What a shock. We were both cold in bed last night and worst still it rained. This is not something we’ve been used to for the last 6 months. Wishing to delay exposure to the cold of the house we lay snuggled together in bed until gone 0800 until Glenn swiftly changed to make a pot of tea and declared the temperature ok. We managed to shower and eat breakfast before having to encounter Peggy, who actually was in brighter spirits, then extricated ourselves without too much debate.
This morning was actually sunny and much warmer so we went for another tour of Paternoster to retake some of yesterday’s photos and explore the far end of the bay, where, according to Peggy, there were some interesting rock formations. She wasn’t wrong. Around a stumpy headland was a small bay backed by new build houses, still in the same white adobe style but in much nicer condition, and huge granite promontories that had been weathered by the wind and the sea. We scrambled around for some time watching the crashing waves and enjoying the warm breeze and the sunshine. Not hot exactly, but much warmer than yesterday.
Once back at the car we bade farewell to quirky Paternoster and travelled the short distance to ??? where we had a shopping appointment with Pick n Pay. The place we are staying for the next four nights is a remote bush camp at the edge of the Cederberg Wilderness so we need to have enough food to be able to keep us going for our stay. In our hurry to leave this morning we had not prepared anything for lunch but luckily there was a charity stall just outside the store selling homemade chicken pies. They even had a microwave oven to warm them - perfect.
With our supplies replenished we drove to across vast plains then rolling hills and finally mountain foothills. We’d been advised to ensure our car was full of fuel before entering the wilderness area so we stopped at Citrusdal to find a garage a cafe for a cuppa. We found the garage on the edge of town but after driving up the main street we decided that this was not the sort of place we would want to stop at a cafe so returned to the main road and followed our directions to Gecko Creek, our camp for the next three days.
Gecko Creek is a private nature reserve created by a guy that used to work at Kruger. Apparently it was is lifelong dream to own his own reserve and he bought 517 hectares then worked his butt off for the last few years building the camp and the lodges. It is a funky little place with small wooden lodges, similar to an English garden shed, scattered around the hillside with a few tents and one cottage, where we stayed. There is a central cooking and eating area, a fire pit surrounded by benches for communal evenings and even a swimming pool area with sun loungers for those hot sunny days.
After driving up a few km of dirt road and passing through two gates and a sign warning of wolves we arrived at the camp to be greeted by Glenn, a strange co-incidence made even stranger when he told us his sister lives near Reading. He showed us around the place then took us to our cottage, which has been made of all recycled parts: telephone pole joists, re-used kitchen cupboards that sort of thing. It is also fed by springwater that is solar heated and battery powered lights that are charged from a solar panel - very eco friendly. Inside was actually quite cosy and it had the most amazing views of raw bush with distant mountains. We were very pleased.
We planned to do some walking in the national park next door over the next couple of days but Glenn told us rain was forecast for tomorrow followed by a cold front so it could be long lie ins and lots of reading. Until tomorrow then.
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| The indomitable Peggy |
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| Paternoster |
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| The bay looks do much nicer in the sun |
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| Our rustic cottage in the wild |
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| An awesome shaft of sunlight just before sunset |
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