Up and Down Dune 45

We spent most of the day driving to dune 45 in Sossuvlei, when we got to it we walked up it- what a killer- and watched the sunset from up there. Then John and I went down the steepest part of the dune, it's not that we were trying to be adventurous it just looked like so much hard work to come back down the way we came up. We were running down bits of it… lots of fun! That night we lost the electricity when we were showering, luckily I had finished and was dressed again. Jo on the other hand had been brave and showered in the shower where a grasshopper was but she was keeping a close eye on him and when the lights went out and she couldn't see it she totally freaked out and started shouting for help- bless her it was so funny! The powercut also caused John some distress as we couldn't find the bar and were wandering round and round for ages- we got there in the end and he got his beer- yay!

The next day we were up at 5.00 to go on a tour to Dead Vrei- a part of the Namib Desert. Our guide was a crazy Japanese lady, Uri- she was mint, dead enthusiastic and just ran round everywhere. She taught us lots about bugs and animal tracks in the desert and other desert related facts. Then she finished up with a canny little story about the differences between men and women. She drove us back to the truck in a pick up where we all hung on for dear life as she bombed over the bumps in the road! After this we drove to a gorge which we all went for a swim in- John went in a while before me and ended up on a rock climbing adventure over a waterfall with Dale. It sounded pretty scary so I'm glad I didn't go in with them! Swimming in the gorge was cool- the rocks either side of you were massive and the water was so so cold which was a god send in the 52 degrees weather! That night we stayed at a lovely little camp site which had the cutest cats running around and I joined John's cooking group and we made a lush chilli with sour cream and we had bought what claimed to be tortilla chips but were in fact quavers- it kinda worked though!

Fun in the Cannyon and Burned Out Cars

The next day we headed for Fish River Canyon, only second to the Grand Canyon. It looked amazing, really old and massive. We cooked omelettes and chips here to get the cooking over with, a storm hit just as food was being served, it was wicked at the same time in the sky there was a sunset a rainbow and lightening! That night Dale got his wicked way again and we bush camped, our tent was the hottest place ever-yak. When we got up in the morning there were 2 guys asleep on the other side of the road- random given that we were in the middle of the desert! It turned out there car had caught fire and was completely burned out and they had walked for 30ks before they found us so they slept there for the night and we gave them a lift to the nearest lodge so they could sort themselves out. We found there car later on that day- to say it was a right off would be a small under statement and (as you do) we all piled into it and got some photos in it- we all got really dirty but it was fun!

There was a really fancy resort on the way called Ais-Ais springs but it is in the process of being revamped and because of this they let us come in for free so we had our brekkie by the river and then played in the hot springs. I don't think we could afford to stay there so it was cool we got to see the hot springs! After this we carried on for a few hours till we got to a small river and we all went to dip our feet in but we ended up soaking after we all had a water fight in it. That day we drove and drove and drove… crossed the border into South Africa and drove and drove and drove some more. No body wanted to bush camp again so we were pleading with Dale to find a camp site, every time he stopped to attempt to camp there we all hung out of the window and shouted for him to keep driving! At one point we could see signs for a campsite but there was nothing was there and when we slowed down to check it out the locals shouted aggressively at us… needless to say we kept driving! After about another hour it was dark and we were beginning to give up hope and then we struck gold… a campsite… woo hoo! So we got a shower and had a lush tea!The camp site had the teeniest kitten running around and two other dogs. One of the dogs only had one eye as the big cat had scratched it out when she was a puppy, she was dead timid and would chase you for ages and then when you tried to stroke her she would bark and run away. John and I treat ourselves to a bacon butty in the morning and then we said goodbye to all of the animals and set off to Stellenbosch.