We arrived at the guesthouse that evening after a slow drive from Etosha National Park. We cooked an amazing Chicken Ala King that may have been better than the one we cooked in Joburg but as it was our only meal since breakfast and 6am anything would have tasted good.
We planned to leave Tsumeb that day and Jamie and Sean tooked the Landie to the mechanic for a quick check whilst I packed up the tent and things at the guesthouse. The bags and boxes were ready and waiting for the trip to the Botswana border when Jamie and Sean returned not looking to pleased. The mechanic had said it looked like quite a bit of work needed to be done as the oil pressure was low.
We packed everything into Kim and gave Kelvin a call for some advice and he told us to have a look under the landie to see if the sump had been dented from the diff and looking underneath we found a dent and took the car back to the garage hoping the oil pipe might have been squashed. We left the car there whilst they took the bottom of the engine off and sat in a park waiting for a phone call with the news. Finally the phone rang and the worst news was told to us and we went back to the garage to see the damage under the car.
We got towed to another garage who could make the repairs and he explained the crankshaft needed to be recut, bearings and seals replaced and showed us the oil pump which had previously been welded to repair it had cracked down the welding. We were told that the crank needed to be sent to Windhoek and parts needed to be send from South Africa if Windhoek hasn't got them. So we are in for a week or two in Tsumeb, which is a small town in the north. We walked around the whole place within an hour. We went back to the same guesthouse and put our tent back up in the garden. Our days have been consisting of getting up late (8am) and playing way too many games of Uno, Monopoly and Scrabble.
We didn't leave the guesthouse all weekend and Monday started off slow until a French guy living in London checked in and sat down with us. He asked how we were travelling around and told him about Kim being in the garage, it turned out that he had hired a plane in Joburg and was flying around Victoria Falls, Namibia and South Africa! We stocked up with plenty of Windhoek beers and spend the rest of the day outside chatting. Later in the night he mentioned he was flying to Swakopmund the next day (today) and said did we facing flying there with him!! We all were keen and here we are in Swakopmund again after having a flipping awesome flight with Lance. Sean was in the front of the plane and me and Jamie in the back. Sean took over controls for some of the flight which was cool. We flew lower to get better views of some of the mountains along the way.
We have checked into a backpackers lodge and will be travelling back to Tsumeb tomorrow. Lance has flown to Windhoek to pick up one of his friends and flying back here later so will be meeting up with him at one of the bars on the beach here this evening. It still doesn't seem real that this time yesterday we had only met Lance and now we are 300km away from Tsumeb and on the beach again!
Tuesday, 25 August 2009
From the tented camp through Etosha
So Wednesday morning and we set off for Etosha to see all the African wildlife, we made it there about 7 o’clock. As we passed the gates to get in we started searching for the animals, after about 15 minutes of driving we finally started to see them, first the springbok, which there turned out to be loads throughout the park, then we started to see some zebras and giraffes ostriches and loads more, but no lions or elephants.
As we were driving around we decided it would be best to head to the first of the three lodges in the national park to see if they had any space left for our tent and landie, but we got there and there was none available, so we carried on driving in the park towards the next lodge whilst also still looking for the elusive elephant, which we were told were all over the place and it would be unlikely to miss them, after the hours were passing though no elephants, rhinos or lions were found and we were getting close to the second of the lodges. We got there, went in and asked if they had any spaces, but again there were none available, so it was looking more and more unlikely us getting one. A few more hours passed and none were found so we headed to the last lodge, but as stu was driving on the road we went through a hidden dip which our landie took a big hit and made the back door fly open letting all the stuff we had in the back fall out in quite a comical fashion. The hit damaged our landie pretty bad though and it started making the worst sounds I’ve ever heard from her, so we pulled up, turned the engine off and got out the landie (which your not meant to as lions and other animals roam the area) to investigate it. After checking her out and letting her cool down we turned her back on to realize the oil pressure was at zero, which we knew was bad as no oil going around the engine can ruin it, so we headed to the last lodge driving slower than normal there to see if they had a mechanic. When we got there we found someone who used to work for Land Rover so he knew a fair bit about them, as he checked her over he said we needed more oil and informed us that the oil gage could be faulty but to get it checked out at the next town we stay. Again we checked if there was any spare spaces at the lodge, but their were none so we used the rest of the time we had at the park to look to see if we could find some elephants, again their were none, we seemed to have missed all of the elephants that were meant to have been in the park and near impossible to miss, as the time hit 17:10 and we had to leave by half past as the gates were closing we decided to call it a day and head to the next town Tsumeb to get some camp site their. After a few hours driving we managed to get to Tsumeb and find a place to stay until we get Kim checked out at a garage.
As we were driving around we decided it would be best to head to the first of the three lodges in the national park to see if they had any space left for our tent and landie, but we got there and there was none available, so we carried on driving in the park towards the next lodge whilst also still looking for the elusive elephant, which we were told were all over the place and it would be unlikely to miss them, after the hours were passing though no elephants, rhinos or lions were found and we were getting close to the second of the lodges. We got there, went in and asked if they had any spaces, but again there were none available, so it was looking more and more unlikely us getting one. A few more hours passed and none were found so we headed to the last lodge, but as stu was driving on the road we went through a hidden dip which our landie took a big hit and made the back door fly open letting all the stuff we had in the back fall out in quite a comical fashion. The hit damaged our landie pretty bad though and it started making the worst sounds I’ve ever heard from her, so we pulled up, turned the engine off and got out the landie (which your not meant to as lions and other animals roam the area) to investigate it. After checking her out and letting her cool down we turned her back on to realize the oil pressure was at zero, which we knew was bad as no oil going around the engine can ruin it, so we headed to the last lodge driving slower than normal there to see if they had a mechanic. When we got there we found someone who used to work for Land Rover so he knew a fair bit about them, as he checked her over he said we needed more oil and informed us that the oil gage could be faulty but to get it checked out at the next town we stay. Again we checked if there was any spare spaces at the lodge, but their were none so we used the rest of the time we had at the park to look to see if we could find some elephants, again their were none, we seemed to have missed all of the elephants that were meant to have been in the park and near impossible to miss, as the time hit 17:10 and we had to leave by half past as the gates were closing we decided to call it a day and head to the next town Tsumeb to get some camp site their. After a few hours driving we managed to get to Tsumeb and find a place to stay until we get Kim checked out at a garage.
Some more days
We had to drive from Swakopmund to Windhoek so set off early to make good distance before it got dark. The main road takes quite a long way round to get to Windhoek, so we decided to take the more direct gravel roads. Although we later found out why the main road goes the long way.
Everything was going fine until we started hitting the hills. Some rocks in the road forced Sean to veer off the side of the road just before a bend, causing the front wheel to smash into the rocks and general crap at the side which made the car jump quite violently. He quickly yanked the steering wheel back to the right and got us back onto the road, but we took a bit of time out to make sure everything was ok and empty our trousers.
So we carried on after checking out the wheel for excessive bearing play and came to a mountain pass. We cross these all the time, so it wasn’t a big deal, but this thing wasn’t like the other baby passes we’d done before. We first realised a problem when the road started getting steeper and steeper. It was getting to the critical stage where a good gear change has to be made, but Sean missed the gear and we slowly ground to a halt stuck up this steep road. It wasn’t too bad until we started rolling back down the hill because the brakes couldn’t hold the car. Me and Stu turned around to see the car veering into the side of the road and yelled “STEER” before Sean suddenly spun the wheel and caused the Landie to violently jerk into the other direction and it finally came to a stop at the bottom of the hill after a bit of handbrake usage too.
