Koro Koro Year End Sleepover

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Leo

Grey Hound
WD Supporter
Joined
Jan 24, 2006
Messages
5,166
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352
Location
Brakpan, South Africa
Bike
BMW R1200GS HP2
Koro Koro Des 09

The most suitable end to the ’09 riding season would be to do one last trip with friend with whom we have ridden through the year. This was the brilliant brain child of Journeyman had an before one could say “happy new year” all was arranged and we were on our way to the Koro Koro bush camp outside Warmbaths.

JM was leading the one group, but as Krappie joined us all the way from Vryheid we decided to meet him in Dronkwordspruit.

Several dirt highways and a few shebeens later we pulled into Koro Koro at around 4 pm Saturday. Not long after we set in, JM, Grim and Sharkie arrived, and lots of laughter and many k@k praat session later we were heading back home, well rejuvenated and ready for the last few days at the office for 2009.
Seeing that I’m tired, I’ll rather let the pictures do the talking

Me and Honey before we set off from home.

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We met at Roxy’s in Bronkies

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Pat joined us all the way from Frankfort – thanks Pat

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Our route took us past several lodges and game farms. These people are serious about trespassing and poaching.

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A shady stop somewhere near an entrance to a game farm.

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A regular place we stop for a Zamalek – at R8.50 for 750ml of beer and R1 back for deposit, no wonder the majority of the locals in Cyferkraal is permanently pissed over weekends.

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Excalibur formally handing Krappies his tent – no outdoor shop available in Vryheid, or this was Krappies first outdoor venture??

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Excalibur pitching his tent

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Patman doing the mattress thing.

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Group photo

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The JM bunch arrived – they took a few wrong turns and travelled some serious muddy sections

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The KLR’s rear shock called it quits, so Sharkie’s missus had to come collect him with da trailer on Sunday.

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Buchwacker recently launched their new “Turbo Breathe” range of tents. A unique feature of this range is the ventilation that it allows its occupants ensuring a pleasant night rest even on a humid bushveld evening. JM had invested in the top of the range Air-O-Dome model, featuring extended length guide ropes allowing one maximum ventilation.  :imaposer:

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As the bushveld was quite humid after the recent rains, the most pleasant place to relax was in the pool, and we put it to good use.

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Excalibur enjoining yet another Redheart & Coke

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As the sun went down it was time to start the fire.

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Two skaap ribbetjies being cooked in a somewhat unusual way, allowing all the fat to drip out

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Later and proof that cooking the ribs this way does get rid of the fat fast and furious.

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Patman relaxing away from the stress of running a farm

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Another group photo and many cheers later  :biggrin:

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Sunday we returned via another road and encountered some interesting sections after 40mm of rain had fallen on Friday.

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Basil on a particularly muddy section

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….followed by Krappies

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…… Patman

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……..and Excalibur.

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Our route took us past the Blue Moonlight Lodge where we decided to stop and cook the meat that we didn’t cook the night before, have a few last drink before splitting and all heading our separate ways.

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Relaxing nexto a pond where a Kingfisher was eyeing the local bass.

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JM thanks for all the organizing, twas great and a fitting end to our riding year. Thanks to all who joined.

      :thumleft:  :thumleft:
 
Daars die spirit manne , lekker . :thumleft:
 
Was lekker to ride again and even more so the good friendship and laughs, meeting new WD's.  :thumleft:

Ja. The "tent".  :redface: Man. I'm glad it didn't rain last night! :biggrin:

Thanks for the ride, Shark and GRIM. It was great! 8)

It was sort of decided that we must do a Gauteng Bash at Koro-Koro. Lekker venue. Not far away. Lot's of dirt riding close by.

I'll post a few pics later.

 
Leo/ Excaluber,Basil en Adventurers wat saam op die Koro Koro trip was, ek wil julle net weer eens bedank met n bevange trip dankie vir die geleent heid, julle is puik mense, ieder en elk van julle.
 
Mag julle n wonderlike Kers getui he, en so ook vir al die forum lesers.

