Another year, another Houston Hot Sauce Festival

Stuart’s favourite event of the year – the Houston Hot Sauce Festival.  This year he had some different victims to accompany him in CaJohn’s Execution Station!  Including Paul and Gena, plus Danny was brave enough to attempt it again.  Dorte, Steve and I just watched from the side-line.

Field Trip to the Karoo-Laingsburg

It was quite a drive from Inverdoorn or at least the last out crop we had been to, to Laingsburg and we ended up driving in the dark for the last part.  I was pretty glad my co-driver was doing that as I was feeling pretty tired, not to mention the final part was back on tarmac and on the main N1 highway which has lots of trucks on it.

We arrived at our pretty B&B in the town of Laingsburg and we received a very friendly welcome and some wonderful home cooked food (oh my poor waistline!).  Mai and I were sharing a room with the bathroom built into the room in basically a large shower cubicle (with opaque glass!).  It was fine although you could hear everything!

The weather in Laingsburg was great the first day but then proceeded to rain for the last two days in the field.  It was to be expected since it is winter down there.  We did cut our days short to head into the dry but still managed to get enough from the time we did have up close to the rocks.

One evening we hired out the local auditorium at the Laingsburg flood museum.  In 1981 Laingsburg was hit with a large flash flood that killed 104 people.  The buildings, including our B&B, showed the flood mark – and it was high!

As you can imagine as you get to know the group better the nights got longer with drinking and on the second last night Paul and I cracked open the 18 year old Glenlivet we bought in London.  The 1 litre bottle was demolished that night and it was lovely!  The next night Dave taught us how to make Springbok shots – cream de menthe (green) then with an layer of Amarula cream liqueur (yellow-ish).  The first one tasted of mint choc ice cream, but by the fifth they were sickly sweet!  We had many laughs at people trying to make the best Springbok and avoid mixing of the colours in the glasses.  All good fun but I felt much better post whisky night than I did post Springbok night!

We only had half a day in the field on the final day as most were flying out of Cape Town that night, some 3.5 hours away.  Since we were leaving from the field I wore the trousers I was going to be wearing on the plane and put my waterproofs on to help keep them clean.  Well that helped especially when the heavens opened but I forgot about the bottom of them that are nicely caked in mud still as I sit on the plane!   We all got soaked and so did our hand luggage but we were still all cheery.  The route back the airport was back along the N1 with all the lorries again, but this time with the spray as well.  It was very difficult passing them especially as some cars didn’t bother with lights.  We got there in the end passing huge vineyards.  Surrounding the vineyards there was lots of poorer housing, probably the pickers, and people selling grapes at the edge of the road.  Mind you when I say edge, they were practically on the road and you had to be careful not to hit them.  We saw more baboons but still no chance of a photo!

Now just the long trip back to Houston, but well worth the effort.  I will certainly go back for another visit!

Field Trip to the Karoo-Inverdoorn

The five car convoy left Cape Town at 9:30am and headed further north in Western Cape.  We first headed towards Ceres for fuel and lunch.  On the way we made a brief orientation stop on a windy hill before jumping back in the cars and continuing on, and passing some baboons on the road side!

We bought lunch at the local Spar in Ceres and set off for a view point and picnic spot to eat.  We nearly lost our first person in Ceres as they disappeared off to the toilet post head count!

 

The roads were very good and not much traffic except for the odd van packed with people and normally towing a trailer.  Simon and I were the only two in our car for some reason everyone sat in all the other cars – but not that it mattered.  As we got nearer Inverdoorn the population significantly dropped and we were in the middle of nowhere with only dirt roads (but also in great shape) as the main route passing by.

The Inverdoorn Game Reserve where we were staying was beautiful and that evening we had organised a game drive to see some of the animals.  I know we are on a work trip to see rocks but you cant just ignore the fact you are in Africa!

The converted Landrover took us out and our guide was very chatty. The road was exceptionally bumpy and the lack of suspension made it hard going. You can see all the animals we saw – with the exception of the rhino which decided not to come out.  By the time we stopped searching for the rhino it was getting dark and cold, plus my neck was beginning to hurt.  However, still great fun.

I quickly discovered my bathroom did not get any water when everyone else was showering, and even when the water did come it was at very low pressure.  However, I soon learnt shower time was after dinner and not before.  The first night in the room was very cold indeed however, nights 2 and 3 they turned on the air con unit which pumped out heat. 

Every night we were served a four course dinner and copious amounts of good South African wine, and every night I slept like a log.  We only had one instance of someone sleeping in, that was Mai on the second day, and other than that everyone seemed to be dealing well with the jet lag.

Sunrise

Sunset

Our group was made up of 16 Maersk employees and a trip leader from the University of Liverpool.  We had people from Aberdeen, Stavanger, Copenhagen and of course Houston.  There were quite a few I had not met before and so we all got to meet and know the group.

Obviously there was plenty of geology looked at through the week and the rocks were truly amazing, not to mention the weather was pretty good for us in general.  The first true day in the field was cold but then the sun came out and by Day 4 it was glorious. 

We had some rain in the evenings and that made the clay roads suitably slippy, but also created some wonderful muddy puddles to drive through at speed!  We were always in the convoy in a particular order with radios to talk to the cars and make drivers aware of approaching hazards from the front as well as the back –the locals drove very fast in all conditions!  Anyway there became an unspoken competition of who could get the muddiest car – so I recorded our progress!

After three nights in Inverdoorn we left to head towards Laingsburg and see another basin of rocks.

Field Trip to the Karoo–Cape Town

We arrived in Cape Town the morning before the field course started after a 35 hour journey from Houston, involving a 12 hours lay over in London!

Despite feeling tired from the lack of proper sleep for 2 nights we gave ourselves 30 minutes to get showered and ready to hike up Table Mountain.  Paul had read it was about a 2-4 hour hike up and then we could get the cable car down to be back at the hotel for 5 pm to pick up the hire cars!!

The walk was long and steep but well worth the effort.  At the bottom there was a man wanting to tell you more about the mountain and sell you water – for a price but apart from that we were pretty much by ourselves.   Five of us started up the mountain (about 1000m ascent) and the path was good although turned into large stone steps as we got higher.  The rocks in the gorge (Platteklip gorge) we went up were pretty impressive too – but not what we had come to South Africa to look at.

On the way into town from the airport looking at Table Mountain
Hazy view across Cape Town

We were lucky with the weather it was about 20 degC and clear, although there was a lingering pollution you could see over the city making the photos look hazy but apart from that it was so still.

In the end the gorge walk took us just two hours and so we walked on up to the highest point for another view.  Wow!

The cable car down was decidedly easier than walking but it was a little hairy at the top!

After picking up the hire cars and signing all the paperwork – we had 5 4x4 which looked like long wheel based pickups but with a cab at the back – we all gathered in the bar to sort out dinner arrangements.  That night we went to the Waterfront area of Cape Town, a short walk from the hotel, and it was really pretty down there.  We ate at the Den Anker and I had some langoustine and a rock fish – Kingklip. 

After our large fill and walk I was certainly ready for my bed! The next day we would be driving into the field to start the business end of the trip.