It's a Long Way to Tipperary...

as the song goes. It was also a fuckin' long way back to Shit Towne on Sunday morning after our trip to Sani Pass for the weekend. It was supposed to only happen in 3 weeks time, but we had been called to say that the house was no longer available over that period, but if we still wanted to go, this weekend was open. This was on Tuesday, so we didn't have much time to get organised.

The trip started on Friday morning around 11am, just after picking up friends Patrick and Laura and their son Aidan, who were coming along with our ex-neighbours Brian and Jana and their two kids. We are all good friends, having stayed in the same neighbourhood for the last five years or so. This trip was just something we'd spoken about for a while and, now given the opportunity, decided to follow through. Jana knows someone at work who has a house in the little town of Underberg, about 20km from the world famous Sani Pass and we could get the house for only R600 for the weekend. With eight of us on the trip, the house was more than big enough and cheap to boot.

Steph had decided to stay at home, or rather I was leaving her there, as she was going to the stage production of The Lion King on Saturday night. I have no desire to see the show and I wasn't passing up the opportunity of going to Sani Pass. On top of it all, the show was a work function, which gave me more motivation to disappear.

The highway to Underberg was a long one, in total around the 550km mark. Laura and Aidan were restless passengers, grumbling about cramped spaces and having kept too much luggage on the back seat of the Ranger with them. It was their own fault and I was hearing none of it...I had warned them. I'd volunteered to pick them up in the Ranger as they only have a sedan and this was going to be a serious 4x4 trip. We could also share the fuel bill which was a bonus for both of us.

We get to Underberg, find out that it is big enough to get lost in, call Brian to ask for directions to the house and within fifteen minutes have our first drink in hand. Early indications were that this was going to be a rough weekend. A quick SMS message to Steph to let her know we'd arrived was answered with a terse "Ok, take care". Oops...cold weather, and now cold shoulder...

It was quite cold, with temperatures in the lower single digits, so we ended up sitting in the lounge enjoying our drinks with a fire in the hearth. This was followed by a dinner of soup, then curry, at about 7pm after which we retired to the lounge again where it was warmer. A few more drinks and everyone retired to bed by about 11pm, except for the two boys who chatted until the wee hours.

The room I was in had a big double bed, big, as I was alone in it. There was a cold draught blowing down my neck too, which came from the cold air sinking from the narrow window above my head. Not too much I could do about it though, so I pulled the pillow in closer and headed off into LaLa Land for a pleasant sleep.

Up at about 6h45, into a lovely hot shower before the rush, dressed and through to the kitchen for a cup of coffee and to help pack the trucks for the day's outing to the Pass. We left the house at about 8am, once the rest of them had got organised.

The road to the Pass is about 40km long, mostly on good dirt road, but once you get to the border post, it's pure 4-wheel drive from there onward to the top. The daft thing about the border is that, here, unlike the Caledonspoort border post, you need a passport to get through. At Caledonspoort, all you need is a SA ID book...the difference, you tell me. It is Africa, after all.

We find a secluded spot and set up for a fried breakfast and coffee. Brian and Jana do this sort of thing regularly so they were all kitted out for the event. I had offered to bring any camping requirements along too, but was told not to bother as they already had everything organised on that front. Between Jana and Laura, they'd organised all the meals. Seeing as Steph wasn't going along, I was told not to bother contributing toward the accommodation too. All I needed to do, was bring along my booze (how come then the back of the truck was full?).

After a hearty breakfast, we pack up and move onward toward the top, stopping on occasion to admire the view. Even though it's winter and the veld is brown from frostbite, the scenery is still amazing and it's worth every stop we make. On top of which, every stop we make is for a beer, so there's a few.

Only for the last kilometre or so, is it necessary to shift into low range four wheel drive. The gradient is extremely steep, probably forty five degrees at points, with tight hairpin bends and loose rock and gravel in abundance, making progress difficult and slow. Eventually we get to the top, just over two hours from when we set out from the border post. At the Lesotho border post, we hand our passports in and straightaway get stamped into, and out, of Lesotho...lazy bastards. We also get rushed R8 for "the car road tax", and we wonder how much of that will get declared by the guards and how much will disappear. Needless to say, we don't get given a receipt.

After the few obligatory photos at the top, and looking down, we head into the warmth of the hotel for a drink. The kids go looking for snow which is lying in patches around the rockfaces, throwing chunks of snow and ice at each other until their gloves are soaked or their hands are burning from the cold. Brian disappears for a walk and ends up right at the edge of the cliff looking down toward where we came from. When he returns, I decide it's my turn for a walk and make it to about halfway to the point, before deciding "fuckit", taking a few photos and heading back to the hotel. A thermometer on the wall shows that, somewhere inside the hotel it's 2.5degC and outside, due to the wind chill factor, it's -8.9degC...and it certainly felt like it.

Because there's rugby on at 3pm, we decide around 1pm to make our way back down to the little town Himeville which we passed through on the way to the pass, to watch the game in the Himeville Arms pub. It's a slow-ish decent, but Brian drives like a lunatic at times, often ending up a good kilometre or so ahead of us. We decide to take the slow train down as it is, aside from steep, also a pleasant drive and we make the most of it. At five minutes to three, we park outside the Himeville Arms and head inside to see if we can get a table, but the place is packed out with Springbok supporters who, by the look of the bottles and glasses on the tables, have been there a while.

The ladies and the kids decide they don't want to watch the rugby and Brian, Patrick and myself bid them farewell and settle down to a few pints of the local ale, called The Whistling Pig. Yummy stuff, can't remember the last time I had such a good pale ale. All told, Pat and I must have had a good four pints each, while Brian slowed down a bit and only had three. The 'Bokke' ended up losing in what turned out to be a gruelling, physical match.

Out of the pub, we drove the Ranger up to a hill overlooking Underberg, supposedly to look for firewood to fuel the bonfire we would have later. We ended up having another beer while watching the sun go down, eventually deciding it was too cold to stand around in our shirtsleeves. Back at the house, we found some firewood at the bottom of the expansive garden and brought the braai into the middle of the lawn. Embers from the fire wouldn't damage the lawn any further, which was already burnt brown by the morning frost.

It turned out to be a long night. With our bellies full of steak, wors and a little potato salad, we settled down in front of the roaring fire and talked the night away, having a good laugh over the day's events plus more. We killed the fire at just before midnight and made sure everything was packed away for the night. We wanted to be up at 6am to get an early start as we'd decided to give the highway home a miss, settling instead to drive back the "scenic route" through Lesotho past Katse Dam and out at Caledonspoort border post. It was to be a llooonnngggg day and will be covered in the next posting...

Here's some of the other good pics...