Saldanha Bay

2days of rubbish here,we seem to have got out of sync. However,driving north yesterday fact finding for future visits. First stop St Helena bay across the same dust bowl. We are told that the Karoo is 1000miles of this. St Helena a nice port but nowhere to lunch and much the same as every other coastal village. Ok, then to Cape Brittania named after the square rigger that hit the shoals there in 1847 and went down, and Stompneusbaai round the corner. Never found it and suspect it was where the cannery now is! Lots of lovely yet inexpensive houses on the beach ( very Greek style) ,but no infrastructure. A week in these places would make you slit your wrists!
Paternoster is a hot spot with its' two restaurants. We ended back here for a late lunch before cooking crayfish on the indoor barbie. (Not a great success as more smoked than grilled.) However, boiled the rest in salt water New Quay style and had them with a salad and a couple of bottles of Zonnenbloem Sauvignon Blanc. Really boring day with a lot of driving but things livened up that night. ( Not Mouchey Pouchey, you understand!) Very windy and we locked up at about 11ish. Lots of creaks and groans from the house but noises were not quite right! Went downstairs to track down the squeaks. They were coming from outside a window and sounded as though someone was trying to unscrew the outside hinges. Gave a firm knock on the shutter and the noises stopped and that was that. This morning the 2 screws holding the hinge were gone! We got the boss over this morning and he apologised for the drug infused Cape Coloureds . Apparently these are the root of most of the problem. Anyway he left Frans, a Slovenian,no teeth, does Frank know him I wonder?) to do a repair. He rescrewed the hinge back, looked fine but I thought I would check, just in case you understand,and took the screws out with my fingers. This is so Africa! Anyway,I sent him packing to get some bolts. I came back to find him holding a drill bit in a pair of molegrips and trying to drill the hole! Borrowed a drill from the builder 20 yards away and the job was finished,finally. The rotten burglar tried another door but fled without his pliers! Really,I mean a Ramraider would not get in here. Still miss my Browning but if he comes back tonight I will set Mrs G on him.
Lazy day after that.Walked the beach to see the fishermen landing the crayfish and had an early lunch. Chilled in the sun and we went for a dip. This water is very cold but hard core RG plunged. Mrs G said she did too but her shoulder were still dry and her nose an inch longer so she only paddled.We watched a lovely sunset(dead romantic), and bolted ourselves in for the night. Where is my Browning, but hey Ron, I would probably miss the b******d!Read more