Freedom, Low Flying, Close Calls and a Maiden Voyage

“So there I sat, excited as all hell, and ready to go. My Maiden Voyage, my very first solo road trip! I couldn’t believe it was really happening.”

  I loved the feeling of having the freedom to turn down an interesting looking road, and explore without having someone hounding me about the time.

I stopped at any interesting looking shops. The one was this tiny little shop at South Port with a huge chalk board facing the main road which said “Sayidie’s Farm Stall. Farm Fresh Milk and Fresh Produce” and I just couldn’t resist pulling in and checking it out. As you climb out the car an old world feel hits you like you just jumped through a porthole to the 1950s with the geraniums flowering in pots and hanging baskets outside, and the calico cat sunning herself. You walk inside and can’t quite decide which way to walk first, towards the shelves of home-made preserves and jams, or towards the hay-bale and wicker basket displays of fruit and vegetables, I decided to keep right and work my way around. As you walk a little deeper into the shop, you notice this huge metal tank in the back corner, and for those of us who did our history and know country life (or the older generation) we instantly recognize it as a milk tank! And that milk is indeed irresistible, so back to the car I ran and emptied out one of my water bottles, just to fill it with milk, after all not only was this fresh full cream milk, but it was super cheap too. I ended up enjoying the milk so much (it had an inch of thick cream on top) that on my way home, I stopped and bought 5 liters of it. YUMMY!!! As I walked out, I was amazed to see a fellow walking in with a 25l drum, when asking why he gets so much, he told me it was to make home-made Feta Cheese! Now if only I had listened carefully enough to how he said he makes it.

And then of course my one friend and I went Chinese store hopping in Sheppie to try find a fedora hat, which we didn’t find in any Chinese store, but due to my friend’s good fashion sense and knowledge of various clothing stores, we found at a Jet Mart on markdown from R79 to R20, and at the till I got the awesome surprise that it had been marked even more down to only R10. SCORE!!! So now when I am not wearing my wide brimmed white summery beach hat, or my leather cowboy hat, I’m walking around looking like a female version of Neil Caffery from the White Collar series. And that’s from a girl who has always held onto the belief that I am not a hat wearing kind of person.

 

Then of course was the trip to Oribi, with an old friend and two that just didn’t know they were my friends yet. The jokes and laughter of a car full of friends is always a “Be There Moment”, recounting the jokes and sights just would not be the same if you were not there. But what I can tell you is that when you arrive at the Picnic area and the bottom of Oribi Gorge and are ready to embark on your hike, the Hoopoe Falls hike, as strenuous as this 4-5 hour hike may be is well well worth it. The awe-inspiring cliffs that you are surrounded by, the sometimes clam and sometimes crazy river that you walk along, the cool forests that you pass through are all good reminders that we are but merely small and insignificant human beings. Taking along our costumes and swimming at the bottom of the falls was freezing to say the least (and the moment that I dropped my car keys in the bottom of the river was heart stopping), and taking along food and water was essential. I was severely disappointed that my pictures were all lost when my memory card decided to malfunction mid-hike, however delighted that my friends had taken so many photos and shared them with me. Driving out of Oribi Gorge that evening, we had converted a city boy to hiking, made new friends and memories and were exhausted but content, the sun busy setting behind us as if the gorge itself were saying bon-voyage and come again soon.

On the Sunday I took a relaxed drive home (as you know, also stopping at the farm stall for more milk). I saddens me to see how even on a Sunday afternoon people insist on going at speeds that ought to be considered low-flying, they endanger themselves and all those around them. But you know me, I didn’t quite drive like a granny, but I certainly stayed within the speed limit. And the benefits to that are not only arriving with your life and car intact, but being able to enjoy the scenery. So I can just be glad for the upbringing I have had, to never forget to stop and smell the roses, or whatever other flowers are around.

Have Wheels, Must Travel

 

So what did you do when you got your first car? Perhaps go out clubbing with friends? Or maybe you went to the beach? It could have been that you took it to your friend/grandparents/uncle to show it off? And by now you are asking, what about me?

As you are aware, I have a car and a driver’s license. After about a 3.5yr time period of working my butt off to earn it all myself. Now that I have it though, the bug has bitten. What bug might that be? The bug that reminds me daily that my grandfather whom I never knew was a gypsy, the same bug that bit when I was 15 and went to New Zealand.

I have this thing about travelling! There, I said it. Do I feel better now that its out in the open? NO, actually I don’t. I will only feel better when I am travelling. And yeah, I know it sounds crazy, but every time I do the 80km trip to ‘Maritzburg, or the 600km trip to Jozi, I get super excited. Why? Because I’m travelling, exploring new horizons, seeing new sights, going places!

