28 January 2017

This morning when I woke to the sound of the rain on the roof of the caravan, my heart sank. I know we have been pleading with the Lord to send rain, but now that it has arrived I have changed my mind. How fickle we are! 

The reason for my distress is that on Tuesday, 31 January we are packing up our tent and trekking over Kommando Nek to Brits. We have booked into a caravan park on the banks of the Krokodil Rivier (not sure if this is the same Crocodile River in the Lowveld – will have to check that), called Drie Berge. 

This caravan park is situated just 7 km outside Brits. Tom and I went to look at the park on one of our outings and were very impressed. 

We are looking forward to standing on a level site, but we are really going to miss this beautiful farm where we have spent the past two months. Alex and Natalie could not have been kinder and more generous to us and Tom has really rested very well. If we are not careful we could end up spending the rest of the year right here, so that is why we decided to get the show on the road.

We will be booked in at Drie Berge from the 1^st February until the 9^th March. From the 9^th March until the 30^th April we will be going to a caravan park just outside Bela Bela (Warmbaths) called San Cha Len. Reviews on Caravanparks.com website for this park are really good and the photos also look super. Not sure where we will find ourselves from the beginning of May, but we need to be back near the Durrs for Thalia’s wedding on the 27^th May.  Thalia has asked Tom if he would do the – as she put it – “Do you take, will you love, etc part of the wedding.” A close friend will be doing the message. 

After the wedding we plan on going to Namibia for the whole of June/July. We have booked at Clanwilliam for the whole of August, to be there for the flowers in Namaqualand, God willing. We are getting organised slowly but surely. 

As you can see on the photo Tom is having a ball. He is busy repairing an old Lister engine for Alex. He has been really dirty on some days, but is clearly enjoying the challenge. 

The cat on the photo is Alex’s cat, Willie. Willie has made his home with us although we don’t feed him. He sleeps the whole day and obviously hunts at night. Some mornings there are offerings of beheaded rats at our door! 

The other photo is of  Tom’s McGyver contraption. Because of the slope we are standing on,  the rainwater collects on the tent roof and causes it to sag, with the result that one of the tent poles has actually bent. This contraption works really well and we no longer have this water problem.

As I sit and write this in the early evening it has cleared very nicely and it has turned into a really lovely evening. It never ceases to amaze me how the Lord has blessed us in such abundance. May God bless you and you are in our prayers and thoughts always.

We are still at Broederstroom, we are both well and we really enjoy our caravan.

Every day we realise how blessed we are as we experience the comfort and the functionality of our caravan setup. Everything works and works well. We have experienced almost all weather conditions (with the exception of really strong winds) and have been very comfortable throughout.

When we booked for our first stay at a caravan park, they could not accommodate us on our chosen (or any other) site for the duration of our lengthy stay without having to move, so we delayed our departure from the Durr’s farm until the 13^th February. We then move to a beautiful camp on the Crocodile River & between the mountains, called “Drie Berge.” It is situated just North-East of Brits. We are booked there until 8^th March, at which time we will move on.

If we can get it organised, Peter, Elaine and children can come and camp with us on one or more of the weekends that we are there.

We are not sure which direction to take because we must return to Broederstroom (without the caravan) because I have agreed to do the wedding of Thalia, Alex & Natalie’s daughter on 27^th May.

We are busy researching our next stay which may be in a warmer part of the country because it will be winter.

It is fun deciding in which direction we should go, and then finding the best possible camping place for the most reasonable tariff.

Attending church services without having to organise anything is a new and wonderful experience for us. Participation without responsibility is very enriching and enjoyable.