So the weekend I had been training for was finally here, my nerves were on end but I was looking forward to completing a new challenge.
Friday, 11 February was a pretty early start. Jess and I were catching a ride with Jenny and one of the boys from her school (Jason). Jenny left us to deal with the packing, and as per usual, with no instruction, I was clueless and standing there watching the other 2 at work, while at odd times throwing my 2 cents in. I looked at the full trailer, and the full boot, and realized there was still more stuff – later this stuff went into the back with Jess and I, where eventually I had no space left on the floor for even my toe. I also started to wonder why we needed all this stuff for just the 3 of us, but didn’t think much of it to ask, as I had not been in that situation before. Well, by 9 we were loaded up and on the road for what will be a very long and quiet journey. We did stop at a petrol station along the way for some food, where I introduced Jenny to the delight of Crème chino (coffee was all I needed to keep me going).
Roughly 5 and a half hours later we got there, after I attempted to make small talk as we passed Harrismith Mountain. Hot fresh air welcomed us as I struggled to straighten my knees after the awkward ride, as we went to book in. A little while later I saw that dam that held my fate of sink or swim – to me it was beautiful and big, but at the same time, undercover I could see the mean and sometimes unforgiving nature of it. We set up camp just off the shore line in the sweltering heat, making us all gaze longingly at the water before us. I was lucky to be sleeping on the floor; all I had to do was roll out the sleeping bag while Jess got her leg exercises in my inflating the mattress with a pump, whereas Jason had a self-inflating mattress, and Jenny had a stretcher type thing – turned out the floor was pretty comfy. By the time we were done we could see the current picking up and the clouds rolling in. Jess and I opted not to swim, but rather chill out with a good book.
We had supper early that night because of the storm that was on its way, and luckily managed to batten down the hatches just in time. We went to bed early that night and waited to see what weather the next morning would bring (well, everyone except Jenny, whose friend had arrived pretty late, and they were putting up the tent with flashlights everywhere).
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