Greg's Annual Expedition - 21st to 25th September 2006 Greg's annual expedition trip (non club event) took place over the long weekend that has just passed. The expedition trip started five years ago as a personal adventure/expedition trip with a few close friends and over the years the expedition has developed a dedicated following of people like Hein, Malan and John but this year I invited a few newbies Bruce, Christoph, Hannes and also allowed some co-drivers. Brad, Denis, Don, Hugo and Schalk. The purpose of the expedition/trip is as follows: I need time to relax and chill and so the following criteria apply: The group must be small (max 6 vehicles) All participants are invited for their friendship, relaxed nature, driving ability and personality. Vehicles are limited to Land Cruiser 80 series or 100 series and Defenders. No women or kids You look after yourself on the trip. The trip is free - you pay your own costs. We departed for the Northern Cape and Namibia on Thursday evening at 7.30pm. Filled up with Wimpy coffee and made our first stop at Clanwilliam Dam wall, a bite to eat and some coffee and then off again. At 1am we pulled into Garies for a break and after about 15 minutes we were on the way again. We got to Springbok at somewhere around 2am and filled up the vehicles, motorbikes and the jerry cans (for the bikes). There petrol card machine was very slow and I took over from the lone petrol attendant in trying to get the authorization - the Cruisers eat petrol and I averaged 4.5 km per litre R1359 to fill up. We left Springbok and travelled to Steinkopf and finally to our overnight spot. It was now 3am and even though everyone was excited we were all a bit tired. At 6am John and Schalk start talking, I have visions of making them suffer as they die but by 7am we were all awake and packed up and on the way again. The area has been flooded and soon after entering a river bed three Cruisers are stuck in mud. The mud is covered by dry sand and the track looks like a normal dry river bed. Bruce arrives and pulls the three of us out. Bruce and I take the bikes off the rear bumper brackets and start to ride. At the base of the first mountain ascent I give Denis the keys. Denis has driven my Cruiser once, towing a trailer for me on our last biking trip to Elands Bay but he handles it like a pro and soon we are on the ridge. The route we were planning to drive I have driven many times and have never driven longer than 7 hours - but we are in for a surprise. After the torrential rains the roads are no longer there and we regularly had to stop and make the roads passable. At 3pm we stop for lunch and I realise that there is no way we are going to get to the Orange River by sunset. I decide that at 6pm we call it a day and camp where we are. The river beds have large pools of water and we find a nice sandy river bed far enough away from the pools to be a long distance flight from mossies. We are kept entertained with non stop stories and jokes...this is what the trip is all about. Hannes Steers (he owns both Steers in Somerset West) pulls the rabit out of the hat and produces the ingredients for Steers Cheese Burgers - he gets cooking and hauls out the Steers sauce and makes four burgers each. Hannes you were a star - thanks. The road had been non stop rocks and I had been driving the Cruiser and Denis had been riding the bike and so next morning we continued to the next main track. I took over the bike and Brad took over the Cruiser (I had two co-drivers). Brad is a friend of mine from church and Denis's wife works with me and he is an adventurer at heart. Sometimes you just click with people and both these chaps pulled their weight. It was now becoming late and we pushed for the river. Bruce and I on the bikes, slightly ahead of the group. We arrived at the Orange and had a swim, the water was cold but the outsdie temperature was close to 38 deg so it was comfortable. I decided to push for the border so that we could start the new day in Namibia. We arrive at the SA border and within five minutes we are crossing the Orange River and into Namibia BUT when we get to Namibia we see the longest queue ever. I have croosed the border over 100 times in the last six years and have never had this. Namibia is now computerised and so to process I guess about 200 people takes almost three hours. I go to the departure side and chat to the official. A lady calls our group and processes us at the depature side instead of the arrival side. We stop at Bennie van den Hoven's Orange River Bush Camp. The camp is quiet and we are the only people there. Another braai and soon we fade and get transformed into an envelope of snores. I think some people snore before they are asleep! Sunday morning we decide on a big breakfast at Camel Lodge and on arrival find the place closed - for good I believe. We go back to the Orange River Bush Camp and have a great breakfast for R30. We ride a challenging route to first mine (since I have only been riding motorbikes for 18 months I need to clean my saddle) and we have lunch at an abandoned mine. Christoph, Denis, Brad, Hugo and Bruce venture into the mine and get swamped by bats. We find some fools gold and ride further to the river. We are all trying to clear the thought that 'tomorrow is the last day' from our minds and Bruce and I race down the river bed. The rain has also changed the route but we soon get to the river. We get into the river and clean off and cool off. I try fishing without much success and we 'work' on collecting wood. Hannes, Denis and Christoph get a pile of wood together and the fire is started. The sun slowly sets and the night settles in. We braai late trying to prolong the adventure but soon we start moving to our sleeping bags. We have slept outside on stretchers each night and the last night is no exception. The wind has subsided and we hear the frogs and insects that the rain has woken. As the darkness is chased away by the dawn we start thinking of the trip back, work, reality. The trip is over for another year. Thanks to Gloria who supports me on these adventures, Brad and Denis my friends and co-drivers, Christoph who has been totally enthusiastic since he got the invite and always went the extra mile, Malan and John for their support of the trip over all the years, Don for his pics of the trip, Schalk and John for the laughs, Hannes for the Steers Burgers and the daily smell of methynol - eco diesel, Hugo for the laughs and Bruce my travelling/adventure buddy since 1998. A special thank you to Outdoor Warehouse for their support and to Nick Walker who printed our shirts for almost nothing. See you next year. Greg