Adventure Groete Krappie 
 
Baie dankie manne, dit was rerig 'n lekker manier om die jaar af te sluit.
Julle is ware vriede, en ek sien uit na nog baie kwaliteit tye saam met julle.
Geniet tot ons mekaar weer sien :biggrin:
 
Thanks to JM for initiating this trip. Koro-Koro is a must for a bash. Leo, congrats on your new Canon G11 "how's your muffer" camera. Good quality pic's there old chap. Krappie from Volksrust(not Vryheid Leo), your first gravel ride on the "nat nuwe"battle ship, you did well, certainly not the last time. Tanks to all, lovely ride, venue and companionship. To my trusty old Beemer who turned 4 on Saturday, thanks for 101978 kays so far. May we have many more together. :thumleft:
 
Firstly, Thanks guys for an awesome ride. Some pics of the ride there:

Shock!!, Horror!!! Shark decided that the dirt highway was too flat, & he needed to do something to liven it up a bit.

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The mud monster. I went through first, and not knowing what the bottom was like probably took it a bit too quick – when the front axle was under water and the wall of water in front of me was obscuring my vision I knew I would get a bit damp. I wasn’t disappointed.

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The others taking it a bit more sedately.

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Dry out time…

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R8.5 / Quart… as Airee as it gets.  O0

the entertainment factor…

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The next day the sun was shining, and all was well with the world. I couldn’t help noticing how all the big bikes stayed over the road from us… maybe they were scared that dirt was contagious…  :peepwall:

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All the other 2 wheelers departed at a leisurely pace, but all heading pretty much straight home, but I had a niggling urge to do a nice ride, but not enough decisiveness to figure out where. After hanging around waiting for Shark to get sorted out, I trundled off with Jericho and a bit of rock climbing in mind…

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Shark all loaded

A lekker feeling to be riding along and suddenly find a familiar sight – a beer stop from the Thabazimbi ride with Groenie a while back – great memories in the middle of nowhere.

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Some of my fellow travelers – I think I saw more donkey carts than cars on this ride, not surprising as the mud monster was out in full force, most of the roads were in a similar state to this picture.

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A reminder not to stuff up on a solo ride…

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I like my bike…

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The only reason that Toad (I think) in the wind in the willows said “theres no better way to spend your time than messing about on a river in boats” is because he’d never tried DS biking.  :ricky:

So what’s there to do in Jericho anyway… Bafana Bafana Tavern wasn’t holding any appeal today, so as they say, onwards & upwards…

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I did the Medium ride up the rock, it was deserted and an amazing spot to get some space back into my head. I was planning on taking the easy route down, but ended up getting a bit misguided (note to self - the arrows aren’t just the “up & down routes) and taking a not by any means easy route most of the way down. Then had to turn around & go back up… at least I saved some front tread by keeping it in the air for most of the way (no pics, I had other priorities at that stage…)

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Just the right amount of space to clear the head.

And then it was on via the canal roads, mostly just thumb sucking a direction at intersections & going. The roads were interesting to say the least, the black stuff must be some of the slipperiest snot I know, and lurks just under the best looking surfaces.

The road conditions for this stretch

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And a bit of an oops moment…

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And where I was aiming when I stopped, almost had a free bike wash…

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Note the ETA at destination on the top right of the GPS… nothing like just riding for the sake of riding…

And that was that, stopped at Brits for a pie & coke, then more canal roads to Harties, and dodging the thunder storms (more or less successfully) to home.

Thanks all for an awesome weekend, looking forward to the next one already… wherever it is.  :thumleft:


 
A few pics.

Boekenhoutkloof area

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GRIM

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Shark

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GRIM again. And we have not even had a pitstop yet.  :biggrin:

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The usual first pitstop. This is where Shark realized the KLR's shock is gonner. It's now a Gomma-Gomma.  :biggrin:

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Onwards and Shark saying it's cool. Let's test the Gomma-Gomma! 8)

Thoroughly enjoyed the stretch to Vogelstruispan. Wet with puddles and the odd jingling off the back through mud.

Until here. We decided to first size it up.  :biggrin:


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GRIM going first.

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Huge splashes and water all-over the place. I only got the start. It got more hectic just after this.

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