We awoke to freezing conditions in Oudtshoorn that made me not want to get out of my sleeping bag, but we had quite a bit of ground to cover before the end of the day.
I had mixed feelings about packing up my tent one last time. On the one hand, it was too cold and the frame metal was difficult to handle with hints of frost on it. One the other hand, I was greatly relieved that I would never need to pitch or pack up this tent again! The tents we have been using would have been described as “World War II Surplus” when I was a kid. They were very heavy, bulky, and awkward to handle with thick canvas material and a metal frame with steel poles that were connected by rope segments attached to the outside between each pole segment. They were very durable and roomy once you set it up, but nothing like the lightweight tents I’ve become used to using.
On our way out of Oudtshoorn we drove through a region of huge ostrich farms. This area is the largest ostrich farming region in the world. They are raised for their feathers, meat, eggs, and leather. We stopped for pictures along the way and got to see mating rituals being performed by the male and female birds.
The drive to our next and final night of this trip took us through beautiful mountain ranges as we got closer and closer to Cape Town. Our last night on the way was in the little town of Swellendam which is famous for its vineyards and colonial Dutch architecture. We made about four stops at various vineyards in the area for obligatory wine tasting before arriving at our backpacker accommodation.
That evening we all went out to dinner for a final meal together before our tour was scheduled to finish the following morning. This restaurant was much nicer than the one we stopped at in Durban. I had a huge rack of ribs that I shared around with the others at the table. It was a very nice evening.
