Namibia - Fish River Canyon

After an early morning walk with Trent and Marieka, and a lot of warnings about the border control, we set off for our first border crossing into Namibia. We were all a little nervous but seemed to get through extremely quickly and unscathed.

We then entered the Namibian Desert towards our campsite near Fish River Canyon. Only a couple of hours driving today and we had arrived. Our campsite was ... in the desert, but did have a few rocky hills breaking up the landscape. It was quite picturesque. Brii climbed one of these small hills with Marieka and then met up with the boys for a beer in what would have to be one of the coolest pubs in Namibia. This pub reminded us very much of the pubs in outback Australia. It had lots of character especially with its collection of vintage cars.

We then travelled to the Canyon for sunset. Fish River Canyon is apparently the second largest canyon in the world. The canyon was quite spectacular and the sunset was lovely except unfortunately we left as soon as the sun had gone and as we were driving out the sky changed to some amazing colours....oh well hopefully there will be plenty more!

South Africa

An early morning this morning, with us all up and on the ‘truck’ before sunrise.... although we are now back in the Southern hemisphere and it is winter... so sunrise is around 7.30. With the fog rolling over the vineyard sunrise was absolutely beautiful.

We drove for about 5h today via the little mining town of Springbok to our second campsite on the Gariep (Orange) River. Gariep River forms the natural border between Namibia and South Africa. We spent a relaxing afternoon going for walks, playing cards, and enjoying the tranquility.

South Africa - Cape Town & Langa Township

Our group of 23 (mostly Aussies with an added couple of Kiwi’s, a couple of Irish, one German, and one Canadian) rose early this morning to pack the truck and then we went on a township tour. During the Apartheid all the population were segregated into racial groups. The non white people were relocated from the areas they were living into townships which were all at least 20km out of town. The township we visited was Langa. We were fortunate to have guides who were locals from the township - “born, bread, and buttered” as they said. During the tour we tried some locally brewed beer (made from corn and wheat) and visited the various styles of housing, some of which reminded Brii of the Indigenous communities in the Cape. There were also sections of the township which were shanty like which were quite interesting. We were also able to visit the local Kindergarten which is funded entirely by donations and parents fees. The really lovely thing was that everyone was really happy, welcoming, and the kids were extremely cute!

After the township tour we boarded our ‘truck’ with our crew Innocent (Guide), Irvine (Ivan) (Cook), and Thinkwell (Driver) bound for a winery on the West coast of South Africa. 

The scenery was very much like home - we felt like we could have been driving through any part of northern Australia.

We arrived at our beautiful first campsite at the winery - it was lovely. After erecting our tents we did some wine tasting... of course! And the wines were delicious! What a great first day!

South Africa - Cape Town

And... it may have taken 10yrs but we are finally in Africa!!

We arrived in Cape Town this morning at 11.10am and made our way into the city to our hotel. 

We spent the afternoon wandering around the city centre and taking the cable car up Table Mountain. Unfortunately the smog from the city is very thick in Cape Town but the views from the mountain were still spectacular. We walked around the plateau for a while taking in as many angles as possible before heading back into the city. 

Back in the city we visited the Castle of Good Hope which was built by the Dutch East India Company in 1666 and is the oldest building in South Africa. 

Then Jack had his first African haircut... and well, lets just say his words were “it looks like it was cut by the council!”. We perhaps should have found time to get him a haircut in Europe :-).... luckily his hair grows fast.

Tomorrow we start our 60 day journey to Rwanda.

Netherlands - Amsterdam

Our final day in The Netherlands and our final day in Europe. 

Ernst very generously picked us up after we had checked out of our hotel in order to take us to the airport. Although, before heading out to the airport, we made a very important stop. Ernst’s son, Ernst jr and his partner Eva last night had their first baby. A baby girl named Fee. So we stopped by the hospital to meet the absolute newest edition to the van Beekhuizen family. She was beautiful. It was also fabulous to meet another member of our family Ernst jr, and his partner Eva. 

We then embarked on our long journey to Africa via Frankfurt, which was made not so comfortable because, even though we were very early to check in, there were no leg room seats left... we still are not quite sure how this happens... but hopefully we can work it out before our next 11h flight!

Netherlands - Amsterdam

Typing the blog was our plan for this morning. When we were finished ... and ‘over it’, we headed into Amsterdam city to explore a little more.

Our exploration started with a 1hr canal cruise which was a lovely way to see the city and allowed us to see it from a different angle. We then walked around the streets in the older districts, including the Jordaan district and Noodermarkt. Jordaan is where the ‘Anne Frank House’ is but unfortunately because of the crowds we did not go in (Brii had been 10yrs ago). We also visited Begijnhof, which is a beautiful amazingly quiet garden/courtyard surrounded by beautiful old homes in the middle of the city. It was originally built for women who did ‘Nun-like’ acts without living in a convent and taking vows. The apartments around the garden are still only occupied by women. 

We also managed to wander into a non touristy area behind Noodermarkt which was lovely. The homes were gorgeous and the atmosphere very ‘homely’. One wouldn’t think they were in the middle of the capital city of The Netherlands.

After dinner, we took another wander through the ‘Red Light District’ ... it really is quite interesting from a tourist perspective.... it was also quite amusing just people watching and seeing how many people were completely stoned out of their brains. 

Netherlands - Amsterdam

Our day today was planned around... you guessed it... the Formula One... Jack was very excited to find that the hotel had BBC so he could not only see the GP but it was in English!

After breakfast we went into the city and visited the Rijk Museum which is the home of many of Rembrandt’s paintings, including the magnificent ‘Night Watch’. A beautiful museum with many beautiful paintings and Dutch artefacts giving a little more insight into Dutch history. 

We then wandered around the area surrounding the museum before heading back to the hotel to watch the Formula One. 

Around 6pm we met up with 2 of our friends from Australia, Juanita and Viv, who happened to be in Amsterdam over the same time. We spent the evening wining, dining and laughing with them and their Dutch friend Myka. We also briefly wandered through the ‘Red Light District’ to satisfy everyones curiosity.