1-1-2007 Moon Rocks, Rooibos, and Fluffy Sheep

Happy New Year!

We spent the night in the Afrikaan's village. It was the "Settler's Culture Base." The two Scouters in charge of it had actually spent some time at the U of I so when I explained where I was from in the US they actually knew what I was talking about. I think they were the only two besides Brett's family to know. (And John Mutti too. But the gal at this base is his daughter and I had previously contacted him as well so he only half counts.)

We were supposed to go up to visit some caves when we arrived but it was raining too hard so we postponed it until morning. Since there really wasn't much else to do they had us try and make some beads out of ostrich eggs. It was hella difficult. First we had to drill a hole in the middle and then roughly make a circle. Then we took a rock and filed it down until smoothe. These things are supposed to be <1cm . Natives would make a ton of beads and put them on necklaces to sell for pennies. They were small beads too. Like 1mm.

Here's one of the couples that opened up their home to us (Brett and Aiden stayed with them).

The next morning we headed out to the caves to look at the cave paintings. They showed us one and then had us explore to find the other. It was in a really tight little nook but we found it. I think Michael's the one that spotted it first. I had a terrible time seeing them (even now looking at the pictures it's difficult to see them). I don't know if it's anything to do with my being colourblind or just poor eyesight in general.

Us on our hike to see the cave paintings.

The first cave painting.. what it is, is beyond me.

Michael finding where the second painting was.

Painting #2.. I still don't see it...

Once we finished there we hiked out to our next base. It was the first real hiking we had done since we arrived. We hiked for about three hours over mountains and flat land. Uphill can be strenuous, but downhill is even worse. It hurts because your feet tend to slide just a little bit in the double socks and your toes scrunch in the front of your boot. Also, you tend to get some hotspots that can become blisters.

Anywho, the next base was Geocaching. For those who may not know, geocaching is where people hide little knick-knacks in nooks and crannies and under rocks and mark their locations with a GPS. Then someone else comes along with their GPS and a set of coordinates and clues and tries to find the stash. They can then leave something of theirs. It's a fun little treasure hunt to do. The base was in a valley that had one hell of an echo. It was also quite cold due to the rain and wind that just bounced between the mountains. We were sitting in the Red Crescent (Islamic version of the Red Cross) tent they provided us when a large gust of wind blew the ridge pole down. Luckily, I was actually outside the tent when it happened (a few of us went out to put rocks down on the edges). Steve got knocked over and Brett was hit with the ridge pole. We pulled our gear out and laid some rocks on the tent so it wouldn't blow away. The staff felt sorry for us and decided to let us stay in the hut with them for the night.

They had one of those Zoom ball thingies! I hadn't played with one in forever! (And I was the only one who knew what it was.)

Just chilling as we waited to go geocaching.

After a bit of getting things settled we did the geocaching. We split up into two teams and took different routes. We got to go into a few caves (and found some more paintings!), do target practice with a slingshot and a blowgun, and we even got to see some baboons. The final station was the moon rock. At first we were really confused. We climbed on top of this large rock and were expecting a meteorite or something. But, like I said before, SA scouts are bit different than here -- they wanted us to moon them. So we lined up and dropped our trousers. Never before had I experienced such a cold wind.

Aiden with the slingshot.

Llewy with the blowgun.

For the rest of the day we just tried to keep warm and make some dinner. Tuna and noodles and caramel custard for dessert. It was crap but tasted soooo good (I'm envisioning Strongbad's teen girl squad as I write this). We didn't do much else besides pile into the small hut and go to bed. [I take that back... we did attempt some astronomy but it was quite cloudy. We did have a good view of the moon for a bit though.] However, as we all lay there we started talking with the staff. They even brought us some Rooibos Tea. Rooibos (roy-booss) is a red tea that grows naturally in the Cederberg. I kinda doubt they actually did but it was the joke that there was a little more that just rooibos in the tea because as soon as we got it we all started giggling. We also started to sing some songs. We taught the staff our marching song "Fluffy Sheep":

(kinda to the tune of When the Saints Go Marching In)

Oh Fluffy Sheep! (Leader)
Oh Fluffy Sheep! (Troop)
Are Wonderful! (Leader)
Are Wonderful! (Troop)
(and then together)
Oh fluffy sheep are wonderful
Because they are white and they are fluffy!
Oh fluffy sheep are wonderful!