Which is pretty much why my bedroom is wallpapered with maps. I love google earth, I spend so much time perusing road maps and plotting alternative routes, even if I will never go there. Geography really has always been my passion.

So, now that I have a car, I am itching to travel. And where, you might be asking do I want to travel to? The short answer being, Everywhere and anywhere! For starters I have taken a couple of short road trips that I am sure you would have heard of by now. Especially if you are following Daisy’s Diary.

But, I am going to endeavour to share with you the little fun stops along the way.

The good times

This Post was written on Saturday 21 July 2012

You know, sometimes something in life reminds you that things are never truly that bad, and even when you’re stressed and tired, you ought to look on the positive side of things and find the good in everything, everybody, and every day. Yes, there is indeed the proverbial silver lining to every cloud.

Why have I gone on a rant like this? Well today my get up and go, got up and left me. I have been, to say the least, exhausted and very very negative. And as uninspired to go riding and do my job as ever, I did go anyway. And what did I find?

Well firstly, two adorable young girls who were well behaved and listened to instructions, which was such a relief after the last few rides I have taken with people who think they know everything and are a danger to everyone and everything around them because they refuse to listen to instructions! Then of course was the absolutely lovely day. The beach was quiet, almost low tide, and barely a breeze. And as I rode home through our bush trail, I could of dwelt on the monstrosity of a fuel factory next to me that is obviously polluting the air that we breathe, but I didn’t. Instead I closed my tired eyes and listened to the busy hum of crickets in the bush next to me and the occasional “kukukukuku” of the rain bird, I smelt the fresh green grass as the horses munched on it, and the earthy smell of the stream next to me, I felt the cool winter afternoon gentle breeze on my face as we entered the long shadows from the trees approaching home, and opened my eyes in time to see the flash hof blue as a kingfisher swooped past to his next perch. And I thought to myself, I love life and I love Africa. And I turned the corner to see one of our wonderful and famed African sunsets.

And there you have it, what a wonderful world we live in. I never want to die, I want to live in this world forever and explore every inch of it, I want to get to know everything there is to know about the loving and powerful Creator who gave us the life that I so value. And I just hope that somehow I can thank him in a way fitting for this gift we have.

Welcome to Deepest, Darkest Africa

Sometimes life gives us something to laugh about and sometimes it gives us something to cry about. My thoughts are enjoy the good times while they last, laugh hard and often, and when the bad times arrive endure them because it just makes you that much stronger. But remember, the tears are not always tears of pain, sometimes they are tears of laughter.

And today, I have something to laugh about, well actually it happened yesterday, but I thought I would share it with you today. As I am sure you know, the south African school holidays are our busiest times and over the last 2 or so weeks we have been very busy with work. And as you know our work is Horse Riding on the beach.

So our story is about yesterday’s ride, we had a group of three tourists from Holland, one who had a little previous experience, and two who had never ridden before. Now, we are not situated on the beach, we have to ride to the beach. So yesterday as we come up over the rise, around a clump of bushes into view of the beach, I nearly ride into a bare butt! And by that I mean some guy visiting from the rurals up country who’s come to the beach with no swimming clothes and gone skinny dipping. He just happened to be redressing and his oasie wife also stark naked and hurriedly trying to dress next to him. She turns around to me, and in the heaviest zulu mixed with boereman accent starts saying “ooh sooory ooh soory”, at which I just laugh and look away. But then behind me appears a 50yr old Holland tourist on horseback, and the “ooh soory”s start even more, and the lady on the horse behind me starts trying to say “its ok, no its ok”. I’m really starting to hurt from my laughing uncontrollably. But then, lo and behold, along pops another tourist on a horse, this time a teenage boy. Well, the bare butt that I had seen earlier was already dress by now, a bit shabby, but I am very sure he was worried about yet another woman popping around the corner. Not so much luck for the oasie who was battling to get her underwear without the use of a towel, she’d only just managed to get the undies on and was trying to figure out which side of her dress was the top. And then the wind picked up. So this teenage boy looks to where the commotion is coming from, and I’m sure he thought he was blind after the sight of the nearly naked 200kg oasie who’s still profusely saying “ooh soory ooh sorry” almost in tune to some modern rap song, he went blood red with embarressment. But the thing is, right then I’m not sure who got the biggest fright, the oasie, the teenage boy, or the horse. Because a great big gust of wind came and yanked the dress that oasie nearly had over her head, right out of her hands and straight towards the horse like a boogie man about to eat her, and boy did that little horse run for her life from the boogieman dress. I think the poor kid on board was so distracted by the blinding sight of the nearly naked 200kg oasie that he didn’t expect his horse to run, and he came off after about 3 strides.

