So there we were 11 vehicles all ready to take on the best of what “Vaatjie” had to offer us.

 

Meeting time: 09h00, weather partly cloudy and a hint of mist rain.

 

List of Drivers and their Special ladies in no particular order:

 

Johan and Noeliene aka Nollie

Andre and Patrys plus two guests

Nico and Cois aka Boetie

Lee-Zanne and Teresa aka Blou Bul ( they arrived later)

Craig and June aka Prometheus

Ashley and Mari aka Kiteflyer

Hugo aka Huge Ou

Eugene and company

Russell and Bernice aka Gladiator

Jan and Yolande aka Jan 30

Michael and Elisabeth aka Tarzan

Anthony and Yvette - Nissan Patrol “The Boss”

 

 

The morning started with a welcome by Mari, handing out of roses and a little gift to all the good ladies and the drivers briefing.

 

At 09h45 after blowing off some steam out of the tires we were ready to rock and roll. First up was the water crossing near the power lines and everybody made it safely through without any incidents.

 

 

A quick play on the dunes under the power lines and everybody was ready to start the trail. The sand was very hard and presented few challenges, a lot of memories were brought up as we criss-crossed the farm, thinking back to the successful Easter Treasure Hunt of 2009. At the site of “Rooikappies” treasure spot , by the gate to enter the now by famous water crossing where one of our members recently had to strip down to underclothing to attach a recovery rope, it was decided that discretion would rule the day and it would be by passed. This decision was met by some strange sounding chicken noise on the 29 Meg and Mrs Kiteflyer quickly checked to see if the SWR of the radio was still in order.

 

 

We then tackled the second half of the main trail in reverse order and played a bit at the “Skilpad “ detour. It appears as though some members still need to learn their vehicles better as they could not make it up the steep incline, no names no pack drill.

 

 

From there it was decided to take a short cut back to the Lapa to have a mid morning break and refreshments, some members had other ideas though and tried to charge up the famous “ groot balsdrif” but ou “grote” was having none of that and rejected them one by one. So they had to take the milder “ Katvoetsdrif” which in itself is now becoming a challenging obstacle.

 

Back at the Lapa the fires were lit and a mid morning snack was consumed and thus fortified the group set off to tackle Jakkels Draai and Anton se gat. Nothing major to report on either of those two trails and everyone accomplished it with easy aplomb. It was just at the water crossing in front of the Lapa where a tow strap

was required to rescue one of the vehicles. Nothing serious and no need to mention names……

 

 

It was now time to enjoy the fire and good friendships that always develop after doing a trail together and this instance did not disappoint.

 

At least one member got a very welcome surprise and that was “Tarzan” who was handed R500 for being the best driver at Babylonstoren on the previous day trip.

 

 

Whoa!! Croc and Patrys it is only a joke….. Michael’s name got drawn out of a hat and he won the lucky draw for attending Babylonstoren . The same will happen on Spring Day so be sure to be at the Social to see which of the lucky drivers of this trip will win the R500.

 

Well what happened next was the usual lovely braaing and joking that we are all accustomed too and this time was no different, what a lovely way to end off “Woman’s Day” and to all the ladies in our lives we say thank you for letting us drive 4x4’s.

 

The sun was well on its way to set as we drove off wondering where the long weekend had disappeared too so quickly.

 

To those that missed out, believe me you really missed out.

 

See you on a trail somewhere, sometime, soon….Anon.