Father, daughter exploration trip

[DRAZIL]

Father, daughter exploration trip.
School had finished and dark clouds building up, a bleak weekend ahead by the looks of things.
I suggest to my wife I take Jessica my daughter to Oudtshoorn to see the Western Cape dogs and explore the area a bit, not a problem she books us into Reimpies hotel  560 meters from the WC dog campsite ,how cool is that. 8)
We left a bit late and as we entered the Langkloof the rain came down that would make hurricane Katrina tame. We were drowned rats within a minute. We took refuge at the Dutchman’s coffee house in Kareedouw for extra hot coffee and chocolate cake.
I suggested we turn back and Jessica told me she‘s having fun as we never really travel in torrential storms with lightning and great crashes of thunder entertaining us, so onwards we go.
10KM past Avontuur the sun was out and by the time we reached Oudsthoorn we were dry and cooking.
Here are some pics and minimal descriptions as everyone has seen most of these pics in other ride reports.

1+2=our home for Friday and Saturday.
3=Jessica and camel comparing eyelashes
4+5 Swartberg

 

[Zeff Cowboy]

Lekker Drazil. Exploring my home i see.

 

[DRAZIL]

While on the Swartberg we met some German tourists having a blast and enjoying themselves :thumleft:

 

[DRAZIL]

Swartberg and a mountain goat (Jessica) going up

 

[DRAZIL]

1=Fugly or Drazil we have been accused of being  (drum roll) ………………..evil doings >
2+3=EC dogs lazing around
4=don’t know :
5=waterfall at Meiringpoort

 

[cassiebotha]

Daai is die mooiste pas.  Naweek voor laasnaweek gery  :thumleft:

 

[DRAZIL]

Same waterfall and pools

 

[Piston Pete]

Nice one Drazil & Jessica! :thumleft: Cool pics & nice to see you again D & meet your daughter I gotta take mine on an outing soon! ;D

 

[DRAZIL]

1+2=Yes the local military and their company vehicles are practicing their sound systems.
We overheard a foreigner remark that the locals are spoiling a great peaceful setting with their noise pollution.
3=tourist parking
4=my friend Hennie decided to join us for supper on Saturday night. :thumleft:
5=one of the dogs.
:

 

[DRAZIL]

Well the funniest part of the night was when after my daughter and myself greeted Leftless we spoke to A of the WC dogs, it was a bit dark and suddenly something ran down from his ear, to his neck, down his stretched shirt and to the floor my Jessica and myself thought it was a spider and Jessica promptly put her cell phone light on and started looking for it on the ground,a few seconds later A tells her not to worry about it then starts laughing and tells us he has to tell us the truth ,it was his joint at which my daughter looks closely at his head to see what fell off and then the penny dropped. Joint=doobie=skinny cigarette, at the end we all had tears running from our eyes from laughing. :imaposer:


Piston Pete’s gathering
4=East Cape dogs with 1kat. :drif:
5=Jessica and a great dane  and he was holding her off the ground.

 

[DRAZIL]

Hotel view and Montague pass

 

[HVDM]

You and your dogter looking good broer. Mine is 12 and starting to want to ride. Your ride is a great example for her

 

[Sprocketbek]

Nice on Drazil.

We also had a moment of mirth on Sunday morning just prior to leaving. Pistonpete said that next weekend he'll be fishing at Velddrif with his boat and Pure-Orange said he'll be skiing at the Misverstand dam. So he said: "I'll send you a floater with a little flag with your name on!"   Gross.

 

[DRAZIL]

Bloukrans pass
Last photos
4=in search for a drazil/lizard

 

[DRAZIL]

You and your dogter looking good broer. Mine is 12 and starting to want to ride. Your ride is a great example for her

Thanks ,your daughter will love it. :thumleft:

Nice on Drazil.

We also had a moment of mirth on Sunday morning just prior to leaving. Pistonpete said that next weekend he'll be fishing at Velddrif with his boat and Pure-Orange said he'll be skiing at the Misverstand dam. So he said: "I'll send you a floater with a little flag with your name on!"  Gross.

:imaposer: :eek7: :imaposer:

 

[HVDM]

Your fisrt photo in last post is a DWAF gauging station. I use their data all the time. They are closing regularly, to pay more mercs and audis for the new AA directors. This makes the management of water resources impossible. That station looks like a disaster, a non-stable channel. I cant imagine DWAF has hydraulic engineers left to account for this. Oh well, more rubbish data going in to proove the nation is getting ahead and has a bright future....

 

[DRAZIL]

HVDM how does it work ?

 

[TrailBlazer]

Nice RR J, takes me back to my September trip last year...  time for another one

 

[HVDM]

Drazil,

The weir backs up water. The hut you see has a water level recorder which measures the water level behind the weir. The height of water is related to flow over the weir by a hydraulic equation. Consequently the level can be related to a flow. The problem lies in that the equation are related to free flowing water over the weir and a straight channel. When the equation is calibrated they measure the channel and flow at different heights. If the channel changes cross section due to unstable bed, or growth of weeds, the equation of height to flow is no longer correct and needs to be recalibrated. These hydraulic engineers are mostly gone from Water Affairs due to their pale complexion so recalibration is rare and many stations get shut down. Measuring water in our rivers is far less important these days than new mercs, and masses of new directors without technical skills

 

[RobCrouch]

Great RR Drazil... Lekka bonding time too. I see you did more stops for pics than we did... :thumleft: