climbing road trip - 29 Dec to 08 Jan

the day before our road trip i found something, this hurt like hell. 

yes, i shouldnt have looked at his phone, but i did!

 i was so close in cancelling the road trip.

but i didn't.

the day we left was kinda difficult, i was in 2 minds, do i or dont i????

that afternoon at 17:00ish we left to start our road trip. the atmosphere in the bakkie wasnt good and i was very emotional. at one stage i started feeling sick to my stomach.

in the end i am glad i went, but it will take time to get over.

1st destination was nuwerus, rooiberg, cederberg

below is the same pic, just different editing

our camp spot got hot but we were away from everyone else. below is a pic of the rooiberg. we hiked up there the next day to climb. damn it was tough! the 2 routes we climbed was fun though. thanks to otto for putting up with my moaning and groaning and having patience with me on the way up. 

next day we went to truitjieskraal to climb. WOW! such an awesome place. really enjoyed the scenery and loved the climbing there.

i had a encounter with a snake while belaying otto. in the corner of my eye i saw something moving towards me, it was a f****n snake. i shouted up to otto that there was a snake, now i contemplated in letting go of the rope and running and screaming. but i kept my pose and moved a few steps back to let the snake go past. it then decided to move in between our bags and closer to me. still holding the rope, i moved back some more. luckily the snake decided to slither past and not harm me. otto says he thinks from what he could see from above that it looked like a boomslang. 

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeekkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk!!!!!!!! 

otto then took me to go and see the "stadsaal caves"

amazing!

we stopped and lay in the shade in the caves to cool off 

the day after new years we did not do any climbing, we were kinda hangover from new years eve. new years was a rustig kuier with the people we met there. a big communal braai for everything to sit around and enjoy themselves. we grabbed our pot and popcorn pips and made popcorn for supper on the communal braai. people were surprised to see what we were making on the fire, hahahaha

we took the 4 x 4 route from the campsite and then a drive to the backpackers close by for a burger and chips for lunch, yummy! 

the day after we went back to truitjieskraal where otto showed me what trad climbing is all about. for me, seconding, it wasnt toooo much different as i was still be top roped but this time i had to remove gear (and not drop it!!!!). i climbed 2 of the trad routes, both 12's i think. the one was a looooooong route. one of the nuts were stuck and i couldnt get it lose. i needed to use a tool to remove it and i was so worried that i was going to drop the tool. once on top i was extremely tired. we then had to abseil down the back to get down. i was to scared to abseil myself down, so otto lowered me down. 

the next day we headed off to de pakhuys, rocklands which is close to clanwilliam

i definitely wanna go back to rocklands. the rock is a bit rough on the hands and i am still new to bouldering but it was soooo much fun. we did some sport climbing as well. the routes are very weirdly bolted, hardly any bolts. well, one route only had one bolt between the ground and the chains. got chased away by baboons from one of the crags, hahahaha.

met some awesome people. did some more slacklining, watched a guy do highlining. did some bouldering during full moon, with some brandy and coke and we can't forget the bottle of jeigermeister. we stayed an extra night as we were having such a great time there.

from rocklands we went to montagu, the longest stretch we had of our road trip.

a quick stop at louis leipoldts grave. 

de bos, montagu. we were here for 3 nights. met some weird and wacky people, hahahaha. some more slacklining, also tried it over the pool. did a night climb, climbed at legoland, steeple and at a new place called "oorlogskloof". we skinny dipped in the river on our way to the crag as it was so hot, hehehehe. on our way down we had a quick swim again, this time kept my undies on. we did 3 routes, 2 x 16's which i thought were kinda tough. we then did a 18, such an awesome route, climbing up these long cracks.

below the river on the left and the routes we climbed on the right

it was an awesome holiday!

oh december......holiday fever!

on the 7th december my mom, dad and kids and i went to a family festival just outside stellenbosch. i won a family ticket for 4 to go to the festival. it was on a very hot day, luckily we got a spot under a umbrella. the kids had so much fun....hoola hooping, dancing and watching the remote control planes. dante has some serious moves when he hoola hoops, moon walk and side steps, cool dude!

let the holidays begin!

this year i had a full 4 week holiday, we closed on the 12th december and

re-open on the 12th january, whooop whooop!!!

and this is how the holiday started..........

lucius & chantell invited myself and the kids to zevenwacht wine estate 

on the 14th december for a picnic / braai and so that i could take some family pics of them. 

the 15th december myself, the kids, chantell and cayden went to the waterfront. first breakfast at mugg & bean and then off to the oceanarium. dante was there years ago and was still young and abi had never been before. 

on walking out we found father xmas, kids wanted a pic with him and they got xmas hats for free. that put a smile on their faces. even cayden got to get a photo with father xmas.

on the 16th of december i took the kids back to the waterfront. we went to art of the brick, a art exhibition made of lego. it was awesome to see. 

from there we took a walk to the reptile trailer. the guy running it was very nice and let us take photos inside, which you are not allowed to do, BUT he said the kids were so well behaved that i could take some pics for them. 

then a walk down the seapoint promenade 

tbc........

17 till 28th december

a outing to radloff park for some roller skating and model plain flying. abi had a friend over, megan. so cute how they helped eachother. otto showed dante how to fly and then he showed me, it is damn difficult, hahaha

langebaan & port owen with the kiddies. go pro selfies.....

we stayed in otto's parents house, such a stunning view from the house.

dante starting the fire for us and abi making sure he is doing a proper job 

out on the beach  

piggy back ride :-)

we took a walk from the house down to the other part of the beach

another part of the lagoon where we sat and had lunch and then a swim    

from langebaan we went to port owen, where otto's parents boat is. 

it was the first time that the kids slept on a boat, they were so excited.

we drove around to show the kids the area

christmas morning, opening up of gifts. we went to spur for christmas lunch, that way i didn't need to cook and do dishes (big grin on my face)

another outing or 2......rhodes memorial and then to world of birds in hout bay

i can see you 

day out to palmiet river, some bouldering in kleinmond

and then some swimming & jumping in the river. 

my rubber arm was twisted to jump off the rocks on the side of the river, i said yes. why, i have no idea. when i got to where i was suppose to jump from, i froze. i was too scared. with some persuasion from otto i jumped. he jumped with me to make me feel better. i landed at a bit of a angle into the water and hurt my coccyx, hahaha, stupid me! 

otto was brave enough to jump from the bridge. there is no ways i would of. 

back home and trying out the new slackline 

had an awesome holiday with the kids doing the touristy things around 

cape town and being able to take them to kleinmond, langebaan and port owen.