This month has been quiet but busy.
Work-wise, I have done one mission. For some reason I was stuck on night shift for almost the whole month, and of the three night shifts I had, two were taken away.
When we had night flights the weather was bad, and when it was flyable, nothing happened.
So that left me with a lot of time, which was a good thing in the end as we packed up and moved back to Somerset West.
But my mood has plummeted with the lack of flying. I have done almost more unmanned (drone) flying than actual flying. I did, however, get to do a few flights in the Chipmunk which was great!
Last week I purchased a new second hand car. Not even 300km later it spat out all the radiator fluid. Which turned out be water and oil. It happened in a parking lot in Cape Town. On a public holiday. So we towed it to Somerset West and left it for the mechanic to collect on Friday. Turns out that while it had a “full service history”, whoever had been doing the servicing did a poor job and the radiator was blocked. The head gasket? Blown. My pocket? Very empty. My mood? Furious.
On Saturday it was “FASHKOSH”, the Stellenbosch Airshow. My first airshow in years, and it was quite good. Once you’ve been to a few airshows they all get quite monotonous. But it was great to catch up with friends. Highlights flying-wise were the Bell 407 display, Team Extreme, and one of Mango’s B737.
When they said a B737 would do a display we all thought “yeah sure, the’ll fly overhead a bit lower en-route to Cape Town”.
So imagine our surprise when a giant orange hunk of metal came scooting past at 100ft!
It was a fantastic display and much enjoyed.
Monday was very emotional and stressful and exciting and scary and sad. My boyfriend is off on a great new adventure. I move to Somerset West while he moves to Canada.
Tuesday was an early start. I was up just before 03:00, and on the road at about 03:20. Destination: Gaborone to drop off my RAV and visit a friend.
The roads were beautifully quiet until about 07:00, then the trucks started. I don’t enjoy driving the N1 and it was a struggle to stay positive.
I’m Beaufort West I indulged in a delicious omelette and very strong espresso at the 4 Sheep Restaurant.
After that I felt more human and awake.
I took the drive easy, cruising at 100km/h most of the way, taking lots of breaks even if it was to just walk around the car once and carry on. It made a difference and the trip didn’t drag on too much.
I stayed in Bloemfontein that night and got to meet fellow Dog, Grunder. It’s always cool to put a face to the name, and his family kindly let me stay the night.
On Wednesday I was up just after 03:00 and on the road bang on 04:00. Off the N1, the roads were quiet and it was a dark morning. I’ve never driven here so it was nice that it was new, but it was stressful until the sky lightened as there were no fences and I’d seen a few antelope and what also looked like a caracal.
I took the first for hours very easy. Turns out doing 80km/h in a 2.0 RAV4 automatic = great fuel economy. I did 700km on a tank. I normally only get 550-600km.
Breakfast was had in Spur in Lichtenburg. A bit of a meh place at first, but everyone was very friendly and their Americano is double the size of the one at the CT International Spur! Delicious breakfast had, it was back on the road for the push to the border.
The border, Ramatlabama was quiet, and it was a relatively speedy crossing. Next stop, Gaborone!
I’d never been to Gaborone. The road was good, terrain hilly and green, and I constantly had to remind myself that this was real “Africa Time”.
1yr and 2months since I was last in Botswana. I couldn’t really appreciate it over the stress and lack of sleep the last week. Traffic in Gaborone was chaos. People and cars everywhere, big shopping centres, but it was all clean.
That evening my friend and I went to the yacht club, yup, there’s a yacht club. It was awesome. Great view over the water and a very chilled vibe. It made me miss Maun a lot. The food had run out by the time we wanted to order, so I suggested pizza. I have been craving Roman’s for a week and, surprise! They have a Roman’s! Yum.
It was an early night in preparation for another early start. Only a 04:30 wake up this time though.
Flask filled with coffee and left over pizza wrapped up, we set off for River Walk Mall.
And at 06:00 I boarded a bus for like, the 6th time in my life.
I don’t like busses. I associate them with accidents. I was going to fly but that would cost me triple. So I decided to push my fear to the side and buy a Flight Connect bus ticket.
And here I am, in a bus on the N4 near Brits. I have an empty seat beside me. It’s relatively comfortable. We got tea and coffee and muffins, there’s aircon and WiFi. Must say it’s nice not having to do the driving.
The border crossing was just outside of Gaborone- I didn’t realize it was so close e. Leaving Botswana, the passport control office was clean, the staff friendly and efficient. About 30 people stamped out in 5 minutes.
In South Africa, we entered a tired, old office manned by one official. It took about 30 minutes.
And then, I was back in South Africa! And missing Botswana.
I keep thinking it is Friday. It feels like I have been away for months. I can’t wait to see my family and dogs on Saturday- I’m spending a couple of days in JHB.
Are we there yet?
Topic: My African Dream (Read 228028 times)
