21 August 2009

21 August, Day 69: Kuruman

Another blockbuster break-fest (no moose though, to my utter disappointment). Before we check out we head back to the Valley of Waves because Annelie wants to go on the bungee jump trampoline thingy. Yeah, you have to be “this” tall to go on this ride, at least 7 years old (which she just barely qualifies) and weigh no more that 54 kg’s (which she also just barely qualifies)

Anecdote: I kid, of course. She’s way older than 7

Anecdote: and way lighter than 54 k’s

Anecdote: I love you baby, please don’t hurt me.

The jumping thing is a big hit: they tie you to a harness, suspended from two sides by bungee cords. Next they lift you about 3 meters into the air then a dude on the trampoline underneath you jumps up, grabs hold and pulls you down before letting go. And my homeboy Newton got it right about every action having an equal and opposite reaction, perfectly demonstrated as Annelie goes soaring! Giggles and screams in equal measure. She really is just a kid sometimes, but I love that about her.

This goes on for about 15 minutes, she manages to pull a few sweet back flips before being lowered back down and letting the other kids waiting in line a turn. All done, we head back to the Cabanas to finalise our bill. Back at the Bullet and yea. Battery dead. I give it a slight nudge out of the parking bay and Annelie guides it down the hill before effortlessly popping the clutch and starting it. All good to go, we set our biological GPS’s for Kuruman, about 350 km’s to Annelie’s aunt. First we’re making a stop in Koster to see her cousin, who will give us better directions. We only manage to reach Koster at 13:00 so it has to be a quick reunion. She guides us to the road we need to take from there and we say goodbye. Quick pitstop in Biesiesvlei for refuel and biobreak.

The rest of the day we make pretty good progress as we go, but there are road works on this route so quite a few long wait times at road blocks, to allow other traffic through. Heh heh, funny town names in these parts: Witpan, Vlakpan, Greysloot, Beeskraal, Paardekraal, Jan se Baard, fok, you name it. The scenery is very pleasing, this is wide open farm country, although it doesn’t look like a whole lot is going on. By about 18:00 or so we enter Kuruman and follow the directions to her aunt’s house.

We’ll be staying here for 2 nights since Annelie wants to have a good chat about things and catch up. Me, well, I have lots of admin to do again, like updating the journal, writing some DVD’s and the like.

Highlights: Breakfast again!

Taking pictures of a very airborne Annelie

Care should be taken to avoid tipping while seated

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