We managed to get across the incredibly scenic pass after stopping again to siphon fuel from the left tank into a jerry can, then into the right tank. The left fuel pipe had got blocked by what we later found out to be just general muck in the tap. We pulled into our campsite in Windhoek after another slightly hairy night drive on gravel roads with the Landie headlights (which sometimes seem to be less effective than what taping candles to the bonnet would be).
Windhoek feels like quite a modern place for an African city. There are lots of nice cars driving around and its buzzing with people and activity. Its built in quite a hilly location which gives it an interesting edge too. On thing to note is the taxis. These are generally rust buckets which wiz around the city crammed to the brim with passengers. They are a law unto themselves half the time and it seems that anybody can just stick a taxi sign on their car and start ferrying customers around, so that adds another element of ‘fun’ to the whole thing.
Our campsite / guest house was a sort of commune place where backpackers would just hang out in the bar and wander around aimlessly. It was the first backpackery place we’d been to so it was quite nice to meet other young travelers too and share stories. One lady who was older was sleeping in the back of some rusting old Land Rover which gave us a surprise when she popped her head out of a seemingly empty car window.
We met a guy from Barnsley who had been working in a wildlife sanctuary in Malawi. He had some great stories and he also drove Land Rover religiously back home so he offered us some tips for ours. What was also nice was to hear a Yorkshire accent after so long. All my “aye”s and “nowt”s were coming out again after a few beers.
After a couple of days in this place we got on the road again, heading north to get to Etosha (the world famous wild life place full of elephants and lions etc). It was a fairly uneventful journey, except for us seeing some traditional tribes women/girls who still walk around topless. That was quite cultural I guess.
We got to within about 30kms of the park and pulled into a lodge sort of place right out in the bush. We managed to bag a night in some pre-put up tents for 50 namib dollars each (which is very good!). We were about 2 km down a remote track camping on our own and it was the first time we had really camped somewhere that felt remote and wild. We watched the superb sunset which Africa is so famous for and then had marshmallows on the braai whilst looking at the stars which were amazing and so clear.
We got a relatively early night in order to get up at some stupid hour in order to get to Etosha early. However, this place was freezing. I woke up in the night shivering because my newly shaved head was loosing heat and I was just in boxers and my ‘slightly-more-useful-than-a-Tesco-carrier-bag’ sleeping bag. I wrapped a towel round my head and got back to sleep.
Everything was going fine until we started hitting the hills. Some rocks in the road forced Sean to veer off the side of the road just before a bend, causing the front wheel to smash into the rocks and general crap at the side which made the car jump quite violently. He quickly yanked the steering wheel back to the right and got us back onto the road, but we took a bit of time out to make sure everything was ok and empty our trousers.
So we carried on after checking out the wheel for excessive bearing play and came to a mountain pass. We cross these all the time, so it wasn’t a big deal, but this thing wasn’t like the other baby passes we’d done before. We first realised a problem when the road started getting steeper and steeper. It was getting to the critical stage where a good gear change has to be made, but Sean missed the gear and we slowly ground to a halt stuck up this steep road. It wasn’t too bad until we started rolling back down the hill because the brakes couldn’t hold the car. Me and Stu turned around to see the car veering into the side of the road and yelled “STEER” before Sean suddenly spun the wheel and caused the Landie to violently jerk into the other direction and it finally came to a stop at the bottom of the hill after a bit of handbrake usage too.
We managed to get across the incredibly scenic pass after stopping again to siphon fuel from the left tank into a jerry can, then into the right tank. The left fuel pipe had got blocked by what we later found out to be just general muck in the tap. We pulled into our campsite in Windhoek after another slightly hairy night drive on gravel roads with the Landie headlights (which sometimes seem to be less effective than what taping candles to the bonnet would be).
Windhoek feels like quite a modern place for an African city. There are lots of nice cars driving around and its buzzing with people and activity. Its built in quite a hilly location which gives it an interesting edge too. On thing to note is the taxis. These are generally rust buckets which wiz around the city crammed to the brim with passengers. They are a law unto themselves half the time and it seems that anybody can just stick a taxi sign on their car and start ferrying customers around, so that adds another element of ‘fun’ to the whole thing.
Our campsite / guest house was a sort of commune place where backpackers would just hang out in the bar and wander around aimlessly. It was the first backpackery place we’d been to so it was quite nice to meet other young travelers too and share stories. One lady who was older was sleeping in the back of some rusting old Land Rover which gave us a surprise when she popped her head out of a seemingly empty car window.
We met a guy from Barnsley who had been working in a wildlife sanctuary in Malawi. He had some great stories and he also drove Land Rover religiously back home so he offered us some tips for ours. What was also nice was to hear a Yorkshire accent after so long. All my “aye”s and “nowt”s were coming out again after a few beers.
After a couple of days in this place we got on the road again, heading north to get to Etosha (the world famous wild life place full of elephants and lions etc). It was a fairly uneventful journey, except for us seeing some traditional tribes women/girls who still walk around topless. That was quite cultural I guess.
We got to within about 30kms of the park and pulled into a lodge sort of place right out in the bush. We managed to bag a night in some pre-put up tents for 50 namib dollars each (which is very good!). We were about 2 km down a remote track camping on our own and it was the first time we had really camped somewhere that felt remote and wild. We watched the superb sunset which Africa is so famous for and then had marshmallows on the braai whilst looking at the stars which were amazing and so clear.
We got a relatively early night in order to get up at some stupid hour in order to get to Etosha early. However, this place was freezing. I woke up in the night shivering because my newly shaved head was loosing heat and I was just in boxers and my ‘slightly-more-useful-than-a-Tesco-carrier-bag’ sleeping bag. I wrapped a towel round my head and got back to sleep.
25th August 2009
Sorry for the delay since the last update but it seems we are only able to do an update when we have broken down!
So anyway we had the previous problem with the alternator fixed and we were able to leave Keetmanshoop that day to make Mariental in the evening. The garage owner advised us not to travel until the next day as it would be getting dark and the trucks on the roads are a problem. We carried on anyway to make progress. We found a B and B in Mariental and some guy had called Jamie to come over from across the road. Jamie told him to come over to him if he had something to say and we went into the B and B. It turned out the next day that the person calling was from a campsite and it was the oil rig guy we had met in Keetmanshoop. As there was a massive electric fence in the way he had no chance of coming across to us, we are not sure if he ignored us when we tried calling through the fence as he must think we are a bunch of idiots.
We headed to Sesriem which is the campsite before Sossusvlei – the sand dunes in the Namibian desert. The campsite was pretty expensive as we were put in an over flow site, which was the grass outside the gate! We had a pretty cool braai that night with Jackals scavenging for our left overs.
A 4am start and a race to the sand dunes before sunrise was slowed down by a massive queue of cars waiting to get through the gate. We took Kim to the 4x4 car park and had a pretty cool drive through the sand. We climbed a massive dune for sunrise and got some great pictures of the view. After having our fill of the sand and running down the side of the dunes we made the long trip to Swakopmund. After about 70km we went past a sign post saying Sesriem 12km to the left and we missed a short cut that wasn’t shown on our map!
