cape Agulhas as the best option. After all, it is the most southern point of Africa and neither of us had ever been there. We said our goodbyes, and hit the road out of Kommetjie, through Fish Hoek, past Kalk Bay, then Muizenberg and onto Baden Powell Drive, which provides lovely views across False Bay and then a little reality check to just how lucky you are to live where you do when you reach Khayelitsha neighbourhood / township, home to over 2 million people living in adverse poverty before reaching the N2 highway running west to east along the South African coast from Cape Town. Yes, it was all very much real. We had finally got going!
First stop, Engen fuel station before Somerset West to fill up all 90 litres of space inside the belly of The Beast aka our FJ62 Cruiser. Filling up the beast is a painstaking task, as you watch the total price tally up into the thousands in what seems like a few seconds.. but it was about to get worse. I turned the key to start, and nothing! No spark, no start! We looked at each other in disbelief. 50 kms out of Cape Town and we were having some issues. What had happened? Now just to be clear. I’m no guru mechanic, but as with most people who own cars manufactured in the late 1980s, I’ve had my fair share of problems in the past and was feeling confident I would get to the bottom of it. First, The battery and then the distributor and points, but everything checked out ok. Most likely the starter motor. We had tried to get a new starter motor to compliment the hoard of other parts we were carrying , but the chaps at African Land cruisers (where we got most of the parts) didn’t have one. Anyway, I thought I would call them anyway and managed get through to the workshop, who indicated they would call me back. While we waited for the call the attention from the non-Toyota drivers passing by was only adding to our frustrations and I decided we should at least try and move The Beast away from the pump and into a parking bay. I gave her a push backwards and jumped in as we gained some momentum, popped the gear into reverse and thought, What the hell, let’s give it a shot. Let the clutch out and to our surprise Vroom! We were back in business, she had started! We looked at each other and a silent agreement was made to keep going forward. The only other option was to head back to Chateau Radcliffe aka Johan and Jenny’s house, deal with a night of ridicule for breaking down 50 kilometres out of Cape Town and find a mechanic the next day! Cape Agulhas was the best choice and we hit the road to freedom!
There are two main routes from Cape Town to Cape Agulhas. The fastest route is to take the N2 to Caledon, where you turn onto R316, head down to Bredasdorp, onto Struisbaai, and around to Cape Agulhas. The other option is to take the R44 from Somerset West along the coast, past Hermanus, and link up with the R43 just south of Bredasdorp and onto Cape Agulhas. I forgot to mention we had a arranged a meeting with the General manager of Cape Agulhas National Park en-route and due to delays hanging out at the fuel pump were running late. We took the shortest route via Caledon enjoying the rolling hills and striking Cape landscape along the way. As you come around the bend from Struisbaai towards Cape Agulhas, the beauty of the coastline in this region is highlighted. Little bays line the road as you head towards the lighthouse, situated at the entrance of Cape Agulhas National Park, and you cannot help but imagine the place as a fisherman’s Disney land on the right day. We headed straight to the San Parks office, were warmly greeted, and the meeting with Dhiraj was a great success. With business concluded for the day, it was time to explore and find a wild camping spot for the night. There are quite a few spots listed on iOverlander around the Struisbaai area, but we decided Cape Agulhas was just too special to miss out on, and with hardly any wind on the day, which is very rare phenomenon around Cape Agulhas, we had to stay. One thing was certain: It was going to be the first night of wild camping, and it had to be somewhere extra special.
There is certain amount of anxiety that comes with sleeping in uncharted territory, aka wild camping. Is it private property, and will we be caught and potentially shot by some crazy farmer? Do the cops still drive yellow vans around, and could we be mistaken for Perlemoen divers? Will the untrimmed beard and stench from not bathing for a few days be enough of a deterrent against potential thieves? These and many other questions come to mind as you search for the right spot. Multiple factors come into play, but as a rule of thumb, you normally want to find a place that is as far away from people and main roads as possible. Common sense of course, but its not quite as simple as one might imagine. Cape Agulhas National Park is one of the only national parks in the country that offers free access to the park, allowing access to the Suiderstrand neighbourhood about 6 kilometres from the lighthouse. We thought we would try this section first, and had it not been for the numerous warning signs and posts on iOverlander and the fact we had just met with the head of the park, we would have setup camp for sure! The raw land and seascapes in and around the National Park are unique and have a raw, wild, wind-shaped coastal feel about them. We stopped at the Meisho Maru Shipwreck, a reminder of the treacherous waters feared by most sailors around the world in these parts, and decided it was a good time for a cold stout and some contemplation before heading back into town to continue the search for the right spot. After stopping a few times, we took a random turn down a side road and ended up on a little point headland with beautiful views of the lighthouse. The spot to setup was quite close to some houses, but they looked empty, we were tired and decided that this was the spot. We setup camp, made a basic spinach pasta, had a glass of wine, falling asleep to the sound of rolling surf and the light breeze brushing against our tents canvas.
