Epic Adventure -- Day 19 -- 17/09/2012 -- Grahamstown

So once again, probably because we keep going to bed around 20:00, we woke up this morning terrifyingly early. We left the house quite soon after waking up so we could spend more time in Grahamstown during a weekday when at least a few shops might be open. On the way out of the camp we took the long range lens with us and jenny stood out of the sunroof of the car in an attempt to get some better photos of the game on the farm. We went to a restaurant called Mad Hatter for breakfast where I had an English breakfast and Jenny had a bran muffin with jam and cheese. Our plan to use the free Internet at breakfast semi backfired when we were told that the restaurant made you pay for the Internet. Instead we set up a hotspot with my iPhone and checked the few small bits we needed to check online.

Rhodes Campus

After leaving breakfast we set off in search of a place to have our laundry done. Jenny convinced me to bring far too many clothes on this holiday but I do see the merit, to some degree. It's been 2 weeks and we have not needed laundry done, until now. So we grabbed our stuffed duffel bag and headed down the road to the nearest laundromat. The first place we visited said they only did commercial cleaning and so they recommended a cheaper place a few blocks away. After finding this other shop and paying the woman a very agreeable amount (R90) to wash, dry, iron and fold our clothes we set off into town to find something to do until 3 hours later when the clothes would be ready.

At the Botanic Gardens

We strolled around town for a little while before deciding to have a look at Rhodes University just off the main street. Rhodes looks very much like an American University with park benches under trees in clearings where students sat conversing or studying in the shade. We went thought the main courtyard, walked around the campus for a while before we found our way to the entrance of the botanical gardens. The gardens seemed to go on forever and Jenny kept wanting to walk further and further into the gardens. I wanted to turn around and head back the same way we had come but she wanted to keep walking and explore the gardens, and we eventually popped out near the entrance to Grahamstown and about a 10 minute walk back into town.

We returned to the car and paid the parking attendant R16 for our 5 hour stay, before collecting our laundry. We then headed off to pick and pay for some food for the nights braai. While we were there we ran into Laura Bryan, the youngest of the Bryan sisters, and actually someone I wanted to see in Grahamstown before we left! Hopefully we will get to see her and the rest of the Bryan clan (minus Megan who is in Cape Town) tomorrow :D

Its a car stand off!

When we arrived back at Coombs Camp, much to our surprise, we found Jeremy's car parked inside an unlocked gate facing the road with the keys on the floor of the car. Jeremy was nowhere in sight and we couldn't get our car through the gate to our accommodation unless his car was moved. Luckily we had his phone number and phoned him to make sure everything was alright. He told us where the keys were and asked us to simply back his car up enough to let ourselves in.... We have no idea why this was the case!?!? It was a good thing no one had tried to take his car!

When we got back to the house the maid was finishing up the cleaning. Jeremy came down to the house to check on how we were doing just as we were starting up the braai. This time we had a veggie dinner of butternut squash and sweet potatoes. The butternut squash we cut open and put loads of butter and salt and pepper inside the cavity we cleared out of pips, and it tasted super yummy!! The sweet potatoes were just as good as the night before, and we were so full from that feast that we decided not to cook the venison steaks we had saved up! We sat for a long while afterward and enjoyed the fire before retiring for the night.

The view from our bedroom!