Trip report: Southern Africa
OK, so I've had my takeaway and a bottle of Belgian beer. The cats have stopped attention-seeking and the house is quiet because Sally is 20 miles away with an IV antibiotic drip in her arm failing to...
Forum Discussion
Day 17: Monday - V&A Waterfront and home
Our last day :(
It had been an amazing trip, but we were tired and were looking forward to getting home and seeing the cats. Maybe less the British February weather, but you can't have everything.
We had already packed and I had tidied up the interior of the camper. The guy at the Johannesburg rental depot said "Don't bother washing it" and I took him at his word.
I had another nice breakfast, though Sally was feeling less well due to the infection probably. I took her some muesli down to the room.
We had a leisurely morning and eventually checked out of the hotel at about 10:30 am.
Sally hadn't seen any of the city centre. I thought she should at least see the V&A waterfront, even if she was not feeling up to the hustle and bustle of the actual city centre and the throng of Long Street.
Often in Cape Town I visit Safari Centre before catching my return flight to see if there is any good overland vehicle equipment I need that is difficult to get in Britain. So before heading for the waterfront I took Sally north towards Stellenbosch and visited Safari Centre's store. Sally loved the equipment for sale - the Engel fridges, roof tents and other exciting expedition gear. We looked at the camping trailers, but Sally was less enamoured with them. She was concerned about compromising offroad abilities with one.
We didn't buy anything, but it was nice to look.
Next onto the Victoria and Albert Waterfront - the tourist heart of Cape Town.
I found somewhere to park that did not have a height limit (because it was outside) and was also near the luxury hotel on the waterfront, so would be a bit more secure.
We had plenty of time to kill since we didn't need to be at the airport until 5pm. We sat outside and ate ice-cream, we visited the aquarium, we sat watched the shipwrights sand blasting the hulls of a couple of a tug and fishing boat.
Also in dock was an Antarctic supply ship unloading bulldozers:
Then it was time to go. Unfortunately timing meant we were smack into Cape Town rush hour, but we got to the airport on time and located the Bushlore representative after a couple of loops through the airport's drop-off area. We had plenty of time until our flight so enjoyed a long chat with the guy, who was very pleasant. Sally was worried about the condition of the vehicle but he seemed quite pleased that it had actually been used for its intended purpose. He said many people just rented these for a long weekend, which was a waste.
So that was it after two and a half weeks with the vehicle, we were on foot. We checked in and made our way to the British Airways lounge for a snack and some wine.
Then onto the plane and a proper meal:
and my bed for the night:
And then we were home with the cats, dreaming of getting our truck camper out again soon.
Summary
This was a great journey, and a really good chance to try a different type of travel and camping.
Although the vehicle was very limited in space, its offroad abilities made up for that. We have taken our camper down many dirt roads, but there were many roads we travelled on for this trip that we would not have dared do in our Shadow Cruiser. OK, if we had a really small pop-up camper on a small European size 4x4 pick-up truck with diff locks and a suspension lift then yes, we could have done the same journey.
We noticed that even though only 2 years old the canvas of the pop-up roof was showing signs of age, and would presumably have to be retreated fairly soon. Also the aluminium pop-up roof was losing rivets and cracking where it adjoined the windscreen. I suspect this was due to the rigidity of that roof unit not coping with the twisting of the van body when used off road.
We are used to a hard side camper and although our Shadow Cruiser doesn't have the modern insulated windows, it is noticeably quieter when sleeping compared to sleeping in the pop-up on this Land Cruiser.
Putting the camper roof away in wet weather was a concern as described earlier.
I've already talked about the Engel fridge - I was very impressed with it compared to my much larger upright fridge.
The LED lights on the camper were little strips with a button on each end - one turned on white lights, the other red. That was a nice feature - you could use the red light to see what you were doing without ruining your night vision - I don't know if they attracted less insects too.
The dual spare wheel carriers at the back are useful - I would always want 2 spares on a vehicle like this, but they were inconvenient, restricting access to the rear door. However, in town this was a security advantage. If you forgot to lock the doors no-one could easily open a rear door in traffic and steal something from the back. However, their locking mechanisms were wearing and starting to rattle. I couldn't see any adjustment on them other than getting a welder out.
Space was very limited if you needed to hole yourself up inside due to bad weather, but that could only really be fixed with a larger vehicle which would restrict where it could travel to. Having said that, the vehicle we used in Namibia in 2007 which had a pop-up Dormobile style roof for standing headroom, but a separate pop-out side for sleeping and a tiny two person dinette did seem to have more useable space inside.
I was worried about the lack of any kind of toilet in the camper, but it turned out everywhere we camped had a good toilet. If camping in the desert then a shovel will suffice.
The Land Cruiser was a very good vehicle in general, but despite being fairly new it was showing signs of a few problems that weren't evident when we collected the vehicle but became evident over the course of our journey. Bear in mind I am gentle with vehicles. However, it still developed clutch judder, some strange vibrations, a wheel bearing starting to go, Synchromesh on 2nd gear was starting to become fussy, the aircon belt was slipping. These are the sort of faults I have experienced on my own truck. Could it be that other manufacturers have caught up with Toyota's quality and we now expect more?
