With just 100km to go the excitement started setting in, imagine for a moment that we had now traveled 2600odd kilometers and with only 100 to go it was almost within pushing distance, not quite but the imagination and nerves were running wild, even towing each other was now an option to finish this epic adventure. After about 30km these feelings wore off quite drastically.
The next feeling was one of a chapter coming to an end, that feeling you get when you finish a good book(I assume) or the world cup ends, as if nothing could ever live up to it again and how could life be the same after experiencing something this good.
Anyway one thing that will happen to you many times on a scooter is that the feelings come and go because before you reach the destination a lot of time tends to pass and with that a lot of thought and so the next feeling was one slightly more basic, we became quite hungry.. Now with the trip almost at an end and a whole side-bag still filled with 2-minute noodles and pasta sauces we decided that we would try out some of our survival equipment, the gas stove(a heating and cooking device).
We set up the whole Jamie Oliver affair right next to the road with every sauce we could find being debated about whether they would compliment each other and the neutral noodles, at this point we rated ourselves as cousine experts and no-one would convince us otherwise. Soon the two combinations of "Toit's cheese and corn" and "the Boere beefy tomato" sauces were decided on, mostly because cheese and corn were of the same colour and beef and tomato often go together on burgers. Not long after we hit a snag because the one box of matches we owned we had graciously given away at a braai, luckily for us Flip had brought his, self proclaimed, 'wildest knife in the world' along so he whipped out the flint and soon we had the stove going at full tilt making noodles which could provide for half of Southern Africa. We soon scooped away our stack of noodles sharing a spoon(we had done some weight shedding in windhoek and left the cutlery behind in our excitement) and soon we were on the home straight, tummys bulging like 40year old elvis impersonators.
As the end was neigh we started high fiving each other while riding, dancing on the bikes and as we crested a tiny hill before us we saw the gates that we had been longing to see for two and a half weeks, the challenge had been completed, for two years we had dreamed of that moment, to finally reach the endpoint of an absolutely amazing adventure, to prove so many wrong, to prove so many right and to just do something very few people have attempted.
Moments later we stopped at the gate, looked at each other, looked at the gate and instead of jumping from joy we were sort of "what now?".. Having said that neither could get the smile off their faces and even now thinking back and writing this the smile returns. Grinning we asked the security of Etosha whether we could just make a quick spin inside the gate but a firm no quickly ended that conversation.
Never the less We had done it!!!
(We just need to get back home)
Thursday, August 23, 2012
The Outjo recap
So we left Windhoek where we stayed 4 nights instead of one, max two, nights but we're flexible like that. Provided the company is good (and kind enough to house us that long) and in Windhoek's case the liqueur is expensive enough, they made a big tick there, fortunately for them they have the specimens there to get young boys fresh out of the Kalahari’s blood running and to have them totally forget about budget and all those poor man’s problems. I mean we were in a town where if you don’t drive a cruiser you’re about as cool as a grade 5 chess athlete.
We’re facing the last leg of our trip, Outjo to Etosha. My bike is constantly packing up with a blocked airfilter, its odometer has blown its last breath as well as my own and Du Toit's speedometers. My front brake has a rattle on it which I'm too lazy to fix, and Toit's numberplate is held by wire alone. The duct tape responsible for holding his bike together is failing its task, I'm starting my bike with a screw driver -the key is broken off in the ignition... add to that the fact that he have no headlights, and you will notice we're having lots of fun. The spaces between towns seems to have shrunk because there is no way of measuring how fast we are driving..
Another spec Du Toit has added to his scooter is that it is now without its exhaust, its taken on the sound of a 1200 offroad bike and my scooter is rattling to a sound that resembles the kaapse klopse on a sunny second newyears morning. We are quite the fixture on most towns, in windhoek some of the people just unceremonially packed up laughing. We are thinking that etosha would do well to meet us halfway...
so off we go, never mind bon vouyage... just get there! (just 100km to go!)
Friday, August 3, 2012
We weren't at the beach but there was definitely sand
After two nights at Aranos and a brilliantly easy day of hunting which we observed on 'Bosduin farm' it was time to carry on to Gobabis to meet another friend of Flip.
The road to Gobabis wasn't uneventful and after slowing down countless times for patches of sand we made it in the late afternoon, this time I supervised the phonecall and directions. Gobabis now felt to us like a buzzing city compared to the one-road-towns we had gotten use to, the amount of people around you even at a distance was overwhelming and no fun at all, we are definitely desert people.
The directions to the farm were easy enough, 10km then turn left 20km and you,re at the farm. Easy game.
