FINALLY - BLOEMHOF DAM

We arrived at Bloemhof dam at 11pm last night. We had lost our way in the dark, but thanks to Vlam and his wife Brenda, who guided us with a beam light, we were fine and sorted. Also a big thanks to Sweis and Tielman who helped when we got lost

THUNDER STORMS AND RAINBOWS

We are somewhere near Bloemhof dam, stuck in a storm. We called it a day. It is absolutely gorgeous.
We are hoping to be at Bloemhof in a couple of days, but the weather isn't exactly playing along.
Cellphone reception and electricity is a problem, which means carrying laptops has been a silly mistake, but I'm learning.

SPAR PARYS - GOOD FOR YOU

FLUID

Thanks to Fluid who in no time agreed to sponsor our chumani canoes, wich is quite a neccesary part of this expidition. They are gorgeous and a vessel that I am proud to be taking this challenge on.

KOPJESKRAAL COUNTRY LODGE

A great big thank you to Christo Meyer for taking us in and sharing all his knowledge, kindness and beautiful self with us for so many days. And also for taking us to some of the most beautiful places that few has had the priveledge to experience.

The Dell - The Dell

The Dell - The Dell: "THE DELL
The Ideal Break-away
LUXURY CHALETS, CAMPING FACILITIES AND OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES

On the Banks of the Vaal River in the Vredefort Dome.
Tel: 072 486 9491 / 082 411 7878 Fax(056) 817 6149 E-mail: 20066082@student.nwu.ac.za
parys.co."

REAL ADVENTURES -

What normally takes at least a month to plan, took us less than a week of running around frantically, trying to organize gear and gather some information on what lies ahead, and what to be prepared for. Without the help of everyone we had met in this short time, we would never have been able to be ready so quickly. So once again I'd like to thank Jacques and everyone at Real Adventures (Ronel, Skit and Lucas) for looking after us like gold, and for transporting us wherever we needed to go.

DOME ADVENTURES

We had the opportunity to take a tour with Dome Tours, in and around the Venterskroon district. We went to the old gold mines where 134oz were mined in the 1800/1900s before the well ran dry.

Some say there is still a lot of gold in the area, but luckily, once this becomes a World Heritage Site, nobody will be able to mine here.
Francious, our guide and Mr Dome tours and adventures, and Maria had the honors of taking group photos for the group.
The viewpoint from here allowed us to see quite far, and also get an idea of the ripple effect of the impact. I only had eyes for the beautiful river down below though. I got excited thinking that in no time, we will be on that river, in canoes, paddling to Bloemhof dam. Hrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...
This is a beautiful tree, of which I forgot the name, but this used to be the tree, where the postman of years ago, used to leave post, if he was unable to deliver it personally to the postal coach, heading to Potchefstroom. He had to swim across the river from the Freestate to the Transvaal side. The hole is still inside the tree where he used to deliver the post to.

THE IMPACT METEORITE VIEWPOINT

Christo arranged for us to sleep on top of the mountain, that forms part of the collar of the impact. This particular spot, where we camped, used to be a Tswana kraal in the 1600s, and was used again by the Boere in the early 1900s. We are the first people to sleep here in many, many years.
It was getting dark, so Christo walked us to the top, and then headed back, before night fell.

The views from the top is a sight to behold. This is a good viewpoint to see the rings of the impact better.
Dante thought the same thing, and watched as the sun set. Quite content to just watch. It was beautiful, and the overwhelming feeling of privilege swept over me.

KOPJESKRAAL: MANY GOOD TIMES AROUND THIS KITCHEN TABLE

At lunch we spoke about paddling with a canoe along the Vaal River, and whether it was do-able or not. We thought it would be a nice diversion, and quite spectacular, but once we've spoken to Christo, it was a done deal, we were going to take on the challenge. Christo thought it was a brilliant idea, and invited us to stay as long as we needed to sort out our trip. We sat around the kitchen table until all hours of the morning, chatting about previous adventures, and Christo himself had so many interesting, funny stories to tell of his road less travelled. It was a beautiful end to a rather amazing day.

FROM LEGENDS TO KOPJESKRAAL

We were supposed to go to Christo's Guest Farm to stay for a night or two, when we stopped off at Legends for a quick breakfast. Nothing quick about this breakfast, let me tell you. Firstly, before we could actually enter said restaurant, we were stopped by numerous people, enquiring about our journey. It was rather delightful to say the least.
A bunch of girls who rode into town on their Harley Davidsons, invited us for a drink, a "Jam Jar", which is quite potent on an empty stomach.

We also met the Vlok family who sat oppisite us, and before we knew it, we only got a bite to eat at lunch time, the company was so phenominal.
Pieter from Hadeda Creek, who is also friends with the Vloks arrived a bit later, with his mate Johan. The afternoon just got better, and it was such a pity when we had to go our seperate ways. Leonard offered to give us a lift to Kopjeskraal Guest Lodge.
The Vlok's are such an exceptional family, warm, spontaneous, easy to get on with. I surely hope to see them again...

VREDEFORT DOME - METEORITE IMPACT ZONE

The next day Jacques organized an educational tour at Christo Meyer's farm Kopjeskraal. This entire area, known as the dome area, is in the process of being declared a World Heritage Site.
Danie Van Zyl from Ten3 Safaris was also here, filming todays procedures for educational purposes. The ideal is to get more schools to visit this site and learn more about the meteorite impact, an event which is believed by some to have been responsible for life on earth. The Big Bang!
Greame and Karen Addison were the hosts today, and they mesmerized us all with their account of the meteorite impact some 2023 million years ago, and I was amazed that I never knew that this had taken place in this area, or at all, eventhough it is so close to home.