Oh Muddy Sheep! (2x)
Are terrible! (2x)
Oh muddy sheep are terrible
b/c they are brown and they are muddy
Oh muddy sheep are terrible!

Oh Foot in Mouth! (2x)
Is terrible! (2x)
Oh foot in mouth is terrible
b/c it kills the fluffy sheep
Oh foot in mouth is terrible!

Australians! (2x)
Are TERRIBLE! (2x)
Australians are terrible
b/c they shag the fluffy sheep
Australians are terrible!

It wasn't until I learned this song that I found out the reason for the sheep we painted at Handicap Awareness. (I still don't know the moose song, I heard and didn't think it was worth the effort of committing to memory.)

I also taught the group a song. I sang the classic Tarzan song. The SA's ate it up. They loved it. Before we left they presented us with vuvuzelas. We were supposed to only get on,e but since I was a foreigner, they gave me one too. Vuvuzelas are just long, plastic trumpets they blow at football (soccer) matches. Before we left we blew them in the valley. The echo was amazing...

The next morning we had a fairly easy hike to the Backwoods Cooking base. The staff that were there when we arrived were idiots. Some 14 year old girl made us line up at attention and present ourselves with salutes and whatnot. That really pissed off Brett and Llewy. Then, the fella in charge had to leave to take care of an injured hiker and the remaining staff (young teen boys) were shooting pellet rifles in our general direction. There were a few close ricochets. Luckily no one was hurt (us or them).

We were supposed to cross paths with our other patrol sometime during our hike today, but somehow we missed them completely. [As it turns out, we had blown our vuvuzelas as we were hiking and they thought we were another patrol (who were apparently very annoying) and they decided to go a different path so as not to cross ways.]

To kill time during the day we could shoot the air rifles (theoretically anyway, the younger staff hogged them the entire time), go explore a cave, or go abseiling (repelling). A few went absailing while the rest of us set up our fire for the night and started prepping the food. We got to have chicken, vegetables and bread. They had live chickens you could kill or frozen ones. We went frozen b/c they were thawing out and had to be eaten. Besides, I was the only one of the patrol that had never killed or plucked my own chicken and I really didn't think I was going to regret the experience.

A second patrol was going to share the evening with us (New Years no less). They rocked up, not by hiking to the base, but by the patrol leader's mom picking them up in her SUV and driving them all over Cederberg. Weak and Lame were the two thoughts that immediately came to my mind. In their defence, they were Sea Scouts. Not used to the terra firma. They ended up being a decent group (if but a tad annoying) but they couldn't cook.

Ahh... Our little oven of goodies. Squash and potatoes. I don't remember if the bread's in there or not. You bury it in the ashes to bake it.

Michael enjoying the well cooked meal.

They opted to go with live chickens. They left the feet on. I had to laugh. They tried roasting one with a can of Coke in it and I think all three of theirs fell into the fire. Lucky for them Brett was around and picked them out for them. They were quite amazed by the man that could pick up roasting chicken with his bare hands. When they asked how he did it he just told them that he grabbed the parts that weren't hot. Brilliant!

To bring in the new year we built a huge campfire and exchanged songs once more. I was requested to do Tarzan and (my personal favourite) Rig-a-bamboo a couple of times each. We sang and talked for a few hours. When 12 o'clock came we blew our vuvzelas and sang some more. Those of age were invited to the staff tent for a few celebratory drinks. [I told you they did things way differently there than here.]

An encore performance of Tarzan (through the fire).

Like... a... ba.. naaaana

This morning we headed out to Gold Rush. We haven't done anything yet. I'll write more when we do.

Today in the SA/A Dict.: Chunder - to vomit

Steve: "Josh was so sick from the flight that he chundered all over my house last night!"

and another

Kak - (kok) poo-poo; used the same as "crap" in the US

I swear these words are necessary to know for when you visit. Honest.