First time at Kwena

All packed and ready to go

Kwena dam is situated just outside of Lydenburg on the way towards Nelspruit. A very under developed dam and camping is pretty rough. Our group of friends, whom i will mention later, decided late on friday afternoon that we are going for the week end. We packed with a great speed, this time I remembered the tent pegs, and eventually we left on saturday morning. Nursing a serious hang over I left the driving duties to my mate Hendry.



Drinks in Orighstad



Our first stop was to load the trailer and then we hit the road and headed towards Orighstad. We had decided to go this way around so as to avoid the stop and go road works and the mountain pass to Lydenburg. We had our first drinks break in Orighstad and waited for the rest of the folk to catch up. Leaving Orighstad we managed to get about 15km and then disaster. A water hose clamp had come loose and the Landy started overheating.



Wessel was "chief mechanic"

Not the way i like to see Suzy Q. After struggling for about an hour, due to excessive heat and lack of tools, we finally had her filled with water and ready to go and then discovered that she wouldnt start. Another hour of "fault finding" i found that the coil was not getting power. We made a plan and pulled a wire directly from the battery to the coil and off we went. Managed about 20 km and the clamp came loose again. By now we were expert in the repairs and this time only delayed about 20 minutes.


We got underway once again and reached Lydenburg in a record time of 4.5 hours. Last minute shopping was done in Lydenburg and then we stopped at the Fisheries to buy fishing licences. Friendly warning if should ever find yourself fishing in this area make sure your licence is up to date. The inspectors love coming to this dam and confiscate ALL your equipment if you do not have a licence. BE WARNED.  Another two breakdowns between Lydenburg and the dam saw us eventually arrive there late afternoon.



Mandi(christo's wife), Chantelle(Hendry's wife), Renate (Wessel's wife)





Jared's first ever bass and first catch of the weekend

Camp was set up in record time and rods were assembled and the weekend official started. in no time at all the spirit in the camp become jovial and rods were cast, drinks were poured, stories being told and jokes made. of course, as per every trip, something had to be forgotten and this time i was bright enough to forget to charge the batteries on my camera. This lead to no photos on the sunday but still a good time had by all. My son Jared was the first to land a fish and it also happened to be his first bass ever. he was very happy about that and this got us all in the mood to catch the next big one. fishing was slow and the rain was undecided. but we carried on trying.


Off loading the gear

A wager on the the first person to catch a carp saw all the men getting their "secret" mutis out and prepare lines with utmost care. The fish were shy and slow in biting but I eventually managed to land the first(and only) carp of the weekend. And guys.... i am still waiting for you to pay up..... Once the fire got going, this was a lengthy excercise because we did not have fire lighters (real men dont use firelighters), we got the music going and the "shooters were passed around. After a fantastic meal braaied by Wessel, jared and Gideon we gave up on fishing and concentrated on visiting instead. One by one our group got smaller as the night grew older and at about 1 o clock i found myself hanging onto the gazebo as the winds started picking up. A freak wind scooped up the gazebo (with me hanging on) and flung us about 4 meters across the grass. Not alot of fun.... especially since Renate couldn't stop laughing at me. We quickly put away anything that might end up in Nelspruit with the wind and hit the beds... Sunday saw a glorious morning and the boat was finally put in the water and everyone had a turn to take a ride.

 

Some serious fishing being done

The fishing was tough and the sun was deadly. We left the water at about 1 o clock and quickly knocked up camp as it looked like a bad storm coming over the mountains. i had spent a good part of sunday morning doing decent repairs to the offending water hose clamp and i fely confident that Suzy Q was ready for the road. We left the dam just as the rain started and Suzy Q was not dissappointing me this time. We managed to drive about 30 km and got the phone call that Wessels bakkie had broken down. a burst turbo hose saw Wessel and his family crawl to lydenburg and have to wait till late that evening to be towed back to burgersfort. all in all a very bad week end on the vehicle side but brilliant on the fun side. Agreat group of people and you will certainly being seeing alot more of them in my future posts.

 

Renate, Hayley and Mieke

Mandi, Chantelle, Hayley and Gideon

two of the most well behaved children i have ever met. Little Hayley was unheard of the whole week end and was an absolute pleasure to be around. Mieke is to cute for words and very interested in "the worms and things" in our fishing bags. To Wessel and Renate.... Well done guys... you have a fantastic family.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All in all it was a fantastic week end considering that it was all arranged in a matter of hours. The weather was not ideal, the vehicles broke down, the fishing was slow but even today, almost a month later, we are still talking about that week end. i think that proves that it is not always the place but the people that make the week end worth while.. We are currently planning a trip to Kruger park and i will keep you posted.

 

 

 

 



Suzy Q wasn't the only one to spring a leak.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Within the next few days i will post about my trip to Alldays and the water melon festival. A unique experience in a tiny town way up near the Zimbabwe border.

 

Until then, keep safe and enjoy your travels

 

Cheers

 

George

 

 





Swaziland Fishing

Now i know i have not posted in a while and i have alot to catch up on. But things have been hectic and alot has changed n the last few months.

On a sad note i have to report that myself and Lefty have split up and are currently getting divorced. not a happy ending to 20 years. But life does go on and i just spent an amazing week end in Swaziland doing some serious fishing. It was brilliant, busy and fantastic.


Sunrise over the dam on Saturday morning
 

The drive into Swaziland was a first for me and the trip from Nelspruit was pretty uneventful until 5 km before the border getting a speeding fine. One thing that i did notice and was mind boggling is the architecture. I am not sure if this is the latest "in thing", but to see houses being built with upside down archs is strange.



Is this normal?????

The border crossing was quick and in no time we were on our way to the dam. The Sand river Reservior was to be our home for the next 3 days. Myself and "DAD"(ex father in law) arrived and started pitching camp. And of course something had to be left behind..... this time i was bright enough to leave the tent pegs at home. Thank fully one of the guys had extra so we were saved... Thanx Craig... With camp set up it was time to hit the water.... thats why we were there... We were allocated to the HMS leakingwaters. Asmall boat that had more water in it that around it. But apart from a few times that it would not start, it served us well....and safely...

The HMS Leakingwater in the foreground



By friday afternoon all the guys had arrived and the fishing was in full swing. it was strange to be catching "kurpers" for the first time and took a while to get used to the hits. But once i got the hang of it there was no stopping. it was great. The fish were lively, the boat was unstable, it rained a few times and then suddenly it was time to return to camp. the fires were lit, the meat was braaied, the drinks were flowing freely. All in all a most fantastic day. the stories around the camp fire covered all the topics that are normally discussed by a bunch of men around a fire and the stomach muscles were getting a good work out with all the laughing. I had an early night but the other guys went out later to catch "Barbel"(catfish). They caught about 8.

Saturday morning 5 o Clock

Saturday morning saw me awakening to one of the most beautiful sunrises i have ever seen(see top photo). The sky was clear, the birds were busy and the dam looked perfect. Breakfast was prepared and the boats hit the water early morning to get some fishing done before the sun started roasting us. Turned out to be a good session for me and i managed to land about 30 fish in a matter of 2 hours. thats not counting the little ones that i threw back.



When the sun decided to come in force we hastily retreated to the shelter of the trees in the camp site and spent a few hours chatting, laughing and sharing stories. Saturday afternoon saw us on the water again and this time the fishing was slightly slow. The highlight, or lowlight, of the afternoon was when i took a strike on my rod and stood on the bait bucket. trying to regain my balance on the boat saw me very neatly do a half back somersault with a slight twist and end up in the dam. Atleast i didnt break anything and i managed to hold onto my rod. Saturday night we went to the local golf club to watch the rugby and saw SA beat Ireland(only just). Back to camp for drinks and supper.



To hot to fish. Relax with a drink.



