2021 Drift

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…

I left Jozi to head home this morning, after a short time of city chilling. I didn’t make a decision about the route I was going to take because I wanted to just drift again, so when I reached the split of the N1 via Bloemfontein and N12 via Kimberley I let my SX4 decide,…

Great news! Kevin came around and fixed the hot water story. I am no longer stinky. I’m actually smelling so clean and fresh and sweet that I’m under attack by some very stalkery bees. I’m super allergic to bees however, I’ve learnt that bees, unlike mosquitoes, are open to negotiating the terms of annoyance. So,…

I’ve got no hot water in my cottage and I can’t get hold of Kevin. It’s so weird. I phoned him late on Friday afternoon to enquire about the cottage, he said it’s available, I arrived 20 minutes later, he gave me the keys, didn’t ask a thing about me, no money has exchanged hands,…

I actually grew up in the Midlands area, so it feels really good to be back in my old playground. My Dad played SA Country Districts cricket, which meant I got to explore these country districts every summer weekend, alone or with my little friends. I’d disappear for hours and only pop back for egg…

So, the campers were thinking of knocking on my door much earlier than 1:30 am as it turns out, but not for shelter; they wanted to invite me for a drink. Of course, I was lights out snoozing early, so I missed out on that social with the 4×4 club. I did get to know…

What happened next is that my need for safety overrode my need for comfort, and at 3:30 am I decided to move my Pop-up BnB back to my wet tent, and make it as comfortable as possible (It wasn’t comfortable). As I poked my head out of the door of the ablution block, I saw…

Day 14 comes in two parts, because Night 13 came before, and it was brutal! I’ll tell you about Night 13, but bear in mind that this is an adventure and there will be days and nights like this, and life is not a bed of roses and sometimes it’s definitely not a chocolate box…

I woke up this morning and decided to leave Coffee Bay. The weather came in a day earlier than predicted and it rained last night, but that wasn’t really the reason for my decision. I don’t know why but I had such an unsettled feeling there. For the first time on this trip I felt…

I had such a strange day today. Last night I was so exhausted that I fell asleep at around 8pm, which never ever happens for me. Then I woke up and thought it must be 3am, because it’s always 3 am, but when I looked at the time it was 11pm. Total confusion. So I…