Kouga Dam and Patensie

We haven't planned on doing much today so we didn't have an early start and only rolled out of camp at about 09:00 after having breakfast with the view below to keep us engaged.  Caron, as you can see was more interested in watching birds than in breakfast.

First stop was to have a look at the Kouga dam but on the way there we drove past the "Rooinek Boerdery" which I found somewhat amusing but the farm itself was very picturesque so I took some time snapping away at all the rooineks hard at work in the morning sun.

I had to take a shot of our trusty steed on the top of Kouga Dam wall which is a particularly well positioned dam because the wall itself is actually quite small but holds back a large amount of dam.  I don't think that they would be expecting it to break anytime soon but there were stainless steel measuing bars embedded in the concrete to enable the measurement of any movement.  Strange as it seems, given the size and weight of concrete involved, dams are certainly not permanent fixtures in the landscape give thousands or millions of years.

 Heading back from Kouga Dam we dropped in on the Tolbos cafe in Patensie and had the most fantastic cheese cake I have ever tasted and to provide entertainment, there was a protest going on next door because some teachers at the local school hadn't been appointed so the kids weren't being taught.  At last a protest which I can wholeheartedly get behind.

One of the farmhouses that we thought were particularly nice in the Gamtoos valley just west of Patensie.

Getting back to camp at about midday we spent the rest of the day chasing the shade because even in the shade it was 37 deg.  I put the thermometer in the sun just for fun but got tired of waiting for the temperature to settle and we stopped measuring at 46 deg.  It was 40 deg inside the bell of the tent.  In short, it was bliksemse warm but I did get to finally finish "Guns, germs and steel" by Jared Diamond which I found fascinating and rather enlightening.  It is not an easy book to read but well worth the effort.

After the sun had disappeared behind the mountain we went for a walk down by the river which was pleasant enough but hardly spectacular.

For supper we had a braaied yellow tail which was very tasty but about 30 minutes later I was feeling a bit odd and noticed that I looked like I had spent the entire day in the sun.  It appears that I have developed an allergic reaction to fish which is a bit distressing and I can't think of anything else that could possibly have caused the reaction.  Went to bed in a sombre mood, I have had enough of this body letting me down now.  At least I didn't pass out because that would have been a real problem so I took some disprin, some desalex and had my adrenalin at the ready should I have taken a turn for the worse.