Day 35. December 16. Plettenberg Bay to Stellenbosch Field in Cape Town, South Africa.

We didn't need alarms to wake us up on this auspicious morning.  Today was the last day of our long, incredible journey. We were up early with anticipation.  Nick and I looked at each other as we  got ready to leave our room and head down to the dining room for breakfast and our last pilot briefing with our compadres and Sam.  We both smiled and whispered to each other - "This is it!  We've done it."  When we saw the others, we saw that most everyone looked excited and weary at the same time.  We were definitely in the same mode.  Excited and weary.  Sam began the briefing with an update on  the Blue Mountain group. Keith and Colin, Pedro, Brett and Pix, "JB" (Baxter) and Norman were headed straight to Cape Town after a night at Prince Albert, northwest of our location where they landed late yesterday afternoon.  Such a relief to hear of their progress. We were then asked to do a low fly-by over a particular airfield enroute to Cape Town as people there were alerted to our mission that day and wanted to see us. We were told about the media event that awaited us at Stellenbosch.

 In the vans heading back to the airport we talked about what we would do for the two weeks we planned to spend in Cape Town being tourists for a change.  We had arranged a home exchange with a woman who has a condo near the beach north of downtown.  It was going to be a time of rest and preparing our planes for their trip home.

Our flight was 3 hours and 26 minutes from Plettenberg to Stellenbosch with one brief stop at Swellendam along the coast where we landed to get some fuel and oil.  The flight was beautiful, gentle, and we had fun playing with our airplanes swooping low over ostrich farms, banking around wind turbines, and sneaking up on each other.

We crossed over a low ridge and saw False Bay ahead and to our left. Cape Town was way  ahead at the base of famous Table Mountain.  We turned inland to head  north to the Stellenbosch Airfield and the conclusion of our rally.  With excitement, we heard Keith and Pedro entering the pattern behind us.  They had caught up with us in perfect time.  Also arriving in their formation were Brett and Pixie in the Husky, "JB" Baxter and Norman in the Tiger Moth.  So happy to see people showing up we had lost sight of days ago at Blue Mountain.  Couldn't wait to hear about their flights.
 
It was 11:17 AM when we touched down. Nick made a nice landing which was good as there were many film crews and photographers there watching as we all came in for our last stop.  We were directed to the parking area but found throngs of spectators milling around the taxi way.  Not a good situation with a moving propeller, so we shut Smuggler down and had to hand push her to a parking spot.

Once tethered down, I looked around at our rally mates and we all looked  stunned. Very quickly we started hugging each other and crying.  "We did it!", we all were shouting to  one another.  Bob, Brett, Mark, and John Baxter were greeted by their relieved and cheering wives who had arrived in Cape Town already to watch their menfolk descend out of the sky at the end of this amazing journey.  Our celebrating was cut short as reporters came up wanting video interviews.  "What was it like in Ethiopia?"  "What were the highlights?"  "What's it like flying in an open cockpit bi-plane?  "What do you do when it rains?"  "Did you think you could ever do an adventure like this?" "Would you do it again?"  "How will you get your planes home again?"  All the questions were good ones and we were happy to talk about our experiences, but the experience was a little surreal.   We had just flown the length of a huge continent in five and a half weeks in open cockpit biplanes.  What in the world!
We heard about Keith and Colin's flight to Prince Albert the evening before and they too had to fly through the same weather system with strong winds we did.  Colin said the turbulence was pretty bad and that Pedro's plane actually knifed over into a half roll during one bad whollop.

In one of the big reception tents, there were speeches by rally organizer Sam Rutherford,  sponsors Puma Energy people, our own Paul representing BushCats of South Africa, and other dignitaries.  After some cold sodas and snacks in the tent,  Nick, Keith, Pedro and a few others took some  journalists up for rides.  A photo journalist from Reuters flew with Nick and got some great footage.   Pedro and Keith managed to refuel their planes after they returned, but Nick was not able to refuel before it was announced the  vintage aircraft pilots were to take off again for a flight around Cape Point and Table Mountain.  Smuggler still had an hour and 15 minutes fuel left in the tank.  We were told the whole flight around the point would be 45 minutes max.  With that in mind, we headed out with the other biplanes for the "quick flight".

It was great flying to the coast, flying over the beaches of False Bay and heading for the Point. We arced around the point and saw where the Indian Ocean and Atlantic Ocean crash into each other.  Rough surf without a doubt!  We began to follow that coastline north towards the west face of Table Mountain when Sam who was flying in an enclosed plane with some film makers radioed us to circle back and fly around the Point again.  This took time as we were essentially in formation and had to stay clear of one  another as we were banking and turning.  We did fine with this but when it came time to finally head towards Table Mountain, we started doing the math and Nick (a walking  calculator) said over the intercom, "This isn't feeling right.  We're pushing it with the fuel situation if we keep following the others up this side and further away from Stellenbosch.  This is no '45 minutes' flight.  I'm going to head us back to Stellenbosch now to play it safe.  We didn't come this far to run out of gas and make an emergency landing in some farmer's vegetable garden."  So, we radioed the others and said we were splitting off and heading back. We flew over some low hills and made it safely back.

As late afternoon approached, we all headed by bus to our hotel near downtown Cape Town and then on to a high rise building in the center of the business district for an informal cocktail reception for everyone.  A formal banquet was on the agenda for the next evening at the 17th Century Castle of Good Hope which is a Provincial Historic Site.  It is supposedly the best example of a Dutch East India Company fort that is still standing.

We went to sleep wondering how we would dress for this formal dinner.  An unfortunate breakdown in communications earlier in the rally involving the disposition of a container of our personal items meant that we were without the formal wear we had packed for the trip which included 1920s attire, shoes etc.  Well, as Scarlet O'Hara so ably put it, "Tumara is anutha day."  We would figure it out somehow. Lights out for a much needed long sleep.
WE DID IT!!!

 Some views enroute just west of Plettenberg, the Indian Ocean to our left.

The same mountain range we had to cross the day before.  In this photo, it looks so sweet and benign.

Paying a social call on some ostriches.

Catching up with Cedric and Alexandra.

A group shot of those of us who stopped at Swellendam for fuel and oil.  








     

 Happy foursome.  We were about to begin our last leg of flying with our good friends Cedric and Alexandra -  Team Frog and Kiwi.  We will never forget the great pleasure it was for us to fly along side them most of the rally and being there for each other when we all needed a little help.

Enroute to Stellenbosch.  Nick flirted with the idea of flying between the wind generators.  Ol' Stick in the Mud Me said, "Aw, let's not and say we did!"  (Actually, we never said we did.)

False Bay,  (Indian Ocean) Cape Town,  South Africa!  A beautiful sight to us.

Turning inland towards Stellenbosch Airfield. City of Cape Town is at the base of Table Mountain seen in the distance.

On our final approach to Stellenbosch.  White hangars are lined up to the right of the runway.

Some greeters as we tried to taxi to the parking area.

In the center of the formation of vintage aircraft heading for Cape Point.

 Coming up on Cape Point from the Indian Ocean side and then rounding the point and flying up the Atlantic, west side.  Pretty rough surf.

Cocktail celebration in downtown Cape Town. The last photo shows Table Mountain silhouetted against the evening sky.

 

Day 34. December 15. Gariep Dam to Plettenberg Bay, South Africa

We got up early for a long, non-stop leg to Plettenberg Bay on the coast of the Indian Ocean.  The weather was very nice -  that is, sunny and good visibility.  Once again, we and the Stampe crew were the last two teams to depart Gariep Dam.  We did a low pass over the hotel where we stayed the night and as the staff there had been given a heads-up on our coming, they were all outside to see us and wave us "goodbye".  It was a very touching gesture and had I known ahead of time I would have had my camera out to get their picture.  This turned out to be the nicest part of this day's flight.

