The Final Stretch...

After the extreme heat in Augrabies we were looking forward to some respite from the sun. We hit the road early on Saturday morning and headed for Garies, another little remote town in the Namaqualand region, but this was our half way mark between Augrabies Falls and home.

The journey to Garies was pretty dry for the most part until we hit Springbok where we parked up and stocked up on supplies for dinner that evening. Our guest house for the evening, was a lovely little cottage in the heart of Garies called Sophia's (which is pretty much one main road/ high street) and since it was after midday on a Saturday afternoon the whole town, including the high street had pretty much shut down for the day and would only reopen again on Monday morning.

We decided to make the most of our living quarters for the night and cooked a good old "home cooked" meal, which we hadn't had much opportunity to do for most of the trip. Over dinner that evening we reminisced about our journey and how quickly it had all seemed to come to an end. We made the decision there and then that we weren't ready to go home just yet, so we decide to wiggle one final pitstop into our trip.

Early the next morning we packed our bags and headed for Fisherhaven in the Overberg region. My family have a holiday home here and Kaif and I have enjoyed many weekends away here during our time in Cape Town, it's sort of become our "time out" place from the world , where we get to take stock and escape from reality for a little while.

On our way to Fisherhaven we spotted the turn off for Riebeek-Kasteel and decided to make a little detour to the place where we had our mini honeymoon. The place brought back so many memories and since it was after all our South African wedding anniversary (for those that don't know, we have three anniversaries) we decided to treat ourselves to a gourmet meal at the Royal Hotel. 

This is one of the oldest hotels and their food is to die for. If you're ever visiting this little town, I'd highly recommend you check it out and try their steak. After a indulgent lunch, it was time to hit the road again. 

We arrived in Fisherhaven in the early evening and just as we parked up, the heavens opened up and began to pour down buckets, what a welcome :-) We spent the night in our little safe haven and the next morning we headed into the neighbouring town of Hermanus for a French breakfast of crepes. 

We hadn't really set a date in stone for our return to Cape Town, but we did have two considerations. First we wanted to be back in time for our family' annual Christmas Eve dinner and second, we had a dentist appointment on the 22nd which we absolutely could not miss, as the next opening was only at the end of January and this dentist is the bomb! 

When we finally made our way home on a humid Monday afternoon we were both filled with mixed emotions. We were sad that our little adventure had come to an end and that we would soon be leaving this beautiful country. But for the most part, we were elated to have had such an amazing experience and to have truly seen South Africa in all it's beauty and diversity.

We made it to the dentist in the end.