Eastern FS DVR Adventure!!! September Outing!

[LesseW]

Pierre giving away ice cream in his Ice cream van...

[Asjas]

Thanks all for One epic weekend!!!

First off I was in awe with the diversity of vehicles that pitched up, and none of them were close to the extreme side of the scales.
All of them neatly dressed in their over landing attire.

Ranging from big to small they conquered it all!

Sorry for all your vehicle's new scratches and bush tattoo's.

I will be doing e few short write-ups during the week and will upload them here to the forum.

Cheers.

[Mad Manny]

'Crick, Crick, Crick, chip, chip, chirp'...

[Martin de Jager]

Evening all,
This was a very exiting weekend, lots of driving, strict timing, wonderful scenery, nice friendly people, a very diverse group of people, with more diverse group of 4x4's.

The weekend started on Thursday, we met outside Heidelberg tollgate, Wessel and Elana, 1st, we then joined , followed by AllisonG, Pierre and Wolf and Dirk and Linda. We joined the highway, and was joined by Charles and Johan and Family.

We drove a steady pace to Harrysmith, the roads was busy.

We Drove to Kerkenberg, en route Flip joined us. That evening we all got to know each other , met the Crew chief and his pit-crew.

The following morning we all chased at 06h00, ready for driver briefing and departure at 08h00. We had a convoy of 25 vehicles, not ideal, DVR handled it well.
Nobody could handle it better. We were introduced to the most scenic areas of the country. Drove till we reached the base camp area for the next two nights.

For Esther and myself , we had to drop the rooftop tent every night but we slept very comfortable.

Saturday was a long hard drive , we always on the edge of the world, saw the most escarpment scenery, and appreciated the beauty presented. Photos and videos will never reflect the awesomeness.

Sunday we packed up and returned home, the end of a long tiring drive and 4x4 weekend.

thanks Pierre it was worth it all.

[Mad Manny]

Nice Martin, thanks.

[Bugger]

A pic of my Very excited Co driver


Trip report
Wessel and the other guys will do it by putting pen to paper
I have organized the trip so enough writing


We saw a fresh Lamb chop


And met one of the Farm owners born 1920
But Chas looked older

Sent from my SM-G991B using Tapatalk

[KurtG]

Chas is looking more and more attractive with easy passing day

[Ricof4e]

Who's the Santa Claus looking fella standing next to Chas (in the last pic)?

[LesseW]

Chairman's Report:

So here goes, I might add/edit a few things to this report but that will purely be for aesthetic purposes to smooth my Englich....

A couple of the 4x4 AG members met up after de Hoek toll plaza as per Martin's post, we convoyed to Harrismith where we stopped to fill fuel tanks, get a bite and to get the last groceries. We convoyed from there to DVR Base camp at Kerkenberg where we met up with Dirk and his team and other 4x4 AG members that are on pension already......

Some of us took a short drive to bushmen paintings which was suppose to be short, uneventful and to give us a small taste of what was to come... a few 100m meters into our short drive DVR's back left wheel came off (this brought deja vu to me since my Dad's Isuzu lost a wheel like that at 120km/h before...), Dirk took his vehicle in some days before and it seems the person working on it did not fasten the nuts properly. With the help of all, and Pierre almost losing a knee, the wheel was back on and we proceeded to the bushmen paintings. The rest of this short trip (now not that short anymore) was uneventful and we returned to base camp. Other 4x4 AG members, the Suzuki club and rest of the DVR crew joined later. Dirk entertained us with good food and laughs around the fire while Avon and Pierre worked on AllyG's Landy which over heated on the way to base camp (Clint brought extra spares to fix the Landy however Pierre, his mechanics and Chas' 1965 Landy manual managed to repair it without the spares needed that Clint brought).

Friday morning we all woke up, made breakfast, showered, packed up and at 8am sharp we were ready to go. We lined up under the Kerkenberg sign for a photo and for radio communication tests (I like the way Dirk checks comms and I feel the 4x4 AG should do this on every trip/event). We were ready to go and the convoy set off for the mountains, a few 100 meters further Dirk's wheel came off again.... The same exercise was done to get the wheel back on but this time with new bolts, unfortunately with the wheel that came off twice other problems arose but his crew took care of it while Dirk led us in another vehicle. We drove on tar and gravel roads to get into the mountains stopping at some community leaders to say hi and to get their blessings. At first I was thinking, this will be an easy gravel road trip but I was wrong, once we drove into the mountains I realized sh*t is going to get real...

Day 1 in the mountain:

We all had to find our focus to drive in the mountains, DVR lead in the front and we followed his path. We did not climb massive boulders but one had to maintain focus to prevent belly bumps and other undercarriage damage, this type of driving ensures a good night's sleep though. We were entertained with breathtaking views of:
- Mountains
- Streams
- Escarpments
- Landscapes
- Rockfaces
- Massive caves
- Technical challenges, yes this is entertainment since we are the 4x4 AG after all....
- Radio fatigue from all the Suzuki drivers

Dirk decided for us to set up camp next to a stream and he also decided that we will camp there for two nights (we were grateful since we only needed to pitch our camp sites once, unless you had a roof top tent). We camped primitive, no ablution, no showers and one had to collect water from the stream for drinking and washing. We all cooked our food around a single fireplace since no individual fires were allowed due to fire risk. We all went to bed fairly early however some "kuiered" on and had a babbelas the next morning....


Day 2 in the mountain:

Rise and shine at 6am, we had to be on the "road" at 8am sharp , Dirk's voice made it clear from 6:05 that we had to wake up and be ready by 8:00, maybe this is why he asked some hours later for meds to paralyze/numb his sore throat.....

