Luderitz to Swakopmund: Lovely Luderitz; Over and Aus; and Been There, Dune That!

Luderitz turned out to be a unique and beautiful spot. Next time, we won't be so quick to judge a place. Although we were only there for one night, we spent the following day driving along the coastal area just below Ludertiz. We saw a wide variety of birds (Greater Flamingoes, Whimbrel, Ruddy Turnstone, South African Shelduck and Hartlaubs Gulls), loads of seals and breath-taking views of the Atlantic Ocean and surrounding dunes.

It was a wildly windy day and when we had seen all that we had planned to see, we headed back inland for about 90km's, fighting against a strong side-wind to a place called Klein Aus Vista just before the town of Aus.

Set in a rocky valley, the campsites were the best we've ever stayed at with each site having a huge tree for shade, tap and dustbin right next to tree and reed fences for privacy. Despite this gem of a place, we had a terrible nights sleep. Galeforce wind blew the pegs of our tents awning out of the ground, resulting in a 1mX1m flapping piece of canvas tirelessly beating the sides of our tent. Despite Grant's numerous efforts to re-attach said flapping canvas, we had no luck and therefore not much sleep. We packed up that morning with rather grumpy faces (and moods) and drove about 400km's to Sesriem. We found a great campsite with a swimming pool and booked to stay there for two nights. The next day we woke up at 4am to pack up our tent (it's still taking us around 45 minutes- novices!) and headed off to the great Sossousvlei. We arrived at the gate just before 6am and about 4th in line. Within minutes the queue had grown to around 30 vehicles. Feeling rather chuffed with ourselves for our prime queue position, we whizzed through the gates, following the three cars ahead of us to the second gate, only to be informed that we needed a permit, which it seemed all the other 30 odd cars had prior arranged. So, very sheepishly, we turned around, got the permit and headed to Dune 45. The further you drive in the Sossousvlei Park, the more you are quietened by the huge, perfectly formed red dunes surrounding you. They really are something to behold. We parked next to Dune 45, had a quick muesli breakfast and then walked up the dune. Being on top of a huge dune feels like you are on top on the world. We had a great time just sitting in the sand, taking in the view and then ran down in big leaping steps. We then drove on to the end of the park, parked Michael and walked to Dead Vlei, a flat salt pan with dead trees, surrounded by red dunes.

Once we'd seen/walked/sweated enough we drove back to our campsite and spent the rest of the day reading by the pool and then tackled our first clothes hand-washing session. All in all, a great day. We packed up camp this morning and drove 350km's to Swakopmund. En Route we passed through the small town of  Solataire where we endulged in some of Moose McGregor’s world famous apple pie. We also crossed the Tropic of Capricorn on our pursuit north.

We will be staying in Swakopmund for two nights and plan to book our stay at Etosha, buy a few odds and ends and do some sight-seeing.

Summary:Meals- Tomato and garlic pasta, Vienna Sossousvlei (basically, a mushy mix of chopped up viennas, cous-cous and tomato and onion mix).
Road trip tunes- Jesus Culture, Johnny Clegg, Yossou Ndour and Leeland

Week One Musings:
Well, we have made it through the first week! We are settling in to this life-style quite well, but at first felt quite home-sick and bewildered.

Mwenye moyo wa furaha humzaidia raha (Swahili)
The person who has a cheerful heart will discover that joy is always on the increase.

Taking the above proverb to heart, (thanks Craig and Nads), whenever we start to grumble about some of the 'challenges' (if you could call them that), we are trying to view them positively. So here is a list of  'challenges' and our alternative approach.

'Challenge': Many, many flies. 
'Treat': Flies provide great entertainment. Counting many you can kill with fly-swat, seeing Grant fratically  occlude one nostril and blow snot and fly out of his nose, mid-mouthful of coffee... the list goes on.

'Challenge': Extreme heat

'Treat': Sweating is a great way to detox.