As we climbed up to cruise and headed south, we didn't realize we would look back on this one leg of the rally as the most challenging one.  From here on, it was WORK and Nick bore the brunt of that as my focus was on less challenging duties.  We noticed on our navigation apps that many tall ridges were ahead of us.  Soon, it was apparent that we would be dealing with cross winds most of the way.  Below us were unusual land formations and outcroppings of rock.  Some brush fires in the distance started spreading veils of smoke over the area.  At times it was hard to see Cedric and Alexandra.  One of my jobs was to keep sight of them, but it was becoming more difficult.  We could talk to them on the 123.45 radio  frequency which helped.  The ridges ahead of us, about six of them, ranged in altitude between 6000 and 7500 feet.  It was a warm day  and we knew Smuggler was going to be challenged by this.  The Stampe as well.

The cross winds picked up the further along we went and we experienced more downdrafts when we were really hoping for updrafts.  Ridges came and went but with difficulty as we carefully picked out "saddles" in the ridges to fly through when Smuggler struggled too much to get up to altitudes that would give us significant clearance over the crests.  Flying like this put us in the range of mechanical turbulence off the mountains.  I  grew up flying in different types of turbulence and the mechanical variety is the most unpleasant from "where I sit".  Smooth air flow from winds hits the crests of ridges, tops of tall buildings, bounces off canyon walls, or splits and spills around the edges of buttes etc and the airflow breaks into jagged chunks of velocity.  When you get on the receiving end of that turmoil one can get hit pretty hard with violent and sudden pitches, surges or drops in altitude.

An hour into the flight and Nick and I concurred this was not going to be a pleasant flight.  One of the problems with Smuggler was that in turbulence she had a tendency to roll suddenly.  Nick had to have both hands on the stick as maintaining directional control took more "muscle" in that the controls were heavy.  He did this while monitoring the nav app to determine the best approaches to these ridges while he also  looked ahead to gauge the best areas to pick up some updrafts.  As usual, I kept an eye out for power lines and towers, and the Stampe.  Smoke was becoming a  problem from area brush fires and while approaching one ridge, the one beyond it disappeared in the acrid haze. A couple of times he asked me to take over the controls while he worked on the GPS or radio which could be interrupted by terrain interference or other factors.  When I took the controls, I tensed up as I could feel in my hands how hard Smuggler was trying to both fight and yield to the winds.  I was very happy to hand her back to Nick!

At one point we lost radio communication with Cedric and Alexandra and worried a bit.  Finally  we heard them back on the frequency and were happy to catch sight of them briefly before another ridge and some smoke came between us.

We approached the second to last ridge and got over it okay.  The last one was a bit higher and we climbed as best we could to clear it.  We approached it at a slight angle and all seemed okay.  We sailed over the top and then suddenly, BANG!  A huge downdraft like a sledgehammer hit us from above.  We dropped so hard and so fast and then yanked up again that it's impossible to say what fraction of a second went by.  It's hard to say how close to the terrain we came.  In front of my windshield was the engine cowling. On top of it is the main tank fuel cap out of which is mounted a vertical upside down L shaped vent. The arm of the "L" points forward and is open ended to allow airflow into the tank to equalize air pressure.  In that millisecond of violent turbulence, gas came pouring out of that vent, hit the windshield, then splashed over the top and hit me in the face and upper body.  Was most thankful for goggles, cap, and flightsuit.  When I looked down in my lap, I saw my iPad there.  The downward momentum yanked it up and out of it metal brackets on the control panel in front of me and the only reason all $650 of it didn't go flying out of the cockpit was that I had it connected to its charging cord which was connected to the cigarette lighter mounted down and to my right.  I saw the Beatles live in concert and they couldn't take my breath away as easily as this encounter with Mother Nature did.

Beyond that last ridge, the sky cleared of smoke and the beautiful coast of the Indian Ocean with our destination to its right was brilliantly shining in the afternoon light just ahead.  I was never so happy to see an airport as I was seeing Plettenberg Bay airport.  Some wind shear due to currents of air off the ocean appeared to be a problem near the approach end of the runway, so Nick wisely made it a "long" approach and touched down half way down the field where we landed without much ado.  Nick alerted Cedric coming in behind us of this and the Stampe made a similar landing down field.  Apparently, someone landing before us got hammered on short low final but made it in without serious damage.  When we parked and I got out of the plane, I literally got down on the tarmac and kissed the ground.

