Exams are Over!

Finally Erin's exams are over and all the studying and stressing has come to an end!

I'm fairly sure she has done well and given her best.

Well done Erin and let's keep up the hard work for Grade 6 next year!

Full Circle ...?

Our journey to Cape Town was non-eventful, no drum roll or coming home music. Except it was everything that I remember… rain and cold! We had come full circle and we could just make out the mountain from the clouds, it was good to be back.

So we book into by Melkbos but this time we have found ourselves a spot that is protected from the worst of the cold and wind.

Our days are mostly filled with revision and Erin studying, and in our free time we're fixing up and replenishing our stuff for the next round of touring. Busy busy…

Erin is half-way through with exams and personally I can’t wait for the end of November, but she is really doing so well and putting a lot of effort into staying on top of her studies. We are very proud of her and of the commitment she has shown towards her schooling. I am looking forward to a new experience with grade 6 next year as I've learned tutoring techniques along the way and found loads of new ideas in making the lessons much more interesting and fun.

We celebrated my friend Jessie's birthday at their house and had an awesome time catching up over a braai and a couple of drinks. She has a wonderful family and we feel so welcome in thier home.

If you know us well, you will not be surprised to hear that we only started looking for places to stay in December after we got to Melkbos – everything by the seat of our pants! Eventually we have found a couple of what-we-hope-to-be-amazing-spots and our good friends Ian and Jess are putting us up for xmas day. Thanks guys, i know we will all have a super day!

All of the places we're going to in December are in the mountains and we’ll be out of range again with this crappy little modem of ours, so we out of touch for a while until we back in Cape Town again for xmas. The one spot has no electricity and has prompted us to go solar, and now we even doing our bit to reduce our carbon footprint. I can see Andrew is going to pick this dude’s brain until he has taught Andrew everything about solar power. LOL

Witsand

So we left Oudtshoorn with lovely memories and trekked to Witsand to visit our friend Hanli and her family and we surprised her for her birthday.

They live in such a beautiful place overlooking the mouth of the Breede river, the wind wasn't very friendly though but everyone else was.

 Troi inherited our pet-fish when we packed up to go on the road, and wow! these fish have come a long way, they are doing so well and they bring joy the family. Met some new people which is always a bonus and even better that they were genuinely nice and funny dudes.

Little Troi is a cute little kid, but I think a bit of a handful for Erin... but way gorgeous nevertheless. We had an awesome time celebrating Hanli's birthday around a braai and a few drinks and loads of laughs. It's so cool meeting up with good ol' friends.

Leon and Troi took Andrew and Erin fishing up the river in their boat, and even caught some little fish but had to throw them back as they were all too small.

All too quickly the weekend was over and we packed up to leave and took a leisurely Sunday drive back to Cape Town.

Oudtshoorn

A lovely long drive to Oudtshoorn & Erin studying on the road... just like we planned and all went well.

The scenery was breathtaking all the way but when we reached the mountain range - oh wow.


Just before we got to Oudtshoorn, the silence spoke volumes as to how we were feeling surrounded by the magnificent mountain range.

 Incredible to say the least...

We stayed at a municipal park which turned out to be really nice, surprisingly so as municiple parks are seriously not the greatest.

This place was so far off the internet grid we did not even have cellphone coverage. It gives new meaning to isolation less than 10km from town!

There was a beautiful dam up in the mountains but unfortunately our entry was restricted and only open to municipality - it figures...  It was nice to see bus loads of children regularly being brought for outings and wonderful to see how well behaved they were.

It was rather odd though that there was no 'wildlife' hanging around besides our cats, so we spent a day at their local Wildlife Ranch.

Not much to look at when you first arrive but as we went on the tour with the guide our disappointment changed to enjoyment.

We learned quite a lot about their recovery programmes for injured and abandoned animals and had an opportunity to either crocodile cage dive or spend some time with cheetahs or tigers.

