Somehow the day of our departure came sooner than we had expected. It became a bit of a scramble to get Troopy ready, sort out the packing for a somewhat “different” type of trip and get the Kits off to the cattery. We did eventually get away at 10h00 and hit the “road to adventure”. We always love that feeling of heading north on the road to Graaff-Reinet. It brings such a sense of anticipation. Our travel companions, Paul and Petra, let us know that they had also just got on their way. We arranged that the two Landcruiser Troopys would “meet” in Graaff-Reinet. The last time these two vehicles “met” was at the beach in Port Nolloth on our way to the Richtersveld. It was great to see the Karoo looking green and alive after the devastating drought. Angoras and Merinos were grazing again and the desperately dry looking vegetation we saw on our last few trips through this area, had responded to the rains and even the Aloe Africana’s that had nearly expired started showing life again. They would soon start showing their bright red winter blooms.
We stopped at the Jansenville Padstal to enjoy our home-made sandwiches and coffee, but we did support the interesting shop by buying some traditional “padkos”- kudu dried wors (sausage). We smiled at the strange contrast between old technology - a windmill, an old vintage rusted car and a very modern charging station for electric motorcars! And wondered how often this charging station had been utilized since its appearance?
It was quite emotional to see the Paul and Petra coming down the main road through Graaff-Reinet in their Troopy, Ssyril. Our new adventure had now really started. We chose the route past Middelburg and Hanover and came to the shocking discovery that the road to Hanover was badly potholed. The truck traffic was heavy (mostly tip trucks carrying manganese and possibly coal) and the result was a seriously damaged tar road. It took us much longer than anticipated to get to Philipstown (the town another sad sight) and we decided that our best option for the night would be Orania, the “Afrikaner State” alongside the Gariep River. The road improved after Philipstown. I could not get hold of the reception at the resort and decided to phone Fluitjieskraal, another campsite along the river. Sadly, we had no time to turn off at the Van Der Kloof Dam so see it overflowing and we arrived at the campsite after dark. To our astonishment, it was actually a long stay camp site with more or less permanent residents. The facilities were good and the people friendly and extremely well behaved, but it was nevertheless a strange place for us to land ourselves in! But it provided a safe, cheap and quiet place to spend the night.

Geschreven door Leartravels