"DAD" Pieter

The Guys>>> Thanx for a great week end

The open air toilet

The camp site

The Manne


Sunday morning the camp was up early to pack up, get boats ready and get ready for the trip home. I don't think anyone wanted to leave but the real life was calling and with a heavy heart we left to get back to our normal lives. It was a brilliant week end with fantastic fishing and is TOP 1 on my list of favourite fishing destinations at this moment. Swaziland is great, clean and the people are friendly. Something that South Africans need to learn. To TOBY and all the guys that arranged this week end i want to say thank you and i hope we can do it again soon.

 

Cheers and may you all have great and safe travels.

 

Regards     George

 



My baby's matric farewell

Ok, so this doesn't really qualify as travels, but we did get out the house and we slept over at a guesthouse.......so technically we travelled.

To any father out there who has had the honour of watching a beautiful little girl grow up, and then suddenly finding yourself standing at the hall watching her walk up the pathway looking like a princess and realising that the little girl has become a little lady, this is my story. I'm going to call Lisa my "poepies" till the day i die but i have to get used to the idea that she is not so little anymore.

Lets start this little story at the beginning and go back almost 19 years. Lefty and myself married in 1993 on a guest lodge called " Marepe Lodge" which is about 30 km outside of Hoedspruit (a town (?) thats even smaller than Burgersfort). I was in the Airforce at the time working as an Aircraft fitter at 1 Squadron Airforcebase Hoedspruit (GO BILLY BOYS). Lisa was born a little while later and, i have to admit, i was scared. We were both young and it was a huge challenge to have kids so early, but our love prevailed and we took life day by day and i won't change it for anything in the whole world.

My little girl



To get the long story short, in no time at all Jared (Jerry) was born and our lives started getting hectic. Lisa has been a "Diva" since the day she born. I had to literally fight with the nurses to get a chance to hold her in the hospital. She was a little drama queen and has, still is and hopefully will far into the future, provided us with endless amounts of laughter, tears and total amazment when she starts getting into her drama self. We always beleived she will be on TV or movies and i still hope so (move over Charlize, Poepies is on her way).

The Dress.... well thats about the same as going to the dentist. Lisa spent weeks in JHB and kept sending info regarding dresses that she liked and i didn't (price range R8000.00 plus). Eventually we heard that she found "THE DRESS" and, well, it was a relief. Almost affordable and when i first saw her wearing it i cried. I know it is not manly to admit, but i did. The whole outfit started taking shape and the shoes, jewellry, underwear, handbags, hair, make up and everything else was falling into place. This is not an easy time for a man in any house, woman getting ready for a big day!!!!.

Our room at De Ark

We booked ourselves into a guesthouse in Lydenburg called "De Ark". It was close to the school and central in town. The day started off at a rush and everyone(except me) was running around like headless chickens. We met up at the hairdressers and (of course) everything was running late. Make up was being done, driers blowing, smirnoffs cold, me sitting in the car....bored. At last we got to the guesthouse and the dresses were pulled out, shoes were cleaned and handbags were clutched. Then the great adventure begun. The photographers were scattered all over the counrty side outside of Lydenburg and we had to get there on time to get the photos done. This was where the great sense of direction of a woman came into full swing. We (lisa and i) got lost(she was navigating) and spent about 20 minutes on the phone trying to figure out where the hell these people were. Eventually we happened across the first photographer and i suddenly felt relaxed. That was until i saw my baby in her full glory standing tall, this is the time i walk away and silently wipe the tears out of my eyes.



The mafia convoy



Lefty and Lisa

We moved to 3 photographers and everytime i had tears when i heard the people complimenting my baby.            The photographers were excellent and their photos are more than fantastic. I could not believe how my little girl can grow up into a princess. Photos done, we finally got on our way back to the guesthouse and only just got back in time for the convoy that was picking the kids up. A real mafia style limo, escourted by 2 vehicles. A good entrance at the hall.

On the red carpet

In no time at all we found ourselves standing outside the school hall i got a serious attack of hay fever (that is my story and i am sticking to it) when my "Poepies" walked down the red carpet. She was stunning and i will forever believe that she was the prettiest, most beautiful young lady there on the night. Speechless. teary eyed, Lump in the throat, or according to Lefty, just a softy at heart. Call me what you want, but i cried (behind the tree) and i finally realised that my "Poepies" is now getting to be independant. She is beautiful (must be from her mom) and i love her very much. All in all it was a brilliant night and Lefty and i found ourselves back at the guesthouse after a dinner at Ocean Basket not knowing what we should do with ourselves. I have to say that it is not easy to let go and let your kid get into the Big world. But hey, thats life. Lefty and i spent the evening talking about how all the "kids" looked and when we were woken at 2 in the morning by our "kids" getting back to the guesthouse we breathed a sigh of relief and slept like proud parents the rest of the night.

I have to say that a matric farewell is a big deal for anybody and to all the Dads out there, get involved. It is great to show interest and i can promise that you will remember it forever.




At one of the photographers

Lisa and Stefan





Arriving at the hall









Thank you for bad service

i got home today after a HARD day at work and i was in good spirit. Our kids are(finally) on the way back from Margate and i was looking forward to seeing them. Lefty, Ilse and myself were sitting having a relaxing drink and i thought it would be a good idea to do a blog on Lisa's (poepies) matric farewell. My little baby is growing up!!!!!!! We are getting ready to take her to Pretoria next week.I have to leave my baby there because she is studying there. My baby is off to university.

I had the whole thing planned out, stories about her when she was young, photos from baby to lady, and then the big dissappointment. I have now learned the hard way that trying to blog on a lap top and using a mobile service provider is not a good idea. NO PICS TODAY sorry. Thank you to MTN. I have used 85mb so far and have not managed to load a single picture. 3 hours, 85mb, 15 cigarattes, a lot of swearing and now finally, me having to vent my anger and hopefully get this post onto my blog before 2020.

Enough of that for now. No actually not..... why do we always just accept that when we get bad service that we sit back and hope that it gets better. Crap man. i pay for the service and then i have to sit here and struggle because (according to their call centre person who remained nameless) they are experiencing high call volumes? Do they not plan for this type of thing? Imagine going to the hospital and the doctor telling you  " sorry Mrs Hepburn, Just hold the little baby in there a little longer because we are experiencing high patient volumes right now." Don't think i would accept that. Tomorrow i am switching to Vodacom and i am really hoping that they are better than MTN.

Sorry for having to listen to me venting but i feel better. Now i am going to relax and hope that tomorrow i can post my baby's matric farewell story.

Until then, safe travels and keep well

Cheers

George & Celeste

Christmas in Dullstroom

I know that i am working slightly backwards here, but hey, what would life be if we all moved in straight lines everyday.

I was just thinking that i need to share our christmas aswell. so here we go.

Dullstroom, a small drinking town with a fishing problem. That is what the sticker on the back of Suzy Q (our land Rover) says. We booked place at Little troutbeck and duly decided that the best route would be to travel to Roosenekal and then take the dirt roads through Tonteldoos to Dullstroom. It was wet wet wet. Rained all the way there and it was a fun drive. Suzy Q was truly loaded (myself, Lefty, Ilse, Lisa and Jared) and alot of cooler boxes and groceries. We arrived in Dullstroom and "accidentally" found ourselves parked right in front of the Dullstroom hotel. This was the hotel where the first Finders Keepers game, in the sunday times if you can remember, hid the first 1 million rand. Sort of mad the place famous??? Don't know about that one. We had to stop for a glass of port/sherry due to the icy cold weather. This is really one of the nicest pubs i have been to and the fire place was an added bonus. It really was cold. Just remember that in Burgersfort we have temperatures of high 30 to 40' celsius. We warmed up and stopped further in town to stock up on some flies for our big fishing week end that lay ahead. Stopped in a little fishing shop and met the owner, John, who happened to manage the place we were going to. After huge amount of advice and a huge amount rands spent on equipment, we left to find our home for the week end.