'Challenge': Wild wind.                                               

'Treat': Clothes dry within seconds.

Things Ange has learnt:
- To toughen up and not be such a sissie.
- Don't spend too long in the bathroom when Grant wants to move the car mid-camp-set-up. Otherwise, he will do it on his own and drive over awning poles. Result: very funny-looking squished awning poles, but very unhappy husband.
- To create edible(?) concoctions from non-perishables.
- Icy, slushy Oros is the best drink in the world (hey Ands? :-)).

Things Grant has learnt:
- The Land Cruiser is not dust-proof, in fact, i think it is able to suck dust into the cabin.
- Roof-top tents are ball-aches.
- Corrugation must be the 8th wonder of the world. Man has invented a rocket to take us into space and to the moon, but is unable to solve the problem of corrugated roads.
- Aus is German for “Very Windy”
- You eat an elephant one piece at a time.
- Ang actually likes beer.

Springbok to Luderitz: Finding our feet

We set off from Cape Town on Wednesday and stayed over in Springbok at Springbok Caravan park before heading over the border to Namibia. We were glad to finally be off and get the trip underway. After stocking up on petroleum for our thirsty beast we drove the final 120 km out of South Africa. The first border crossing was not as eventful as we thought it may be, the only excitement coming when we searched for someone to sign our Carnet that we had paid so much for in South Africa. Finally we got it signed and stamped and we crossed over the mighty Orange River into the first country of our journey. Yes please!

The first stop was at the Ai-Ais National Park (Ai-Ais Hot Springs Resort), the place with the big canyon. Being novices at the overlanding thing we were quite nervous about just rocking up at the campsite without booking. To our unbelief they were totally cool with it. Perhaps one only needs to book fancy restuarants in Sandton, other places you can just rock up. So we pitched our tent (or unfolded it) and erected the very cool awning (Dad it looks freakin awesome) and made for the pool. At this point I should inform you that Ai-Ais means Hot water and that is what the pool was....hot. So after our swim/bath we relaxed at the pool enjoying a beverage. Here we also got a taste of the overland trucks, but not as bad as everyone makes out though (what i think Grant means is that we both secretly enjoyed being able to people-watch from behind our sunglasses and from the safety of our deck chairs :-)).

The next day we headed north to Hobas campsite and got a chance to get a glimpse of the Fish River Canyon. At Hobas we found a cold pool and swimmimg and reading took up most of the afternoon. Just before sunset we grabbed sundowners and made for the view point. As the sight of the Canyon comes into sight you think your eyes are decieving you. In front of us was a huge rift in the flat surroundings. It really is something to marvel at. After building our rock cairn, a toast to an awesome bit of creation, we settled down to our sundowners. Another awesome day in Africa.

Next to visit was Luderitz. We didn't know much about it and did not know what to expect. The road to the small west coast town gradually turned from scrub land to pure desert where nothing seems to live. Once in Luderitz we were surprised that this small town attracts so many tourists, as it has very little to offer, or were we wrong? We decided to check out the only budget accommodation in the town, Luderitz Backpackers and settled for a small room, which is perfect, but we are not getting used to it as we know our real room is on top of Michael. We will stay here tonight and head off tomorrow morning. We hope to be in Sesriem, home to the Sossusvlei, in a couple of days and then.....well we have not planned that far ahead yet.

SUMMARY:

Topics of conversation:

How Canyons are formed; How does one get the Joburger out of a Joburger?How should one drive on a gravel road? Are we crazy?

Roadtrip music: Phil Collins Greatest Hits "Su su Sudio!"

Meals: Springbok slaai (don't ask), boerewors and cous-cous, chicken, rice and chakalaka.

Lessons learnt: Don't forget can opener next time.

Good-bye Cape Town!

We are officially heading off up the West Coast of SA today. Michael had his wheel-bearings checked and tightened (i think) this morning and we should be off within the next hour or so. We plan to spend the night in Honderklipbaai and then cross into Namibia tomorrow morning.

