Chris Meistre

Monday 15 June 2009

Today was my birthday, but I woke up not even thinking about it.  It was the last day of our competition, and I was excited about what other events it would hold.  Bernadette made me realize it’s my birthday when we she kissed me and wished me happy birthday.  For a moment I was thinking right, but then I clicked, “Today IS my birthday”

I’ve never really been someone to worry too much about this specific day, so I went on getting ready to go have breakfast without feeling or thinking any different just because 28 years ago I was born.

After breakfast we all sat down with Sarel to have  briefing about one of the events we’d have during the day.  It’s a navigational style rally course whereby you follow a few drawn maps.  I was confident that we’ll do well, because last year we were one of the 2 or 3 teams out of the 300 that actually completed it, and got full marks for it.

But before Sarel started explaining it, he started talking about stuff that happened in 1981.  I thought this to be very strange because funny enough that was the year in which I was born.  But I thought he was going to tell us about one of his famous stories.  He then walked over to me, and said that also on this day in 1981 someone was born, and pointed to me.  To say I was shocked is an understatement.  He wished me Happy Birthday and then along with all the other people they sang to me.  That was quite a special gesture to have him of all people sing happy birthday to me.  I found out later Bernadette organised it all, which was really awesome of her.

Sarel van der Merwe

After the briefing we headed off to go take part in the last 4 events.  It was so sad to think that within a few hours we’d be finish and be leaving.

The first event is a speed section.  I drive it and it feels like it went very well, and we put up a good time.

The next event is the navigation section, and we’re very confident and keep on talking about exactly how we’re going to do things.  When it’s our turn we head off.  First turn comes fine, second one fine, third turn, BIG FUCKUP.  I did the navigation and Bernadette drove.  I had her turn about 100m too soon and we only found out 800m later that it was the wrong turn.  Too much time has passed and we wouldn’t be putting up a score anyways.  I radio to Sarel that we’re out of it and we take a detour to get back to them.  We both sat in silence, because we knew it was stupid to make a mistake at that event, because we’ve done it so often!

Third event is a speed section again.  In the previous year a car has rolled here, and people normal debead their tyres on one of the corners.  So everyone is cautious, but I’m not too worried.  This is what we’re there for.  I go through in my mind exactly what I’m going to do, because I know the course from last year.  Unfortunately last year we made a mistake that cost us about 5 seconds.  When it’s our turn to go I feel very confident about this.  And we’re off, I get to the first hair pin turn, gear down from 3rd to 1st, let out the clutch and take the corner as I start accelerating.  I’m amazing at how well it worked because it’s the first time I get to test that in a Triton 2.5.  Building up speed as I approach another hair pin turn, same thing, gear down and accelerate as I’m in the corner.  It works wonderfully and we put up a very good time.  I’m so chuffed that we forget about our disaster the previous event

Then it’s our turn to drive with Sarel while he goes through the course.  It all seems so much faster, and he puts up a time of about 8 seconds faster than any of us.  But that is with a vehicle with 5 people in, so it would be slower because it’s heavier.  As we drive with him, he explains exactly what he does.  I feel so happy that everything he explained, is exactly the way I did it when I drove.

The last event is another speed section.  I explain to Bernadette what I did in the previous event, and told her to try the same.  So the last event she drives.  I tell her to not be so worried about the tyre debeading, and all the other stories they’ve told, because I see she is a bit worried about it.  Anyways, she ended up putting up a very good time.

Back at the campsite we quickly get ourselves packed.

The final scores are up.  We’re 3rd.  Something we didn’t expect, because the previous day we were laying at 5th place, and we didn’t do so well today.

Score Sheet

After saying good bye to everyone we drove off.

Back to my mind came the little problem we had as we got to the camp site, NO FUEL.  I work out we have to drive about 30km to the nearest petrol station, and we head off.

The problem with the first 10km is that it’s all sand, and with a 4×2 you have to apply a little more fuel than normal.  But it’s not going without fuel in the first 10km I’m worried about, because all the other teams will then at least come past us, and hopefully help.