If we were taught anything this trip it is to never assume. The first part was the deepest corrugation we had come across, it felt like every time you crossed which felt like a speed bump your front tyre was swallowed by a monster of the deep and you then had to ride it out with the throttle only to be repeated 20cm further. After what seemed like ages we saw the sign D1017 and relief set in, as we approached the turnoff that relief started to slip away in a red disbelief. It was a bed of Kalahari sand, ever the optimist we decided we were going to be we speculated that it would only be the first couple meters. That soon changed when we rounded the first bend(after both almost falling a handfull of times and having to walk the scoots close on half of the first stretch) as far as we could see it was stretches and stretches of beautiful sand, funny how every time we were in trouble just the most beautiful of scenes arose around us.
After 20mins we had done one kilometer and after a quick calculation we realized it would take us roughly forever. We soldiered on but every time you're tiny front wheel touched the sides of the deep tracks it would suddenly get a mind of its own, best thing to do is just to hand over control and follow you're recently employed boss the scooter.
Not even halfway Flip's scooter again started choking and we had to open her up for the umpteenth time, frustrating was not the word and if it was a reality show the the rating would have gone up a couple of ages at this stage. By the time we got it fixed the the sun was setting and we were extremely relieved to see our help arriving in the shape of a Hilux. Pieter told us to meet him at the next bend which seemed easy enough, only thing was the next bend was 2km from us. With the sun having gone firmly behind the horizon the fun started(I was without my headlight ofcourse) . For the first bit I tried to make out the track but soon realised it was no use, I was like a blind person riding a bike in sand, the only thing I could do was react to it. After NEARLY going on my side a couple times we made it and I had the giggles from relief. This was by far the most challenging bit of riding of my life.
The ride was again rewarded with amazing Namibian hospitality which made for a wonderful couple of beers and dinner
The road to Gobabis wasn't uneventful and after slowing down countless times for patches of sand we made it in the late afternoon, this time I supervised the phonecall and directions. Gobabis now felt to us like a buzzing city compared to the one-road-towns we had gotten use to, the amount of people around you even at a distance was overwhelming and no fun at all, we are definitely desert people.
The directions to the farm were easy enough, 10km then turn left 20km and you,re at the farm. Easy game.
If we were taught anything this trip it is to never assume. The first part was the deepest corrugation we had come across, it felt like every time you crossed which felt like a speed bump your front tyre was swallowed by a monster of the deep and you then had to ride it out with the throttle only to be repeated 20cm further. After what seemed like ages we saw the sign D1017 and relief set in, as we approached the turnoff that relief started to slip away in a red disbelief. It was a bed of Kalahari sand, ever the optimist we decided we were going to be we speculated that it would only be the first couple meters. That soon changed when we rounded the first bend(after both almost falling a handfull of times and having to walk the scoots close on half of the first stretch) as far as we could see it was stretches and stretches of beautiful sand, funny how every time we were in trouble just the most beautiful of scenes arose around us.
After 20mins we had done one kilometer and after a quick calculation we realized it would take us roughly forever. We soldiered on but every time you're tiny front wheel touched the sides of the deep tracks it would suddenly get a mind of its own, best thing to do is just to hand over control and follow you're recently employed boss the scooter.
Not even halfway Flip's scooter again started choking and we had to open her up for the umpteenth time, frustrating was not the word and if it was a reality show the the rating would have gone up a couple of ages at this stage. By the time we got it fixed the the sun was setting and we were extremely relieved to see our help arriving in the shape of a Hilux. Pieter told us to meet him at the next bend which seemed easy enough, only thing was the next bend was 2km from us. With the sun having gone firmly behind the horizon the fun started(I was without my headlight ofcourse) . For the first bit I tried to make out the track but soon realised it was no use, I was like a blind person riding a bike in sand, the only thing I could do was react to it. After NEARLY going on my side a couple times we made it and I had the giggles from relief. This was by far the most challenging bit of riding of my life.
The ride was again rewarded with amazing Namibian hospitality which made for a wonderful couple of beers and dinner
Monday, July 30, 2012
Thanks Flippie
Steyn farm - Aranos - Halfway to Gobasis - back to Aranos - Bosduin farm
The travelling today was very cautious after our newfound respect for the Kalahari gravel/sand, Flippie's leg was even trapped by his won bike deciding to rest on top of it. With about an hour left before sunset we made it to Aranos with only the 40km out to the farm left, which we even described with confidence to be great timing. I even discovered here in Aranos that my starter was working again although it was at the expense of my headlight.
Now to put this next piece into perspective I need to tell you that I had been doing all the navigation so far, which wasn't something to brag about until today.. We were visiting a friend of Flippie's so obviously he contacted him to ask which road we should be taking to get to his farm, after the quick phone call we saddled up and were on our way, at 47km into the supposed to be 40km ride(which you must note is about 45min on the scoots) we stopped at a farm house to ask if they could give us directions, at which point we realised we were wrong, see in Nam everyone knows everyone, and when the girl failed to recognise their 20thousand hectare farm name we knew we had to be way off. Thanks Flippie!
