Rounding the Cape

The southernmost tip of Africa is where the cars are parked

Cape Agulhas Lighthouse - the 2nd oldest in South Africa

The best meal of the trip was the huge seafood platter at Angelo's in Agulhas



The onboard computer and GPS plots the route through controlled airspace

From Agulhas over the Stellenbosch mountains to Stellenbosch

My son Mark met us and handed over his car for a road trip to Cape Town city for the night

Approaching Table Mountain from Bloubergstrand

Cutting the coast off Robben Island

Magnificent Table Mountain and Seapoint

Seeing both sides of the Cape Peninsular and Sandy Bay



Fishoek where my gran used to live

Runways in the sky

The Journey to southernmost Africa continues... here are some of the awesome pics that Lee took on the journey of Llewellyn and I in ZDL and the VIEW..

Incredible Port St John's runway on a mountain-top

The Eagle has landed

The Heads at Knysna

Sunrise at Cape Agulhas

The coast en route to Stellenbosch

The Table Mountain trip was breathtaking.. watch this space for more incredible pics as we flew to Robben Island, around Table Mountain and to Hout Bay

Plettenberg Bay and Knysna

We were stranded in Plettenberg Bay after rain and lowering clouds and mist thwarted our attempt to get to Agulhas. Marc in ETD and I in ZDL made a dash for the coast in rain and mist and were both able to land at the Plettenberg Bay airfield where we hangered the planes for 2 nights to wait out the weather. We stayed in Plett for one night, then drove to Knysna for the 2nd night... highly recommended are the Waterfront apartments - we rented one for the night and enjoyed the best sushi I have ever eaten, along with copious Marguaritas, shooters and drinks - at 34 South deg on the Waterfront... sushi crumbed and deep fried.. yum!!

Lee happy to be on terra firma and enjoying Knysna

The magnificent Knysna Heads from the air

Bay View Hotel in Plettenberg Bay

Plett is essentially a holiday town and a bit quiet this time of year

Nothing a cocktail can't fix at the Plett beachfront

Marc and Lee in front of the famous Beacon Island Hotel

Enjoying a bite in Knysna at famous bakery Ile de Pain

Waterfront apartment in Knysna - managed to do some washing

Captains and coke fix everything a cocktail may not :-)

Friends forever and great aviators

Knysna apartments

Knysna was due to be inundated with gay tourists the week after we left.. for the Knysna Pink Lourie Festival

Journey to southernmost Africa

The journey begins...

Catching the sunrise as we set off from Durban

Landing on the Port St Johns mountain for the views

We fell into a donga while taxing at Wings Park, East London

Lunch snack arriving at Hopefield PE ofr our first night

I went to catch mommy hen and as she got up chicks came running out

In the air again day 2

Over huge mountain peaks to cross to the coast

Crossing the coastline in rain at Knysna to divert to Plettenberg Bay

Each day on this incredible journey has been breathtaking. At first it didn't seem like our little aeroplanes could possibly climb up above cloud level to 7000 ft and then just scrape over the mountain tops. Possible landing places disappeared and then there were only rocky outcrops and peaks beyond rescue if we needed up. But up and on we chugged and have been discovering amazing little towns in the middle of nowhere.. Joubertina, high in the rockies, just before we plunged back down again through the clouds into mist and rain and had to make an emergency diversion to Plettenberg Bay.

The journey so far has taken us to Port St Johns, Wings Park (near East London where wee had a mishap with the front wheel spat), then Hitgeheim near PE for our first night stop, then over the rockies to Plettenberg Bay for night two. A drive by car to Knysna for night 3 as we waited the rain out. Then on to Mossel Bay for fuel and breakfast and trhough to Agulhas, the southernmost point of Africa for night 4. Incredible viewsalong the coastline. Has a good laugh as most of the tourists stood at the sign that said "Southernmost tip of Africa", then I walked some more south clambering over the rocks and actually put my hand into the Indian/Atlantic Ocean a good 20m further south than them ha ha. The next morning in clear weather we set off for Stellenbosch and Table Mountain.. watch this space.

Checking those expiry dates

We're off on our epic trip to Cape Town and up the west coast this Friday. Wow, it's going to be quite hectic - 20 hours in the air at least.

Anyways, I realised as I made copies of my whole aircraft authorities and licences, that there are expiry dates that one needs to watch and renew timeously.

I have therefore created a handly expiry checklist to enable me to track the dates. I have loaded it to my public skydrive, so please feel free to download it and use it if you think it may also be useful. I have also loaded one in exel format so if you want to edit it, that is also possible.

Here is the Skydrive link for the download.

Doing it in the Red Rocket!

You gotta see this.. over we go. Great trick with James in ZDL at Tedderfield.

Tedderfield to Durban at FL095

We flew to Johannesburg today with Kulula to fetch our plane and bring ZDL back to Durban. 3 firsts - 1. I collected my PPL licence issued by the CAA and flew for the first time with my new licence 2. We requested a flight level from Johannesburg Information and flew Flight Level 095 under radar to Greytown - never been so hight in our plane, over 7000ft above the ground and 9500 altitude!! 3. Had a flip with James in the Sling 4, doing an aeleron roll with James and again in our Red Rocket. THE WAY TO GO!!

Full steam ahead for the Cape trip

Aerial view of Table Mountain

Maps, flight planning software, frequencies and airfield directory and route planning

It's been a mad Easter weekend doing some planning for our Cape Town trip with our friends in their Savannah. Our plane is a bit faster so we'll have to be on a go-slow so that we can keep up with each other. The plan has gelled into a trip on the first day (Fri 20 April) to Hitgeheim in the Addo Elephant Park area via Port St Johns and Wings Park, East London. The second day see us head towards Cape Agulhas where we will stay for the weekend, then Stellenbosch and some flying around Table Mountain; then it's off to Saldalha Bay and inland to Sutherland where South Africa's large telescope is sited (SALT). From there we head back to the coast for a return trip to Durban via Mossel Bay and Port Alfred... 10 days in all!!

Marc has been working on the Durban to Port Elizabeth leg and we have worked on the PE to Agulhas leg and next week will work on the remaining legs.

Already quite hectic is the Port Elizabeth Special Rules area, the George Special Rules area as well as the restricted areas around Overberg military area and the Overberg control zone (CTR) which we need to fly through to get to Agulhas.

Here are some of the places we will be visiting...

http://vimeo.com/4697586 Port St Johns


Hopefield Country House


Villa @ Cape Agulhas  http://www.villacapeagulhas.co.za/

Agulhas - the southernmost tip of Africa


Stellenbosch - Cape Winelands


Table Mountain - flying around the mother city


Saldanha Bay


Sutherland, home of SALT and stargazing


Port Alfred


Wild Coast