Gorge hike 2013.03.02

A disappointing turnout meant that only eight stalwarts turned up. We drove down in two cars, parked at the lower bridge and soon found ourselves under the impressive upper bridge. There was plenty of water in the river and we saw some small fish.

The alien infestation is quite bad with many wattles growing on the side of the river and seedlings in the riverbed so we were quite pleases to spot our first of quite a few Sterculias. There were lots of succulents and other small plants growing on the rockfaces.

Neil and I couldn’t help ourselves and had a nice swim in this massive pool.

Close to where the Van Stadens side kloof joins the main gorge Jenny, Rob and Merike decided to turn back whilst the rest of the party (Neil, Mark, Susan, Ellie took up my challenge to climb out on a ridge leading back into the reserve. Some found it quite steep but everyone enjoyed the fine views on the way up and definitely a route to be repeated. We were quite glad though to have arranged to be picked up at the lookout picnic site and returned to the office for some well deserved coffee and cake.

Afterwards we still had enough energy to work on our new shade house, dig out poles and slabs, level the ground and move some plants from the greenhouse into the shade house. We also tested the new sprinkler arrangement and it worked very well.