We set off and I thought this day will be just as nice as the day before but I was WRONG!! Dirk managed to lead us to even more beautiful places. Apart from the breath taking scenery of Day 1, we now added:
- Drive on mountain tops
- Took pictures on the edges of cliffs (Even a group photo)
- Stopped for lunch at the DVR waterfalls (Was refreshing to stand underneath the waterfall)
- More technical 4x4 challenges, well guided and supported by the 4x4 AG members and Dirk's team.
- Mud pit where most vehicles had to be recovered from but it was really fun. The chairman could not open his door and had to exit his vehicle from his window...
- Some vehicles entered the river and did a very short river trip

Some vehicles experienced issues on day 2 but they were minor and were fixed in the mountains with basic tools carried by the convoy. We reached camp just before sunset and everyone made dinner again around the same fire. We handed out gifts/prizes/strafdoppe for i.e. Wessel for having a chain tied to his back bumper yet he never used, Chas for wearing Slippers on the trip etc...... etc...... etc....., This was really a nice initiative and we laughed ourselves into the fetal position during prize giving.

Day 3 in the mountain.

Day 3 was about getting out and getting home, Dirk and team however treated us to some more breath taking scenery before we left the mountains. Clint decided to swim in the stream to "refresh" himself after the night before, I will use the term "refresh" next time when I need to shake off a babbelas....

We all said our goodbyes on the last stretch of gravel road, inflated our tires and everyone went their own way.

Thanks to:

1. Dirk and his team for everything especially their way of guiding and supporting the group, the best way he and his team's guidance can be summed up is like a flock of sheep being guided by a shepherd and his sheep dogs. Dirk (The shepherd) lead us from the front and his crew ensured that we were all safe and looked after from the side and back.
2. Pierre for taking the lead to arrange this trip for the 4x4 AG
3. Everyone for their good spirits, camaraderie, assistance and other help.

I will do this trip yearly, that is how nice it was!

Please see some of my favourite pictures below.

[Paul#25]

Very nice report Wessel. Sounds like a good time was had by all.

[Flipside]

Well, what can I add that has not been said already…

I brought along Sai, (an Americanized Indian colleague , but not Native American) who thought he had seen Africa’s beauty.
We left at about 11:00 on Thursday morning and had a good trip down to Harrismith. Did a quick fuel refill and got a coffee and caught up to the ice cream bus convoy as they reached Kerkenberg.
We set up camp and did a short stroll to the Piet Retief memorial / “kerk” between large rocks next to the campsite. He came past here in 1837.











We then joined the Rock paintings trip, helped with the “tripod” jeep and managed to hike down to the rockface where the paintings were done. We were fortunate that the sun was getting low, and lit up the paintings perfectly.








We had a good evening with a great potjie meal.
Early morning saw everyone up and ready to hit the mountains. Including Willie who arrived sideways into camp at 05:00 on Friday morning with his Vitara.

As we started into the mountain, we saw a couple of vehicles do interesting acrobatics to get onto a narrow ledge and turn to traverse accross it with a rockface on one side and a dropoff on the other.

We had a view of the infamous and very sidesloped Monkey puzzle rockface.




And travelled up into the mountains over fantastic terrain and had several breathtaking views of the surrounds before we arrived at the campsite.







And who says you cannot shower at a remote campsite…



It just takes a few liters of boiled water to get the cold mountain stream water nice and toasty




After the food was prepared and consumed, we had a couple of strafdops for the most hilarious reasons and a good time was had by all. The moon rising over the mountain was quite spectacular.




On Saturday morning we travelled into a different direction, and more escarpment edges, mountain tops and interesting ravines and trails had us all fully engaged.








Despite a few car troubles, everyone made good time.
We experienced the mountains in fantastic weather this weekend.
The previous time I was there, we had a severe rain shower the Saturday evening, and had to use alternate routes to get out of the mountains.



The spot where all the vehicles were gathered in the previous pic.




Early Sunday, everyone had broken camp and we were rolling out by 08:00.
We traversed more of the interesting terrain, and were treated to some more great views.





The team picture was taken here…


We made our way back to the tar road, and traveled back home.

Overall I was most impressed with the LWB Pajero in the rough terrain. We were able to travel over all the rocks and complex terrain without issues. Only getting stuck in a mudhole dug up by a lot of wheels before us.
And fuel consumption wise, I was astounded.

The Pajero used about 87 liters to do the 825 km of the weekend, of which 620 km was highway driving. The highway portion used 51 liters.
So the 2 1/2 days of low range traveling had the consumption at about 17 liters/ 100 km

[Mad Manny]

Outstanding report Wessel!
Sounds like a stunning trip.
Glad personal hygiene was maintained...


Flip, I trust there is more to your report...?

This "Americanised" Indian, Sioux or Apache?

[Flipside]

He is of the Central Indian Hyderabad tribe.

[Mad Manny]

Great write up Flip!

[Mad Manny]

We had a convoy of 25 vehicles, not ideal, DVR handled it well.

Paid tripees

1. Bugger (Pd R2150)
2. Avon (Pd R2000)
3. LesseW (Pd R2200)
4. Dirk Shubert (Pd R2000)
5. MartinDJ (Pd R2000)
6. Asjas (Pd R2200)
7. AlisonG (Pd R2000)
8. CharlesFowlds (Pd R2200)
9. Willie F (Pd R2000)
10. Jonty (Pd R2000)
11. Stephan (Pd R2000)
12. Chas Bushwacker (Pd R2000)
13. JohanSuzi (Pd R2200)
14. Kyle (Pd R2000)
15.Flipside pd
Full

How did it grow from 15 to 25 vehicles?