Heading back towards Cape Town for my final drift night, I arrived at Gariep Dam in the late afternoon with urgent work to be done. The cold front was screaming in and I just wanted to get settled and into my tent before the wind and rain swept through. I asked for a campsite at the office and was handed a key. I thought that was very odd. I had a closer look, and the key had the word “ablution” written on it. Now, if you’ve read my post re the great storm of April 2021 you will know that the word “ablution” will forever cause a PTSD reaction in me, so of course I broke into a sweat and nervously asked why I had a key to the ablution block. My thoughts were racing. Paranoia through the roof! Were they following me? Did they know what I get up to in the dead of night in stormy weather? Was it a trap? No, it wasn’t a trap. Just an ablution area all to myself that came with the camping site. With a key!
At the site I spent some time trying to figure out the best position for my tent. My thinking was to use my car as a shield against the wind. I was annoying the other campers by moving my car back and forth, back and forth to get the perfect spot, when I suddenly thought “Wait a minute….I have my very own private ablution block.” I hadn’t even looked inside it yet. I thought “ok, it’ll be dodgy but it’s mine and there’s a storm coming and at least I’ll be dry, even if I freeze”. I think the happy look on my face when I poked my head inside the very upmarket and modern ablution block must have been classic. Btw I know I’m using the phrase “ablution block” a lot but that is how I’m getting over my trauma. Desensitising. It helped a lot that this ablution block was spotless and tiled, with wooden cupboards and a kitchenette. And as a complete bonus the shower was the exact size of my camping mattress. So I set my bed up in the shower and was very careful not to accidentally push the shower tap on and end up drenched all over again. I’d like to say it was a healing experience and I’m over the trauma but…ablution block…. ablution block….ablution block.
The next morning I was half thinking of heading off to Sutherland to see my stars but it was already sooooo cold and home was calling. I decided I’d see how I felt later in the day. I took a turn off the freeway to visit the town of Hanover because I’d read that Olive Schreiner had lived there and had once described it as the “prettiest little village” she’d ever seen. She left there in 1906 and let’s just say a lot has changed since then. Like so many Karoo villages Hanover’s potential as an idyllic and pretty village remains, but hidden under years of decay and rust and dust. I felt sad and disappointed.
I had a fun day though, stopping at every farm stall along the way, drinking so much coffee and looking at every nicknack ever made in the Karoo. At some point I looked at my odometer and realised that I was going to hit Cape Town on around 4965 km. It’s so arbitrary but I wanted my roadtrip to be at least 5000km long, and so I decided to take a detour adventure along the way. I was stuck behind slow moving trucks and when I saw a T-junction sign ahead I thought it was a good time to detour. I turned right onto a dirt road and as I turned I saw the sign. It said “Sutherland”. I went “Oh no! Am I going to Sutherland tonight? I want to go home.” Because sometimes I feel like things are not in my control. I’m drifting in a wind that blows me wherever it wants to. My decision in that moment was to drive 20km along the road and see where I was at that point, and then make a new decision depending on what that looked like. It was all about the 5000km.
And this is where it became so awesome! For some reason I love driving up very steep dirt road hills because it’s a bit scary and when you reach the top at speed there could be anything on the other side. Big adrenaline rush! So I was speeding up one such hill with a classical music CD playing, and as I reached the top, with the classical piece hitting its crescendo, there on the other side of the hill the sun had broken through the clouds. These beautiful silver rays were fanned out over the entire valley against the backdrop of dark, angry clouds. I was thinking “What’s going on? Why is everything so amazing in this moment?” I stopped to take a photo and was feeling quite overwhelmed by nature, when I turned back towards my car and there… on the other side of the road… was this rainbow splashed across the sky. Well, that was me done. I was so grateful for the detour. And then I became nervous about what the wind had in store for me at the 20km mark…
I never made it to the 20km mark, because at 19km the road ended in a T-junction and so I turned back. I wanted to be in my own bed that night and also it was cloudy, so there would be no stars to be seen. Without knowing it yet, I passed what was to become my new home in the Du Toitskloof Pass, and as I drove into Cape Town my odometer clicked over to 5000km. Those 5000km changed me forever.