This would not have been such a big problem with 20mins of daylight left but with no light this night might still get very long seeing that we now didn't know where the farm was. With 20kms left to Aranos darkness struck but we also witnessed the most beautiful sunset I had ever seen. Somewhere along the road we found cellphone signal and the ever-kind Kobus de Jager(our host for the next two days) offered/agreed to come and fetch us in Aranos. But this still left us with 20km's of gravel at night. We managed to reach a speed of 40km/h with Flippie riding 45degrees behind me in the lane on my right, the system was working beautifully although after about 20mins I realised my eyes were getting very dry and with the slight burn we decided that we weren't blinking from pure concentration.
That was one of the most rewarding rides of the trip for me as it was such a challenge so we rewarded ourselves with a tall brandy at the Aranos hotel while waiting for Kobus(we later realised his mother had phoned the whole town asking whether someone had seen two crazy kids on scooters passing by).
We loaded the scooters onto the bakkie and in our excitement of finally reaching the farm we even managed to break Flippie's key off in the ignition.
That night we spent laughing at the navigational mastermind Flip had turned out to be on the three roads that Aranos posesses.
The travelling today was very cautious after our newfound respect for the Kalahari gravel/sand, Flippie's leg was even trapped by his won bike deciding to rest on top of it. With about an hour left before sunset we made it to Aranos with only the 40km out to the farm left, which we even described with confidence to be great timing. I even discovered here in Aranos that my starter was working again although it was at the expense of my headlight.
Now to put this next piece into perspective I need to tell you that I had been doing all the navigation so far, which wasn't something to brag about until today.. We were visiting a friend of Flippie's so obviously he contacted him to ask which road we should be taking to get to his farm, after the quick phone call we saddled up and were on our way, at 47km into the supposed to be 40km ride(which you must note is about 45min on the scoots) we stopped at a farm house to ask if they could give us directions, at which point we realised we were wrong, see in Nam everyone knows everyone, and when the girl failed to recognise their 20thousand hectare farm name we knew we had to be way off. Thanks Flippie!
This would not have been such a big problem with 20mins of daylight left but with no light this night might still get very long seeing that we now didn't know where the farm was. With 20kms left to Aranos darkness struck but we also witnessed the most beautiful sunset I had ever seen. Somewhere along the road we found cellphone signal and the ever-kind Kobus de Jager(our host for the next two days) offered/agreed to come and fetch us in Aranos. But this still left us with 20km's of gravel at night. We managed to reach a speed of 40km/h with Flippie riding 45degrees behind me in the lane on my right, the system was working beautifully although after about 20mins I realised my eyes were getting very dry and with the slight burn we decided that we weren't blinking from pure concentration.
That was one of the most rewarding rides of the trip for me as it was such a challenge so we rewarded ourselves with a tall brandy at the Aranos hotel while waiting for Kobus(we later realised his mother had phoned the whole town asking whether someone had seen two crazy kids on scooters passing by).
We loaded the scooters onto the bakkie and in our excitement of finally reaching the farm we even managed to break Flippie's key off in the ignition.
That night we spent laughing at the navigational mastermind Flip had turned out to be on the three roads that Aranos posesses.
The Tumble
All was going well, we had planned a long day to Aranos and things were going well, we fueled in Gochas and planned a short route. I was confident that we would now be able to conquer any roads as the biggest challenge would lie ahead of Gochas, o how wrong I would be..
We stopped kilometers short of the the crash site, I wanted to turn off and take a different route to Aranos but Flippie insisted we continued straight so off we went. It was only a couple of minutes down the road that the action began.
I came over the hill and saw the sandy patch, tried to change lanes but to cross lanes on scooter isnt as easy as it sounds and so I was comitted. As I entered the sand patch the rear started to wiggle as it had done many a time but soon I realised this was getting out of hand and this is where I should have saved it, the moment I thought about that it was too late, the final swerve to the right was when I realised this might be it, and as soon as that thought crossed my mind I knew it was about to get fun. Next momnet I was over the ridge on the left of the road which the grader had made and I gave in to the fact of falling(which I had been trying to avoid for a week and a half seeing that we had a massive rivalry to not fall first). Next thing I remember was opening my eyes and only seeing gravel flash past my helmet at what must have been close on 60kmph, so I closed my eyes again. Next thing I remember was cuddling the bike, which according to Flippie had done a majestic somersault behind me.
I stood up and Flip was running towards me at his top speed which reminded me a lot of walking. He asked me whether I was alright and I responded that he should wait for the adrenaline to wear off before we could make that call, I walked around for a bit and then my vision became blurred and I was light headed, so I sat down in the middle of the road until it wore off. And basically that was it, except for the Flip's constant laughing for the next 20mins at least.
All is well that ends well I guess.
We stopped kilometers short of the the crash site, I wanted to turn off and take a different route to Aranos but Flippie insisted we continued straight so off we went. It was only a couple of minutes down the road that the action began.
