I’ve read a few blogs and often find that entries can be long winded, self indulgent and /or written by women who wish they were called Carrie and lived in New York. But there are many benefits to writing a blog; the main and most important one is being able to let those people who care about Martin and I keep up to date with our whereabouts. The second reason is wanting to bottle just a little bit of this once in a life time, 12 month holiday.

So I’ll attempt to refrain from rabbiting on too much and keep it punchy (postcard length) instead.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Swakopmund: A-frame 106, sand storms and catapillars!

And so to Swakopmund: an old, bustling, German town in the middle of the Namibian desert....quite surreal really.  My heart skipped and my eyes danced with excitment as we drove along the tarmac road, passing shops, houses and hotels that lined the streets, knowing I wouldn't be sleeping with giant bugs for at least 2 nights!

Swakopmund was without doubt, one of my personal highlights of the whole trip.  It all began when Olly teamed us up with our 'A-frame' accommodation buddies.  There were 6 people per A-frame (mini apartment) and Martin and I were allocated to A-Frame 106 along with faceplant Phil, Mick Dundee, Laurence of Namibia and the one adored by American women in their 60s - Henry.
My kind of tent!
It's fair to say, I was very happy with Olly's allocation, despite being put in an apartment with 5 boys, and it paved the way for 3 very entertaining days.

Highlights of Swakopmund:
  • Going sandboarding on the dunes  - both stand up and lie down. I loved the stand-up more than I ever imagined and was absolutely terrified by the lie down boarding as I whizzed down the slopes on a piece of plywood at 70mph.  The unexpected sand storm was also particularly hairy!
Moving at snail pace, but standing nonetheless
  • Remo's amazing peace sign and smile, following a horrific wipe out half way down the dunes where he landed on his head rather than his feet when he screwed up his jump off the ramp
  • Going on a township tour and eating a local meal, which included caterpillars!
Tasty bowl of grubs!
  • Hitting the bar and dancing manically to Rhiannna 'Only girl in the world' with Song and Julia and a couple of locals
  • Laurence's delight at walking past a woman 'twice' in the bar
  • Bringing the caterpillars home with me and feeding them to the boys at 2am
  • An amazing fish BBQ cooked up by Mick Dundee following his valiant fishing trip with Henry and Laurence
The only down side of Swakopmund was patient number 3 being Henry.  Henry had a nasty infection, which led to fevers and he was forced to spend most of his time in Swakopmund in bed.  But to his credit, he didn't moan once, and seemed to cope with caterpillar offerings and drunken ramblings in the early hours of the morning very well.  Thankfully he made a speedy recovery following a trip to the doctors for some much needed drugs.
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