SOUTH AFRICA
30 January 2010, Day 1, Melkbosstrand to Citrusdal [by Denis]
Best described as entirely chaotic, with a wonderful respite at Bev and Tevor Sunshine's. We were camping in our house, now devoid of furniture, still sorting and moving mounds of clutter. Busy until 2 a.m this morning, and with the life-saving assistance of Caron (Holdsworth) and Bev, the house was almost packed and stored. Up again at 6, it took us until 11h30 to empty and clean up the house, and pack the bakkie. Naturally, the bakkie was too small for everything we had to pack, so randomly stuffed bags of allsorts went into Caron's car. Caron was going along with us up to Springbok, so we were very lucky to have another few days' grace to sort out the packing en-route! In the midst, the McCann's arrived to move into the house. We hope that Alex, Cherise and their 3 lovely children enjoy the house as much as we have. I could introduce them to Didi, whom I know has a wonderful family to live with.
From 11:30 we met friends at our departure point in Melkbosstrand. The boys could say farewells to their friends, and we were touched that they took the effort out of their own busy schedules to come and see their friends off (thanks to the Kannemeyers, Sherlocks, Twycross'). Similarly to our friends and family in CT - the Starcks, Smithers', van der Hoeven's, Hilary Wilmot, Jenny Botha, Johan, Sensei Jonathan (Jonathan: Noah did not recognise you without the gie and only later realized that you had said goodbye to him!).
During the past few months we have been able to see most of our Cape Town friends, but even so, ran out of time to spend time with everyone. We hope to connect to all through this journal.
We were so tired by the rime we left, that we considered to make our first stop at Ou Skip Caravan Park in Melkbosstrand. Instead, we dropped in at the Sunshines at Atlantic Beach (also not too far) for a few hours Rest & Recuperation, which included a lovely lunch, and hour's sleep for me, and space to unwind.
We finally left Melkbos at about 4pm, and headed for the Baths in Citrusdal. We got there after a stop at Piketberg Spur, at about 9pm, and booked into Hazel's B&B ( a lovely alternative to the accommodation at the Baths. Hazels is run by the owners of the farm). Michelle and Caron crashed, and I joined the boys for a late night soak in the hot pool under a full moon.
31 January 2010, Day 2, Citrusdal to Strandfontein [Denis]
First phase repacking started, and we shed many unnecessary things (these all went into Caron's boot to return to Cape Town!). Another swim, some lunch and then we left for Strandfontein under the malicious guidance of our haughty GPS lady, Margaret. A right cow she is. Nevertheless, she successfully took us to Strandfontein on the less traveled route. Camp A at Strandfontein is a beautiful spot right on the beach, and here we set up camp for the first time. The new tent was up in no time, and we left in search of food. Here my mistake was to head for Lamberts' Bay (40km's). The park officer told us it should take about half an hour. Yeah, right. More than an hour of corrugation, and a blown indicator circuit later, we arrived in Lamberts' Bay which was 'TOE'. Isabella's kindly did some toasties for us before we took a less harrowing route back, sans indicators and spotlights. Noah shared the cab to the sounds of Meatloaf, Alice Cooper and Bryan Adams.
　
1 February 2010, Day 3, Strandfontein to Vredendal [Denis]
Packing again. Today we headed straight for Vredendal to attend to the wayward circuit. Arriving in Vredendal, we found a Wimpy and then an auto-electrician (priorities). The outlook was glum and we were told that the problem would take a day to fix. I 'phoned a friend' (Pieter J Coetzee), who had some circuit problems at work, as it turns out), for advice on accommodation in Vredendal. We got to book into the River Lodge, into a very nice chalet, and UNPACKED before I dropped Bigfoot off at the auto-electrician. Not to waste time, we set about getting some dollars from the bank, doing essential shopping and sorting our stuff to separate out more junk. Caron, meanwhile had gone ahead to Springbok (where we were meant to stay) to work, and then had to return to Vredendal to spend the last evening with us. I repacked trunks etc, and now we are getting some efficiency. One's attitude, and my language, deteriorate when looking for some basic item like a phone charger requires unpacking half a bakkie.
Yet another Spur.
NAMIBIA
2 February 2010, Day 4, Vredendal (S.A) to Grunau (Namibia) [by Noah]
The only reason I can write this day is because I am using my dad's laptop.
Today we headed straight from the River Lodge to Springbok and then to the border.
We left the River lodge to what we thought was going to be our last Wimpy meal for the year and our last meal with Caron.
We then left to Caron's work further on in Vredendal where we said our last goodbye for the year.
We then left on our longest drive so far to Springbok. It was a boring long drive which there was not much to talk about.
We then arrived in Springbok after a long tiring drive and had dinner at Nando's.
Then it was time for the journey to really begin as we were heading to the border.
But with incidents like "the bakkie" incident things could "only get better" because we stopped to fill up with petrol.
So what happened....peeeeeeeeeeoooooooooooowwwwwww.
Then - a POWER SURGE!!!!!!!!
There goes my computer!
I could not believe it and there was literally nothing we could do and the computer was showing absolutely no signs of life when I pressed the power button it had absolutely no response.
