As the saying goes “all roads lead to Rome” well that was the case with the Bonnie dale Week-end. The KZN Yeadons chose the R62 from Port Elizabeth over the Robertson pass. The Willeys, Nannuccis, Yeadons and Abbots chose the R327 and some the R380 via Mossel Bay!
On Good Friday We were trundling down the R62 and came apron a CCLRC. member Charles Saunders parked and pouring diesel into his tank, We stopped and offered assistance, not fuel ( My V8 runs on Paraffin!) and found out he was on his way to Bobb3eaans kloof for his own jol that weekend. As it was a Public holiday all the small petrol stations in the dorps were closed so he had to top up before he ran out. This did not bode well for me as my Rangy “drinks“fuel and no stations on my route were open!
We arrived after 17:00 at the camp to be greeted by Kevin the Pretoriuses and the Schmidts who had all set up camp and were relaxing! The next group arrived and set up camp. By 18:30 Rob, the Jacobs and Millars were also all settled in.(some in Wimp accommodation with heated bedding!) It seemed the only people missing were the “Chettys” who had been heard on the CB. Radio just before nightfall, but seems as if had taken a wrong turn in their “2lt. Cortina with PoP-UP Curry Van” and were stuck on the other side of a cattle-gate a few Km. away. This was very distressing as we would not get a chance to try any of the ‘exotic’ dishes that “Mama” had been cooking “all the day long and all”. At the Braai, Rob/John cooked about a100 Chicken kebabs, the rest of us had to settle with Pap, Steaks and Chops !!
It was a lazy start to the next morning what with getting all things up and running. Although we had 4 ablutions 2 with baths (Christine and Tani liked this) and 2 with showers .It was a bit of a lucky ‘dip’ as to which shower to use? One used to block and overflow but was HOT the other was COOL but did not. Kevin also warned us to keep all food concealed as the Baboons were pesky animals and would carry things away. This was proven to be true as later that day a troop came through and stole all Kevin’s provisions he had left out and they set up a “SPAZA” shop a few 100 meters from our camp !
10 Landys left for the Sun Bird camp trail at 09:30 and immediately after the short river section I had to catch a “Wake up“as the track became a stepped rock climb! I had forgotten to engage centre lock so it was a shock when the Rangy began spinning, not up, but across!! I moved the lever across and things began to go a bit better but it was interesting as I have got out practice of driving on loose stones and rock! At least that prepared me for the top section of Sun Bird where we chose the tough section at the first of 2 parts but the bypass on the last.
As to the rule stated in the e-mails, “The Camel” man says “Please ensure that your vehicles have suitable recovery points front and rear. THIS IS NOT AN OPTION – IT IS A NECESSITY” But Derick takes it even further and has 30meters of tough rope, with fittings permanently attached to all parts of his Willey Van!! Well it did come in handy as the last by-pass section turned out to be very tricky with quite a few of us testing our recovery points to get us up to the top! We even gave the tough section a miss going down and went on to try the Honey Bush trail which is a one way route !We arrived at a very steep downhill section near the end and we all got out to inspect it! John, Patrick and I took a walk/slide down it. (Not a good idea to wear slops!!) The group decided to give it a miss as the surface rock was very loose and there was a very sharp turn at the bottom! (The fact that a 4X4 had rolled down that section around Xmas had nothing to do with it!)
Turning around and going back is when we found out why the route is one way! There was a very tricky section in the middle that had most of us sliding sideward instead of going upwards. Again loose and stepped rocks had come to test our driving /recovery abilities! Although the trails were short we decided to have a rest that afternoon and save our energy for the braai that night.
This gave me an opportunity to drive the 50km or so to get my V8 refuelled. I arrived at a quant little shop/petrol pump at Die Plaasstal at the Haelkraal intersection and was served by a very attractive girl. All thoughts of romance went out of the window when I saw the amount of “Density” needed when she said “ I only took Cass” and my card was no good for petrol!
Those pesky Indian types Uncle Rampesat and Reddy were on the loose again and were nearing our camp again as I drove back from refuelling I could hear them chatting and saying that “Mamma Chetty” had been busy all day and all cooking up a storm. I spoke to them and tried to put them on an obscure route, I told them I thought the 4X4 group were just 9km.left of the 3rd Cattle gate! After a few minutes I heard that their “2lt. Cortina with Pop-up Curry Van” had been surrounded and then attacked by a troop of Baboons which had let the “Sky out of the rounds” and so we never got to eat the delicacies that Mamma had prepared at the Braai that night again!
Easter Sunday saw all the Kidz head to the farmhouse to go and search for Easter eggs! After a lot of running around and noise near the horse area I saw them all arriving back with bags filled with multi-coloured eggs ,on closer inspection I am sure some of them looked like they were curried? Maybe ‘Mamma Chetty’ had got to sell at least some of her wares to the Farmer??
The next trail the group tackled was Klipbokberg which had a beautiful view over the farm and surrounding area. Margie and I used up many Megabytes on our SD cards. I even spotted the “Pop-up Curry van” way down in the valley but no 2lt. Cortina in sight!! Leaving the “Kindle, You and Huisgenoot brigade” to look after camp the Ox wagon trail was tackled in the afternoon, I knew we all should have paid money at the Old toll house because after only a few km. we came upon a locked gate! Patrick was persuaded to go back and get the keys with promises of red wine! This delayed the tour by an hour and so when we saw a sign promising ‘Rock pools left’ we all turned down the newly mown route. After half a km.we all suddenly come to a halt with no more track. We all had to turn 360 degrees on a fairly steep slope and head back from whence we had come! Some of us ventured to the rock pools on foot and took photos. The sun was starting to set so we all called it quits and ambled back to camp and the fire provided.
5 Landys left for Min Water on that Monday. It was a 60km.drive to the farm where Louis welcomed us with the news that despite the farm’s name there had been 150mm of rain a few weeks ago unfortunately it was all in 15 minutes. We tackled all the easier trails first, leaving “Die Gat” till last. We parked on top of the cliff that leads down to it and Enrico, Rob, John, Patrick and I went and did a rekkie! Although a few of us had done that pass before we were shocked to see the damage the previous week’s deluge had done, it was not as we remember it! My Rangy would get down but never get back as all the loose rock had been washed away and I decided my ground clearance was too low. Patrick thought that the Landys with lockers could do it but it would have to be tackled very slowly. Again Time was against us so we voted to not do that section as if anyone got stuck it would take a long time to get them out as the vehicles could not be snatched or towed.
On the way back we did hear the Chettys talking on 23 but it seemed as if they had not been able to get their tyres mended after the Baboon attack. We heard that Uncle Reddy had a relation in Hartenbos but he could not “Get a good price”. So it seemed as if we would be “curry less” at the braai again!
After we had persuaded a few of the group with roof racks to pick up some more sacks of wood the Gesels fire was lit. We were getting low on rations (where were those Chettys and their curry when you need them???) We had to dig deep into our fridges. Derick and Margie just threw all they had into a black pot and let it simmer. Liz and Patrick had put cheese and tomatoes sarmies onto the fire to toast but it was John and Colleen’s 1 meter “Snoek“ that took the whole fire and the interest! We all stood around it for over an hour to see the outcome! It was a bit of a disappointment to find out it was veggie dish!
The last day we broke into different groups, Anre and Tani and Kidz to go down the coast to a new camping site. The “V8s” on a route with fuel, the others could choose the shortest. Derick and Margie were back door to all the groups and she had all the hard work of closing “All” the gates that had stones on the posts! It was after the 5th gate that Margie radioed us all to say she had found a “Curried Onion” on it !!!!! Which group were They in ????