Oppiwa = #%$^&*@!!

We have just returned from a somewhat shortened trip!

Read on!

Once a year over the first weekend in February, (apart from those manic few weeks over Christmas), Jacobsbaai becomes a frenzied village, so we do the right thing and leave!

It always amazes me how, once people have moved here exclaiming loud and long about how quiet and peaceful it is, they decide that it all must be changed and that Jacobsbaai 'must be put on the map'. So a few years ago, a few people (hoteliers and estate agents mainly...) put their heads together and 'Oppiwa' (meaning 'on the wagon') was born! This festival consists of some obscure singers and the odd poet or two, each sitting on a wagon being pulled by a tractor, singing or reading or quoting or whatever, while a bunch of visitors and villagers, who have paid handsomely for the privilege, sit in awe on said wagon, drinking their wine and getting covered in dust from the road, especially if the wind blows! While they are being trundled around the village they stop off at various demarcated homes for coffee, a braai, a loo stop, tea and biscuits etc, and then on the Saturday evening they all end up at one of the Guest Houses for dinner and more wine.

On Sunday they all go home.

So, in order to avoid all this unpleasantness, we head off on the Thursday and stay away until it is safe to return.

On the Road Again............and Again.............and Again!

We have just returned from a week's adventure in Hyacinth. It wasn't planned as an adventure, we had booked to spend the week in one park, but we ended up going to three!

There must be something strange about caravanners. Here we have a lovely three bedroomed house with private bathrooms and showers, all the mod cons, and we choose to live in a 'room' smaller than a single garage! Plus, to share bathrooms and loos with total strangers, cook over open fires, sit under a canvas sheet that gets hot in the sun and cold in the wind, spend ages unpacking and repacking, and praying that it doesn't rain or the tent will be too wet to fold and put back into the bag and place under the bed again! And we just love it!

So, our week went something like this:

Monday morning we loaded up, dodged Basil and headed off towards Cape Town. We had made a booking at a Caravan Park overlooking a golf course, that we had found in the Caravan Magazine. It had a good write up, so Rob phoned. To be fair, they did tell us that they didn't usually allow dogs as they had two large ones that roamed the park as security, but that we could take Alfie, so we headed off. Well, the minute we drove in we could see that it was not for us. No view of the golf course, but a lovely view of a huge pylon and right on the approach path for Cape Town Airport. I love to watch the planes but not every few minutes and so low!! To add the final touch, a lady staying there had parked her car in the only bit of shade in our 'row' and then told us that the dogs were vicious and would rip Alfie to pieces! So, we did the right thing..................we left! They refunded our money with no problem and we headed towards Stellenbosch and 'Mountain Breeze', one of our all time favourites. Yes, they had room, so in we trekked and set up camp. Alfie spent a happy time watching squirrels and we sat back and decided that this was perfect! We should have gone there in the first place.

What Big Teeth You Have!

Remember the picture from last week?

Leila and Alfie with Rob comparing sizes!

One of the things that I remember clearly from the first time we stayed at Fynbos Farm, was The Dog!! Not just a dog, but a DOG. An Anatolian Shepherd, to be precise, originally from Anatolia (where else?) and bred specifically to protect livestock in the fields.

Just like Leila (Pic thanks to Google)

Leila (her name) would loom out of the darkness like a friendly ghost, say hello, have a chat to Alfie, devour some wors, lie with us for a while, and then disappear. We never saw her during the day, and I just assumed (as would you) that she was off with the horses in the field, doing her job and chasing off predators, keeping her eyes peeled for any danger, before rounding them up and bringing them home at dusk. I had visions of her sitting on the top of a rock with her paw to her eyes, whistling at a horse who ventured too far from her protection, and drinking water from a cool stream running through the field. (I did stop at imagining cold meat sandwiches wrapped in a spotted handkerchief though, but only just.)

A-Camping We Did Go!

I realise that this is a little late, by a day or so, but I have made it extra long, so hopefully you will forgive me!

We have just come back from a long weekend caravan trip! A return trip to Fynbos Farm, where we went for our first caravan trip after we bought our beloved Gemsquash, three years ago now. In fact, that was my very first ever caravan trip!

So, for the last three years, we have been saying 'We really must go there again, it was such a super place........', every time we drove past the turnoff. And, now we have been there twice, but, I am happy to go back every month for a week or so!

So, off we set on Thursday morning. I have mentioned the wind farm near Hopefield before now and as we got closer, we saw what appeared to be a black blob thing on one of the blades.

See the black blob on the blade?

Have a closer look.

People in there!!!

It is people! In a basket thing! Working on the blade and hanging miles above the earth suspended by little bits of wire and string! Doesn't it make the hairs on the back of your neck rise? It does mine!