Oh man! Erin was pleading to crocodile cage dive but both Andrew and I were a bit intimidated by the size of the 3 crocs on call... uh ah!

So the best we could offer her was a visit to the cubs.  In the end she settled for the cheetahs - which turned out to be such fun. They are so adorable, but one has to respect the fact that they are wild animals. 

We had an awesome day but were exhausted at the end of it and were only too happy to trek back to our 'home'.

After some hectic studying I rewarded Erin with a trip to the cango caves and we did the full tour... LOL it was hectic crawling through those tight spots!

I would have never believed I could get my ass through there had it not been for the large dude that was on the same tour - I had to see him crawl through the tunnel before I went.

As we were inching our way through the 'tunnel of love' Erin pipes up what a big mistake it would be if someone were to fart! LOL that cracked me up.

The structures in the cave looked as if they were pictures out of a fantasy novel, like Lord of the Rings, absolutely incredible how the rocks formed over thousands of years. Imagine being the first person to find the cave...

On our last day in Oudsthoorn Erin and I decided to visit the ostrich farm for a quick tour. I was 'hugged' by one of the ostriches but she was too quick for the kodak moment and we met a 'dwarf' ostrich - short and all!

 I finally gave in and bought Erin an ostrich egg, much to her delight and even picked up a couple of bottles of wine. Nice!

All too quickly our time in Oudsthoorn had come to an end and we had to start packing up for our visit to Hanli enroute to Cape Town... exam time looming again.

Oviston

So the area of Oviston is barely a blink in the eye, but the spot by the dam was totally amazing! Firstly we were the only ones there and second Andrew and Erin caught fish!

It was awesome and we could not believe our eyes when we checked out the size of Andrew's carp! What a massive beauty she was, and then when Erin caught her first fish I was busy spraining my ankle on the path down to the dam but as soon as I heard she had landed the fish I literally flew down the path to see my girl. I certainly paid the price for that later on but it all ended well.  Later that evening we made a huge fire on the beach of the dam and cooked our fish, fresh just like it was supposed to be and under the stars like 'strandlopers'.

We were invited on a tour of Gariep Dam wall to see the inner workings of a hydro-electric dam.

Most impressive when he opened the 7½ meter valve! Something like 20 000 cubic litres of water a second, geez and they complaining they don't have any water, especially in the light of a 82km tunnel running under the ground from the dam to the farmers down south constantly filled to the brim and designed to last 300 years.
 I wonder how many of those are stashed around the world hoarding water while they busy whinging. It was a wonderful opportunity for Erin to go on a 'school tour' which we tried to make as educational as possible.

There was a bit of wildlife at the campground and found evidence of a porcupine resident. The cats were very interested in the hares and steenbokkies. The toilets reminded me of veldschool style with prefabricated walls, but at least it was clean.

Eventually the wind caught up with us and as it turned out it was time to go...

Happy Birthday Andrew

Today Andrew celebrated his 34th birthday... yeah! We had a stunningly chilled day on the banks of Gariep Dam fishing. A beautiful place on a beautiful day...  We love you babes and hope you had a super one.

It's been a while ... & we still going strong

Okay, admittedly we not very good at this blogging thing. A combination of lack of signal and just getting on with living life is probably the reason the internet is not hearing our story... well that's my theory and we sticking to that!

So some time and some places have passed since our last blog. Some things don't always turn out as planned so we go with the flow and make the best of it. Learning to be more flexible has it's challenging moments but it feels good when you realise you making positive steps forward. Life changing moments are a happening and to be an active part in it is both scary and exciting - it's all good.

From Durban side the weather continued to be sh!te even after hanging around for a few extra days in the hopes of a ray of sunshine.

We packed up and headed back to the Midlands - a home away from home! The beauty there is so incredible, even spending a couple of rainy days was great.

We went to this 'really' rustic place in the mountains with some bass lakes and we even hooked a couple of fish... well I actually speak for Erin & Andrew. Those fish (grrrr...) stayed far away from my hook! But it was fun none the less!

