Frankie's travels - More west then east bound once more.

We got up very early this morning to continue our travels to the first site of the trip - which was in Port Nolloth. One of the very furthest west points of South Africa.

We passed over several mountains and hills and each new section bought colourful and wild tints of the Northern Cape. monochrome scrubby grass gave way to grey greens and brown pinks of grass which gave way to bright green bushes and clumps of pink and purple tiny flowers and little yellow daisies. All of this interspersed with rocky hillocks and boulder strewn grassy mounds.

The trip felt a little more like tourism for the first three hours (which is basically about how long it took to drive from Pofadder to Port Nolloth) from the beach where I took this shot we drove back up the road to the dirt road leading to the site.

The site was located a little off the beaten track an so we had to walk the final stretch - This was quite fine with me because my rear end was about to fail in all its cushioning duties from sitting so long in the car.

After we completed the task we stopped off for a bite while a member of the party conducted some business and we watched South Africa and Namibia meet on the rugby field.

In due course of things we turned the car back eastwards and drove back to Pofadder to drop the client off at his car where he left it in the morning.

Then we continued eastwards to find the next site to inspect. Unfortunately an incident occurred where (as I don't have straight facts I can't explain the incident) the client for the next spot was unable to take us on a tour of the site. So we decided to go take a look at where we thought the site was according to the maps given. on the way there we were accosted by a rather curious Boer-sized-shaped farmer who was curious why we were making tire tracks up and down his road on his farm. Luckily we were able to explain our presence and he gave us a tour to the exact piece of ground to be seen and some ice cold water to parch our thirst!

By the time we were finished there it was 30 minutes to sunset and we were 250km from our booked beds for the night. My colleague had done most of the driving thus far and asked if I could take over for his eyes were exhausted.

I bravely said yes and adjusted the ix35 to my legs. The ix35 is a splendid car... however, compared to my trusty old Tazz, the brakes are too responsive, the gear stick is too small, first gear is a small wrist flick and the steering is overly sensitive.... compared to a trusty old Tazz. but golly it glides away at a quick speed. 

I was fine when the road were straight and freaked out a little with the brake around the corners.... then it got dark. The N14 does not have street lights. My night eyes tried very hard and with the help of the greatness that is car light brights on a brand new hire car I was doing pretty well (minus the people driving towards me with their brights on) 

Honestly, it was a very scary stressful 250km drive. my eyes were bad, the road was dark and winding and the car was too quick to jump to 120km/h. 

But finally at after 8pm we found ourselves 5 towns away in Kenhardt and driving into the parking lot of the guest house. 

The owner-lady came out and showed us to our rooms and then said the greatest thing....


"Your dinner is almost ready"

Better yet. she then produced braai-ed ribs, wors and chops with potato bake and salad.   

Bliss....

Now, one dinner and a hot shower later I am ready to rest my tired little eyes and be ready to face the third and final day of this Northern Cape road trip :)

Frankie's Travels - Westward bound

I am on another business trip. Basically we are travelling west from Upington to almost the far north western point of the country and then turning around and driving back to Upington over a period of three days.

The trip didn't start well - we missed the flight. - I'll say no more on this topic because missing flights is annoying and ultimately results in lots of expensive phone calls and rerouting and rescheduling of the trip and many feelings of regret. This doesn't help when the team is yourself and the foreign specialist.

Anyway - 6 hours later we were finally zooming up into the sky and getting on our way with the visit. This is my first visit to this section of the Northern Cape so secretly I was pretty very excited.

First observation is that Upington airport is a really fancy pretty airport. I would proudly send tourists there.

The roads were really quiet and we set off west towards Pofadder. we were travelling at sunset so the landscape was bathed in a poetic golden glow but even with out it, it still is a very pretty route dotted with rocky outcrops and multi-hued grassy patches and (what we assume to be) wine farms.

We rolled into Pofadder in the dark and my trusty GPS pointed us to the correct road to turn down. The Hotel was kind enough to paint their name across the entire flat walled section of the building. There was a friendly business man to chat to us while we waited to check in. Then we found our client booked into the rooms next door and arranged to meeting and gossip I mean make the next days arrangements over the dinner table.