I came over the hill and saw the sandy patch, tried to change lanes but to cross lanes on scooter isnt as easy as it sounds and so I was comitted. As I entered the sand patch the rear started to wiggle as it had done many a time but soon I realised this was getting out of hand and this is where I should have saved it, the moment I thought about that it was too late, the final swerve to the right was when I realised this might be it, and as soon as that thought crossed my mind I knew it was about to get fun. Next momnet I was over the ridge on the left of the road which the grader had made and I gave in to the fact of falling(which I had been trying to avoid for a week and a half seeing that we had a massive rivalry to not fall first). Next thing I remember was opening my eyes and only seeing gravel flash past my helmet at what must have been close on 60kmph, so I closed my eyes again. Next thing I remember was cuddling the bike, which according to Flippie had done a majestic somersault behind me.
I stood up and Flip was running towards me at his top speed which reminded me a lot of walking. He asked me whether I was alright and I responded that he should wait for the adrenaline to wear off before we could make that call, I walked around for a bit and then my vision became blurred and I was light headed, so I sat down in the middle of the road until it wore off. And basically that was it, except for the Flip's constant laughing for the next 20mins at least.
All is well that ends well I guess.
Friday, July 27, 2012
Gallery
What goes up must come down
After a way ahead of schedule stop at Koës we head to Aranos via Gochas planning on a pretty decent looking 280km which should take us round about 4 hours. We were making plans to go to Swakop, Windhoek and even go and watch the Newlands Test, I mean we had time to do all that! that changed...
5km outside of Koës my air filter got blocked which was fine because it should be cleaned every 1000 miles but it took us 2hours to clean the thing, that's where Big Boy kinda let it slip, you need to take the whole bike apart to get to the filter! With that done and dusted we discovered that not all the gravel roads in Namibia are like the tar roads of South Africa. Now there are two type of roads that the scooter don't perform too well on, one is corrugated road and the main one is sand roads, now that is imposseble to drive on! It's all fun and games to make sports and play the fool until someone gets hurt, then it gets hilarious!
Du Toit and I love the Kalahari, it's a place for the sole and it gives birth to loving and caring people with true goodness in them, luckily, otherwise we would have been screwed.
What happened was this, we were driving at a leisurely 60km/hour when Du Toit claims he just could not contain himself any longer and jumped off his bike at full pace to hug and kiss the earth. or that's what he claims to have happened, to me it looked like he helped himself to a quite spectacular fall and in the process finding a much quicker way of dissembling the bike...jip that's where it got hilarious, I had a laugh and then laughed some more, it was classic!
But then reality struck we were faced with the very real possibility that we would not be able to continue our trip. We could not get the engine going and the whole front part of the bodywork was lying in pieces in the sand.
Our first real introduction of the goodness of the Kalahari people
The Strauss family of Liberty farms came to our rescue loading the bike and taking it to their farm and then offering us accommodation and a meal, now folks a meal in this part of the world aint what you might find at your normal house or preferred place of dining, two casseroles of meat, sausages(cause that doesn't count as meat in these part of the world) bread and little or no salad, which in my mind is as good as a meal can get.
So the next morning we got the bike "fixed" using alot of ductape and very little skill on Toit or my own part, the starter wasn't working but the rest of the electronics were tip top! Du Toit claimed an injured ankle and said I should kickstart his bike for him...tjik tjik pilots I tell you. So off we were going to Etosha come hell or high water...or sand for that matter.
Well not quite, my airfilter got blocked again! So it was fixing time again but this time a giant came to our rescue. Pieter Steyn was that giant he played rugby for namibia for 13 years, 2 worldcups and all of that in the lock jumper! He gave us the use off his compressor and his wife tried to get us even fatter!
Clicè time... this one is for Toit, "its not about how many times you fall but rather how many times you stand up that matters..." just don't make a habit out of it buddy, these Kalahari people are gonna fatten us up if we don't stay clear.
The sand was winning the battle but we're not prepared to consede the war just yet.
5km outside of Koës my air filter got blocked which was fine because it should be cleaned every 1000 miles but it took us 2hours to clean the thing, that's where Big Boy kinda let it slip, you need to take the whole bike apart to get to the filter! With that done and dusted we discovered that not all the gravel roads in Namibia are like the tar roads of South Africa. Now there are two type of roads that the scooter don't perform too well on, one is corrugated road and the main one is sand roads, now that is imposseble to drive on! It's all fun and games to make sports and play the fool until someone gets hurt, then it gets hilarious!
Du Toit and I love the Kalahari, it's a place for the sole and it gives birth to loving and caring people with true goodness in them, luckily, otherwise we would have been screwed.
What happened was this, we were driving at a leisurely 60km/hour when Du Toit claims he just could not contain himself any longer and jumped off his bike at full pace to hug and kiss the earth. or that's what he claims to have happened, to me it looked like he helped himself to a quite spectacular fall and in the process finding a much quicker way of dissembling the bike...jip that's where it got hilarious, I had a laugh and then laughed some more, it was classic!
