DURBAN AND BEYOND

Can't hardly believe what we've drawn on the map in the Broukhaert kitchen

IN REHANA'S WORDS

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Julia’s looking like a Scottish golfer, resplendent in purple and blue argyle socks pulled up to just below her knees. Her purple pants are tucked into the socks – her version of mosquito repellant clothing.
I’ve just had a shower and lathered myself in citronella aqueous cream. Thank goodness I like the smell, it’s going to be our fragrance for the next eleven months. I love the smell of mosquito coil, packed in many, many boxes - it's the smell of holidays (I frequent warm places, love the equator). I hate Tabard, but we have loads of that, in all its variations.
We can't take anti-malarials on a journey of 12 months. We might become suicidal, or murderous, or both and Julia's skin will be stripped of the little UV protection it has. So at dusk the rule is cover up and slather the bits exposed to the biters.

Julia the camp camper

We’re camping at Mabibi in northern KwaZulu-Natal. Once again, we left in a mad rush, packing things into the car wherever they could fit before we headed out of Durban.
We dumped the heavy, bulky orange plastic bag masquerading as a “lady-friendly” jack, so we have a lot more space in the car. After three hours of struggling with the damn thing under the supervision of my cousin Gaillard, all we did was lift the body of the car; the wheels stubbornly stayed on the ground. We now have a teeny tiny Japanese jack that lifts the wheels in minutes.

We got the most spectacular support during our ten days in Durban. The Broukhaert family – Nick, Sue, Oliver, Sophie and Rosie – put us up for nine days, and nine-year-old Rosie was an absolute star when she and Sue sewed cloth bags for us to store our electrical equipment.
The entire family promised they would love Pikachu. This is the end of her journey, for now.

Rosie presents a perfect cloth bag

Gaillard was magnificent – our hero, Julia calls him. He made a special tool to get our spare wheel out from under our car; then he found ours and showed us how to use it (in daylight and the dark). He made sure we knew how to change a tyre, figured out how our awning works in two ticks, got our inverter going, fixed the fatal fault on the spare wheel bracket fitted the day before we left, gave us the best head torches and a bag of lappies.

Annie, Julia’s mum, bought us 2 000 socks and organised a fantastic farewell party. She has a knack of collecting very interesting friends and some  were seasoned travellers with excellent advice.

By the time we left Durban I was a frustrated and very anxious. Frustrated by the shopping, day in and day out. Julia says that if South Africa’s GDP spikes in April, we’ll be responsible. I was also anxious because, exciting as our adventure is, there was another round of saying goodbye.
If Pikachu could speak, she’d probably be echoing Ruhi’s refrain every time I phone him: “When are you coming to fetch me? I want to go with you in the big red car.” Africa beckons but I shed bitter tears every time I say goodbye to my family. 

Julia drove out of Durban and lowered the tyres when we left the tar; I was useless. My only contribution was finding a lollipop stick she could press into the tyre valves. But I took over the driving from there and splashed mud on the bonnet while I got us through a few dongas and up and down a few small soft dunes to Mabibi.

The campsites at Mabibi resemble every coloured camping site designed during apartheid. Every site has its own patch of sand with not a blade of grass visiting. But after I ditched my shoes and succumbed to the sand, I started enjoying the talcum softness under my feet. Unlike coloured campsites, I have yet to spot a fly, none came calling, even when I left meat in the open!

I have a feeling that the beach below us is going to be one of the best I’ve ever enjoyed. Most of my experience with beaches till now has been in Cape Town – despite all the travelling I’ve done. I have a feeling that the Indian Ocean and I are going to become warm friends.

Mabibi beach, and Jules

We only had a brief taste of the beach today – we spent hours organising our car and our camp – which is now far more capable of supporting the lifestyle we are intent on enjoying.
I used the gas stove for the first time and Julia figured out how to add the skirt to our rooftop tent. We now have a room downstairs, and a tidy little mat at the bottom of the ladder to our bedroom at the top of the car. 

Our second room, more coming ...