But we couldn't deal with it right now so we drove and drove and drove and drove and FINALLY....."I see lights wait, no, hold on, yes the BORDER!!!!!!!!!"
I could not believe it we had arrived.
So we got through the borders and then into Namibia and just when I thought we had left all SA what restaurant do we pull up at...........THE WIMPY!!!!!!!
I could not believe it, it was a miracle!!!
But there was nothing special about it.
And then finally we got into the car at 12:40 and this was it we had finally started the journey!!!!!
3 February 2010, Day 5, Namibia - Grunau to Hardap Dam, Mariental [Noah]
Well was last night tiring and was it hard to wake up this morning, some people might be wondering why my last entry ended the way it did and I have a very good answer to that and that is that that is how I ended last night, during the drive I fell asleep.
But this morning I woke up in a lovely chalet and it wasn't easy to wake up.
So this morning was mainly focused on finding a HP representative in Namibia to fix my laptop.
10:00
My dad has made all the calls he needed to to find that out and now we need to take detour to Windhoek so we can have it repaired.
This morning though was also the first day of filming.
So we are going to Windhoek via Hardap.
About 12:00
We arrived at a spectacular area known as the Quiver tree forest.
Well I never like to use this word but it was beautiful!!
And there should be footage of it on my blog soon, but unfortunately we couldn't spend much time there.
And now I am not being sarcastic it just got better as we drove past the extinct volcano which was also magnificent!!!
But after that the drive was quite dull.
Then at around 09:00 pm, we arrived at the Hardap dam resort, but that was also just amazing (the biggest dam in Namibia) and it's huge!!!
Unfortunately I can't say much more as I was still tired after last night and when I got onto my bed I just died.
　
4 February 2010, Day 6, Mariental to Windhoek [Noah]
Today was so nice because it was short, we woke up early this morning and went to look at the dam and it was beautiful (the pics I took will be on)
But what made it so much better was that we were literally the only people there so it was dead silence.
When we left it was the shortest drive so far of 3 hours and then arrived at the Chameleon Lodge in Windhoek.
And it is like the oasis of the holiday.
1:00
My parents left to take my PC into to be repaired and I was actually scared to let it go because I was scared my data would be lost.
5:00
My parents got back and thank goodness my data is safe but my mother board is STUFFED!!!
The guy who is fixing it is from Joburg and if he had had a motherboard I would've had my computer back today but unfortunately he didn't. He should have one by next week and he's going to ship it off to where ever we are, so that was the highlight especially that my data is safe.
Any way there was nothing left to say about today.
Oh wait no I just remembered that we went to this restaurant (Joe's Pub) and you can see the pics we took (and we weren't allowed to)
But this place was weird but they made good food but back to the weirdness we sat on toilets!!!!(see pics)
And they are full for about 9 months of the year and guess how many people it takes.............OVER 700!!!!!!!!!!
So that place is crazy!!!!!!
　
5 February 2010, Day 7, Windhoek [Noah]
Today was a day of work, work(but I didn't do much ha,ha,ha,ha)
Today we had to do all the catching up of work and setting up the ning page.
Basically what I did today was update my journal, set up ning and finish some Social Science.
My mind is really hurting now because I don't only want to write this amount for today but I don't know what to write.
Oh but wait I just remembered, this evening at dinner we were talking to Dean because we didn't think he had showered but he said he did.
So I started leaning forward on the two front legs of my chair "did you shower huh huh.." and then my chair slipped backwards and in this restaurant in front of lots of people I fell very painfully right on my coccyx and it was SORE!!!!!
But that's the only interesting thing that happened today.
SORRY
6 February 2010, Day 8, Windhoek to Swakopmund [Michelle]
Last night we had supper at a recommended Italian restaurant in Windhoek. What incredible food and a lovely atmosphere. The place was packed and then we realized that it was Friday evening. Like in South Africa everyone seems to eat out on a Friday evening. We took our atlas and some of the boys school work and had a full on lesson on scale and lines of longitude and latitude. The old man sitting next to us was quite intrigued. Dean and Noah were heatedly discussing some irrelevant point when Noah, trying to get his point across, in the most animated way, fell off his chair with a crash. This stopped the whole restaurant and everyone looked at us to see what really had happened. So we have made an entrance, we then decided to eat our food and make a quick escape.
Denis has really been battling with a horrible flu like bug for the last two days and just went home to sleep and the boys went swimming, I caught up on a bit of washing and writing and when the boys returned from the pool they kept me laughing with impersonations of the other foreigners at the bar. At 11:30 we thought we should finally get to sleep.
On awaking early we had all done our journals up to date and bought lots of internet time to do the uploads. However as luck would have it "Ning" had taken down their systems and we could not get access. Denis however managed to get the map back onto the "OFFEXPLORING" site. We finally left Windhoek at about 12. The drive from Windhoek to Swakopmund is about 317 kilometers and we decided to take the gravel road. Wow, what a drive. It took us about 6 hours. The experience was worse than going on those monster roller coasters "Fire and Ice" at Universal Studios. However, for those of you who know Denis, and his love of driving in foreign environments will know that he really enjoyed every moment of this long and scary drive. The change in the vegetation from Windhoek to Swakopmund is amazing. Windhoek is almost bushveld like and because it is its rainy season, very green. The change is subtle and soon one is driving amongst never ending hills for as far as the eye can see. The green bushes become less and less and suddenly one is only looking at brown sandy floors with randomly scattered rocks. This is the Namib dessert at its best. A lunar landscape takes over and then the blue of the ocean starts to take shape on the horizon. It is eerily beautiful and seemingly never ending. After this very long drive in blistering heat the emergence of the town of Swakopmund was a sobering one.
