Time for camping again… Yay! i was really looking forward to this trip, as Skurwekop came highly recommended and really affordable. When i made the booking, i asked for a spot on the river and we were allocated with site 14. Skurwekop is situated just before Robertson, about 90 minutes from Goodwood. We decided to go to Goodwood Sports Club on the Thursday evening for some karaoke and a braai and needless to say, no packing was done. Now, let me give you some really good advise when packing. DO NOT GO KAROAKE THE NIGHT BEFORE YOU ARE LEAVING FOR A CAMPING WEEKEND. Our camping “stuff” was still in the same corner of the garage from when we came back from Rivierplaas in January, so the basics were packed. But the little things that makes a BIG difference were forgotten in a rush packing the Friday afternoon.
The arrangement was that Yolandi get a lift from Martin to work on Friday morning, then i will pack the car and pick her up from work on our way to Robertson. Trying to avoid Friday afternoon traffic, i packed in record time… and forgot some key components which i will find out later. Car packed, now ready to leave. I made some stops for work before i picked Yolandi up, just after 15:00. We stopped at Worcester Spar for some last minute shopping and we continued our journey to Skurwekop.. We arrived at the farm just at around 17:30 and what a pleasant welcome. Anytime someone welcome you to a campsite and give you your own roll of toilet paper, you some feel part of the family. Upon check in, you get your own key to the ablusions, toilet paper, Skurwekop sticker that you have to stick left back of your vehicle and a 10% discount voucher to use at Rooiberg Cellars. You also gain access to the gate, by phoning the number on the gate from the registered number. Easy peasy and we are ready to set up camp.
Site 14 is right at the start of the camping site. We assessed which way we wanted our tent opening to be, and opted for the river view. Our site had no grass, and one of the conditions when i booked, was that you had to have a ground sheet. The rest of the view was blocked with bushes. At our site, we had electrical point, as well as a ‘street light’ and tap. Each camp also has its own black bin lined with black bag. There is 2 toilets that you can use, but the showers are at the main ablusions a little further down. After setup, we had load shedding. This didn’t really bother us, as we are camping anyway. The shop, “pa se winkel” is open at 17:00 and 11:00 daily and they ring a bell to let you know the shop is now open. Don’t expect to find anything other than wood and ice in this shop. If you have forgot anything, you won’t find it here. it is probably the worst of the shops we have had so far. Needless to say, i should have packed everything right?
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After we have settled in, we made the beds. ” Where is the pillows Ilze?” Oops, i forgot the pillows. If you know Yolandi, her pillows are everything to her. It will decide her mood. If she has a bad sleep because she did not have the right pillow, trouble… So we made a pillow from the my sleeping bag and a picnic blanket we had. That will have to do for 2 nights. The wind was starting to really pump by now, and the flies were everywhere. They really know how to spoil a nice view by having to keep them away from your drink and food. If you read my blog on Beaverlac where we had the summer camp with children screaming and running around, you will know how annoying that was. We were back there, not at summer camp, but at kinder garden. There we small kids (between 6 – 9) running around up and down the street. There is a little incline as you come down the street and used this to push each other on the bikes and come screaming down as they get faster. As a parent, do you not tell your kids to keep other people in consideration and keep your voice down? Really don’t get it. And to be really honest, it is always the same kind of people. Last time, they were from Houtbay hoity toity, this time from Stellenbosch.. I was not looking forward to the night, knowing what is coming.
Anyway, as soon as it got dark, we were ready to braai and … the pepper grinder broke.. Eish, meat without pepper or other spice will just be bland. The shop was open by now, and i made a dash to see if maybe they have something i can use. on a shelf i found a lonely packed of ground pepper and steak and chops spice, @ R5.00 each. I bought a bag of ice to, and headed back. By now the campsite was also filling up and more kids appeared. To add to the screaming todlers, crying babies.. We had supper in the dark and at 08:00 the lights came on. We settled in for the evening, because the wind was just pumping and it was really unpleasant outside. The noise from kids jumping in the caravan next to us, i really don’t get how you can allow your kids to do that? I am not saying keep them quiet, but have some sort of respect for the people around you. Kids will be kids, so let them scream their lungs out during the day, when it doesn’t bother anyone else. Also, no noise or music are allowed, that is the main reason people choose a certain camp site. For this very reason, to have peace and quiet.
