The Sacred Valley

The Sacred Valley

I do love a good ruin and so I wasn’t disappointed with Peru’s Sacred Valley!  Although the Inca empire is estimated to have lasted for less than 150 years (before it was rudely interrupted by the Spanish Conquistadors quest for power and gold), they managed to accomplish a great deal of infrastructure and construction in that time. We bought a […]

A Day in the Life..

A Day in the Life..

Sometimes our posts make it look like our lives are exciting and extraordinary, but it isn’t always sunshine and roses, so I thought I would bring it all down to earth a bit.. Today was not a good day, mechanically-speaking! We had overnighted in a typical “panoramic-view” type of spot, with no-one around – just us and the stars. But, […]

Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro

“Why do you want to go to Rio?”  That was the reaction from fellow travellers and Brazilians alike, when we told them of our plan to visit the Big City.  It’s always a little stressful (understatement!) to enter a large town and to drive into a big city scores 100 on the stressometer.  There are overpasses, underpasses, tunnels, low cables, […]

Falls and Felines

Falls and Felines

Perhaps not the prettiest of waterfalls, but certainly one of the most powerful we have seen, Augrabies Falls was almost at full flow when we visited.  Eastern South Africa had experienced very high rainfall (unusually high, locals said) during February and a number of sluice gates on the Orange River had been opened to try to prevent flooding in the […]

Wandering up the West Coast

Wandering up the West Coast

After the excitement of the new washing machine and a quick detour back to Cape Town (so that we could join the friendly Fish Hoek Scottish Dancing group for a class), we continued our journey north up the West Coast.  The village of Paternoster has a laid-back feeling to it and it was nice to see pretty white-painted bungalows, rather […]

The Great Washing Machine Debate

The Great Washing Machine Debate

“But how are we going to wash our sheets and towels?!”  – That was Francine’s first reaction when Dave suggested a life of living in a truck.  “Oh, we’ll find somewhere.  There are always laundries around, most of the campsites have washing machines and, if they don’t, you can always find someone willing to do your washing for you for […]

eSweet eSwatini

eSweet eSwatini

Small, but perfectly formed, the Kingdom of eSwatini is bordered by Mozambique to the East and South Africa to the North, South and West.  It may not be a destination that immediately springs to mind for tourism, nevertheless it has a number of attractions, including the charming Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary.  We were lucky to meet fellow traveller, Ellen, again, as […]

The Many Seasons of Kaapsehoop

The Many Seasons of Kaapsehoop

Sometimes we are intent on going to a place that’s off the beaten track and/or difficult to get to and the reward at the end is not really worth the effort taken (“a long walk down a windy beach to a café that is closed”, as comedian Bill Bailey once said).  Francine had heard about Adam’s Calendar, a stone circle […]

New Shoes Can’t Wait

New Shoes Can’t Wait

Bertha had not benefited from so much attention for a long while, as she received at TM Trucking’s “spa” and she made it known that she was not ready to leave soon.  Every time we took a test drive, there was some new small issue that needed sorting.  A week after our “goodbye” braai (bbq) we were still there!  However, […]

The Promised Land

The Promised Land

We had great expectations of South Africa.  Whenever we talked about buying bits or getting things done for Bertha (or for us!), we always said “we can do that in South Africa …”, but perhaps what we had failed to appreciate fully were the other reasons for visiting – beautiful scenery, amazing wildlife, friendly people and a rich, if turbulent, […]