A warm port enjoyed in the pub in Dullstroom

We arrived and the big unpack was sorted in no time at all. Rods were set up, beers were packed into the fridge, hard tack was readied on the counter and Christmas officially began. Of course myself and Pieter (father in law) (will be refered to as DAD in all my blogs) could not wait to get down to the water to start the fishing. A quick bit of free advertising for Little Troutbeck coming up....... There are 9(?) dams to fish on the property and all are well stocked. Some are a distance to walk but certainly worth it. Loch Logan is the biggest dam and just happened to be the closest to our house so we headed over there. Dad had huge strikes but couldn't land any on the first day.




The view from our verandah over Loch Logan



I had managed to get one little one (about 800grams) landed at around 19h00. The first catch of the week end. On christmas eve we opened the pressies, had a few drinks and spent a little quality family time together. When the woman went to bed, dad and i spent the rest of the evening getting our tackle together for the next days fishing. We were joined by Oom Booi and Tanie Kowie on christmas day and enjoyed a feast of home cooking and laughs. We spent a few hours on the water but due to some serious wind (natural, not ours) couldn't really get any decent fishing done. But atleast the sun was shining and we made the most of it.



Ma, Dad, Oom Booi, Tanie Kowie



It has been rumoured that the area we were in gets snow in the winter months and is pretty cold. I am trying to convince Lefty that we need to go in winter because trout like cold water so the fishing should be easier.

Dad and Oom Booi returning from the water


One thing i discovered over the christmas week end is that it doesn't matter where we go for our get aways, i always feel that no other place can compare to the one we are at on that week end. The ladies were bored but we had a ball fishing walking, playing ball, drinking and more fishing.







Jared enjoying the sun and space to play a little ball

 The fishing was difficult and even John was having a hard time landing one, then his wife stepped up and caught one on her third cast. Must have been very lucky. Anyways, the time was flying and we still had some serious fishing to do so we spent another evening retying leaders, checking flies, doing knots and doing the abligatory fish talks. The last day was a glorious day, even though there was a slight wind and i decide to walk up to the top dam. I broke off my line 3 times trying to land some big ones and realised that i need to work on knots. Not a good feeling but it comes with the sport. I finally managed to land a decent size trout about 2 hours before we were due to leave. I was exstatic. This was the first "big" trout i have ever caught and i felt proud of myself. Dad and Jared joined me and we were just starting to get on the fish when the cell phones started ringing and the wives started nagging that it was time to leave. The luck of the Scottish i suppose.

At last...the big one



our little stow away. Lisa with baby, the little rat dog



alot of rain in the area





The christmas feast



Suzy Q needed a good wash





Lefty enjoying the sun




3 ladies relaxing (Ilse, Lisa and Lefty)

All in all it was another good week end and one more good memory to add to the list. Little Troutbeck would definitley be on my list of places to visit if you were looking for some seriously good trout fishing, peace and alot of walking. Just one piece of advice(ok 2) take games for the kids and if you fish, the "Black Fritz" is the hot fly.

It was a good christmas and we hope that all of you had a wonderful time over the festive period and stayed safe. I will adding some of our previous trips within the next few days to share some of our time in the kruger park, Komatipoort, Jozini and a few others.

Until then, keep well and safe travels.

Cheers

George & Celeste





new years at Buffelsvley

We spent new years at Buffelsvley guest farm, 25km outside Burgersfort. This is our local waterhole and it just seemed that it was the obvious choice to celebrate the start of a new year. It was decide before hand that we should book a room as i did not want to be driving home at 3 in the morning after a party. Good choice!!!!



Jackie and Wikus



Being in the Limpopo province we couldn't hope for a white christmas or new years, but we most definitley had a wet new years. It was raining when we arrived and our hopes for a nice big fire and braai (barbecue) seemed to be on the rocks. But, a few beers later, the skies cleared and the people started arriving and the party started catching some speed. Our hosts, Wikus and Jackie, had expected about 50 people but i estimate that we must have been closer to a hundred (seemed like 300 by       12 o'clock but i think the drinks had something to do with that). The fires started burning, the music was playing, the drinks were flowing and the new year spirit was getting on.



