Stocking Up

Christoph, Denise & Mr. Binder at the most SouthWestern point on the African Continent
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Last weekend was fantastic with Denise's friend from University in Germany, Christoph Binder, joining us for some vintage Cape exploration (and we tasted Many Many vintages!).  Although we managed to fit in spans of activities (like Cape Point hiking, penguin spotting at Boulder's Beach, Chapman's Peak Drive, Moyo and 3 different wine estates) into the two and a half days he and his dad were with us, it did mean that the planning and preparations for the Big Trip took a back seat.

The weather was amazing - clear, very warm and only mildly windy (except Sunday which was gale force).  The worst part about the very start of Spring though is how often it feels exactly like the last parts of winter.  After the very promising start to our endless Summer Season (see last posting) the Cape weather has backslid into somewhat colder, more cloudy days this weekend.

A Backpack, 2 Miner's Lamps, an Emergency Blanket...and a Partridge in a Pear Tree!

The Miner's Lamp
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In spite of minor meteorological mishaps (try saying that 5 times fast), and Denise trying hard to shake the remainder of a cold, we have spent much of this weekend on trip preparations.  These have included some major and some minor purchases.  After much soul searching we have decided to buy that new backpack (see pictures) which we both think is a great investment.  We also purchased a safety blanket and two very nice miner's lamps for nighttime illumination, crocodile hunting, midnight abseiling or any other nocturnal activity that takes our fancy.

Denise testing the lamp...inside a sleeping bag!!!
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The good thing about the backpack is that it finally gives me somewhere to store all the other things we are starting to collect for the trip!  Apart from a roomy 75 litres of main storage space it also has a detachable day pack (useful for cabin luggage, bus rides, etc etc) and very comfortable straps, adjustments and various other bells and whistles.  The miner's lamps are also quite nifty -using LED lights instead of normal incandescent ones they use much less battery power - and have four settings: spotlight, floodlight, full light, and night vision (red so you don't blind yourself or others in really low light situations).