But then reality struck we were faced with the very real possibility that we would not be able to continue our trip. We could not get the engine going and the whole front part of the bodywork was lying in pieces in the sand.
Our first real introduction of the goodness of the Kalahari people
The Strauss family of Liberty farms came to our rescue loading the bike and taking it to their farm and then offering us accommodation and a meal, now folks a meal in this part of the world aint what you might find at your normal house or preferred place of dining, two casseroles of meat, sausages(cause that doesn't count as meat in these part of the world) bread and little or no salad, which in my mind is as good as a meal can get.
So the next morning we got the bike "fixed" using alot of ductape and very little skill on Toit or my own part, the starter wasn't working but the rest of the electronics were tip top! Du Toit claimed an injured ankle and said I should kickstart his bike for him...tjik tjik pilots I tell you. So off we were going to Etosha come hell or high water...or sand for that matter.
Well not quite, my airfilter got blocked again! So it was fixing time again but this time a giant came to our rescue. Pieter Steyn was that giant he played rugby for namibia for 13 years, 2 worldcups and all of that in the lock jumper! He gave us the use off his compressor and his wife tried to get us even fatter!
Clicè time... this one is for Toit, "its not about how many times you fall but rather how many times you stand up that matters..." just don't make a habit out of it buddy, these Kalahari people are gonna fatten us up if we don't stay clear.
The sand was winning the battle but we're not prepared to consede the war just yet.
First and so far only flat tyre
Flippie sporting his mechanical skills to the hundreds of Calvinia girls
Friday, July 20, 2012
One small step for mankind, One giant leap for Us
We had a recap today and came to the conclusion that we are actually way ahead of schedule. Which is really nice if you think that the bikes don't really like driving in mid day temperatures, we don't enjoy waking early, spent 2 nights with a notorious owl of stellenbosch and we also had a flat tyre.
Du toit and I both have a sense of direction its just weird how mine always takes us in the opposite direction of our "planned" destination, now Toit is in sole command of the map.
Upington has some of the more beautiful girls of this world. They also stole our snacks there... we wernt focusing on our backpacks... unfortunately its nightlife sucks and I kinda need the cloak of darkness to sweettalk the fairer sex, 'sigh'.
We dicided we were over South Africa and need to breathe some Nambabwe air so to the border we went. The crossing went well but to get a micro sim in Namibia is as easy as finding water in the Kalahari, wait it's even harder than that, today we found 2 dams full of the essence of life.
Just outside of Ariamsvlei we built our first tent in the riverbed next to the road 7kms outside of town. Now folks that was pure bliss, we had deafening stillness, we had jackel howling, we had a guy chasing his donkey cart at midnight like he was late for the Durban July, We were woken up by some prehistoric animal barking, it seems the animal is also inviseble. O and the stars steel the show, with them i would have had a much better chance with them upington girls...
As a part time job Du Toit builds biological wepons of mass destruction, currently he is building one that a human body can produce if you feed it with biltong and red meat. it has 2 variations one you can hear the sound is simalar to the sound that you might hear if you blow air through your compressed lips the other you dont hear at all, the results are equally devestating... he held evacuation drills through out the night, the only part were not perfecting is performing them in a orderly fashion.
We are having difficulty finding internet and the computers here are still diesel driven, but the updates and tweets are coming.
biker regards
Flippie
shout out to webdesign in uppington for helping us out with internet facilities, Toit still thinks it's his dashing good looks that did the trick
Du toit and I both have a sense of direction its just weird how mine always takes us in the opposite direction of our "planned" destination, now Toit is in sole command of the map.
Upington has some of the more beautiful girls of this world. They also stole our snacks there... we wernt focusing on our backpacks... unfortunately its nightlife sucks and I kinda need the cloak of darkness to sweettalk the fairer sex, 'sigh'.
We dicided we were over South Africa and need to breathe some Nambabwe air so to the border we went. The crossing went well but to get a micro sim in Namibia is as easy as finding water in the Kalahari, wait it's even harder than that, today we found 2 dams full of the essence of life.
Just outside of Ariamsvlei we built our first tent in the riverbed next to the road 7kms outside of town. Now folks that was pure bliss, we had deafening stillness, we had jackel howling, we had a guy chasing his donkey cart at midnight like he was late for the Durban July, We were woken up by some prehistoric animal barking, it seems the animal is also inviseble. O and the stars steel the show, with them i would have had a much better chance with them upington girls...
As a part time job Du Toit builds biological wepons of mass destruction, currently he is building one that a human body can produce if you feed it with biltong and red meat. it has 2 variations one you can hear the sound is simalar to the sound that you might hear if you blow air through your compressed lips the other you dont hear at all, the results are equally devestating... he held evacuation drills through out the night, the only part were not perfecting is performing them in a orderly fashion.
