Tues 12th May. Day 2

We left our hotel in Cape Town at 8.30am this morning in our truck, with a quick stop at the V&A Waterfront to get some cash and stock up on water. We stopped for a photo of Table Mountain (which had it's distinctive "tablecloth" of cloud over it) and then drove onto our next stop, Citrusdal, which as its name implied, was renowned for growing citrus fruits. There were also some hot springs there, supposedly a naturally occurring source of hot water, but when I saw it, it just seemed like a heated swimming pool to me. There wasn't actually much to do in Citrusdal so it was time to hit the bar, a pattern that would get all too familiar during the rest of the trip. Dinner in the restaurant consisted of a 300g rump steak for me and very surprisingly, I found they sold bottles of Peroni, one of my favourite beers which originated from Italy, what a small world! However, one thing I have learned is not to drink too much because when you're camping, it becomes a real pain getting up in the middle of the night to go for a piss. Also, as most of us found very surprising, it was very cold at night in complete contrast to the scorching heat of the day.

Weds 13th May. Day 3

I got up early this morning to view the sunrise. The stunning sunrises and sunsets would become a feature of the trip in the days to come. Then we left for a long journey to the Gariep River, just across the border in Namibia. We made a few stops to stock up on essentials (such as 24 cans of Carling lager for me) and arrived at Camp Felix Unite at about 4.30pm. There was an option to take a canoe safari the following morning but we were told it wasn't too exciting so everyone declined the offer. And that was all there was to do here!

We had beef goulash cooked for us for dinner, then it was out with a few tinnies but everyone had gone to sleep by 9pm and since there wasn't anything to do, I retired too.

Thurs 14th May. Day 4

A lie-in this morning as we were only due to leave at 9am with no-one deciding to do the canoeing. We then drove to the Fish River Canyon and our campsite at the Canon Roadhouse, arriving at lunchtime. We made a few quick stops to look at a Quiver tree and take a group shot photo with everyone on top of the truck.

We set up camp, then went for a walk along the rim of the canyon. The canyon is supposed to be the second largest in the world (only the Grand Canyon is bigger), being 550m deep, 160km long and 27km wide. We stayed for the sunset, it was nice enough but I can't say I was particularly impressed.

We had dinner at the camp restaurant and I had a springbok fillet steak.