Sterkfontein Dam @ Harrismith

This dam goes for miles...

looking out from our door

Well we had fun at Sterkfontein Dam with the wind and the wide expanse of water filled with dam fish that taunted us and made complete fools of us as we huffed and puffed up and down the hill to the muddy bank. (we looked on google earth and didn't notice the hill).  Look, I really don't blame the fish for not coming out, heck the icy wind was coming off the snowy mountains and taking no prisoners.

friendly ferret

However we were rewarded with a visit from a zebra, a ferret and we saw springbok and if seeing camels at a petrol station counts then we saw the wildlife! It looked like almost touch and go for Andrew and Erin coming down with the sniffles and possibly flu so we decided to cut our losses and leave the fish to someone else. We packed up & found our electrical outlet and plug welded together (power surge?) oh crap! such are the challenges of moving house every other day of the week... LOL! I know Andrew will make a handyman-plan, that's just what he does. So the great pioneers that we are we crossed the mountain(s) into the Midlands and headed for Glengarry outside Mooiriver, as we heard a rumour there might be some warm sunshine and even fish there.

Andrew kiting

Ice Blue

Jhb to Sterkfontein Dam

bright-eyed & bushy-tailed

Tsonga meets a monkey

[Sarita]

It was quite a surprise to realise that we had already been in Kuruman for 12 days before we started getting itchy feet again; geez time flies swiftly there as one day flows so easily into another! We decided to make a dash for Joburg in one long haul…

Fallow deer - Kuruman

Oh my hat! The N14 is a hectic skinny long road with ‘stop & go’ road works most of the way, even forced to a detour that was surely fit for 4x4s, which took us down to Carletonville.  Needless to say with all the road works we started losing time and it became inevitable that we were going to arrive at the new site in the dark,… again! LOL

Driving Miss Peppa

Potholes of note!

The last hour of the journey was so hairy – potholes everywhere!  There we were in the dark with peak traffic pushing our asses – it’s been a while since we drove these roads so we put our trust in ‘Garmin’ and the stupid bitch led us onto some old back road!

Eventually we pulled in to Hennops Pride and cold does not describe the air blowing right through my body to every internal organ and ultimately freezing my bones. That was nothing compared with what was to come! Rain, Wind, Hail !!!

at Hennops

The cool thing about arriving at camp sites in the dark is the next morning you are presented with so much more than you expected, especially if you’ve chosen a shitty spot & you gotta move! Seriously though it does have a certain charm to it camping out right on the river’s edge and fishing, although not catching anything. Hanging out at Hennops for a couple of days gave us the opportunity to meet up with some family members and see our very dear friends and make some new friends. A fabulous time was had which went well with a bottle of ‘chocolate russians’.

First drink 1/3 of a bottle of good quality vodka, then chop up at least 400g of Diary Milk chocolate and put into bottle as best you can without eating the chocolate. You should then put the bottle near the fire to melt the concoction to a thick silky smooth yummy nectar and drink with friends.  Soon you will develop a Russian accent!

the view at hennops

Seeing our dearest friends Colin & Avril, as always was brilliant –' we love you guys, stay strong and we believe in you our friends'.  Erin looks so awesome with her shorter haircut, thanks Av! Erin got so excited at seeing such a hectic hail storm, it was a joy to see her enthusiasm.  We haven’t seen so much hail in ages, ‘not something you see around Cape Town bro’.

Erika, Sarita, Erin & Andrew

Thank you so much Erika for the opportunity to clean up and sleep in a bed (in a house) for a couple of nights and even catch up on some washing ... priceless!

We decided to start heading south and marked our 1^st stop for Sterkfontein Dam and will give Mpumalanga, Limpopo and Kruger Park a proper chance next year.  As it turned out today was a super day, everything just fell into place and went smoothly. 

Even the cats are getting the hang of it and settling down quickly for the drive.  I’m so amazed at how well they have adapted to this change in their lifestyle. So after sleeping for the better part of 5 years they have awoken and developed a personality. Amazing! 

Sterkfontein Dam

Snow-covered Mountains Harrismith

So we’ll hang out here with the

dam and the snow-covered

mountains in the distance

for company.

It shouldn’t be that difficult even though it feels below zero – it probably is!!! The view is pretty wow and this will be our spot for a bit, or at least until Sunday.

From Kuruman to Jhb

(Andrew) So, its been a while since we have put anything on... we left Kuruman in the morning and headed to Joburg... Should have stoppped at Barberspan Dam as we think about it afterwards. The drive was a little too long for the day; we dont allow for errors much (who does?) There was a detour off the N14 before Krugersdorp which took us to the outskirts of Carletonville, then looped back to N14. I took a wrong turn in Krugersdorp and we ended up going through the town - came up the back on R28/N14 to Pta. Damn Garmin jumped us off the highway about 20km before we needed to get off, so drove a real bumpy potholey road in the dark.... that was crap. Headed for Hennops Pride on R511. That road is the main road to Hartebeespoort but is worse than the dirt road to Bulshoekdam in Clanwilliam. Gauteng sucks.....! Arrived at Hennops Pride in the evening and set up. Wake up in the morning and found a better site, so proceeded to pack up again and move over to it.
We met up with friends and family all weekend, and we let our hair down (spelt pissed) for the first time since leaving CT. We let our hair so down that we forgot to take any photos...lol. Stayed for the weekend, and on Sunday we packed up and went to Erika's house, which she graciously offered so we could do washing and charging of batteries etc.
It has just finished hailing - Erin has never experienced hail, so there's another new experience for her. Way cool..