We are having difficulty finding internet and the computers here are still diesel driven, but the updates and tweets are coming.
biker regards
Flippie
shout out to webdesign in uppington for helping us out with internet facilities, Toit still thinks it's his dashing good looks that did the trick
Thursday, July 19, 2012
The Massive day
Tankwa - calvinia - Keimoes
Now everyone knew today was going to be a huge challenge due to our obvious lack of pace, every single biker I spoke to told me we wouldn't make it in a day, so many people doubted our plan I even reverted to not telling people that we were doing it in one day to spare us the speech.
We left before sunrise to ride into the daylight, which sounds very romantic but let me tell you something, when your fingers start to feel the morning cold it quickly becomes more of a punishment than a reward to open the throttle. At first it was cold, then the cold turned into pain and then after an hour the pain went away and that was when I started to worry! Never in my life do I want to be that cold again.
We fueled up in Calvinia and when we wanted to depart we came across our first hurdle, a flat on Flippies rear tyre. He refuses that it was his extra weight that caused this but we had to fix it and quick, otherwise all those bikers would be correct and we wouldn't make it in one day. Superquick helped us out and we were on our way again. Ar this point I must just say the friendliness of the people and the interest in the trip was increasing tenfold. At first people would just stare in disbelief, their next step would be to make a quick snipe at our madness and then the smiles and their own war stories would surface, the people we are meeting is already amazing and its only day 2 of traveling. One gentleman(owner of Calvinia Spar), obviously noticing that Flippie is an avid eater, even gave him a pie while he was waiting for the tyre to be fixed.
It was getting close to sunset and we were getting close to Keimoes and also the Kalahari, this is the reason we came this way and with the setting sun on our left and about 7 hours of traveling in our bums the views were just spectacular. If I was more of a man I would even admit that I got a bit emotional and just realised what an awesome country we live in.
We made it to Keimoes just after dark to be greeted by one of our old Stellies(Tollies) friends Wilhelm Baard, a farmer in the area. He organized us a great braai with enough meet to scare any veagen, and with the braai ending in the early hours with some oldies rock msuic it truely was an epic day!
From Keimoes
Lekker braai
Du Toit
O yes we are a bit computer retarded so we are trying to get the pics posted as soon as possible.
Now everyone knew today was going to be a huge challenge due to our obvious lack of pace, every single biker I spoke to told me we wouldn't make it in a day, so many people doubted our plan I even reverted to not telling people that we were doing it in one day to spare us the speech.
We left before sunrise to ride into the daylight, which sounds very romantic but let me tell you something, when your fingers start to feel the morning cold it quickly becomes more of a punishment than a reward to open the throttle. At first it was cold, then the cold turned into pain and then after an hour the pain went away and that was when I started to worry! Never in my life do I want to be that cold again.
We fueled up in Calvinia and when we wanted to depart we came across our first hurdle, a flat on Flippies rear tyre. He refuses that it was his extra weight that caused this but we had to fix it and quick, otherwise all those bikers would be correct and we wouldn't make it in one day. Superquick helped us out and we were on our way again. Ar this point I must just say the friendliness of the people and the interest in the trip was increasing tenfold. At first people would just stare in disbelief, their next step would be to make a quick snipe at our madness and then the smiles and their own war stories would surface, the people we are meeting is already amazing and its only day 2 of traveling. One gentleman(owner of Calvinia Spar), obviously noticing that Flippie is an avid eater, even gave him a pie while he was waiting for the tyre to be fixed.
It was getting close to sunset and we were getting close to Keimoes and also the Kalahari, this is the reason we came this way and with the setting sun on our left and about 7 hours of traveling in our bums the views were just spectacular. If I was more of a man I would even admit that I got a bit emotional and just realised what an awesome country we live in.
We made it to Keimoes just after dark to be greeted by one of our old Stellies(Tollies) friends Wilhelm Baard, a farmer in the area. He organized us a great braai with enough meet to scare any veagen, and with the braai ending in the early hours with some oldies rock msuic it truely was an epic day!
From Keimoes
Lekker braai
Du Toit
O yes we are a bit computer retarded so we are trying to get the pics posted as soon as possible.
We're underway and flying!
Grabouw- ceres - Tankwa tented camp
So monday we got underway for the second time and made great haste of getting out of the wetter parts of SA, by mid afternoon we crossed the Theronsberg pass and at that moment we knew our chances of getting rain lessened by roughly definitely.
Short after the pass we hit what must be the smoothest gravel road in all of the country, we had 90km of gravel and then we would be reaching Tankwa which the scooters quickly put behind us.
We have now established the fuel consumption is roughly 28km/l which gives us a range of 150km and with our extra tanks 300km, this was handy because Ceres and Calvinia are the two towns furthest apart in the whole country(who chose this route?)
