the rain came down and the flood came up!

Leaving Hoedspruit was odd. At the end of a holiday one usually goes home to pick up your normal life. One of joy, care, responsibility, maintenance, comfort and familiar things. We however headed off along familiar roads to a place we know well but with our tortoise shell trundling along behind us – regular Gipsies!

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Ngata Safari Lodge https://ngatasafari.co.za/ welcomed us and we managed to get the van onto the site facing in our chosen direction. The few times we have moved the van by hand we have maneuvered it sideways. A surprisingly easy thing to do considering it is a dead weight exceeding 1700kg’s. We confidently placed wood under the jockey wheel to push it forward the required 1m. We pushed. And pulled. And pushed. Without success. It did not even move 1cm! Realizing we were not going to win the fight we re-hitched the car and pulled the van with the car (yes, that’s the normal way to move a caravan..) so that it is parallel to the fence with a perfect view of the bush.

When we packed up the tent the last time we used insulation tape to colour code the poles. Putting up the first awning was a sinch and we were settled and having coffee in short order.

After a bit of shopping the following day we confidently unpacked the full tent and the add-on 2×2 and began the jigsaw puzzle. After about two hours in the blazing sun working out where BL pole and O pole met with BK pole we were tired but not unhappy. The next step was putting up the varanda roof which looked a little odd but we forged ahead. As we got to the final stages we realized that we had put the roof on upside down! We called time out and went for a swim and although we had a good laugh at our inexperience and silliness we could still admire the way the van looked with its tent on.

Later that afternoon we were able to relax. All our plans in place and the reality very pleasant and larger than we expected.

The following day we settled in, sorted out my ‘office’ and prepared to welcome our first guest for sundowner drinks. I was able to bake sausage rolls and found working in the outdoor kitchen very pleasant. A gentle patter of rain accompanied us to bed.

Rain, wind, thunder and lightning. About 38mm of rain. Water streaming under the van covered my feet when I went to check on the tent. Realizing that there was nothing I could do in the event of a disaster we snuggled down to relish the elements out of control and left the van, tent and contents to look after themselves.

Waking up for morning coffee we were surprised and most pleased to find that we had weathered the storm relatively unscathed. The water running under the van is the result of geography and not our incompetence. One window had not been fully closed causing some dampness but on the whole we made it through the night!

We still have a lot to learn about expert tent erection but it will come in time.

Work was waiting for us and the year has begun well.