The lonely planet guide suggests the Desert Sky Backpackers. We decided to camp there as the rooms available only had shared bathroom facilities. We set up our tent and were constantly hounded by their array of animals. A pug who really had difficulty breathing, a new kitty who just needed to play and two old, big, bossy boot cats. Once our tent was up we took a walk into the town. We had been in Swakopmund last 17 years ago. I remember thinking it was a really drab place to which I had no desire to return. However, walking around the town, we were pleasantly surprised. It seems to have undergone a massive face lift and some colour has been added. It is a really a cool town which now seems dominated by the 'extreme' desert sports. This draws a younger crowd (like us) in search of adventure and excitement. We had supper at the Spur (just like every other one in SA) however, here it was Dean"s turn to embarrass us all, by knocking over his large Strawberry milkshake. We then tried in vain to mop up about 40 litres of thick strawberry milkshake with two Spur serviettes. At last we were rescued by a waitress who brought a whole roll of paper towel. After supper we had a pleasant walk through the rest of the town and a lovely sleepy.
　
7 February 2010, Day 9, Swakopmund, Dune Boarding [Michelle]

We woke up early this morning to an overcast day. Denis had gotten up early invigorated once again now that his flu had finally left him. He had booked us to take the boys sand boarding in the large dunes just outside Swakopmund. We made a quick breakfast in the communal kitchen and the little bus fetched us. We were accompanied by some Germans and Americans. A quick drive to the dunes where we met about 30 other keen boarders and spectators. The boys had a ball when they were kitted out with all their gear and then instructed on how to board. I think they found it quite easy as their j-boarding and surfing experience helps a little. It was amazing to see how some of the German and Swiss guys, who are all good snow boarders but who have never sand boarded before, had no problem in adjusting to a new medium. Some of them did amazing jumping from a specially built ramp - incredible to see at such close range. The walk to these dunes is a task on its own and takes at least half an hour. Dean was exhausted as after every ride they need to walk all the way back up the long dune wearing these heavy boots and carrying the sand board. After the session one walks all the way back down to where the cars were left and a fresh lunch and drinks await you. A really good day was had by all and we were invited back to the operators offices at 6 the evening to what a DVD that they had made of the mornings sand boarding. Tired and very dirty we returned to our campsite… to be met by the fact that the owners cats (or more precisely the little kitten) had gone berserk after we had left and had torn our new tent with its claws… 3 big holes in the mosquito part of the roof. (a slight problem when you are traveling through mosquito ridden Africa). We were all a bit shocked and when I approached the German owner (who I might add was the most miserable woman to start with, her approach was "what do you want me to do!) and pointed out that her cats had never done this before. She stormed off after getting very aggressive with us and telling us all she could do was have her cats put down, to book in some new unsuspecting German girls, who has stated putting up these lovely new tent. We decided that we would rather take down our tent and move to another place , as we needed to leave to watch the sand boarding video at 6 and could not risk leaving our tent unattended with the cats around. She came storming out and then told us she was waiting for her daughter to come home and what did we want her to do. Which was nothing, as nothing could be done and we had only made her aware of the problem. We were now sitting with the real big problem of going through Africa with a tent which could not keep the mosquitoes out. When I approached reception to pay and check us out she then shouted that all us South African are the same. She knows as she has been running the backpackers for 10years…..etc, etc… I just walked away (thinking many obscenities I could say) but decided that walking away, which has been my life lesson for the last year, still needed to be practiced.
We went to watch the DVD which was great fun and very well put together and then booked into the Municipal Rest Camp at the start of the town. Denis and I stayed here 17 years ago, but were amazingly surprised at how this had also been revamped and loved our hut which we rented for only R60.00 more that what was charged for camping in that "happy" German lady's backyard. So once again all is well that ends well.
We have just had a wonderful braai made by Dean and some laughs around the small, but cozy kitchen table and are now catching up with correspondence.
We have decided to stay another day in Swakopmund as we will again try and get our postings done and up to date tomorrow morning. Dean also wants to visit the biggest Gem museam, "Kristall Galerie" in the world, believe it or not, right here in Swakopmund!

　
Day 10 Swakopmund again (7 February 2010)

We were awoken this morning with hard rain on our little house's roof. As we lay warmly tucked up in our beds we were happy that the whole scenario had played out yesterday and that we were not still in our tent. It rained for about 3 hours and when we finally got up to make breakfast the rain had stopped but the day is a cloudy and overcast on. Not cold, just grey. Actually a very nice day for traveling, but we are not traveling to day as we decided to book in for another night here and get our comms working!!!