We got to Swakopmund in the afternoon after making some good time on the dust roads and Sean handled some dodgy passes well. In Swakopmund we found a campsite right on the beach which was cool and went out for some pizza. Swakopmund is a nice German town on the coast and was a good place to chill out and relax. We had yet another braai with a few beers and had the local radio blaring out the Landie, we decided to text in on one of the radio phone ins about what your ideal car to own is – “Hi, 3 guys from the UK listening in and traveling around Southern Africa in a 1973 Land Rover, currently in Swakopmund – nothing better to own than a Landie! Stu, Sean and Jamie” we got pretty festive when she read it out on the radio and welcomed us to her country!
On our last day in Swakopmund we went on some quadbike through the desert which was awesome! The guide showed us a few tricks and wheelies he could do and we were able to fly up the side of dunes. We went over a massive dune and the guide went first to take some pictures of us coming over. I went down first and was surprised to see how steep the drop down was, as I got to the bottom, I looked up to see Sean ramping over and nearly flipping his bike as he landed on one front wheel!! The bikes we class and were flicking dust everywhere when you accelerated.
So anyway we had the previous problem with the alternator fixed and we were able to leave Keetmanshoop that day to make Mariental in the evening. The garage owner advised us not to travel until the next day as it would be getting dark and the trucks on the roads are a problem. We carried on anyway to make progress. We found a B and B in Mariental and some guy had called Jamie to come over from across the road. Jamie told him to come over to him if he had something to say and we went into the B and B. It turned out the next day that the person calling was from a campsite and it was the oil rig guy we had met in Keetmanshoop. As there was a massive electric fence in the way he had no chance of coming across to us, we are not sure if he ignored us when we tried calling through the fence as he must think we are a bunch of idiots.
We headed to Sesriem which is the campsite before Sossusvlei – the sand dunes in the Namibian desert. The campsite was pretty expensive as we were put in an over flow site, which was the grass outside the gate! We had a pretty cool braai that night with Jackals scavenging for our left overs.
A 4am start and a race to the sand dunes before sunrise was slowed down by a massive queue of cars waiting to get through the gate. We took Kim to the 4x4 car park and had a pretty cool drive through the sand. We climbed a massive dune for sunrise and got some great pictures of the view. After having our fill of the sand and running down the side of the dunes we made the long trip to Swakopmund. After about 70km we went past a sign post saying Sesriem 12km to the left and we missed a short cut that wasn’t shown on our map!
We got to Swakopmund in the afternoon after making some good time on the dust roads and Sean handled some dodgy passes well. In Swakopmund we found a campsite right on the beach which was cool and went out for some pizza. Swakopmund is a nice German town on the coast and was a good place to chill out and relax. We had yet another braai with a few beers and had the local radio blaring out the Landie, we decided to text in on one of the radio phone ins about what your ideal car to own is – “Hi, 3 guys from the UK listening in and traveling around Southern Africa in a 1973 Land Rover, currently in Swakopmund – nothing better to own than a Landie! Stu, Sean and Jamie” we got pretty festive when she read it out on the radio and welcomed us to her country!
On our last day in Swakopmund we went on some quadbike through the desert which was awesome! The guide showed us a few tricks and wheelies he could do and we were able to fly up the side of dunes. We went over a massive dune and the guide went first to take some pictures of us coming over. I went down first and was surprised to see how steep the drop down was, as I got to the bottom, I looked up to see Sean ramping over and nearly flipping his bike as he landed on one front wheel!! The bikes we class and were flicking dust everywhere when you accelerated.
Monday, 10 August 2009
Monday Aug 10
We are currently sat in an internet cafe in Keetmanshoop, Namibia which is quite a big town (for Namibia). Its in the middle of the desert and its hot!! Its got a real African town feel to it, with people just wandering around doing nothing and dusty roads that have random shops doing random things like sheet metal repairs etc.
Anyway, about a week ago we left Jo'burg and headed for Kimberley to see the biggest man made hole in the world. We'd timed our journey so that we'd arrive at the camp site just before sunset at around 6pm. At 10pm, 9 hours after setting off, we finally rolled into some hostel after circling Kimberley about six times just trying to get out of the place!! We gave up trying to find the campsite after a mix up resulted in us driving 10km down some back road past old diamond mines and ended up settling for the easily sign posted hostel. As a reward for our troubles, we treated ourselves to our first meal since breakfast and had 2 bananas each before collapsing into bed.
We woke up early thanks to the rowdy kids in the dorm next door running around slamming doors, but it was a good call to get ready and pack the landie ready for the big day! We were off to see the giant hole!
We got to the big hole entrance and it was like a mini town built to replicate what the place would have been like back when it was a diamond town. There were old pubs and shops and auction houses which you could walk around in. We then went on the tour and heard how the first diamond was found by a small boy in the 1800's (or something.... I don't do dates).
Our tour guide was something special. We went down an 'authentic' lift like they had in the olden days; it was actually a normal lift with some banging noises coming from the roof. At least the American bloke next to us enjoyed it while he closed his eyes and pretended he was there.
Now the tour guide's big moment came. We were told to prepare for a mining explosion. We all gathered round the site in anticipation. You could almost see the excitement on the tour guide's face.
Then the explosion arrived. Some red lights flashed on and off a bit, with some smoke effects, but the real kicker was the tour guide wobbling around in a dramatic fashion whilst we all looked on in disbelief.
After our death defying experience, we headed upstairs to see the diamonds they had. We had to go into a vault to see the best ones and I sort of get why women like them so much now. They were pretty special! My favourite though was the South African Star, a massive stone, which somehow made its way to Dudley a while back. The biggest uncut diamond was also there and it was big, real big!
We made our way to Upington with Stu driving. About 10 minutes in the car with trailer infront of us started slowing down. Stu was looking at the map in my lap. All I remember was a moment of "oh s**t" before Stu pulled to the right to get past this thing. The car infront then started snaking as he struggled to control his trailer under more extreme braking because we just happened to have moved into the bit of tarmac he was aiming to use as he turned right. We went even more right and overtook him, nearly off the far side of the road as he looked on in shock. We wiped the seats and carried on. To be fair though he wasn't indicating and the brake lights didn't come on, namely because like many of the cars over here, his car lights weren't working.
We arrived at our campsite in Upington in the day time thankfully and drove past the monkeys that were running around to our camp site where we set up our tent and started our first Braai. The campsite was pretty cool and we were parked up next to two German couples who had come down in massive overland trucks.
The next day we hit Namibia. We crossed the South African exit post and got our exit visas and set off into Namibia. We realised that we didn't have our Namibian entry visas in our passports though, so officially we weren't in South Africa OR Namibia. 15 kms down the road and we were starting to worry if we'd missed the Namibian immigration, but luckily their border post appeared on the horizon.
We were now driving through desert on the way to Ai Ais, a small place that the guide book recommended. It was a relaxing drive and we were excitied about the dirt roads we knew we would have to drive on to reach the place. We hit the dirt roads which are just like normal roads, but made of dirt and gravel. You could feel the car sliding round the corners, especially as we made our way down into the valley over hills and round sharp corners. On one of them we pretty much drifted round it which felt awesome! The scenery was amazing!
