After literally hundreds of emails being sent (the one thread had 52 conversations!), we actually did pull ourselves towards ourselves and managed to organise getting to Suikerboschfontein, near Carolina, with food and all other necessary stuffs for a hike, as well timing our arrival at the designated breakfast stop pretty much together. Amazing! Seriously!
After food (yes, I’m motivated by the availability of food), we continued on to Suikerboschfontein, with a stop at the OK in Carolina for, you guessed it, more food! Anyway, after almost destroying the shop (we needed a ball to play volleyball etc and needed to test it out!) and lots of laughs, we were finally on the last stretch! Lots of singing later and we could see the stunning Rooikrans camp. And then we stopped… puncture time! So Peter’s car was quickly unpacked, and all but Meg, Anne, Peter and I were left looking at the wheel in a surprising short amount of time. A quick wheel change and we were soon eating wors rolls (it was National braai day after all). And then it was off for a walk and swim to a waterfall. WOW! We started off in these rock formations that surrounded camp to an “uitkykpunt” overlooking the valley – beautiful! After going down some ladders (and Meg and I commenting that we were “so glad we’re not doing this with backpacks”), we descended into a forest, with some flowering Iris’ and huge yellowwoods and a clear mountain stream trickling over moss-covered rocks. And on to the freezing waterfall pool! FREEZING! Did I mention that the water was freezing? But it was beautiful!
We had potjie for dinner – yummy! And nice, hot showers courtesy of donkey boilers, which Anne had to start for the boys! And then we were walking around the camp (can’t remember why, except that we thought it highly amusing, but the other hikers thought we were weird) and ended up drinking whiskey coffees at another view point – also stunning!
The next morning was a late start. Backpacks needed to be packed, breakfast needed to be made/eaten, food needed to be evenly distributed, breakfast needed to be made/eaten, bags needed to be weighed and finally, breakfast was made and eaten – a huge cook up! YUM! A new standard has been set for hiking! So, eventually, after taking apples out of bags to eat on the path (in case we hadn’t had enough breakfast), we hit the path, or rock jumping with backpacks of 16 – 18kg (for Meg, Peter and I)! Awesome scenery again though. Our first break was on top of a gorge, and to the detriment of all others involved, I got introduced to Meg’s trail mix. Combine trail mix (aka energy booster) + an already energetic and happy me = super bouncy me! Peter kept telling me how far we’d gone and there was a little jump, or star jump or I’d convince Meg to skip or we’d start singing “it’s been a hard days night; and I’ve been working like a dog…”…
Anyhow, soon after my introduction to trail mix, we entered the forest where we were for most of the day. It was stunning, and I even got to vaguely maybe appreciate some of the millions of ladders, and did a slide or two on the ropes that were meant to be stablilising (Thanks Hardy for teaching me to NOT let go of the rope when diving!). Lunch was had in the forest, at the bottom of a little waterfall. Lots of up and down later (we went into numerous little kloofs), we arrived at the next camp – Oom Japies se huis. Together with dinner, the best thing was hot chocolate with whiskey! Awesomeness! Peter’s coffee flavoured whiskey wasn’t quite as yummy (sorry!).
The next morning, we took the boys coffee in bed on the condition that we got the favour returned. We’re still waiting… Anyhow, another awesome walk – this time mainly in the open but still stunning. At one stage the trail goes past bushmen paintings. We had lunch in a place called “Bobejaan’s hotel” – quite a scramble to a huge old tree, which was like the magic faraway tree, and great for climbing and for the view. Then it was back into the open. At this stage Peter and I decided to “follow the footprints” and devised all sorts of games from just standing on the trail markers (painted footprints) to including them into your stride – quite a challenge when they are 1m up on a vertical rock… We also went past some old Indian ruins which tracked the seasons and were all perfectly aligned and an old kraal. And then it was swim time! Bliss! And more trail mix (I’m convinced the powers that be kept it from me after seeing me the day before!)! More happiness! And then the final slog back up to Rooikrans.
Slog because those ladders that Meg and I said thank goodness we don’t have backpacks on for – yup, you guessed it – we went up there with backpacks on! So Marius, Peter, Karin, Anne, Meg and I had a break at the top at the “uitkykpunt” until we really needed to get back before it got dark while Theo went back for sunset pics. It was wonderful just sitting and chilling and watching all that was happening around us.
Back at camp, although there was no cold beer, there was a whiskey and water and hot shower! And food! And then suddenly it was midnight…
While the girls waited for coffee in bed, Marius and Theo sat around the now dead fire wondering where we all were. A quick tidy up and some breakfast later and we hit the road back to Jo’burg. Thank goodness we left earlyish – the traffic was horrid!
And then a quick unpack, and Peter and I were off to the cricket – and a much appreciated beer! It was awesome just chilling and chatting! But, Yay, New Zealand won :)
To finish off, thanks all, again, for a fantabulous weekend and just for those there, a reminder of the sayings of the weekend:
* “Long live [champ] Meg” – awesome catering, just awesomeness. As compared to Peter (awesome) and Anne (ness) who together make awesomeness.
* Johnny Clegg is the Man; and Peter’s cream is also the Man – Anne didn’t appreciate Meg and my singing to Johnny Clegg, and Peter had anti-bug cream that not only smelt good but worked!
* [in gangsta voice] “Anne is like a posh, old, zombie goat living on an island without a pet rabbit” – when Shona couldn’t come anymore, Meg said she was now significantly the youngest so Anne called herself an old goat. She then came up with friends are people and people are problems so don’t want friends (see the next saying) hence the island and wanted us to stop at the Belfast Pet Shop for a rabbit instead of friends – which we refused to do hence without a pet rabbit. Then, after a long day hiking, started using “big” words, like uncouth, while talking in a gangster voice.
* “You have issues” - but keep them to yourself, don’t make them mine – courtesy of Anne.
* “Those damn Mexicans” – coz you always need someone to blame when things go pear!
As usual, pics are: http://picasaweb.google.com/lancasterjenny/SoMuchOfAwesomenessTheSuikerboschfonteinHike?authkey=Gv1sRgCMLoxaydmrzUag#
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