The following morning we drove into Stellenbosch, a lovely small town with lots of old buildings with thatched roofs very reminiscent of the Netherlands. We spent a couple of hours wandering round town, visiting places of interest. OH and I stopped at a café in a shady square for a coffee and a South African man sitting at the next table spoke to us. Over the next hour or so we put the world to rights, discussed the Euro and Greece, the future and past of South Africa and other subjects of interest. At this point in our trip our Tour Guide hadn't opened up much about his life in South Africa so it was interesting to have a conversation at length with with someone who had lived through all of the changes in the country. After a visit to the Botanical Gardens and a browse through the shops we bought a picnic lunch which we ate in a park We returned to our guest house where there was the option of a steep hill walk, a wander round the grounds/vinyards of the farm or just a lazy afternoon by the pool.
afternoon walk
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I went for a wander then took my kindle down to the pool area where I relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. OH chose the steep walk. In the evening we were taken back into Stellenbosch to eat. We chose of all things a Cuban restaurant, purely I think so that I could have a Mojito, Others in the group chose a number of different restaurants. Stellenbosch was quite lively, lots of young people around as it's a University town. Lots of pavement cafés and restaurants and as the evening was still very warm we ate outside.

The next morning we had an early start as we had a fairly long drive ahead of us on somewhat rough surfaced roads.We headed for our next overnight stop the town of Oudtshoorn, We drove through the area called the Little Karoo, the scenery was spectacular and the roads were almost empty. On the way we stopped at the Karoo National Botanical Garden, beautifully situated on a hillside, as we clinbed the hillside as well as seeing the unusual plants we had some beautiful views.
Poisonous Namibian Grape Plant
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We then drove in to the town of Worcester another attractive Dutch styled town, we had a short walk before our Tour Guide Jacques took us to a monument in a park area in the middle of town. The monument was to 4 people who had died in a supermarket bombing on 24 December 1996. 65 people were injured and 2 of the dead were children. The bombing had been perpetrated by far right wing white South Africans opposed to the ending of apartheid. Jacques had gone to boarding school in Worcester. He then told us of his life under apartheid, he was classed as a coloured, there were three classes, white, coloured and black. He was of mixed race and had to go to boarding school because the only secondary school in the town where he lived was for whites. When his mother went shopping she had to go into the supermarket through a door at the back of the shop, wasn't allowed to enter the same door as the whites. The races had to sit on different seats in the park, he said that he wouldn't have been able to work as a tour guide for white people 20 years earlier. A very shameful part of the history of the country which is in part our history.
We then boarded the bus to head through the now stark and arid landscape of the Little Karoo to our destination of Oudtshoorn, a rather unattractive town the centre of South Africa's ostrich farming industry. After a stop for a late lunch we headed to our accomodation a few miles outside of town in a beautiful valley. The lodge was a mixture of wood and stone and had thatched roofs, We had an upstairs room with a huge ceiling where we could see the thatch. A small balcony added to the pleasure. We had a couple of hours relaxing with a glass of wine before going into the main part of the lodge for dinner where we were served ostrich steaks.
We had a good nights sleep the only blip was OH treading on a small scorpion in the bathroom in the early morning. No problem though as it didn't sting him.
The next morning we were to visit some huge caves, The Cango Caves which were well worth a visit.

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After the caves we visited an Ostrich Farm. We chose to sit this out as we have an ostrich farm in the next village to where we live and have visited it on numerous occasions to watch the birds grow from egg to adult. We missed the pleasure of seeing one of the group riding one of these large birds. We enjoyed sitting watching the world go by drinking a glass of wine and watching the numerous colourful birds flitting in and out of the nearby trees. After a break for lunch in the town we returned to our lodge. That evening we were served a South African meal called a Potjie, a rich chicken and vegetable stew. Very tasty.

Next morning we left the lodge to head for Kynsa where we would enter the Garden Route. Not called the Garden Route because of all of the gardens but because the area has quite a lot of rainfall which results in evergreen forests, inland lakes, sparkling bays and pristine beaches.