Ai Ais ended up being a resort with some thermal baths and jacuzzis with water from a nearby hot spring. It was 60 degrees and it seriously took balls (away) to sit in it for more than 10 seconds!
We met a guy in his Land Rover who had driven all the way down from England. It was weird seeing a car with GB number plates. The guy and his partner came over and shared stories of his trip over a few beers.
We spent 2 nights there and on one of the days we walked up the start of Fish River canyon. We walked for an hour through the rocky canyon before stopping when we saw wild horses drinking in the distance.
The next day we set off towards to the viewpoint. This was where the first of our car troubles started. It wouldn't start. The battery was dead. So we asked around and got some jump starter pack which got us going.
We were heading for the impressive view point over the canyon, apparently the 2nd biggest in the world, but the roads there were unbelievably bumpy and rocky. Our car (now named Kim by the way) took a hammering and it pained us to listen to her suffer. You could almost hear the bodywork falling apart around us.
At one point we stopped and it turned out that we were stuck in 2nd gear. We limped slowly to the next town before figuring out what to do.
A local man who loved sniffing oil tried to help us, but his nose detected that the oil he had in some old tub in his shed wasn't the right stuff so we thought 'sod it' and got going again. Except that we didn't because the car wouldn't start. So we recruited the help of some random people standing around to help us push start Kim and got to the view point before turning around and heading all the way back along the same sodding road to get back to the road we needed to be on.
We were now heading towards the place we are in now and Sean was driving. The roads were dusty, but Sean was handling it like some rally driving pro without the use of 2nd gear. We passed some wild Ostriches and made our way to the camp site.
the campsite was empty except for one man who came over and started chatting. He was an oil worker who worked on a rig off the coast of Equatorial Guinea. He was out in Namibia for tax dodging purposes and had a fair few interesting stories about life on the rig. While he was over, he commented on our Braai. His words were "This is a f-ing good Braai for a bunch of Pommies". And he was right, it was! (the best chicken and baked potatoes you have ever seen).
And that brings us to today. Our car is sat in the garage getting a new alternator which should sort out the battery charging problem and after that we will take it somewhere else to get the gear box looked at. Hopefully it will just be a cheap oil top up.
Anyway, about a week ago we left Jo'burg and headed for Kimberley to see the biggest man made hole in the world. We'd timed our journey so that we'd arrive at the camp site just before sunset at around 6pm. At 10pm, 9 hours after setting off, we finally rolled into some hostel after circling Kimberley about six times just trying to get out of the place!! We gave up trying to find the campsite after a mix up resulted in us driving 10km down some back road past old diamond mines and ended up settling for the easily sign posted hostel. As a reward for our troubles, we treated ourselves to our first meal since breakfast and had 2 bananas each before collapsing into bed.
We woke up early thanks to the rowdy kids in the dorm next door running around slamming doors, but it was a good call to get ready and pack the landie ready for the big day! We were off to see the giant hole!
We got to the big hole entrance and it was like a mini town built to replicate what the place would have been like back when it was a diamond town. There were old pubs and shops and auction houses which you could walk around in. We then went on the tour and heard how the first diamond was found by a small boy in the 1800's (or something.... I don't do dates).
Our tour guide was something special. We went down an 'authentic' lift like they had in the olden days; it was actually a normal lift with some banging noises coming from the roof. At least the American bloke next to us enjoyed it while he closed his eyes and pretended he was there.
Now the tour guide's big moment came. We were told to prepare for a mining explosion. We all gathered round the site in anticipation. You could almost see the excitement on the tour guide's face.
Then the explosion arrived. Some red lights flashed on and off a bit, with some smoke effects, but the real kicker was the tour guide wobbling around in a dramatic fashion whilst we all looked on in disbelief.
After our death defying experience, we headed upstairs to see the diamonds they had. We had to go into a vault to see the best ones and I sort of get why women like them so much now. They were pretty special! My favourite though was the South African Star, a massive stone, which somehow made its way to Dudley a while back. The biggest uncut diamond was also there and it was big, real big!
We made our way to Upington with Stu driving. About 10 minutes in the car with trailer infront of us started slowing down. Stu was looking at the map in my lap. All I remember was a moment of "oh s**t" before Stu pulled to the right to get past this thing. The car infront then started snaking as he struggled to control his trailer under more extreme braking because we just happened to have moved into the bit of tarmac he was aiming to use as he turned right. We went even more right and overtook him, nearly off the far side of the road as he looked on in shock. We wiped the seats and carried on. To be fair though he wasn't indicating and the brake lights didn't come on, namely because like many of the cars over here, his car lights weren't working.
We arrived at our campsite in Upington in the day time thankfully and drove past the monkeys that were running around to our camp site where we set up our tent and started our first Braai. The campsite was pretty cool and we were parked up next to two German couples who had come down in massive overland trucks.
The next day we hit Namibia. We crossed the South African exit post and got our exit visas and set off into Namibia. We realised that we didn't have our Namibian entry visas in our passports though, so officially we weren't in South Africa OR Namibia. 15 kms down the road and we were starting to worry if we'd missed the Namibian immigration, but luckily their border post appeared on the horizon.
We were now driving through desert on the way to Ai Ais, a small place that the guide book recommended. It was a relaxing drive and we were excitied about the dirt roads we knew we would have to drive on to reach the place. We hit the dirt roads which are just like normal roads, but made of dirt and gravel. You could feel the car sliding round the corners, especially as we made our way down into the valley over hills and round sharp corners. On one of them we pretty much drifted round it which felt awesome! The scenery was amazing!
Ai Ais ended up being a resort with some thermal baths and jacuzzis with water from a nearby hot spring. It was 60 degrees and it seriously took balls (away) to sit in it for more than 10 seconds!
We met a guy in his Land Rover who had driven all the way down from England. It was weird seeing a car with GB number plates. The guy and his partner came over and shared stories of his trip over a few beers.
We spent 2 nights there and on one of the days we walked up the start of Fish River canyon. We walked for an hour through the rocky canyon before stopping when we saw wild horses drinking in the distance.
The next day we set off towards to the viewpoint. This was where the first of our car troubles started. It wouldn't start. The battery was dead. So we asked around and got some jump starter pack which got us going.
We were heading for the impressive view point over the canyon, apparently the 2nd biggest in the world, but the roads there were unbelievably bumpy and rocky. Our car (now named Kim by the way) took a hammering and it pained us to listen to her suffer. You could almost hear the bodywork falling apart around us.
At one point we stopped and it turned out that we were stuck in 2nd gear. We limped slowly to the next town before figuring out what to do.
A local man who loved sniffing oil tried to help us, but his nose detected that the oil he had in some old tub in his shed wasn't the right stuff so we thought 'sod it' and got going again. Except that we didn't because the car wouldn't start. So we recruited the help of some random people standing around to help us push start Kim and got to the view point before turning around and heading all the way back along the same sodding road to get back to the road we needed to be on.
We were now heading towards the place we are in now and Sean was driving. The roads were dusty, but Sean was handling it like some rally driving pro without the use of 2nd gear. We passed some wild Ostriches and made our way to the camp site.
the campsite was empty except for one man who came over and started chatting. He was an oil worker who worked on a rig off the coast of Equatorial Guinea. He was out in Namibia for tax dodging purposes and had a fair few interesting stories about life on the rig. While he was over, he commented on our Braai. His words were "This is a f-ing good Braai for a bunch of Pommies". And he was right, it was! (the best chicken and baked potatoes you have ever seen).