Special thanks to Bernard the supervisor of Tankwa tented camp for greeting us with two scrumptious brandy and cokes, definitely my favorite kind of greeting..
Tomorrow is a mammoth day of close on 500km all the way to Keimoes which is about 40km from Upington.
From the Tankwa
Cheers vir eers
Du Toit
So monday we got underway for the second time and made great haste of getting out of the wetter parts of SA, by mid afternoon we crossed the Theronsberg pass and at that moment we knew our chances of getting rain lessened by roughly definitely.
Short after the pass we hit what must be the smoothest gravel road in all of the country, we had 90km of gravel and then we would be reaching Tankwa which the scooters quickly put behind us.
We have now established the fuel consumption is roughly 28km/l which gives us a range of 150km and with our extra tanks 300km, this was handy because Ceres and Calvinia are the two towns furthest apart in the whole country(who chose this route?)
Special thanks to Bernard the supervisor of Tankwa tented camp for greeting us with two scrumptious brandy and cokes, definitely my favorite kind of greeting..
Tomorrow is a mammoth day of close on 500km all the way to Keimoes which is about 40km from Upington.
From the Tankwa
Cheers vir eers
Du Toit
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Hurry up and Wait
So we left Grabouw for Etosha this morning
We're in Grabouw again this evening... now Grabouw is a fantastic place to be don't get me wrong but not when you planned on sleeping 500km from here...
Now what happened was this, one bike refused to start after our first stop @veliersdorp and even the best efforts of Du Toit and I, which i'll admit may not get us a top position as outo electricians, could not get the bike running again. So we were forced to take it back to the dealers to get it fixed as the supposed 24/7 line wasn't quite so 24/7...
Now ive been told a good adventurer is one who can turn "unfavourable" situations around and emerge stronger. Now whether or not we are in the "good adventurer" class I don't know, and we can't yet establish, but I've heard just about the perfect mix of: "you cant make it", "its impossible" and "rediculous" to take me to Ethosha. As they say 'the faint hart never got the fair maiden'.
A glimps on planing and packing.
Now I had this part sorted, i really did. i mean i had a jean, biker kit, water(cause thats important in the desert), 2 shirts, underpants, socks and additional shoes. O and i have a bear grilles ultimate survivor serated edge knife! The coolest gadget ever!so as you see i covered everything, Du Toit the luxury driven person he is out did me, he had all of the above(except the knife) but he had a lighter charger, 3 shirts, 3 undies and 3 socks! jip we had it covered!
In stepped the parents and experts...
Now we have a stove, a food bag, a FULL bag of clothes, sleeping bags, extra tyres, repair kit, extra fuel, a tent and even a medic kit to name but a few! ja i know them old folks... tjik tjik tjik. But a shout out to all those who helped and offered advice it is appreciated and will surely help a lot. As I said we're rookies.
So tomorrow its go time again hopefully this time the travelling gods will smile more favourably on us. Can't wait for the snow of the karoo and the open spaces of the magnifisant kalahari.
lastly big up to 3 SA teams in the super rugby playoffs!it will give me a semi to see you guys go through...
For more updates and pics follow me @flippie_vzyl and @Du2Toit onTwitter
biker regards
from the picturesc elgin valley
AGAIN
We're in Grabouw again this evening... now Grabouw is a fantastic place to be don't get me wrong but not when you planned on sleeping 500km from here...
Now what happened was this, one bike refused to start after our first stop @veliersdorp and even the best efforts of Du Toit and I, which i'll admit may not get us a top position as outo electricians, could not get the bike running again. So we were forced to take it back to the dealers to get it fixed as the supposed 24/7 line wasn't quite so 24/7...
Now ive been told a good adventurer is one who can turn "unfavourable" situations around and emerge stronger. Now whether or not we are in the "good adventurer" class I don't know, and we can't yet establish, but I've heard just about the perfect mix of: "you cant make it", "its impossible" and "rediculous" to take me to Ethosha. As they say 'the faint hart never got the fair maiden'.
A glimps on planing and packing.
Now I had this part sorted, i really did. i mean i had a jean, biker kit, water(cause thats important in the desert), 2 shirts, underpants, socks and additional shoes. O and i have a bear grilles ultimate survivor serated edge knife! The coolest gadget ever!so as you see i covered everything, Du Toit the luxury driven person he is out did me, he had all of the above(except the knife) but he had a lighter charger, 3 shirts, 3 undies and 3 socks! jip we had it covered!
In stepped the parents and experts...
Now we have a stove, a food bag, a FULL bag of clothes, sleeping bags, extra tyres, repair kit, extra fuel, a tent and even a medic kit to name but a few! ja i know them old folks... tjik tjik tjik. But a shout out to all those who helped and offered advice it is appreciated and will surely help a lot. As I said we're rookies.