At the hotel, we met up with other rally teams that had landed an hour or so before us and their stories were similar to ours. "Man!  What winds!"  "Got banged up a bit coming over the mountains!"  "Didn't know this plane of mine could roll so fast!"  "Felt like being in a food processor!"  "Where's the beer?!!"  The realization that the next day would be the last leg of our rally adventure was exhilarating, but put a lump in my  throat at the same time.

We rested hard this night.

Our friends Ron and Val from the UK whom we met in Megara Greece and who were at New Tempe the night before, arrived at Gariep Dam early morning to fly with us on to the finish in Cape Town.  A nice coffee break before getting started for Plettenberg Bay.

Ron getting his Tiger Moth ready to launch.  As he was not officially in the rally, his plane did not have a team number or flag on the tail.

Val about to get in the Explorer she would fly in to Cape Town.

Mark getting his Tiger Moth ready to go.

Team member Graham from the UK getting his Cessna ready to go.

Steve by the Cessna Caravan.  Without the Antonov, the Caravan and a van motor vehicle got our luggage on to the end of the rally.  A challenging logistical task. Was very grateful to Steve who was very careful with our bags and made sure his load was properly situated and within proper weight limits.

Max getting the new van loaded for the drive to Plettenberg Bay.

Joel and Olivier -  our film crew who interviewed us and flew alongside us on many legs of the rally in the Antonov to film all of us.   They were such fun on the trip and had great senses of humor. We enjoyed them so much.

Gariep Dam

Some photos of the trip to Plettenberg Bay showing land masses, ridges, and smoke that made the flight both impressive and challenging.

Views of the Indian Ocean coast and the small city of Plettenberg Bay were so welcoming because it meant we were done with ridges, smoke and turbulence.   

Looking back at that last ridge we had to cross and the smoke that obscured some of the sky for us.

 A selfie of a wind blown Me now smiling because the worst is over.  I hadn't yet readjusted my goggles after that strong downdraft nearly pulled them off my head.

Our hotel room and views from our balcony of the Indian Ocean and two of the ridges we had crossed to get here.  Only blight on this scene is the Shell gas station sign.  Could have been worse.  Could have been a Taco Bell.

Day 33. Blue Mountain to Parys, New Tempe, and Gariep Dam South Africa

December 14.  The previous evening, Pedro realized he had a problem with his plane's tail wheel.  It was going to require some repair.  Keith and Colin had been up most of the night helping Pedro with  the fix.  On this morning, they were back to work on getting the problem repaired.  They opted to stay back until Pedro's plane was flyable again.  We didn't know how long that might be. 

The rally group had now splintered into a few groups.  There were the members whose aircraft had been damaged at Limpopo Valley and were planning another way to meet up with us at Cape Town, the Tiger Moth group (two now) that had decided to make a stop at Mark's place near our route of flight before going on to Cape Town,  the two Travel Airs group of Pedro,  Keith and Colin staying back to repair the tail wheel, and the rest of us. 

We started up engines at 0938 and took off for our day's destination at Gariep Dam.  We were the last of the rally group to take off alongside our Team Frog and Kiwi mates, Cedric and Alexandra. Our first stop was for fuel and breakfast at Parys, a small field surrounded by graceful farms and country roads.  Storm cells were dancing about the horizon and took on the capricious nature of "youngsters" moving about with a loose sense of direction.  We watched a close one as it neared the field while we were under a canopied dining area of the airport cafe.  Wolf and Emily, Fabian and Johannes, and the Bush Cat pilots who had gotten to Parys before we did along with the rest of the gang were finishing up their breakfasts.  They were getting ready to take off before the squall came through.  They made it out just fine and we lingered to enjoy breakfast.  When it became clear that things could get pretty wet, we dashed out to our planes and put the cockpit covers on them.  After breakfast, the rain had passed and we planned for a quick fuel-up to head on our way.  Unfortunately, for us pulling up the rear, the main fuel storage tank was now dry.  Another tank a short driving distance from the parking ramp still had some fuel, so a truck was dispatched to bring cans of fuel over to our planes. This process to fuel two planes took a while.  We finally got off as another cell threatened to anchor itself over the field.

