Pecking order

Today Paul, Pauline, Sue, the Alpha Male, the Food Lady, Dougal and I walked up Pecks (being careful to observe the correct Pecking order with the AM around) to Muizenberg Peak and right across to the Wolfkop parking spot on Ou Kaapse Weg (where we had conveniently left the Land Rover). The photo above is us looking down from Pecks Valley over Muizenberg and False Bay to the Hottentots Hollands. Me shaking the deliciously cool mountain stream water off after a dip.

There were lots of these little Granny Bonnet orchids (Disperis capensis).

Looking over Muizenberg and the Cape Flats to the Hottentots Holland mountains - with wisps of cool mist swirling through.

Pauline, Paul, Sue, the Alpha Male and me having tea on Muizenberg Peak. You can see me on my lookout post on the right with False Bay and Hangklip in the background. The Food Lady was taking the photo and Dougal was far too busy hunting mice to even bother about the delicious rusks, crunchies, date slices and dates on offer.

On Muizenberg Peak.

The Alpha Male walking past a baby dinosaur.

Walking along from Muizenberg Peak to the Steenberg plateau path. Lots of smells and flowers and rocks to perch on.

Who says only birds can perch on the top of rocks?

The Food Lady found this lovely China Flower (Adenandra villosa) on the wagon track. It is one of the buchus in the citrus family. It is less common than the other kind of China Flower one sees all over - Adenandra uniflora.

We saw quite a few of these noisy Cape Sugarbirds. Then we stopped for a quick drink and wade in Junction Pool, which was a weird red colour. Here you can see the Alpha Male taking virtual photographs a-la-Paul. When we got back to the car park it was absolutely chockablock. Everyone is so happy to see the sun again after a rainy week! (And there is no more soccer to watch!)

Mr Gus

Last Saturday Mr Gus - my most favourite dogfriend in all the world (although I suspect he found me a bit irritating because I just had to jump up into his face all the time) - died. He was much loved and admired, and even Dougal managed to make peace with him in the end - who could fight with a dog that just walks into your house and falls peacefully asleep?

Mr Gus, the august gentleman, has been an integral part of Jane and Andrew's life since he just arrived out of nowhere one day and we will miss him sadly and are very sorry for his humans. Me and Mr Gus in the greenbelt.

Transkei braks

Once again, we are not amused. They left us for over a week to spend two days each way travelling to this beach (have we not got our own perfectly adequate beaches??!) where they were fratenising with the local dogs - braks all of them. Here are some of the Mdumbi Backpacker dogs - and for the vets (and less squamish) in the walking group here is a video of the Mdumbi Backpacker vet clinic held there recently.

And Tammy - one of my best humans - after Alice - was there too. Owwwwwwwwwwwwwwlll.
Strandwolf? Nah - just another brak. There were lots it seems.

And to really rub our noses in it, I hear that this Sundays walk is off too.

Up, up and away

Noordhoek Beach was the start of today's walk up Chapmans Peak. Sue, Paul and Pauline, the Alpha Male, the Food Lady, Dougal and me - all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

We were a bit puzzled by this sign at the start and thought we might have to walk on a separate path which was a bit alarming but luckily there were no SANPArks officials there yet and we struck out across the beach together and got to the start of the walk safely.

The boardwalk is the clue that you are on the right track!

Then it was across the road and up and up and up...

There was a helicopter hovering far below us and we wondered why.

Lots of pretty flowers for the Food Lady to photograph - although we kept her on her toes helping us up and over the rocks. This is Ruschia macowanii.

A well-earned tea at the top of Chapmans Peak - with me standing guard - and being waited on with bits of beano, Melissa's muesli rusks and water! The others had dates (Paul will send us his Internet link so we can all learn about dates) and Sue's crunchies, and Pauline had some date slices. Yum.

Me playing Sentinel during tea. (Paul took this photo.)

After tea Paul went exploring and stopped for a quick, quiet contemplative moment to ponder the real Sentinel.

We couldn't quite figure out how to get down there too.
And the Food Lady found this little Euphorbia tuberosa.
The mountainside was very biodiverse this morning. (See I've been listening to the Food Lady reading out Veld & Flora!) This was a very friendly male Orange-Breasted Sunbird sitting on a pincushion bush.
And we also found this tiny little lizard - that, according to Ernst van Jaarsveld - is a young Southern Rock Agama (Agama atra atra). We weren't allowed to eat it!

A Babiana villosula growing in the middle of the path. Could spring be in the air already!

There was definitely a spring in our steps! Coming down to Chapmans Peak Drive - tails still up despite it being quite warm. We were invigorated by the delicious water in all the little streams tumbling down the mountainside.

On our way back to fetch the cars at Noordhoek Beach we saw lots of ambulances and Metro Rescue vehicles on Chapmans Peak Drive - so whatever it is, this must have been the reason for the helicopter we saw earlier. (Found out later it was a missing person.)

Looking back at the civil engineering feats on Chapmans Peak Drive.

Big Chief Hoerikwaggo

As a special treat on Father's Day, Dougal and I took our Alpha Male/father on the most fantastic walk. We left the Land Rover at Wolwekop Carpark and drove back to Boyes Drive where we went up the Mole Path (although the humans insist on calling it the mule path!) with Paul, Pauline and the Food Lady.

The distant mountains across False Bay were really looking like "Mountains in the Sea" which is the Khoi name for the Table Mountain chain of mountains, "Hoerikwaggo".

There were lots of birds (like this female Orange-breasted Sunbird) and insects making a racket in the wonderful warm sunshine.
This sundew was trying its best to catch some of the goggas but not doing terribly well. We think its Drosera hilaris. Dougal and I were also doing our best to catch some of the rodents and dassies that we could smell. We got so excited we were quite out of breath - and check the mad look in Dougal's eyes! I tried to keep my po-face (not sure if its a potty-face or a poker-face but probably a mixture!). Paul was excited by the beautiful light in the forest and took lots of photos in the deep, dark, dwarf forest of Spes Bona. The Food Lady thought she'd lost me and she also got all excited and stared calling me but I had just run on ahead.

I was a bit scared of this face on the cliff watching me. I think it must be Big Chief Hoerikwaggo with his mountains in the sea in the background.

We soon lost him, and had tea on the top, which was good today - a nice flat area to roam around with drinking pools and rooibos and cranberry rusks with dates - although we don't like the dates. Dougal was so exhausted with all the hunting for mice that he had a little nap.

Way over to the west we could see some mist rolling in from the sea (with apologies to the Paul McCartney) but it was still warm and sunny but not hot at all - just perfect for scotties. And even the purple erica was perfect for us scotties as we are genetically wired to identify with heather.

The humans liked all the King Proteas (Protea cynaroides) that grow around here but I think they must belong to Big Chief Hoerikwaggo as they are rather LARGE. I prefer the ericas.

This is the Sticky Heath (Erica urna-viridis) which is a rare and endemic erica that only occurs on the mountains of the Cape Peninsula. You can see Chapman's Peak in the background.
The path was truly wonderfully beautiful today - with lots of interesting smells for us and just the right height for hunting in. You can see the mast at the top of Constantiaberg in the background. We've been there too! Paul was carried away with the waterfall and used up his last film on it.

Then it was down the last primrose path where we tried a bit of dalliance but the Food Lady was having none of that and we were bundled back into the car and home we went ...
past all the flag sellers which reminded us that we had better watch the New Zealand-Italy soccer match later so we can report back to Nicola and her disgusting cat Jefferey.

Click here for route.

Two more funny pics