Day 112 and moving on NORTH

My linseeded doors

the stockade I cleared for tenters

the first Bubbles loo, hole started

Woke to a beautiful day and took a walk with the dogs towards another stunning sunrise, unfortunately the day took a bad turn at breakfast when I voiced an opinion that was misconstrued, I was talking about the law of attraction, if I put positive thoughts into the universe I get positive results back, negative thoughts brings me negative results, my sentiments were badly put and incorrectly interpreted and the result was a lot of negative energy and bad vibes which I was not comfortable with so we decided to pack up the camper and leave.

the Great Brak river

The Universe certainly has a way of making sure I don't get too comfortable in one spot, clearly it does not intend for me to be a Klein Karroo farmer, hence the very sudden return to being footloose and fancy free with no idea where to go to next as I had no plans to leave for awhile. Such is life although I was enjoying my stay, I learnt a lot, loved the good food and the long walks, appreciated the free wi fi and could see myself living out here with no problem, but the end result of the mornings contretemps is that we are heading for greener pastures, literally, as I can't imagine a place drier than here at the moment. I'd like to thank Lizelle and Kevin for a great stay, they are good people and my leaving has created a void I am sure they will fill with another great wwooffer, maybe one with more skills than I have.

couldn't believe the size of this shadecloth house

it goes on forever, behind the camper

I am happy that settling on a plot is foremost in my mind now and I no longer want to be wandering around any more, so I am speaking to a few communities and eco villages who are looking for new members to swell their numbers, I will pop in to a few over the next few weeks and see if I can find one the Universe wants me to stay in, meanwhile we are back on the road and also back on the beach we found a lovely campsite hidden in the hills overlooking the Great Brak River and as usual we are it's only occupants, well us and the cat Josie found to chase.

the hoi polloi on one side

the plebs on the other

postcard scene, so tranquil

I know I said no more sunsets but the one we had today was lovely I just had to add the pictures in here. I spoke to Karel today to see how they are doing, he wants to swop lives with me and hit the road, he said he lived out of a suitcase for years and would love to go back to it, he told me to go find a small piece of land and farm it and not get involved in large plots, big fields, lots of livestock and huge plans, they just cause headaches and return the same profits as small plots without the hassles and the responsibility, I think he is probably right and I'll keep that in mind, farm small and share big.

Bad news on the cricket front, I think the guys are waiting until I get settled somehwhere with my satellite dish in place and then they'll start winning. Linneth phoned and is happily working in Ridgeway, great job, so we did well with her, she is also saving towards her auxillary year at college, glad that we encouraged her to do that first care workers course, she also wants to buy my car so that will help her if she can come up with the bucks, probably ask her dad and brother to help her out, I can see her dashing off to Limpopo at every opportunity once she is mobile, her daughter will love it, as will her mum.

So we have a comfortable campsite for the night, with the prospect of a hot shower, I got into the first two episodes of 'Downton Abbey' at the Place so downloaded a couple more episodes to watch and will see if I am hooked enough after these two to continue watching, not very funny nor very absorbing just yet, would much prefer the next season of Big Bang to start soon.

So life moves on and we will sleep well tonight, did a lot of wandering around today and walking on beaches and waterways so the dogs are tuckered out and quite happy to be back in the camper, as am I, I quite missed it and clearly we were not meant to get too cosy in the Karroo so we are back to chaos looking for another comfort zone, wish us luck.

Sleep well.

Friday 26^th July

Woke early to unhook my power cable which I was not supposed to plug in as I did not pay for the power option, no-one around to notice so we had light, recharged laptop and this morning we have a cold fridge so my milk and yoghurt will last. Did some ablutions and then took a walk over the ridge to the lovely secluded beach, wind swept, Pepi ran around like a puppy, the dogs are happy to be chasing the ball again, it was difficult to do with the collies as they were not letting my two get a sniff of the ball, so we spent a long time with it last night and today, had such a great sunset to enjoy last night and was reluctant to be indoors so the dogs benefitted, the beach has got to them and they love rolling in the sand but are yet to get used to the waves and salty water, real ugly faces when they get taste of salt.

We went back and said our goodbyes to our lovely camp host, a bear of a man who enjoyed our company as we were his only occupants, he tells me summer is full of Gautengers and it is so busy he can't think straight. We headed to Knysna and took the road up to Uniondale, I want to head North along the N9 and this looked like a good option, until we hit the dirt road and found out we had to travel for 70km though the forest and over the mountains on dirt, not a bad road, unless your definition of bad is fu#$%ng s@#t then you think again about your decision to take the scenic route and you castigate yourself for 70km, it was great scenery, it was over magic mountains, it did have lovely picnic spots and viewpoints, we did take our time, but my god, it was a terrible road, bumped us along like kangaroos at one point and the worst potholes imaginable.

the start of the outeniqua trail in the knysna mountains

Buffelsnek about 30km up and over dirt roads I won't mention

The worst part of the drive up the mountains is the amount of time we were driving on a single lane around blind bends, no chance of missing a head on collision if someone came the other way, the camper took up the whole road, amazing how we get through life on such wims of chance.

lots of logging going on up here, Cape Pine

We did finally make it to Avontuur and then hit the tar road for the last 10km on the Prince Alfred Pass which Lorraine has been wanting me to drive for a long time, after our marathon drive, the pass was a disappointment, no biggie and dull in comparison, no adventure to speak of.

we found this lovely place at Kruisvallei

We came into Uniondale, blinked a bit and were out the other end and into a caravan park to walk the dogs and relax for a few hours, no-one there so decided to go into town for petrol and hit the road and keep going towards Graff Reinett, unfortunately the camper had other plans and would not start, she had dome it when we were in the valley taking a picture of Angie's G spot KAK Accommodation, clicked when I turned the key, but then started, so I figured it was a lose wire somewhere but hell if I could find it, had to walk across the road to Africa Aloe and ask the secretary to call for help. She laughed when I asked for an auto electrician, she said I can only call the towing guys, we don't have anyone else, so I sat and waited, sewed up my work pants yet again, they are all hanging together with thread these days my lovely cotton shorts, until finally a bakkie arrived with TOWING written all over it. I explained my dilemma to the two lovely guys, one as old as methusalah, he immediately climbed under the engine, found the errand wire, connected it, tightened my fan belt which I knew was loose but was told only needed some sunlight soap, Karel told me that, I will have to let him know he was a smidgen wrong on that one, they also connected a pipe that should have been taking my petrol fumes away from my manifold but was actually just sitting in the metal groove of the bumper, someone had forgotten to reconnect it, so in the end my camper was spiffy and better than before, and these two did not even charge me, so my luck with the camper remains, I did ask the universe to give me no trouble that I could not easily manage and to date, it has followed orders swimmingly.

we came along that sand path through the mountains

stopped for a break from the bumpy ride

So we went into town and filled up the empty tank, empty too regularly for my liking, then popped into the Lodge for a bite, had a terrible spud but free internet so could catch up with my mail, surf a bit and watch some cricket, well keep in touch with it at least, we are doing better this game, unfortunately had to leave it halfway through the second innings and we headed back to the campsite as it's too late to hit the road and the dogs wanted feeding.

A lady finally pitched up to take R80 off me, good deal for electricity and a hot shower and our own lovely company so could let the dogs run around without a problem.

So good day, excellent weather, a bit cold in the morning but heats up well and stays mild all through the night, I don't think this part of the country has a winter, although a few people I have spoken to in Cape Town say it's wet and miserable.

Off for some more ball throwing before the sun goes down, have fun and cuddle up.

.