We have now spent over a month in South Africa. This has involved a serious amount of partying, some fantastic food and wine (do not listen to whatever the South Africans you know tell you, the beer is totally unexceptional), great people and fairly good weather. We spent a while in Cape Town for the lovely wedding of my sister and her husband and then headed up to the Cederberg for some stunning scenery, farm house times, rock art, and a fantastic impromptu canyoning experience where Mike’s uncle (Hunter) and I got lost down a canyon, lost the lens cap for our camera, spent 20 minutes tearing up the undergrowth finding it again, I fell into a mud pool (avec camera) and finally found the waterfall we intended to get to and climbed out again. By this point I was bruised and scratched and giggling somewhat hysterically – best canyoning ever. We also headed to a cute town called Franschhoek (French Corner) just outside Cape Town for some amazing wineries and more great food, and then up to Plettenberg Bay area for some beach time. All up, Lara and Mike’s wedding, Christmas and the family visit was a great success and a lot of fun. We now have to detox.
From our perspective, the past month has also involved a serious amount of time and nightmares applying for a traffic register number, setting up non-resident banking in SA, transferring money to purchase a car to non-resident banking in SA, purchasing a car, changing the car into our name, registering the car, organizing police checks on the car, micro-dotting the car, insuring the car and (finally) fitting out the car. Sigh. However, if anyone ever wants to know anything about purchasing a vehicle as a foreign national in South Africa, fitting out the car for overlanding and the numbers of various fixers – I am your girl.
Enough said, we are finally done (or at least as done as we will ever be). So, without further ceremony, I would like to introduce everyone to our new baby: Blue Lightning.
For those at all interested in cars: Blue Lightning drives like a truck, is most comfortable cruising at about 80km per hour (perfect for Africa roads – although SA roads really are exceptional and we feel like total muppets conserving petrol at 80km/h in the general 120km/h zones), has pretty raised suspension, is kitted out with a dual battery system, fridge, inverter, hannibal roof tent, canopy, bar, roll out storage system, water tank, long range fuel tank, two gun safes, spotlights (not that we need them, but they do look bad-ass) and some pretty artwork on the cab. Anyway, pictures below, as (like all new parents) I am convinced that everyone would like to see our new baby.
December 2013