As we approached the area of New Tempe, we could see more weather up ahead and though we previously had discussed whether or not to stop at New Tempe, we decided it prudent to make the stop and get more weather updates.  We were flying over vast stretches of rural landscape and though not the kind of endless wilderness we flew over in other countries further north, there were plenty of country roads to land on.  Still, prudence reigned.  When we landed at New Tempe we were surprised to meet up again with our UK friends Ron and Val Gammon whom we had met in Megara, Greece.  They had decided to join up with the rally for the last two legs to Cape Town.  They were in two aircraft -  a Tiger Moth Ron was flying with a friend, and another enclosed high  wing plane I was not familiar with that Val (a pilot) and another pilot were flying.  As the weather was presently  not looking so good, they decided to call it a day and were headed into town to a hotel.  We told them we were going to check out the weather forecasts and evaluate the prospects for going on to Gariep Dam.  By now the other rally members were ahead of us by several hours.  Rain came and we were glad we had covered out cockpits before going into the station terminal.  Thunder and lightning came and we had a power outage.  Nick called ahead to Gariep Dam and spoke with someone there who said the weather there was good.

Weather reports showed another fast moving system that would pass over us and head northwest of our position which was good as we were heading south.  We waited out the current weather cell at the small terminal building where the four of us and a lone station manager chatted and checked on weather updates every 15 minutes.  The winds were fairly strong but not gusty and the visibility was sketchy to the east where the sky was already growing dark with the approach of the new cell. The deluge lingered as the current  cell appeared to stall over our area.  If it lingered too long, it would be overtaken by the new cell and by the time that one passed, it would be too late to take off for Gariep Dam.  The worst of the rain tapered off and we discussed our options.  If we could take off now, we'd have enough daylight to make it to Gariep.  We looked out the window and could see the advancing weather system from the east; to the west, we could see patches of clearing sky.  Light rain or not, we decided to make a run for it -  literally.  We thanked the station manager for his hospitality and raced out to our planes, quickly prepped for the flight and taxied out for take-off as the current cell finally waned and just before the new one with all its menacing look bore down on us.  We took off in short sequence into the stiff wind and the face of darkness, turned 180 degrees for quick downwind departures, headed for the southwestern clearing and escaped the Creature From the Black Lagoon that was about to stomp on New Tempe.

The flight to Gariep Dam was so beautiful. It was that kind of late afternoon sky awash with the remnants of passing storms where clouds looked bruised but were healing in the light of sunbeams.  The light highlighted the textures of terrain all around us.  A water color artist would have had a great field day.

We landed at Gariep Dam just at dusk.  All the other rally airplanes were there tied up and the airport manager greeted us with great enthusiasm.  "Welcome to Gariep Dam!  We heard you two had left New Tempe and were heading this way.  We decided to wait and could hear you approaching.  You managed to stay ahead of the weather just in time."  Here the weather was beautiful and the rising moon was reflecting off our planes as we secured them for the night.  We were hungry and tired and it was with great pleasure that the airport manager drove us to our hotel high on a rocky crest overlooking the area.  Dressed in our grubby flight suits and muddy boots, we were ushered into the dining room where everyone was enjoying a hearty, hot buffet.  When we entered, the rally gang looked up at us and broke out in applause so happy to see us.  We were quite delighted to see all of them!  

At Parys for breakfast and fuel.

Wolf and Emily at Parys ready to take off and beat the approaching rain cloud.

At breakfast at Parys watching as rain approaches.  The gentleman with us joined us in a blue Tiger Moth from Blue Mountain.

Looking out window of New Tempe station.  The rain came down in sheets and it didn't look good for a while for us getting out of there.

Smuggler and the Stampe waiting out the rain in New Tempe.

Finally out of New Tempe and on way to Gariep Dam. Still plenty of clouds that darkened the sky, but did have some sunny spells once we got ahead of the weather system.

Interesting terrain warmed up by the late afternoon sun.

Dark scalloped clouds overhead. 

Turning final approach for Gariep  Dam.  The lake formed by the dam is visible in the background.

Our planes finally secured for the night with not much time to spare before dark.  The Grand Caravan is parked behind us along with all the other aircraft.

Reunited with our rally mates at our hotel after a long day.  The food was GREAT.