And that brings us to today. Our car is sat in the garage getting a new alternator which should sort out the battery charging problem and after that we will take it somewhere else to get the gear box looked at. Hopefully it will just be a cheap oil top up.
Last week in Joburg
We moved in with Fallon and Jarad for a week whilst we sorted out the rest of the Landie and many trips to different camping and outdoor shops. Tor, Jarad and another on of their friends are building a paintball field at the top of the plot which looks like its going to be awesome. We had a go with the guns but will have a proper game when its finished by the time we get back to Joburg.
Fallon took us on a night out in Joburg to a club called Chicagos, which was pretty cool and we showed off a few strawpedos! There was a massive spinning wheel for random shots choices behind one of the bars and after sampling a few too many of the different shooters (shots) we even landed on the free round. Thursday started off with a Wimpy breakfast and milkshakes, the rest of the day we lazed outside in the sun. Me Sean and Jamie decided to cook Chicken a-la King for Fallon, Candice and Jarad and it came out suprisingly good.
On the Friday we went out for dinner at a nice Italian place, Primis and had a Jam-Jar cocktails, massive jars of spirits and fruit juices with our meals then followed on to another club, Voodoo Lounge which was like a chilled bar/club with people wandering around smoking hubbly bubbly (sheesha).
The weekend was raining and we sorted out fishing rods and reels and a few knives for when we catch some monsters to cook and eat them. Unfortunately our documents hadn't arrived by the weekend and our aim to leave on Sunday didn't happen. There was also a council strike which meant once we had recieved all documentation it was still going to be a few days before we could set off. We had a nice Beef Stew and Pap cooked by Kelvin and Sonia on the Saturday night after watching the Tri Nations rugby and a good SA win.
We travelled to the north of Joburg to see my aunt, uncle and cousins Sandy, Tony, Matthew and Taylor on Monday and went for a wander round on the golf estate they live on. We headed back home in the afternoon and got a taste of the Joburg traffic which was "cuck!". Our documents had arrived today so I took them to be registered and due to a backlog from the strike we only got them back the next day. That night we had Fish, Chips and a kg of Prawns between me and Jamie from 'Fish & Chippa' which was unbelievably good!
Tuesday was our last full day in Joburg and fitted our number plates, cigarrette lighter to change our camers and things and fixed the fuel gauge on the Landie. We cooked another meal for Jarad and Fallon, this time Spaghetti Bolognese which also turned out suprisingly good.
By Wednesday everything was ready and we set off for Kimberley.
Fallon took us on a night out in Joburg to a club called Chicagos, which was pretty cool and we showed off a few strawpedos! There was a massive spinning wheel for random shots choices behind one of the bars and after sampling a few too many of the different shooters (shots) we even landed on the free round. Thursday started off with a Wimpy breakfast and milkshakes, the rest of the day we lazed outside in the sun. Me Sean and Jamie decided to cook Chicken a-la King for Fallon, Candice and Jarad and it came out suprisingly good.
On the Friday we went out for dinner at a nice Italian place, Primis and had a Jam-Jar cocktails, massive jars of spirits and fruit juices with our meals then followed on to another club, Voodoo Lounge which was like a chilled bar/club with people wandering around smoking hubbly bubbly (sheesha).
The weekend was raining and we sorted out fishing rods and reels and a few knives for when we catch some monsters to cook and eat them. Unfortunately our documents hadn't arrived by the weekend and our aim to leave on Sunday didn't happen. There was also a council strike which meant once we had recieved all documentation it was still going to be a few days before we could set off. We had a nice Beef Stew and Pap cooked by Kelvin and Sonia on the Saturday night after watching the Tri Nations rugby and a good SA win.
We travelled to the north of Joburg to see my aunt, uncle and cousins Sandy, Tony, Matthew and Taylor on Monday and went for a wander round on the golf estate they live on. We headed back home in the afternoon and got a taste of the Joburg traffic which was "cuck!". Our documents had arrived today so I took them to be registered and due to a backlog from the strike we only got them back the next day. That night we had Fish, Chips and a kg of Prawns between me and Jamie from 'Fish & Chippa' which was unbelievably good!
Tuesday was our last full day in Joburg and fitted our number plates, cigarrette lighter to change our camers and things and fixed the fuel gauge on the Landie. We cooked another meal for Jarad and Fallon, this time Spaghetti Bolognese which also turned out suprisingly good.
By Wednesday everything was ready and we set off for Kimberley.
Wednesday, 29 July 2009
Day 8
Jamie - This was going to be a big day! It was finally time to buy all the camping gear that we had been anticipating for ages! We jumped in the Atos with Kelvin and headed for Outdoor World; a big supermarket type place just full of compressors, jerry cans, axes, fishing rods and all the other stuff that us lads love to just look at for hours at a time! This place was like heaven!
We basically went round the store while Kelvin told us what we needed and what was ‘cuck’. And trust me, when Kelvin says you need something, you take it, and when he says its crap, you stay well away! We bought a big cooler box type thing, an axe, some ammo crates to store stuff on the roof rack in, some grilling equipment and some mean looking wood saw along with a load of other random bits. By the end of our session, we had 7000 rands worth or so of equipment waiting behind the counter. I shakingly got my credit card out of my wallet and handed it across wondering what had just happened.
It was then time to head to the next camping / outdoor place type shop. Now if South Africa does anything well, its camping shops. This was another place kitted out to look like you had just walked into a forest or something. We quickly grabbed a winch rope and some other small bits and bobs, before stopping to admire the knife collection and then head out into the Johannesburg traffic.
We got back to base (Kelvin’s garage workshop area which is full of random cars and jeeps he is working on) and got to work prepping the Land Rover. We put on some funky looking green cover to protect the radiator and make us look like overlanding pros, before starting to tackle the removal of one of the benches in the back. This stubborn thing just stopped us fitting the cool box in the back, so it had to go. The thing is though, that all the bolts were stuck, so Kelvin, being the man he is, told us to stop wasting our time and pulled out his flame thrower gas burner thing and literally melted the bolts off in a shower of sparks and light. We watched on in awe!
So we ripped out the bench and went over to look at the engine. Our new gasket had arrived and we had to help drop the engine head back on. It all went fine until Kelvin went to clean off some rust with an air gun thing. We were all happily watching as he placed the nozzle to the side of the engine. He turned it on, put it to the side and then muttered out a swear word. We didn’t know what was going on until we noticed water peeing out of a hole in the side. This was bad, but Kelvin just coolly walked off. We all just stood there staring at each other, not daring to say a word. He returned with a smile on his face explaining how lucky we were that he just happened to have the right spare in stock which he then put in place.
That night we went back to Kelvin’s place where Sonia, his wife, had cooked us up some Spaghetti Bolognese. And wow, it tasted good! I decided to be extra cheeky and help myself to normal cheese AND parmesan cheese. We heard tales about Stu’s cousin, Thor, who had once cut a zip line wire… as his sister, Fallon, was whizzing down it. He also rigged up some parachute to the back of a quad bike and got his sister to be the guinea pig for it. The story ended with her sliding George of the Jungle style down a tree after the experiment went wrong and she collided into the top of it.