We reach the point where there’s about 10km left to go.  Now I start counting off the km’s and work out each time how far I’m going to have to walk to get petrol.  When we get to 2km I think it’s fine, I can at least walk 4 km   Then 1km, then we reach the petrol station.  Thank goodness   We fill up, and realise there was 3L left in the tank.  Definitely the most empty I’ve ever driven a tank.

From here we were more relaxed and took in the scenery as we drove to Nibela Lodge where we would spend a few days.  I can see Bernadette is getting a bit worried as we’re driving through one informal settlement after the next to get to the lodge.  I must say, at one point I was wondering about how the lodge would be as well.  We’d booked it through our holiday club, and with these things you never know.

We arrived there after about 80km of dirt roads, to be pleasantly surprised at how nice and well kept the place looks.  After booking in we headed off to our cabin to catch up on some sleep.

Around the lodge everywhere there are signs to be aware of crocodiles and hippos, but that will come in another post.

Sunday 14 June 2009

Everyone woke up this morning extremely excited as well as nervous about what this day will hold.  Breakfast was had in mostly silence, and then everyone prepared to take off at 08:30.

Charles did the briefing and explained everything about putting the vehicle in 4wd high range, where the diff lock button is, and how the day’s events will be run.  We were a small group consisting of 9 teams, so we’d be able to go through all the events quickly, and still have enough chance to enjoy the scenery around us.

Briefing

Each team were given a Mitsubishi Triton 2.5 4×4 to use for the event, so it was nice driving someone else’s car

The first event was a standard offroad racing event, trying to see who can drive through the course the fastest.  Sounds easy enough, but you start off on a slight uphill so that you cannot see the rest of the course that you’ll drive, you have poles that you have to miss and gates (2 poles) that you’ve got to go through and not touch.  Adrenaline was pumping as the first team went.  We went second with me driving and it was awesome!  The first thing I noticed was that the Triton 2.5 lacked power that the Triton 3.2, that we practised with, has.  Although you’re racing and driving quite fast, everything seems to happen in slow mode.  Must be adrenaline.

The second event was a sandy hill climb.  You got one chance to go as far up the hill as you could.  We were first, and again I took the wheel and tried.  We did quite well, with Sarel even saying over the radio that it was a good climb.  I was chuffed about that.  Then 2 teams later a guy went up about another 4 metres.  So we ended up being the 2nd highest up.  Not bad I thought.

Most of them were just racing events similar to the first one.  Bernadette and I alternated between those.  There was another sandy hill climb where you chose a position to pull away from, and based on that position you can get points if you make the climb.  I made a bit of a stuff up of that as well.  Reflecting back now, we were putting too much pressure on ourselves, and ended up making stupid mistakes.   I really enjoyed the racing style events though, I felt like I was really getting into it.

The one was a reverse hill climb that I tried.  I went up the hill and saw I was going to hit a poll.  I stopped immediately (because hitting a pole is 30 second penalty), rolled down my window, pushed in my side mirror.  As I pulled off, I made a HUGE mistake by turning the wheel the wrong way and ended up hitting the pole anyways.  Damnit I was angry with myself.

We then headed back to the campsite for some lunch at around 12.  Everyone was talking excitedly about the events that’s happened so far.  Then it was back to the events.

There was a figure 8, again to see who does it the fastest.  This time with a twist, there are 2 vehicles on the circuit at the same time.  Bernadette took on this challenge and did very well.

At another hill climb Bernadette did excellent by making it look easy!

That was about that for the 1st day, and everyone’s adrenaline was pumping when we got back to the camp.  But the organisers were prepared for this, and took us for a nice relaxing drive down to Black Rock Beach.

We were privileged enough to be driven around by the late Nduna’s son, Bongani.  He is set to become his tribe’s new Nduna (leader) once he gets married.  It’s worth noting that the whole area we were living in and doing the events belong to a Zulu family.  They help out by supplying a few hands to help run the event, let us use a camp site, and much more.  I took this time to ask him questions about the culture and the area, and he was more than helpful to answer them all.  The route we took to get to the beach was amazing.  It’s like watching a movie.  The scenes that you normally see of people driving through the jungle on a exotic island, EXACTLY like that.  And what was also quite astonishing was how hot we were getting there, compared to waking up to -2 degrees celsius temperature the previous morning at Goldengate.