Video of the trip
Southern Africa 2015 video
Steve.
Our last day :(
It had been an amazing trip, but we were tired and were looking forward to getting home and seeing the cats. Maybe less the British February weather, but you can't have everything.
We had already packed and I had tidied up the interior of the camper. The guy at the Johannesburg rental depot said "Don't bother washing it" and I took him at his word.
I had another nice breakfast, though Sally was feeling less well due to the infection probably. I took her some muesli down to the room.
We had a leisurely morning and eventually checked out of the hotel at about 10:30 am.
Sally hadn't seen any of the city centre. I thought she should at least see the V&A waterfront, even if she was not feeling up to the hustle and bustle of the actual city centre and the throng of Long Street.
Often in Cape Town I visit Safari Centre before catching my return flight to see if there is any good overland vehicle equipment I need that is difficult to get in Britain. So before heading for the waterfront I took Sally north towards Stellenbosch and visited Safari Centre's store. Sally loved the equipment for sale - the Engel fridges, roof tents and other exciting expedition gear. We looked at the camping trailers, but Sally was less enamoured with them. She was concerned about compromising offroad abilities with one.
We didn't buy anything, but it was nice to look.
Next onto the Victoria and Albert Waterfront - the tourist heart of Cape Town.
I found somewhere to park that did not have a height limit (because it was outside) and was also near the luxury hotel on the waterfront, so would be a bit more secure.
We had plenty of time to kill since we didn't need to be at the airport until 5pm. We sat outside and ate ice-cream, we visited the aquarium, we sat watched the shipwrights sand blasting the hulls of a couple of a tug and fishing boat.
Also in dock was an Antarctic supply ship unloading bulldozers:
Then it was time to go. Unfortunately timing meant we were smack into Cape Town rush hour, but we got to the airport on time and located the Bushlore representative after a couple of loops through the airport's drop-off area. We had plenty of time until our flight so enjoyed a long chat with the guy, who was very pleasant. Sally was worried about the condition of the vehicle but he seemed quite pleased that it had actually been used for its intended purpose. He said many people just rented these for a long weekend, which was a waste.
So that was it after two and a half weeks with the vehicle, we were on foot. We checked in and made our way to the British Airways lounge for a snack and some wine.
Then onto the plane and a proper meal:
and my bed for the night:
And then we were home with the cats, dreaming of getting our truck camper out again soon.
Summary
This was a great journey, and a really good chance to try a different type of travel and camping.
Although the vehicle was very limited in space, its offroad abilities made up for that. We have taken our camper down many dirt roads, but there were many roads we travelled on for this trip that we would not have dared do in our Shadow Cruiser. OK, if we had a really small pop-up camper on a small European size 4x4 pick-up truck with diff locks and a suspension lift then yes, we could have done the same journey.
We noticed that even though only 2 years old the canvas of the pop-up roof was showing signs of age, and would presumably have to be retreated fairly soon. Also the aluminium pop-up roof was losing rivets and cracking where it adjoined the windscreen. I suspect this was due to the rigidity of that roof unit not coping with the twisting of the van body when used off road.
We are used to a hard side camper and although our Shadow Cruiser doesn't have the modern insulated windows, it is noticeably quieter when sleeping compared to sleeping in the pop-up on this Land Cruiser.
Putting the camper roof away in wet weather was a concern as described earlier.
I've already talked about the Engel fridge - I was very impressed with it compared to my much larger upright fridge.
The LED lights on the camper were little strips with a button on each end - one turned on white lights, the other red. That was a nice feature - you could use the red light to see what you were doing without ruining your night vision - I don't know if they attracted less insects too.
The dual spare wheel carriers at the back are useful - I would always want 2 spares on a vehicle like this, but they were inconvenient, restricting access to the rear door. However, in town this was a security advantage. If you forgot to lock the doors no-one could easily open a rear door in traffic and steal something from the back. However, their locking mechanisms were wearing and starting to rattle. I couldn't see any adjustment on them other than getting a welder out.
Space was very limited if you needed to hole yourself up inside due to bad weather, but that could only really be fixed with a larger vehicle which would restrict where it could travel to. Having said that, the vehicle we used in Namibia in 2007 which had a pop-up Dormobile style roof for standing headroom, but a separate pop-out side for sleeping and a tiny two person dinette did seem to have more useable space inside.
I was worried about the lack of any kind of toilet in the camper, but it turned out everywhere we camped had a good toilet. If camping in the desert then a shovel will suffice.
The Land Cruiser was a very good vehicle in general, but despite being fairly new it was showing signs of a few problems that weren't evident when we collected the vehicle but became evident over the course of our journey. Bear in mind I am gentle with vehicles. However, it still developed clutch judder, some strange vibrations, a wheel bearing starting to go, Synchromesh on 2nd gear was starting to become fussy, the aircon belt was slipping. These are the sort of faults I have experienced on my own truck. Could it be that other manufacturers have caught up with Toyota's quality and we now expect more?
Video of the trip
Southern Africa 2015 video
Steve.