This hotel is simple and plain but not unlikable. the people are friendly and the hot tap in the shower is hot and the beds are clean and sleep enabling.

My business trip has improved greatly from the stressing sprinting pleading regretting disaster this morning and I have many plans to organise a more leisurely holiday road trip this way in due course.

Sunset on the way to Francistown

Some days there are perks to my work (other days {cue: palm facing upwards, shrug} eeh... Its okay.

I just spent a full day of traveling on site in Botswana and after driving a good 600 km we were pretty much feeling the whole tired vibe. So on the way dodging enthusiastic land rovers and tailing construction trucks, I snapped this picture of the wicked awesome sunset. It was impressive enough that it made me feel good for a little while. For the record, I was not driving at the time....

Sunsets woooo!

Scenes on the way home

Beginning of the year traffic is always a nightmare and going home on fridays especially are times when I think about biting chunks out of my steering wheel in frustration.

Conversely, the number one way to make sure the traffic moves is to find something else to do while your clutch wears out.

I acquired a fabulous new phone a few weeks ago. (more on that in an other blog post.) So after moving 10m in 5 minutes - less than a kilometre my house... I decided to play with my mobile phone camera. (thrilling story this...)

As I set up the shot of the dark thunder clouds behind the pine trees, the robot changed and I had to move up five cars lest I be hooted at. So here's some pictures of some other foliage amd storm clouds instead :)

Morocco in pictorial summary

This collection is by no means a full summary of all items of the tour, but I thought 9 pictures to show the 9 days of the trip was a nice way of representing things. (Note: since I arrived a day late on the trip, the day numbering of this entire travel blog exercise is not the same as the day numbering of the trip itself - I am not particularly bothered if this bothers you)

I picked some of my favorite snaps and the ones that bring back good memories for me. Have fun identifying pictures to stories!

Day 1 - Marrakesh, outside the market, looking at the Mosque at sunset

Day 2 - The glass doors in the Hassan II mosque in Casablanca 

Day 3 - The Roman Ruins, now inhabited by storks

Day 4 - The citrus fruit on a classic Moroccan ceramic plate after lunch and shopping in Fes

Day 5 - Leaping in the air in the Sahara - I have a silly face on but this will be a favourite photograph for a long time to come

Day 6 - Lunch at the home of the Tour Leader - simple and oh so delicious.

Day 7 - Henna tattoos with my buddy Jenn

Day 8 - A very old mud brick town on the way back to Marrakech

Day 9 - The fabulous Yves St Laurent gardens in Marrakech

Frankie's Travels - Last flight then Moroccan adventure's over.

{cue: tears and sad face} sigh holiday's over...

I am event too tired to shop in the Abu Dhabi Duty free with my left over money.

The ring I haggled for yesterday makes me a little bit less sad. it is one pretty ring :)

See you in the morning Joburg! I have a lot of showing off to do!

Frankie's Travels Day 8 - Last Day in Morocco

It is my last day in Maroc. :( I would gladly do the entire tour all over again. Not quite homesick enough yet...

Today I slept in a little then said some good-byes over breakfast. We then set off on foot to the Yves St Laurent Memorial garden which was filled withal lot of plants that I have seen in my grandmothers garden. The structures were all painted cobalt blue and the plant pots were all painted sky blue, buttercup yellow and bright orange. So fabulous and really great on the eyes.

Then we walked to the medina and went shopping!

I purchased a few last gifts and a really pretty ring for me (I bargained like a champ for it) and then we walked all the way back almost to our hotel for lunch.

After all the walking today my legs are feeling all zingy and quite tired.... At least I got the circulation going before sitting on a plane for almost 20 hours tomorrow.

The airport taxi is coming at 3am so Ill take a cat nap then dinner then repack my suitcase. I plan to stay up all night and sleep on the aeroplane. (9 hours from Casablanca to Abudhabi should do it)

Zoom zoom zoom in T minus 11 hours!