The grand finale

Well well well the final entry for our adventure down the length of Africa, it is has clearly been noticed by all how quick almost five months on the road goes it always seems to accelerate after the halfway mark and then bang you're in Cape Town (the grand finishing point for those who haven't been following along too closely!).

So lets quickly play catch up over the last few days but before that, a correction must be made to include another jumper off the world's highest bungy at Bloukrans bridge, as not only did Jason jump but Zoe led the way and did it first and probably didn't scream as much either. Luckily for Jas the dvd has background music so we can't prove this!

Our next stop along our winding route south was Knysna a popular small town set just inland on the edge of a lagoon which is guarded from the sea by "the heads", which are two big headlands that form a beautiful natural entrance to get into the lagoon. They also make a great place to walk up from our campsite at the bottom to sit and enjoy a glass of wine or two as the sun drops.

Everyone enjoyed roaming around town, catching up with the internet and for a fair few watching lots of rugby on the telly. We headed a short way out of town for an afternoon round of golf, really good fun non-serious golf, flip flops all round dress code throw in a couple of clubs and lots of lost balls.

Back on the road again we made our way towards our most southerly point on the trip Cape Agulhas, being a bit out on a limb it does get a bit battered by the weather after setting up camp we all headed out along the board walk to take some group photos to celebrate getting as far as we could possibly go south. God it was blowing us around a fair bit but we all made it, before retiring to a bar for the afternoon to escape elements; if we're going to be honest some people continued into the evening too...

Alison and Rogan demonstrating their teamwork

At the southernmost point

The 2011 Cairo to Cape'rs

Yay!

Bruce

Alison flying high

Alison, Caolan, Cherie and Claire

Our next stop was a nice short drive off the tar for a bit and along the coast towards Hermanus, the place to do a spot of whale watching from the cliff tops. The Southern Right whale is not difficult to miss and we had a good opportunity to see them up nice and close with mother and calf blowing off and breaching just metres from the cliffs.

Our evening at camp was very cool, after reading in a magazine about the new thing to do in the outdoor cooking world is a "Braai-athalon" in laymen turns 3 types of animal on the bbq:
1. Something that flies (Chicken)
2. Something that swims (Hake)
3. Something that walks (Cow)

Bruce had alerted us to this new must-do meal and luckily he was on cook group to lend a helping hand. So after eating very well we sat down to the entertainment. Heading the committee were Kevin and Sue who had organised a "skit night" and those up for it braved the cool night air to perform to the masses.

It was very entertaining with performances from the likes of Bob, Paul, Glenn, Hazel, Kaye, Bruce, Caolan, Neil, Kevin and Sue, we had singing, poems, readings, a barber shop quartet(??) and a good laugh and reminisce about events and memories from our trip that some of us may have even forgotten.

Bit chilly

Voices of angels...

The next morning at crack of dawn we snuck off quietly in the truck with 5 people who decided it was a good idea to go Great White Shark cage diving off the coast of Gansbaai. So a quick hop back up the coast, brekkie and then off out on a boat before jumping into a cage suspended off the side of the boat where you can get up close and personal with one of the world's most feared adversaries (thanks Jaws!). Everyone loved it even more so Caolan who was the winner of the best blog of the trip (you can check it out at http://caolan-mmxi.blogspot.com/) and so got the dive courtesy of Odyssey, this was very lucky for us as he became very generous and brought the entire bubbly supply from the shop in town on the way back for the group to sample, cheers again.

Our final stop before Cape Town after a stunning scenic coastal drive was Stellenbosch where wine production originated in South Africa and is still going strong, we headed to a couple of Estates to sample their wares and do a quick cellar tour before getting back to a bit more tasting. Those who weren't too keen spent their time instead exploring the beautiful University town of Stellenbosch with its stunning streets packed with funky cafes and art galleries, Hazel took it one step further and ended up in a Uni lecture!!

That evening we headed out as a group for one final meal at a fancy restaurant based at Spier's vineyard where we were treated to a huge selection of different food buffet style and some cracking drumming and singing on the side.

The day of reckoning was upon us and tents were skilfully rolled away for the final time, before a quick breakfast accompanied by bucks fizz in celebration (you may have guessed there has been a lot of celebrating recently!).

Time for a final clean

Thanks Colleen!

A short drive had us buzzing down the N2 with blue skies and stunning views of Table Mountain, our hotel in Green Point seemed even a little trendy for 19 bush beaten travellers but after a bit of sprucing up we went out for final drinks and farewells.

Now for the cheesy ending speech...... well its been awesome, amazing, varied, exciting, brilliant, tiring, breath taking we could go on but my vocab isn't that good. To cut it short and sweet we have successfully made it as a group a long long way from the top to the bottom of a superb continent and seen way more than we could ever hope to remember. A big thanks, farewell and good luck to everyone who came along for the ride its been great!

Ciao from the crew

Alison and Rogan