Now I could bore you all with further stories of the magnificent whales, the penguins that played happily on the beach next to us, the seals that frolicked in the sea ahead of us, the beautiful and spectacular scenery that we have seen around the fish river canyon, the sunsets over the sand dunes…instead however, I am going to tell you about yesterday (29th October 07).

With a back drop of sea, sun and seals the four of us decided to take yesterday morning to fix a few running repairs. Now when I had visions of myself driving across Africa they were of, exactly that. I pictured myself in the driver’s seat, hair flowing backwards while the scenery changed around me. The reality is somewhat different; definition of driving across Africa: getting down and dirty and learning about diff locks. So anyway yesterday morning I was to be found lying under the vehicle sticking a piece of beer can over a hole in our gear box – that’s ingenuity at its best. I managed to take off and tighten the wing mirror so that we can actually see the dust cloud we create behind us, I pumped up the tyres, folded up the tent, found time to make a cup of coffee in the almighty Kelly Kettle and still made the effort to cover up my greasy desert induced hair with a sparkly scarf. Oh yes I am Super Georgie Welly Boots Mechanic Lady! Having proven myself superbly we then set off to Kolmanskop ghost town – an old diamond mining town that was deserted 80 years ago and is now being reclaimed by the dunes. From the South of the town it looks like all is well, from the north the roofs have collapsed inwards and the rooms are full of sand (would look marvellous in the tate modern). I did scan the floor for diamonds and even got quite excited at one point but Rob assures me it is only quartz.  But anyway, the town is just a sideline in the adventure of the day.

No sooner had we started off on the road to Sisriem to see the dunes and Betty decided she was getting hot and bothered and started to over heat. This saw us sitting essentially on the side of a duel carriage way in the midday sun, trying to eat salads huddled in the vehicle and being covered in a cloud of dust every time another vehicle passed by. We got over this little hitch however and travelled forward for another hour or so before she once again over heated. This time as we were sitting waiting, feeling a little sorry for ourselves, a group of teenage Namibian boys appeared from literally the middle of no where. I can only describe them as being on DofE. They each carried backpacks, bedding and the most confusing map I have ever seen. They came shyly forward and enquired if we had any idea where the war cemetery was. Funnily enough we did know seeing as we had been there the day before. Simon grabbed the GPS and tried to show the boys which way to go. They left more confused than ever but each carrying an orange which we had generously donated after finding out they hadn’t eaten all day, (we decided not to mention all the seafood we had stocked in our fridge).

On the road again we came across a beautiful campsite but decided that at £15 for all of us it was far too expensive and carried on. But Betty was tired and angry that we had tricked her into thinking we were stopping. With a sudden beep and a shout, the cab began filling with smoke. Hannah was on fire! Everyone leapt from the vehicle, all except me whose door chose that moment to jam, I was left heroically climbing out of the window. Further inspection revealed that it was not Hannah but rather the split charger system underneath her that was on fire. I think that’s worse. While Simon mumbled things about cages touching sides and charge being sent through weird things, I put out the hazard triangles and managed to hail an elderly Namibian man. Language was a little bit of an issue but finally he understood that we could get Betty moving but not far. As it happened he was the owner of the land that surrounded us so said we could wild camp next to the dry river. Marvellous! That was until we actually drove into the river bad and got stuck. No worries though, a couple of sand planks and we were off…5 metres before we were stuck again. 3 more repetitions and Betty and we came to a mutual decision to stop for the night.

I do believe I mentioned we were wild camping, but this was wild camping in style. Rob prepared a fire from various fallen trees and I set about making a king prawn risotto using economy cheese powder and normal rice and even if I do say so myself it was rather yummy! That a lovely quaffable little chardonnay bought by Rob at one of our many wine tastings and the sounds of the reed buck surrounding us made last night the best camping experience so far.

So there we have it. A rather long email to say that yes stuff is going wrong, though the boys assure me that so much more could be falling to bits, but we are still smiling and dealing with it with wine and prawns J Namibia is great, so much more African than South Africa!

Georgie