Sunrise and it was time to explore! We had heard about a jetty at Struisbaai harbour from the local grocer where you can see giant stingrays gliding through the shallows. This would be a good start we thought, but not before we had gone for a run and hopefully a little skinny dip in the icy Cape waters to freshen up. The south-westerly wind had started to blow since we had woken, and all the signs were there that it would only get stronger with a big bank of clouds out to the west, so we decided to pack up and find another spot for a swim that would offer some better protection than the point. While exploring the town the day before, we found a side street that took us to a beautiful rockpool and offered near-perfect protection from any wind coming from the west or east. We drove straight there, got kitted up, and went for a run along a lovely trail that takes you into the park. I had had a few more glasses of wine than BB the night before and it was showing, but push on with the hope of a skinny dip awaiting us at the finishing line :)
I had an online meeting planned for that morning and decided to setup in “the office,” using the tailgate of the truck as my desk. During my meeting, I noticed a mean-looking chap pop his head over the wall we had been using as cover from the wind down the side street. My first thought was that we were in for some sort of confrontation about parking too close to his wall, but it turned out the he was a friendly ol chap who just took a liking to our old cruiser and wanted to hear our story. After a long chat and a good character assessment, he offered us a room in his home with untouched views out over the ocean. Not sure if his wife knew about the invitation and would have been quite as accommodating, but such is the way of good men. Act first and ask for forgiveness later. We were of course very tempted to take him up on the offer but declined because, as we explained, it was our second night on the road and we wanted to enjoy the comforts of our roof-top tent in gale-force winds to test its durability. If you are reading this good seaman sir, my apologies for forgetting your name and thank you for your very kind offer to strangers. Hopefully we will be able to meet with you for a nice glass of vinho on porch someday during crayfish season
We made it to Struisbaai harbour, which looked like it had a really good surf spot out front. I was picturing world-class waves breaking with big east swells running into the bay when we caught the eye of a crowd down at the jetty. Stingrays! About three of them, gliding in the shallow water around the jetty. What a wonderful and free experience! I thought to myself that anywhere else in the world, they would have blocked the jetty off and charged tourists a ridiculous rate to enter and view these beautiful creatures. We met with the new owners of Catch Cook, a lovely restaurant right next to the jetty that also runs a boat charter company and then we headed up to the a dive centure. Cold calling requires absolute confidence in your produce but more importantly in one’s self, so I had a few sips out of the tequila bottle, blasted some James Brown on the radio and did a few donuts in the parking lot to lift the spirits and get into sales mode. The dive master was super accommodating considering he had just come back from a dive with a group of clients, I showed him the app and the owner came down to have a chat after hearing my parking lot sales pitch from the balcony above. Turned out he lived and ran a lodge on the Quirimbas island chain in northern Mozambique for many years and was a seasoned adventurer! He had to leave the area and settle in Struisbaai when ISIS operations moved into the area and started running things. After hearing about our planned adventure, he offered to connect us with friends of his up the Skeleton Coast and wished us well on our journey. What a legend.
The wind was really pumping by this stage and so we decided we might try our luck at the campsite in Struisbaai. After taking a drive around the campsite, we thought we would rather take our chances in the gale-force wind in Cape Agulhas than come into contact with the crew of the Jolly Rodger from the Pirates of the Caribbean, who seemed to permanently live on the camp grounds. No offense, guys. I would have hung around and happily enjoyed some Rum and Coke with you all around the fire, but Bridget was put off seeing the scary looking skull and cross bones tattooed on the bum cheeks of the old lady or was it a man showering outside the caravan singing shiver me timbers by Tom Waits. We decided the side street next to our good friend would be the best option and headed straight there. It was getting cold, which is to be expected during the winter along this stretch of coastline and normally we would light the fire no matter what under these circumstance, but lighting a fire down the side street while setting up camp down a side street isn’t the wisest of things to do and so settled for the next best thing. OBS aka Old brown sherry!