Oros with his dance



Alot of our friends and family joined us and one highlights was getting to see our mate Oros doing his party trick. He has an ability to balance a glass on his head (FULL) and do a dance that i can't even do when i don't have a glass on my head. I have tried this a few times (at home with an empty plastic glass) and can't last 3 seconds before it falls off. Not a trick to try if you have not practiced alot. Oros lives up to his name is both size and personality. Affectionately known as the "manne", Oros and Smithie are larger than life in all ways. You can be sure of many laughs, quirky jokes and, from Oros, constantly wanting to call me "dad". This has something to do with him meeting my daughter a while ago and him believing that he will be a good son in law. (hahahahahaha)

  

The "Smittie dirty dance"



There was a live band called "Let there be rock". Not bad but they were slightly over powered by the music from the bar where most of the people decided to spend their time. It felt like in no time at all the count down was on and it was time to reflect on the past year, dream about the new one and start wondering what is install for us now? The bubbly was passed around and kisses and well wishes were dealt with. And then suddenly it was 2012. A few die hards stayed till the wee hours but most people started dwindling off and Lefty went to bed at about 2.



Just before 12. Last dance of 2011





Dad and Ma



The Van Heerdens

 

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JP and Mienie

My wife Celeste (known as "Lefty") and sister in law Ilse. Our kids were in Margate at the time and caused us endless worries over the next 2 days. They managed to have one of their bags stolen on the beach. And it would just be luck that it was the bag where they had the car keys in. Locksmiths, phone calls, couriers, more calls, sending money, more calls, send more money, worry, watch a movie, calls. Short run down of our day on 1st January 2012. As i write this we are still trying to get the spare keys down to them so that they can get back. Not easy when the courier companies want to charge R2500 to send the keys from Pretoria to Margate. Back to new years.

I think that the night was a great success (no fighting, no troubles and good company) and i really hope that all the people, friends and family that enjoyed the night with us will be blessed in the new year to come.



My mother has been visiting my sisters in Australia and New Zealand for a while and she was lucky enough to be in Sydney for new years. Not a cheap excercise to get a call through to her but eventually managed to say a few words before being cut off.....Thank you MTN. Now its time to get ready to go back to work and get into the hum drum of what we call our lives in the week. Once again i am already sitting with the latest issues of Getaway and Driveout and already we are trying to work out where we will be going on my next week end off.

Happy new year to all and safe travels

Cheers

George & Celeste

The first introductions

Lets start with the introductions before we jump in get going with the real work of telling our story to anybody who might want to listen.

My name is George. I am 38 years old and have been married to Celeste for almost 19 years. We have 2 children, Lisa (18) and Jared (15). We are outdoor people and have spent many week ends in and around the area on fantastic and "not so fantastic" week ends. My hope is that we can share our experiences with people out there to encourage them to get out of the house and into the world.

Living in a small town like Burgersfort can be good but can also be very bad. The fact we live, work, party and do just about everything else together can lead to some serious tension and bad friendships. This was one of the main reasons that we decided that getting out of town when ever we can will be the best solution.

Lets go back about 3 years when i first moved to Burgersfort to start my new job on the mine. We left Kempton park and arrived in Burgersfort at 11 at night with the moving truck. The kids were not impressed with the town and it took a long while to get them to understand that things will get better. Luckily things did. We met new people, started seeing the area for what it was and slowly but surely started getting used to the small town life and the fact that you do not have much of a choice when it comes to shopping.

3 years later things have changed dramatically and even the kids admit that it was a good move. You will get to see that i am a HUGE Land Rover fan and we recently purchased a Defender 110. This is our wagon on our travels and you will see it often in our pics. We are not very particular when it comes to what we do and where we go but i do try to be honest about the places and the people. If anybody should read this and feel offended, then please click the "X" in the top right hand corner and go back to knitting or what ever you want to do.

Please also feel free to leave comments and suggestions. If you know of places we can go and experiences you have had, please tell us all. I will try to get our experience across in the best way i can and would love to get to meet new people and places, so please let us know.

we will start to get the word out that holidays do not have to be expensive but can be enjoyed by anybody if you put your heart into it.

Thank you for reading so far and please come back often and share our times with us.

Cheers and safe travels

George and Celeste