Boulders, Blooms, Diesel Tanks and Dust - Part 2

From Tietiesbaai, we had a long-ish day of about 300km ahead of us. A lot of it would be along sandy tracks but it proved to be fun driving.

We headed out after the morning "coffee and rusks" ritual, something we would do every day of the trip. Our first stop was Laaiplek ("Loading Place") a little fishing establishment on the edge of a dorpie called Velddrif ("Field Drift"?.....hmmmm). We wanted to see if we could get some fresh fish to enjoy on the braai for the evening, but it turned out that all they produced (that day, at least) was Bokkoms, a dried-out mullet which is savoured by many of the local folk. Personally, I stay away from them. My son-in-law, Scott, enjoyed them on their recent visit, but there's no choosing family, is there? ;-)

As it happens, there was no fresh fish, only dried stuff, so we stopped in at a little take-away place to order a toasted sandwich for the road and get some firewood. It must have taken almost an hour for them to sort out the toasted sarnies. I thought Cape Town was slow sometimes. Also, the lady who sells the firewood is not there on Mondays either, so we couldn't get any wood. Maybe she should take her sign down over the weekends...

Hanging from the rafters are rows of drying mullet, or Bokkoms, as they are known in these parts.

This is the Laaiplek harbour entrance, with the main channel running on the left. Not a swell or wave in sight, and yet no fishing boats moving in or out either.


These beautiful pelicans were hanging around the area where the folks were hanging out the mullet to dry. They are magnificent birds and are larger than most people realise. The unfortunate bird on the other side of the gate had a badly damaged left wing and would not be able to fly, so he probably hung around on the dock or in the water waiting for a freebie.


Why they would have called this lighthouse "Island Point", I have no idea. It was nowhere near an island and it wasn't on a point either. Still, lighthouses are always interesting. Maybe I like lighthouses so much because in my previous life I drowned because there was no lighthouse and now I see them as beacons of hope that I never had back then...hmmmm...


From Laaiplek, we had a short leg-stretch stop at Elandsbaai, a famous surf spot, which I had always wanted to see. There was a nice little goofy-footer break running of about two feet, but the guys were surfing in amongst the kelp. Not sure I would fancy that as I have swum in kelp before and it has a habit of tangling you in it. The seagull just happened to fly into the shot as I snapped it, but it looks like it's stalking the guy on the surfboard.


Here's another shot of a surfer, this time without the predatory seagull.


Our next stop was Lambert's Bay, famous for its I&J fish factory and harbour. Also, for its Bird Island, a nesting colony for Cape Gannets. Here, everyone is reading the information boards that are scattered along the route between the pier entrance and the hide.


I was first at this hide not long after it opened, about 12 years ago, on another trip I was doing down the west coast. It's good to see that the government hasn't closed this down, even though visitors look like they are few and far between thanks to the twenty bucks entrance fee at the start of the pier. I suppose they have to fund the colony somehow. On the far side of the hide are large glass windows, and an open section upstairs, that we viewed the birds from. There are great vantage points to snap a few photos of the birds.


A view of Lambert's Bay harbour and the fish factory in the background.


The Gannets circle around the spot they are coming in to land at, spy their spot and/or their partner (it's unusual for both of them to be off the nest at the same time), come round again...


...then just drop down from about five feet, more or less onto their nest, sometimes onto their neighbour's site. If that happens, there's all sorts of squabbling that goes on, but never malicious.


Touchdown...


When the bird lands, there are a number of ways they reacquaint themselves with their partners. One of them is "necking", which either entails both birds rubbing necks together, or the newly-landed bird sticking his head straight up in the air, almost like saying "Hahahahahahaha....made it!"


We saw lots of these little fellows...Toktokkies (not sure how that would translate). For communication with their own kind, they tap the pointy little bit on their butts on the ground in a rhythmic motion. Perhaps they have different patterns to express different emotions, I don't know...


Did I mention we were there for the flower show too? Here's a few we saw along this part of the route...






The chariots that would endure a battering on the trip. The black Mazda-rati is mine, and the cherry Ford belongs to Mr C, in picture. Basically, they are the same vehicle, both built by Ford, just a couple of years apart in age and cosmetics.



The beach view from our campsite, at Brand Se Baai (Brand's Bay). We were camped on a deep bed of mussel shells, and the entire crunchy beach was probably ten feet deep in them. The shells were all bleached, so they had been dredged up some time ago. It was quite pitiful to see all this as the destruction was caused by diamond concessionaries who dredged the sea bed in front of the campsite and sucked everything in its path into a huge vaccuum pipe, all in search of a few small shiny stones. The smell from the dead seal pup around the corner didn't add too much to the atmosphere either, but at least the wind wasn't blowing directly in our direction.

Form a laager, mense...haul those lorries in tight. Our campsites were always put together with a lot of thought for location, weather (wind) and whether or not our heads would be uphill or down.

View of the campsite from next to the ocean.


Similar shot, just zoomed out a little to show the gang chilling with a cold one.


As usual, a couple of arty-farty shots, this time of the blue sky from behind a silhouetted rock.




End of Part2 - number 3 coming soon...