Ah yes. The blog post after the cathartic experience that I had been waiting for. Yes, hot and sunny, and yes, I do prefer the more tempestuous side of Cape Agulhas, but it was just amazing to get out, get some fresh air and have the beach (almost) to ourselves.
Normal service is resumed.
And that includes unsuccessful fishing in the rockpools.
We’ll be heading home shortly, but as ever, it’s been a wonderful getaway, and I’m already looking forward to our next visit.
Happy daze.
Sketchy internet, and I have dodgeball to watch, so let’s get this done quickly.
Nice day today, headed out to the Black Oystercatcher with Little Miss 6000 for one of their outstanding platter lunches, but did that whole game drive meander on the way through the Agulhas National Park:
…and ended up on beautiful Brandfontein beach en route as well:
Aside from the lunch and the company, the highlight was probably a family of ostriches – at least 8 juniors and their loving parents. Here’s dad and a couple of the little ‘uns.
Plenty more photos to sort out – maybe (probably?) even a re-edit of these ones – but I need to go and enjoy the sunshine right now. (And charge my devices before loadshedding.)
Back in Cape Town after a great 30-something hours in Agulhas. And finishing our visit like this:
Obviously, a phone pic because…
But before that, a little lie-in, a super fast trail run (by my standards, at least), some relaxed chat in the sunshine, and a plethora of fluorescent tube replacements.
It’s been a good day.
…by choice.
It’s been ages since we’ve been down to Agulhas, and the cottage probably needs a good clean and check-up, and certainly deserves some more electricity. But this weekend looks very cold and wet, and Mrs 6000 likes warm and dry, so she will be staying home with the Boy Wonder and I will be taking our daughter down to the stormy seaside for a couple of days.
The beagle will be bedding down, sloth-like, here in Cape Town.
The first thing to be packed in the car was a big bag of fresh firewood, and burning that is something that I’m very much looking forward to. The second thing to be packed was a couple of bottles of decent red wine, and drinking that is also something that I’m very much looking forward to.
As is dodging between the showers and getting some South Atlantic sea air and exercise on the beach.
The drive down might be less pleasant, but it’s a means to an end, and the end will hopefully be quite fun.
More from there tomorrow.
Have a become a bit soft in my old age or is it just a shifting of my thresholds because of my ongoing experience of differing geographically imposed conditions?
I’m down in Agulhas (alone) and it’s pretty miserable out. But it’s not that miserable. It’s wet and grey, but it’s not that wet and grey. (OK, it is that wet and grey right now.) And yet I found myself hiding inside (and even in bed) until hunger and a need for coffee dragged me out into the kitchen. There’s nothing wrong with staying in bed if you have no commitments elsewhere of course, but the outdoors is right there, and I feel like I should be in it. And this would be actually classed as ‘not too bad’ in my homeland and childhood. (Indeed, it would be described as ‘positively tropical’ in my early university years.) So is it that I’m just a bit soft now because I’m older, or is it just that I’m not used to it anymore?
And does it even matter?
I’m not daft: it’s absolutely pitching it down at the moment, and why would anyone – no matter their age or location – choose to go out in that? And in opening the front door to have a peek outside, there was a sign (quite literally) from above, as a scorpion fell from the door frame onto my head. We’re both ok. But I’m inside and much drier than him now.
But in the next window in the weather, I will get out and about: appropriately dressed for the conditions, obviously.
Meanwhile, it’s back to the cafetière and Mark Radcliffe on 6Music. Because why not?