The Story Teller: The BIG trip to the BIG BREEDE RIVER!

Well, this was a camping trip with lots of BIG firsts and BIG stories. And lots of BIG fish that got away. Well, no doubt this tale will grow with the telling, but before it does, let me tell the story of our long weekend camping on the Breede River on a lovely farm called Klipkrans.

So, this was a first for us in that we had a family member camping with us! Yes, it was fantastic to take Great Jenny (my Auntie Jen and my mother's sister) camping with us. Auntie Jen is always up for an adventure and it was great fun to have her along. I did receive a phone call from Mum beforehand that went like this...

Me: Hello
Mum: Kerry, I hear you are taking Auntie Jen camping! Does she know?!
Me: Hi Mum, yes, we are taking her camping.
Mum: Have you discussed this with her?!! (emphatically)
Me: Yes Mum, we have.
Mum: Does she know about this?!!! (more emphatically)
Me: Yes Mum, we talked about where she wanted to go.
Mum: Do you mean camping in tents?
Me: Yes Mum.
Mum: And Jen does know?
Me: Yes Mum.
Mum: (Silence. Puts phone down)
Me: Hello???

Well, Mum is not into camping. But with the prospects of fishing, some game on the farm and good books, we headed out lightheartedly on Friday afternoon after school break up on the N1 north. A quick inventory revealed I had forgotten the pots but that we had all else (or so we thought). Klipkrans is just outside Worcester on the road to Villiersdorp, and we made our way through beautiful Du Toits Kloof and past the vineyards to get to the campsite at about 3. We hauled out the gazebo that we had borrowed only to find out that despite our best efforts, you CANNOT put up a gazebo without all its poles. At least not this one. So we packed away the gazebo and set up tents instead, with no shade at all. (Sms to gazebo owner - plan b kicked off which was to collect the gazebo from them in Rawsonville the following morning).

So, the big highlights:

First was the Big Flood: when the hot water tap in the ladies bathroom burst in the very early hours of the morning. Auntie Jen and I paddled around in (warm) water trying to find the tap to turn the Flood off. Finally succeeded with pj's rolled to our knees, The farmer fixed it with wire the next morning ("'n boer maak 'n plan").

Then the Big Snake: definitely the longest, thickest and largest puff adder I have EVER seen in captivity or wild. It swam across the river and our neighbour casually caught it using his fishing landing net. Luke tried to stick his nose in the net to get a close look but thankfully was foiled by the neighbour's girlfriend (whew). Mr Puff was freed in the veld a few hundred meters away from the campsite. Hmm. In trouble with Auntie Jen for not waking her up from an afternoon nap to see it.

A few hours later in the wee wee hours we heard the Big Bang(s). I thought the third boer war had started, to be honest. First I heard what sounded like a mortar going off, then light arms fire, then the screaming started. Needless to say we hightailed it out of the tent. Then I went up to the bathrooms to get cell phone signal and call for any and all help, while Adam ran down to the river bank (3 metres away) to try to work out what was going on. A huge column of flame surged skywards just upstream towards the bridge, on the other side of the river. Several campers left at high speed (it was 4am) while we tried to gather info. Eventually the lights of the fire brigade flashed and the column of fire sank lower, and we all decided to go back to bed after the explosions died out and the yelling stopped. A few crashes hinted at a roof falling in and then the floor too. Turns out it was the local pub; their gas bottles exploded, then all the bottles went off, and the early morning partygoers got their party fired up and then thoroughly doused. Quite exciting, all in all, and the kids slept through it all. We paddled up river to check it out mid-morning. Not much left sadly.

Then there was the Big Wall, which Auntie Jen, Jessica and I went 4x4ing to find (the wall was built by Simon van der Stel's sons who settled with farms around Worcester - they needed to keep their cattle separated). The road was a bit more 4x4 than anticipated, so we did a fair bit of rock trundling and road making to get Spiffy over the bumps and humps. I think this must have reminded Auntie Jen of travelling through Mozambique with Grandpa!

And finally, the very Big Fishes. The first stole a fisherman's rod so he jumped in to rescue the rod and try to get the fish. It was a long and most amusing battle to watch with the largish fisherman floating around in the river for over an hour trying to haul the fish up. The fish won. And as we were packing up, WHIZZZ and the line next to us went. Our neighbour fought a huge mirror carp and landed it to the envy of every other fisherman in the campsite (including Mr Swim) and Luke, who proudly offered our fishing net to land it. Over 6kg. We oohed and aahed and then it was slipped back into the water to swim another day.

Ker fabulous weekend! Add in hot cross buns by the dozen, paddling and sailing up and down the river, baiting lots of hooks, perfecting the cast, endless cups of tea, big starry skies and Scrabble Dash... marvellous!