Red Sands

Deeper into the cave

the earth is round...

Entrance to Wonderwerk Cave

Rock Art - Wonderwerk Cave

Looking back to the entrance from half way

(Andrew) Its been a while... We have been at Red Sands outside Kuruman for a week now, it's really cool here..there are monkeys,buck & horses here among the campsites..staying until after the long weekend. Then we gotta hit the road for the way to Jhb... Not totally looking forward to it as we have been checking the weather reports & Jhb looks very cold compared to where we are & have been.
Its a bit windy here, the night before last blew so hard we had to wind our awning in.. theres loads of paper thorns here, so they have been getting everywhere..in the carpets, blankets, our feet and asses..lol. We went to have a look at the Moffatt Mission the other day(forgot the camera) - it was built around 1850 and is still there as a museum heritage site etc. David Livingstone stayed there for quite a while as well and married the minister's daughter... the church was hand made totally...the beams for the roof are rough-planed, the stones were taken from the surrounding ground & they dug a canal 5km long from The Kuruman Eye(20million litres of water a day from this Eye) to the mission. These were strong, tough people....
Yesterday we went to Wonderwerk Cave..45km south of Kuruman. This natural wonder has been lived in for 800 000years, there is archaealogical digs there with the string grid markers like you see on tv. It used to be a river pouring out of the hillside but the landscape changed and it is underground, possibly linked to Kuruman Eye.. Ancient tools and weapons have been found here.. you can see the surrounding countryside for miles around... the world is round, I saw it curve...lol.
Watched All Blacks cream the Wallabies on Saturday... they looking good for the world cup.

tough work ...

places you never heard of ...

icy Springbok awaiting the cat!

flowers starting ...

one of the massive weavers nests (?)

gives new meaning to 'playing in the traffic...'

this golf keeps following us?

us at a layby to Kuruman

augrabies - low season

hiding out in augrabies

Erin

best friends

Andrew & Erin - Augrabies Falls

Monkey at Red Sands

Sarita & Erin - Augrabies Falls

see ya later...

So Far ...

(Sarita): Left Springbok behind with the wind blowing at us at speed while we plodded along at 80km, not too bad considering we towing a citi behind us. The road was long and after each bend the next stretch of road looked exactly like the last stretch of road. No decent 'padstals' to stop at, although the friendly weaver birds at the laybys made a cute distraction along the way. They all congregate on the fence & check you out and then 1by1 they fly right by your feet to pick up any tit-bits you might throw their way - they got the burn't part of the bread from the night before... LOL! We arrived in Augrabies and took a chance sneaking in the cats... got bust by the park ranger, who was really very decent about it, & we quietly left the next day.  But we did not leave without seeing the falls itself which were not that mighty but nevertheless still amazing, so we shall return in February when the river is in full force  - hopefully without pets!  When we left Augrabies it was the first time on our journey that we were actually doing what we were supposed to be doing - hitting the road with no definite target in mind but a resolve to find us a place to rest our bones for a night or three.

As we drove the clouds threatened some rain but we escaped with only a few drops, if you can call it that.  The cats were getting restless & I was stressing that they would just squat on the floor! OMG surely a furry ball of confusion would have been flung far & wide into the desert only to stop a few kilometers later to clean the mess off our van!!!  Seriously, it took some time to finally find us a place but when we did it was dusk & there was dust! We camped out at Red Sands Lodge outside Kuruman & it is beautifully red! At sunset the hills are a magnificent colour unlike I've ever seen. But enough with that, there are wild animals here! That come right up to our van! Holy crap I feel like a city-slicker! At every camp-site we have encountered some form of 'wild' animals - firstly those beastly cats with their cute little eyes begging for food at every opportunity, then the tribe of monkeys at Augrabies that surrounded our camp site to check out our little lionesses., and now at this place the first night we were welcomed by the sound of jackals howling on the hills & the buck eating his way through the bushes by reception! A monkey stuck his head in Erin's window today & seemed a little more than interested in the kit-kats, especially Peppa.  We will upload some fotos as soon as we get stronger internet signal because at the moment it take almost 30 minutes just to download emails... such is the way, small price to pay for where we are.

So far I speak for us all that we are enjoying the challenge - this is a totally different lifestyle & everyday we are learning new things! A different way of thinking and embracing everyday tasks is taking some getting used to but we are catching on and one really starts to look at what was once considered important is perhaps not so. I admit there is a lack of privacy so you have to find ways to spend me-time so I meditate a lot more than I used to - which is a good thing! & Andrew and Erin read - getting lost in books. Besides all that we generally busy with school and this and that and the other... there always seems to be washing!

Stupid Peppa

(Andrew)Peppa came back this evening..we can leave with happy hearts, provided she doesnt do that again..heres hoping

Springbok..still

(Andrew)We havent moved on today as planned coz our cat Peppa has gone jolling or something..tomorrow sure as the sky is blue and Springbok is cold, she will become a resident here in this cold spot. it must get waaay hot here in summer, though..so tomorrow morning early we gonna be off to Augrabies. We are gonna take a slow one and stop at the padstalletjies etc..didnt ever really think i would see Pofadder but we going thru tomorrow. I hope the stupid cat comes back..