So tomorrow its go time again hopefully this time the travelling gods will smile more favourably on us. Can't wait for the snow of the karoo and the open spaces of the magnifisant kalahari.
lastly big up to 3 SA teams in the super rugby playoffs!it will give me a semi to see you guys go through...
For more updates and pics follow me @flippie_vzyl and @Du2Toit onTwitter
biker regards
from the picturesc elgin valley
AGAIN
Friday, July 13, 2012
Entering the Fridge
Temperatures of minus 9 were recorded at sutherland wednesday night, we are passing 50km from it. Also, there is snow on most of the western cape mountain ranges..
It's going to be chilli bites thats for sure!
It's going to be chilli bites thats for sure!
Sunday, July 1, 2012
Aggg Blogger that
Hi folks
So we have created a blog... maybe it's more a case of Toit than we, but still. We had a final night of planning last night in the picturesque Elgin Valley. He especially flew down for the occasion. That folks, is commitment!
Basically that entailed me getting issued with his dad's over sized biker's kit, and he ain't no small bloke... a helmet and some boots, as well as a course of how to use the equipment. Jip I'm a rookie!
We have also discovered that without a masters degree in mechanical engineering and/or a grinder its impossible to get the back wheel off of a big boy scooter! Which ain't encouraging signs if you think a minute peace of glass have given me my first puncture, you guessed it, on the rear tyre!
The above mentioned incident opened my eyes to another all important piece of equipment... A off road scooter tyre... Now imagine yourself going up to a tyre shop and asking with a straight face for an off road scooter tyre... Ja thought so... Impossible! But they are there according to the interweb... it's getting them off the PC on the "bike" that proof to be hard tjik tjik poor us from the technology deserted wastelands which is rural Southern Cape! My home town use to be Vermaaklikheid jip that's in SA!
Well that's all for now. We're new to this so please - your inputs will be most welcome.
PS. petrol prices are skydiving this week!!!
Tata
Flippie
So we have created a blog... maybe it's more a case of Toit than we, but still. We had a final night of planning last night in the picturesque Elgin Valley. He especially flew down for the occasion. That folks, is commitment!
Basically that entailed me getting issued with his dad's over sized biker's kit, and he ain't no small bloke... a helmet and some boots, as well as a course of how to use the equipment. Jip I'm a rookie!
We have also discovered that without a masters degree in mechanical engineering and/or a grinder its impossible to get the back wheel off of a big boy scooter! Which ain't encouraging signs if you think a minute peace of glass have given me my first puncture, you guessed it, on the rear tyre!
The above mentioned incident opened my eyes to another all important piece of equipment... A off road scooter tyre... Now imagine yourself going up to a tyre shop and asking with a straight face for an off road scooter tyre... Ja thought so... Impossible! But they are there according to the interweb... it's getting them off the PC on the "bike" that proof to be hard tjik tjik poor us from the technology deserted wastelands which is rural Southern Cape! My home town use to be Vermaaklikheid jip that's in SA!
Well that's all for now. We're new to this so please - your inputs will be most welcome.
PS. petrol prices are skydiving this week!!!
Tata
Flippie
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Intro
So here we are
The official, first entry of the scooter adventure that people either, dismiss as stupidity, or admire.
We are two ordinary guys who decided one 'babelas' morning that a trip to namibia using scooters as transport would be completely possible and that we, both being motorbiking rookies, were going to do this within the next year. That "next year" turned out to be two years but here we are, two years later setting our sights on a 2340km journey leading us to the gates of Etosha, northern Namibia.
The Tackle:
After very little consideration we have decided on the Big Boy Retro 150cc scooter because, well to be honest, they were the best looking scooters in the shop.
The Route:
The 2340km journey will start in the Elgin valley, 120km East of Cape Town, pass through the civilization of Calvinia, Upington, Koes, Gobabis and then finally end up in Etosha National Park(if you know more than two of those towns you've done well).
So now you've been introduced to the basic details(don't worry we will make up in detail as soon as the trip begins).
Cheers for now Du Toit
The official, first entry of the scooter adventure that people either, dismiss as stupidity, or admire.
We are two ordinary guys who decided one 'babelas' morning that a trip to namibia using scooters as transport would be completely possible and that we, both being motorbiking rookies, were going to do this within the next year. That "next year" turned out to be two years but here we are, two years later setting our sights on a 2340km journey leading us to the gates of Etosha, northern Namibia.
The Tackle:
After very little consideration we have decided on the Big Boy Retro 150cc scooter because, well to be honest, they were the best looking scooters in the shop.
The Route:
The 2340km journey will start in the Elgin valley, 120km East of Cape Town, pass through the civilization of Calvinia, Upington, Koes, Gobabis and then finally end up in Etosha National Park(if you know more than two of those towns you've done well).
So now you've been introduced to the basic details(don't worry we will make up in detail as soon as the trip begins).
Cheers for now Du Toit
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