Tue, Aug 11 - The car

We slept pretty well as we were provided with electric blankets.  We started to set off for De Lande for breakfast (it is served at 8 sharp!) and found our key in its ancient lock wouldn't work as the two metal prongs were bent!  We were trapped inside until I finally figured out we could climb out a window as there are no screens!  The morning was heavily frosty, so we had to let our defroster run a while before we could see to drive!  We delivered the key to  Mariette, who runs the hotel part of the family farm operation, and she said it had happened before! 

Our house

I had a bowl of porridge with fruit and toast and then was asked what I wanted for breakfast!  Corn fritters and eggs were offered and I couldn't resist that!  Bob helped a British birder ID a species so he was able to 'tick' the bird for his list and seemed quite happy and Bob scored points.    Mariette gave me a map of the area  showing lower elevation places where flowers are supposed to be pretty good right now.  The rains have been adequate this year, but low temperatures have slowed down the flowering.  One can never predict from year to year

Mariette's husband Willem looked at our car and was concerned about the tilt of our front wheel, so we called Hertz who said they would call back when they could fine a replacement car.  We drove into the village of Nieuwoudtville  and pulled into Protea Motors where we were told that our tire was unrepairable  and that we shouldn't drive very far on our mis-aligned wheel.  

So we returned to our cottage, made tea and relaxed.  Willem had us call Hertz again and a new car is supposed to arrive late tonight or early tomorrow!   Willem took us out for a walk and pointed out some exotic local blooms.  This area is on a high plateau (2300') and the high altitude combined with the unusual cold has kept flower numbers low around the farm.  But when we walked through the brush we came upon quite a few - not in dense quantities as they will be in a few weeks, but interesting for us.  We're hoping that we may take some of the lower elevation drives tomorrow with a little luck.

Malachite Sunbirdup

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"Cup & Saucer"

We drove over to De Lande for drinks and chat with the other guests;  we ordered a very good bottle of Sauvignon Blanc and sat down to an excellent mushroom soup, salad. chicken & leek pie, lamb shoulder and veggies, followed by creme caramel and rooibos tea.  We returned to our chilly cottage to await the delivery of our new car!

Massonia sp.

I found a space heater and curled up with a book while Bob napped on his electric blanket.  At 1 AM I gave up and started to get ready for bed, when the phone in the other half of our house  (Willem and Mariette live there during the high season - Aug-Sept - and have the entire house to themselves the rest of the year which is why our two rooms are so homey and interesting).  Willem knocked on our adjoining door and said the truck with our new car was in the town and would be arriving in 15 minutes.  Willem kindly drove out to the main road and flashed his lights when saw the truck approaching.  The large flatbed truck pulled in and very noisily tilted up and presented us with a VW Tiguan.  They loaded up our poor Kia Sportage and took off for Cape Town, 5 hours away on the N7.  Finally at 2 AM we all went to bed.