Tour Report

Sixteen of us set out on a cold and overcast Tuesday morning, destination Nieuwoudtville, to view the annual wild flower display. Rain had been forecast for later today and for Thursday and Friday. Forecasts could be wrong!? Our entry into the West Coast National Park had us hoping for some sunshine in the Postberg Flower Reserve. There were plenty of flowers in the area, but sadly we couldn’t get the full benefit of their beauty without the help of the sun. We were fortunate though to see a lot of game.
After a hearty lunch at Geelbek restaurant we exited the Park and headed for our overnight stop in Paternoster. Ah Guesthouse helped to raise our spirits by presenting a superb and unusual dinner. Thanks Arnold!

We left Paternoster in the rain and travelled the coastal road through Dwarskersbos, with a stop at Draaihoek Lodge and then through Elandsbaai to Clanwilliam, where we had a lunch break. The local dam had two sluice gates open, which was testament to the amount of rain they had in the area.

Our final leg of 123km saw us arriving in Nieuwoudtville late afternoon on Wednesday. Twelve of the group were “home” for the next 3 nights, whilst four of us headed out to Cloudskraal, our farm accommodation, 11 km out of town on a gravel road. Our driver Sabrie was staying at Kromvlei, another farm 4km away, where we planned to have dinner on Thursday evening.

We had rain overnight which saw the gravel roads deteriorate and it was decided to postpone our farm dinner to Friday with the hope that  the weather would improve. We were able to visit Papkuilsfontein on Thursday, but the tour was curtailed due to inaccessible roads. Lunch was of their normal high standard though.
On Friday morning we awoke to a heavy snowfall and had no option but to cancel the farm dinner. Passenger safety was the first priority. Our hosts in Nieuwoudtville, Margie & Chris of Swiss Villa came to our rescue by taking on the cancelled dinner! Our Hantam Botanical Gardens tour was cancelled due to a water logged property, but we visitedLoeriesfontein as well as the Quiver Tree forest. Overall, a stressful tour, held together by a fantastic, happy and understanding group. (No we didn’t charge extra for the snow).

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