We then went for a coffee and a chat at Fallon’s place before heading home and going to bed.
We basically went round the store while Kelvin told us what we needed and what was ‘cuck’. And trust me, when Kelvin says you need something, you take it, and when he says its crap, you stay well away! We bought a big cooler box type thing, an axe, some ammo crates to store stuff on the roof rack in, some grilling equipment and some mean looking wood saw along with a load of other random bits. By the end of our session, we had 7000 rands worth or so of equipment waiting behind the counter. I shakingly got my credit card out of my wallet and handed it across wondering what had just happened.
It was then time to head to the next camping / outdoor place type shop. Now if South Africa does anything well, its camping shops. This was another place kitted out to look like you had just walked into a forest or something. We quickly grabbed a winch rope and some other small bits and bobs, before stopping to admire the knife collection and then head out into the Johannesburg traffic.
We got back to base (Kelvin’s garage workshop area which is full of random cars and jeeps he is working on) and got to work prepping the Land Rover. We put on some funky looking green cover to protect the radiator and make us look like overlanding pros, before starting to tackle the removal of one of the benches in the back. This stubborn thing just stopped us fitting the cool box in the back, so it had to go. The thing is though, that all the bolts were stuck, so Kelvin, being the man he is, told us to stop wasting our time and pulled out his flame thrower gas burner thing and literally melted the bolts off in a shower of sparks and light. We watched on in awe!
So we ripped out the bench and went over to look at the engine. Our new gasket had arrived and we had to help drop the engine head back on. It all went fine until Kelvin went to clean off some rust with an air gun thing. We were all happily watching as he placed the nozzle to the side of the engine. He turned it on, put it to the side and then muttered out a swear word. We didn’t know what was going on until we noticed water peeing out of a hole in the side. This was bad, but Kelvin just coolly walked off. We all just stood there staring at each other, not daring to say a word. He returned with a smile on his face explaining how lucky we were that he just happened to have the right spare in stock which he then put in place.
That night we went back to Kelvin’s place where Sonia, his wife, had cooked us up some Spaghetti Bolognese. And wow, it tasted good! I decided to be extra cheeky and help myself to normal cheese AND parmesan cheese. We heard tales about Stu’s cousin, Thor, who had once cut a zip line wire… as his sister, Fallon, was whizzing down it. He also rigged up some parachute to the back of a quad bike and got his sister to be the guinea pig for it. The story ended with her sliding George of the Jungle style down a tree after the experiment went wrong and she collided into the top of it.
We then went for a coffee and a chat at Fallon’s place before heading home and going to bed.
Day 7
Sean – We woke up at half 7 so we could bring the Landie to kelvin’s place so that he could check it over and tell us what needed to be fixed and fine tuned on it. After looking it over he told us that we needed to get the shocks changed as the previous ones had seized on it and have a new head gasket fitted in the engine. Since we had a bit of spare time in the morning we decided that it would be a good time to fix the jerry cans to the roof rack, which required a bit of drilling and hard work.
Once we had the bracket and cans fitted onto the girl it was getting about 3pm so we decided to drive to the supermarket in the Atos to grab some lunch. After we got the food we headed back to the Atos, jumped in then remembered we needed to grab some pad locks for the fuel caps of the Landie, so Stu jumped out and passed me the keys to the car as he went to the hardware store while Jamie and I stayed in the car. After a minute or two me and Jamie decided to jump out and see how he was getting on but soon realized after the doors were locked the keys were left inside of the car leaving us stranded in a supermarket car park. Luckily the key ring that the keys were on were facing upwards on the back seat and had the number of Avis on so I got on to the phone and called them up to send a spare set down.
Once we got the keys and the small bill we were ready to set off again back to kelvins where we could finally put the padlocks onto the Landie and chill out again.
After an hour or two playing around trying to see what we could do to the Landie we headed back home so we could get ready to go out for sushi with Fallon and her friend Candice.
So me Stu Jamie and Fallon got to the sushi restaurant about 7 o’clock and waited for Candice to get there, when she did arrive she said she parked her car into a hole (see pics) in the car park and needed help getting it out when we finished our dinner. When she said that I thought that it would be a small pot hole in the middle of the car park where it was a bit dark so she wouldn’t have been able to spot it, but when we finished dinner and headed to the car park we soon realized she parked it in a massive crater underneath a huge light, no idea how she didn’t see that. So us men being the gentlemen we were helped her push the car out of the hole whilst the security guards were watching in amusement. After that we headed back home to get ready for the next big day ahead of us.
Once we had the bracket and cans fitted onto the girl it was getting about 3pm so we decided to drive to the supermarket in the Atos to grab some lunch. After we got the food we headed back to the Atos, jumped in then remembered we needed to grab some pad locks for the fuel caps of the Landie, so Stu jumped out and passed me the keys to the car as he went to the hardware store while Jamie and I stayed in the car. After a minute or two me and Jamie decided to jump out and see how he was getting on but soon realized after the doors were locked the keys were left inside of the car leaving us stranded in a supermarket car park. Luckily the key ring that the keys were on were facing upwards on the back seat and had the number of Avis on so I got on to the phone and called them up to send a spare set down.
Once we got the keys and the small bill we were ready to set off again back to kelvins where we could finally put the padlocks onto the Landie and chill out again.
After an hour or two playing around trying to see what we could do to the Landie we headed back home so we could get ready to go out for sushi with Fallon and her friend Candice.
So me Stu Jamie and Fallon got to the sushi restaurant about 7 o’clock and waited for Candice to get there, when she did arrive she said she parked her car into a hole (see pics) in the car park and needed help getting it out when we finished our dinner. When she said that I thought that it would be a small pot hole in the middle of the car park where it was a bit dark so she wouldn’t have been able to spot it, but when we finished dinner and headed to the car park we soon realized she parked it in a massive crater underneath a huge light, no idea how she didn’t see that. So us men being the gentlemen we were helped her push the car out of the hole whilst the security guards were watching in amusement. After that we headed back home to get ready for the next big day ahead of us.
Day 6
Stu - Another 4am start and we set off back to Joburg, this time me in the Atos and Jamie and Sean in the Landie. 1km down the road and Sean pulls over! I was thinking he was already missing the beastly Atos and wanted to change car but after being called over and seeing Sean waving a broken gear stick I soon realized we had a slightly bigger problem on our hands!!!
We locked up the Landie and drove around the small town trying to find out where and what time we can find a mechanic. We ended up waiting 3 hours till 8am for everything to open and after going to every single garage, one of the garage owners kindly towed us to his friend Stanley, who owned his own metal construction business and he was able to weld the gear stick back on. He had a quick check over the car and gave us a jerry can of water to keep the radiator topped up along the way back. As it was a Sunday he said he wouldn’t change us and even gave us the jerry can for free!!
The rest of the journey was OK other than for Sean nearly plowing through a toll gate at 80km/hour as he wasn’t used to the standard Land Rover brakes and Jamie having to pull the handbrake to stop them in time! The 12 hour drive back and the 5 hour delay in the morning meant that we only reached Joburg around 9pm and the ring road to where we are staying was a bit mental with cars flying by either side of us and numerous people flashing us to move out the way.
We were all pleased to get back to the guest house safely and had the best sleep so far that night.
