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Westcoast - October 2008
Trip report written by Ivor Louw.
DAY 1
Our West Coast adventure assembled at a Caltex petrol station in a grand old place called
Bitterfontein, about a gazillion miles up the West Coast. I don't know too much about this
place, except that you can get a fairly decent plate of Boere kos for only R60! Breakfast
costs R60, and R30 for a bottle of authentic 2003 red wine with dust and all. This was
definitely the place to be, well according to Russell our team leader anyway...
Russell began to give us the rules and regulations of this fine trip....there were none!
Eat and drink as much as you want, drive like an idiot, and most of all we had to have fun.
What we did have was all of the above. Russell drank a lot, my co driver drove like an idiot,
and all of us had fun! Well, a bit of exaggeration didn't hurt anybody...
We proceeded to some other God forsaken place, (I don't remember the name) where we
deflated our tyres to really go off road. Excitement filled the air, and we were off.
I am not sure what went down in all of the vehicles, but I can say that there was a lot
of jovial singing to some classics in our vehicle. I am still trying to remember the
second and third verse to, "There was a house in New Orleans they call the rising sun." I think
we changed the words to, "There was a house in Bitterfontein, die plleeek is baie klein."
The rest of the banter turned into a groan and a mumble as we couldn't think of any Afrikaans
words that could rhyme. Anyway, enough said!
On route, the scenery was spectacular. This is really God's country. The singing died down,
and the words subsided into a blissful awe of what laid before us. The fynbos, the crashing
waves, and then the mine dumps!
We finally arrived at camp. This was going to be an adventure. I took a look around.
First things first. I had to think of a strategic place where I would use the "loo". All I can
say is that this "loo" had the best damn view in the country. I then spotted Warren in the dunes,
and ducked with the words, "fire in the hole" resounding in my ears. It was like bomb brigade
in Nam. Vietnam or Nambia, wherever your imagination takes you, is up to you.
The cameras clicked away at a beautiful sunset. This was going to be a great weekend.
We all gathered around like elders around the camp fire. Laughing, mesmerising and idle chit
chat were the order of the night. Coming back from the loo again, I unintentionally coughed.
Russell, who I might add is a very caring and kind fellow, offered me a huge bottle of cough
mixture, and felt the need to hand everybody a tot, well just in case.... what a great guy!
The rest is all history.
DAY 2
During the night, my tent pegs popped out, and I ended up awaking from a dream where
I had just landed in enemy territory. My parachute had not deployed correctly. I then woke up
with one side of my tent which had collapsed and now was suffocating me. I panicked. Where the
hell was I! I then realised that your surroundings have a strange way of making you dream
strange dreams.
Off to a slow start, the camp site re-assembled at 10am sharp. This was day 2, and we had
to get on our way. Five or so hours passed by. We were entertained on the radio. Bill became
our gatekeeper over and over again. Shame poor guy!
We stopped over for a brief lunch and a much needed rest at a place called,
"Bad van Bethesda". I was tempted to use it. Not having the luxury of a shower or bath makes
you rather ingenious. The pool was green and dirty. I passed up on the opportunity.
We then were keen to get to our next camp site. What is a 4X4 weekend without somebody
getting stuck? Well, one of our valued 4X4 members and his wife got stuck in some deep sand.
(No names mentioned) How could this happen? He wasn't even driving a Land Rover! The shame,
the agony. Eish, we felt for you brother! Needless to say, the camera's flew out, and what
was another man's shame became our entertainment. I have the video clip on my cell phone to
prove it. My number is 082 ####, eh never mind.
We set up camp in lovely spot in the dunes. A few went for a much needed afternoon nap.
I and some other brave souls attempted a very quick swim in sub zero seas! Peter jumped in,
and literally walked on water....much like the Biblical character!
Then off to Russell's tent for a quick coffee and orange biscuits he claimed he made.
Most of us still don't believe that. The biscuits were great! Thank you to whoever makes them
for you.
The evening came quickly, and so did the fire and the rain dance....Yes, you heard me
correctly, the rain dance. Bill's wife got up, and tripped over a rock, hit the pile of wood,
and almost fell into the fire. The rain fell the next morning...
DAY 3
We intended to leave at 10am sharp, but the rain got everyone up bright and early.
Tents do not like water and sand, and neither do some people.
We packed our gear, feeling a little sad that this wonderful trip was actually coming
to an end. That horrible "work the next day" feeling fell with the rain, and so we continued
packing the last of our possessions away with the rain trickling down our backs. Once again,
one of our dear members, Bill saw the need to cheer us up, and helped warm us up with an OBS.
It didn't warm me up, but it felt good having something so unfamiliar at 9am in the morning.
The wonderful feeling of "I don't care" came over me. This pretty much sums up our weekend.
We didn't care, there were no air's and graces, just a bunch of amazing people sharing
what they like to do best. This will definitely be a trip I will remember for a long time to
come, and I am sure I will not be the only one.
A big "thank you" to all those who took part, and were instrumental in the planning and
logistics of the weekend. And last but not least, a big thank you to everyone who joined in
the fun. Without you, the weekend would not have been made possible.
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