There were the domesticated kind of wildlife there that chased the cats and Erin! LOL  We saw llamas and another Australian Cattle dog, who got a fishing hook in his paw, and the owner just pulled it out with a pliers and off everyone went, including the dog as happy as ever. Geez it really brings to life how suburban people mollycoddle their pets - compared with how farm people don't! These farm dogs are so loyal and content wherever we met them & were extremely friendly.

Eventually it was time to think about our next stop but there were a few challenges ahead in terms of piles of washing and where we were going to watch the rugby. We could either race down to Gariep Dam or hang around - and hang around we did! Back to Bushwillow and got some more free wood, it was so nice to be greeted with a 'welcome home' and ended up staying a while.

 The weather turned for the better and we took a super hike up through the mountains and found a 97m high waterfall! We could get right to the edge to look over. Kinda unnerving at first, but after a while the vertigo fades.Amazing, we were totally blown away! Check out the photos, but they do not do the real thing justice.

The school holiday week was freakin' super, finally we could relax and not be stressed about exams or sticking to the timetable. I know one might thing that we are on one permanent holiday but the reality is that we still have to maintain some structure and encourage the self-discipline in Erin to maintain the high standards she has been achieving thus far. It's all good though and this is a wonderful learning curve for all of us and an experience that is priceless.

School is back in session and so far as term 3 marks are trickling in Erin has done a good job with her exams. We really proud of her & know how much hard work she has put in, even though she has a unique schooling experience it can't be easy when everyday feels like a weekend.

A week gone by at Bushwillow feels like a mere couple of days, time stands still nestled in the mountains surrounded by indigenous forests. I could have stayed on... but eventually we convinced ourselves it was time to get on our way.

We spent a whole evening discussing our route and planning distances etc... but when we got to our first stop at Bethlehem we found the entrance unaccommodating (to say the least) and we could not fit our van (all of 3m tall) under their trees and decided to carry on to the next town - Senekal! If anyone has ever been to Senekal - which I seriously doubt as the only people who have stopped in Senekal are the people who are born there. At 7:30pm the entrance to the dingy caravan park was closed - I was actually relieved!

Andrew & I looked at each other with that knowing look - no man not that look! Refueled with diesel and kentucky we drove on towards Bloem. The plan was to take a short nap at the 1-Stop but too many redbulls later denied us that opportunity and we drove ever onwards towards Gariep - the journey we were planning to take 3 days to do we did in 13 hours! Holy crap you might think 13 hours! Yeah up hill is a bitch! 



We had to stop on the side of the road at one point and make a cat litter box for the very disgruntled kitcats. Shame the look of relief on Peppa's face was so obvious and poor Tsonga just 'knuiped' the whole way.

Eventually we drove up to the gates some obscene hour with serious doubts of being let in at the ungodly hour of 1am. Paid up for the night we entered the park like some villains in the night we set up for sleep. Hell No thought the cats & off they went jolling for the rest of the night prancing around like they just had a redbull shot.

Today we are forced to hang around instead of going to Lake Gariep Resort because Peppa has done another disappearing act AND we found out this morning that we are not actually allowed pets of ANY kind. It's a bit nerve wracking when you know you breaking the rule but we really didn't have any choice at 1am. Also in the defence of the cats, they are not a nuisance to their surroundings and are so well behaved, that I can't understand what the major problem is. I suppose a little bias creeps in.  Anyways the plan was not to stay here for longer than a night (just a stop over) as this place has such strict rules that we feel like we're in boarding school once again and all we see from our campsite is the harbour - not even the real dam. As I'm typing this the Peppa cat has just been found by her best friend Erin, & I'm thinking the silly cat better be here tomorrow morning when we hit the road to the other side of the dam.  As I look around though we all have smiles on, sjoo total relief.

Another day is laid to rest with a lekker braai on the go and all has ended well.