After a few tots of OBS, you forget about the cold and begin to focus on what’s really important. You are sitting along the Cape Coast, watching lightning strike the ocean while listening to the howling wind and sound of the waves! You are in paradise and its time to celebrate the days achievements. As it turned out, Bridget wasn’t quite as enthusiastic as I was to sit in the wind drinking sherry and turned in relatively early for the night. I called some old friends and reminisced on how much preparation had gone into arriving at this very moment feeling very proud of myself. It was time for bed, and I was hoping I might catch Bridget still awake for some warm-up exercises so I climbed up the ladder, unzipped the tent, and lay down. CRASH!! One hell of an almighty noise came from the side of the tent. It woke up Bridget, who was not impressed. With my chances of warm up exercises gone, I decided to open the tent to see what had happened, but couldn’t see anything out of the norm, and decided it was too late, and I was too tipsy to start fixing things late at night outside in gale-force winds. I left it at that and passed out after Bridget smacked my hand away in a violent act of battery.
So, not the best of luck in the first two days on the road, you could say, but we did find solace in our choice made to do a test run down to Cape Agulhas. On the bright side had we identified some “problems” with the car that would be far better resolved closer to home than somewhere along the coast of Northern Angola! We packed up the tent, did the best we could with a serious amount of duct tape to patch up the hole, and decided to drive very slowly to Kleinbaai, where a very special operator had offered to put us up for a few nights in exchange for some training of staff. We took it very slowly and arrived in one piece at Kleinbaai, home to some of the most beautiful creatures on the planet. Great white sharks!
After a restless night’s sleep at After 8 B&B, we boarded the White Shark Projects boat named Shark Teams for a ride out to Dyer Island to dive with sharks! The island was named after Samson Dyer, a slave from America who inhabited the island by himself during the early 1800s. It is a fascinating story in itself, which I urge you to look deeper into. See the link below but let’s get back to our story first. Diving with sharks is a humbling, once-in-a-lifetime type of experience of that there is no doubt! You are in a cage of course but the view is unobscured. These giant predators swim so gracefully and change direction in the blink of an eye. It’s something else. After seeing them up close and personal the respect for these critically endangered has sky rocketed. After diving and standing on the boat, looking at the sharks, the exhilarated faces of the clients, and surroundings all around me, I was overcome by a feeling of complete gratitude. I mean, who in the world comes from my background (a long story) and gets to pack up everything, hop into a car kitted out as a home on wheels with the most beautiful women in the world, and drive over Africa, stopping to dive with sharks off the coast of Dyer Island in the Cape? One lucky guy for sure and I told myself that I better start behaving myself before the whoever the Angel taking care of me was decided to have a change of heart.
Not only is Bridget drop-dead gorgeous, but she is also a multi-talented, award-winning wonder woman who, in her spare time, writes and performs her own folk-style, funky, soulful music. Being out in the ocean, diving with sharks clearly inspired her to play some music, and the moment we got back to the apartment the guitar was out. The owner’s obviously heard the melody and being of Irish decent themselves just could not help themselves and popped in to listen. It turned out that the she (name lost to him) had worked most of her life at a top music studio in Johannesburg and he had played in bands for decades all over Cape Town. They also mentioned there was a music room on the premises! We could not believe it! A JAM room at the place we were booked in by Jessica, the lovely owner of White Shark Projects. How lucky can you be? That was it. We spent a good portion of the night sitting in the jam room while Bridget and the owners took us on a wonderful musical journey. We could not have asked for a better way to end a perfect day.
There is nothing is more important in life than family. Yes, that’s absolutely true! Quite close behind family has to be surfing, right? And then I would say it would have to be… To learn how to let go of the things you cannot control and then.. to never give up on a chance to have fun! Had we decided to turn around at the petrol station or skip Kleinbaai to prioritize the task of sourcing a mechanic and panel beater somewhere in Cape Town we would not have experienced Cape Agulhas, met Dhiraj, seen stingrays, met the amazing locals, gone diving with sharks, spent time with the crew at White Shark Projects and spent an evening playing music with the crazy Irish at After 8. We had learnt a lesson. This journey definitely would not be free from challenges, but that the rewards for pushing through were and always would be, well worth it. It was time to make our way back to Cape Town, find an blue nosed panel beater, and finally… to get going!
Thanks for reading!
Stay tuned for our next blog about… our month in Cape Town without a car, the blue nosed panel beater, near divorce and some of the other essential mental prep work that is needed to help you drive overland through Africa!