South Africa - 11 March to 22 March 2007

The 11 th of March 2007 dawned upon us a lot quicker than we expected and with a rush, much excitement and apprehension, we arrived in unison at St Thomas High School in Port Elizabeth , our departure point. For 2 hours we greeted, cried and said sad farewells to family, friends and patients until we finally left @ 12:30 waving madly to the SABC1 Television crew.

Our first stop was to wish our departed friend Lindsay Sampson goodbye at the site of his accident and to also in a sense, take him with us in spirit. We were accompanied to Jeffreys Bay by Shelly Barry and Vanita's brother Vaughn where another set of farewells took place.

Filled with excitement, we traveled via Knysna and the garden route to reach Cape Town around midnight. Our first night was fittingly spent in the vans outside Chris and Nadia Garloch's home in Hout Bay . Between shopping and repairs, we had our first taste of the stressful bureaucratic chore of visa applications with kids, and after learning the ropes, we had our USA visa.

GR1 could not leave the fairest cape without a drive along the famous peninsular visiting Chapman's Peak, Simonstown and the penguins at Boulders. Chapmans Peak campsite was our first real camping site for 2 nights and the next 3 nights were in the luxury of Igbal and Nadia Surve's Bloubergstrand accommodation with Robben Island and Table Mountain as backdrops.

On Sunday the 18th March 2007, we left Cape Town 's grand parade driving inland to the Baainskloof Mountains for a 2 night stay at Tweedetol. The kids were in their element back in nature and swimming in the crystal clear pools as we hiked the beautiful area. Our first taste of some off-roading was in the Cederberg where we camped at Sanddrif. Nerve racking for some and the body roll of the Landcruisers broke some mounting bolts, but the scenery was well worth it! Really impressive though was the rock San art dating back 7000 years in these ancient mountains.

It was quite interesting driving through the little villages along the way especially Wupperthal, before the whiff of rooibos tea hit us and an amazing sunset had us spend the night along the lake in Clanwilliam. Heading back west we traveled via Lamberts Bay and our first taste of bush camping under a bridge, near a cemetery just outside Garies.

The next day we did a few more repairs in Springbok, our final town in South Africa before hitting the border to our first country at Vioolsdrift.

Tot Siens Suid Afrika !