We left Forever Resort, Gariep Dam at 07:30.

Our route took us through the towns of Colesberg, Middleberg, Graaff-Reinet and Willowmore to Oudtshoorn where we are spending the night at Kleinplaas Caravan Park. The roads were amazing and we did not have to play Dodge the Pothole or Pass the Truck.

We filled up with fuel at Caltex Colesberg, found their restaurant and shop closed so continued to Shell Ultra City for breakfast at their Steers. The further south we travelled the cooler the weather became. It was lunchtime when we arrived at Willowmore where we filled up at Engen and then went to a quaint little coffee shop called Kapoet. Some of these small town have the loveliest ideas when decorating their shops. This coffee shop sold a variety of crafts, beauty products, confectionery and jams etc. The Earl and Alec went straight over to the confectionery section to see what was on offer. There were so many wonderful things in the shop that the Earl ended up spending more money than he intended on some specialty meats. Finally we sat down to tea/coffee and pancakes – cinnamon for Cathy and Alec and Spinach and Feta for the Earl and me. If you’re travelling through Willowmore with a caravan there is enough room to park in the street outside and Kapoet is well worth a visit.

We arrived at Kleinplaas at 16:00. Kleinplaas has lovely well-laid out, shady campsites. At reception they suggested we share a campsite so it cost half of what it would have. You are given a key to the ablution block and they are pristine. Kleinplaas is highly recommended as a stopover place in Oudtshoorn.

It was a little drizzly and cool so we decided not to order pizza and sit outside to eat as we did the last time we stayed here. Instead we went to Nostalgie. Alec was not feeling well so he did not accompany us. Cathy had the lamb shank – delicious. Earl had an ostrich fillet burger – divine and I had the best bobotie I’ve ever eaten. The restaurant is an old 80 year old converted house consisting of different rooms so when one is full they open another. The service was friendly, quick and efficient and you felt you were being entertained in somebody’s home. We just loved it.

Tomorrow will be the last leg of our long, wonderful holiday.

Sorry everyone but I got the name of the place we stayed at wrong in my post yesterday. It is not Sonop but Moreson which is 10 km outside the town of Vrede in the Free State. I have made the corrections.

As I stepped out of the caravan this morning, I spotted a little scrub hare hopping across the path and into the bush. It was a lovely start to the day.

We were on the road by 07:15 and once again rattled over the awful road until we joined the R34 then R103 to Warden. From there we travelled the R714 to Bethlehem before turning onto the N5 to Senekal and on to Winberg where we took the N1 to Gariep. On all of the R roads we played Dodge the Pothole, a dangerous game that was no fun at all. But we survived and changed the game to Follow the Truck and Pass When You Can which was frustrating as you simply couldn’t win but it was a tad less dangerous than the previous game.

A highlight of the trip, though, was our stop at Senekal Padstal. It is right on the N5 and has plenty of parking for caravans. The men were delighted to find a variety of confectionery on sale and indulged a few packets of crunchies, ginger snaps and soet koekies. Our breakfast was fluffy scrambled eggs, delicious pork sausages, bacon, tomato and toast at a very reasonable R60 per person including large mugs of excellent coffee.

At Winberg a fellow Gecko owner who was not towing his caravan passed us and posted a message on the Gecko Family Whatsapp Group. The Earl noticed that a Ford Ranger with a CCC registration had zapped past us. He is observant that way! Nice to meet you Charl and Tillie. Hope you found a lovely place to stay over.

We arrived at Forever Gariep at 15:00, checked in and found two level caravan sites near the wonderful ablutions for which this camp is famous.

In the evening we went to the restaurant for dinner. The service was a little slow but the food was fine. The Earl had rooibok shank, Alec had chicken schnitzel and Cathy and I had Chicken Breast de la Casa. All were served with chips and salad.

Gariep Forever Resort is highly recommended as a stopover or a holiday destination. The facilities are great and there are many activities on offer for adults and children.

Sadly today we left Kruger National Park and started on the first leg of our journey back to Struisbaai and Napier. The Earl and I were ready by 07:00 and left slightly ahead of Alec and Cathy. We drove slowly along the S110. My favourite creatures were there to bid us farewell.

Just before we were due to turn off onto the H3 which would take us to the Malelane Gate we saw a line of cars moving very slowly toward us. But who were they following? The king and queen of Kruger.

But instead she broke away from him and passed right by my open window,

It was a heart stopping moment and a wonderful way to end our visit.

Alec and Cathy were slightly delayed by the giraffe crossing the road and they too saw the lions but by then they’d left the road and were wandering off into the bush.

We waited just outside the exit gate for them to catch up and then drove in tandem the rest of the way. We tried to find a place for breakfast in Carolina but there was nothing suitable so we pushed on to Chrissiesmeer. The restaurants we passed looked a bit dodgy until we found Lake Chrissie Lodge. Outside a sign announced that the pub was open. I went in to ask if they did breakfast and the barman went in search of somebody in charge of the kitchen. A charming young lady emerged and said they would cook breakfast for us. I summoned the others and she showed us to a lovely dining room, brought in some coffee and within 15 minutes presented us with scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage and chips. We were the only patrons and it was really kind of them to accommodate us. The breakfast was lovely.

The roads we travelled were mostly good until we got to Standerton and travelled the R546 to Vrede. We had to play ‘dodge the pothole’ all the way and then turned onto the most horrific road to get to Moreson Ranch. Before booking Cathy had asked what the road condition was like and the reply had been, “It’s fine. It’s a tar road.” Well it might once have been but now it’s a corrugated mess which shook us up and rattled our vehicles and caravans in the most unpleasant way. To add injury to insult we found the campsite less than satisfactory. We were the only caravanners there. Our sites had not been raked or cleaned of buck droppings and the private ablutions had not been cleaned. The electricity also tripped because of the hot water geyser not functioning properly. Cathy reported the problems to reception and after a while the farm manager, Peter, arrived to sort everything out. Two young women came to clean the ablutions and later Peter himself came with a bucket and mop to clean another ablution that we had to use because the hot water problem could not be fixed.

Our campsite has a lovely view across the valley but is spoiled by a full on view of the lions they have in captivity. This farm breeds lions, a practice that I just don’t approve of. I find it upsetting to see these lovely wild beasts living in enclosures, never being able to roam and hunt or do things that lions should do.

We went to the restaurant for dinner and all four of us had rump steaks with mushroom sauce, chips and salad. The food was good.

Peter told us that he has just taken over the managing of this establishment. He knows there is a lot wrong and he intends to sort out all the problems as soon as he can. It’s a matter of putting to rights the things that have been neglected due to past bad management. He is a lovely young man and we wish him luck but it’s doubtful that we will ever come down that dreadful road again so we will never see the progress.