We locked up the Landie and drove around the small town trying to find out where and what time we can find a mechanic. We ended up waiting 3 hours till 8am for everything to open and after going to every single garage, one of the garage owners kindly towed us to his friend Stanley, who owned his own metal construction business and he was able to weld the gear stick back on. He had a quick check over the car and gave us a jerry can of water to keep the radiator topped up along the way back. As it was a Sunday he said he wouldn’t change us and even gave us the jerry can for free!!
The rest of the journey was OK other than for Sean nearly plowing through a toll gate at 80km/hour as he wasn’t used to the standard Land Rover brakes and Jamie having to pull the handbrake to stop them in time! The 12 hour drive back and the 5 hour delay in the morning meant that we only reached Joburg around 9pm and the ring road to where we are staying was a bit mental with cars flying by either side of us and numerous people flashing us to move out the way.
We were all pleased to get back to the guest house safely and had the best sleep so far that night.
Day 4 & 5
Stu - It’s been a pretty hectic few days here but we are now the proud owners of a 1973 Series 3 Land Rover with a monster 4.1 litre Flat 6 engine!!
Friday started early with us getting up and setting off for the 1200km drive to a place called Sedgefield in between Knysna and George on the South Coast. Me and Sean split the driving and saw some awesome sights along the way. A large part of the journey was driving down straight rounds into the horizon like ones you see in the movies. We arrived in George in the dark so was too see the Land Rover and decided to go the next day and pick it up so stayed in a Chalet that night.
Got up early the next morning and met Henri and Aubrey, the guys selling the Land Rover. They were very helpful and took us for a test drive and then for breakfast at an old railway station now converted to a Cafe. We were all relieved to see the Land Rover actually there as we had transferred a deposit of R10,000 on the basis of trust!
We stayed and chatted with Henri and his wife as they had done a very route to the one we are planning. They gave us lots of tips and advice which will come in very useful. We also bought a roof rack and some jerry cans from Henri’s friend Carl and we fitted them there and then. We then set off, Sean in the Atos and me and Jamie in the Landie aiming to do a lot of the journey that day. 400km later (due to the Land Rover sitting at around 100km/hour) and it was now getting dark so we decided to stop in Graaf Reinet and got a Chalet there for the night.
Friday started early with us getting up and setting off for the 1200km drive to a place called Sedgefield in between Knysna and George on the South Coast. Me and Sean split the driving and saw some awesome sights along the way. A large part of the journey was driving down straight rounds into the horizon like ones you see in the movies. We arrived in George in the dark so was too see the Land Rover and decided to go the next day and pick it up so stayed in a Chalet that night.
Got up early the next morning and met Henri and Aubrey, the guys selling the Land Rover. They were very helpful and took us for a test drive and then for breakfast at an old railway station now converted to a Cafe. We were all relieved to see the Land Rover actually there as we had transferred a deposit of R10,000 on the basis of trust!
We stayed and chatted with Henri and his wife as they had done a very route to the one we are planning. They gave us lots of tips and advice which will come in very useful. We also bought a roof rack and some jerry cans from Henri’s friend Carl and we fitted them there and then. We then set off, Sean in the Atos and me and Jamie in the Landie aiming to do a lot of the journey that day. 400km later (due to the Land Rover sitting at around 100km/hour) and it was now getting dark so we decided to stop in Graaf Reinet and got a Chalet there for the night.
Thursday, 23 July 2009
Day 3
Jamie – We got up at 7:30am dead and it was FREEZING! The guest house owners cooked us some sausage and eggs for breakfast before we headed to Stus’ relatives house again. We had been told that we would be riding the Rhino in the mealie fields which left me and sean thinking “what on earth??”
So we got to their house and Fallon (Stu’s 2nd cousin) rocked up on some off road quad bike (the Rhino), told us to jump in and then drove off in search of the mealie fields.
At first we drove along the roads, but Fallon soon got bored and decided to take to the dirt track by the side of the road that led to the fields. We blitzed around the fields, Stu in the front, me and Sean hanging on in the back, which was awesome.
We got back and scoured a hot off the press release of Autotrader for potential 4x4s. Kelvin helped us look for decent ones and then went on to show us all his ‘toys’ (Land Rovers, Jet skis, boats and his mega trailer with built in drinks bar, sleeping compartment and loads of other stuff.)
On the way out we decided to put my driving skills to the test. Sean and Stu gave me some tips (I made sure to ignore Sean’s motorway advice) and I slowly crept off up the driveway. We went for a few loops of their land before I jumped out and left it to the pros to get us home.
It was time for lunch now, so we headed for Wimpy where we could get a greasy burger and the strawberry milkshake that Stu had been raving about since that fateful morning in Daventry. The milkshake arrived and let me tell you; it was immense! If one thing should be imported to England, it is a Wimpy strawberry milkshake (and no, those crappy Wimpys off the side of motorways in England are not the same!!)
We chilled around for the afternoon and now its time for dinner, so we are off to Fish and Chippa, the local chippy for fish, chips and 1kg of Prawns, highly recommended by Stus’ relatives.
So we got to their house and Fallon (Stu’s 2nd cousin) rocked up on some off road quad bike (the Rhino), told us to jump in and then drove off in search of the mealie fields.
At first we drove along the roads, but Fallon soon got bored and decided to take to the dirt track by the side of the road that led to the fields. We blitzed around the fields, Stu in the front, me and Sean hanging on in the back, which was awesome.
We got back and scoured a hot off the press release of Autotrader for potential 4x4s. Kelvin helped us look for decent ones and then went on to show us all his ‘toys’ (Land Rovers, Jet skis, boats and his mega trailer with built in drinks bar, sleeping compartment and loads of other stuff.)
On the way out we decided to put my driving skills to the test. Sean and Stu gave me some tips (I made sure to ignore Sean’s motorway advice) and I slowly crept off up the driveway. We went for a few loops of their land before I jumped out and left it to the pros to get us home.
It was time for lunch now, so we headed for Wimpy where we could get a greasy burger and the strawberry milkshake that Stu had been raving about since that fateful morning in Daventry. The milkshake arrived and let me tell you; it was immense! If one thing should be imported to England, it is a Wimpy strawberry milkshake (and no, those crappy Wimpys off the side of motorways in England are not the same!!)
We chilled around for the afternoon and now its time for dinner, so we are off to Fish and Chippa, the local chippy for fish, chips and 1kg of Prawns, highly recommended by Stus’ relatives.
Day 2 - Arrival in Jo'burg
Sean - After finally leaving doha which felt like a couple of days we boarded the flight to jo’burg (again with the ample leg room) and I had another irritating passenger sitting next to me trying to take up my seat as well as hers.
When we arrived at jo’burg we picked up the beast from avis car hire(see photos). Outside Avis Stu pointed out a local celeb; the South African cricket captain, not that Jamie or I knew who he was.
The drive to the guest house was quite interesting as the roads are quite dangerous (with me on them) as I nearly took out another driver when there was a minor misunderstanding and a late change of direction on the motorway (we got our first beeping and hand signals from a rather irate driver in his massive 4x4), but in the end managed to get to the guest house which was located in a secured estate.
Got into the guesthouse which is pretty plush (again see picture of Jamies room) and the owners are friendly. I had the elephant themed room complete with tusks as the beds head board, Stu had the zebra room with the Hugh Heffner style bedding and Jamie had the lion themed room.
