Cradock, South Africa

It was very misty at Barkly's Pass when I woke up at 6am, so there was not to be any early morning pics.

The power was back up and I could get a wifi signal. I thought it would be stronger inside the main lodge, but there was no signal at all there. The best connection was outside our cottage so I sat on the curb, a little cold at 18C.

Heather woke up a bit later and we went for breakfast. It was the first place that served canned fruit on this trip.

So we drove down from the pass, dropping enough to get under the clouds and out of the fog. The temperature was still in the low 20s. It was supposed to reach 35C at Cradock, our destination, so we were constantly checking the temperature readout on the car's dash to see when it would rise.

Today's drive was very different from yesterday's. There were long straight stretches, again with hardly any cars. The roads were mostly recently resurfaced. I had wondered why the roads looked great but there was no construction delays, until last night when the motorcycle guys said that all the construction crews were on vacation for the holidays. That worked out great for us, as we got great roads and no construction.

The drive was through an ancient sea bed, broken up by hills every 10kms or so. Every time we got to the top I expected a change in landscape but it was always another flat plain, and you could see the road rising at the far end through another hill.

Anyways it was a very scenic drive.

We reached Cradock in 3.5h, just as the GPS had predicted. We stayed in one of the cottages at the Victoria Manor. The owners have bought up the old Victorian cottages on Market St, beside the hotel, and restored them as part of the hotel. So we had our own house: kitchen, bathroom, 2 bedrooms and a living room. They had antiques from the 1900's all about. It was like living in a museum (the 2nd time this trip we've had this experience).

We checked in and then went for lunch down the main street at True Living. Sat on their backyard patio and had a refreshing ginger beer and then lunch.

We did some touristing on the way back to the hotel, and even stopped in at the town's Info center. They recommended a couple museums. It was too hot today and I was tired from driving so we put it off until tomorrow after our safari.

Organized ourselves for the Cheetah tracking tomorrow and later went back to the main lodge for a drink at their bar. The hotel reminds me of staying at one of the old CN railway hotels in Canada - there's lots of history to the place.

Dinner was a buffet, but one of the best buffet we've ever had. The appetizers and desserts were served to the table; the three mains were buffet. It was all local Karoo dishes, very authentic. It was mmm good.