Home to Magoebaskloof – 392Km
First day as always does not spell anything exciting. It is all about getting out there and away from the city. We are in no real rush since we are doing just over 300km on reasonably good roads. Due to our late start of 9 am the traffic has subsided a bit so it was easy going. True to city driving you have assholes all around you. There is one in front , one behind, one to the left and one to the right. But Izabel reminds me that there is no use in getting annoyed, you have to grit your teeth and keep your cool. She is a clever girl.
The one thing that stuck was the fact that it was not as dirty and run down as we’d have thought. We are very biased towards Northern, Eastern and Western Cape and it is nice to experience this. People seem to take pride in what they have, even if it is very little. Then I had another one of my rare epiphanies – everything is relative. Riding through a small village with only gravel streets and a tin shack you find a sign that uses the word ‘hope’. My immediate response to this would always be ‘Hope? What hope?’. But their hope is relative to their situation, not mine. Their wealth and struggles are relative to what they have, not what I might have.
Walking roadblocks become more frequent since there are no fences, so you have to be vigilant and be prepared for an impromptu stop at any moment. While we are not flying along, we never are, we make good time and we reach Haenertsburg just after 2 pm. Just in time for a late lunch before we check in at our overnight stop. It is here that I start thinking about everything I’ve forgotten back home.
I’m normally quite good with my packing but this time around I left a few small items at home, luckily all nice to-haves. But since we were near a supermarket I figured I’d go and see if they have an electrical extension lead. Not crucial but it makes life a bit easier if you can bring the power to yourself rather than the other way around. With luck on my side I walk out with one.
We camp at Silvermist Resort. Nice spot with both camping and chalets available. We struck up a fire survivor style, well not really since we did have a lighter but without fire starters and damp wood, it turned into a real challenge. But eventually, the fire was going and we sat chatting and drinking bandy & coke until bedtime. The resident ostrich did keep us amused for a while as he/she kept wandering around our tent during the night and one could not help but wonder if it would not decide to start nesting in our tent.
Tomorrow we leave the tarmac behind for the biggest part as we head to Louise Trichardt.
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