After we settled in the guest house we went to the legendary Steers burger restaurant for an amazing meal. We then went to see Stu’s relatives 10 minutes down the road and spent the rest of the evening there. The place is HUGE and they are all really cool. We had a nice game meat meal cooked with the warthog and other meats which Kelvin had hunted.
After returning home we had a few game of cards before retiring to our ice cold beds (its hot in the day but freezing at night) to prepare for the early morning.
When we arrived at jo’burg we picked up the beast from avis car hire(see photos). Outside Avis Stu pointed out a local celeb; the South African cricket captain, not that Jamie or I knew who he was.
The drive to the guest house was quite interesting as the roads are quite dangerous (with me on them) as I nearly took out another driver when there was a minor misunderstanding and a late change of direction on the motorway (we got our first beeping and hand signals from a rather irate driver in his massive 4x4), but in the end managed to get to the guest house which was located in a secured estate.
Got into the guesthouse which is pretty plush (again see picture of Jamies room) and the owners are friendly. I had the elephant themed room complete with tusks as the beds head board, Stu had the zebra room with the Hugh Heffner style bedding and Jamie had the lion themed room.
After we settled in the guest house we went to the legendary Steers burger restaurant for an amazing meal. We then went to see Stu’s relatives 10 minutes down the road and spent the rest of the evening there. The place is HUGE and they are all really cool. We had a nice game meat meal cooked with the warthog and other meats which Kelvin had hunted.
After returning home we had a few game of cards before retiring to our ice cold beds (its hot in the day but freezing at night) to prepare for the early morning.
Day 1 - The Flight!
Stu - After an eventful night last night we all had about an hours sleep before we had to load the car and head down to Heathrow. Sean made up for yesterday by sweet talking the lady at check in and getting up extra leg room seats!
No other dramas on the flight to Doha, the seats were great and the extra leg room made a massive difference as well as the friendly stewardess'. The views over Baghdad and Basra were pretty cool and the desert heat when we got off the plane was unbelievable. Cherie and the girls, when you go to Thailand make sure you ask for extra leg room seats too and get to the airport 3 hours before as there wasn't a queue.
We are now sat at the airport waiting for our connection flight to Joburg, the airport is quite small and the 8 hour wait is going slowly. We weren't allowed to go out of the airport so are just charging cameras whilst watching the planes taking off and landing and also catching up on some sleep. We are all looking forward to getting to Joburg tomorrow and checking into the Guesthouse, I forgot to note down what the road we need to find is...so will be an interesting drive :-)
No other dramas on the flight to Doha, the seats were great and the extra leg room made a massive difference as well as the friendly stewardess'. The views over Baghdad and Basra were pretty cool and the desert heat when we got off the plane was unbelievable. Cherie and the girls, when you go to Thailand make sure you ask for extra leg room seats too and get to the airport 3 hours before as there wasn't a queue.
We are now sat at the airport waiting for our connection flight to Joburg, the airport is quite small and the 8 hour wait is going slowly. We weren't allowed to go out of the airport so are just charging cameras whilst watching the planes taking off and landing and also catching up on some sleep. We are all looking forward to getting to Joburg tomorrow and checking into the Guesthouse, I forgot to note down what the road we need to find is...so will be an interesting drive :-)
Tuesday, 21 July 2009
Day 0
Welcome to our diary. Writing a diary is probably one of the saddest things I have ever done, but here it is anyway. Our trip around Southern Africa!
I was on some packed commuter train heading towards Luton Airport Parkway where Stu was going to pick me up and I was sweating like some sort of ill animal thanks to my mega journey which took all day on a coach and two trains. So I perched on the edge of the seat to try and give the guy sat next to me a chance to breath something resembling fresh air and read one of the those free London papers. Whic begs the question; who actually texts in to these things asking for some random girl they saw on the tube to text back so they can go for a drink?
Anyway, I got to the station and after popping back to Stu's house for a shower, we set off for our last supper, 3 platters full of chicken and chips at Nandos in Milton Keynes where Mac was already waiting for us. Oh it tasted good, but then again Nandos always does! Stu got snap happy with his brand new 12billion megapixel or something camera showing off. Even the flash was bigger and better than normal cameras, what with it burning innocent little childrens' retinas if you weren't careful.
Lots of thanks to Stu's mum and dad who picked up the Nandos bill! Legends!
Then we whizzed back to sort out our rucksacks ready for the morning. It was getting late and a 3am start beckoned, so when Mac, who had the rental car in Jo'burg booked under his name, looked up with a worrying look across his face and shakingly said "I've left my driving licence at home", we all shat it.
He called his dad back in Birmingham who didn't sound overly happy at the news and we agreed to meet half way at a hotel next to an industrial park just outside Daventry, which later turned into a meet on the verge of a dual carriageway near a motorway junction at 1 in the morning or something crazy. It turned out that Sean's dad had been on the beers, so when we met up he got out of the car along with Sean's sister and a family friend who had been given the role of designated driver. Unlucky guy!
We pulled off the shady looking handover and went back to base camp... i.e. a living room full of our crap spread all over the floor.
It was then time to sort out the bags, moving things from one person's bag to the other's, in the vain hope of getting all of them to weigh less than 20kgs. In the end we got it pretty close which was good enough, especially at 2am when you have to be up at 3! So bed time.
Jamie
I was on some packed commuter train heading towards Luton Airport Parkway where Stu was going to pick me up and I was sweating like some sort of ill animal thanks to my mega journey which took all day on a coach and two trains. So I perched on the edge of the seat to try and give the guy sat next to me a chance to breath something resembling fresh air and read one of the those free London papers. Whic begs the question; who actually texts in to these things asking for some random girl they saw on the tube to text back so they can go for a drink?
Anyway, I got to the station and after popping back to Stu's house for a shower, we set off for our last supper, 3 platters full of chicken and chips at Nandos in Milton Keynes where Mac was already waiting for us. Oh it tasted good, but then again Nandos always does! Stu got snap happy with his brand new 12billion megapixel or something camera showing off. Even the flash was bigger and better than normal cameras, what with it burning innocent little childrens' retinas if you weren't careful.
Lots of thanks to Stu's mum and dad who picked up the Nandos bill! Legends!
Then we whizzed back to sort out our rucksacks ready for the morning. It was getting late and a 3am start beckoned, so when Mac, who had the rental car in Jo'burg booked under his name, looked up with a worrying look across his face and shakingly said "I've left my driving licence at home", we all shat it.
He called his dad back in Birmingham who didn't sound overly happy at the news and we agreed to meet half way at a hotel next to an industrial park just outside Daventry, which later turned into a meet on the verge of a dual carriageway near a motorway junction at 1 in the morning or something crazy. It turned out that Sean's dad had been on the beers, so when we met up he got out of the car along with Sean's sister and a family friend who had been given the role of designated driver. Unlucky guy!
We pulled off the shady looking handover and went back to base camp... i.e. a living room full of our crap spread all over the floor.
It was then time to sort out the bags, moving things from one person's bag to the other's, in the vain hope of getting all of them to weigh less than 20kgs. In the end we got it pretty close which was good enough, especially at 2am when you have to be up at 3! So bed time.
Jamie
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