Once at the beach we all chilled around on the beach, watching the sun set and reflecting on the day’s events.  Some of the people swam and snorkeled but didn’t see much unfortunately.

Black Rock Beach

Event Photographer

Just before the sun finally set, we drove back to the camp site to enjoy a relaxed evening with some great food.  I was roped in to help with the braaing, but was more than willing to help because I hate sitting around idling.  After that we had a shower and went to bed for another night’s early sleep.

All the photos from the event can be viewed on http://www.meistre.co.za/gallery2/v/Other+Journeys/June2009+Expedition/Sunday+14+June+2009/Pro+Pics+P+van+Zyl/?g2_highlightId=20576

Friday, 12 June 2009

After spending the last night with our puppies sleeping on the bed with us, we’re up early to leave for our adventure.  The most difficult part is always leaving them alone at home.  Luckily our friend said he’ll look after them, which took a huge burden off our shoulders.

Saying goodbye to the Puppies

All their blankies in their little house

As you can see, we made sure they’ve got enough blankets to be kept warm

We start driving towards Cradock where we have our first pitstop for the morning.  It visible that it’s getting colder the further we drive to the middle of the country.

When we reach Hofmeyer at around 9:00, a little town with almost nothing, we are about to drive through it when we notice a small little shop advertising breakfasts.  It’s decided that we’ll stop off here to have some coffee, tea and breakfast before heading onwards.  It turns out to be a cute little shop with a lot of old antiques in there.

Old Sign in Shop

Us infront of the Shop

Haha yes, we did the tourist thing, taking photos in front of all the landmarks

By 11:00 we drove into Burgersdorp.  Amazing little place with a golf course that doesn’t resemble a golf course at all.  There’s no grass to speak off, so I can just imagine how it must be to play golf there.  I realised I had some geocache locations loaded on my GPS, so while we were driving and something was closeby we stopped and tried to find it.  It was quite interesting as we didn’t have the clues or anything with us.  We did manage to find a few.

Here we are

The view of Burgersdorp

A fort in Burgersdorp

From here we headed on again after a couple more photos were taken.

While driving I noticed a place called Zastron on some of the sign boards.  I found this name quite unique and was intrigued to see how this place looked.  Although a bit out of our way we decided to head off and see what the place looks like.  We ended up visiting a camp site that’s located next to a lake.  Looks like a very nice.. and cold.. place to camp over at.  I got Bernadette a bit nervous trying to drive up a very muddy little uphill, but decided against it when we start sliding around and not having our trusty 4×4 there.  I’m sure it would’ve made it with a bit more momentum

Zastron

After the slight detour we headed on again.  I turned into a gravel road which would take us to the Lesotho border post.  My idea was to turn just before we got to the border and then drive all along the border towards Clarence.  While driving there though we contemplated what’s needed to actually go into Lesotho, and how much time it would add to our trip to reach Clarence before nightfall.  We had decided we need to reach at least Clarence today otherwise we’d not make the 2nd leg of the trip to Kosi Bay in time.

Our thoughts were interrupted when a police vehicle that came from the front kicked up a stone that hit the windshield leaving a bit crack.  To say that we were angry was an understatement, but we got over it quickly when we reached the border post.  I’ve never left our country’s borders, so it was quite exciting to know we’ll be finally stamping our passports.  After all the stories you hear about border posts, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect.

Was I amazed when we were greeted by two friendly staff members that told us we only needed our passports to enter Lesotho.  Having asked a bit more about road conditions and traveling times we decided to rather give this a skip and carry on through our intended route.

Lesotho Border Post

After a fuel stop and headed on to get to Clarence before nightfall.  Our plan was to camp at the Highland Golden Gate Nature Reserve.  We’ve heard it was beautiful there and have seen photos, so we were keen on spending the night there.  Temperature started to drop though as the sun was getting lower and lower.

