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.
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