Uncategorised

Dave, Wong and I rocked into Maseru (capital of Lesotho) in the evening and put up the tent just befor ethe heavens opened! Woohoo!! Turns out that there is nothing open at night in Maseru so the lovely ladies who worked at the conventy-ish thing where we stayed cooked us a lovely meal of something minced served wtih something salty....hmmm...
We visited Thaba-Bosiu the next day, the resting place of the royal family (King Moshoeshoe 1 and 2 - cool name huh?) up on a hill in the middle of nowhere. Said goodbye to the Wong and got a bus into the hills and south to Semonkong. This is where it started to get REALLY cold. Dave and I did a two day hike into the mountains. It is amazing to think that there are still places that you can only walk to! Up in the mountains there there are villages that you cannot reach except on foot or by pony! We stayed in a hut owned by the village chief, lovely cow dung floor! And the chiefs wife cooked an amazing meal of pap!! ha ha, anyone who has eaten this knows it is tasteless!! But it was nice to eat local food and not some of the cheap crap we are cooking for ourselves. It was amazing walking with the shepherds who spend their day walking their sheep/goats/cows/horses aroundthe mountains. It is funny that they call the path a road when really you are walking on a goat track!! Had to cross an icy cold river. Of course, on the way back i fell in, but it was nice that my feet were so frozen that i didnt notice until 4 hours later that i had hurt my big toe and gained a massive bruise!! Sometimes cold is good. On the way back we saw how they get the furniture out to the villages (a 4 hour hike away)....they carry it!!! I dont know how they do it, but we saw 4 guys carrying a wardrobe between them on this thin little track that wraps around the tall and steep mountains!!! Amazing! Oh and they make great bread here, and a 1.25L bottle of home brew costs 2.50 maloti (50c Aussie)!!!
Due to an inconvenient taxibus transport strike we had to avoid Maseru (where one day while we were in Semonkong a bus driver just got out of his bus and shot a taxi driver for no apparent reason!) Why does trouble follow us???? So instead of going up and around the top of LEsotho we went the road much less travelled through the middle. IT would have been a good plan but....increasing petrol prices reduced minibus taxis, the weather turned, and they called off the strike shortly after we left. BUGGER!
We managed to get on a bus to a little town on the cross roads with about 300 other people. Squishy is good!!! The roads here are all steep, in bad condition, with impossible hairpin bends, the bus driver was amazing!!! I was confident that we would die. Hitched a lift from the cross roads, as a girl i was put in the cab while dave had to freeze his bollocks off on the back, poor bugger! Made it through the "God Help Me Pass" without crashing, and i didnt make that name up, it is what it is called because people say it before trying to drive it!!
Spent a night in freezing Thaba-Tseka because at 2pm we had missed the only ongoing bus out of that tiny little town. Although this was a blessing as i had a lovely hot bath!!!!!WOOHOO, and a bed for the night (first in a while!!). After waiting in the freezing cold the next day for 8 hours (the last hour of which was plesently spent teaching local children how to frisbee), the minibus taxi came and i tell you we had to fight our way into that van. It was a shit fight!! About 5 people didnt make it and i can tell you that without dave there i would have been one of them despite being the first at the bus stop that morning! We managed to get to a little town in the middle of nowhere high up in the mountains called Linakaneng (pronounced Di-na-kan-eng) you can understand why noone could understand us at the time. A drunk taxi driver offered to take us to the next town 3 hours away in the rain on shit roads at night for the privelege of 300 maloti but we declined and instead took him up on the offer of putting our tent outside his shed (home) and going first thing in the morning. It was so cold i was wearing everything i owned plus Daves jumper and we were spooning for warmth - dont worry seperate sleeping bags - we even had our beenies pulled down over our faces!
I awoke on my birthday to a wonderful white paradise!!! There was aobut a foot of snow on the ground!!! AHHH I WAS SO HAPPY!!! I have never had snow on my birthday before. We had to get it all off the tent before it collapsed! And as we were not going anywhere til it melted we had to trudge through the snow to get water and something to eat from the only shop in the little village! What a wonderful way to spend a birthday!!! We soon rented a room off of two lovely old people Eric and Erica (cannot spell their real names), and they let us use their kitchen so Dave was happy as that meant we had hot Tea!!! That night we went to the pub (shop that sold beer - didnt need a fridge because it was so cold the beer was cold) and had a beer with a mounty (copper on a horse) who was rather pissed. It was a great way to spend my birthday and i will never forget it!
The snow melted a little, well enough to make the journey down the mountain in relative safety, so we headed east to Mokhotlong, and then up to Sani Pass. It took us 3 days to do a trip we thought would take 1 day. Hey, we are still learning about time and travel in Africa!
Went on a hike to the highest point in southern africa....30 odd kilometers!!!! Through snow and rivers and god knows what else. I am still in pain!!! All done in 10 hours before night fell and the place froze again. I am not kidding i am still wearing all my clothes i own (yes i stink but i am warmish) it was so cold it hurt my lungs to breath! We were camping as we had run out of cash, a lovely irish couple bought us a warm meal when we arrived as we looked that pathetic and cold (i look like a michelin man, 3 layers on bottom, 6 on top, 2 pair of socks, beenie, gloves and scarf). IT was great to stay at Sani but cold. We stole all the blankets from the backpackers ha ha ha!! The trip down sani pass was interesting but i would recommend a 4wd not a minibus taxi!!!
Now we are in East London, South Africa, it is warmer, i have washed myself - yes it was getting foul - and my clothes - i am sure they had developed some bacteria that was a cure to something!! We are staying at a lovely place on the beach and i am happy. Heading up the coast to Druban will check in from there.

THANKYOU for all the birthday wishes love you all xo

This will be amended at a later date i.e. when i am on cheaper internet but just to give you a brief rundown on what has happened over the last month.
Stayed on the truck for an extra month and went to Namibia, climbed sand dunes, went quadbiking, got a clean bill of health from a doctor, drank WAY to much, ate WAY too much!!
Went through Botswana, Chobe NP, Okovango Delta, etc loved it, didnt get eaten by a lion, was not squashed by an elephant, did not get squeezed by a boa constrictor.
Now in Zambia, seen the vic falls, been on a booze cruise, and tomorrow i am saying a sad farewell to the truck and Dave and I are off on the second part of my holiday. The safety and security of the big yellow truck are being left behind and the uncertainty of independent travel in Africa is waiting!! I am quite glad i have Dave really...goodluck to him if he thinks i am letting him escape anytime in the near future!
So dave and i are getting a bus up north they drop us off on a corner and then we have to flag down another bus that we are really hoping will just drive past conveniently when we get there (yeah right, TIA!!!). We are going to the lake that borders with Zim then heading back down south to go to SA, Lesotho, Swaziland, and up through Mozambique. I am nervous but excited.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone on the Oasis truck. I have had a wonderful adventure with you all and i know i will miss you terribly. You have all made it so very special, you are wonderful people, and i am sure the rest of your trip will be fantastic!! Love you all xo

Over and out til cheaper internet can be found :-)

NEWS FLASH

DRC embqssy have admitted a problem i think their words were - you cannot go as youwould be driving through a war zone!!!! fuck.

so now we will go back through 5 days of bandit country to Point Noire and ship the truck to SA and fly ourselves to Namibia. will report in from point noir after making it safely back through bandit country

xo