A tale of two shoes

Hi! My name is Equator Hi-Tech – Lady Equator Hi-Tech, s’il vous plaît not Miss, or Mrs or this modern Ms, but Lady. I cannot say how old I am but I used to belong to Marlene Minny before. When Marlene decided that she is done with hiking she gave me away after treating me with waterproofing and polish. With Marlene I have seen a few countries, mainly of Southern Africa and quite a bit of South African back country. I have been in a box for ages.

 

So, when I was given away, I went to live in Pretoria, still in a box. I do not really recall when I heard that I was going on the Trans Africa Crossing (TAC) but I was thrilled; it would be a great opportunity to get out of the box and see the world for a bit. Ah, for sure, I would get peed on and tread on rubbish but, hey, that is what I am made for, yes? To protect!

And the preparations started. I was not involved in them but kept hearing them discuss the stuff that had to be done: getting visas for the various countries, fitting the car with additional rig for spare tyre, ladder etc, a consol, additional lighting, battery and wiring, buying the necessary storage and packing containers and so it went, on and on. It seems that the car is going to be shipped to North Africa, Casablanca to be precise. From there, they would fly and clear the car from customs and then drive down. All this is going to take some 4 odd months, it seems.

During all this preparation, the household had to be run. There were numerous hardware shopping trips, ongoing runs to embassies that had to be done along with attending meetings, giving yoga lessons, guests for dinner, and translation work. There are days, nerves like stomachs ran thin, I could hear the mumbling in the corridors.

There are others involved in this trip; the convoy will consist of 3 vehicles, all 4 x 4’s, and six people.

 

There was Hans and Elismé, friends from the Uganda times. They now live in Belfast (Mpumalanga, not Ireland) and they usually go on long safaris in winter time.

Then there is Stephanus and Mariana, fruit farmers from the Cape whom they met for the first time a few weeks ago.


Hans, Elisme, Stephanus and Mariana are going to Spain first and had endless visa hassles.

Here, they are driving the car down to the port of Cape Town, dropping it there, taking some time to visit people they know there and then flying back to Pretoria. Then eventually, on the 15^th of June we all fly to Casablanca, insh’allah, via Doha. This is when I will be out of my box. I am flying with them, not sent off in a ammo box amongst the hats, Coen’s hiking shoes, an old pair of La Redoute moccasins, some ballerines (as they say in French) and a pair of savates (as they call them in Mauritius).

Finally, it was decided that driving the car down to the port was the best option. The shipper could not make up his mind how to collect the car in Johannesburg and how much to quote us for the trip from Johannesburg to Cape Town. Putting the car on the train and going down with it would cost more than driving down + staying over in some guest house and flying back.

I was not included on that trip, Arche (the boots) told me the story. Departure date would be the 18^th of May, after voting in the municipal elections.

Packing the car was a rather complicated affair, since there were all the boxes, the solar panel, the cast iron pots, a few crates and camping paraphernalia to put in, not forgetting the jerricans and the frame made to hold them together. The roof rack was on already and that got filled with stuff too and all wrapped up, covered and secured.

Then there was packing for a few days and padkos (food for the road). That organized, they both took a soak in hot Epsom salt bath and went to bed. Coen did not sleep very well and his mind was still organizing this and that.

The next day, had breakfast, packed a few last minute things and drove off to the voting station. There was a queue even if it was early. Voting took the best part of an hour and then they were on the road. Even though it was a holiday and people were supposed to be voting, there was more traffic than expected.

Just out of Alberton, Hester sent an sms inviting them for a quick coffee and departing from her they heard this rather strange sound from under the car. Nothing amiss was to be found and they carried on, and the noise was gone.

Hans had given some rather accurate directions and indication where there were still some road works to be avoided etc… and they got into Colesberg at around 17h30 that day. They checked into the Colesberg Sunset Chalets which was comfortable but rather too close to the main road and the hot water was just this side of tepid. When it is freezing outside, this is not sooooo comfortable.

That evening they patronized the Platterlander, a small restaurant set up in an old church priory and run by some rather efficient young women. The food was honest, copious and tasty. She had lamb shank and Coen had their lamb pot. The lamb shank was served with a variety of vegetables and pumpkin fritters which were a bit sweet but very nice.

The next day, at 05h30 they were on the roads again. It was 1degree outside and still dark as night. The roads were empty except for the occasional long range cargo truck. They were driving west and the sunrise that could eventually seen in the rear view mirrors was quite spectacular. The roads were long, straight and boring in general. There were stunning views from place to place and they did have to do loos and fuel stops.

Crossing from the Free State into the Northern Cape, the scenery was very much the same until they reached the Western Cape. There was a gradual change of landscape, and into the winelands the air became more humid and the landscape greener.

They were invited to look in on these new acquaintances who are doing the trip with them – the fruit farmers, Mariana and Stephanus. Their farm is in an area called Worcester and off the small town of Villiersdorp. There were road works in Worcester but they found the farm. The scenery there also changed from vineyards to fruit trees. This is an area where they have never been.

A short visit with them, Stephanus and Mariana were leaving for Spain the next day and were busy with last minute organization – an operation like theirs is not easy to leave for a few months but luckily they have grown up children who are also involved in the business. They also run a water bottling plant there.

When Shahnaz offered to taste their water, they just gave her a box of bottles to take with along, and some huge butternuts. By the time they left the farm (Wonderfontein), traffic had picked up but they found the right offramp to get to the Peninsula area. The road works are still going on and the traffic was one way in the KalkBay/St James area but luckily in the way they were heading.

The sun had set and it was twilight when they got to Kobus and Lizette. Unpacking was a bit of a confused affair but soon they were settled and giving all their news of and to the family. Coen was tired. Dinner was a hearty tomato based soup with chicken livers and sweet potatoes and party bread. It was getting cooler by then. They got into bed, it was only just 21h00.

The next day, after breakfast, they decided that the car can go to the port on Monday, so Coen went off to do some last minute revisions/absorbers/whatever at a place that was recommended to him while the ladies had the job of finding coffee makers, kettles etc for the trip. This was an interesting shopping trip into the ‘cheap’ shops  that have just about everything except foodstuffs.

The next few days were spent in a spree of visiting friends and relatives, eating good food in good company. ‘She’ decided to have an ‘en avance’ celebration of Coen’s 60^th birthday complete with braai. Lizette had provided some great fish, Margaret was bringing some lamb chops and Johannes and Elsabe were keen to be there as well. The yellowtail was marinated with lemon pepper and the angelfish with some exotic apricot jam mixture.

On Sunday they met with the ‘godson’ Ashvin for a little lunch at ‘Bon Fromage’ and in the evening there was some great Weber chicken with veggies. Monday was a bit rushed in the morning. It was blowing and raining outside when they reached the offices of Crown Logistics – the guys who were going to ship the cars off. Swanky offices, says Arche, and good reception too. The whole affair was conducted in record time and off they were back in Fish Hoek with a red rented Tata car.

Soon, they were at the airport having a ‘franchise’ style snack at Rhapsody’s and then boarding an internal flight back to Johannesburg and again in a rented car they were home.