Golden Gate NP 7th May

This place was not on our itinerary until Len mentioned it as a beautiful area and not far off our route. The trip down was not the best with us realizing I had not transferred enough info from the lap top to the GPS. This made it very difficult getting out of Pretoria.
We arrived here in the dark and woke realizing we were surrounded by ancient cliff walls with a stream flowing metres away. Baboons walk near the van while the sound of some distant eagle breaks the quiet. We are high here, about 2000 metres, it’s crisp when the sun disappears. I would assume they get snow here at times. We had intended spending the one night here but it’s a good place to sort a few things out in the van.
I went for a walk to Echo Valley along well maintained tracks. The land was tussocky at first but soon broke onto ancient rock falls sloping down from the cliffs. In places streams turned into showers as they fell from the great height and were caught by the swirling wind.
With Len & Ria’s help it had taken us only a couple of days to sort out the things that needed doing in the van. The first surprise we had after Len had picked us up from the airport was to see our van sparkling clean in their front yard. His three Maliwian workers spent a good while giving it a clean both inside and out. It looked wonderful. We had the new tyres fitted and Len sorted out a problem we seemed to have with the cigarette lighter plug. He ended up running new wires from the battery into the glove box with a double plug on the end. The old ciggy lighters are now so important running all sorts of equipment.

9th May
It was along drive today most of it skirting the western side of Lesotho. Scenery was impressive the road somewhat less so in places with many pot holes making the driver keep a wary eye on the road.
We wanted to get to Aliwal North some 400kms from Golden Gate, this would leave a shorter distance the next day. I knew there was a camp site there but three different Africans I spoke to shrugged their shoulders and said, no, there wasn’t.
I noticed an ambulance depot opposite with a CIB building next to it, they would be able to help I thought. At the CIB building there was no one in sight. I called but nobody came. At the ambulance station I noticed a face at the window. The place was typically barred off from the street but on calling this time the bloke came out. A friendly African who gave me detailed instructions on getting to the camp. He then asked where I came from, when I said Australia his face lit up, shook my hand and said “I have always wanted to meet an Australian.”
As it turned out the camping was in the grounds of the Aliwal Spa complex. Someone once had grandiose schemes but all that was left of them were stagnant pools, derelict buildings and an air of despondency. At least the mosquito overrun ablution block had plenty of hot water and the eucalypts gave us a supply of wood for the braai.