At around 15:30 we reached a little padstal called the Cabin.  It was just about the right time because we were so hungry and just needed a little break from sitting and driving for so long.  It’s a lovely little place with some unique art that you can buy.

The Cabin

After a last fuel stop and getting some braai wood in Clarence, we were about an hour away from our site for the night.  We got to the Goldengate Nature Reserve as it was starting to get dark.  Just the drive into the reserve is a very beautiful drive.  The mountains and formations on either side is something everyone should see!  At the reception we quickly booked in, knowing the longer we took the darker it would get and the colder it would get while setting up camp.

By the time we’d set up camp, which was probably a new record, we could no longer feel our hands and fingers.  The temperature was now 5 degrees celsius.  The fire was made and we sat around it reflecting on what we’d experienced during the day.  We saw some cool new places, saw beautiful scenery.

The braai with vegetables went down very nicely, and we headed to bed after that.  As we got to sleep new campers arrived and started setting up camp.  Fucking inconsiderate people didn’t even try and whisper.  At least we were snuggling up nice and cosy in our tent, so that made it all right.

Need Heat!

Thursday, 11 June 2009

It is the day before we leave, and we’re very excited.  I’m a bit worried though as my bakkie has been in for some repairs for well over a week now and they still don’t know if I’m getting it back this afternoon.  After numerous phone calls to the dealership during the morning, I decide at 15:00 that I’m going to drive there to talk to them in person to find out what is going on.

When I get there I can see they’re a bit surprised to see me.  I immediately go to one of the managers to ask him what’s going on.  After speaking to the workshop manager, I ended up driving to the place they’d need to go to get some parts because they couldn’t get hold of the place on the phone.  I get there and the parts aren’t ready, so I headed back to the dealership.

After a bit of discussion they said they’d be willing to lend me one of there vehicles for the trip.  For this I am very grateful, because otherwise we’d have to cancel the trip.

There are still problems though.  This vehicle doesn’t have a canopy, so we’d have to pack very sparingly to fit in everything we need.  This meant leaving the fridge at home, but we decided we’ll survive without it.

Just after getting back from the dealership, I get showered and dressed and off we are to the LA Sport 4×4 Shop opening evening to represent EC Offroad Adventures.  We don’t even drink a beer, although it’s been a hectic day, because we know we leave at 4:00 the next morning.

LA Sport Opening Day

At about 21:00 we head back home and back everything in the vehicle.

Puppy wants to go with

In 2008 I took part in our first Spirit of Africa event with a friend.  This is an event sponsored by Mitsubishi Motors and run by the famous rally and race driver Sarel van der Merwe.  The competition is split into 2 parts, the semi finals and the finals.  During the semi finals about 400 different teams of 2 people each take part over a 3 month period.  Each group of about 15 teams go take part for 3 days, and then whoever gets the most points ends up going to the finals.  The competition tests your 4×4 and rallying skills, but is also there to learn a lot from the master himself.

This year I decided to take part alongside my wife as my team mate.  We also decided to make a nice holiday out of it, instead of just rushing there, taking part for 3 days and rushing back.  We planned everything earlier in the year already, booked our spots for the competition and then also got our accommodation sorted.

We like not planning too much ahead when we go on holiday, so we used our holiday club’s points to book a place we’d stay after the event, but for the days before the event we decided to just wing it and see where we get.  I don’t like sticking to a schedule when we’re driving, because I like taking detours and stopping off at different places.  I also didn’t want to rush through the 1900kms we’d have to travel just to get there.

When the time finally came to go, a lot of things started happening.  Projects got delayed that I was going to be a part of, the recession hit, my Colt’s repairs wouldn’t be done in time and we just felt perhaps it’s not the right time to take the holiday.  But having already spent the money on everything, we decided to just stick it through.  Best choice we could’ve made!

Maritime Motors in Port Elizabeth was kind enough to let us borrow one of their Mitsubishi Triton’s to practice a week before we went up.  This proved to be a bit of a mistake to my thinking.  We wanted this competition to be about fun, and at the end of the day, having practiced so much beforehand just made us put too much pressure on ourselves.  But we are still very grateful for them allowing us that!