And all I could do is cry with laughter at the whole situation. I know I shouldn’t, but if you don’t agree with me that was funny, why are you reading this? On the good side, the kid wasn’t hurt, and his falling provided the oasie the needed distraction to get her dress on before anyone else saw her nearly nakedness. And of course I leapt off and between my gasps for air from the histerical laughter managed to get the boy back on.

Oh well I guess that’s a real “Welcome to deepest darkest Africa” moment.

My Car, and an attempt at copying Michelangelo

I recently got a car, YAY!!! I got a 2000 model 1300 Toyota Tazz, Its got aircon (thank goodness), radio, anti-hijacking, central locking and a pile of other little extras that are awesome to have on my own first car. But, and yes of course there is always a ‘but’, there were a few things that are/were in need of repair before I can get it through the Roadworthy test. In SA, and I am sure elsewhere too, you are required to take your vehicle through a Roadworthy test before you can get it onto your name.

The list was the alternator bearings (well that was more for my own safety than the RW), the headlights were working but the brights were not, the one tail light, a couple of rust spots, the ceiling (or what car people call the hood lining), the one back door would not open, and lastly some ring seals somewhere in the engine (no I don’t remember what it’s called) need to be replaced because its making a cloud of smoke when we start it.
So began an adventure to get my car going. Although my grandfather is a mechanic, and I do call myself a tomboy, my knowledge of cars is (embarrassingly) very limited. And since Gramps is on the other side of the world, I “Daddy”ied and googled my way through as much DIYing as I can.

We started with a basic service that my dad taught me how to do, changing the air filter, the fuel filter, oil change and oil filter. My grandpa told us that we could leave the sparkplugs since they’re not giving issues at the moment, so we left them well enough alone.
Fortunately my father has a lot of electrical knowledge, and after spending a few hours on Google we found a wiring diagram for the car. So my dad took the whole steering column apart, sheesh that did scare me to see my new baby in pieces, but he found the fault with the headlights bright setting and got everything back together. Then he fixed the tail light. And if I had not been heavily ill with the flu last week I would have stuck my nose in while he took out the Alternator. He decided that changing the bearings was a little bit out of his expertise, so we took it to an auto-electrician that we had been recommended to, and it only cost R300 (score for cheapness). Dad got it back in with no probs.

So that’s 3 things down, and 4 to go. I tried my hand at taking apart the one back door that’s giving issues. It was fun, much like a jigsaw puzzle. So we got that open and discovered that it was in fact the central locking mechanism in that particular door that had ceased, so dad whipped it out, and we put the door back together again. Memo to self, always hand lock that door. One door without central locking is actually not such an issue.

4 problems down, 3 to go. Next item on the agenda was the ceiling or hood lining that had fabric hanging down. Now apparently if the fabric is sagging, it can protrude into y our driving vision and potentially is a hazard, therefore it needs to be glued backup or replaced or you cannot pass the RW test. So yay say I, another jigsaw puzzle! I googled replacing the hood lining, and found that it should be a fairly easy job, especially with a hatch back. Apparently the reason that car ceilings start to sag is because the foam rubber underneath the fabric has disintegrated. So there I start unclipping the things that hold the ceiling up, (I could kick myself for not taking a ‘before’ photo), and in the process we pulled the fabric off. It turns out what holds the fabric up is a board, the back (part of the board that touches the roof of the car) is made of cardboard, and the front (part that faces down towards the passengers) is a kind of fiberglass. Once the board was out, we had to get rid of the remains of the foam rubber before trying to glue on a new fabric. So there we start washing off the foam rubber and old glue to reveal a yellowish orange fiberglass board. And my mom pops up with an idea, why should we try gluing on a fabric that will only come off in a few years time, why not just paint the board?

Hmmm, now that idea really tickles my fancy as I already want to personalize my car as much as I can. So into the workshop we go to try find some lilac paint, we found some deep dusty blue, and some baby pink which we mixed about a cup full to get this beautiful pale lilac base colour which we gave two coats of (and didn’t even finish the cup of paint!). Once that had dried, the artist in me took over and I just had to paint something on this lovely open canvas. So, as the picture shows, I painted it. The top photo is the board before I put it into the car. The other photos are once it was already in the car.

So, I am very proud of the Michelangelo impressionist that I did in my car. And now there are only 2 things left that are in need of doing before I can get it on my name, the valve stem seals (I remembered what the name of the thing causing the smoke is called), and the rust removal. Whoohoo!