We have had a great time here in CT. While Grant and Dad worked hard on the car, i spent my days having long tea-chats with my Mom and sisters, swims in the pool, throwing balls for the dogs, and stroking the cats (four of them!). Tough life! I did eventually get my act together and did a big grocery shop yesterday, updated our ipod with new music as well as some other bits and pieces. So we are all set. We'll add some pics and more detailed updates once we are in Namibia. But, bye for now!

Minor Surgery For Michael and The False Start

As Ang eluded to in the last post we had a little scare regarding Michael's brakes. It appears that the brakes were not checked as part of the major service I had done in November. An oversight? or perhaps stopping before you plummett off a rocky pass in the middle of nowhere is not as important as I once thought. So I got the brakes sorted in Joburg two day before we left. Due to the fact that these should have been checked, I decided to book Michael in for a quick once over here in Cape Town. So on Saturday he had his under parts thoroughly checked by Jim, but he likes it when I call him "Big Jim".

Big Jim discovered that, although most things were in good order, there was some play in the rear prop shaft and that the universal joints would need to be replaced. A few weeks ago I would not have been able to compose that last sentence as I did not know what those parts did, but the last couple of days have been an education. So for those of you who are not familiar with the terminology, we basically needed to replace the cross thing on the pole that spins very fast underneath the car and makes it go forward. I left Big Jim's place a little deflated and knowing the next day was a Sunday we would have to delay our first border crossing in to Namibia by a few days.

So, today, myself and my father in-law, Norman, sprung into action like a well-oiled machine that would have made the mechanics on the Dakar Rally proud. We managed to get the propshaft off and into the workshop by 10:00 and also managed to get some bushes for the stabiliser bars from Toyota too. At 15:00 the chaps from Propshaft Engineering had finished with the propshaft and it was as good as new. Again the team of Halland and Beringer sprung into action and had the propshaft fitted in half an hour. I am now proud to say that Michael has a clean bill of health and is not only trip ready but bullet proof ( a comment I may regret at a later stage, but man, am I chuffed). It is probably a good time to mention that the bulk of the work was done by Norman but I was always there under the car (on top of a carefully laid out sarong) encouraging him and passing the all important number 13 spanner. What a team!

So although we have delayed our departure by a few days I am glad that we have made 100% sure that the car is sorted and it gives me peace of mind that we have done all we could to ensure a smooth ride. We also managed to do a few other things here in Cape Town that will save us a bit of time later. We got dollars, fitted all the Gas holders and jerry can holders, modified the tent and a few other things. So all is looking good for an early start on Wednesday.

Cheers from Cape Town.

The excitement arrives!

We are finally on the road! The surreal feeling we have had regarding this trip for the last few weeks has been replaced with excitement, disbelief, overwhelm-ness and a fair bit of anxiety. Are we really doing this?!

After much crazed packing, organising and last minute work on Michael's brakes, we have left JHB (6th Jan)and are on route to Cape Town. As we drove across a rain-soaked South Africa, with space stretching out in every direction, the excitement continued to increase. The thought of having space, space and more space for 6 months is amazing and we feel so blessed to be able to embark on this adventure. In the build-up to leaving Jozi, we were blown-away by the excitement and encouragement of our friends and family. We were showered with sms's, phone-calls, good-bye visits, handy gifts for the trip, books to read, as well as delicious Indian food brought to us the night before our departure. We are so lucky to have such wonderful people in our lives, we love you guys!!

At the last minute, we decided to split the journey in two, which turned out to be a very good idea. We stayed over in Hanover, at Hanover Lodge and Hotel... i know, the city-slicker in us is still very much around. After a long sleep and a great breakfast we were on the road again to CT.

CT holds some family time as well as a few more last minute to-do's. We hope to head off to our first border-crossing in Namibia by Monday the 10th January.