They had a group of 300 kids from a school in Heilbron, not too far away, and it was quite something to see Greame relay the events of the impact.

A FUN DAY ON THE VAAL RIVER

It was amazing to be back on a river, rafting. This made me almost want to swop my bicycle for a canoe for a while. Tempting...





Dante had enough of us chicks, so he decided to abandon ship and join Skit. Much more exciting, and comfortable.
It was a truly beautiful day, and everybody was quite amazing. Lucas and Skit were insightful and brilliant guides if ever you need one in these parts. The entire group were great fun, and had no problems with the cameras in their faces all day.
We arrived at Hadeda Creek, managed by Pieter. Gert, the barman, were leaving in two days, after working here for a couple of years. They were seriously entertaining, and had many stories to tell, so we stayed for a couple of drinks before going back to The Dell.

REAL ADVENTURE: WHITEWATER RAFTING

Skit and Lucas briefed us on what lay ahead for the day, and away we went. There were two people per raft, but we were four, as Dante and Katryn came along as our navigators.




We were given a safety brief before every rapid, but we all got stuck at one place or another, or dumped just for the heck of it.
Lucas carried all the dry bins and food for lunch. His knowledge of river rafting is quite extensive, and he is an excellent conversationalist.





At Gatsien rapid, we had lunch and went for a swim.

REAL ADVENTURE - PARYS

Parys, one of our key destinations, turned out to be so much more than what we bargained for. Jacques took us in immediately, and introduced us to the area and some amazingly knowledgeable people. You have to meet Jacques, to understand, that everyone that surrounds him has some kind of magic, as he himself, is magic!

At first it was Jan who is manager at The Dell where we stayed for two days. Jan is a delightful soul, as good as they get. Then there is Skit, one of the guides working with Jacques at Real Adventures, who picked us up the next morning, for a day of whitewater rafting on the Vaal River. He had a group of 8 whom we joined for the day, mostly students from Stellenbosch, and then an extra person, Lucas, also a guide with Real Adventures.

BRIEF ENCOUNTERS, STEERS AND GOOD COMPANY

We met a fellow cyclist on our way to Fochville, chatted for a while and moved along. Just as we turned onto the highway, which we were to follow for about 4kms, we found this lovely little roadhouse/bar which was the perfect spot to hide away from the sun for a while.


From here on, the road was magic, with a long downhill into Fochville. I was so hungry, food was all I could think about. At the first thing that looked like a shopping centre, we stopped. We opted for Steers, because they make gorgeous vegetarian hamburgers and fries. We sat there for a long while, chatting to passers by, wanting to know where to and why, until a very energetic young girl named Jacquelene Somers approached us and asked if we wanted to spend the night.
We ofcoarse didn't hesitate, because she seemed an interesting fun soul. Turns out Jacquelene is an mechanical engineer at Anglo. She is full of enthusiasm about environmental change and turning sewerage into bio gas, etc. We talked for hours, but eventually fell into bed exhausted. It was one of those magical days.

FLAT TYRES AND WELVERDIEND POLICE STATION

We haven't even left the premises, when Maria had a flat tyre. It took a while to fix, because turns out, there were more than one.

Dante and Katryn loved the time to play. This is their favourite spot at Metsi Pepa.
We left about an hour later, heading towards Welverdiend. The road there was quite enjoyable and it was a hot day out. We had no idea what awaited us in Welverdiend, so we cycled along happily. The dogs were loving every second. Once we reached town, we stopped by the first house where we saw people, and asked for directions to the nearest place to overnight. There was no such thing in Welverdiend. No camping grounds, no hotel, hostel or guest house. A bit of a dilemma if you ask me, especially since the people weren't overly friendly to begin with. A lady working in one of the small cafee's pointed to a horrendously filthy piece of land with a shabby caravan parked in the far corner, and said we should squat there, everybody else seemed to.
That was the moment when we decided that the local church or police station would be our best bet. We ended up sleeping in a small little room at the local police station in Welverdiend. We had no complaints, as we had electricity, a hot bath and small, yet warm bed.

LEOPARDS AND TIGERS

We finally had our grand tour of Metsi Pepa, and thanks to Stanley, our guide, we didn't miss a thing. We saw some unusual animals like the Bengal tigers, which were an absolute delight, and two Leopards with attitude.

METSI-PEPA

We woke up tired, after another night of freezing our asses off. The hut we were sleeping in, had no furniture, because they had just built a few, and they were, I presume, scared of robberies, as there was nobody there to look after the place 24/7. As you well know by now, our sleeping bags are built for summer, which it clearly isn't, and the cold came creeping up from beneath the wooden deck which was our bed.
We spend most of the morning exploring the place, and it was absolutely beautiful
We went down to the hole, or otherwise known as 'Die Gat', which is the origin of the Mooi River. Never have I ever seen such crystal clear water.

Dante and Katryn were loving every minute and couldn't get enough of the water especially. They played for hours on end, as we waited for Francois, the game ranger, to take us on a tour of the conservation.
It was at this point that my mother phoned to say that my dad was back in hospital, for an emergency procedure on his knee, which had been operated on only a few days earlier. All of a sudden I felt nauseous, because he had been in and out of hospitals and rehabs for the last 8 months, and I didn't know how much more of this either of them could take, or me for that matter...
We arranged that my sister would fetch us early the next morning, so that I could go and see him.
The rest of the morning seemed stressful, but with surroundings such as this, one couldn't help but feel somewhat positive about an otherwise desperate situation.
Water Lilli's as far as the eye can see, and my babies playing, oblivious to the change in atmosphere.
I suddenly knew that everything would be fine, and that all is good...