The following morning we woke up to the beautiful view of a windless Breede rivier staring at us. We had some coffee outside and just enjoyed the sound of nature.. Kids are part of nature though, and the screaming started at 06:30. By now, they found the little rickshaw contraption the camp has on offer for children. But seriously, can’t you tell your children to be quiet to at least 07:00 to accommodate others that might still be sleeping??? I call this CONSIDERATION and GOOD MANNERS. Something they will need growing up and in the future! I was getting ready to prepare breakfast… No pan or spoon.. Eish. At least i had a cast iron pot, i made scrambled eggs in the pot and heat the meat and sausage from the night before in the same pot.
As we sat and enjoyed our breakfast, a girl in serious need of toilet paper came charging towards us. She went out for a run on the farm and as all runners know, her stomach became loose and she made her way back to camp in very a uncomfortable manner. We were the closest site to the toilet with toilet paper and we came to her rescue. This prompted Yolandi to also go for a run, and we got our tekkies on and ran a good 2 km or so on the farm. Once you are in the habit of training, it difficult to get out of it. Even when you are camping. It was a nice though and when we got back, we got dressed and ready to go fishing. We found a quiet spot where we could not hear any kids! This was so tranquil as the water from the trench that runs through the farm, flows here into this spot. This is also where Yolandi was bitten on her arm from something, and it has swollen up badly. We applied Peaceful sleep and threw in our lines.. Now we are waiting for ANYTHING to just bite the hook. Hours passed.. no luck. Another try and fail.. As we sat and waited for a bite, Yolandi spotted something in the water coming down the river. Was it one of those birds that catch fish under water? Or was it a snake??? It was a snake! Obviously one that is not supposed to swim, as he came up for air more often. Time to pack up i say, and no swimming in the river!
We headed back to our campsite and made ready for lunch. An old man spotted our fishing rods and asked us if we caught anything yet.. “No sir, no luck” . Iggi from Pretoria then explained to us that we are doing it all wrong. Wrong bait, wrong hook, wrong weight… Eish, no wonder i could not even catch a cold! He explained that he did a lot of research on Carb and they are actually Vegetarian fish that eat from the bottom of the river. So they would eat something, then spit the mud out. The same applies to your bait. Best to use is brown bread or ‘stywe pap’ that you put around your hook to disguise it. As the Carb nibbles on it, he eventually will bite the hook. This sounded like proper advice and he will be back to bring us the stuff we need. After lunch, we went to take a stroll around the campsite to see what else is on offer and cooled off in the swimming pool. There were lots of activities that you could do on the camp site like Chess, trampoline, jungle gym, swimming pool, kayak… After cooling off, we headed back and Iggi and his dutch wife (forgot her name) came to show us how to setup the bait. Lesson learned, so we headed down to the river to try our luck. 2 hours later, still no fish. I wasn’t really dissapointed, cause now i have the correct technique and i know somewhere down the line i will catch something. We headed back to our camp and the weather was turning and the wind was back…
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They should call this place Windkop, really. Both evenings the wind picked up at around 17:00 and just pumps. It makes it really unpleasant and we quickly made a fire to get supper going as a few drops of rain also fell. The only good thing about this, was that the kids were now all indoors. So some sort of peace and quiet was very welcome. We packed most of the stuff away, in case it rains tonight, and headed inside the tent. The wind was really blowing tonight and Yolandi really thought the tent was going to lift at one stage. She had her laptop from work, and we watched a few episodes of Masterchef Australia Season 11 as we settled in for a rough and windy night. What you all know by know, is that Yolandi does not sleep at all if there are lots of noise or the noise is not soothing. Like the sound of crickets and frogs won’t bother her, but the wind howling against the tent would.
After a difficult night, we woke up to…. screaming kids of course. The wind died down and it was really nice to have the tent open to listen to the natural sound of the animals (kids included). We got up really lazily and made coffee and breakfast. After breakfast we packed everything up and got the car loaded ready to head back home. We freshened up and headed back home after a fuel stop and felt really happy with our discovery of another gem of camp site. Until March…
Two Chix and a tent 